Pikus Checks in From Ireland

I just got an email with this picture of Pikus and his new friends from Ireland. He said he's having a great time and that the local "flare" is great. I don't really know what that means, but at least he's having a good time.

*Pikus is the one in the middle holding the Heineken like it's a, well, you know.

Way To Make Your Free Throws Keaton!

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Boilers and Hawkeyes Tonight

So the Boilers have Iowa coming to Mackey Arena tonight. Purdue has won 5 straight including Saturday's huge win over #11 Wisconsin. This team is really playing some outstanding basketball right now. They are shooting the lights out, playing great D, the young guys are growing up fast, and everybody is doing their part to contribute. They are really fun to watch!

15-5 is their record. If there is anybody out there that thought Purdue was going to have this record this season is a liar. Painter really has these guys playing like a team and everybody knows their role. I was pretty skeptical of Painter early in the season because of all the close losses. Many times a young team needs a very strong coach to make the right decisions at the end of a game to get out with a win. I didn't feel Painter was doing a good job of this. But, as usual, I'm wrong. Painter has got these guys running on all cylinders. I don't think there's been this much excitement in Mackey since the late 90s.

Hopefully they can keep the good play going against Iowa tonight. Sorry to those of you without a dish, it's on the Big Ten Network, you are just going to have to come back tomorrow to get my expert analysis of the game.

On another note I was watching SportsCenter last night. Media Day for the Super Bowl was yesterday or Monday or whatever. Plaxico Burress said that he predicted a 23-17 victory for the Giants on Sunday. ESPN was trying to make a controversy of this like it was Bush giving out Presidential Secrets to the Iranians or something. What's he supposed to say, "...No, I really don't think we have a chance on Sunday. I really don't know why we're even going to play the game...." Just stupid. I should hope he thinks the Giants are going to win! SportsCenter went on about this for about 20 minutes. Very annoying.

Go Boilers!

Stirring Up Some Bad Memories

So I just got finished reading this article from ESPN.com, and if I wasn't having a bad day before reading it, I am now. Just thinking about what that scumbag Art Modell did to the City of Cleveland and the Browns Fans makes me want to get sick.

It starts out talking about Bill Belichick and how he learned a lot from being a miserable coach in Cleveland and then gets talking about Art. So we'll start from the beginning.

Belichick benched and later released Bernie Kosar. I really do not think much more needs to be said about that. Kosar was the savior of Cleveland in the mid-80's. Had remarkable performance after remarkable performance on the great Browns teams that went to the AFC Championships. Threw for almost 500 yards against the Jets in the first round of the playoffs in 86. The Monday night game against Miami. I can go on. Belichick had problems with Bernie because Bernie was very hard-headed, liked to change play calls, liked to audible, and liked to speak his mind. And if I remember correctly, Bernie's last play as a Cleveland Brown was a touchdown pass on an audible, in which he got benched for Vinny Testaverde. 2 years later, Testaverde was benched for Eric Zeier. Yep, Eric Zeier...

Yes, it's frustrating to watch the success of the Patriots with Belichick at the helm. It's really amazing how great of a job he's done, particularly how well he's done since both Crennel and Weis have left him. I think Crennel is a great coach for the Browns, and I think Weis is a fat moron that thinks he's much smarter than he really is. What he has done at ND is really amazing! But that's for another day.

I'm already a little worked up about Coach Bill, but then we get to Modell. I really don't even know where to start?? In the process of running the team into the ground, the decided that Andre Rison was the one who was going to lead the Browns the the promised land. Yes, the same Andre Rison who had his house burned down by his girlfriend. Apparently Modell had to go all over the greater Cleveland area to find money to sign him. Rison ended up with career lows in every statistical category. And there's also this little nugget after a disappointing home loss to the Packers and after the move to Baltimore was announced. Rison was booed by the fans throughout the game, lashed out, stating, "We didn't make the fucking move. So, for all the booers, fuck you too. I'll be glad when we get to Baltimore, if that's the case. We don't have any home-field advantage. I've never been booed at home. Baltimore's our home. Baltimore, here we come." Great signing Art!!!

