Just Another Fan

What's That?

2010-01-08T23:19:00.001-08:00

You say there is a free way for me to post to my (admittedly rarely used) blog from my phone?

I'll take more ways to waste your time for $600 Alex.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Awesome

2009-10-10T00:08:00.000-07:00

Seriously, if this kid would ask me to run through a brick wall, I would.

I am counting the days until he becomes an overbearing Little League coach at age 17 and forces his entire team into therapy.

Instant Reaction

2009-09-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

Too busy for thought? Have too many things on your mind for reflection? Want to know what happened without being bothered by analysis? Brother, you have found your home.

Pittsburgh Can't Block Anyone

I didn't want to make a big deal of it before the game, but my mom took over for Albert Haynesworth this off season (unfortunately, she was a late cut by the Colts). She was excellent in his absence, hitting Big Ben approximately 237 times.

Kicking is Hard

When I was like 10, my dad drove me to Purdue so that their then kicker, Joe O'Leary (before he missedn 19 FG's against IU in one game), could teach me to kick FG's. In my dad's mind, this was the first step towards my professional sports future. All that was left was for me to try extra points @ Ross- Ade Stadium after Purdue lost by 40 to Notre Dame.

Shockingly, I never made the league. That being said, both Joe O'Leary and I could teach something to Rob Bironas. He was bad at his job tonight. Like Mark Samford bad.

Never Listen to your Fiancee

Like all red blooded men, I have a fantasy football team. Unlike most men, I listened to my fiancee when she told me Willie Parker would have a big game. Now, Ryan Grant or Thomas Jones will be stuck on my bench. This is a poor start for my soon to be married life.

A Nice Way To Waste 40 Seconds

2009-09-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

You're welcome.

On Posting

2009-09-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

Its football season. What better excuse to start making myself start writing more regularly? Vegas has removed the "under" from its boards for how long I will maintain this.

Hopefully I can follow through enough to write tomorrow. Or possibly Friday. I don't want to overcommit.

On NASCAR

2009-06-11T00:40:00.000-07:00

I know I'm not the first to say this, but seriously, meth? Damn.

Click this

2009-03-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

No really, click it!

Then remember what day it is.

Great Father/Son Moment

2009-03-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

The fake gambling took a break today. Instead I focused my non-fake energy on this afternoon's incredible Purdue 76-74 win over Washington. I'm sure a lot of guys will write about the game much better than me, but let me add this.

After the game went final, I got a call on my cell. I knew who was calling, my fiancee knew who was calling. Hell, my dog probably knew who was calling. It was my Dad. We talked about the game for a minute or so (the conversation was basically "YES" "Oh My God!" "I can't feel my legs!") but then we got to the real purpose for the call.

Dad wanted me to hear the radio announcers.

Wins like today don't come around too often. They come around less often when you cheer for Purdue. When they do, they are that much sweeter when your Dad puts his phone up to the radio so you can feel like you are home.

I don't have a larger point. I just wanted to say that I love you Dad and thanks. I can't wait until Thursday.

Friday Madness. Post 3

2009-03-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

Still going.

I'm barely able to see straight at this point. Luckily, my inability to see things clearly led to a minor gain during the second group of games today. I don't know where I will be for the late games, so here are my picks for the rest of the day.

Utah (-1) over Arizona. $30. I have Arizona in my bracket but I'm worried that too many other people do too (hence the line of -1). This is too close for a 5-12 matchup. One Utah team is bound to come through (BYU and Utah State, I'm pulling a Colbert and putting you on notice).

Louisville (-22 1/2) over Morehead State. $20. I wanted to pile on about the Big Easts lackluster performance this afternoon, but Louisville is far enough west that they will escape my jokes. At least until Sunday. Then, Rick Pitino's Colonel Sanders suit is fair game.

BC (+2 1/2) over USC. $40. BC is the 7 seed right? And they're getting points? What am I missing? I trust I will find out when I lose this game.

Xavier (-10) over Portland State. $30. I like Xavier. Granted most of the reason I like them is that they were good enough to beat Purdue last year in the second round but let's face it, that passes for a lot of knowledge for this game.

Wake Forest (-8) over Cleveland State. $50. What's that you say? I have the ability to over-bet on a team that features a player with both Indianapolis and Purdue ties (Jeff Teague)? Done and done. Honestly, this line seems a little low. I mean, Wake was #1 in the country for a minute or two. Presumably that happened for a reason.

