Indiana State was supposed to be hosting a Super Regional this weekend. Instead, the 16th-seeded Sycamores will travel to Fort Worth, Texas for a date with unseeded TCU instead.
The change in venue was necessitated thanks to preexisting plans in Terre Haute. The Indiana chapter of the Special Olympics had already reserved the date to hold its 51st annual Summer Games the same weekend. Without enough hotel rooms to meet the demand of local and traveling fans — as well as ESPN’s production crew — the decision was made to shift the best-of-three series south following the Horned Frogs’ upset of top-seeded Arkansas Monday.
It’s a difficult decision for Sycamores players who earned the right to play one more series at home, only to have it taken away for reasons outside their control. And it’s an unexpected blessing for a TCU team that suddenly gets the advantage of a partisan crowd. But the Horned Frog faithful are paying their good fortune forward with donations to Special Olympics Indiana.
Please join us at the LDC and donate to Indiana Special Olympics. Nothing can replace hosting a super regional, but we sure can help support our next foes in a different way. Click link & and donate, gang. #FrogsForSycs https://t.co/iAzhRqyqz2 https://t.co/pVxwG577pd
— Lupton Drinking Club (@luptonbeers) June 5, 2023
The Lupton Drinking Club, a TCU sports-based podcast, put out a call to action June 5. In fewer than two days, it’s been retweeted more than 800 times. That’s resulted in more than $23,000 in new funding for the Special Olympics.
UPDATE: Special Olympics Indiana tells 13News they've received more than $23,000 in donations from baseball fans across the country since @luptonbeers put out a call for donations last night. #FrogsforSycs https://t.co/VjTNtyfqTQ
— WTHR.com (@WTHRcom) June 7, 2023
Special Olympics Indiana CEO Jeff Mohler saw the donations as a sigil of true sportsmanship.
“Sports at its truest,” Mohler told Indianapolis NBC affiliate WTHR. “The most fundamental part of our society is for the betterment of who we are as individuals and this is a testimony to that, what sports could and should be. It is more than competition, although we do like to keep score, obviously the scoreboard is on, but we can all be better for it, if we live it in the right spirit.”
In this case, TCU fans were able to turn a negative for Indiana State into a positive for residents across the Hoosier State. That may not be the outcome Sycamore fans wanted, but it’s a result with which they can find a silver lining.