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).

2011 Black/Gold Game Review

I woke up this morning to 40 degree temps, rain and ugly skies...and it got worse as we headed out of the Indy era with stormy conditions dominating the horizon. But the radar looked promising around God's country, so my brother, nephew, son and I headed North. By the time we hit Lebanon, the rain had stopped, by the time we got to Tippecanoe County, the sun was breaking through and the ground was dry...and at kickoff for the game, it was probably the best spring game weather I can remember- I actually got a sunburn (on one side of my dome). Here's what I saw:

-Rob Henry looks stronger and more filled-out physically. He continues to have a command of the huddle and I perceive that he gets respect from the team in the huddle. He threw a couple nice balls with zip, but the pass game didn't have a ton of rhythm...but neither did the running game. Hope tried to make this into a game, but it's still a glorified practice. Purdue misses Bolden services greatly, and the splitting up of the running backs makes for an odd rhythm of substitutions. The most effective runner, like last season, was Henry. He's very elusive, seems slightly quicker and a bit more fluid in his running style. Since QBs were down by any touch of the defense, it's pretty tough to see how this offense will work.

-Caleb TerBush looked OK, but neither he nor Henry threw a particularly long ball. Both fluttered the ball on some fade routes. They also both held onto the ball too long as plays broke down and neither had that two-three second clock in their head as the DBs did an excellent job time and time again covering up the receivers. Both QBs wore gloves on their throwing hands.

We got to see other QBs, all walk-ons (not sure why Robinson was unavailable), but McCarthy made his first appearance as a Boiler. He didn't throw the ball great, but has a big body that could add weight...I'd like to see him moved to WR and become a Siller/Smith type of guy...especially if Purdue can get a good QB (Pike?) in the coming recruiting class.

-Ricardo Allen had a couple pass interference calls very early, but the safeties and corners (as they should) anchored the defense. Allen, Johnson, Link, Evans, Charlot, Eargle, Williams, Aristide and others are a fast, talented and experienced bunch.

-Kawaan Short and Bruce Gaston are a great tandem and their names were announced a lot today- they're both big, strong and ugly- I like that. They need help at DE though. Maci's name was called a few times, as was Mebane and Russell's. By the looks of him, I'd guess Russell will play a lot and Mebane still needs to fill out a bit.

-Out of the talented LB corps, it seemed to me that Higgs was the most active on the day. That said, I still want him moved to DE and am still not sure why that hasn't already happened. He's a nasty player and is needed up front. Greaves and Lee both made some plays at LB, but the usual in the middle were quiet.

-Josh Johnson fielded punts and did so quietly. Antavian Edison was noticed, for the wrong reason. Cody Webster simply blasted a punt early in the day and Edison tried to catch to catch the spiral above his head- after an ill-advised back-peddling fair catch attempt, the ball flew threw his hands. Edison did his best to get back to square one, but couldn't get back to where he had botched the catch.

-Edison runs fluidly and is super-quick. I liked what I saw from him and hope he gets even more opportunities to touch the ball in the fall. With the potential thin and young RB corps, he will most-surely be used at RB (he wasn't on Saturday). Siller and Torwodzu are both physical specimens- large, strong and both seem to have good hands. That's great news because TWood's knock out of HS was that his hands weren't consistent. Normando Harris had a couple catches and looked comfortable on the offensive side of the ball (remember, he played Safety late in the season in '10). OJ Ross wasn't given too many opportunities, but looks quick again.

I like the receiving corps a lot...but I'm not super-confident in the quarterbacks' being able to get the ball to them.

The tight ends were pretty quiet, but Sinz, Holmes and Carter (JC transfer) all had catches.

-The offensive play-calling was pretty boring and for me, and the game was really just a chance to get to learn some new numbers/names. So the most-exciting thing two watch was the exhibition Wiggs put on at the end of the half blasting kicks from 45 all the way up to nearly 70 yards all in a row...all but one split the uprights. His leg has a ton of 'pop' in it.

-These games are funny- I can remember back in the late-90s as I watched Bergler or Edgerton shine as that Brees guy just kind of got by, I began to devalue what I saw. That said, I love going to these.

Beauty Contest

One thing that's always neat is to see what players have re-shaped themselves physically. Here are a few that just looked like football players.

-Torwudzu- if he can catch in traffic like he did today, he could become a very good possession

receiver because he looks like he'll be able to block out about anybody.

-Ricardo Allen is sculpted. He kinda reminds me of the way Bob Sanders was put together in highschool- very compact and like Sanders he's got some swagger...and it's well-earned and backed up.

-RB Senior, Sean Matti played a lot late in the game. His running style is choppy and he probably won't play next season, but he's put together like a football player.

-I already mentioned Henry, but I think he's made a similar jump (physically) as he did between his Frosh and RS Frosh this last off-season. That's a good sign for his work ethic.

New Coke...errrr...Pete

The new Pete was publicly shown off and here's what I think: he looks worse in person than he did via photos. His goofy stuffed animal shoes make him look like Mickey Mouse. I always liked Pete wearing black Nikes with a white swoosh as if he might suit up and play for the team. His physique isn't tough-looking and his costume just isn't right. The shiny silver helmet doesn't seem to be shaped like a hard hat and his matching giant belt buckle (like he's about to go to the Neon Cactus) doesn't fit. Plus, he looks like he stole his pants from the lady's department at JC Penney. Whereas the old Pete might have looked intimidating and menacing, the new one looks as if he was born chromosomally-deficient.

If you don't like what you've seen of the re-design, let Teri Thompson know...after a few days of backlash, Thompson and Co. have been performing damage control saying that this Pete will be changed and what we saw was only a prototype. In my opinion, what is seen in the fall needs to be a complete departure from this piece of laughable crap.

