Ben Smith
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thatbenguy.bsky.social
Ben Smith
@thatbenguy.bsky.social
45 followers 33 following 540 posts
Retired sports columnist for the Fort Wayne (In.) Journal Gazette. Former marketing writer at Manchester University. Civil war/history nerd. Crabby old fart.
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thatbenguy.bsky.social
Expect the unexpected, except for this: Indiana wins. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/da-p...
Da prediction
You want to surrender to the narrative, at this point. It's grown so big, after all. You want to just say "Indiana is going to win a nation...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 19, 2026 at 1:46 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Basketball Hoosiers hit the skids. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/mean...
Meanwhile, in Assembly Hell ...
So remember a week or so ago, when Indiana's basketball team had won four in a row and the Blob saw fit to remind everyone that, yes, there...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 18, 2026 at 2:59 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Tradition and weirdness doom Buffalo again. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/bill...
Bills come due
Three things you can take away from yesterday's NFL divisional playoff games, two of them from the Book of Mr. Obvious and the other from t...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 18, 2026 at 1:50 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
A trophy for the Prez. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/priz...
Prize appropriation
( In which, once again, the Blob kinda-sorta escapes the Sportsball World compound. Standard disclaimer applies. ) Have listened to all the...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 17, 2026 at 2:23 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Indiana? Accused of cheating? What a wondrous new world. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/anot...
Another milestone
That boffo new comedy on the interwhatsis, "The Diminishment Of The Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-Hoosiers," achieved yet another milestone the other day. App...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 17, 2026 at 1:27 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
A point-shaving scandal in college hoops? What a surprise. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-...
The enduring taint
Once upon a time the City College of New York (CCNY) had a dandy little basketball team that was coached by a legend named Nat Holman, and i...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 16, 2026 at 1:59 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Storming the court ain't what it used to be. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/shri...
Shrinking the Big Deal
Saw an ESPN headline this a.m. that made me laugh, after which it made say, "Really?" After which it made me say, "How pathetic is this ?" ...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 15, 2026 at 1:34 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Mike Tomlin bows out, gracefully. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/how-...
How you do it
Raise a glass this morning to the people who get it, who can see home truth beyond the glare of ego, who jump instead of making those aroun...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 14, 2026 at 1:26 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
LIV golf, meet the WHA. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/past...
Past as prologue
The  big news out of golf right now -- it's January, so any news out of golf qualifies as big -- is that Brooks Koepka is coming back to th...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 13, 2026 at 1:49 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
When not to praise famous men (or women). andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/time...
Times and places
I once heard a reporter in a press conference totally befuddle a young man named Major Harris. The year was 1989, the occasion was the Fies...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 12, 2026 at 1:33 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
The Bears do it again. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/clif...
Cliffhanger Central
Look, there has to be a name for them now. Has to be. They can't just be the Bears ... or Da Bearz ... or Da (Bleepity-Bleeping) Bearz. So ...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 11, 2026 at 1:27 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Hoosiers just keep blowing up the norm. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/hail...
Hail to the conceivable, Part Deux
Driving around with the radio on a smidge before 5:00 yesterday afternoon, and a high school basketball game was just about to start alread...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 10, 2026 at 1:28 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
It's IU. It's conventional wisdom. And so ... andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/da-p...
Da prediction
Every day now people ask me what I think, usually people dressed in IU red this or IU red that. I tell them I don't know what to think. I'm...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 9, 2026 at 1:49 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
A basketball sighting in Bloomington. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/and-...
And now ...
... allow us to introduce Indiana University's basketball team. Did you even know Indiana University had a basketball team? Well, it does....
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 8, 2026 at 2:47 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Remembering Glenn Hall, the man between the pipes. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/a-ga...
A gamer goes
That must be one whale of a 0-0 save-fest they've got going on up in the Great Beyond right now, with the word coming down that Mr. Goalie h...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:18 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Jacob Markstrom's rough night. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/nigh...
Night of the sieve
So, you think you had a bad day yesterday? You didn't have a bad day. Jacob Markstrom, now, he had a bad day. Markstrom, see, is the goalt...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 7, 2026 at 12:52 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Winners, losers, and -- finally -- the end. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/a-fe...
A few brief thoughts on NFL Week 18
And now the last, final, this-is-it edition of the season of The NFL In So Many Words, the time-sensitive Blob feature of which critics hav...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 6, 2026 at 1:02 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
More football fun in B-town. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/sign...
Sign of some very new times
They're having a whole pile of fun down in Bloomington, In., these days, trying to figure out how IU football has gone from worst to first ...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 5, 2026 at 2:14 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Whither your Indianapolis Colts? andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/qs-w...
Q's with few A's
The Indianapolis Colts died trying again yesterday, this time falling 38-30 to the playoff-bound Houston Texans. It was their seventh strai...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 5, 2026 at 1:47 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Let the transfer portal feeding frenzy begin. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/chao...
Chaos, lovely chaos
A-portaling we will go ... a-portaling we will go ... heigh ho the dair- Oops, sorry. Just trying to get with the zeitgeist here. Just try...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 4, 2026 at 1:58 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
The NHL, and a Classic anomaly. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/a-wi...
A winter wonder-what-this-is land
The New York Rangers beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 yesterday in the NHL's "Winter" Classic, and a good time was had by all. The game was pl...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 3, 2026 at 3:01 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
Sheer domination for IU. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/hail...
Hail to the conceivable
So it's not inconceivable the Crimson Tide could pull the upset ... -- Me, 24 hours ago I was wrong. It was inconceivable. -- Me, today An...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 2, 2026 at 1:26 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
The Blob says Indiana. But not by much. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/a-ro...
A Rose, with thorns
Omens are dark and soulless things if you believe in them, but only if you believe in them. And right now, at the dawn of a new and probab...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 1, 2026 at 2:58 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
A test of wills with 2026. andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2026/01/reso...
Resolved
(Interior monologue, 8:17 a.m., January 1, 2026 ... ) " You're not really gonna do this, are you?" "Do what?" "The whole New Year's resolut...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
January 1, 2026 at 2:05 PM
thatbenguy.bsky.social
When Caleb met Ben ... andonethingmore.blogspot.com/2025/12/coac...
Coachin' 'em up
Caleb Williams came thisclose to beating the surging 49ers on the coast the other night, in one of those who-has-the-ball-last 42-38 shoot...
andonethingmore.blogspot.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:41 PM