It has been a stellar year for Indiana sports fans — or, more accurately, fans of Indiana sports teams. After Notre Dame played in the 2025 College Football Playoff Championship game on Jan. 20, the Indiana Pacers made the NBA Finals in June, and the WNBA’s Indiana Fever set a franchise record for wins. Now, the Indianapolis Colts have the NFL’s best record, and the Indiana University Hoosiers — not long ago the cellar dwellers of Big 10 football — are undefeated and ranked No. 2 by the Associated Press. College football fans everywhere are impressed with second-year IU coach Curt Cignetti, who is credited for turning around the program in short order. IU is averaging 45.4 points per game this season, third in the nation. Coach Cignetti could be governor!
It’s rewarding to see your teams win — especially when the pain and agony of rough seasons is not too far off in the rearview mirror.
In late October, we’re also celebrating Don Mattingly. Evansville has followed the Reitz Memorial High School graduate’s 43-year career in baseball every step of the way, from his days as a prolific first basemen for the New York Yankees to a successful coaching and managing career that took him from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Miami Marlins, and, for the past three seasons, to the Toronto Blue Jays as bench coach. It’s with the Blue Jays that Mattingly earned his first trip to the World Series. The Blue Jays began the series against the Dodgers with a thrilling 11-4 victory Oct. 24 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre – but the Dodgers ultimately prevailed in seven games.
It’s also been a big year at Tucker Publishing Group, Inc. We celebrated the 25th anniversary of Evansville Living with the March/April issue and introduced a redesign and slightly larger magazine size. If you missed it, the stories are available at our website and as an e-book on the site. We do have extra print copies of the anniversary issue available for sale in the office; it makes a nice commemorative gift because it traces Evansville over the course of the last quarter century.
This year has rolled by quickly; it’s shocking to me that we are soon to close the books on 2025. Please know that our team at TPG is working hard already on stories to fill these pages next year. Thank you for inviting Evansville Living into your homes every season and for sharing in the stories that make ours a great city.
As always, I look forward to hearing from you.
