I don't often admit this, but I am, technically, a Hoosier (thanks, Peyton and company for making it OK to say that again!) I was born in Indiana, but we didn't stay there long. But I can't deny that my family roots run deep; on a trip to the Tippecanoe battlefield, I was astonished to see a name that ties DIRECTLY onto my family tree among the list of the fallen. Tippecanoe, for those who don't remember their history well, was in the VERY early part of the 19th century.

Now, when you're a hoosier who never lived in Indiana, there ain't much to be proud of. You basically live in exile, not quite a Hoosier, not quite a resident of the state where you live. Yet every Memorial Day the old black and white television set would tune in to the Indianapolis 500. It was a race I never missed once until a few years ago, when the politics of it pretty much ruined the race.

The first time I ever felt like I was a Hoosier, though, was the first time I heard John Mellencamp (then John Cougar) play. "Jack and Diane" was an anthem for my generation, and "The Authority Song" was to us what "I fought the law and the law won" was to the generation before. John Cougar was to many Hoosiers the second coming of Fairmount, Indiana native James Dean (a sixth cousin...I was born in the same hospital as he was, many years later, of course). He was the ultimate rock and roll rebel...a folk rocker who was able to put the feelings of many hard working middle Americans into words better than most. And to me, a reluctant Hoosier, he was an icon.

It wasn't until I was 31 years old that I finally was able to see John Mellencamp live and in person. And the event was one that will be forever etched in my memory.

Anyone who has read my blog consistently has heard me boast of attending Farm Aid in 2001, three weeks after 9/11 to the point where you're probably sick of it. Everything about that concert was special, though, and seeing John Mellencamp perform on his (and my) home soil made it even more so.

It's funny how memories come and go, and musical tastes may change slightly over time. But I don't think I will live long enough to not have special memories of John Mellencamp, the first person I ever heard who made me proud to be a Hoosier!

(But once again, I have to give propr to Peyton! I'm gonna bleed this thing until the 2007 season starts!)