Hall of Champion

During my last week in Indiana, I made my way to Indianapolis to check out the NCAA Hall of Champions. Located right next door to Lucas Oil Stadium (home of Payton Manning and the 14-0 Indianapolis Colts) in the heart of downtown Indy the NCAA museum rocked my world. I absolutely loved it. I don't know where my picture of the building itself is, but Layne would have loved it. High ceilings, tall windows, architectural nuances, dramatic lighting... the space provides auditorium and conference room space, board rooms, a gym, sports simulators... it did an amazing job portraying what the true life of a student athlete entails.

One display at the museum is a banner for every team that won a NCAA championship in 2009. Check out the banner on the right (Texas A&M) and on the left (LSU). I would love to sit here and talk trash about how great LSU is, but Texas A&M rocked out this year. They had four banners hanging for 2009. LSU's former track and field coach who has now moved on to Texas A&M is making us regret letting him go. The A&M banner hanging in the picture is for Men's Golf.

Another display I loved is shown below. Every piece of equipment used in the 23 NCAA sports was shown. It was amazing to get a better idea of the 23 NCAA sports- some of which I knew nothing about. There was a room filled with 7 big screens and chairs, with nothing on but NCAA sports, and interactive games where you threw the football, kicked PATs and field goals, and soccer balls.

My absolute favorite exhibit was based on time management. You were given an athletes weekly schedule, and had to plan study time, meals, practice, weight room. I was ridiculously impossible, and was a great reminder of how amazing the representatives of our universities truly are. I'm SO glad I was able to check out this museum, and I highly recommend it to any sports fan in the neighborhood.