Ohio State (-2 1/2) over Siena. $40. Evan Turner. William Buford. Mark Titus. One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong. I kid because I love. Titus is from Indiana. And he's cool with Bobby Riddel. That's enough in my book.

Robert Morris (+16) over Michigan State. $20. I like Michigan State as a Final Four team. I just don't like them by 16 points. Thier home losses to Northwestern and Penn State make this number too scary. 13 was my tipping point here.

Wisconsin (+3 1/2) over Florida State. $30. Really NCAA? You schedule 3 Big Ten Teams at the same time? I wish I knew how to quit you. I actually like Wisconisin. They had a rough stretch in January, but I think this is a good matchup for them.

What's that you say, the fake betting amounts have gone up? Well, that's because I follow fake gambling rule #1: When you are fake losing, just fake bet more to make up for your fake losses. That's clearly the best way to avoid fake broken legs.

Friday Madness. Post 2

2009-03-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

Ouch. So, those upsets I saw this morning. Yeah, not so much. Since they didn't work this morning, that just makes them more likely to work for this round of games, right? Right? This could get ugly.

Temple (+6) over Arizona State. $20. Because I hate winning.

Dayton (+9) over West Virginia. $30. And fake money. I hate winning and fake money.

Missouri (-13 1/2) over Cornell $40. But I love desperate fakes bets on double digit favorites. Those rule.

Pitt (-20) over E. Tenn. St. $40. #1's have been winning big so far. That will continue until tomorrow.

Friday Madness. Post 1

2009-03-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

That was one tough fake betting Thursday. If I don't make up for my fake losses yesterday with some big fake victories today I might have to fake stop paying child support to my fake ex and her fake children. Nobody likes it when the fake children get fake hurt. That's just fake sad.

I was going recap all of my bets but I then realized that it isn't really gripping reading to simply hear about a bunch of games that have already happened. Suffice it to say that in one day I managed to turn my fake $1,000 into a fake $915.44 (I only paid myself off at (-110) to keep this closer to what I would have gotten in Vegas). Those returns are positively Madoff-ian (Are Bernie Madoff jokes acceptable? Was that recognizable as a joke or did I just sound like Reilly?). Anyway, like any addict, I know that profits are only one day of lucky bets away. With that said, here are my early picks:

Stephen F. Austin (+12 1/2) over Syracuse. $30. I would be really interested in the moneyline on this. I know Syracuse has the potential to be really good, but they can also be really bad (see: State, Cleveland). I'll take the points.

Oklahoma State (+2 1/2) over Tennessee. $20. 8/9 matchup. When I don't have a strong feeling, I'll take the points.

North Dakota State (+10) over Kansas. $20.

North Dakota State (+425) over Kansas. $10. I feel like the points should be higher, but I'm riding the Bison all the way to a fake new pair of shoes!

Marquette (-5) over Utah State. $30. The only favorite I like this morning.

Thursday Madness. Post 4

2009-03-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a recovery from this morning's action. After all, how much worse can I do?

Duke (-22) over Binghamton. $30. Tough loss Kornheiser.

Oklahoma (-15 1/2) over Morgan State. $20. Morgan State, we hardly knew ye, and we think that was too much.

VCU (+8) 0ver UCLA. $40. I like UCLA, but not giving 8 points.

Illinois (-5) over WKU. $20. Jeffery Jordan's dad was a late bloomer, who is to say is isn't also?

Thursday Madness. Post 3

2009-03-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

Purdue is taking more of my attention than I would prefer at this stage in the game. That means this will likely be a quick post. On to the third round of games:

Mississippi State (+235) over Washington. $20. I don't really like the line (only 6 1/2). I'd rather take a little over 2: 1 on my money on a win I think will happen any way.

Minnesota (+5) over Texas. $20. I think Texas wins, but I think it will be close.

Michigan (+5) over Clemson. $30. Its almost like there's a Big Ten Bias on this blog.

Villanova (-15 1/2) over American. $25. I don't like the spread, but I also saw the Patriot League Final and the only reason American is in this tournament is that they played Holy Cross in their final.

