Hoosier lore

I'd hate to be a member of the Indianapolis Colts today -- either a starter who had to stand on the sidelines and watch it all slip away or a second- or third-stringer who heard the crowd's boos as he labored haplessly to contain the New York Jets yesteday.

Hell, I hate even being a Coltsfan today. When it became obvious the coaches weren't going to put the starters back in even as the Jets started racking up points, nervousness became a sinking feeling: They really aren't going to try to win this game.

Today's quiz: What's the sixth-largest city in Indiana?

Answer: Hammond. Its population (76,732) puts it between fifth-place Gary ((95,920) and seventh-place Bloomington (71,819). But if the suggested merger between Greenwood and White River Township in Johnson County goes through, Hammond and Bloomington are each going to go down a notch:

An Indianapolis Star editorial rightly calls out Sen. Bayh on health care reform:

Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh is straining hard to paint himself as a fiscal conservative. It's disappointing then that he's prepared to vote for a bill almost certain to drive up the deficit in future years.

[. . .]

A state senator has a proposal that is both wrongheaded and pointless:

A state senator says he'll file legislation that would prevent Indiana schools from starting classes before Labor Day.

Poor Elkhart. How would you like to live in a place that became "a symbol of the economic meltdown"?

The Big Boys of journalism are still trudging there to find out how the little people of the heartland are weathering this turribul recession. Of course, they don't all see the same things. The Wall Street Journal reports that there are signs of hope as unemployment falls from 18.9 percent to 14.5 percent, with embattled RV makers actually starting to hire people back:

I wish Fort Wayne had solved all its problems the way Jeffersonville has solved its, so that we, too, could worry about important things like aesthetics. About a month ago, I did a post about Peggy Duffy of that city, who heads some citizens group called City Pride. She was haranguing the City Council about newspaper and advertising boxes.

I know I'm an old fart, but I still remember Christmas breaks, and I'm pretty sure vegging out was at the top of the list. As a matter of fact it was the list:

The New York Times has a ponderous piece on when it might be best to "come clean" with children about Santa, if, ahem, you know what I mean. Here is but one sentence from professor of psychology:

The change in children's conceptualization of Santa is driven in part by cognitive development.

I love it when they talk dirty like that.

An indiscriminate use of the term "homeless" is in this headline from Evansville: Homeless couple arrested after knife fight:

Guess now we know the budget crisis is real in Indiana:

Indiana universities searching for ways to cut $150 million from their budgets by year's end say they're looking at all options -- including eliminating some sports or even academic majors.

"At this point, everything is on the table," said Tony Proudfoot, a vice president for marketing and communications at Ball State University, which saw attendance at its home football games drop more than 40 percent this year.