Indy Eleven's Silk and Linen Year

If you want a sip get a paper water fountain glass,
How I'm s'posed to know where your mouth been last?

By: Mark D Anderson

Is it just me, or does this year feel different?  Between the eventful offseason:  tensions in the socio-political stratosphere, the near-death experience of the NASL (and it’s impending doom, or mercy kill, depending how you see the world), and that awkward #Indy2MLS bid announcement where our Supporters groups essentially said “we don’t care about MLS”, before quickly realizing that may be the team’s only way to longevity. This year just feels different.

The roster remained mostly intact.  We saw more change in the front office than the field as some beloved friends (pouring one out for Koluder, Dunmore, and even you Kristaps Putelis, as I write) made way for the changes of the future.  The Brickyard Battalion gameday experience is still the best in the league - no matter how hard IU Campus Police try to play grown-up (at least some things haven’t changed).  But it all feels… different.

How do you describe a shift in a community's energy?  We have matured, along with our team.  Some great people have stepped up inside the BYB, bringing with them new ideas.  Our level of play is tenacious as we now expect from Hankinson’s squads.  We remain undefeated at The Mike and if your money isn’t on 1-point in away games you need to meet my bookie.  But it feels different.

US Soccer did everyone a great disservice by granting two leagues division-two status.  Finally they had their opportunity to make lasting, positive change to the structure of footy in the United States, and they balked.  They copped out.  They didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or deal with the impending lawsuits and instead banished all of division-two to a year in purgatory.  So it goes.

As a result, Ersal brought the gumption to apply for MLS.  Whether MLS approached him or not, he knows better than anyone what the future of this team holds.  In a ceremony of Instagram pomp and circumstance, he delivered the application.  And there was much tepidness.  Our Supporters groups, in typical Hoosier-resistant-to-change fashion, quickly launched a tepid rallying cry of “We Support this Team in Any League”.  And there was much tepidity.  If there were another way to use “tepid” to describe our reaction I would, because it’s one of the rare occasions where one word perfectly and fully encompasses an action. So it goes. There’s still time to get on board. Every time I see another team’s complications in their bid (Sacramento, St. Louis, etc.) it makes me wonder if Indy might, just maybe, be that fourth team bound for glory.  #Indy2MLS
Our second home game approaches this upcoming weekend.  We face the San Francisco Deltas for the second time (déjá vu? Purgatory?). I’ll be there with my grill, my crew, my pluto dog, my Battalion Ale.  We will sing, revel, and enjoy this beautiful Indiana spring that is upon us.  Our Boys in Blue will fight, none harder than JB17.  But in light of how we have all changed, it will still feel different.

I'm feeling alright I'm with my boys I'm with my troops, yea