Portal:Indianapolis/Sports

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President George W. Bush congratulates the Colts.
Super Bowl XLI was an American football game played on February 4, 2007, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, a suburb of Miami, to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion following the 2006 regular season. Kickoff was at 6:27 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts (16-4) defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears (15-4), 29-17.

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was named the game's Most Valuable Player, completing 25 of 38 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown, with one interception. Nielsen Media Research reported 93 million viewers for Super Bowl XLI, making it the fourth most-watched program in U.S. television history (trailing only the M*A*S*H finale and Super Bowls XLII and XXX).

...Archive/Nominations


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Unhappy race fans raising a banner.
The 2005 United States Grand Prix, was a Formula One motor race held on June 19, 2005 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Out of 20 cars entered for the race, only the six cars from the Bridgestone-shod teams (Ferrari, Minardi and Jordan) competed. The remaining fourteen entrants, all using Michelin tyres, retired after the parade lap due to safety concerns.

Following several tyre failures before the race, most spectacularly on Ralf Schumacher's Toyota during Friday practice, Michelin advised its seven customer teams that they could not safely race on the tyres provided for them. The FIA, the sport's governing body, refused to allow a chicane to be installed, maintaining that such rule changes would be grossly unfair to the Bridgestone-shod teams, who had come prepared with properly working tyres. The Michelin teams, unable to come to a compromise with the FIA, decided not to participate. The situation created enormous negative publicity for the sport of Formula One, especially in the United States, a market in which Formula One had struggled to establish itself over the preceding 20 years, leading some to label the race as Indygate.

...Archive/Nominations


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Colts fans sign the Super Bowl banner.
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The team is part of the South Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Colts have won five NFL Championships, including two Super Bowl titles, most recently in 2006 in Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears.

The Colts relocated from Baltimore in 1984, and began their stay in Indianapolis winning 90 of 228 games through the 1997 season, including 5 playoff games. Since Jim Irsay assumed control of the franchise in 1998 after the death of his father Bob Irsay, the team has become only the second in league history to win 12 games or more in four consecutive seasons.

After 20+ years of playing at the RCA Dome, the Colts will begin play in Lucas Oil Stadium starting in the fall of 2008. In December 2004, the City of Indianapolis and Colts owner Jim Irsay agreed to a new stadium deal that will benefit both the city and the team at an estimated cost of $675 million. In a deal estimated at $122 million, Lucas Oil Products won the naming rights to the stadium for 20 years.

...Archive/Nominations


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1994 Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, often shortened to Indianapolis 500 or Indy 500, and historically known simply as "The 500," is an American automobile race, held annually over the Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The event lends its name to the "IndyCar" class of formula, or open-wheel, race cars that have competed in it.

The event, billed as "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing", is one of the oldest and richest motorsport events, and one of the three most important motor racing events in existence, with one of the largest attendances, and radio and television audiences, of any single-day sporting event worldwide. While the official attendance is not disclosed by Speedway management, news media estimate attendance in excess of 270,000

The 92nd running is scheduled for Sunday May 25, 2008. It will mark the 63rd consecutive year of uninterrupted occurrence.

...Archive/Nominations


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Main entrance to Conseco Fieldhouse.
The Indiana Fever are a professional women's basketball team based in Indianapolis. The team is part of the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Fever play at Conseco Fieldhouse, located in Downtown Indianapolis. The team is the sister team of the National Basketball Association's Indiana Pacers.

The Fever were founded in 2000 along with three other expansion franchises. They finished their inaugural season at 9-23 and received the 3rd pick in the 2001 WNBA Draft which they used to select Tennessee superstar Tamika Catchings, although she was forced to sit out the 2001 season with a knee injury. Catchings won the 2002 WNBA Rookie of the Year and has led the Fever in points, rebounds, assists, and steals each season since. They first made the playoffs in 2002 but lost to the New York Liberty in 3 games. Since 2005 the Fever have posted three straight 21 win seasons and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals twice. In the 2007 offseason the Fever acquired Indianapolis native and Perry Meridian High School graduate, Katie Douglas, in a trade with the Connecticut Sun. The trade has been called one of the biggest in WNBA History.

...Archive/Nominations


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2007 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, formerly known from 1994 to 2004 as the Brickyard 400, is an annual 400-mile (644 km) NASCAR Sprint Cup points race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The event, when first held in 1994, marked the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1916. Jeff Gordon won the inaugural race and has since gone on to win four races at the Speedway, one of only four drivers to do so.

It is generally accepted as one of the more prestigious races in NASCAR behind only the Daytona 500. While the official attendance is not disclosed by Speedway management, news media estimate attendance in excess of 270,000. The 15th running is scheduled for Sunday July 27, 2008.

