Le Journal

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Fernando Mendoza bulldozed his way into the end zone and Indiana bullied its way into the history books Monday night, toppling Miami 27-21 to put the finishing touch on a rags-to-riches story, an undefeated season and the national title.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Twenty-four individuals commemorated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a b-r–r–r–r–rave display of courage – confronting the icy waters of the Snake River in a cold plunge on Monday morning. Patrick Toussaint started the event reading from King’s famous “I Have a Dream” address. He recited stories of racism he experienced growing up as a young man in Miami, Florida. “In Florida, I was public enemy number one – black guy crossing the street, they see me coming, I’d hear the door lock,” Toussaint said. “I’m walking along the street. Lady sees me; she crosses the street. If I’m in the supermarket, a lady sees me; she’s moving her purse to the other side." However, here in Idaho he reports his mixed racial family has been embraced. “I haven’t felt racial stuff here,” he said, before repeating King’s immortalized lines, “I have a dream that one day my children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Immediately following Toussaint's statements, the cold plungers jumped, waded or flipped into the 27-degree waters of the Snake River.Organizers started the morning by chipping away four inches of ice in preparation for the event.The cold plunge serves as a reminder that “courage is rarely comfortable.”“Thank you, Brother [Martin Luther] King, because of what you did back then, I'm living the dream right now,” Toussaint said afterward. “I love doing hard things. Again, back in the day with Martin Luther King, things were hard for black people.”He said the cold plunge helps him “assimilate some kind of toughness to overcome that, because that's what this is all about – overcoming.” “We came to celebrate Martin Luther King Day here in Idaho Falls,” said Andy Johnson, a cold plunger extraordinaire. “... because we have a dream, as far as what he stood for, as far as the civil rights and liberties that we get to exercise in this country. How better to celebrate it than with a cold plunge?!” Johnson led a group of hardcore enthusiasts in submersing in a two-feet-square hole in the ice. “We got to be able to chip out the ice, and be able to choose our mind over our physical needs,” he said.During college, organizer Tyler Price heard Rosa Parks tell her experiences from the Civil Rights movement in person, and said that the struggle for civil rights and human dignity continues today. Taking the plunge in today’s divisive climate, he said, means standing up to injustice while respecting each other’s differences and disagreeing respectfully. Tyler Price takes a plunge to end racism, and Patrick Toussaint speaks about civil rights on Monday.

When Indiana won Monday’s national championship game, it was a huge day for former Alabama head coach Nick Saban’s coaching tree. With both coaches working for Saban with the Crimson Tide, the group of former assistants was bound to land another title.

Indiana led Miami 10-0 at halftime of Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship game, but Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti was not pleased with the officiating.