Congratulations Indianapolis for scoring – once again – a huge sporting event that is sure to draw thousands of visitors and millions of dollars to our hometown. Just yesterday, the newly expanded Big Ten Conference leadership called an audible and handed off the hosting rights for its inaugural Big Ten football championship to Indianapolis in 2011.

No doubt, the passionate and talented leadership of the Indiana Sports Corporation and the ever-professional staff of the much-acclaimed Lucas Oil Stadium will run with the proverbial football in the same cadence that has proven success with other recent high-profile events, such as the Big Ten and NCAA basketball tournaments here.

How did this happen? And just as critical – why is this important?  All answers point to the word, “reputation.”

As parents, my wife and I try to instill in our children an appreciation for having a good “rep.” What others say and what assumptions are made about you (good and bad) are based on a person’s reputation. So it goes with our remarkable city.

• History has already demonstrated our community’s ability to successfully welcome and host thousands of visitors. Reputation!
• Sports leaders from around the country count on the hundreds of quality volunteers and outstanding staff necessary to properly stage world-class events. Reputation!
• Media near and far have fallen in love with having events in Indy due to our compact and convenient downtown and impressive facilities. Reputation!
• And now, with yet another major event in our pipeline, more opportunities lie around the corner for sure. Reputation!

This year, Borshoff has been extremely honored to have played a role in promoting such events as the NCAA Men’s Final Four ancillary events and next week’s Drum Corps International World Championship. Indy’s award-winning reputation has rubbed off on all of our public relations and advertising professionals here at Borshoff – so we, individually and collectively, share in the celebration of yesterday’s Big Ten announcement and what it means for our city. It means the story continues and the outcomes reinforce and validate the investments made in making Indianapolis the “#1 go-to guy” in hosting major events.

So let’s take the ball and run with it – again – because this is what we do here in Indy. Reputation!

Watching U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn win gold in the downhill, or Apolo Anton Ohno become the most decorated Winter Olympic athlete with three new medals in short track skating, or seeing the incredible performance of Canadian Joannie Rochette win bronze in women’s figure skating only days after her mother died of a heart attack – all of it lifts my spirit.

It’s incredible that we can almost feel the grit and determination of these exceptional athletes – doing things that few can do, and even fewer can imagine doing.

It reminds me how fortunate we are here in Indianapolis to be the beneficiary of sporting events that attract some of the best athletes in the world. Here we can watch these athletes in real time, in real life, and not via the pixels of a big screen TV. You have to give the City and State a 10 for that!

The next chance for Hoosiers and our Big Ten neighbors is the 2010 Big Ten Basketball Tournaments. The women’s event starts this week, March 4-7, and the men’s tournament is March 11-14.

I hope you’ll join the thousands of fans descending upon downtown Indianapolis to enjoy some of the best basketball teams in the country duke it out for a Big Ten trophy.

For tickets, go to the Conseco Fieldhouse box office, or online at www.ticketmaster.com or call (800) 745-3000.

And if you’re not into basketball, as hard as that is to believe in Indiana, do the Big Ten Hoops Day 5K or enjoy some of the other events surrounding Indianapolis’ not-to-be-missed Big Ten celebration. More info is available at www.indianasportscorp.com/events/bigten.