...Archive/Nominations


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Main entrance to Victory Field.
The Indianapolis Indians are a minor league baseball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The team, which plays in the International League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates major-league club. The Indians play at Victory Field, located in downtown Indianapolis. Rowdie is the mascot for the Indians.

Founded in 1902, the Indianapolis Indians are the second-oldest minor league franchise in professional sports, behind only the International League's Rochester Red Wings.

The Indians had been affiliated with several Major League clubs over the years including Cincinnati (1939-41, 1961), Boston Braves (1946-47), Pittsburgh (1948-1951), Cleveland (1952-1956), Philadelphia (1960) and the Chicago White Sox (1962-67). Beginning in 1968 they had a working agreement with the Cincinnati Reds that lasted through 1983. In addition to four first-place finishes and one playoff championship in that time period, Indianapolis fans saw numerous members of "The Big Red Machine" come through town. Players like Pedro Borbon, Bernie Carbo, Dave Concepcion, Dan Driessen, George Foster, Ken Griffey, Ray Knight and Hal McRae all donned Tribe uniforms.

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Conseco Fieldhouse
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The team is part of Central Division in National Basketball Association (NBA). The Pacers began play in the ABA in 1967 and won 3 ABA Championships. In 1976 the Pacers received an invitation to join the National Basketball Association.

In the 1987 NBA Draft the Pacers selected Reggie Miller out of UCLA. Miller helped the team to make the playoffs 14 out of 17 seasons. To start the 1999 NBA season they opened their new arena, Conseco Fieldhouse, after playing at Market Square Arena for 25 years. The Pacers reached their first and only NBA Finals in that same season but lost to the Lakers in 6 games. During the 2004-2005 season the infamous Pacers-Pistons brawl took place in Detroit and the team has struggled with their off the court image with numerous incidents. Reggie Miller retired the same season. Since then the Pacers missed the playoffs in 2007, the first time since 1997 and for only the second time in 22 years.

...Archive/Nominations


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PASO logo
The 1987 Pan American Games were held in Indianapolis, Indiana, from August 8 to August 23, 1987. It is the largest sporting event to be staged in Indianapolis in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held; an estimated 4,360 athletes from 38 countries participated in 30 sports.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway served as the venue for the opening ceremonies and the Hoosier Dome served as the venue for the closing ceramonies. The mascot of the 1987 Pan Am games was Amigo, a green parrot, and the official music of the X Pan American Games was Pan American Fanfare by Lalo Schifrin. The games were televised by CBS, Brent Musburger hosted the events. CBS aired 26 hours of coverage, all on weekend afternoons, including live coverage of the Opening Ceremony from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The United States ended up winning the most medals, 369, beating Cuba by almost 200 medals.

...Archive/Nominations


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Hinkle Fieldhouse, during a Bulldogs game.
The Butler Bulldogs are the teams that represent Butler University in U.S. NCAA Division I athletic competition. Butler is a member of the Horizon League. Butler holds two national championships in men's basketball; one from 1924, and one from 1929. Butler's basketball arena, Hinkle Fieldhouse, was the largest basketball arena in the US for several decades. It is considered a Hoosier Hysteria icon: from its opening in 1928 until 1971, it was the site of the final rounds of the Indiana state high school basketball tournament.

In 1954, Butler hosted the historic final when Milan High School (enrollment 161) defeated Muncie Central High School (enrollment over 1,600) to win the state title. The state final depicted in the 1986 movie Hoosiers, loosely based on the Milan Miracle story, was shot in Hinkle Fieldhouse. A renovation of the Butler Bowl (football stadium) to be finished soon will include field turf, which will allow the Butler Bowl to host football, soccer, and other events.

Butler first joined a Division I conference in 1932 when the men's basketball team joined the Missouri Valley Conference. Other sports joined conferences in later years.

...Archive/Nominations


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Ric Flair
WrestleMania VIII was the eighth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on April 5, 1992 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was the last WrestleMania to be held in a stadium until WrestleMania X-Seven. Reba McEntire sang a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the show.

There were two main events. In the first, Randy Savage won the WWF Title from Ric Flair. This stemmed from the kayfabe reason that Flair was suggesting that Flair had a past with Savage's wife, Miss Elizabeth. In the second main event, Hulk Hogan defeated Sid Justice by disqualification.

This was the only WrestleMania to feature Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan as commentators for every match. It would also be the final WrestleMania to feature Gorilla Monsoon as a commentator. Starting with Wrestlemania IX, Jim Ross would be the featured play-by-play man for most subsequent Wrestlemanias.

...Archive/Nominations


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