Akron (+14) over Gonzaga. $20. I'm a little upset that I can't find a money line on this because I'm not sold on Gonzaga at all. I would love to put 10 on a +400 here. Instead I am constricted to taking the points. We shall see.

Thursday Madness. Post 2

2009-03-19T09:44:00.000-07:00

My local CBS will be showing the Cal/Maryland instead of Purdue (Damn you Northern California fan base!). I've decided it will be more fun to go to a bar to watch Purdue than the grainy March Madness on Demand screen. This means I won't be here for the start of the second games so I'll put my fake picks up here.

Purdue (+8 1/2) over Northern Iowa. $50. I really like Purdue in this game and if I had money to gamble, I would totally be one of those guys who stupidly bets on his own team. Accordingly, this and the following bets will ensue.

Purdue (+4/12 ) over Northern Iowa in the first half. $30.

Purdue/Northern Iowa over 124. $25.

North Carolina (+25) over Radford. $15. I have no strong feelings about this game. I just figure N.C. will keep running and Radford will wear down.

Maryland (+1 1/2) over Cal. $30. I would love to buy stock in Greivis Vasquez (sp?) right now. Also, I want Cal to lose so they will stop taking over my TV.

Tennessee Chatanooga (+21) over UCONN. $20. Only because I've taken the other two big favorites so far.

Thursday Madness. Post 1

2009-03-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Don't know if anyone out there has heard of it, but there is this thing called the NCAA tournament that starts today.* Seriously, check it out. Its kinda cool.

*What's that you say, an NCAA champion determined by tournament? This truly is madness!

Anyway, last year, Haley and I spent the opening weekend of the dance in Vegas. Despite the fact that I was hopped up on cold medicine until roughly 15 minutes before my flight out of town, the weekend was awesome. It was my first trip to Vegas and it definitely confirmed my suspicions that I shouldn't live within 100 feet of a location where sports gambling is legal.*

*My Streak For the Cash entry backs this up.

We didn't make the trip this year. In part because it would have been tough for Haley to get away, in part because I'm broke. However, due to the wonder that is online odds, I've decided to test my Tourney-Fu and see how much money I could have made* had we traveled to Sin City. I have given myself a fake $1,000 budget for gambling on the entire tourney. I'll try to pick every game and at least a few of the over/unders or any potential prop bets I like. This way, the whole interwebs can see just how bad I am at both gambling, prognostication, and basic math.

*that should have said, "lost"

With that said, here are my picks for the first round of Thursdays games:

Butler (+2) over LSU. $30. I think the Dogs slow this game down and frustrate LSU. I also think this will go over 127 so my thoughts don't make too much sense but I'll take Butler.

Memphis (-21) over CS Northridge. $50. Memphis is used to this kind of competition. They'll take care of business.

BYU (-3) over Texas A&M. $20. I have no idea about this game. I just had to make a pick.

I should be back later with more picks. I'm sure you will be refreshing this site with delightful anticipation.

On Carolla

2009-03-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

Got a spare hour or two each day? Enjoy spending large quantities of time staring into nothingness while listening to detailed conversations of why smart people drink like guppies (or, do you have a mindless office job)? I've got just the place for you.

http://carollaradio.com/

After getting let go by 97.1 in LA, Adam Carolla had a choice to make. He could look for another radio gig, and forgo (sp?) the remainder of his contract money with 97.1. Or, he could not get another job, and continue to get paid. Carolla decided to have the best of both worlds by hosting a daily podcast (He usually posts Monday through Friday). He can't get paid for this, so he doesn't have to worry about sponsors. This is great for the listener because it gives you an unfiltered view into Carolla (and (probably) to a lesser extent, his guests).

Some of the guests are only so-so (David Alan Grier), some are great (Seth MacFarlane*). Regardless, Carolla is consistently entertaining and well worth the daily iTunes download. Put it on your iPod, listen to it at the gym or on your commute. You'll be glad you did.

*A bit of a warning on Seth MacFarlane: As I'm sure you know, he is the creator of Family Guy (and American Dad, but that doesn't matter as much for this warning). As I'm sure you don't know, he is the voice of Brian (along with Peter and Stewey). What is really bizarre is that apparently the voice of Brain is MacFarlane's speaking voice. Because I have no idea what MacFarlane looks like in person, when I listened to this, I imagined Carolla talking to an animated dog. Consider yourself warned.**

**Now that I re-read that paragraph, I decided that it would be perfect if MacFarlane's speaking voice was nothing like the voice of Brian. Instead, MacFarlane just had a couple of drinks and decided to talk like Brian for an hour and 15 minutes. The next time I hear him give an interview, I expect it to be with the voice of Quagmire (if he does that voice, of course. I refuse to research details like that for a spur of the moment post).

