Weary Boilers?

This article in the J&C gives me great concern. It reminds me of the feeling I get whenever the coaching staff admits they didn't have a plan for something or didn't know what they were going to do if a given situation happened... it just makes my eyebrows go up involuntarily. 

Danny Hope says he's happy for the bye week, as his players are showing "signs of fatigue." Hey, it's hard work kicking Eastern Michigan's ass.  A quote from Hopey:

“Focus in practice, energy in meetings,” the fourth-year coach said Sunday. “I tell one of my good jokes and some of them didn’t get it.”

I, for one, would love to hear some of Danny Hope's good jokes.

But seriously, being focused for a few weeks tires guys out? I mean, yes, I know staying focused over a course of a season is indeed tiring and requires tremendous discipline. But it's just worrisome and odd to make such a statement now. It's almost like Hope feels the need to talk up everything that's ever related to the program. A bye week? It's a good thing for us! We'll rise to the challenge! By lying down and taking a nap!

It only gets better, too.

“They should be tired,” he said. “I think our staff is tired. Everybody works long days and seven days a week. Fatigue set in some but the end result was we scored 50-something points and had 600 yards of offense and shut them down with our first-team defense. They did a good job of sucking it up and pushing themselves but I know they’re all looking forward to the off week.”

I might beg to differ on whether or not they "should" be tired.

Coach was then asked if he has concerns over playing the next nine straight weeks, which is a fair question given what he's just said about fatigue. The answer....seems unclear.

“Traditionally, most football teams struggle recovering from camp. I think we did a better job of managing our football team during camp,” Hope said. “We gave them a little more time off during camp and tried to shorten the practices."

I don't see how this answers the question of if he's concerned about this team being tired over the next 2+ months. 

"I think the way this football team pushes themselves from an effort standpoint, a focus standpoint and we practice hard and when I say we practice hard, they practice hard. We have shortened the agenda but they extend themselves more.”

Oh, please stop talking, Coach.

Boiler Free Agents & Thoughts

A couple more Boilers will be getting their shot to make money playing football. Sure, it's an uphill battle they'll face, but I'm glad their getting a look.

-King to Indy
The Colts are pretty rich on defense right now, especially after their draft. But, they lost a few guys in the defensive backfield. That said, they also picked up two in the draft, so the front office thinks there's a need- that's good...but it'll take a pretty big effort for Brandon to find his way onto the roster.

-Elliott to Philly (Kolb, Vick & Kafka also in Phil.)
Depending on what happens with Vick, Elliott might have a shot to make this roster. The biggest shame about what we saw last year, in my opinion, was that his shoulder wasn't 100% for much of '09 following his surgery the prior season.

-Pender also to Philly
Lots of experienced, and good corners on the roster in Philadelphia...like King, this is a tough position to walk into.

-Zwilling to Tampa Bay
Zwilling's ability to play multiple positions might prove useful as the Bucs have a couple of experienced centers in front of him...but all indicators are he'll be a tackle at the next level, if he gets on a roster.

NBA Playoffs
Not much to write about here, for me at least. I've admitted it multiple times- I'm not a fan of the NBA...but I enjoy playoff basketball as it's actually worth something. Sure, the playoffs are too long- the first round series should still be 5 games (in my opinion) and I can't stand the lengthy gap between each game. It kinda kills enthusiasm from the casual fan like myself.

But, I like what's happened in the LA/OKC series. The Thunder's arena feels like a college venue, their team is really young and they play the game fast and with active feet. Plus, it's great seeing Kobe getting beaten...just doesn't happen enough, in my opinion.

That said, I'm still experiencing shakes and sweats as I withdraw into the cold, dry desert of my sports year. I'll enjoy May in Indy...at least half the month, this year...but it's not the same. Already looking forward to August.

No, We're Not On Strike

We're just sleepy. It's not easy keeping you clowns entertained. Truth be told, there's just not as much for us to say these days. We got really tired writing every day, doing the podcast, watching the excitement of the NBA playoffs, and so forth.

Actually, lately, I've been traveling, Tim has been in deep depression about the Cavs and boilerdowd is busy antiquing.

But rest assured, we're here for you. As soon as something truly interesting happens, we'll let you know. Well, you'll know already since you probably watch ESPN. But you know what we mean.

Good Use for Twitter finally found...

I've had Twitter as an application on my phone for about two months...but all I had found that was useful about it was that J, Tim and I could shoot one-liners back and fourth at eachother. Granted, we could do that via text message or e-mail...but this way, we could be more-public with our degradation of one-another; a definite positive.

But yesterday, my wife, son and I were at my in-laws house for Mom's Day and I couldn't find an efficient way to keep up with qualifications at IMS...until IndyTalk on Twitter was discovered. Via this Twitter ticker, I got every update from speeds to accidents to the Happy Hour action that was very heavy at about quarter-til six as three attempted efforts to get into the field were waved and finally Scott Sharp bumped his way into the #20 spot.

I like Sharp quite a bit...he was awfully fast in the Indy Car series a few years back but could never really hold it together for an entire race...But, he's fast-enough to bring his ALMS sponsor, Patron, over to Indy which helped him secure a ride. And speaking of ALMS, Sharp has a commitment for that series next weekend...so it was imperative for him to get in this weekend. So when Viso, Fisher and others moved out of the way so Sharp could get one last run in, I was impressed with the sportsmanlike effort.

Meow
Tiger Woods shot an extremely-human 73 on Sunday and ended the day 7 shots off of the winner at the Players Championship...Some Swede kicked his arse pretty-handily.

