Hero is a word that can be used in so many ways with respect to badassery. You hear about athletes and their "heroics" all of the time. Today's profile is about an athlete, but that isn't important. Surely, the great scientists and researchers are heroes. Their discoveries and work affect the lives of all of us. Where would we be without Neil walking on the moon, or the thousands of scientists working every day to cure diseases and feed the world? Today's profile is about a scientist, but that isn't important. Then we have the extraordinary men and women who put themselves at risk to help everyone else. The police officers, firefighters, soldiers, and everyday people who put themselves on the line for others are surely heroes. Fellow Boilermaker Kevin Granata is exactly this kind of Hero (note the capital H, not an accident). When an armed student began shooting innocent people in Virginia Tech's Norris Hall, Kevin's quick thinking saved the lives of twenty students, tragically at the cost of his own.

Continue reading this post »

I have to admit, I didn't think Purdue had any chance to win this game. 60 ugly minutes later, the Boilers end up victorious and undefeated in the conference. This was a huge game for the Boilers' very slim bowl hopes. If the boys can take care of business next week against the Gophers and give the Hoosiers their usual Ross Ade reception, then we are one upset away from eligibility. Unfortunately, the easiest game of those is a trip to Illinois who just upset Penn State today. Still a win is a win, and this is one that the fanbase and the team desperately needed.

Before I get to the positives and negatives of the game, I'd like to present the Ed Hightower Award for Excellence in Officiating, to the line judge in charge of spotting the ball today. I don't know if he is a Northwestern alum, or working for the mafia, or visually impaired, but the guys in purple got more than a few favorable spots. You can't be too mad since there were a couple make up bad spots, unless you prefer a well called game. May he ride off into the sunset with Ed on a shimmering dragon. 

via a323.yahoofs.com

Positives and negatives after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Finally, the most stressful weeks of the year are over. I am referring to JaJuan and E'Twaun's decisions to stick around in West Lafayette another year, of course. There were some tests and stuff too, which was a welcome distraction from the serious matter of next year's Final Four hopes. This has been a hell of an academic year for Purdue athletics, where we have had a good football season and a great basketball season in the same year. I believe this is the best year I've seen in my time at Purdue. The best part is that next year looks even brighter. The football team has improved in every aspect and is chomping at the bit to earn a January bowl berth. The good guys go into next basketball season with one of the best senior classes in the history of the university (maybe even the conference) and healthier to boot. The 2010-2011 seasons look like a great time to be a fan of Purdue. For the time being, I can only thank my fellow seniors for all the great times they have given us during their time wearing gold and black.

For the moment, I am off campus visiting some graduate schools, family, and friends. Consequently, it will be a couple weeks before I can get back into the bleachers for our baseball team. In the mean time though, I'm working on some statistical analyses of the football team and basketball team for some previews of next season. For football, I am looking mostly at the defense, and trying to quantify what the loss of Pender and Neal mean for next season. The basketball task is far more daunting, because I'm trying to find a way to model the impact of the loss of Chris Kramer. Hopefully, I can come up with something interesting to quantify the impact of primarily defensive effort players on their teams. Until then, after the jump we get to the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

Yesterday marked the Boilermakers' annual Gold and Black spring game. I managed to crawl out of the hole I live in thanks to senior design and make it out to the game. In what is becoming a Purdue off-season tradition, a team decimated by injuries took the field, with no Ryan Kerrigan, Keith Smith, or any running backs. Last year, as we all remember the game was played without a healthy set of knees on the entire offensive line. Still, set against the backdrop of an unseasonably cool day, and the inaugural running of the Electric Vehicle Grand Prix, football was in the air.

The Big Ten Network brought along an 8 foot tall Drew Brees bobble head to promote their upcoming Big Ten Icons series. This seemed to be the highlight of the day, since every time I looked over, there was a crowd of people waiting to take a picture with the plastic Super Bowl champion. If you get a chance to come to the spring game next year, by all means take that opportunity. Now that the spring game is not just a sideshow for Grand Prix, they have a player autograph session, lots of Boilermaker football alumni, and they were giving away tons of poster and free stuff at the Spring Fest carnival on campus.

