Glad I was born in 1975

I've had a few conversations this morning- some via Twitter, some on the phone and others via e-mail. Some have been constructive and positive (thanks for those), some have been laced with name-calling and curse words. Neato.

I started this site with two of my pals six years ago so we would have a place to vent about Purdue sports instead of sending out long e-mail threads on Monday mornings.  It's been a pretty therapeutic part of my life as I tend to get too angry when Purdue loses...so blowing off steam has helped me to fester for less time. But, the last few months, not just the last few hours, haven't been that way.

Comments on Twitter and on the site alike have shown me some things from fellow Purdue fans that have made this site feel more like a just a laborious activity than a labor of love.  It's really my naiveté that's the problem- I've always thought of Purdue fans as a cut above the rest of the world...but it turns out (SHOCKER!) that a school of 40K+ has quite a few knuckleheads and dumbasses leaving her doors each year.

But that's not why I'm writing today. I'm writing because I'm a very flawed person...and make a ton of mistakes in my daily life. Most of them can easily be looked past and gotten over.  I apologize to my kids and wife when screw up...and they're a forgiving group, thankfully, so life marches on as time does...even with my shortcomings. But some people don't forgive or forget quite as easily.

Earlier today, Boiledsports, which has really been Jandboilerdowd.com for the last six years, published something that isn't in line with the way we think and do things. We removed it, but the record of the article will live on via classy folks at Northwestern sites and elsewhere.  In other words, the digital copy is out there, and it will be...forever. I haven't talked to Nikki about her post.  I don't know if she regrets putting it up...and don't really care either way.  She's entitled to her opinion...and it's really not

But, having a pervasive internet and constant documentation of life has taken away much of the wiggle room that everyday life used to have built in.  Sure, much of this is by the choice of the person making the mistake...but perspective changes with time and experience...but internet mistakes are forever.

Color me Boilerdowd

When I was in high school and college, my fashion choices were questionable. I wore colored jeans and Nike Deion Sanders shoes...at the same time. I once shaved lines...into my eyebrows. I had brightly-colored leather and suede jackets.  Nasty, egregious stuff.  Sure, there's record of these mistakes...but they're locked away in old photo albums and VHS tapes...many under lock and key at my parents' home. You can't merely hit a few keystrokes and call them up to your computermaphone and show them to your chums...Thank God.

Busted!!

But that's not the case for everyone.  I don't know how to do it, but I'm sure there's a way to find old Twitter posts from accounts that are closed. And if you make an embarrassing video, even if you erase it, it's still floating around in the ethos just waiting for the wrong prying hands and eyes to grab it and use it in any way possible.

I haven't ever recorded myself sans pantalones...but I know some of you out there have...and I'm sure your friends have found the proof. What seemed like a good idea for just you and that special someone, wasn't so special or private as the dynamics of the relationship changed...and you and your pride have paid for that.

I guess what I'm driving at, is that, at least in this case, I'm glad to be a bit older than some of you reading this.  Like you, I screwed up a lot during my time in high school and college...but back then, my buddies would have had to grab the camcorder to document it...and the only way everyone would have seen it was if we had a viewing party.  A good friend of mine once questioned the sexual preference of a girl that turned him down during our Sophomore year in HS...and his reactionary stupidity spread quickly through school.  But there was no Twitter or FB to immortalize his stupidity...and it's a good thing.  He apologized to the girl, she forgave him and the thing just went away. Now, he's actually a pretty thoughtful and well-respected adult...he just wasn't that way when he was 15. Nor was I.

Sure, when I'm reminded by limited follicles, extra weight around the middle and the fact that it hurts to play basketball, I'm not too stoked about being a 36 year old...But all-in-all, I'm pretty damned thankful that I was born in 1975. And really, more importantly, I'm thankful to have been a teenager in the 90s (even if I may or may not have worn overalls during that era).

Rick Reilly Wants You To Get Off His Lawn

I never had a big problem with Rick Reilly when he was at SI. Sure, he wasn't always in touch with things, but he was an old-school journalist who didn't seem to take himself too seriously. He wrote a nice little column in the back of SI that sometimes was really, really good. And sometimes was really stupid. But hey, we all mail things in from time to time (insert joke about my posts here).

But Reilly joined the Entertainment and sports Programming Network last year and he's gotten a little more annoying. And by having more of a Web presence, he's getting more noticed by other amateur writers -- or bloggers -- for whom Reilly does not much care. The pull quote of the article was this:

“I don’t really go on the blogs, because they don’t really like anybody," he said. "Jesus could do a column and they’d be like, ‘What the hell is with the hair?’ It’ll always be something.
"Charles Barkley told me a long time ago always half the people are going to hate you and half the people are going to love you. If you suddenly change who you are, the other half will hate you. I don’t really care what people holding down couch springs do or say."

Wow. Disrespect. Face! You showed us, Reilly. Of course, who do you think reads ESPN.com? 55-year-olds sitting on the toilet? Oh, no, that's right... that's who read your old column. Did you also know, Rick, that ESPN employs "bloggers"? Guys like Adam Rittenberg, who is always giving us interesting and sometimes insider info on Big Ten basketball and football.... and, you know, puts up content. And does it frequently. All while holding down couch springs.

