When things aren’t going well, everything and everyone is a potential target for a fan base starving for sustained success.
Indiana has the wrong shoe deal they say, even though Kansas just won the national title wearing Adidas, and Wisconsin routinely beats IU wearing Under Armour.
When players struggle shooting threes or free throws, fans insist it is because the players don’t get extra shots up in the gym. Do they even practice shooting, they ask.
Even trainer Clif Marshall catches strays when someone sprains an ankle. The players lift weights like football players they say, even though there’s no evidence IU is suffering from anything more than a run of bad luck on the injury front.
And when Indiana dares to roll out an alternate jersey featuring anything beyond barely recognizable tweaks to the traditional design, a portion of the fan base erupts.
“These are terrible! Our colors are cream and crimson!!”
There is a pattern here, and it has nothing to do with shoes, uniforms, missed shots or sprained ankles.
If IU was a consistent contender, the elite program it once was, Adidas would be cool. Just like Adidas was cool to Hoosier fans when Bob Knight wore the Adidas logo on his sweater and the players wore Adidas high tops. You’ll probably want to get used to the idea of Adidas, by the way.
If IU was a consistent contender, a bad shooting night would be nothing more than that.
If IU was a consistent contender, injuries would be chalked up to bad luck, just like the ones that possibly cost the Hoosiers national titles in 1975, 1980 and 1993.
I’ll admit, what we’ve seen so far of the Fear of God special edition black Adidas uniforms Indiana is going to wear Sunday against Northwestern leaves a bit to be desired. But I’ll reserve judgment on the design until we see the look in its entirety.
Let’s be honest, however these uniforms look, if IU was a consistent contender, this fan base would find a reason to love them. They’d brag about how Adidas was featuring IU with one of their premier brands. IU is part of a cultural movement, they’d say.
When you’re winning you can do no wrong in the eyes of the fans. That’s just how it goes.
But IU is not winning at a level expected by its fan base. Not even close, really.
And so alternate uniforms become the latest target of fan venom.
Let’s face it, you’re not really mad about shoes, uniforms, missed shots, sprained ankles or anything else.
Okay, maybe it’s a little bit about the missed shots. The rest of that stuff off in the periphery? Nah.
Mainly, you’re just mad about losing.
And if Indiana would happen to blow out Northwestern on Sunday afternoon, you just might find yourself wanting to see those curious all black uniforms again.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