Speaking of alumni, some famous former Boilers were on hand, including;

• Matt Light
• Vinny Sutherland
• Seth Morales
• Stu Schweigert
• Bernie Flowers
• Leroy Keyes
• Rosevelt Colvin
• Joe Tiller

 

Boilermaker football family reunion. The 2001 Rose Bowl team was in attendance, and there was a representative from every team going back to 1944.

The post game picture and autograph session included a chance to have a crack at the World's Largest Drum. We are not worthy.

Continue reading this post »

Note; This post was written prior to the huge win today. I have no words for that right now, since my heart is pumping like I just ran a long sprint through a pool lemon juice while being chased by ill-tempered pirahna and into the arms of a naked Megan Fox. Great win Boilers!

My spring break took me on a road trip up to Boston. On the drive up there, more rain fell on the Northeast than had ever fallen at any point in history. It seemed surreal, the rain was never that severe and yet a ton of highways were closed for flooding. Every night I watched the news out there, it was just more and more about people trying to get water out of their basements. Despite all of that, I feel like I know enough about the region to help anyone reading this not feel like a tourist. Just follow these simple tips and you'll better enjoy your stay in New England.

1. Never pronounce the letter R
   Self-explanatory
2. Never assume that you know how to pronounce the name of a city
   Worcester = "Woostah"
   Dorchester = "Doahchestah"
   No one will ever be able to explain why that is.
3. Say you are from Michigan
   If you claim to be from Indiana, you will get to hear about what a terrible person Peyton Manning is, and how Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback to ever play (DREW!!!). If you want to save time telling people how wrong they are, claiming Michigan as a point of origin usually just gets, "Oh, sorry."
4. The Atlantica restaurant in Cohasset, MA is closed Tuesday nights
   To save you the trouble of driving there.
5. Jersey Shore is not a joke
   Walking around the casinos in Atlantic City, it was immediately clear that the cast of Jersey Shore are not exaggerated caricatures. They are average citizens. If anything, they are understated to make the show more tolerable for the average American. 
6. It is illegal to use your turn signal when changing lanes
   At least I assume so, since I never saw one any of the times I was cut off.
7. Spygate never happened
   NO ONE DENIES THIS!
   

   via cdn.ksk.uproxx.com

Aftah the jump, we get to the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

Normally, I would have filled this post with lots of trash talk about Indiana, and several jokes about how terrible they are (see my Twitter feed for a few favorites). However, tonight a few of my favorite Boilermakers were playing their last home game, and that is far more important than making jokes about yet another in a long and pathetic string of Hoosier losses. Tonight was the last time Keaton Grant, Chris Kramer, and Mark Wohlford will play on Keady Court. No more Kramer moments, no more clutch 3 pointers from KG, and no more Wolfpack. It is definitely a dark day for the Purdue nation, made only slightly brighter by the inept performance of the Hoosiers. Alright, a lot brighter, but still all of us are sad to see the seniors leaving. This is the first milestone on the road to the last time we get to see this group play together. Next is the last game of the regular season at Penn State, then the last Big Ten Tournament, and finally the last March Madness and the last game of the tournament (you know, the national title). I'm sure Travis and I will be writing more about the seniors in the near future, but I just want to thank them for the home-court memories and a great four years of basketball. They will definitely be missed, and I hope they accomplish all of their goals for this season, and going forward after basketball.

I have to say, I have never wanted a shot to drop so badly in my life than when Mark Wohlford played for a few minutes near the end of the game. The entire building was pulling for you Mark. Also, thanks to IU for having not one but two players foul out. Anytime I get to do the "left right left right" cheer is a time I cherish. I'm going to miss being in the Gene Pool/Paint Crew. Some of my best memories of Purdue have been standing in that building yelling myself hoarse. I'll find a way to sneak in as grad student, mark my words. I've seen a few classes leave on senior night *cough six cough*, and, just like Painter said in his postgame speech, it really does seem like yesterday when Grant and Kramer were freshman starting with Landry and Teague. You could tell even then that they were destined for great things, and they delivered in spades.

