It's been a long time...

There are a couple of reasons I haven't written lately. 1. There's nothing to write about. and 2. I have been real busy. Neither is a good reason, I should be able to find some time a couple of times a week to write some magic.

Anyhow. The Celtics won the NBA title this year. First, I really don't care. I'm just happy that I'm not going to have to deal with Stephen A. Smith on SportsCenter yelling at me. So that's good. Second, if I remember correctly, the Celtics sucked last year and Danny Ainge traded a couple of scrubs for Kevin Garnett and look what happened. Maybe Danny Ferry should take some lessons.

As an aside, I was at Tower City at the CD place when I was in High School checking out some CD's and looked up to my left and there was that tall ass Danny Ferry standing next to me. That was pretty cool. He could have been such a great pro. I think he's done a great job with the Cavs so far. Give him a couple more years and I think he's going to bring a championship to Cleveland. Or at least another finals appearance. Injuries decimated the Cavs this year and I don't think people played up to their billing....

Whoa??? Did that just happen??? I blacked out for a minute..

Moving on. Joe Tiller is getting rid of all the fat on the Boilermaker football team. I can't find the email, but he booted another WR off the team a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month or so. He was caught stealing rubbers from a local supermarket. Couple of things. He could have been stealing much worse. It's still a little embarrassing buying those things. And to add insult to injury, the judge he had to stand before was Les Meade. I had this guy as a Business Law professor at Purdue. He was probably the best professor I had at Purdue. He enjoyed what he did there, it showed. He enjoyed teaching. He was very memorable! I probably remember 3 professors at Purdue, and he's the only one that I remember for the right reasons. Great class! I still tell people that play the lotto that they're just paying "taxes for idiots."

Purdue football has to get their shit on straight this year. It's Tiller's last year, he's turned the program around, and then turned the program around again. I know they're probably never going to be a Michigan or Ohio State or Penn State, but they need to be in the top half of the Big 10 each year. And they've been struggling to be that for the last couple of years. Let's hope his booting off the a-holes will shape the rest of the guys up, just like Painter did.

I'm not even going to talk about the last couple of Tila Tequila's and Real World's. I've never seen anything like either of them. I can't even put into words what's happened to MTV.

And that's about it. Hopefully it won't be a week and a half to the next entry...

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...

The Burrito Mecca

After I left the place I go everyday, I can't call it work for a couple of reasons, but that's a column for another day, I had to stop by the bank. As I got closer to the bank I realized what was going to be directly across the street. LaBamba's! Burritos As Big As Your Head! Open until after the bars close. The greatest late night burrito place ever.

This was THE place to go at Purdue after Harry's closed. The line was always out the door, it was always a party. Much better than Garcia's pizza, and a thousand times better than Taco Bell. It's the place where I saw Brad Brown eat 3 super steaks. Yes, 3 Super Steaks! The painting on the wall of the basketball game that was 6 Boilermakers versus 4 Hoosiers.

And once we ventured out of the greater West Lafayette area we found out that there was a LaBamba's at just about every other Big Ten School. Bloomington? LaBamba's. High Street? LaBamba's. U of I? Bamba's. Broad Ripple? Bamba's. And after I moved to Chicago 6 years ago, I had the joy of finding a Bamba's just blocks from my house for every late-night craving.

I've seen guys dive over couches and fight for the Bamba's leftovers. I've had a bag of Bamba's ripped out of my hands only to be mistakenly dropped in the middle of a street. Both of these happened after the guilty party decided, "...I don't want a burrito, they're not good for you..." But both were unable to fight the craving for the sweet nectar that is a LaBamba's burrito. I once had a cab wait for me while I got a Bamba's on my way home one late night. Probably not one of my better decisions, to pay for a cab to wait for me while I got a 2am burrito, but if I remember correctly, he was gone when I went back out.

So, after I moved from Lincoln Park to Lakeview, it wasn't as convienent to stop at LaBamba's after a night of drinking, especially with the Tony's Burrito-Mex just up the street. A pretty good substitute, not great, especially the night I found a twist-tie in my burrito and the night I lost my wallet in a cab when I was getting out. But other than that, it's very convienent and generally pretty good.

Anyhow, back to yesterday. As I walked into Bamba's I thought to myself, "...where's the menu? I don't know what I want??? What do I get here????" Seconds after that thought went through my head, the guy behind the counter asks what I would like and I follow, without the least bit of hesitation, "...regular, steak, everything, extra sour cream, for here..." It just fell right into place. I didn't miss a step. It was like getting hot hitting 3's at the co-rec to win 15-13 after being down 13-7. It was like standing at the end of the craps table and perfectly throwing your C and E chips to the stickman and all 3 chips come to rest perfectly in his hand. It was amazing. No need to look at the menu, nothing.

Funny how things seem to work out when you least expect them to. I guess I should follow my own advice?? The burrito was excellent. I went for the regular because it has been a while and I've not put back a Super. As I sat at the booth I was wishing I had got the Super. It was very good. Just as I always remembered. Oh the memories!

Check out their website. Awesome!!!

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.

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.