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Last week wasn’t easy for a lot of people, what with all the rain and flooding. Happened to some of you reading this. Happened to some of my friends around Indianapolis, north and south of downtown. Happened to me, actually, in the home my fiancée and I just purchased on the eastside.
That was Friday night, our basements filling with water. On Saturday, former Indiana basketball coach Kelvin Sampson led Houston past Duke in the Final Four as the water started to recede here. On Sunday the rains returned and the water rose again. On Monday, hours after the jackhammers had been downstairs — breaking into my basement to install a sump pump — Sampson’s Cougars lost a heartbreaker to Florida in the 2025 NCAA championship game.
Ever seen a story like this? Like any of this? Me neither. But it’s what I love about the Mailbagg™, and about the text message group that inspires it. IndyStar subscribers can join on the link below any of my columns. More than 2,500 have signed up, it’s free, and while I see everything — it’s a lot, and it’s almost uniformly awesome — readers see only what I share.
For example.
Join the text group: Free for subscribers! Well it is.
From: Me to the group
Hey guys. Vacation's over and I need a vacation! Like some of you, I suspect, we had a basement flood. Nothing awful, beyond the fact that any basement flood is just kind of awful.
New story below, on torpedo bats and MLB's odd acceptance of them: Nothing to see here! Maybe, maybe not. But shouldn't MLB have an interest beyond the "legality" of the measurements?
Question: Does 2 inches of water on concrete floor, since receded, make mandatory the repair/replacement of drywall? Is this a mold issue that MUST be addressed?
From: Lee M.
Hell nah, suck it dry with a wet vac and stick a fan on it for a few days.
Well that sounds easy. Thank you Lee!
From: Tom M.
Get some fans, a couple of dehumidifiers, cut the drywall above the wet line, let it dry, repair drywall. You should be good if you only had a couple of inches, but you need to cut the bad out.
Doesn’t sound so easy.
From: Mike M.
Very likely a precursor to mold Gregg. It could take a little time to develop.
Sigh.
As I mentioned in the text to the group above — before my flood question — I’d come off vacation that day with a story about torpedo bats. That text received more than 80 responses, almost all of them offering advice or concern about my basement. Love that. Several did mentioned the column on torpedo bats, but almost in passing, as the lesser detail that it was. Which I appreciate too.
From: Joel S.
As for the torpedo bat, remember the Prince tennis racket? Once it was shown to comply with the rules measurements for rackets, the wooden and steel frames were eventually replaced. So I don't see this as any different.
Great comparison, and analogy. I don’t have a problem with changing equipment — but with the cavalier way MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is shoving his head in the sand and letting this happen with zero research or hesitation. MLB studies everything, forever. But home runs are flying off a newly designed bat, and there’s nothing to see here? What?
From: Dan W.
My concern about the torpedo bats
itchers, and possibly infielders, getting injured with the bat speed and exit velocity. Umpires in the field also vulnerable. Many pitchers throw in the upper 90s to low 100s, and I think the torpedo bat is allowing hitters to catch up to the fastball. After playing college baseball, area softball teams asked me to play slo-pitch softball. I didn't care for it mainly because the balls were so bouncy, and the supercharged metal bats made it dangerous to play infield. I played a year or two and said enough. I decided to keep my teeth.
You listening, Rob Manfred? Clear the dirt from your ears!
Doyel on torpedo: Big results after change to basic piece of equipment. Nothing to see here!
From: Me to the group
First, thank you for all the awesome replies about my flooding. I'll get to it in the Mailbagg, because you guys are amazing.
As for what I'm doing today…
I'll share a new column with you first, later today. Here's a paragraph I just wrote.
Look, this is a personal story. We're not here to explain how you feel, or suggest how you should feel, about Kelvin Sampson. Consider this more of a confession, or a journey to the truth. Consider this the pursuit of an answer to a question I never, and by that I mean ever, thought I'd ask:
Why do I like Kelvin Sampson?
Back to writing.
From: Dianne D.
Can't wait to read this. After the game I felt sorry for the guy. So close, so many times, and then a heartbreaking loss once again. Then I remembered how he got IU on probation for five years by cheating the same way he was reprimanded for in his last stint in college.
