By Leigh Evans
HickoryHusker.com Publisher
Earlier this week, our Mike McGraw penned an editorial regarding the state of the Indiana-Kentucky All-Star series. Well, Mike got on the horn and chatted up Leigh Evans, publisher of HickoryHusker.com, and found out that Leigh also had written such a piece … and he’s been kind enough to share with HoosierAuthority.com. Enjoy!
There has been much written lately regarding the faltering attendance and enthusiasm at the Indiana All-Star events, and this old corner has jotted down a few notes of some simple ideas that might get us going in the Hoosier direction once again.
In all honesty, many of these ideas aren’t my own. Most of these have come from barbershop conversations and our own Varsity Club member’s message board.
1) Move this ****** back to Hinkle. Who are we kidding? If any event belongs here, this is the one. For starters, there is history here. Hinkle hosted our All-Stars for many years. Secondly, we no longer need the seats that Conseco Fieldhouse accommodates. This year’s event drew just over 5,000. That still leaves plenty of room for more sold seats (nearly 10K). Hinkle has also updated its media room and access, so those are no longer reasons not to host. Even if we only draw 9,000 initially, those 9,000 fans would enjoy a far greater atmosphere at Hinkle than they would at cavernous Conseco.
2) Offer $1 tickets to coaches that are willing to bring their teams. Yes! Our own BirdAlfordBailey hit a home run with this one. Coaches are always looking for team builders and are constantly on the lookout for vehicles that will allow their young players a way to see the big picture. This fits both bills perfectly. Plus, it would make a really cool jewel to include as part of a summer program/schedule. Good program PR for community/parents/admin.
3) We need a villain. BAB again knows his stuff with this suggestion. For Hoosiers to truly embrace the series once again, we need a common enemy. The Bluegrass commonwealth is perfect for this. NBA fans from the 1980s will recall well the sea of T-shirts worn at Celtics’ games: **** LA. What a natural transition. How about a free T-shirt with every paid full price ticket (non-$1 player tickets) reading **** KY! Automatic buzz! Can you see how many outlets would pick up the AP photo of a wall of Hoosier fans in **** KY T-shirts??? The Indianapolis Star could not buy that kind of publicity with 10 times that same money.
4) Keep the games in June, but play this thing at Hinkle at 11:30 in the morning. There have been many good suggestions about moving the game up to May or even April, but I believe waiting until school is out is probably the best move. You have the tradition of a summer game, and considering we would still want to play our Indiana Junior All-Star warm-up games in the week leading up to the series, a summer schedule would just seem to make more sense. I mention playing the game at 11:30 Saturday morning because for anyone that has ever watched an AM game at Hinkle, there is little else like it. They could probably start at noon or even 12:30 and still get the morning-sun effect that time of year. Throw in a crowd of anything over 50 percent capacity, and you have a very memorable atmosphere. This whole Saturday morning concept really is built around a long shot #5 …
5) Play the Kentucky version Sunday afternoon. It may seem overly condensed to play two games back-to-back, but this is not that far a stretch for high school players that are very well used to playing Friday and Saturday nights during their seasons. Travel is just a two-hour drive considering that we can expect the game to be in Louisville for the foreseeable future. All-Star weekend would be a date that many could point to and hopefully identify with as the tradition became more and more established. By keeping a short one-week timeline for the All-Star experience, the program would need fewer donations of meals, hotel rooms, etc. Plus, this would ease the time constraints placed on the participants by college classes and teams.
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