Hoosiers

I dare you to watch the movie “Hoosiers” in a hermetically sealed room and not smell the sweat.  You could say this is a film that reeks of atmosphere.

At Elmhurst, Clare worked out in a newer, oversized gym where softball and basketball more or less coexisted come January.  At Valpo, she’s traveled back in time to a Hoosiers’ facility for winter practice.  It’s an old gym, dark and confused as to when best to be cold (for God’s sake, not now) and when to be hot (certainly not in spring, summer and part of fall).  The only basketball players on hand are ghosts, overseen from the shadows by the specter of an old coach or two.  You might even hear the echoes of Converse All-Stars squeaking across the hardwood floor.

Softball players tread carefully in such a place.