Seems to me that Tiger's lack of reps during the off-season left his game less-strong than he'd like...and his post-op recovery left him bigger and stronger than we've seen Woods (no cardio when you've got a busted knee)...at this point he's built less like a golfer and more like a slot receiver (think Chris Daniels and Keith Smith, not Dorien Bryant and Taylor Stubblefield).

Even with his game at a lower-level than what he's accustomed to and we, as fans, are used to, he's still in contention in nearly-ever tournament in which he plays...I still think he'll win at least one major this year.

Kobe
Is there anything better in NBA basketball than watching Kobe pout and bitch his way to losing an NBA playoff game? I don't think so...and it's even better that Carl Landry can be part of it. I also like the fact that Brooks, who reminds me of an NBA Jam (circa the early-90s) point guard, is making it rain v. the Lakers.

Friday Notes

so tired

One of my least-favorite, most-sleepy times of the sports year is upon us...and outside of NFL mock drafts, little is going on that I care too much about. The NBA playoffs are about half-way through their opening-round series...MLB baseball has about 200 games left...and the 9-6 Yankees look every bit worth their $201,000,000 team salary. J's favorite team, the Sox aren't any better, but they're streaking right now...but playing the Orioles and Twins will do that for a team.

And, while some don't enjoy racing, we're nearing the month of May, which I love because of the Indy 500.

All that said, I'd trade the NBA playoffs, MLB baseball and Indy Car Racing for more Purdue football and basketball. Since I can't make the trade, here's what's going on right now:

-Prep school big man, Sandi Marcius will make his decision on Sunday following a tournament that his AAU team's playing in...The less I hear about Jeff Robinson, the more I believe he's not coming to Purdue. So, signing Marcius, simply to help with depth seems imperative to me.

And, the good news is Painter is still on the recruiting trail getting exposed to talent that he might see as a fit down the road...

-The BT/ACC challenge, which honestly hasn't been much of a challenge at all for the ACC will yield a Purdue v. Wake Forest match-up at Purdue. Regardless of the domination that the ACC has shown in this series, it still provides a decent barometer of where a team is and what they need to do to get better...I like this game and the match-ups quite a bit. And if the NBA doesn't take a few of Wake's players who have announced for the draft without agents, both teams could be top-10 at the time of the meeting.

More later...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Zzzzzzz...SNERK -- Wha?

Yes, we're still alive. We get those kinds of comments whenever we're quiet for a while. But, seriously, I mean when was the last time all three of us took a weekend off from this place? (Don't answer that.)

Truth is, I was up North visiting family, Boilerdowd had work to do and Tim was busy antiquing.

We'll be back to our usual incoherent babble and idiocy in short order.

Summer Dulldrums Make Me Tired

With the NBA playoffs unofficially over, it is official that the dulldrums of summer are upon us. Unlike my counterparts from this site, I find the MLB product, especially during the regular season extremely uninspiring. Granted, I enjoy IRL racing, but I can still manage to take a 30-minute nap while watching some of that circuit's events on my low-definition TV. I like the summer because I like warm weather...but I can't wait for the fall.

Here are some of the things that are on my mind right now:

Why does the WNBA still exist?

I saw that a perennial WNBA All-Star surprisingly retired recently. While watching Sports Center, I received this news...in response, I turned off Sports Center. I just did a search for WNBA on Google and the site responded by saying, "Do you mean NBA?" Well no, but now that you've mentioned it, when will the men's league stop paying the bill for the ladies? I would think that since the NOW crowd is a proponent women making a way for themselves and not needing any stinking men to do so, they would demand a stoppage to such chauvinistic patronizing. I'm sure that league would be fine without NBA dollars. Go get 'em "ladies"!

Who is Paris Hilton?

I know she really likes cheeseburgers, she hangs out with Lionel Richie's daughter and drives under the influence of various substances. All that said, why is she on every news outlet's top story? Next question, if she actually does eat Thickburgers, why does one of said sandwiches weigh more than her? What I'm getting at is I'm done watching, listening or reading anything related to her. It's time one of the Marriott daughters whores herself out for the paparazzi.

Al Gore was right.

Back in 1992, the Senator from Tennessee was all angry at ole 41 for not taking action against Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Well, a guy that looks like the one in this video (plus 100 lbs. or so) has told us over and over that GWB & Co. have been completely out of line making connections between terrorists and the formerly dictator-run Mid Eastern State. Huh. When campaigning for Clinton he stated multiple times that action "must be taken" against Iraq for that nation's role in terrorism. Funny, you'd think with such tough talk in 1992, that when the Clinton admin. left office in 2000, Hussein would have been ousted or at least neutered. Turns out that wasn't the case at all...So, Mr. Interwebnet was correct, 41 dropped the ball...So did 42. I'm glad someone actually does what he says he's going to do.

Matt Painter is a genius.

Well, maybe not a genius (as that title is reserved for Coach K, Charlie Weis, Bill Parcels & Phil Jackson), but he could be the hardest-working recruiter in the NCAA. Purdue's incoming class looked pretty darned good a few months ago with just the high school kids in the mix...Since then, a couple of guys have decided not to play for Purdue any longer and move someplace closer to home (code for 'with more available playing time'). Those departures made the future look kind of bleak for our Boilers. But since then, Purdue added a solid JuCo shooting guard to the mix a few months back and is about to add the 2nd-ranked JuCo player in the nation to the class. I'm not going to jinx it by typing his name in this article, but it looks like Purdue beat out Kentucky and Utah for his services. Hopefully, he doesn't join Kartelo, Ten Dam and Lesmond in the Purdue foreign-born player Hall of Crap.

Picking up these two JuCo players also makes the class of '09 a lot more interesting and possibly helpful in the near future.