Then we get to the move. It was purely financial. Art was a mental midget when it came to business and ran one of the most successful franchises into the mud. He wanted to give the team to his equally mentally challenged son and didn't want him to have to pay the inheritance tax, Baltimore gave him a deal that he couldn't refuse, and say good-bye to the Browns in Cleveland.

I don't know for sure if this was the reason, but it's the reason I want to believe, so there it is..

And for the most ludicrous comment of the article. "...if Modell had it to do all over again, he would have likely offered the Browns job in 1991 not to Belichick, but to former Browns player and assistant coach Bill Cowher..." Oh really??? No kidding??? And if I had listened to the news this morning I would have brought my umbrella to work with me. And if I had known that cop was sitting in the middle of the highway, I wouldn't have tried to see exactly how fast my car can go. Or even, "...if I knew Tim Couch was going to blow, I probably wouldn't have drafted him with the first pick in 99..." How did this guy run a professional football franchise for this long??? Seriously?

But on a happy note, he had to sell his majority share of the Ravens and he's probably senile by now and hopefully nobody listens to him. He's been kept out of the Football Hall of Fame. First of all, he doesn't deserve to be in it after he did this to Cleveland, and second, some crazed Browns fan would probably take a shot at him when he was in Canton for the induction ceremony.

Ahhh, I feel a little better now.

Some Links For Your Monday Morning

Apparently you should not get hit by this guy when riding your bike.

I think this woman has the quote of the year so far. "If I hadn't gotten so drunk, I guess my baby wouldn't have died." They should try putting her into a microwave to see how it feels.

The New Home Sales numbers came out today. The December numbers were the worst of 2007 and the November numbers were revised down even further. This is not good at all for the economy. I have a pretty good feeling the fed will be lowering rates another 50 basis points on Wednesday.

But at least our airport security is in tip top form!

Want to go to the Super Bowl?? Better have some cash!

Tiger won another golf tourney, tying Arnold Palmer for 4th all time in career wins. And Clemens is still trying to tell people that he didn't actually do steroids. I suppose the sun is going to set in the west tonight too.

And finally, when Pikus gets back from Ireland, he's going to be really excited about this!

I thought a nice soothing picture of the Engineering Fountain would be nice. Hope you're having a happy Monday.

Boilers Take Down #11 Wisconsin!!

All it took was a block by Robbie Hummel on a Michael Flowers shot with 1.2 left on the clock for the Boilers to beat the Badgers on Saturday. Purdue played real well all 40 minutes and have started a scary trend of winning the close games.

Again Purdue shot the ball well, going 7-20 behind the arc. E'Tuan led Purdue with 16 points and Hummel played another spectacular game with 10-7-5.

This team is really looking tough. This win makes them 15-5 on the season and 6-1 in the Big 10. Only a half game behind league leading IU, who lost yesterday to UConn, with games against Iowa and Illinois coming up this week, we look to be in real good shape at this point in the season.

Painter has obviously done a great job with these guys. First, recruiting them and getting them to West Lafayette then getting them to mesh this well as a team this quickly. There's a really bright future in Mackey arena, and after the last couple of seasons of futility, this is a very welcome sight!

Surprise, Surprise!!

As I was scrolling through ESPN.com today, I found a new column written by Bill Simmons. And guess what???? It's another Boston column! What a surprise.

Now, there was a time, probably 2-3 years ago when I would get very excited when his columns came out, word would get around the office that it was posted and trading would pretty much stop for the next 10 minutes to read it and 20 more after that to talk about it. It was good stuff, every time. There was a great mix of sports, pop culture, current events, The Real World, Boston, mailbags, TV, and draft/game/award show journals. Very, very good stuff. But over the last year or so these once great columns have become very bland and very Boston.

