Boilers and Spartans Tonight!!!

Purdue and Michigan State face off tonight at Mackey Arena. The Boilers finally got some national attention by getting ranked on both polls this week, 19 on the AP and 23 on the Coaches Poll. They've been playing some fantastic basketball. Great defense. Great shooting. Great team play. They've been coming up big at the end of games. Huge win AT Wisconsin to give Bo Ryan his 3rd home loss in his tenure.

The Boilers have a tough schedule down the stretch with MSU tonight, IU next week, and OSU to finish up the regular season. I could have never guessed that this group of basically freshmand and sophomores could be in this position this late in the season.

Let's see what they do tonight? Let's see who's going to step up? Let's see if they can keep this thing going!!

There's alot of excitement surrounding this program in the present and the future. And much of the reason is Matt Painter. He's done an amazing job getting these guys to play as a team, he's learned how to win the close games, and he's done a great job getting prepared for each contest.

7 tonight on ESPN, which is probably a good thing, for once the whole country will be able to see how good of a team the Boilers are this season. Mackey will be rocking!! Wish I could be there!

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.

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.