Now that I have made myself feel old, let's get to the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

I was sitting here watching the ESPN pregame show for Villanova at Syracuse earlier this evening. The show began with a debate about whether or not Syracuse deserved to be ranked number 1 if they beat the Wildcats tonight, given that Kansas and Kentucky had lost earlier in the day. The Gameday crew went back and forth about if they should leapfrog Kentucky, or if Kansas still deserved to be the #1 team. After going back and forth for a few minutes, Rece Davis (directly preceding a commercial break) basically said sorry Purdue you don't belong in this discussion and then mentioned that we needed to wait and see how our rankings and seeding would fall with the loss of Hummel.

It was at this moment that I decided I would be rooting for the Orange tonight. In fact, if they win, I want them to be ranked first, especially if the Boilers take care of business against the Spartans. I want Kramer, JJ, KG, and E'Twaun to see that no one thinks they are worthy. I want them to see that even if they win a tough road game against a desperate team who gave them their best shot, it doesn't matter. I want them to see that beating the defending national runner up, a top 15 team, doesn't matter. I want them to know that no one outside of that locker room and Purdue fans think that they can win another game without Robbie.

Even throughout the game, when it was clear that Villanova wasn't coming back to win it, the commentators began to discuss #1 seeds, with nary a word about the good guys in Old Gold and Black. They haven't even lost a game in weeks, and you would think that they had lost at home to LeMoyne and Penn State. "Forget it," is the word from Bristol, the Purdue Hummels are done for the year.

Why don't I want Purdue to be the top ranked team in the country? Simple, this team plays better angry. When Manny Harris knocked out Chris Kramer what happened? Purdue went on a 30-8 run and turned a close game into a slaughter. What happened when a "superior" Big East team came to Mackey this season, and the media declared that Purdue would finally be exposed? The Boilers put on a clinic and cruised to a 15 point victory (which could have easily been 30). When this team fell behind at Alabama, they came back with such force that fans were getting ejected in frustration. So, please, by all means, let them know how bad they are supposed to be now. All of these guys know how to read, and they know what getting leapfrogged by Syracuse means for how the pollsters think of them. I will say one thing though, if they beat the Spartans, I wouldn't want to play for IU or Penn State if the Orange are number 1 come Monday.

After the jump, we get to the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

My professor interrupted class today to tell us about Robbie Hummel's knee injury. For those of you who were fortunate enough to not be in engineering, I think the last time that an engineering professor interrupted class was when aliens landed on Memorial Mall and we all had to take up arms against the Niimuzh invading force. Either I'm lying about that or the mainstream media is. I'll let you decide. I never thought I would live to see the day that an engineering professor would take precious time to tell us about an athlete when he could be telling us something we won't understand until after the exam.

The room went into a frenzy. People got up and started kicking chairs in anger, grown men started crying, women were fainting left and right, the guy next to me curled up into the fetal position rocking back and forth screaming, "Why? Why is this happening to us?" The university erupted in rioting and looting. I barely managed to escape to my car and flee to safety. All of that happened in my mind of course, but I will say that I have never seen so many people try and discreetly sneak their laptops out of their bags, as if to say, "Holy crap! I forgot that I take all my notes on my computer! Every single day I take notes on this thing and today is the one day I forget until 40 minutes into class. Where is my mind?" I didn't do that. I had my laptop firmly glued to every sports news source I knew since I had walked into the room. Plan ahead fellow Boilers. How did they expect me to concentrate anyway, ROBBIE MIGHT BE OUT FOR THE SEASON! That is the biggest thing that's happened since the Niimuzh landed.

