THE Little 500 Week
Well, yesterday began mating season here on the Bloomington campus. The awesome weather and end of the year stress combine this week to promise skipped classes, random hookups and copious amounts of alcohol for most.
Yes, it is once again the week before the Little 500 and the orange plastic fences have sprouted around fraternity houses as if they were spring flowers awakening to the warm weather. This is truely the week before the "World's Greatest College Weekend". Students opt out of classes to lay out in the sun or play ultimate frisbee on Woodlawn Field or throw a baseball back and forth on Dunn Meadow.
Everyone already knows how their semester grades will turn out and how much work they need to put into them, but most decide to 'take it easy' for this one week. Every night, the bars are packed to the walls as if it were a Friday or Saturday night, taxis look as busy as bees as their drivers direct them through the already packed streets.
This week leads up to a little known event called the Little 500, a bike race which celebrates the beginning of spring along side physical activity. Since 1951 the race has been held every year, the same weekend at the beautiful Bill Armstrong Stadium, home of Jerry Yeagley Field. The event, rich in tradition, was founded by Howie Wilcox and the IU Foundation as a way to raise scholarship money to help students pay their way through school. The event has since become the greatest collegiate cycling event surrounded by a week of festivities.
I've had this post drafted for a while because I can't figure out how to finish it, so this is it. THE BIG FINISH.
yep… that's a big finish you may say…
The End-of-the-Blog Rundown
Song of the Day – No Rain – Blind Melon
Hero of the Day – The 2004 Ransburg Reservation Staff. I'm all excited about the summer now!
Quote of the Day – "I'll have some blueberry pancakes with maper syrup." – John when he saw that I was making breakfast.
Current Mood – 
– Excited for the week and weekend.
Darwin Award Recipient for the week beginning April 11, 2004
Cami for not knowing the difference between an Opthamologist and an Obstetrician. It had to be explained to her before we went to dinner last night. Granted it happened this week, but it's worthy of an award.
Until the next post…
peace out!
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9 Responses to “THE Little 500 Week”
Jess on 20 Apr 2004 at 6:27 pm #
yayy! i’m finally kind of a hero!
Erin on 20 Apr 2004 at 8:59 pm #
Beth nominated Cami for a Darwin award when we discovered that she doesn’t know the difference between an optometrist and an obstetrician. Does that count?
And Jess, you’re always some kind of a hero. Even if it has to be a superhero. And then you’d wear pink spandex.
murph on 20 Apr 2004 at 9:55 pm #
Is it just an Indiana thing to have some sort of race near the end of the spring semester and use it to get wasted, skip class and have lots of sex? Personally i could careless about Purdue’s “Grand Prix” or the little 500. Just get me out of here and onto summer
tm on 20 Apr 2004 at 10:36 pm #
It all started with IU in ‘51. Purdue, as to not be out done by IU, started their grand prix in ‘58. This, of course, is a couple of years after the little 500 recieved national attention and first earned the title “The World’s Greatest College Weekend”.
tm on 20 Apr 2004 at 10:38 pm #
Matt told me that I needed to nominate myself for a Darwin Award… I thought “hm… maybe more people read this thing than I originally thought”.
I forgot about the Cami incident, so the Darwin Award has been changed…
Victoria on 20 Apr 2004 at 11:25 pm #
I am with Jessi, I am hero of the day sort of hehe
Erin on 21 Apr 2004 at 12:30 am #
Wait, Matt who?
Erin on 21 Apr 2004 at 12:31 am #
I think it’s just that, in Indiana, you need an excuse to *have* legitimate sex. Seeing half the dudes around here, the girls need to be trashed as hell.
Hence, the weekend. Damn girls need a reason for everything.
tm on 21 Apr 2004 at 11:33 am #
Briddel