CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Indianarnby William L. Isley, Ji.rnThe Middle American StrugglernEarlier this year my 12-year-old son andrn1 had a knock-down-drag-out fight overrnpatriotism and the evils of media influence.rnWhat incident set off these familyrnfireworks? Was it the current U.N.rnwars or the influx of foreign goods? Wasrnit Dan Rather or MTV? No, it was somethingrnmuch more important. My son,rnwho misses no opportunity to criticizernIndiana’s Hurrying Hoosiers, was backingrnthe University of Michigan’s “FabrnFive,” happily defeated eadier in the yearrnby one of the dumbest mistakes inrnNCAA basketball history.rnI suppose to the uninitiated this mightrnraise a few eyebrows. How can you getrnfrom jump shots to Japan or from dunkrnshots to Dan Rather? The answer is thatrnwe take our basketball very seriously inrnthis state. In order to understand thisrnstate’s passion for basketball, you mustrnfirst understand that historically thernheart of Indiana basketball has been notrnin the colleges, but in the high schools.rnDr. Naismith may have invented therngame in Massachusetts, but it took offrnlike a three-point shot in Indiana. Accordingrnto Herb Schwomeyer’s HoosierrnHysteria, the first game played in Americarnoutside of Massachusetts was inrnCrawfordsville in 1893. Eighteen yearsrnlater Crawfordsville High School wonrnthe hrst state high school championship.rnIt is significant that Crawfordsvillernwon the first state title. It is also significantrnthat Muncie Central High Schoolrnhas won eight championships, more thanrnany other school. It tells us somethingrnabout Indiana culture. We are, in contrastrnto our image as a rural farm state, arnstate of small cities and towns. The 1990rncensus states that 65 percent of Indiana’srnpopulation lives in urban areas.rnTrue, one of the glories of Indiana highrnschool basketball is that it has a classlessrnor, as we anti-Marxists prefer to say, anrnequal-opportunity state tournament. Allrnschools, regardless of their size or lack ofrnit, compete against one another for thernsame championship. This means thatrntiny Milan, which loosely served as thernbasis for the movie Hoosiers and had anrnenrollment of only 161, was able to defeatrnMuncie Central in 1954, lay legitimaternclaim to being the best team inrnthe state, and attain Hoosier immortality.rnStill, Milan’s great victory has becomerna myth obscuring the fact.rnMost of our towns found their corporaternidentity through high school basketballrnteams and through employmentrnin one or two factories. Entertainmentrnand economies within the towns createdrnand fostered intense local loyalties. Myrnmother, a generous and kind Christianrnwoman, born and reared in Madison, Indiana,rnstill cannot prevent a look of contemptrnfrom spreading over her facernwhenever the name Jasper is mentioned.rnJasper had the audacity to upset Madisonrnin the 1949 championship game. 1,rnto this day, cannot cheer for a Noblesvillernteam, our arch rivals when I was in highrnschool.rnUnfortunately, our tradition is in seriousrndanger. Our small-town culture isrndying in the face of America’s contemporaryrncentralizing “mediaocracy,” althoughrnschool consolidation has donernsignificant damage as well. The localrnbasketball game is not the only show inrntown. Increasingly, people will sit inrnfront of their televisions to watch NortheastrnLouisiana State play OklahomarnA&T rather than attend the game atrntheir local gym. My son would ratherrnhave watched Chris Webber of Michigan,rna mere media image in his life, thanrngo to see a flesh-and-blood local herornfight for the glory of Carmel High.rnNow, although the words catch in myrnHoosier throat that has often gonernhoarse at a ball game, I must admit thatrnthere is more than the game of basketballrnat stake here. The sin of the mediaocracyrnis that it makes us live in arnworld of illusory images. What appearsrnon the screen is more real than ourrnneighbor, to whom we only happenrnto say “Hi” in the driveway as we rushrnin to eat our frozen dinners in front ofrnthe boob tube. The result is moralrnvoyeurism by which people becomernmore agitated about defending thern”rights” of Kuwaitis, Somalians, andrnBosnians than about defending the integrityrnof their own community. Afterrnall, they don’t see Richmond and Kokomornon ABC news or even its Indianapolisrnaffiliate. In a mediaocracy, whosernmotto is “I televise, therefore it is,” theyrnquite simply do not exist.rnSymbolic of this confusion of imagernwith reality were the 1993 state championshiprngames, which we attended sincernCarmel, my town’s high school, wasrnamong the “Final Four.” They were heldrnin the Hoosier Dome, a professionalrnfootball stadium converted for the use ofrnbasketball to accommodate 25,000-plusrnfans. The problem was that the floor wasrnso far away for much of the crowd thatrnthey had to have a huge screen. Many,rnalthough in attendance at the game, stillrnviewed it through a camera lens. Imagernwas more real than flesh and blood.rnThe economic base of our communityrnidentities is fast eroding as well. Manyrnof our small central and eastern Indianarntowns, such as Muncie, which was thernsubject of the Lynd’s famous “Middletown”rnstudies, experienced their firstrnboom with the discovery of natural gas inrnthe late 19th century. Glass factories,rnlike the Ball Company, came in to takernadvantage of the readily available resource.rnHoosier towns early on becamernautomotive centers, often producingrntheir own automobiles. Indeed, many ofrntheir consumer products were made forrnlocal consumption. This pattern continuedrninto the 20’s, the very time basketballrncaught on in a big way. Theserntwo elements, economics and entertainment,rnhelped to create a strong and independentrncommunity identity. Teamrnnames, such as the Bedford Stonecuttersrnand the Ladoga Canners, reflected thisrnfused identity. Bv the time of the GreatrnDepression, the local industries were usuallyrnstruggling or had been purchasedrnby regional or national companies. Thernlocally owned small factories, such asrnmeat-packing plants, have almost entirelyrndisappeared now. In the automotivernindustry, towns eventually came tornproduce only parts as part of a larger corporation.rnThese factories are still alive,rnbut in grave trouble.rnEven areas in which there is somerngood economic news no longer foster arnstrong community identity. Take Anderson,rnfor example. The town, home torna large Delco Remy plant, has been havingrnserious economic difficulties, and itsrnpopulation declined by over 13,000 inrnthe 1980’s. A recent article in the Indi-rn40/CHRONICLESrnrnrn