Oh, no, wait... you probably don't mean him, because he's legit in your eyes, because he works for ESPN. So you mean... guys like me... the kinds of guys who are essentially paying your salary by paying attention to you, you old fart. Way to not come off like a haughty a-hole.

Let's go back to the article, shall we?

On whether he buys the criticism that he does not come off as well on TV as in print:

"I know I’m not Bob Costas, but I think if you can get past the big nose and nasally voice, I think I’m trying to bring interesting sentences, good writing, clear and maybe unusual opinions to television.’’

Yes, interesting, unusual, cutting-edge opinions on things like.... beer pong. Groundbreaking, Rick.

"But what I find out so far is when you write a great column, people are like, ‘Oh, I emailed it to my 100 best friends,’ or ‘I was able to talk to my dad finally,’ or ‘I buried the hatchet with my son,’ or ‘I realized I had a problem with alcohol.’ You really move people.

"When I write stuff on TV, it’s, ‘Hey, saw you on TV!’ ‘What was that shirt?’ ‘Why were you wearing those shoes?’ People can’t get past the odd looking person on TV to hear what you’re saying yet. It’s almost like they’re amazed that the electronics at their house worked: ‘Look, I saw you on TV!’ What about what I said about my father? ‘Uh, no, I just saw that that was a weird nose.’"

Okay, first off, I guess Reilly is less modest than I thought, if he thinks his 800-word sports vigniettes are changing people's lives. But moving on to his weird over-obsession with what people think of how he looks... I don't know, Rick, but I don't think people are glossing over some super-important point you're making to make fun of your shirt. I think your points are silly and your comments are often of the goofy-ass, unfunny type. The weak puns Reilly puts forth fit in nicely with Berman at the WWL, though.

This next passage might be my favorite, though.

[The] ... perception that there is tension between ... Bill Simmons [and Reilly]:

"Where do they get this stuff? I get along with him. I think he’s funny. I think he’s a great turner of phrases. I’ve tried to learn from him how he builds an audience on the Internet.

One of the first things Simmons does is try to avoid insulting his readership.

He definitely has that new blogger style where you write in stream of consciousness style, a lot of parentheses, a lot of tangents, and that’s not the way I was raised.

Gotcha. So you insult bloggers as a whole in this interview (because, you know, we all think in lockstep) and then you compare Simmons, who you're trying to convince us you like, to.... bloggers?

I also like "that's not the way I was raised." As though Bill Simmons is rude to old people while Rick Reilly helps them across the street.

"My whole thing was hey, you’ve got 800 words, choose them wisely. Pick the exact word you want and don’t waste a word and kill your darlings even if you love them, that it’s got to fit. He comes from a whole different era where it doesn’t have to fit. He can go on for 7,000 words if he wants. My kids read him.

Ah, the subtle (even possibly unintentional) dig about how your kids read him. We get it, Rick. Bill Simmons is for children; Rick Reilly is for the grown-ups.

More from Rickey:

On how he divides his time among his various ESPN duties:

"The number one thing for me by far is the column. That’s what I spend all of my time pulling my hair out and chewing through table legs about: writing a great column. Because I want to write something that no one else is writing, good sentences, 800 words, no more. Even though it’s on-line, I still believe in 800 words.

Something no one else is writing. Yes, like a stupid column about how we should take away a bunch of MVP awards and give them to other guys, who might just as well be steroid users. Yes, Rick, that's something nobody else has ever said. Doofus.

Whatever. Like I said, I don't have a huge problem with Reilly, but the more he talks -- especially about current media, like the Web and blogging -- the more he looks like a detached old man. As any politician will tell you, insulting your base is not the best way to get liked.

I'm Old!!!!!

Sorry, I did my best...I pushed it as far as I could for a game that used to be unimportant. But, last night, I stayed up to 12:30 watching MLB's All-Star game and fell asleep at my post. I didn't see until this morning that I missed the end of the game by about 40 minutes and 2.5 innings. What I saw was thoroughly entertaining and reminded me of playoff baseball...everybody's favorite type. I will let the resident baseball experts give a significant synopsis of last night's game.

If I had one problem with the game, it would be the behind-the-plate umpire, Derryl Cousins, who I'm sure is an All-Star in his own right. He seemed to have the largest vertical strike zone I've seen in a long time. I don't know if he was trying to speed up the game, but for multiple batters, he called consecutive strikes low and high...he even rang up Utley on a low and inside pitch that was questionable at best. No matter- Great game and I'm old!

You know you're getting old when...

You know you're getting old when you start rapidly losing your hair/going gray...Or when you can't eat like you used to because you can feel your pants shrinking...Or when you see/hear a music video and say, "what in the hell is that, and how do they allow garbage like this to be produced?"

I had one of those moments this morning as I watched the offering "Higher" from Heidi Montag. First off, I had no clue who she was. I now know that she is from the pseudo-reality show "The Hills". So I guess it makes sense that an MTV vehicle would pimp its people this way...but come on. That woman can't sing, the song seems like it was written just before the filming began and the video, while fun to look at, seems to have been directed by either a puppy or someone from the cast of one of MTV's crappy shows.

If you haven't heard it, here's what it sounds like:
Hope you enjoyed that.