"...that never had the chance to get here."
That's the famous line from the movie "Hoosiers", loosely based on Bobby Plump, and the Milan High School Miracle of 1954. (If you're not from Indiana, look it up!!!)
And it was a sign seen tonight in the famous and historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, in Indianapolis, where thousands who couldn't get (or afford) tickets to the Final Four watched the Butler-Michigan State game on huge TV's tonite.
The Butler Bulldog's coach is from Zionsville, the star is from Brownsburg, suburbs of Indianapolis. It has all the makings of another Hoosier fairy tale. There are more people at Duke Today, than there are living Alumni of Butler University. Coach K has been coaching for more seasons than Butler's coach Brad Stevens has been alive.
It's a story ready-made for Hollywood....
Oh wait...
While many people, especially the team themselves, are trying to play down the Butler-Milan similarities, Bobby Plump, the star of the the 1954 Milan Miracle Team, (Butler University Star, and Hall of Fame Player) and his 8 surviving teammates were invited to sit with Governor Mitch Daniels in his box at Lucas Oil Stadium, as AP Notes:
Former Bulldogs star Bobby Plump was sitting with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels while other members of the 1954 Milan High state championship team were scattered throughout the arena, a spokeswoman for the governor said.
Plump's buzzer-beating jumper in the '54 championship game inspired "Hoosiers," and the climatic scene of that 1980s movie was filmed in Butler's fabled Hinkle Fieldhouse. Plump has been a popular figure all week, entertaining fans and well-wishers at his restaurant and at Hinkle.
Reached after the game, Plump said his voice was gone.
"I was sitting with Gov. Daniels and another gentleman and I was jumping around so much, their arms are probably black and blue because I kept punching them," he said. "Honestly, I think I would have enjoyed the game more if didn't care so passionately about it."
If you don't live in, or aren't from Indiana, you probably won't understand this. This is important to us....
It's a much-needed distraction from the horrible economy, unemployment running out, the repo man coming for your house, and your cars, and you don't have to listen to the endless political debates for a while. If you grew up in rural Indiana, memories of raucus nights in bright gyms offered a glimmer of excitement in an otherwise dreary and dark winter landscape. it's as much a part of our culture as beaches or ranches are to others.
Only people who have played the game can know and understand the feeling of looking up in to the crowd, and seeing all those folks cheering for YOU, and the hometown team. And knowing that you have to do your best, FOR THEM.
OF SUCH THINGS DREAMS ARE MADE....
This Butler team is made of of types you don't hear about much in college sports anymore, STUDENT-ATHLETES. They aren't in college auditioning for the NBA, and they spent the last week in CLASS, instead of surrounded by the hype. They played good-ol' fashioned smash mouth team basketball against the toughest team in the smashmouth Big Ten, and won. And they did it with class.
If you are a Duke fan, you have my condolences. You are the team everyone loves to hate, and Monday night, you'll be facing a story that has the potential to be another one for the ages.
And, in conclusion, I'll leave you with the scene from "Hoosiers", based on Bobby Plump's famous winning shot, filmed on the floor at Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse, that every Hoosier that has ever picked up a basketball dreams about when they are young.