Some thoughts on the Louisville-Indiana rivalry

Before I was fully admitted into the escape-proof prison of hate that is the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry (ages 0-4, basically), there was Indiana.

My father and my two older brothers were my unassailable sporting guides through the vastly underrated preschool formative fandom years, and their stance on IU was pretty clear: Bob Knight was a mean guy and the Hoosiers wouldn’t play Louisville anymore because the Cardinals used to beat them too much.

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Incivility (especially with regards to the media) and a lack of respect for U of L was an unholy combination in the Rutherford household of the late ‘80s. My outlook on the Hoosiers was fixed before I even knew what was happening.

I would never describe my dad as a spiteful sports fan. At least not back then. But there was one massive exception: The Bobby Knight Indiana teams of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

The head of the Rutherford household would, with ill-intentions, seek out Hoosier games on the television. He would watch, he would cheer audibly, and he would become angry if the likelihood of good trumping Knight appeared bleak.

Once, fueled by a kinder core I wish I could claim more of today, I implored my mother to root for the Hoosiers. Sure, the head coach might have been a bad man, but that only made me feel bad for the people under his watch. “Just cheer for the players,” I suggested. Even she knew better.

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While Indiana basketball has had a minimal impact on my existence as a Louisville fan since those halcyon days, there’s still a slight, but uncontrollable, disdain that rises whenever I get a glimpse of Assembly Hall or see those candy striped warm-ups. Sometimes when the seeds get planted early enough, the roots become too deep to ever fully unearth. Time and experience are going to allow you to better rationalize the issue at hand, but your first thought is always going to be related to your original stance. Because of this, for me, the Hoosiers are always going to be the bad…

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Publish date : 2025-12-05 18:45:00

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