Early Tuesday Gumbo

As you've probably already heard, Keith Smith is going to commission the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility. I honestly have no clue what took him so long to come to his decision...but I'm stoked he'll return. K. Smith has consistent hands, catches well in traffic and runs precise routes...the little things that he does are greatly missed amongst the youth movement that has been thrust into action this season. In football the details matter, and this season, focus on the details has been non-existent for the kelly green Purdue offense. It's pretty impossible to take time in practice rounding out the rough edges when the guys barely even know the play book.

Atop being a damned good receiver, Smith might be the best morale guy in the locker room. Can the return of Smith and the other injured Boilers make a 3 win swing from this season, possible? We'll see.

Consistently Inconsistent

Since this site's inception there have been a few consistent themes: We're critical of Purdue when we feel it's warranted, we love our Boilers like Paula Deen loves butter, we can't stand media types running the company line and we generally think early season polls, regardless of the sport are nonsense.

The last two pillars are related this year because EsPN has declared Purdue an also-ran, as you all well know, and the media poll has Purdue pretty low since Rob went down. But, the coaches got involved in the nonsensical back-beating of our Boilers this week. After Purdue easily handled its exhibition bidness and made easy work of Howard without playing many of the starters in a normal amount of minutes, our Boilers still dropped one spot...and UNC passed them.

Sure, it makes no sense. UNC struggled in its first real game and their final margin wasn't nearly as large as Purdue's 36-point thumping of the Bison...but let's remember what almost every coach admits- Many have their dogs filling out their polls. By the time the season is up and running, coaches have no time to invest in this nonsense, and they act like it. UNC is a an easier pick...national titles, Caroline blue unis, McDs AAs throughout the line-up...I get it.

Just so we don't take this poll too hard, here are some other oddities in the poll (at a glance):

-Tennessee is ranked (in both polls, no less). Yes, same Tennessee that was beaten by the University of Indianapolis, pretty badly at that, at home. I know it was exhibition...but do people who fill out polls really ignore such a blemish, whether it counts or not. They shouldn't. I don't care what the explanation is, shouldn't matter...it's still a game that was publicly-viewed and was a bad loss.

-Xavier, who is solid each season and has a ton of Juniors and Seniors on the roster, barely beat a bad team in their first contest, so they were booted from the coaches poll and was never invited to the media party. UNC who has a few Juniors returning from the awful team of '10, beats a crappy team by a slight margin, and is rewarded.

-Wisconsin returns three starters, is coached by Bo Ryan and seems to always be rock-solid, beat a lousy team by an eye-popping 44 points is barely-ranked by the coaches and unranked by the media.

There's more...but like the coaches and mainstream media, I haven't seen enough basketball to go through the poll slot by slot. Unlike some sports, it'll all be decided on the field of play, at least.

A New Era

This weekend we saw UM beat a bad Purdue team. All is right in the world, right, college football fans? Well, no.

There's simply no denying how bad Michigan is defensively. But that didn't stop this once-proud program from celebrating like they won the national title as they walked off Ross-Ade's field. I guess the old adage of "act like you've been there before" really doesn't play here...because many on the Wolverines roster, including their coach had never tasted the sweet nectar of beating Purdue at home.

Similarly, Notre Dame's fans rushed the field after beating a non-BCS school at home. At first blush, it seems odd since UND has all that history, and what-not. But, how many ranked opponents have the Irish beaten in recent seasons? But theres's more to this story.

Weeks ago, UND students started commissioning eachother via their student newspaper to rush the field sarcastically after Utah beat them. The significance is that with that game, many thought UND's seniors would become the school's losing-est class EVER.

Obviously, the Seniors avoided that distinction, at least for a few weeks. But as the Irish faithful streamed onto the field last Saturday, I think they helped everyone in the nation understand something that was already known by many: Big talk by big name coaches and heritage doesn't come close to guaranteeing success...ask IU basketball fans- Oh wait, those were the same people who were rushing the field in South Bend...nevermind.

And Speaking of Basketball...

Remember when Scott Martin left Purdue because he didn't like living in the shadow of his lifelong pal, Rob? We do.

His plan to follow his dreams two hours North haven't worked out as he and Mike Brey had envisioned, as you already know. But after a couple games, he's letting his game do all the talking. Martin is currently fourth in scoring, fourth in rebounding, fourth in minutes played, fourth in assists...and first in turnovers for the National Brand, UND.

File this under things we're jealous of?

UND fans tell us we hate them because we're jealous of them. On one hand, they're right. Who wouldn't want to have the media fawning over your favorite team even when they don't win. Yeah, that's been happening for the past few seasons or so...but that's not the point of this post.

By the way, I'm not sure that point is something to be jealous of...it's more of a sign of the stupidity of the media, specifically EsPN. They do their best to remind us of their lack of interest in real sports stories and perpetually focus on the pop-culture around sports, not what happens on the field- music video pre-games, anything pertaining to Brett Favre, breaking stories that aren't real, and Notre Dame football. Stuff like that. Anywho.

One of the things I detest about UND is their belief that God actually favors them (Domers, he actually loves BC and Liberty the most, by the way).

