Jake Russell
@oreojakesters
The Indiana Hoosiers are National Champions. In football. The school where there is a movie about how much basketball means to them. The school where “In 49 other states, it’s just basketball.” The school where they had the only undefeated champion Bobby Knight season in college basketball. The school that is overlooked in the state by Notre Dame if you wanted to go to a football school.
The losingest program in division 1 football history instantly went from having your only memory of them in football maybe being Antwaan Randle El being a beast and then Michael Penix Jr. being a ton of fun before getting a plethora of injuries and transferring to Washington to a powerhouse. Curt Cignetti’s hiring two years ago to bring over his roster of transfers and figuring out the new era of college football and this era better than anyone else is now the greatest turnaround in the history of the sport. Yes, the roster was made with his angry, passed-over transfers from other programs two years ago, but Cignetti also gameplanned as if he knew that every single game they were going to be overlooked by that IU logo on their helmet as the silly basketball program that somehow keeps winning. We kept doubting them, and they kept proving us wrong.
If you were to tell someone two years ago that Indiana was the National Champion in College Football, they would have thought that the NCAA had suddenly folded and professionalized every other football school in the United States. It’s just so random that a team that you would likely choose to rebuild in the college football video game suddenly went end-to-end with no questions about it being a fluke at all- 16-0, winning the B1G, beating Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon (twice), and Miami, and never missing a beat.
There’s really nothing like it, but we’re going to have to try and do our best to figure out what the equivalent of this would be in the other major sports leagues.
NHL: Minnesota Wild
Minnesota IS the state of hockey, yet they were the Minnesota North Stars, stripped away and taken to Dallas, Texas for some reason, and then reintroduced in 2000 and have been one of the most milquetoast, forgettable franchises that your mother likely couldn’t name. The state of Minnesota deserves better, they deserve hockey memories, and the random turnaround would be miraculous and fun for the state that it means so much to. The Quinn Hughes addition this year puts it more on our radar as well.
NBA: Charlotte Hornets
Uh, have you ever heard of the University of North Carolina, Duke, and Wake Forest? Clearly the state is basketball-obsessed. The 90’s retro purple and teal is so iconic and a part of hoops fashion iconography forever. The debut (THAT WAS A 40-POINT LOSS!) received a standing ovation and fans dressed in tuxedos because the sport meant so much to them. For some reason Muggsy Bogues is in Space Jam. But, what’s your favorite Hornets memory? Kemba Walker or Chris Paul occasionally being fun? This is a team where LeBron alone is 50-9. The Hornets flipping into a basketball powerhouse for the branding and cultural impact would rule.
NFL: Los Angeles Chargers
Come on, it will never be the same since they’re no longer in San Diego, and we will always associate them with San Diego, but here are the things you likely remember the Chargers for:
- The uniforms being the best
- LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates being unstoppable
- Philip Rivers being so great until the sun went down in the afternoon spot and they had a crushing loss to Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Ben Roethlisberger
- Little to no fans (and even at one point playing in a soccer stadium)
- Currently having no support around Justin Herbert.
It’s a team that is overlooked in the crushing curse pantheon because they haven’t been insufferable losers or been in the realm of the Bills where they get so close year after year. Getting over the hump to take the major city away from the Rams is the stuff of Hoosiers.
College Basketball: Nebraska Cornhuskers
Nebrasketball may be here, this year, in fact. They’re undefeated in the B1G but are the lone team in the Power Five without a single NCAA Tournament win at 0-8. The Big Red that dominated the 90’s in football having that history to going on a tournament run with Fred Hoiberg is the inverse Curt Cignetti.