Weekend Recap

Quite a weekend it was. And Purdue didn't even play.

IU did though. And they barely pulled one out against a Northwestern team that has not won a Big 10 game this season. I didn't watch a whole lot of the game, but I did catch about the last 5 minutes. Northwestern is atrocious. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. First, I couldn't believe that the game was that close. And second, I couldn't believe that the Wildcats didn't win. IU tried to hand them the game, and Northwestern wouldn't' take it. Not to mention Kevin Coble was unconscious with 35 points, so why get him the ball with the game on the line, give it to some freshman that sucks. That's a great idea. IU sure didn't look like the #12 team in the country.

And it was reported today that Sampson was text messaging some of the IU players after the game. Hey Kelvin, lay off the cell phone!!! Go away!!! You had your chance, twice, and you fucked it up!! Now please disappear, like Mark McGuire, Rafael Palmeiro, and the rest of the guilty roid users that "...aren't guilty..."

Speaking of lying scumbags, some kid that was 11 at the time of the now infamous "Canseco Party" claims to have a picture of Clemens at the party. Clemens is so screwed. If he would have just gone up there, in front of congress, and said that he did it, this whole thing would be over now. But, the egotistical jackass that he is, now faces prison time. All because he was worried about his rep. I wonder if he's going to "mis-remember" all of his drug use still?

Barry Bonds is still not signed. He can still hit. The HGH and roids have assured us of that. But nobody wants his ego in the clubhouse. Omar Vizquel, who is one of the top 5 greatest Indians by the way, as on TV saying that everybody is loose and enjoying spring training this year. I wonder if Bonds is going to get the MLB Extra Innings on cable this summer?

The NFL combine thing is going on this week. Apparently there have been all sorts of questions about Darren McFadden's character. And as a result he's dropped in many people's drafts out of the top 5. But, 2 days ago he ran a 4.3 or something ridiculous in the 40 and suddenly, nobody remembers that he's got character problems. Got to love the NFL. Not to mention, this whole combine thing really kills me. The top guys decide they don't want to work out. Ummm, how does this happen. I can't walk up to my boss and say, "... you know, I don't want to do that today, I think I'll do it tomorrow. I understand the customers are in from London and only here for a couple of hours, but why don't you tell them, I'M NOT READY." After all, it is my world and you all are privileged to be living in it. Brady Quinn didn't work out at the combine last year. I'm still convinced that he didn't work out because he sucks. But that's just my opinion.

Enough complaining. I'm sick of hearing myself too. Tennessee-Memphis was Saturday night. What a game. Everything a 1-2 game needed. Except free throw shooting. I don't know how Memphis hasn't lost shooting as horribly from the line as they do. Oh wait, I do, they're in Conference USA, which is worse than their free throw percentage. Anyhow, great athletes, and Bruce Pearl is a fantastic coach. I really like his intensity. He really cares about the guys he has playing for him, and it shows. Great game though, came down to the end. Great crowd. Very fun game to watch.

And lastly, Purdue is ranked #19 in today's poll. It's just great to see Purdue in the top 25 again!

I'll leave you with this thought...

Getting Ready For Tuesday!

Well, it's Sunday morning and I'm having my morning coffee, and I can't wait for Tuesday night! Purdue and IU are going to battle for the top spot in the Big 10 at Assembly Hall in Bloomington. This is going to be a great game.

There are about 8 different storylines going on.

First, the whole Kelvin Sampson saga is unfolding. This has the possibility of being his last game at IU. After watching IU and MSU battle it out last night, and hearing Moron Vitale tell me about 5 times that Kelvin is a really good guy and he really likes him. But on the flip side, Dickie claims that not only should Sampson be fired, but the AD, who hired Samson, should also be fired. I just don't understand this. I don't think hiring a known cheat was the best idea for IU, but Sampson apparently, "...gave his word..." when he was hired to coach the Hoosiers that none of the problems from OU would ever happen again at IU. Sampson had some success at OU, took the Sooners to a final four, and made a few mistakes. Call me crazy, but I think people do learn from their mistakes and generally, become a better person from the lesson learned. If I was the AD, giving Sampson another chance, to coach at a place like IU, I think you have to believe him. But, obviously Sampson didn't learn from anything in his past and pretty much just gave the NCAA a big, fat, middle finger. Sampson should be let go, immediately if not sooner. He obviously didn't learn from anything he did at OU, and he deserves to be punished. And I can't think of any other way than to take his livelyhood, college basketball, away from him. Maybe now he'll learn something???

Next, IU played their hearts out for that scumbag last night. I was surprised, DJ White gets hurt and they really responded. MSU may not be as good as we thought at the beginning of the week, but IU really played well after the slow start.

DJ White got hurt Saturday night. Tweaked his knee. He's second in the league in scoring and leading in rebounds. If he doesn't play, or isn't 100%, this is a huge break for the Boilers. Purdue really doesn't have anybody skilled or stong enough to guard the 6'11" center. JuJuan is going to need to play a solid game.

This is the only meeting between the 2 rivals this year. I really don't understand this?? Why, why, why do they only play once, and why do they play at IU?? This is like Michigan and OSU taking a couple of years off so they can get Iowa and Minnesota on their schedules.

The rise of Purdue's freshman. Never in my wildest dreams did I think these guys could be this successful this soon. They've got a team of guys that doesn't care who the high scorer is. One night it's Moore, the next it's Hummel, the next it's Keaton.... This is also the first team that's been able to consistently hit a 3 since Jaraan Cornell.