He seems like a nice guy … but is he? In my mind, not really. He was not very nice to our program. For whatever reasons, we haven't been the same since.
Maybe I’ll change your mind! Oh, who am I kidding. Nobody ever changes their mind. About anything.
From: Chris G.
I was in Assembly Hall for Midnight Madness in 2006 when Coach Sampson said he would not cheat again — well, he did. I'm not sure I can really forgive him considering the state of IU basketball since.
I wrote the column for me. You feel how you feel. Would be nice if I could change some minds, but…
From: Darren T.
As a Hoosier, living in Florida, I couldn't help but find myself rooting for Kelvin Sampson. It's a conundrum, I suppose, being an IU alum who lived through the fallout of his coaching reign, but I still hoped Houston could pull it out. Was that just rooting for the underdog? Maybe, but I'm not so sure. I was actively pulling to see a Kelvin Sampson team win. He's often given lots of discarded players second chances, and last night, in a way, was my time to give him a second chance (whether other folks think he deserves it or not).
Love this Darren.
From: Mark P.
Fantastic question about Sampson. I like him too but, as an IU fan, feel very awkward trying to justify it publicly without being placed in stocks on the town square.
Maybe people might privately change their mind? Oh, who am I kidding.
From: Mike M.
If you like Sampson so much, Gregg, you should invite him to this text group. I hear he is really good at texting.
OK this is well done.
From: Craig W.
If you do like Sampson, you have gone to the dark side. Coaches like Sampson, Bruce Pearl, Rick Pitino, Chris Beard, John Calipari, Bill Self, Will Wade, Sean Miller and, perhaps, Todd Golden — who either cheated and were caught, or “forgiven” by questionable investigations — do not deserve to coach college teams.
That’s always been my position, too. Certainly they don’t deserve a job as good as the IU opening this spring.
Doyel on IU opening: Hoosiers are too good for Will Wade and these other cheats
From: Me to the group
Here's the Kelvin Sampson column, a story about forgiveness and fathers and sons — his family, yes, and mine.
From: Steve G.
I didn't want to read this column because somehow I knew that you were going to change my mind.
Heyyyy!!!!!!!!!!
From: Tom M.
Nice article but l'm still glad he lost. Too much garbage under his bed.
OK, so I didn’t change yours. I’ll take one mind changed!
From: Bruce B.
You just changed my mind. Maybe next year Kelvin Sampson wins.
Awwwww.
From: Dan M.
Excellent piece about Kelvin Sampson. It closely resembles my own feelings. “Redemption” is the word that keeps coming to mind. We've all made mistakes, but hopefully not the same one in rapid succession; that was just dumb, desperate or arrogant. I am glad Gregg Popovich threw him a lifeline in San Antonio, and Kelvin has climbed out.
Same here. I’m happy for Kelvin. Never knew I’d think that. Did you see what I wrote when he reached the Final Four in 2021? I was ANGRY.
From: Clark S.
I hung on every word. So good. Thanks for writing it. Take a bow.
Oops. Meant to put this one in the “Not printing these” section.
Doyel in 2021: Is anyone happy to see Kelvin Sampson reached the Final Four here in Indiana?
Doyel this week: Is anyone NOT heartbroken that Kelvin Sampson didn't win NCAA title?
From: Jeff B.
Didn't you go to Florida? All my kids have gone/going there. Go Gators!
Yeah, I went to Florida, and I’m proud of the journalism school — but I’m not a “Gator.” Too much cheating there, when I was in school — men’s basketball, football — and then too much off-field nonsense allowed by former football coach Urban Meyer, and alleged to have been committed by current men’s basketball coach Todd Golden. The school has my dad’s money. It doesn’t have my heart.
From: John M.
Terrific personal story about Sampson, and I respect your opinion and change of heart. But the man ruined my alma mater’s hoops program by doing exactly what he promised he would not do. Love you, respect you, but not with you on this one.
It’s too bad I’m not printing this one. Because disagreement is rarely done with this much class.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar. Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.
More: Join the text conversation with sports columnist Gregg Doyel for insights, reader questions and Doyel's peeks behind the curtain.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Flood waters rise in Indiana as Kelvin Sampson's redemption draws nigh
Continue reading...