It seems that everywhere you turn, people are calling the season over. The experts and prognosticators say that Purdue is done. "Boiler Down," proclaims the front page of ESPN's Men's Basketball page. Andy Katz's latest piece is full of innuendo, implying that we shouldn't even be considered for a #1 seed anymore. Dick Vitale is talking Notre Dame basketball. Clearly he has been stricken with grief or Alzheimer's, maybe both. I'm sure you all felt the same way watching it happen last night. I felt physically ill. This morning, I was walking to my exam (way to pile on, universe) pondering what Purdue would do without Robbie. Then, I had a thought like a scene in Major League.

Jake Taylor: [Jake stands up] Well then I guess there's only one thing left to do.
Roger Dorn: What's that?
Jake Taylor: Win the whole f***ing thing.

Are they a better team with Robbie Hummel. Yes, of course, and anyone who disagrees doesn't know basketball. This isn't a one man sport, and the rest of our team can step up and finish what they started with Robbie. Who in this conference wouldn't take an E'Twaun Moore, JJ, or Kramer if they had the chance? I can't remember the last time Kramer blew a chance at a big defensive play, and containing E'Twaun means he only puts up 12. When JJ is on, he is unstoppable. LewJack is back running the point, and Keaton Grant walked near some radioactive waste that made him back into the sophomore year beast he was. I think he inherited it from Kurt Warner, who used it to play like it was 1999. If we can just get Barlow to stop with the bonehead fouls and Bade to grow up a bit, this team is capable of reaching the heights it could have reached with Robbie. Is it a harder road for the Boilers? No doubt, but Matty's boys like a fight. Top to bottom, this team is too good to count out. Anyone trying to bury the Boilers because they are missing Hummel is in for a shock.

After the jump, we get to the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

Anyone who has been reading this blog for more than a couple weeks knows about "The Syracuse Incident." The short version is that T-Mill suggested that the Orange may be a teensy bit overrated and that caused Syracuse fans to come here to defend their boys. After T-Mill's opinion was swayed, he posted the now infamous apology to the 'Cuse. Our fellow Boiler blogger J Money at Boiled Sports then jokingly demanded an apology from T-Mill for predicting that Purdue would lose in East Lansing. With all of the mea culpas flying around, you would have thought that Purdue was in Canada. "Sorey aboot that, eh."

However, Purdue is located in one of the ruder former colonies and I thought, "Why should Travis have all the fun?" Part of the Purdue blogging experience is to have J Money demand an apology from you, and I feel like an outsider having never experienced it. I'm sure Purdue Pete over at the fabulous Purdue Basketball Blog feels the same. I baited J Money with a joke about his age in the last Boilermakings installment, and despite my implication that he was old enough to have gone to high school with Moses, he did not take the bait. So, I'm going to take some time before today's Boilermakings to just write outrageous things about J Money and see what happens.

• J Money stands in front you at the grocery store and writes a check for less than $20
  Seriously, get a debit card. We don't have time for you to write all of that nonsense.
• J Money drives slowly in the left lane, forcing you to pass him on the right
  With his turn signal on, no doubt.
  
• "Handsome Hour," more like Handsome 90 minutes
  Always delivering more content than promised, like we have the kind of time to listen to it. This isn't the State of the Union sir. I can't argue with the handsome part though.
• J Money is a Yankees fan
  This one is actually true. Not that the others aren't, but he will admit to this one.
• J Money gave advice to Kyle Orton
  That advice? "Sliding is for losers. Winners hurdle defenders when they are about to be tackled. Now go out there and show Wisconsin that you are a winner!"
• J Money designed, manufactured, and marketed that noisy toy your kid always plays with
  For those of you raising little Boilermakers.
• J Money did not care for The Godfather
  It insists upon itself.
• J Money was a key grip for Jersey Shore
  Which means he was partially responsible for that abomination.
• J Money lives in Texas
  How much snow have you brushed off your car J? What's that? You live on the equator and don't even own a jacket? La dee da.
  
