Oh Man!!

The Boilers blew a golden opportunity last night losing to the Buckeyes last night. Of all the people to really pee down their leg in the face of adversity, I didn't think it would be Chris Kramer. I still can't believe he made such a horrible pass. But anyhow...

Purdue played a pretty solid game last night. After a slow start, being down 0-7, they came storming, actually there really wasn't a "they" it was more "E'Tuan", back. They played pretty well until the last couple of minutes of regulation, when the spirited Buckeyes stepped it up a notch and took a win from the face of defeat.

The Buckeyes were looking right into not making the tourney with a loss. And considering they made it to the Championship game last season, that would be quite a turnaround. Sure, they don't have Oden and Conley, but they still have Butler, who caught fire last night, and the rest of the team still in tact. So getting to the Championship is probably a stretch, but at least they should have enough left in the tank to make the NCAAs.

E'Tuan had another solid game. He's really turning into a special player. Scott Martin finally showed some of his potential by having a great game shooting from the field. He was 5-10 from the field including a 4 point play at the end of the first half. If the Boilers could have pulled it out, that shot would probably be talked about as the straw that broke the Bucks season, but it wasn't to be. He also added 6 rebounds. Just wish he could get a little more consistent from the line. He almost threw up an airball and then canned the 2nd on one trip to the stripe.

Marcus Green played horribly. He hit a 3 in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half, and then decided he didn't have to play anymore. Offense, defense, apparently he thought his 3 was enough. Mercifully he fouled out before the end of the game, but he was just painful to watch try and move around the court.

Speaking of painful. The 2nd half of that game was just painful. If I was not a Purdue fan, there is no way that I could have watched it. I think from about the 17 minute mark to about the 4 minute mark there was a foul called on every trip down the court. There was no flow, no pace, no nothing. And this is what really did the Boilers in. The trademark of this season is being able to put up 10-14 point runs in about a 3 minute stretch, while forcing about 4 turnovers, no offensive rebounds, and hitting a couple of clutch 3s. Well, they could never get into rhythm in the 2nd half, and this really hurt them. Yes, some of them were fouls, but they really were calling it tight. And after a 20 minute delay starting the 2nd half, it was just horrible...

So, looks like the Boilers are headed for a 3 seed in the Big 10 tourney. They win in Columbus, they win in Ann Arbor this weekend, they have a 1 seed, but they didn't come to play last night. Although, now that I think about it, IU is in shambles right now, not playing good basketball. IU loses one of the next 2, and Purdue takes care of business at Michigan, they get a 2 seed. Sort of disappointing considering they controlled their own destiny going into last night's game.

If you would told me 3 months ago that the Boilers would be a 3 seed in the Big 10 tourney I would have been thrilled! Funny how things change! Not to mention this is a team of Freshman and Sophs. The future is looking really bright in West Lafayette!!

On another note, the Browns signed Shaun Rogers to a 6-year $42 mil deal!! This will be the first Browns season I'm really excited for since about '86. Things are looking bright in Cleveland too!! Except for the housing market, that still sucks. But the Browns, Cavs, and Indians!! Nice!

February is FINALLY over!

Well, the worst month for sports if finally over, and we can start getting on to some things that really matter. Spring Training baseball, Fantasy Baseball drafts, and the NFL free-agent signing period! Wooo-Hooo!!!

Let's start at Cleveland Browns Stadium, or Berea, or wherever Phil Savage calls home these days. In the last week the Browns have signed Shaun Rogers, Corey Williams, and Donte Stallworth, and re-signed Derek Anderson.

We'll begin at QB with the re-sign of Anderson. I think this was essential. The Browns have assembled a team that can do some damage this year! Not in 3-5 years, THIS YEAR. Anderson will hopefully build on the Pro Bowl season he had last and get himself into a consistent groove. With the talent the Browns have, the don't need Anderson to have a 100+ passer rating every game. They need consistent play, and this is what Anderson is going to give you.

So you say that Brady Quinn needs to be either starting or traded?? Well, I don't see the problem with having 2 capable QBs on the team? Look at how many QBs the NFL went through last season. I don't know the exact number, but I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 QBs took a snap. If Anderson gets hurt, and you've traded Brady, who do we have playing QB??? Ken Dorsey?? Josh Cribbs??? What's the problem with a little insurance policy??? I'm not going to hide the fact that I do not like Brady Quinn. I don't think he's that great of a QB, when he was at ND, all he did was beat mediocre teams and throw the ball to Jeff Smardjtizmarta. But with the way the Browns have gone through QBs in the last 9 years, I see nothing wrong with leaving Brady on the sidelines to learn another year.

