Luck vs. Peyton
Striking similarities and stark differences between these two Indianapolis Colts QBs.
The BMW Championship (Sept. 3-9, 2012) is running an interactive event called “Place the Pin.” Eighteen golf pin flag exhibits are traveling throughout Carmel and Indianapolis, waiting for fans to discover them. Each day, clues about the pin flag locations are shared with Twitter followers of the BMW Championships. All you have to do to win is snap a photo of yourself with a located pin, tweet it to the tournament’s Twitter account, @BMWchamps (with hashtag #BMWPlacethePin), and thus enter to win daily ticket prizes to the impending PGA event.
Monday, Aug. 6, marked the six-month anniversary of our collective Super Bowl hangover. It seems like just yesterday, doesn’t it? Come to think of it, wasn’t the weather the same yesterday as it was that whole week in February? Remember the abundant and unnatural global-warming sunshine? That ZipLine? Those adorable football-shaped cake pops at Peyton’s party?
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves is dancing his way back to reality TV. ABC announced today that Castroneves will join the cast of Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars for the show’s 15th season. Castroneves, the season-five champion, will compete against other past celebrity favorites of various ilk and levels of fame for the chance to hoist the Mirror Ball trophy. Among his competitors: Bristol Palin, Drew Lachey, Joey Fatone, Kirstie Alley, Apolo Anton Ohno, and Pamela Anderson.
I recently visited the office of a former employer to retrieve some photos of the 1987 Pan American Games for our coverage in the August issue of Indianapolis Monthly. When I looked at the slides, I recognized the handwriting identifying each image—it was mine. I can remember writing those IDs, and with that realization, a slew of memories came flooding through the streams in my mind like new water through a dry riverbed. But what struck me the most wasn’t the memories—it was the fact it has been 25 years since we were there.
Fresh off of his latest good fortune—a four-year, $22-million pact with the Indianapolis Colts—Andrew Luck appeared again downtown, this time among the throngs at a Monday night showing of The Dark Knight Rises at the Indiana State Museum’s IMAX Theater. The Stanford-educated shoulders on which the city’s football hopes now hang sported a gray Nike T-shirt, and Luck was also in athletic shorts and sandals, low-key attire for Peyton Manning’s heir.
Rajeev Ram is a many splendored thing: Indian American, Denver born, Carmel based, and confident in his work on the heels of narrowly losing to the No. 2 doubles team in men’s professional tennis worldwide at Wimbledon last week. Ram and partner Scott Lipsky came close to upending brothers Bob and Mike Bryan, arguably the best pro doubles tandem ever, in London, losing in five sets.
In support of sister Serena Williams’ winning ways at Wimbledon over the past fortnight, Venus Williams viewed her matches from the Centre Court players box alongside parents Oracene Price and Richard Williams. Venus and Serena paired up to win the doubles championship after Serena seized the singles title. What’s more, Venus appeared at a few of Serena’s matches, including the July 7 final televised on ESPN, in her Indiana University East sweatshirt (pictured). The older of the two sisters is taking IU East courses through its online education program, and in the process, she’s giving the school a lot of positive national and international press.
In a star-crossed meeting, NASCAR neophyte Danica Patrick and veteran newswoman Katie Couric collided (figuratively speaking) yesterday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track. Outfitted in the popular driver’s Go Daddy attire, Couric took a spin around the IMS oval with Patrick at the helm of her No. 7 ride. See shots of their photo-op here and here.
As the amateur sports capital of the world, Indianapolis is accustomed to some less-than-professional athletic performances. But the recently botched decision-making at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon, by USA Track & Field—an organization based on our own downtown Washington Street—has received a bit more press than, say, the Indiana-versus-Kentucky NCAA basketball scheduling kerfuffle.
A special guest stole the show as the Indianapolis Indians took on the Toledo Mud Hens downtown this afternoon. Brooklyn and L.A. Dodgers legend Carl Erskine, an Anderson native, was on hand. This is a man who pitched two of Major League Baseball’s seven no-hitters in the National League during the 1950s. He also won 20 games in the 1953 season and struck out a then-record 14 hitters in the World Series.
