Basketball, bars highlight night-life of Indianapolis

Next year the city will be hosting the NCAA Final Four

INDIANAPOLIS - As I-69 goes over the state line from Michigan to Indiana, a blue sign says that you are entering "The Crossroads of America." Take its advice - stay on the road and cross right through the state.

Smack in the middle of the Midwestern Bible Belt - billboards on the side of I-69 inform you that "Jesus is coming, are you ready?" and "The family that prays together stays together" - Indianapolis is about as exciting as a flea circus on acid.

The big hang out in Indianapolis is a mall - that's right, a mall. Located in the heart of downtown, walking distance from both Market Square Arena and the RCA dome, it's complete with a movie theater and the obligatory Gap. And at night, it transforms into a hopping bar scene, so they can get you drunk then take advantage of your wallet. ("Don't like that red flannel? Let's see what you say after a few beers and a tequila slammer!")

Finally, after stumbling out of the mall drunk and with a whole new wardrobe, you realize that it's only 6 p.m. and you've got nothing to do.

AP PHOTO Indiana Pacer Rik Smits out runs Wolverine star, turned Milwaukee Buck benchwarmer Robert Traylor for a loose ball.

Welcome to Indianapolis. Get used to the feeling.

But if the date happens to be this past Friday, and you like boxing, you can watch the Prannel Whitaker-Felix Trinidad fight. But one wrinkle arises. Out of the dozen or so sports bars in the Indianapolis area, no one seems to want to show the welterweight title bout.

"We would normally show it," a waiter at The Linebacker said over the phone, "but we're not this time."

Thanks a lot. Finally, after calling The Point After, Ebony Sports, Lacy's Showgirls, Champs Sports Bar and Grill and every other sports bar in the phone book, you find one that's showing the fight - for a measly $20 cover charge.

So you and your friends decide it's eating time. Listen to this actual conversation between a hungry tourist and one of Indianapolis' Finest at 11 p.m. on a Friday night:

Hungry Tourist: "Excuse me, officer, do you know where we can grab a bite to eat?"

Officer: "This late on a Friday night? I don't know, pretty much everything is closed."

Tourist: "Nothing's open at all?"

Officer: "Well, you can try Hooters."

Indianapolis does have one saving grace - basketball. For the hoops fan, Indianapolis just might be Mecca. You've got the Pacers playing downtown at Market Square Arena with legendary coach Larry Bird, Indiana and Purdue Universities both about an hour away and the annual High School tournament of "Hoosiers" fame at the RCA dome - but with the adoption of enrollment-based classes, you'll never see Hickory beating the big boys with underhand free throws again.

And next year, the city will host the NCAA Final Four. That's right, for the first time since Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and UNLV went at it in Indy in 1991, the nation's best college hoops teams will converge to fight for the national title while Michigan's squad works on its collective beer belly.

02-25-99