Sticking with the O, we signed New England Patriot Donte Stallworth. Donte will be the new #2 target for Anderson this year. I love this signing! I love anybody that comes from the Pats. I hate the Pats, but I think they learn that they need to win as a team. Look at what they turned Randy Moss into??? Anyhow, when Anderson drops back he's going to have #1 Braylon, #2 Stallworth, #3 Winslow, #4 Jurevicius. Or he can turn around and hand the ball off to a resurgent Jamal Lewis running behind one of the best front 5s in football. You tell me how a team is going to stop all those weapons???

Now to the D, where the real help was needed. They acquired Shaun Rogers from the Lions for this season's 3rd round pick and Leigh Bodden. I haven't read a whole bunch about Rogers, but I guess he's having some problems fitting in with the coaching staff in Detroit, and hasn't been playing quite as well. He was a Pro Bowler in 04-05 and has been nothing more than a big, fat, distraction since. All I can hope for is that he decides to get back into shape and help a good team get to the playoffs. I can understand how being on a losing team can break down you morale, and a change of scenery is generally a good thing. Let's hope that this revitalizes the 28 year old Rogers into good things! The Browns gave up a 3rd round pick and Leigh Bodden to bring Rogers into camp. I wish I could say that they got good value for that trade, but only time is going to be able to give the answer for this one.

And the last acquisition is DE Corey Williams from the Packers for this years' 2nd round pick. I don't' know much about Williams other than the stats I can find on ESPN.com. 7 sacks last season, that's probably more than the Browns have had in the last 2 years. He's definitely going to be an improvement over what they had.

Now, the Browns do not have a pick in the first 3 rounds of this years' draft? If you would like to look at it this way, their first round pick was Brady, the 2nd round pick was Corey Williams, and the 3rd round was Shaun Rogers. The situation they are in now, the fact that they are a good team NOW, and they desperately need help on the D-Line, they made good decisions. The only college D-linemen who could have a decent shot at making an impact in their rookie season will be picked in the first 20 slots. I think Savage did the right thing. Williams and Rogers are going to be inserted into the D-Line and are an instant upgrade from the guys they had last season, plus, it adds depth which they really need running a 3-4.

On another note, former Boilermaker Niko Koudivides signed a 3 year deal with the Broncos. I would love to see the Browns sign Roosevelt Colvin, who was released by the Pats earlier this week to play some OLB. Partly because he's a Boilermaker, partly because he's good, and partly because he threw down a nasty dunk on me at the co-rec during an intramural game. It wasn't quite the Roy Hariston, behind the back, off the glass, elevate from one side of the lane and throw it down on the other, but it was pretty nasty, especially for a guy who's only 6-3.

Boilers Looking Good!

The Boilers took care of business again this weekend with a big win over suddenly confident Northwestern. Purdue looked a little shaky in the first half and then came out of the locker room shooting the lights out to win by 25. Hummel led Boilermaker scorers with 15 including 6-6 from the free throw line. The Boilers kept the hot shooting going by shooting 45% from the field including 11-22 from behind the arc.

The Boilers looked solid again. They did what they were supposed to do to the worst of the Big 10. They've got 2 games left, Ohio State and Michigan, both on the road, to sure up another Big 10 title, and the first for Matt Painter.

Again, I sound like a broken record, but this team plays great together. They're fun to watch. They win games they're supposed to and they're even winning games that they're not supposed to. Something that Joe Tiller and the football program needs to learn. But that's another post for another day.

IU looked horrible in their loss yesterday to Michigan State. Sure it was senior day, but to put up 59 points in the first half??? Unreal!! Michigan State was unconscious! I don't' think IU had much chance to win that game they was MSU was shooting, but they didn't even put up a fight. I guess all of the "KS" signs on the IU players shoes was weighing them down.

Yeah, it's got to be a tough situation for the IU guys. But Sampson didn't die in a single car crash when he was on a recruiting trip, working his best to do the best for the program. He got caught lying, then cheating, then lying again about the cheating. Not once, but TWICE, at 2 different schools. He's a cheater, he doesn't belong in college sports.