• J Money knows why Tila Tequila is famous
  He refuses to tell anyone the reason.
• J Money was responsible for the cancellation of both Chapelle's Show and Flight of the Conchords
  What do you have against smart comedy J?
• J Money has Tim locked in his basement
  That is why Tim hasn't posted on Boiled Sports since November 2009.
• J Money wrote Nickelback's entire catalog
  That's right, both songs.
• J Money is boilerdowd
  Have you ever seen them in the same room together? Me either. I think that boilerdowd is just J Money's IndyCar loving alter ego. The Handsome Hour is then the delusional ravings of a madman. He has two personalities; one with a radio voice, and his higher pitched compatriot who argues for control of the fragile psyche of this delusional mind.

I have more ridiculous accusations I could sling at J Money, but I think I have written his name enough that this will show up on the front page of the Google results if you search for it. I demand that you demand an apology J Money. After the jump, we get to the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

They tell you a lot of things in first year engineering. "You are going to get a great job," is one of the more truthful things they say. "The dropout rate isn't as bad as you hear," is one of the bald faced lies. "Put away the laptops, because I know you are playing flash games on the internet," is one of the worst (true story; my friend and I used to spend all of freshman seminar playing Bomberman in the back. He failed out.). What puzzles me is the stuff they don't tell you. For example, "By the way, get some extra loans senior year, because there are a thousand things you need to do and each of them cost a more than a Kia." Since I am paying for my education, I try to be very conservative with my student loans. This has led to some extra belt tightening this semester, thanks to some unexpected certification tests and grad school applications. Not that it is so bad, don't get me wrong, it's just like a trip back to freshman year. When ramen noodles were a meal, and not what you eat when drunk because you can't wait for the pizza guy. When MD 20/20 and Keystone become things you willingly purchase and drink. Getting paid will be awesome one day.

The poverty is part of the college experience, of course. Sometimes you just need more scratch around for when your crappy laptop has problems or something like that. All the years of cooking the books like Enron caught up to me and I ended up having to choose between the electric bill and the phone bill this month. Since I am not texting this to T-Mill one sentence at a time you can imagine which one I chose. Like all people my age, my entire life rotates around my plastic Korean made Samsung overlord. You can imagine the withdrawal symptoms are significant. On one hand, I feel like I'm attending college back before cell phones when you carved out messages on granite slabs and carried them uphill both ways to J Money's dorm room. That illusion is quickly shattered when you realize that everyone else is talking to each other behind your back and you are a beard away from being Amish. I will be out stealing televisions for you AT&T.

After the jump, we get to the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

The days after Valentine's Day, Easter, and Halloween are easily the greatest days of the candy year. Today is the day that people like me go to the grocery stores and buy all that candy that our collective girlfriends didn't get for 70% off. If I had to rank these day after holidays, you've got to put November 1st as number 1. Halloween is the candy holiday, which means anything you can think of is on sale. Like Snickers? 200 for $3.29. I would put February 15th a close second. Not so much for the cheap candy, because I don't care what anyone says those chalk hearts are terrible, even the hearts that agree with me.

The day after Valentine's Day is when all of the fancy mints and truffles and crap are on sale. The lower quality stuff is still full price thanks to Easter, but today is the day we can all enjoy the finer candies for a reasonable price. It is one of the finer days to be a member of the proletariat. Easter's saving grace is the Reese's egg. Would I buy Reese's eggs year round? Damn right I would. That is the ideal shape for peanut butter and chocolate consumption.

Yes, I am overweight, why do you ask? After the jump, we get to the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

As expected, our Boilers rolled to an easy win over the Hawkeyes. With Travis in St. Louis enjoying free beer, courtesy of the Budweiser brewery, I'll do my best to recap the game. For those of you who are used to quality content or insight, sorry, the guy responsible for that is checking out the Arch. I'm the guy who calls re-watching Spinal Tap "research."