So, here's an example of an arrogant Notre Dame fan in the media from a station that I don't care about.

Did you catch that? When given the opportunity to apologize or back off of his asinine joke, he decided to reiterate it because he thought it was correct. Couple points- first off, the official play clock is not that of EsPN. No, the official clock is hardly ever in complete sync with that on the TV screen. Second, and more importantly, this is clearly a poor attempt at humor. Nothing's funnier than heart attacks...am I right? High five, no?

I mean, my Dad had to get a few stints put in a few years ago. Our family just laughed and laughed at the situation! Good times...Dipshit.

Plus, whether or not this guy thinks he's funny, the root of his crappy attempt at comedy is arrogance and a firm belief that the Almighty would punish anyone for beating Notre Dame. Come to think of it, perhaps he's right! UND's administration and coaching staffs the past decade or so have been doing their best to make sure UND loses quite a bit and what's happened to them? Davie's out of coaching, Willingham's out of coaching, Weis went from OC of the World Champs, to a laughing stock at UND, to coaching an offense that's averaging just over 18pts/gm.

So while Brian Kelly takes the high road and doesn't put blame on the clock operators for UND's most-recent loss, he might wanna be careful and get out while the getting's good...because afterall, God just hates it when UND loses!

Can you taste it?

It's close, very close now...football season is almost really here. My older brother sent out an e-mail reminding us that Christmas morning was coming this Thursday night as College football officially kicks off- love this time of year.

A Reminder of Why Notre Dame Fans Suck

If you listened to last week’s sneak preview for Season Three of the Handsome Hour Boiled Sports Podcast, you might have heard my colleague boilerdowd comment on how – at the moment – he wasn’t feeling the usual amount of dislike for Notre Dame. He’d been watching some of their practices and had honestly felt it looked “fun.” Couple that with new coach Brian Kelly who, unlike Charlie Weis, is not as easily detestable (not yet, anyway). Weis embodied typical golden domers – irrationally and unjustifiably arrogant and simultaneously ignorant regarding how far off the map of relevance their program has fallen.

Well, if you felt as dowdy did and you were having any trouble ramping up your level of hate for ND, let me regale you with a little story.

We got an email over the weekend to the Boiled Sports mailbox from a proprietor of a new Notre Dame themed site who “would love if [we] would direct [our] readers” to them. Yes, I’m sure you would love free traffic.

He then went on to say that their site was for ND lovers AND haters and that their first post was up and it was why don’t Notre Dame fans care about Purdue. He provided no link.

I replied and said that with no link it was hard to read the story and, secondly, that Domers spend a lot of time explaining why they don’t care about Purdue.

He snottily replied that if I READ the article, I’d see that he explained that they actually should. And he provided the link.

I read the drivel against my better judgment (seriously, why should I give any attention to a one-post blog?) and noted that just seven sentences in to their blog’s existence, they took a shot at Hammer & Rails, suggesting that no Domer would ever comment on a Purdue site and that to think so would be “flattering” oneself. His two commenters were the typical douches we’ve come to expect of ND fans, making the tired old “It’s just Purdue” argument.

I replied and said the following:

Did you seriously take a shot at Hammer & Rails in your inaugural post? You doubt a single ND fan has ever commented on their site, eh? Done a lot of research to back that up, have you?

Ah, I forgot. Domers never let the facts get in the way. Pesky facts!

That sort of arrogance (and that of every other UND "fan," such as your two commenters) is precisely why we hate Notre Dame. Misplaced, ignorant, unjustified arrogance.

He didn’t like that and suggested I’d been “unnerved.” I pointed out that he wanted haters and we, in no uncertain terms, hate Notre Dame. He immediately backpedaled that his barb at H&R was “sarcastic” and I was dumb to not understand that. He also offered his “thesis,” which I’m sure you’ll agree, is SO FRICKING ORIGINAL I AM BLOWN AWAY:

And my true thesis why many Purdue fans hate ND is because ND fans overall just don't care about Purdue, despite the many good reasons to do so as I posted in my post.  It's just a "meh" game for many of us.  Hard to get excited about.

Now THAT, my friends, is a quality “thesis.” In fact, that would probably be a good thesis for a PhD at Notre Dame. Why? Because it’s BRILLIANT!  And nobody has ever made that stupid, tired, nonsensical, egocentric suggestion before. Yes, sir, we dislike Notre Dame because THEY don’t care enough about us. CARE ABOUT US, DAMMIT! We demand to be CARED ABOUT! Take us seriously! We demand validation from a program that hasn’t had an over .500 season in three years! A program that….USED to be really good! Like, 40 years ago! Dammit, VINDICATE US FROM THIS CESSPOOL OF UNCARINGNESS!! PLEASE!

Sorry, I blacked out for a minute there...

Okay, what I actually did was point out that he just encapsulated what we hate about ND. That they’re so blinded by their world-revolves-around-an-irrelevant-program thinking that the only logical reason we might dislike them is because they don’t pay enough attention to us. I told him he’s just like every other ND fan and that it’s not surprising at all.