Matt Painter. 3 years ago, the Boilers won 9 games. I sent an email out to some guys wondering if we could get Painter removed. Don't think I could have been more wrong. What a job he's doing getting these guys to play like a team. There's excitement again in Mackey Arena. Students are camping out before the games to get their spot in the Paint Crew. It was painful the last couple of years to see as many open seats as there were in Mackey. The 5 years I spent at Purdue, I don't think I saw 1 open seat. Good to see things are back to the way they should be.

The last time that E'Tuan and Eric Gordon met? Last years' Indiana State Championship game. E'Tuan got the best of Gordon to take East Chicago Central to the title over Gordon's Lawrence North team. Revenge for Gordon?? Confidence for E'Tuan??? E'Tuan is playing some great basketball right now if you haven't noticed.

And the biggest of them all. The Purdue-IU rivalry is a big game again. This is the first time when IU and Purdue have been 1 and 2 in the league going into battle since I can remember. I could probalby look it up on the internet, but I'm lazy, and it's just not going to happen this morning. So let's just assume it's been a long time. Exciting!! Promises to be a great game.

And by the way, the Boilers smoked Northwestern. Another theme of this season has been the runs this team goes on. Purdue was down 48-50 and decided to go on a 27-5 run to close out the game. It was good to see Scott Martin back out on the floor also. He did look a little rusty, but I'm sure he'll be fine by Tuesday. E'Tuan put up a career high 28. Shot the lights out!



One last thing, remember when Chad Austin hit that jumper from the corner in Assembly Hall for the win?? That was cool!

Holy Last 24 Hours of Sports, Batman!!

Where do you start today??? Oh man! The Boilers win a great game against Michigan State. Clemens and McNamee in front of congress. Kelvin Sampson and IU caught with 5 major rules violations. Wisconsin beating IU. Purdue owning a 1 game lead in the Big 10. And another amazing episode of The Gauntlet III was on last night. Where to start???

I guess I'll start out with the MTV hit The Gauntlet III. I can't get enough of the people on this show. Last night was no exception. After getting smacked in the head with a wooden board Melinda was taken off on a stretcher to the hospital where she found out that she had a consussion and was dehydrated. Alright, that's tolerable. But when they came up to the next mission and she had to drop 20 or so feet off of a beam into the water, she came up with this little nugget, "...I have a concussion, if I hit the water the wrong way, I'm going to die..." That would have been something. And from Kenny, "...it was just mind over matter. I don't mind, and you don't matter..." I can't get enough of these people!

Next let's go to the IU mess. That scumbag coach IU hired just doesn't learn from his mistakes, and then lies about it to the important people he shouldn't be lying to. I don't even know what all he did, all I know is that he did much of the same things at Oklahoma and lost his job there. What a jackass. Here's a good article from ESPN.com about their options. IU being banned from the postseason would just be icing on the cake for us Boilermaker fans!

Last night's IU-Wisconsin game ended with a banked 3-pointer by Brian Butch at the buzzer. Great ending to a horrible day for the IU basketball program.

Next is the huge Purdue victory over MSU. What a game. Robbie Hummel played one of the greatest games for Purdue in recent history. He did it all, rebounds, points, hustle... Just a great performance. I know I've said it before, and I'm probalby going to say it again, but this is a real fun team to watch! 10-1 in the Big 10. Nobody could have predicted this!

Which brings us to the 1 game lead Purdue now has in the Big 10. They have a couple of big games left, at IU and at home against Ohio State, but they're clearly in the driver's seat of the Big 10 race.

And lastly, I saw things yesterday that I am sure I will never, ever, see again in my lifetime. Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee sitting at a table, Clemens saying:

"...I never took steriods or HGH or any other performance enhancing
drugs..."

And sitting 2 people down from Clemens you have Brian McNamee saying:

"...I injected Roger Clemens, his wife, his dog, and 2 of his kids, with HGH
and steroids..."

Then you have Clemens saying:

"...McNamee injected me with B12 on 2 occasions..."

Followed by McNamee saying:

"...I've never injected anybody with B12. I really don't even know what it is..."

Then Clemens retorts with:

"...I never went to Jose Canseco's house party..."

Followed by Clemens not-so-good-speaking-the-English nanny saying:

"...Oh yes, we were at Canseco's house, we spent the night, the whole family was there, even the dog..."

And all of this in front of congress. Now, I think McNamee is a complete scumbag, he's lied, made some horrible decisions, done some horrible things in the past, don't get me wrong. But I believe just about every word that came out of his mouth yesterday. I believe very little of what Clemens says. Not to mention he threw his wife under the bus the day before Valentine's Day and used the word "misremembered" far too many times. I can honestly say I have never in my life heard that word used in a sentence before yesterday, I'm not even sure that it is a word.

Anyhow, Clemens looked horrible. He lied, and he lied, and he lied, and then he lied some more. He deserves to be out of baseball and should not be voted into the Hall. I have to think, if he had come out after the Mitchell Report and said that he did those things, he made a mistake, he won't do it again, I love the game and I wanted to continue playing which is why I made the decisions I made... All would be forgotten, not a big deal, lots of guys were doing it, let's move on. But with all of what he has gone through, he just looks more like a dirtbag. He was one of the greatest pitchers of our generation, and he will now be remembered as a liar. Such a shame.

I still can't believe this Boilermaker team!!!