In general, the game went as expected. Purdue played aggressively, and on a night when the longer shots just didn't seem to be falling they attacked in the paint. Purdue came out motivated and they never let up. It seemed like this team wanted to make a statement. They will not play down to anyone, and no matter who you are they are coming for you. Painter was also very aggressive with the line up, and left the starters in for longer that necessary. I was sure that we would see the starters take a break when JaJuan had that nasty collision in the second half. I was quite surprised to see on him on the court even after the timeout. The Boilers were diving for balls and going all out, even with a lead that was never within range to be challenged. If they put up an effort like that in Columbus, which just a bit more shooting touch, we should win going away.

Positives and negatives for the game are after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

Most other conferences with a 10 in the name have just ten schools. You have ten teams in football, ten in basketball, where do you go from there? In the Big Ten, we go to eleven. Unless we expand, in which case we will be twelve, but that's nitpicking isn't it? After a big week in conference play, it's time to put the eleven in order. So, in honor of all the nameless drummers from over the years, let's rank the Big Ten. Hello Cleveland!

Continue reading this post »

There are strange things that happen in this world all of the time. A friend of mine ordered a Kindle, and Amazon accidently sent them an extra one. After years of driving my usual route to campus never having seen even the most minor fender bender, I came upon a 6 car pile up today. Someone once got killed by a meteorite, which as we all know is God's sniper rifle. An IU alum made an amazing play to intercept one of the most talented quarterbacks ever to play football and clinch the championship this very week. Most of us can look at these things happening around us, shrug, and move on with our lives. Well, you know, except for the meteor guy.

Sports has always been a place for wild speculation. In his most recent mailbag, Bill Simmons wonders what would have happened if the Celtics had got the 2nd pick in the 2007 NBA draft and taken Kevin Durant rather than trading for KG. Cubs fans still argue about whether or not we go to the World Series if Steve Bartman could've kept his hands to himself. Remember 4th & 2? Everyone and their mother had an opinion about whether or not Belichick made the right call. Indeed, the entire purpose of blogs like this one is to explore those fun questions that we all have. We read here everyday to talk about how the rest of the season is going to shake out, or who is in the running for the starting quarterback job, or if Ron Zook and Rich Rodriguez will star in a coming of age teen drama (tentatively titled 'Waterskiing on Tears', your move Hollywood). So, when Peyton Manning threw the deciding pick six in the Super Bowl, it was only natural for all of us to wonder about that play. Did Reggie run a bad route, or did Peyton make a bad read? Was Tracy Porter just in the right place at the right time? What if he hadn't caught the ball, do the Colts come back for another 4th quarter win? This is what makes sports fun; all of the what ifs. Unless, of course, you write for Bleacher Report then there must be something darker afoot...

Find out what I mean after the jump along with the rest of the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

Tonight's games will have a profound impact on the Big Ten race. Illinois proved they are for real in win over the Badgers. Meanwhile, our Boilers took down the reeling Spartans. What we now have is a logjam at the top of the Big Ten standings, with 5 realistic contenders for the regular season championship. These contenders are, in no particular order, Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Illinois. In order to have a better idea of where we stand, let's review the Big Ten's rules for tiebreakers, since I'm sure this will be a factor in determining the standings.

The first tiebreaker is head to head winning percentage for both a 2 team tie and a multiple team tie. The next tiebreaker is a bit odd, since it is the teams' record against the 2nd place team. So, for example, if Purdue, Michigan State, and Wisconsin end up tied for the regular season title and Illinois is the lone 4th place team, then the tiebreaker is their record against Illinois. The third tiebreaker is the winning percentage of all Division 1 opponents a team has faced, and the fourth tiebreaker is a good old fashioned coin toss. If the coin lands on its edge, there will be a two-man sack race held on consecutive Sundays until a champion can be crowned.

After the jump, we will take a look at the road ahead for each team and see what they have to do to win the Big Ten.

Continue reading this post »

Drew Brees, Super Bowl MVP. You have to like the sound of that. Even the Colts fan in me can't be too sad about that loss. Drew is such a class act and a great player, I couldn't imagine a more deserving player than him to win a Super Bowl. I have no connection to New Orleans, or the devestation of Katrina. As such, I can't rightfully say that I understand what Drew Brees or the Saints mean to the residents of the city. Therefore, I leave it to the good people of NewOrleans.com to tell us;

"Four years ago, who ever thought this would happen?" he said, still fighting back tears.

