November 6; A Day That Will Live In History

Today, November 6, is a big day. It's a day that changes the world. It's a day when history is altered. It's a day of change and hope and fresh ideas.

November 6 is the sixth birthday of Boiled Sports. I hope you got us something nice.

What, did you think I was talking about something else going on today?

Six years ago on this day, November 6, 2006, BS took to the interwebnet waves, via a 14.4k modem, a 12 year old Boilerdowd and some hopes and dreams. [Ed Note: Not all of that is true.]

As you've probably heard us say before, a group of us used to email each other every week on the sports topics of the day/week/whatever, and lively debate would often ensue. After quite a few years of this, we decided to take the conversation into the blog format.

Thanks for gambling on us

According to Blogger (and Blogger is never wrong, much like Wikipedia, BlogTalkRadio and Boilerdowd), we're now 34 posts shy of 3,000 posts, we've had over 2.1 million page views, and we've published more than 20,000 comments on our posts. I'm not usually one to ever talk stats on here because, really, who cares? But I do so now to simply say thanks for reading and for sharing your opinions as well. We're truly flattered, whether you agree with us all the time or not.

We've tried to stick to our formula of giving you our honest opinions and we're proud of the way we've continued to do that. We've made a few mistakes, to be sure, but I like to think we've done more good work here than lousy.

Soon, you'll be learning about another addition to the BS family (the writing family -- B-dowd isn't preggo) and we know you'll welcome him with the same open arms and feisty uppercuts you've always bestowed upon us.

So thanks again. We appreciate the pride and passion so many of you share with us and we're happy and honored to be an outlet for you. Things might look bleak right now around the athletic department of Purdue, but keep the faith -- the Boilermakers will rise again.

Choo choo, muthas.

Detroit: Such a Beautiful Sight.

After seven days away from US soil, I arrived back in the land of the free yesterday. The Delta 777 descended out of the clouds to gray wintry skies in the normally-depressing (for me) city of Detroit. But, cloudy, cold winter skies over the former auto capital of the world were welcomed by me as I knew what I'd soon be able to do- visit the greatest website in all of the land.

In mainland China, I couldn't keep up with BS via twitter, Facebook or on the website. J kept everything running smoothly as he rode solo, but I didn't know it until today. Turns out, the Chinese government does not like the razor-sharp honesty displayed by the BS staff.

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a Chinese citizen who is in prison in the country for protesting human rights violations. But, the headline in the English-speaking paper that I found told a different story, "Most of the World disagrees with Peace Prize Recipient."

After I read the headline, I didn't take a hole bunch of time to investigate the rest of that rag. But, I'm sure they had an American Sports section. If so, some of its sports headlines would have probably read like this:

College basketball

"Without national hero at shooting forward, Boiler wins don't count...season over for Purdue back in September."

Other articles might say, "Spartans' benevolent leader-coach, Izzo doesn't need to put his team on the court, let-alone lead them to victory to keep well-deserved top-10 spot in AP poll." or

"Wildcats crush national power at Rupp as they flirt with top-10. Calipari remains squeaky-clean, nothing to investigate in Lexington."

Pro Football

"Manning lulling divisional opponents into deep sleep by intentionally throwing interceptions at key times."

College Football

"Auburn, like the rest of the SEC, follows NCAA rules and holds high academic standards. Newton's Heisman upholds long standard of high-character recipients."

I missed out on all college basketball with two exceptions. The Iowa v. NIU game and Duke v. Bradley game both were aired live in China with unedited feeds. There was clearly no rhyme or reason behind what made it on the air- One was a BTN feed, the other, an EsPN feed.

And, in spite of commercials in which EsPN International bragged about coverage of many sports, it was generally all-soccer, all the time. Yay for me, the viewer!

Oh yeah, I also couldn't access youtube. Damned shame too. Without good TV, it would have been fun to catch up on videos like this (a little propaganda of our own):

Great job, as usual, Kitchel!

Glad to be back in the states.

Harder to win from a cell...

One of the IRL's stars, Helio Castroneves might not be racing next season. According to the Miami Herald, he, along with his sister have been indicted on tax evasion charges. $5 million isn't an oversight, it's a conscious effort to avoid payment...He might be going to jail, it seems to me.

So, who takes his place on Penske's team for the season if he's sent to jail?