But alright, I get it, he's from Boston, they've been on the most improbable stretches of sports greatness in recent memory. And if the Cleveland ever went on a stretch like this, I may be the same way. But the big difference is that I write a blog that probably nobody reads and he writes for ESPN. I'm actually surprised his editors let him get away with as many Boston articles as he pumps out. Whatever.

Enough about that, the Great Mike Alstott has retired from football and there are a couple of great runs against IU posted here. I have some great memories of those horrible teams he played on at Purdue. He retires as the Bucs all time leader in TDs. Not to mention he was like Kevin Mack from the original Tecmo Bowl when would-be tacklers would bounce off him.

And the Boilers have a huge test tomorrow when the no. 11 ranked Badgers come to town. Tip off is at 3 Central and it's on ESPN, so if you don't have the Big Ten Network you are in luck, but I have a feeling it's not going to be in HD, so that blows, I guess I will deal. The Badgers only have 2 losses, Duke and Marquette, so if Purdue can pull this one out, the tourney voters may forget about the horrible loss to Wofford earlier this season. And by the way, Wisconsin beat Wofford by 27 in December. Let's hope the hot shooting continues, this would be a huge victory for the Boilers.

Super Bowl???

So I just saw this morning that the Giants are getting 12 points in next weekends' Super Bowl. And I asked wheter or not it's even going to be that close. Sure, the Giants have gone on a real nice run through the playoffs and gave New England a good game in the final week of the season, but I really don't think they have a chance of turning this game, into a game.

If the Pats get out to a quick start and the game rests on the shoulders of Eli Manning, they're really going to be in trouble. I'm still not convinced that Eli has any idea what is going on on the field. He really had some Grossman-esque games earlier this season, and I find it hard to believe that he will be able to go 4 weeks straight, in the playoffs no less, playing this well.

If the Giant D can corral Brady, Moss, Welker, Stallworth, Maroney, Faulk, Gaffney, or anybody else Belichick throws at them, they may have the time to run Jacobs and Bradshaw for a while, they may have a chance.

The NY Defense is going to have to dominate from the get go. They're going to have to get some pressure on Brady and his injured foot, or whatever it is, to keep it close. Umenyiora and Strahan definitely have the ability to change the game by getting into the Patriots backfield, but if they don't it's going to get ugly quick.

Hopefully Tom Coughlin has thawed out after playing in frigid Lambeau Field last weekend and has his guys ready for next weekend. Because I am sure that Belichick will have his boys prepared.

The Pats have been here before, many times before, too many times before. They're not going to have the butterflies like the Giants are going to have. Maybe with a little luck the Giants will get out of the gate quick, but I doubt that is going to happen.

It really has been amazing what the Pats have done this season but I do have to say I'm really, really sick of listening to Boston fans. First the Pats go on their run, then the Sox, and now the Celtics are doing what they're doing... Tired.

Anyhow, my prediction, Patriots 38-20. The game is over by halftime. Giants get 10 garbage points in the 4th quarter to make it look respectable.

Boilers Win Big in Happy Valley

First of all, while I was lying in bed trying to get motivated to get up and get in the shower, they were talking on the radio about -32 with the wind chill today. Why I live in Chicago I have no idea.

Anyhow, the Boilers had a huge win last night against the Geary Claxton-less Nittnay Lions. Purdue has been a team of runs so far this season, whether it's the good side of a 15-0 run or the bad side. At one point, 5 minutes into the 1st half, the score was tied at 9. At the half, it was 42-18! Nothing like a 32-9 run to get things going.

Robbie Hummel played another excellent game with 15 points and 11 boards, including 3 from 3-point land. E'Tuan and Calasan both added 11 and the Boilers shot 11-25 from behind the arc. It's fun to see a Purdue team shoot this well for a change.

On another note, IU played real well again beating Iowa by 22. Eric Gordon is real good. It will be nice to not have to deal with him next season.