Earlier, as confetti swirled just above the playing surface at Sun Life Stadium, Brees' eyes were already watering, trying not to cry as he held his son, Baylen, who was wearing a Saints jersey with his father's name on the back and a headset so the loud celebration wouldn't scare him. Brees struggled yet one more time to keep his emotions in check as he lifted the silver Lombardi trophy over his head.

But a few minutes into his postgame interview, Brees simply quit trying.

"Eighty-five percent of the city was under water, all the residents evacuated all over the country, people never knowing if they were coming back or if New Orleans would come back," he said. "But not only the city came back, and the team came back ... when the players got there, we all looked at one another and said, 'We're going to rebuild together.'

"We leaned on each other," Brees said, pausing as he choked up. "This is the culmination of that."

After the jump, we hit the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

I hope everyone is having a great Super weekend. I am sitting here tonight watching the Michigan State game, wrestling with myself. Do I wear the Brees jersey to the Super Bowl parties tomorrow or one of my Colts jerseys? This is a great weekend to be a Purdue fan from Indiana. No matter what happens tomorrow, my favorite player or my favorite team will win the championship. In addition to that, how lucky are we as football fans for this Super Bowl? The 2 best teams of the year squaring off in the title game. This is game that everyone wanted (with the notable exception of Brett Favre's immediate family). So, here is a bit of pre-game analysis before we get to the Boilermakings.

I think tomorrow's game will be a classic Super Bowl. These are 2 great teams, with 2 great quarterbacks, and underrated defenses. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Saints jump out to a lead of more than 10 points. The one thing you can say about the Saints is that they are unpredictable. Every single week, there is some new kind of offensive scheme or formation, some new wrinkle that you have never seen from them before. Meanwhile, the Colts have a tendency to let even mediocre offenses stay in the game for quite some time. They allowed the Jets to score 2 explosive touchdowns, so much that it even seemed like the Colts were in deep trouble in the AFC Championship Game. New Orleans just has too many weapons for the Colts to contain. They have 3 great running backs who can all punish the Colts should they try to clamp down on Brees. Every single wide receiver they have is a constant home run threat, and Shockey is a big tight end to try and contain with a small defense like the Colts have (he had a pretty good game against them as a Giant, against Bob Sanders).

A lot of talk this week has focused on both of the offenses, but these defenses are playing really well too. The Saints are very opportunistic, known for getting and converting turnovers. On other side, the Colts are quietly the number 8 scoring defense in the league, despite giving two games to the bench players. The Colts have done this despite numerous injuries to key members of their secondary, defensive line, and linebackers. This is nothing new for the Colts, who have also been dealing with the loss of Anthony Gonzalez. The depth problems are going to hurt them early. Offenses less prolific than this have given the Colts young secondary hell. Brady and Moss put on a 45 minute clinic for the Colts' rookie corners in Indianapolis this year. Even Mark Sanchez managed to turn them around last week, and more than once.

This is the Colts though, and they made a whole season doing this. They have come back late seven times. Ask New England what kind of lead is safe against this team. New Orleans can't let up at any point in this game, because Manning will shred them. Manning will make them pay for every mistake, every person out of position, every mismatch, and every blitz. I have described the Saints defense as opportunistic, and that is the problem. How many opportunities does Peyton Manning ever give the opposing team? The Vikings were kind enough to cough up the ball 4 times last week, and still the Saints took the game to overtime. This was after Manning torched the #1 defense in NFL for nearly 400 yards and 3 touchdowns. If Darrelle Revis and the Jets' better secondary couldn't get Manning to throw a pick, my hopes aren't high for the Saints.