That was Friday night, our basements filling with water. On Saturday, former Indiana basketball coach Kelvin Sampson led Houston past Duke in the Final Four as the water started to recede here. On Sunday the rains returned and the water rose again. On Monday, hours after the jackhammers had been downstairs — breaking into my basement to install a sump pump — Sampson’s Cougars lost a heartbreaker to Florida in the 2025 NCAA championship game.
Ever seen a story like this? Like any of this? Me neither. But it’s what I love about the Mailbagg™, and about the text message group that inspires it. IndyStar subscribers can join on the link below any of my columns. More than 2,500 have signed up, it’s free, and while I see everything — it’s a lot, and it’s almost uniformly awesome — readers see only what I share.
For example.
Join the text group: Free for subscribers! Well it is.
So, about the flood
From: Me to the group
Hey guys. Vacation's over and I need a vacation! Like some of you, I suspect, we had a basement flood. Nothing awful, beyond the fact that any basement flood is just kind of awful.
New story below, on torpedo bats and MLB's odd acceptance of them: Nothing to see here! Maybe, maybe not. But shouldn't MLB have an interest beyond the "legality" of the measurements?
Question: Does 2 inches of water on concrete floor, since receded, make mandatory the repair/replacement of drywall? Is this a mold issue that MUST be addressed?
From: Lee M.
Hell nah, suck it dry with a wet vac and stick a fan on it for a few days.
Well that sounds easy. Thank you Lee!
From: Tom M.
Get some fans, a couple of dehumidifiers, cut the drywall above the wet line, let it dry, repair drywall. You should be good if you only had a couple of inches, but you need to cut the bad out.
Doesn’t sound so easy.
From: Mike M.
Very likely a precursor to mold Gregg. It could take a little time to develop.
Sigh.
MLB's torpedo bat problem
As I mentioned in the text to the group above — before my flood question — I’d come off vacation that day with a story about torpedo bats. That text received more than 80 responses, almost all of them offering advice or concern about my basement. Love that. Several did mentioned the column on torpedo bats, but almost in passing, as the lesser detail that it was. Which I appreciate too.
From: Joel S.
As for the torpedo bat, remember the Prince tennis racket? Once it was shown to comply with the rules measurements for rackets, the wooden and steel frames were eventually replaced. So I don't see this as any different.
Great comparison, and analogy. I don’t have a problem with changing equipment — but with the cavalier way MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is shoving his head in the sand and letting this happen with zero research or hesitation. MLB studies everything, forever. But home runs are flying off a newly designed bat, and there’s nothing to see here? What?
From: Dan W.
My concern about the torpedo bats
itchers, and possibly infielders, getting injured with the bat speed and exit velocity. Umpires in the field also vulnerable. Many pitchers throw in the upper 90s to low 100s, and I think the torpedo bat is allowing hitters to catch up to the fastball. After playing college baseball, area softball teams asked me to play slo-pitch softball. I didn't care for it mainly because the balls were so bouncy, and the supercharged metal bats made it dangerous to play infield. I played a year or two and said enough. I decided to keep my teeth.You listening, Rob Manfred? Clear the dirt from your ears!
Doyel on torpedo: Big results after change to basic piece of equipment. Nothing to see here!
The redemption of Kelvin Sampson
From: Me to the group
First, thank you for all the awesome replies about my flooding. I'll get to it in the Mailbagg, because you guys are amazing.
As for what I'm doing today…
I'll share a new column with you first, later today. Here's a paragraph I just wrote.
Look, this is a personal story. We're not here to explain how you feel, or suggest how you should feel, about Kelvin Sampson. Consider this more of a confession, or a journey to the truth. Consider this the pursuit of an answer to a question I never, and by that I mean ever, thought I'd ask:
Why do I like Kelvin Sampson?
Back to writing.
From: Dianne D.
Can't wait to read this. After the game I felt sorry for the guy. So close, so many times, and then a heartbreaking loss once again. Then I remembered how he got IU on probation for five years by cheating the same way he was reprimanded for in his last stint in college.
He seems like a nice guy … but is he? In my mind, not really. He was not very nice to our program. For whatever reasons, we haven't been the same since.