Boilers-Bama Predicto

Those of you who visit the site regularly know that B-dowd is more of the analyst around here, while I'm just the window dressing, eye candy, what have you. However, he's on his way to the other side of the world right now (BS's tentacles are far-reaching) and so it's up to me to steer the ship.

And I must admit, I feel a bit foolish just getting to this prediction post for today's game now. I should have done it sooner. I apologize. To be honest, though, I didn't even realize Purdue and Alabama were playing until just recently. I must have missed it but there it is on the schedule, 3:30 PM Purdue versus Alabama. Huh, 3:30... must be the marquee ABC game. Maybe Brent Musburger will be doing it.

This rivalry goes back a ways, believe it or not. Nick Saban was the coach of Michigan State for a while there and while he did good things for Sparty, Joe Tiller sort of owned him. In 1999 Michigan State was 5-0 and highly ranked. They came into Ross-Ade and Joe Tiller and Drew Brees laid a 52-28 whupping on an MSU team that would wind up 10-2. Overall, Saban was 0-3 at MSU versus the Tiller Boilers and 1-3-1 overall vs Purdue.

However, this Alabama team is a bit different. Purdue's only hope is that the game is in West Lafayette and the Tide are coming off a horrible collapse against Auburn last weekend. Of course, this could also only serve to amp them up and have them takes things out on Purdue. What do we think?

Boilerdowd says:

I like the Boilers in this one...big. I didn't really at first but then after spending a night with Travis from Hammer & Rails, I was converted. (In more ways that one... hey-yo!) I think the Boilermakers will slap around Alabama and show them how we do things downtown in the Big Ten.

I don't even know what I meant by that. I'm thirsty.

Purdue: 77
Alabama: 6


Tim says:

I'm hungry. I like hamburgers. But I don't eat fast food anymore. I made it a personal goal to not eat fast food. So now I go to places like Steak-N-Shake instead because, you know, since you sit down and have a waitress it's technically not fast food, right?  I mean, I'm not saying I did it for the health benefits...I just wanted to be able to say I haven't eaten fast food in a year or two. What? Are you judging me? All I ever wanted to do was watch LeBron, eat deep fried food and grope my wife. And now I've only got one of those things left, so I'm clinging to it. She says it hurts. I don't care.

Purdue: A banana
Alabama: Boobies!


J says:

We're a little worried about Tim. We're having him checked. For rabies.

I think I might have done this post wrong.

Purdue: 81
Alabama: 73

What?

Maybe Danyelle Sargent Isn't Cut Out For Television...Or Thinking

You may have seen or heard about this from the weekend, but Danyelle Sargent -- a middling TV sports reporter who shouldn't really be famous -- made her second embarrassing gaffe in less than three years on Sunday. Mind you, this is the second nationwide-realized gaffe -- who knows how often she effs up on local stuff.

First of all, let's just recap who Danyelle is (besides someone whose parents didn't know how to spell "Danielle"). In March 2006, she was working on ESPNews and they had a technical glitch, which made Danyelle uncomfortable... and since she's evidently helpless without a script, she had no idea how to vamp and so when her partner, Robert Flores, took over the highlights, you can hear Danyelle express her frustration at about the 45-second mark.



Yes, that was a supposed professional TV person screaming "What the f-ck was that?" over live air. Supposedly she thought her mic was off, but even if it was, somebody's mic was on in the vicinity -- does screaming obscenities really make sense anywhere on a live set? I'm just asking, because I'm no expert.

So anyway, back to Sunday, when Danyelle was interviewing Niners new coach Mike Singletary and said the following:

"I heard that your mentor Bill Walsh was one of the first phone calls that you made when you found out that you had the job. What does it mean to you to be the head coach of the 49ers?"

That would be quite a scoop, actually, considering that Bill Walsh has been dead for over a year.

Now, the surrounding detail is that Sargent was not live and this was being recorded to be run right before kickoff, and when her producer caught her mistake he stopped her via her earbud. Danyelle stopped and asked what she messed up and then she apologized to Singletary and continued the interview. What she didn't realize until the next day was that Fox had apparently opened up the feed of that interview -- raw feed and all -- to whomever wanted it. Evidently, sometimes other affiliates like to horn in on things like that and broadcast them. Obviously, nobody was going to broadcast a broken interview but that didn't stop somebody from uploading it to YouTube (it's since been taken down). And then Danyelle was upset.

I just listened to her on Dan Patrick's show on Sporting News Radio via XM and she said she meant to say she heard Singletary's first call was to Bill Walsh when he "decided to get into coaching," and that she didn't even realize she had misspoken until her producer told her. Dan Patrick, whom I am a big fan of, actually seemed pissed on her behalf that Fox didn't do more to squash the footage.

A few things here....

For one, Fox DID squash the footage, having it removed from everywhere. I'd be surprised if you can find it. So they tried, but it's hard to put a lid on stupid -- eventually is leaks out.

And as for her story on what she meant to say, I call BS on that story. It's a lie if I ever heard one. It doesn't even make sense... I heard you called Bill Walsh when you decided to get into coaching... like a couple years ago? What does that have to do with Sunday? Face it, Danyelle, you screwed up because you didn't do your homework -- the most basic of homework -- and you forgot Bill Walsh was dead. And don't get me wrong -- we all make dumb mistakes. But not all of us are trying to be taken seriously as a female sportscaster.

This wasn't like one of Tim McCarver's inane ramblings or one of the stupid things Joe Morgan says.... this was her second major blunder, to the point where I really think she should be asking herself if she's in the right profession.