Not Everybody Is High On The Boilers

We continue sharing the previews we find from groups around the sports landscape by today directing you to Andy Staples' Big Ten preview at SI.

Andy is a good guy and does a very thorough job when he analyzes college football. Unlike others who have hopped on the Purdue bandwagon (and believe us, this is a weird thing to get our heads around), Mr. Staples has taken a different look at things and doesn't see good things for our Boilers.

He has them at 5-7, (2-6) which is actually what I dourly predicted a few weeks back.

He also has IU at 5-7 with a 4-0 non-con sweep, too, so I guess like everything, take it with the ol' grain.

Wednesday Gumbo

Worthy

Most of you already know this, but Mr. Handsome, Drew Brees has received SI's Sportsman of the Year Award. As you know, I've had a mancrush on #15/9 since the late 90s (probably like most of you), so I love seeing him get the recognition he deserves. He represents the best of not only Purdue sports, but also the Purdue family. If you've read his book and followed his career, you know this.

I don't think it's coincidence that he was a major part of the resurgence of Purdue football, then the Chargers' organization and finally, the Saint's organization...and on a greater scope, the city of New Orleans. Thank God there are athletes like Brees that break the stereotype of the selfish athlete...But I'm more grateful that he's a fellow Purdue alum.

Congrats Drew. Congrats SI for getting this right.

VATech BS

For those of you that also visit Gold and Black, you know by now that Neubert and Co. were denied press credentials for tonight's game. So, they, like us, won't be coving it in person.

The reasoning for the Hokie AD denying the credentials was supposedly because of their affiliation with Rivals and the standard message board formant on that site.

Problem is, every major basketball program in the nation (pretty much) has a Rivals site.

I hope Purdue and the rest of the BT return this favor to VaTech next season. This is BS...and not the awesome kind you find daily here at your favorite website.

More Important than Sports

If you visit here regularly, you know we don't cover the women's game very often. But, I am making an exception as this sounds like an amazing story and an out-and-out miracle.

Lady Boilers Forward, Drey Mingo is recovering from Bacterial Meningitis. A week ago, her odds of surviving didn't look great as the way her body was attacked was aggressive. Her condition forced Purdue's women to cancel their trip to Mexico for the Caribbean Challenge...but 8 days ago, basketball was no one's concern within the program. Now, the team and Drey's family are looking at if and when she'll play again...Truly great news.

A Purdue football player (I believe Joe Hagins) contracted Spinal Meningitis back in the late-90s...and it was no where near this severe. But I can remember how the Purdue family rallied around him. To all the students who know Drey, make sure to encourage her when you see her on campus next semester.

The BCS Is A Cartel

I meant to mention this a couple of weeks ago when it came out, but I'm slow, as you all know. Dan Wetzel and  Austin Murphy collaborated on perhaps the best article I've seen in SI in a very long time. Unfortunately, everywhere I click to link you to it, I get a "bad gateway" error message. Perhaps the BCS cartel has firebombed SI's server.

If you get a chance to read the article, wherein Wetzel and Murphy detail why the current system is such a screw job. You may be surprised to learn it's not just a screw-job to the fans. It's also a money-losing proposition to almost every school. One of their examples was an OSU appearance in a BCS game -- a money-gainer, to be sure, right? Wrong.

For a summary of some of their points, go to Rock Chalk Talk here or visit your dentist's office and read a hard copy of SI. You'll find yourself getting really, really angry. Even if you like the bowl system, you'll be pissed at the way the schools get screwed over.

And then once you've done that, check out this great column from Murphy, where he details some of the pissy/nonsensical responses he's gotten from those in power with the BCS.

Calling it a cartel is awesome, because that's what it is. The argument that it would lessen the regular season just isn't true. Just as the wild card doesn't lessen the baseball season, a small playoff (8 or 16 teams) would only keep more fan bases involved and excited. An upset in your rivalry game could mean getting into the playoff mix. A loss by a #4 or #5 team over Thanksgiving could suddenly drop them out of the mix. Point is, there would still be excitement for a lot more teams.