Syracuse/UCONN

2009-03-12T22:26:00.000-07:00

Syracuse just finished up a marathon 6 OT victory over UCONN. Much will be said about the game in the day(s) to come, but let me lead with this. That took a lot out of me. I really hope it doesn't affect my ability to watch games in the days to come.

Official IU Bandwagon Thread

2009-03-03T17:11:00.000-08:00

Ed. note. This is cross-posted from a Fan Post over at Hammer and Rails.

As I write this, IU is down only against a sloppy looking Michigan State team with 18 minutes left. If IU can pull off this unbelievable upset, Purdue's Big Ten title hopes are brought back from the grave and it sets up a HUGE game this Sunday in East Lansing.

Accordingly, please allow me to utter those three little words I never thought I would hear myself say: Lets. Go. Hoosiers.

Missed Opportunities

2009-02-21T01:42:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of things I want to write about over the next few days. The (hopeful) beatdown of IU that will happen in West Lafayette tomorrow (if only it were 1 week sooner, we would have a new St. Valentine's Day Massacre), the last Late Show w/Conan and what it meant to me and the Purdue/Michigan game next Thursday.

Unfortunately, when I was a kid, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. That means I am taking the California Bar this coming Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and the site is likely going dark until then. Please accept my apologies in advance and go ahead and YouTube your favorite Masturbating Panda clip to entertain yourself until I return. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Purdue 73, Michigan State 54: They're Ba-aaaaack!

2009-02-17T18:06:00.000-08:00

A balanced scoring effort and smothering team defense keyed a 73-54 Purdue Victory over #5 Michigan State tonight in Mackey Arena. With the win, Purdue pulled into a second place tie with Illinois (Illinois has the tiebreaker) and within one game of Michigan State for the conference lead.

For the second home game in a row, Purdue dominated the start of the second half to turn a close game into comfortable victory. Last week, the run came in the form of Bobby Riddell, tonight, it came from a little bit of everyone. Purdue who lead 28-25 at halftime outscored the Spartans 20-7 during the first 7 1/2 minutes of the second half to turn the game into a blowout. Purdue was balanced during the run, with Kramer scoring 2, LewJack scoring 4, Smooge putting in 5, Johnson adding 4, Green scoring 4 and Keaton Grant finishing the run with a 3 that nearly blew the roof off of Mackey Arena.

Balance was the theme of the night as Johnson lead all scorers with 17, followed by Moore with 13, Hummel with 11 and Grant with 9. LewJack also was more aggressive than usual on the offensive end, putting up 7 points (on 3/6 shooting), to go with 3 assists and a highly unexpected 6 rebounds.

Speaking of rebounds, Purdue held their own against Michigan State (who lead the country in rebounding margin) 29-34. Additionally, Purdue was limited in its rebound chances as Michigan State managed to turn the ball over 22 times. Purdue's defense was excellent all night long as they held the Spartans to 33% shooting for the game.

All in all, the second half was about as good as this Purdue team has played all year. As they continue to get healthy, the look more and more like the preseason Big 10 favorite and top 10 team they were in November. Johnson and Jackson appear to be improving by the hour and when they are playing well, it has a huge affect on the rest of the team (Jackson helps everyone else with his penetration and ability to find open jump shooters and Johnson draws defenders away from the 3 point line). With this win tonight, Purdue went a long way to guaranteeing that the Big Ten race will not be decided until the second weekend in March.

What I Did This Weekend

2009-02-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

I'm the guy on the left*:

*Please tell me that you didn't have to look down here to realize I was kidding.

Purdue 49, Iowa 45: Defense Reins, Moore Works His Way Back, and the Return of Hummel (Not Really)

2009-02-15T09:50:00.000-08:00

Despite having their second worst offensive output of the season, Purdue managed to pull out a 49-45 victory yesterday in Carver Hawkeye Arena. E'Twaun Moore put up 16-10-3 and JaJuan Johnson added 13 points (but no rebounds, more on this in a paragraph or two). Meanwhile, the defense was excellent and Robbie Hummel saw some action for the first time in two weeks as Purdue secured a much needed road victory.

