New Castle Knows Basketball Tradition

By Ryan Fagan
Sporting News’ Ryan Fagan is traveling the Hoosier State, watching every D-I team in Indiana over 12 days. He’ll write about all things Hoosier Culture for The Sporting Blog.
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I’ve been sitting here in the New Castle gym trying to figure out the best way to describe the tradition here. Hard to see that staring at a MacBook, isn’t it? Looked up and right in front of me are hanging the banners for the championships and such. The one for boys basketball sectional champs takes three full banners, with the dates ranging from 14-07. As is 1914 to 2007. That’s a lot of freaking basketball. Here are the years they won the sectional crown:
14, 15, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 46, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 55, 57, 59, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 71, 72, 73, 78, 79, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, 99, 00, 05, 06, 07
Now, that’s what I’d call tradition.
Know how they get that tradition? Before the game, they introduced the future Trojans, a group of kids who were something like 34-0 last year. That’s gotta be a cool feeling at that age, getting introduced over the loudspeaker before a game against a rival school.
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I have a new favorite person. Karen, a New Castle native down under who sent me an e-mail, recommended an eatery. In her words, I’d find “a gem in the outwardly unpromising Bill’s on State Highway 3.†Holy crap, she’s right. On both fronts. Bill’s doesn’t look much as you’re driving past the outskirts of New Castle, but it’s a fantastic place to grab a bite.
I had the “workman’s special.” Three eggs over-hard, a smoked sausage (cooked to just the right level of singe), fried potatoes (crispy, just the way I like ’em), biscuits (the ones that were just the right amount of fluffy and brown) and gravy and a cup of joe. And I tell you what ... when I saw that food on the way over to the table, I was pretty sure I was in for the best meal of my life. And it was pretty darn close. Generally, I know when enough’s enough. I’ve developed a knack for knowing exactly which is my last bite, that moment when one more could cause problems. I recognized that again tonight, but just couldn’t help it. I ate for a good 10 minutes after I was comfortably full. I just wasn’t sure when I’d get another meal that looked and tasted so fantastic.
Photo Jay said he had a ribeye sandwich that was pretty excellent, too. Not that I noticed. I was too busy with my food.↵