Alabama, for example, lost two games earlier this season. And for them, winning a national title is the goal... so their season was essentially over. How is that exciting? Because they may get to ruin Auburn's season? Whoop-dee-do.

As you know, I could go on about this forever, but I'll let you read the much, much, much better works by Murphy and Wetzel.

Stewart Mandel Wise, Handsome, Willing to Take Bribes

SI's Stewart Mandel has a post up today about sleeper teams that could surprise and reach a BCS game. Among his sleepers is our very own Boilermakers. It's definitely fun to think about. And it didn't even cost us much to pay off Stewart to get him to say this, either.

From the column:

Purdue (5-7)

With four Big Ten teams ranked in the preseason top 14 (No. 2 Ohio State, No. 10 Iowa, No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 14 Penn State), you're excused if you haven't given a passing thought to the Boilermakers. But perhaps you should reconsider. Remember, this is a team that handed Ohio State its only conference defeat last season, came within a last-minute two-point conversion at Pac-10 champ Oregon and lost three other contests by less than a touchdown.

Now in his second season, coach Danny Hope adds a lauded quarterback in Miami transfer Robert Marve to throw to the league's top returning receiver, Keith Smith. Sacks leader Ryan Kerrigan (13) returns as well. Admittedly, Purdue is a long-shot to reach the BCS -- it might not even win its opener at Notre Dame -- but with a friendly conference schedule that avoids both Iowa and Penn State, nine wins and a Jan. 1 bowl aren't out of the question.


(Thanks to reader Jonathan for the heads up)

Boilermakers Less Regional-Cover Worthy Than UConn

The college basketball preview from SI is hitting mailboxes and they did, as usual, several regional covers -- six, to be exact.

Six of their top ten ranked schools. Purdue is ranked #6 according to SI. Do you want to guess which school was among the four top-tens that did not get a regional cover? I bet you don't need many guesses.

More cover-worthy were Kansas (1), MSU (2), Villanova (3), Kentucky (5), Washington (9) and UConn (10).

You know what a hotbed for basketball the state of Washington is. Oh, and do you know who beat the Huskies in the tourney last year? I can't remember.

All that said, I'm not really complaining. I just find it entertaining that Purdue gets short-changed all the time from the media. As I've said before, I'm fine with them flying under the radar for as long as possible. If they keep winning games, they'll be impossible to ignore, but for now, it's fine if SI wants to focus on those other schools.

Strangely, I didn't see Mike Brey's nationally-recognized Irish featured on a regional cover, nor did I see any IU covers. IU was really good thirty years ago, too. Did you know that?

Seth Davis of SI Sees Potential Elite Eight in Purdue's Future

What, Seth? I let you into one of my practices and you say we won't make the Final Four?!

We meant to share this link late last week with SI shared it with us (yeah, I'm name-dropping, as though SI and BS trade emails all the time), but Seth Davis spent some time watching practice (hey, give him credit for actually showing up before writing his opinion) and he has a pretty detailed and fair take on the Boilermakers.

Seth breaks down the key guys and what he thinks Purdue's chances are and while he calls them a "bona fide Final Four contender," he seems to think the train will stop at a regional final.

We shall see, Seth.

(Thanks to Boilergal for the reminder.)

Stupid Poll Ranks Hope 9th in Big Ten

In a poll conducted by either a 15 year old girl or a knowledgeable sports-type person with little focus, Danny Hope recently found himself at 9th place amongst his fellow Big Ten Football coaches.

It's not that I don't think he shouldn't be where he is in such a poll...in fact, I don't know how you can rate him anything but 10th* since we don't really know much about him as a head coach versus a big conference...But the subject matter itself is ridiculous.

But, if you're going to have such a worthless piece of drivel published in your online magazine, perhaps you should look at all of the info in front of you instead of just the small sliver that is in front of your face right now.

Stuff like this and pretty much every other worthless poll makes me respect companies like SI and EsPN less and less each day. Keep up the bad work, schmoes.


*Given: Bill Lynch is the worst coach in the Big Ten

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.

