Where to Turn?

With the NFL season now over, many Indianapolis natives are looking for something to fill the void left by the end of the Colts season. However, here in Indiana we are fairly lucky to have a plethora of options to turn our sports attention too. From the Hoosiers, Boilermakers, Bulldogs, Pacers, and high school basketball, we are in the midst of the best time of year for basketball. To go along with that baseball fans throughout the country are gearing up for Spring Training, although we do not have our own baseball team there are plenty of Cubs, Reds, and White Sox fans throughout the state. Heck the Fever might just be have the most success of any sports team in the state this year, and their season is just around the corner. However, which of these sports teams should gain the attention of the state?

First let’s look at the collegiate teams in Indiana. In my opinion the attention should go to the Purdue Boilermakers. Being an IU fan it pains me to say this, but the truth is Tom Crean and company clearly aren’t going to the big dance this season. In regards to Butler, even with all of the preseason hype it has been a fairly disappointing season for me, as I had high hopes for the Bulldogs. Even though they should win their conference, I still cannot get over the early season struggles that the Bulldogs had. However, on a positive not, this is still a very young team that still has a lot of room to grow, and although they will make the NCAA tournament I do not believe they will do as well as the Boilermakers. 

Now we look at the professional sports. The Indiana Pacers are all but out of playoff contention this season, and from the looks of things they are priming to make a big splash in the 2011 free agency. Although Larry Bird has this organization headed in the right direction, the focus of this season for the Pacers should be shifted towards developing their young players. Staying in the field of professional basketball,  the Indiana Fever will start their season in May, and look to better their phenomenal performance last season that led to their involvement in the WNBA championship. There is a lot of hype around this team, and in my opinion they have the players and staff to make a serious run at a title. The final sport that the Indianapolis community can turn their attention toward is that of Major League Baseball. Although we do not have our own team, the state is littered with Cubs fans and Reds fans, and both teams come into the season looking to make a playoff push. The Cubs were able to rid themselves of Milton Bradley and look for better team chemistry to improve upon their disappointing record last season. On the other hand, the Reds focused more on free agency then they usually have in the past. The Reds were able to add one of the best young prospect pitchers in the game with the signing of Aroldis Chapman and Scott Rolen and Orlando Cabrera are expected to give this team the experience and leadership they have been lacking.

Thus, after going through all of the professional sports teams, I believe it is safe to say that the Fever have the best chance of being successful this year, and the Reds are the team with the most buzz surrounding the team. The Cubs certainly have a lot of followers, however, they were fairly quiet this offseason, and thus not as much buzz surrounding the team as in the past few seasons. 

Now I understand that nothing can truly fill the void left by the ending of the NFL season. However, it is obvious that sports fans in Indiana clearly have multiple teams in which they can turn their attention too. That being said, I have one more question, how long until the NFL draft? It really  cannot come soon enough.