I see this game playing out like the tortoise and the hare. New Orleans is going to shoot out to an early lead, as Brees tests the young defense. On the other side, Manning will take his time, daring the Saints to sell out on a blitz or get too aggressive and leave holes in a zone, and then he will strike. The Colts will take advantage of every single error made by the Saints defense and climb back into the game, and eventually pull away. The Saints game plan is to get in Manning's head, to get at him, make him hear footsteps and force him to make mistakes. I just don't see it happening. The Ravens and Jets couldn't stop Manning and they had the two best defenses in the playoffs this year. After watching that happen, I have trouble imagining the Saints being the team that finally forces Peyton to lose a football game. Drew is good enough to keep it interesting for the whole game, but I don't see that defense containing the Colts. Sorry Drew.

Colts 34, Saints 27

Tell us what you think in the poll, and after the jump we hit the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

I've heard that we might be playing a basketball game tonight. Here is a little drinking game for everyone like myself who will not be fortunate enough to blackout Assembly Hall.

1 Drink;

• "Bitter rivals" is said
• IU slam dunks while down more than 10 and still celebrates like it's a huge accomplishment
• Striped warm ups on screen
  
• Tom Crean forehead lens flare
• Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers

2 Drinks;

• Purdon't (Purdont for those IU "students" who are leading the crusade against punctuation)
• Any Painter puns
• ESPN poster with Purdue as the P, for example
  
  wE
    Suck
    Purdue
  kNows it
• Gene Keady, Bob Knight
• The dusty banners

Finish your beer;

• Hightower officiating, it's going to be a long night (corollary; 2 drinks every time Hightower makes a terrible call)
  
• Bobby Knight throwing the chair replay
  
• Paint Crew shown on TV (we're with you brothers and sisters!)
• JuJuan Johnson blocks a shot off Tom Crean's dome

Feel free to suggest more in the comments, after the jump, we get to the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »

We have 4 more commitments since the earlier post.

2 Star Prospects;

Ryan Russell, DL

3 Star Prospects;

Bruce Gaston, DE
Ricardo Allen, CB

4 Star Prospects;

O.J. Ross, WR

Long snapper Jesse Schmitt has also been accepted to the university and announced his intentions to play for Purdue. Still one more holdout to officially sign before days end.

Today is National Signing Day, so let's throw down a quick update of what has happened thus far. For those who want to follow all day, check the BoilerFootball twitter feed or the PurdueSports twitter feed. They are both updating in real time, and Coach Hope plans to have a press conference at 4 PM to discuss the incoming class. Nothing I have read so far indicates that there will be any surprises with the class, but you never know until the ink dries on the letter on intent. After the jump, we see the 15 Purdue has signed so far. 5 more verbal commitments are expected to sign their letters of intent later in the day.

Continue reading this post »

Tonight is a huge game for our Boilermakers, and they don't even get to play in it. In about an hour, Michigan State will try to silence the Kohl Center crowd in a game that has huge implications for the Big Ten title race. I'm sure that I don't need to tell anyone here that Boilermaker nation is temporarily donning our Cheeseheads, drinking milk, and... doing whatever it is that one does in Wisconsin. Of course, this isn't the only game important to the Boilers this week, and after the jump we will touch on the other ones.

Continue reading this post »

You may remember a while back T-mill asked for some help with the blog, just to lighten the load with his job. I am that help. My name is John, and I comment here under the handle TelePunk5 (over on BoiledSports as John, for those that read both). I'll talk about myself for a just a second here before we get down to business. I am a senior in Mechanical Engineering here at Purdue, and planning to continue graduate school here through my masters at least. I bleed Old Gold and Black. I grew up in South Bend, so I have a hatred for Notre Dame that borders on offensive even to other Purdue fans. I also a big fan of the Colts, Pacers (I know, believe me I know), Chicago Blackhawks, and Chicago Cubs. Finally, you can follow me on Twitter if you are so inclined. I tweet about Purdue sports and nerdery because engineering isn't just a major, it is a lifestyle. Hit the jump and we will make with the Boilermakings.

Continue reading this post »