Maybe I’ll change your mind! Oh, who am I kidding. Nobody ever changes their mind. About anything.
From: Chris G.
I was in Assembly Hall for Midnight Madness in 2006 when Coach Sampson said he would not cheat again — well, he did. I'm not sure I can really forgive him considering the state of IU basketball since.
I wrote the column for me. You feel how you feel. Would be nice if I could change some minds, but…
From: Darren T.
As a Hoosier, living in Florida, I couldn't help but find myself rooting for Kelvin Sampson. It's a conundrum, I suppose, being an IU alum who lived through the fallout of his coaching reign, but I still hoped Houston could pull it out. Was that just rooting for the underdog? Maybe, but I'm not so sure. I was actively pulling to see a Kelvin Sampson team win. He's often given lots of discarded players second chances, and last night, in a way, was my time to give him a second chance (whether other folks think he deserves it or not).
Love this Darren.
From: Mark P.
Fantastic question about Sampson. I like him too but, as an IU fan, feel very awkward trying to justify it publicly without being placed in stocks on the town square.
Maybe people might privately change their mind? Oh, who am I kidding.
From: Mike M.
If you like Sampson so much, Gregg, you should invite him to this text group. I hear he is really good at texting.
OK this is well done.
From: Craig W.
If you do like Sampson, you have gone to the dark side. Coaches like Sampson, Bruce Pearl, Rick Pitino, Chris Beard, John Calipari, Bill Self, Will Wade, Sean Miller and, perhaps, Todd Golden — who either cheated and were caught, or “forgiven” by questionable investigations — do not deserve to coach college teams.
That’s always been my position, too. Certainly they don’t deserve a job as good as the IU opening this spring.
Doyel on IU opening: Hoosiers are too good for Will Wade and these other cheats
Here’s the Kelvin Sampson column
From: Me to the group
Here's the Kelvin Sampson column, a story about forgiveness and fathers and sons — his family, yes, and mine.
From: Steve G.
I didn't want to read this column because somehow I knew that you were going to change my mind.
Heyyyy!!!!!!!!!!
From: Tom M.
Nice article but l'm still glad he lost. Too much garbage under his bed.
OK, so I didn’t change yours. I’ll take one mind changed!
From: Bruce B.
You just changed my mind. Maybe next year Kelvin Sampson wins.
Awwwww.
From: Dan M.
Excellent piece about Kelvin Sampson. It closely resembles my own feelings. “Redemption” is the word that keeps coming to mind. We've all made mistakes, but hopefully not the same one in rapid succession; that was just dumb, desperate or arrogant. I am glad Gregg Popovich threw him a lifeline in San Antonio, and Kelvin has climbed out.
Same here. I’m happy for Kelvin. Never knew I’d think that. Did you see what I wrote when he reached the Final Four in 2021? I was ANGRY.
From: Clark S.
I hung on every word. So good. Thanks for writing it. Take a bow.
Oops. Meant to put this one in the “Not printing these” section.
Doyel in 2021: Is anyone happy to see Kelvin Sampson reached the Final Four here in Indiana?
Doyel this week: Is anyone NOT heartbroken that Kelvin Sampson didn't win NCAA title?
Not printing these
From: Jeff B.
Didn't you go to Florida? All my kids have gone/going there. Go Gators!
Yeah, I went to Florida, and I’m proud of the journalism school — but I’m not a “Gator.” Too much cheating there, when I was in school — men’s basketball, football — and then too much off-field nonsense allowed by former football coach Urban Meyer, and alleged to have been committed by current men’s basketball coach Todd Golden. The school has my dad’s money. It doesn’t have my heart.
From: John M.
Terrific personal story about Sampson, and I respect your opinion and change of heart. But the man ruined my alma mater’s hoops program by doing exactly what he promised he would not do. Love you, respect you, but not with you on this one.
It’s too bad I’m not printing this one. Because disagreement is rarely done with this much class.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar. Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.
More: Join the text conversation with sports columnist Gregg Doyel for insights, reader questions and Doyel's peeks behind the curtain.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Flood waters rise in Indiana as Kelvin Sampson's redemption draws nigh
Continue reading...
