The Indianapolis 500: Hoosier’s at its finest
What’s a Hoosier? We’ll as a born and raised Indiana girl, I am still trying to find the answer to this question. But I can say, the greatest display of Hoosier hospitality is every year on Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis 500. You’ll find the wittiest of characters and some of the most innovative drinking games in all of the midwest. You’ll see racing fans who have been coming to the race for decades and some who are here for the first time. And somehow, we all just get it. It’s an unspoken state of being and bonding together over one of the largest single-day sporting events in the world.
Ultra Violent wrestling
In a night of eight matches, one is not like the other. There are wild theatrics, ceiling-to-floor body slams and trash talk both inside and outside the ring. But one style of wrestling can make even those with the toughest skin a little squeamish.
It's death match wrestling and almost nothing is off-limits. Wrestlers can use anything: a toaster oven, barbed wire, glass windows or even a cheese grater. Anything and everything is a weapon in these matches.
"I feel like deathmatch wrestling is your modern-day gladiators," said Satu Jinn, a death match wrestler with Flophouse Wrestling. "Like it's as close as you can get to the Coliseum back in the day."
Sled Hockey
Marie Harman's love for playing sports has been as consistent as the pain she lives with. She recalls her brothers spending time inside playing with Legos and making home movies, but she always wanted to be outside.
Harman has been suffering for as long as she can remember. As she continued to get older, her pain began to worsen leaving her a wheelchair user. In adulthood, she says she "does a lot of nothing." A slew of muscular, skeletal and joint diseases plague her body with constant pain.
"I needed to find something that I could do because I love sports," Harman said. "I've always been active."
Cyclocross
Cycling is no stranger in Indianapolis. From social gatherings downtown to the speedy cyclists on the Monon, Indy residents are familiar — or should be — with the idea of sharing the road with cyclists. But beyond the pavement lives Cyclocross — a combination of road cycling, mountain biking and steeplechase rolled into one.
"It's so painful but it's like fun all at the same time. You are completely in the zone and like nothing else matters except what you are doing," said Brinley Shrun from Martinsville. "You are just trying to catch the person in front of you and trying not to let anybody else catch you."
Riders race up to 11 miles in ankle-deep mud, negotiate slick slalom turns and climb steep hills with their bikes on their shoulders.
"It's fun," said Ryan Burnette from Layfette. "Better than golfing or boating, whatever else people do."