Indians Sign Betancourt

The Indians signed Rafael Betancourt to a 2 year contract today. Now if they can just find a closer that doesn't give up 3 baserunners each appearance, they should be in good shape. Betancourt tied for last seasons lead in holds and only allowed 3 of 33 inherited runners to score.

Right now they're starting rotation should be Sabathia, Carmona, Byrd and his HGH, Westbrook, and I imagine Cliff Lee. I'd be willing to put that rotation up against just about anybody in baseball, except for the playoffs. Solid top to bottom.

The AL Central is going to be really competitive this season. The Tribe can pitch and they should hit the ball hard too. Hopefully Hafner can get over what happened last season, I'm still convinced he couldn't see the ball in the playoffs, not to mention he killed my fantasy team last season. How about some starts over at first, I hate putting him in at a utility position each week. Sizemore is up for another good season, Victor hits, Garko came on late in the season. They'll be a fun team to watch play!

Anyhow, I'm really looking forward to this season, not only because of the '08 Indians, but I'm really getting sick of this cold weather. It's miserable in Chicago!

Pitchers and catchers report in 22 days!

Boilers and Lions Tonight

The Boilers are playing the Nittnay Lions tonight and hopefully they can keep this good play going and get out of Happy Valley with another win. After watching Wisconsin struggle with a pathetic Michigan team, nothing can be taken for granted.

It's about time that we've got somebody that can consistently hit a jump shot, in fact, we have a couple of guys that have the ability to hit an outside jumper. Sure, David Teague figured out how to shoot last year going into the Big 10 and NCAA tourney, but it took him 4 and a half years to figure it out. I remember the days of his chest thumping after hitting his first 3 of the game with 2 minutes left and the Boilers down 17. But that's for another day.

Keaton Grant has been playing some good ball along with Hummel and Martin. Chalasan stepped up his game this past weekend, E'Tuan is starting to play well and I really think this team is starting to gel together. And if they can consistently win the close games, they have an opportunity to be real good this year, and the next couple of years.

They're a pretty entertaining bunch to watch. Some pretty solid play, good D, good shooting.... Much better than the days of Brent Buscher and John Allison.

My prediction is for Robbie Hummel to have a huge game.

Only 2 Boilers are averaging double digit scoring... Interesting.

Movie Review: Cloverfield

I want those 90 minutes back..I think. I saw the movie "Cloverfield" last weekend and while I enjoyed the action of the movie, the ending sucked more than a Mike Reynolds 17 footer at the Co-Rec. I won't tell you what happened because many of you still want to see it I'm sure-- actually scratch that, I will tell you...I don't know what happened. Not a clue. For those of you who enjoy J.J Abrams and "Lost," which I've never seen, you might like this. Wait a second, I don't have a Myspace page and I've never seen Lost, I just realized I am not hip anymore. When do you go from being hip to worrying about breaking your hip? That's a nasty transition. But I digress..

Here's an interesting tidbit as well: If you get sick on the Teacup rides at the local amusement park, car sick, air sick, and just flat out can't handle sudden herky jerky motions(A reason why Krebs' ex's left him), then don't see this movie. This was an actual disclaimer at the ticket puncher saying people have tossed while watching the movie. And it's true, consider when I walked in the theatre, it brought me back to that 4th Grade Ode de Citrus smell in the hallway.

So I don't know what to say about this movie: It's got too much good special effects to watch on DVD at home, but the motion on the bigscreen might get you sick. So I say, pay the matinee price, take some Dramamine, and get yourself a $4 12 oz soda and enjoy..

Roadkill??

I've seen many roadkill in my life, and I can honestly say that doing this with my GI Joe's never crossed my mind...