SI Letter Writers Make Me Laugh Sometimes

I had to get this in this week because I read the "Letters" section of Sports Illustrated this week and while there are often ones that can be mocked, I just loved one in particular.

After Texas beat Oklahoma in a 45-35 shootout on October 11, SI ran a cover story on Colt McCoy. Now, I'm not McCoy promoter, but the kid is indeed pretty good. The subhead on the SI cover said "Grit and cowbells take down Oklahoma." I'm not even sure what that means, but whatever. Now, the letter:

The critical factor in Texas's win over Oklahoma was not the Longhorn "grit" or the "cowbells" that you mention, and certainly not Colt McCoy outplaying quarterback Sam Bradford. It was the devastating injury to Sooners linebacker Ryan Reynolds. That was the deciding moment in the game and the major reason the Oklahoma defense was unable to stop the Longhorns.

Incredibly -- and you'll never believe this -- the dude who wrote it (John P. Ross) is from...wait for it... Edmond, Oklahoma. Shocker, I know.

I love how angry these hayseeds get. Sometimes it leads to fans killing one another, as happened in Alabama last weekend. Other times, letter-writers might write in and admit they're biased but still point out something like Reynolds' knee injury. But not John P. Ross of Edmond, Oklahoma. No, John P is not here to offer his opinion, but rather to tell you -- factually -- why the game went the way it did.

You see, it's not possible that Colt McCoy is better than Sam Bradford (who threw two picks in the game -- just sayin'). The main reason this game went as it did was because, in the third quarter, an OU linebacker got hurt.

You see, because, otherwise, Ryan Reynolds would have been flying all over the place, batting down passes, tackling rushers and blocking kicks.

I guess I just think it's funny that this clown thinks that if a linebacker hadn't gotten hurt with a quarter and a half left to play, this shootout would have ended differently and that that's clear to anyone who knows anything.

What do you bet John P is in his mid-40s, has a house fully decorated in Sooner red, and has no idea where the classrooms are at OU?

The Bar Continues to Rise: SI Has Boilers at #5

In the Sports Illustrated that will be hitting your mailbox this week, they've decided that the only teams in the country better than our Boilermakers are UNC, UConn, UCLA and Louisville.

Yep, that's right, they have our boys at the fifth spot in the nation (followed by Notre Dame, interestingly). Curiously, I don't see IU in the top 20. Huh.

The preview actually focuses on your favorite nuisance and mine, Chris Kramer. An interesting factoid from the preview is as follows:

"[Kramer] suffers from a condition known as compartment syndrome, which causes high pressure levels in muscle tissue. Two times he had to undergo surgery for it in 2007, and the seven-inch scars on each of his shins are a reminder of that. While he would prefer not to have them, he admits that the scars 'do fit my identity.'"

Where have I been? Did you all know about this condition he has? I didn't. How long have I been asleep?

While all of these heightened expectations leave us very little place to go but down, it's still a nice place to be.... and when I look at the starting lineup and see that there isn't a senior on the list, I get kind of giddy thinking about how good this team is going to be next year. But I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

There's a Final Four to get to this season first.

It's Al Gore's World and We're Just Living In It

There are lots of reasons we all like sports. The brilliance of Charlie Weis, the honesty of Nick Saban, the pout of Tyler Hansbrough after he gets cracked in the chops. All good reasons. But one of the biggest reasons is that we can often escape from whatever else is going on in the world. After 9/11, many people couldn't wait to enjoy sports again, as it signaled at least some return to normalcy.

Two days ago, my Sports Illustrated arrived and I had to do a double-take. SI has a cover story on global effing warming and how it's affecting sports? Really?

I knew Al Gore and his questionably scientific methods had infiltrated Hollyweird, but I guess I didn't realize it had seeped into the sports world as well. There is plenty of research (some of it even in easy-to-read books) detailing that global warming, at the very least, is not the Earth-ending epidemic that Gore and his liberal buddies would have you believe.

I suppose we should thank him for the fact that you're reading this, though. You know, Internet and all.