But on the other hand, he's adding to the horrible play of the Hoosiers, so I really shouldn't be too upset about it.

I just came across this picture on the web. Hummel only scored 12.5 his senior season??? And now he's playing this well in the Big 10? So, has he elevated his game that much in the last year or is the Big 10 just that horrible?? Ummm, don't answer that question...

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...

Gauntlet III Update

There is no Purdue game this week, I don’t feel like talking about the IU game, and Kelvin Sampson’s ugly mug must be taken down from this blog. Given all of that, I think it’s time to discuss the Gauntlet III on MTV.

For starters, the “Real World Challenge” (I have dropped the Road Rules portion of that since they haven’t had one in a decade) is by far my favorite show on TV. Assume all the shows I watch in a week have been recorded and I can choose to watch them all in any order, I am picking the “Challenge” first.

Now, the Gauntlet is by far my least favorite “flavor” of the Challenges. The others being “The Duel” and “The Inferno”. The reason I dislike the Gauntlet is that the ending challenge always pins two people from the same team against each other rather than two people from opposing teams. What this leaves you with is off balanced numbers on each team and then the challenges get weird. The final challenge sometimes has 7 against 15, which is stupid.

Nevertheless, who cares about the format because we really watch this to see the drama surrounding these horny job-less 25 year olds who have emerged to D-Level celebrities. It’s the best.

I want to discuss this week’s ridiculous episode and then in a future blog, I will comment on several of the characters.

The Veterans are kicking serious ass. In fact, it occurred to me this week that we might see the entire format of the show blow up in the producers face and that has intrigued me. You see, the Veteran Men cannot lose. So….each week we keep seeing a Rookie Male get eliminated. After this week there are NOW only FOUR males left on the Rookies. There are four episodes left until the final challenge. We might very well see 0 men remaining for the Rookies. That would be fantastic. Preceding that event, would be a Gauntlet where the losing Rookie male would have NO ONE to go up against.

I am sure the producers figured both teams would “at least” lose 2-3 matches so this would not ever be a problem. Well. Nope. It is.

Things were made even worse this week as the Rookie’s top male Derrick was eliminated in a hysterical series of events. I will recap. The Rookies still have ONE useless male on their team. Ryan, the homosexual, who weighs a 125 pounds soaking wet and has no business on this show with the rest of the beefcakes is terrible. He was unable to be protected, so he became the logical choice to take on Derrick (who was sent to the Gauntlet by the Veterans).

As I am watching this, I say to my wife Polly, “wow….Ryan is going to get his ASS KICKED unless the challenge is a puzzle”. This is a factual statement as Derrick would destroy him in Ball Brawl (a football like challenge) or in the reverse tug of war thing or any other physical event.

Ryan’s only hope is a challenge that involves brains rather than physical size. Re-read that sentence.

So they spin the wheel and it lands on the puzzle. Oooooooooh, we are indeed going to have a match. But wait, the best part of the entire season ensues. The camera turns to Ryan and he is pissed.

He comments to the camera “Anything but the puzzle….I am terrible at puzzles”.

After I picked my jaw up from the ground I tried to comprehend this statement by this moron. The only fucking chance this dude has is a puzzle. I would pay $300 to know what the hell event he was rooting for, AND how the hell he thought he would have a chance in said event? This ass clown should have been jumping up and down.

Nevertheless…..Ryan wins. Wow. The Rookie’s best player sent home. They have 4 males (really 3.5 if you accurately assess Ryan’s value). And this is when it occurred to me that with 4 episodes left, the Veterans will now be winning every challenge due to the depleted rookie team….potentially leaving them with no males.

Not much to comment on the females. It was Coral versus Beth. They both are annoying. Beth went home. She’s terrible however, I did feel sorry for her for the first time ever. I did not know this but she is 39 years old. Shitballs? Anyway, the other 22-25 year old losers on the show are always calling her “grandma” and “fat”. Well….if she’s 39, she’s actually not fat. I would not call her skinny, but she sure as shitfire ain’t fat for someone who is 40. Think of all the 40 year olds you know? Anyway, she should bring that up the next time these 22 year old idiots call her fat.

Awesome stuff. Let’s continue to watch.

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!

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!!!