Smooge and JaJuan led the way both offensively and defensively. E'Twaun's struggles from distance continued, but he was consistently able to get into the lane for both easy buckets and shots that he has made look easy over the last couple of years (I still can't get over how well he shoots that runner off the glass. I also can't get over the fact that I am now shocked whenever he actually misses one). Johnson's 13 points were relatively quiet although he did hit a huge 20 foot jumper with 1:44 left to give Purdue a 3 point lead.

Although it doesn't show up in his numbers, Johnson was quite impressive on the defensive end. He didn't get a rebound, but he was very aggressive defending Iowa's high screen and roll all afternoon. He was able to force the guards further out on the perimeter and this kept them from getting into their offense with any rhythm. This also meant he spent a lot of the game out of the paint and was consistently in bad position to rebound. Fortunately, this didn't hurt Purdue as Moore got weakside rebound after weakside rebound to prevent any second attempts for the Hawkeyes. Chris Kramer also played well with 6 rebounds, many of them in traffic.

In that same vein, the real hero of this game was Purdue's team defense. Granted, they were playing a depleted Iowa squad (Iowa was missing starters Jeff Peterson and Cyrus Tate due to injury), but Purdue was able to completely shut down Iowa's offense. As I mentioned earlier, Johnson did an excellent job of jumping out and disrupting the high screen and roll. Additionally, the guards were very aggressive in their extended man D. The result was that Iowa took a long time to get into their offensive sets and regularly had to take a rushed shot as the shot clock was winding down.

Finally, Robbie Hummel worked his way back onto the floor for 24 minutes. He definitely looked rusty (2 points on 1-7 shooting), and every Purdue fan cringed each time he hit the floor, but he did manage to snag 4 rebounds (2 offensive).

It wasn't the prettiest game to watch, but it was the result Purdue needed. The team is getting healthier, and they will need to be as #9 Michigan State comes calling in Mackey Arena on Tuesday night. If Purdue has any faint hopes of a conference championship, Tuesday is another must win.

Michael Lewis on Basketball

2009-02-14T13:56:00.001-08:00

Read it. Now. You'll be glad you did.

Oh, To Be in Mesa, AZ Right Now

2009-02-13T10:55:00.001-08:00

Believe.

Purdue 61, Penn State 47: Riddell, Jackson and Johnson?

2009-02-13T08:27:00.001-08:00

Just the way everyone drew it up.

It took me a day to write this up. I waited because I wanted to make sure the world was not coming to an end after the glorious triumvirate of Bibby Riddell, Nemanja Calasan and Lewis Jackson lead Purdue to a 61-47 victory over visiting Penn State on a windy Wednesday night in West Lafayette.

There was a lot going on Wednesday, so I'll run through the highlights bullet point style:

-"BOB-BY BUCK-ETS! CLAP! CLAP! CLAPCLAPCLAP!" Walk-on senior Bobby Riddel came off the bench and provided a much needed spark for Purdue's offense with 13 points, 10 of which came in the second half and 8 of which came during the first 8 minutes of the second half when Purdue put the game out of reach. In addition, Riddel added 4 assists, 0 turnovers and 2 rebounds* (2 rebounds!).

*I am reminded of the story of Greg Maddux after he hit a home run during his second stint with the Cubs. I can't find the link right now, but as I remember it, Maddux pitched a great game, got the win and also hit the only homer for the Cubs that night. In the clubhouse afterwards, Maddux kept going up to guys like Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez saying "I hit a home run tonight. Did you?" I like the think that Buckets kept saying this to Marcus Green in the locker room.

In addition, Riddell played excellent defense and handled Penn State's zone better than any of the rest of the guards. Purdue has a bit* of a tendency to stand still against a zone D. Riddell moved well without the ball and put pressure on Penn State. This also helped him make a few excellent entry passes to JaJuan Johnson in a position where Johnson had an easy layup. They were not flashy, but they were incredibly effective. All told, it was a great night for a walk-on senior in front of the Mackey faithful.