I also pointed out that he contacted US hoping for free site traffic and in his inaugural post bashes a Purdue site that is well-written, well-researched and beyond handsome. And a level of dedication and hard work he has no concept of yet. His site will – guaranteed – be abandoned shortly. I’m betting less than halfway through this season. And yet this arrogant douchewad CONTINUED to be pissy with me – because writing ONE post as a Domer qualifies you to lecture guys who’ve been doing this for years and have written, literally, THOUSANDS of posts.

I told him he oughta toughen up if he’s going to write a blog. I also told him to shoo.

As you’ve likely gathered by now, I’m not linking to this Notre Dame sycophant who claims to want ND haters as well. I do like his business model, though. On his site he has this:

In addition to your comments on our posts, we want to hear your stories and see your pictures!  Maybe you’re a fan living in enemy territory or maybe you hated Notre Dame growing up.  Or perhaps you had a great gameday experience or maybe you have a room at your home dedicated to Notre Dame. 

Here's how I believe the conversation went...

ND ignoramus #1: “I have a brilliant idea! Let’s start a ND website! We’ll pretend we want people who like ND as well as hate ND!”

ND ignoramus #2: “But don’t haters already go to sites of teams they hate?”

ND ignoramus #1: “You don’t get it! We’ll welcome them! And we’ll ask other sites to send their traffic to us. Then we’ll take that traffic and tell them to send us pictures, stories, etc. They’ll be writing the site for us! It’s brilliant!”

ND ignoramus #2: *Shrugs, hangs up IU basketball jacket and puts on ND football jacket* “Sounds good to me, boss.”

I hate these people. I really do. Bring on the season.

Lest We Forget...THEY ARE ENN DEE!

I don't know if you remember or not... but THEY ARE N-D!

Nooo-turrrr DAAAAAAAAAAAME!!

The Handsome Hour Preview Show, muthas.

The handsomest duo in the universe has returned from their hiatus off of the airwaves.

They talk about how great change, just for the sake of change, really is...

Rumors of new uniforms...

They look ahead (a bit) to UND...

And potential of this year's Boiler squad.

Listen...NOW!!!

Listen to internet radio with Boiled Sports on Blog Talk Radio

"That's Just a Matter of Time..."

Brian Kelly, latest savior of Notre Dame football, said in an interview with ESPN that aired last week that he thinks of Notre Dame as "Integrity, academics...and great football."

Maybe he means by the visitors to Notre Dame Stadium.

Regardless, in case you missed the interview, it is below. Most notably, people, let's all remember that Notre Dame winning national titles is... "just a matter of time."

Smartly, Coach Kelly does not say how much time it will take.

See the video, after the jump.

T-Minus 40 Days: Quick Look at the Irish

Since we last saw our pals in South Bend, a lot has changed. They've lost an unlikable coach and all of the wonderful trappings that came with him...Plus, he's been replaced with a guy that I have a hard time disliking. Kelly has been no-nonsense since his arrival at UND and hasn't once mentioned any specific advantage his team has because of his abilities. Amazingly, they might actually have some because of Kelly's ability to develop offensive talent and spread the ball around to a number of different weapons. Quite honestly, the chasm that Weis left angers and saddens me. But, as the NDC hype machine cranks up in the fall, the embers in my gut will be stoked once again as we're all reminded of Subway Alums, stuck-up students and an heir of cockiness as talk of Waking up echoes, great tradition, or all their success of the past becomes louder and louder.

Here's what we know of the Irish right now:

As usual, they're chucked-full of talent with four and five star recruits sprinkled throughout the offensive and defensive line-ups, but there are plenty of variable in South Bend too. Dayne Crist is now the QB. Like Clausen, he was one of the top players in the nation out of high school. But, he was only used as an option QB in '09. Armando Allen returns at running back, Floyd and Kamara at WR, Ragone and Rudolph at TE, but their offensive line has gone through a major overhaul as they lost three starters. Defensively, they return 9 players from a mediocre defense. But, Manti Te'O is probably now ready for primetime as he's had a full year to bulk up and prepare.
And of course, Kelly, who has been successful everywhere he's been, will surely change the look of the Irish. One thing to watch is the fact that Kelly might struggle with one of the same problems that Weis had- an offense-first coaching philosophy.

Off the field, 8 Irish players were arrested for underage drinking. Kelly has done nothing about it other than issued firm warnings. Of course, the arrests probably aren't too important as none of the players looked to be significant contributors in the coming season.

Around the team, in spite of suffering another mediocre season, the Irish media still are quite confident.

UND's rivals site has been rating all 12 opponents on their schedule along with the Irish by position. Not surprisingly, Purdue is not getting a ton of respect...Coming off of a 5-win season, I can't really blame them. But, their objective outlook isn't even-handed. The site consistently has the Irish in the top-3 of most categories and has them at a current average just behind USC. The 10-win Pitt Panthers, 8-win Stanford Cardinal and the 10-win Utah Utes all trail the Irish in most categories, according to Irishillustrated.com. So at very minimum, if the Irish don't have great success, at least they'll always have their world-class confidence.