Well, women’s hoops keeps moving on in ineptitude, losing big to PFW. Shot well - 47%. What happened? 26 turnovers! Why?
Paul has the story on the Victory Bell...just sayin.
I feel good for our women’s team today with their win this morning. It was non-DI but a win nevertheless.
Related to that, I was struck by Paul’s video posted on X of the team ringing the bell and all the joyfulness and sharing of the experience that transpired. Here’s why.
Back in the dark ages when I played (60s for those who are curious), the bell was located next to the old union near the chapel - well away from any athletic event. After a win, “someone” would ring the bell - not the athletes who earned the win. There was also a smaller (I think) bell on a trailer that got hauled around the campus by a car with “someone” pulling on a rope to ring it as it drove around.
To be honest, relocating the bell to Hilltop, made so much sense and was the best move evah (can you tell I’m from Boston?). It changed the whole dynamic for the better. So glad they did it.
I feel good for our women’s team today with their win this morning. It was non-DI but a win nevertheless.
Related to that, I was struck by Paul’s video posted on X of the team ringing the bell and all the joyfulness and sharing of the experience that transpired. Here’s why.
Back in the dark ages when I played (60s for those who are curious), the bell was located next to the old union near the chapel - well away from any athletic event. After a win, “someone” would ring the bell - not the athletes who earned the win. There was also a smaller (I think) bell on a trailer that got hauled around the campus by a car with “someone” pulling on a rope to ring it as it drove around.
To be honest, relocating the bell to Hilltop, made so much sense and was the best move evah (can you tell I’m from Boston?). It changed the whole dynamic for the better. So glad they did it.
Not really shown in the video, but will be told in the story...once I write it...is that the team stayed out by the Bell for 20 minutes as middle school kids kept streaming out of the ARC. They all came and celebrated with the team at the bell before getting on the bus and heading back to school. It was awesome.
Well thats how you build a fan base back for a team that doesnt have one anymore. Reach out to different orgs and make a fun day out of a game. IU Indy has their Readers are Leaders event at the Coliseum and it was cool. Events like these remind me of the days when Lorrie Woycik would get PCSO a ton of tickets to various events in the ARC.
I do like how its now more common to make a show out of "The Bell". Reminiscent of the Kings lighting "The Beam", the Magic "Playing the Song", or even the Cubs "Flying the W". Maybe if plans are still in the air about building "Victory Village" you can move the bell to a sort of shrine behind the west end zone to keep it centralized within the athletic campus.
We should make all mezz tickets half off or severely reduced in price. As an AD, I get needing to make some money, but having more supporters across sports can't hurt.
just for posterity... the relocation of the Bell was mandated by the new union's location.. BUT there was a small legacy fund left by the estate of Bill Domke (the director of physical plant for umpteen years) and those funds were used to build the new foundation for the bell. I rang it once. One the date I retired after 30 years. I was thrilled to share that moment with other retirees. The sound that bell makes has a deeper meaning to those who 've had the chance to ring it.