*Sarcasm

Lew-Jack City: His numbers don't look that impressive in Purdue's box score: 4 points, 5 assists, a block (a block! See my previous asterisk about Greg Maddux) and 3 turnovers. That's a decent game, but you really see his true value when you look at the Penn State box score. Talor Battle: 0-7 from the field, 0-4 from behind the arc for a grant total of 0 points. As Boiled Sports put it, that's only about 18.2 below his average. LewJack was in his face all night and looked to be a step (or three) quicker. All around an excellent game from the freshman.

JaJuan Johnson (no clever title here): Johnson continued his remarkable Big Ten campaign by putting up 14 points, 13 boards and 4 blocks. Johnson had his entire game working for him and he showed why he should be first team all Big Ten at the end of the year. He excelled both while facing the basket and when he had his back to it and seemed to attach the boards with a lot more aggression than usual (something that needs to continue if Purdue misses Hummel's* rebounding ability much longer). What's better, is it feels like we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his potential.

*I made it to the 6th paragraph without mentioning Hummel? That has to be a record. I can't even make it 6 paragraphs of normal conversation without bringing him up.

Return of the D: After pretty dreadful nights in Columbus and Champaign, Purdue's defense was back to its regular self on Wednesday night. Penn State shot only 36% from the field for the game and went ice cold during the first 8 minutes of the second half (and from about the 8 minute to the 3 minute mark too). Perhaps they were mesmerized by the wonder that is Buckets.

Smooge Shows Signs of Life, Grant...Not So Much: E'Twaun scored 10 on 5-11 shooting despite some early foul trouble. Keaton's struggles continued as he scored only 3 on 1-5 shooting. Even more frustrating is that Grant (and Smooge to a little lesser extent) simply are not moving well on offense. When they don't have the ball, they have a tendency to simply stand around the 3 point line and wait to shoot over a zone. Grant has a similar reaction when he does have the ball although Moore was able to penetrate and create his own shot with some regularity. On the bright side, like everyone else, their defense was much improved.

So that's that. A nice win in a must win game. If you had told me at the start of the year that we would be relying on Buckets, LewJack and Johnson to win games in February I would have assumed it was because we were red shirting Hummel, Moore, & Grant. It was definitely not the game I expected to see, but it was the result I wanted.

As a final note, sorry again for the delay. This week I was dealing with moving into our new apartment (we now live in Mountain View, CA. There are Boiler fans all around!), studying for the bar, working and getting engaged.* I'll try to be more on top of these updates, but things will be crazy until after the California Bar at the end of this month.

*Lede, consider yourself buried.

M.I.A.

2009-02-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

My apologies for not posting much the last couple of days. Things have been pretty crazy around here with the combination of moving (Suburbia, here I come!), studying for the bar, and working (occasionally).

I will try to get up a preview/post-game reaction to the Purdue/Illinois tilt in Champaign but it might be a bit slow.

Please accept this as my apology.

Thank God I Don't Drive to Work

2009-02-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

Zombies!

(via Will Leitch)

Why You Should Listen to me. Part I

2009-02-03T22:33:00.000-08:00

I have a blog that's predominant subject matter is sports. Therefore, one would think that some rudimentary knowledge of sports is a basic requirement for such a blog. Therefore, you should all be quite impressed that I have managed to get my streak on ESPN's Streak for the Cash up to....wait for it......still waiting....

-5. That's right. I've managed to lose 5 in a row. That takes some real skill. Think about it. That basically requires that I incorrectly miss a coin flip 5 times consecutively. Not easy to do. I think my new goal is to get up to -27 and see what kind of prize I can get from ESPN.

Oh, and if any of you out there have a pick for tomorrow, I am starting with 2 goals or fewer in the Napoli, Juventis match so you should probably adjust your picks accordingly. Best of luck.

Update: I taunted myself for being an idiot, and appropriately got my next pick right. Accordignly, what kind of an idiot takes Syracuse over West Virginia? This kind.

Purdue 72: Ohio State 80 (OT). No Hummel. No D. No Longer Tied for First

2009-02-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

As I have been watching Purdue games lately, I find myself thinking about the headline during the game. Now that I am regularly re-capping, I find myself constantly attempting to put what I am seeing in a larger context. I have yet to determine if this is a good or bad way to watch sports. I have just noticed that I am thinking differently about the game now than I was a month ago.