A lot of Heartache..but a bright future

To be a Purdue and Cleveland fan, is like some sort of sick joke if you are a sports fan. So many memories of hope for a championship, and then just dashed away in the blink of an eye. Don't believe me, take a look:

-Willie Mays over the shoulder catch in '54. Granted, my mom wasn't even born yet, but I still see replays once a year. But, my grandma was 36, and she remembered it vividly.

- Right Red 88. Oakland, we lost to Oakland?? At home, to a warm weather team in the ice and snow off Lake Erie? I was 5 at this time, and I remember clearly being in a restaurant with my parents when this happened, only to have my dad yell at me to "quit acting up." My emotions were getting the best of me, at age 5.

- Put in Mike Jackson! That's what I remember screaming to Hargrove 800 miles away from Indiana, while he was sitting in South Florida. But sure enough, "Joe Table," a.k.a Jose Mesa comes trotting out of the bullpen. Then he somehow survives a terrible 9th, and Craig Counsell's missle is caught in right field by David Justice. Granted, that was just delaying the inevitable, when a Edgar Renteria single up the middle sealed the fate of the Fighting Wahoo's in '97.

- The Drive, The Fumble-- I don't even want to get into this. We all knows how this turns out. Elway in '86, and Byner in '87. Byner's huge game was overshadowed by one fumble that Dennis Smith didn't even know he caused at the goal line.

- The C.C/Fausto Meltdown in the '07 ALCS. Two potential Cy Young award winners, failing to show up for the ALCS. If they pitch just one game like they can in game 5 or 6, the Tribe goes to the World Series, and probably beat the Rockies who woke up from a coma after winning 50 straight games.

That's enough negativity, let me look toward the future now:

-The Browns, 10-6, but missed the playoffs. Yes, the Colts probably should have played their starters, look at their past performances on rest. But, the Browns should have beat the Bengals too. With a little help at D line next year, and one more receiver to compliment Braylon along with JJ, the Browns should contend for the division in '08. DA with another year under his belt, and an O Line that dominates, could make for a fun '08.

-The Tribe in '08: Same team, same good starting staff, another year of experience for young players. Look for guys like Asdrubal Cabrera, Garko, Gutierrez, Carmona, and an improving Jhonny Peralta to have strong years in '08. I know the Tigers beefed up their lineup, but I'll still take the Tribe's pitching over the Tigers pitching all day. Yes they got Dontrelle, but he's a very average pitcher, who had an ERA over 5.00 last year...in the NL. Welcome to the AL Dontrelle.

- Cavs: Get LeBron help, before he leaves. Last year was a fluke, get the man some help, before he leaves. I can't state that enough.

-Purdue- BBall looking strong for a young team. I love Matt Painter and what he's done, and also because he bought me a pitcher of Killians's at Hooters, simply because I had a Purdue hoody on. I fully expect a Big Ten title or two, over the next four years with this team. As far as football goes, we should be fine with Danny Hope. He had a high powered offense at E Kentucky, and apparantly he can recruit his butt off. Recruiting is something that has hampered the program, with the likes of Michigan, OSU, and Wisconsin in the Big Ten. I have a good feeling about Hope.

Now call me the eternal optimist, because I am. I don't forget the past and all the heartache, but I certainly look toward the future, when one of my teams is hoisted up that championship trophy.

Boiler Dawg Blog Open For Business!

So Pikus and I have been friends since we met in Tarkington Hall at Purde University in the fall of 95, shortly after, we realized we were both Cleveland Fans. We've been friends since.

So we've been through Jose Mesa's Blown save, the departure of the Browns from Cleveland, The Jim Colletto years, the loss to the Braves in 97, the Boilers losing the Rose Bowl in 2001, the Browns losing just about every weekend from 99-06 and the Ravens winning the Super Bowl, the Cavs getting swept, and the Titans playing against the Lawrence North JV team to keep our Browns out of the playoffs in 07... All kinds of good stuff!

So hopefully we'll keep updated on our favorite teams actually winning something for a change and give everyone our 2 cents, and some fun stuff we may come across along the way.