What's up with that football video?

What’s up with bison running on the Memorial Stadium screen?

It starts with a thumping heartbeat and then brawny bison tear out of the state seal. They clomp through the Sample Gates past the smiling Herman B Wells statue. They run up Fee Lane and clobber the logo of that week’s football opponent. And you can see it all on IU’s brand new HD stadium screen.

But what does the new football opening video have to do with being a Hoosier?

Here’s a surprise: The senior assistant athletic director for marketing grew up in Chicago when Michael Jordan was leading the Bulls. He’s a fan of wild running animals.

Patrick Kraft said he wanted to help develop a video that would energize students and alumni alike. The song, “Baba O’Riley” often called “Teenage Wasteland,” provided the proper pump-up potential and slow buildup to make the crowds go Hoosier hysterical, he says.

“We get compliments from older fans and younger fans alike,” he says. “One older guy in his seventies said it’s the only time he stands up.”