Anyway, this development made me quite excited late in the game when I realized I might be able to use the headline, "No Hummel. No D. No Problem?" I might have been good, it most likely was average but I was quite excited about the prospect of Purdue pulling off a road win without the two things that may be most important to its success. Perhaps a victory would have shown that this team can be placed in a larger context just like my thoughts on the game.

Of course, none of that happened. Purdue did well in many respects to make the game as close as it was, but in the end, the Boilers fell to Ohio State in overtime, 80-72. Some parts of Purdue's game looked very good. Some looked much worse. Here is a quick breakdown:

The Good

#1. The offense finally looked good against a zone defense for pretty much the entire game. Ohio State spent the game in a 2-2-1 press followed up by a 2-3 matchup zone (occasionally it looked like a little more like a 3-2 but it was 2-3 almost all night). These defenses have given Purdue fits all year, (see, Northwestern and the first half against Michigan) but tonight Purdue looked quite good against the zone. The press forced only a couple of turnovers and Purdue's half court were much more crisp that what we have seen previously. Players were moving well without the ball and flashing to the middle of the zone to make it collapse. This included a much more aggressive JaJuan Johnson which leads me to....

#2. JaJuan Johnson showed why he might be the best pro prospect on the team. Johnson scored 10 points on 10-16 shooting. His rebound total was a disappointing 4, but on the offensive side of the court, Johnson was the most dominating he has been in his career as a Boiler.

3. For the third straight road game, Purdue came back from a late deficit when many teams would have crumbled. Against Northwestern and Wisconsin, Purdue was able to finish off the comeback. Tonight they tied it in regulation and had a chance to win at the end of the game, but failed to execute. It is definitely a positive sign that this team continues to fight throughout the entire game. Unfortunately, mentioning this has lead me to...

The Bad

1. Purdue failed to execute when they had a golden chance to steal the win. For the second time this season, Purdue found itself in a tie game with a chance to take the last shot and win. Each time, Purdue ran the same play and each time it failed miserably. Against Oklahoma, E'Twaun Moore held the ball and tried to drive into the lane for a last second shot with basically no movement from any of his teammates. Tonight, the driver was Lewis Jackson, but the result was the same. Purdue doesn't get its success from players standing around waiting for one guy to make a move. Purdue is at its best when all five players on the floor are moving and putting pressure on the defense. However, two times now, when Purdue has had a chance to win a big game, the other four guys on offense turned into spectators.

My initial thought is that this has to fall on Painter. He needs to install end of game sets that play to his teams strengths. He is an excellent coach, but he has not performed in that area of the game.

2. At this point, I think even our ball boys are injured. I am not listing this as an excuse for the loss. I am simply listing it as one of the bad things that went wrong tonight. This team is not remotely healthy. Jackson is still shaking off the effects of Joe Krabbenhoft's elbow. Chris Kramer is doing the same for Manny Harris. Additionally, Kramer is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow to repair one of the two fractures in his nose. Robbie Hummel did not play and it was revealed that he actually has a fractured vertebrae in his back so my guess is that this injury is not going to get much better by only letting him rest in between games. This will take some time to heal. Finally, Keaton Grant and Johnson were getting over the flu. Both were effective on the offensive end. As far as defense, well, I'll get there in a second.

3. We could not rebound tonight. Not even a little. We got outworked on the boards 34-18. 8-2 when it came to offensive rebounds. Some of this is to be expected with Hummel out of the game, but still, that's a massive disparity. I just fail to see how Marcus Greene and Nemanja Calasan managed to combine for exactly 1 rebound. Stats like these make me wonder how the game was ever close to begin with.

4. The defense was, well, I am having some difficulty coming up with the right term. Bad? Weak? Non-existent? All of the above?

Defense is supposed to be the one thing Purdue does better than whoever they are facing. They work hard, get up in your face, move their hands frustrate the hell out of you and more than anything else, get in between you and the rim and challenge your shot. Tonight? Not so much. Ohio State shot 60% from the field (Another ridiculous stat. Ohio State's team shooting percentage almost matched their free throw percentage. Anyone know the last time that happened? Maybe Villanova in '85?) B.J. Mullens scored 17 points on probably 7 or 8 dunks. Evan Turner put up 26 and William Buford scored 22, many of which came while leaving Keaton Grant 2 steps behind. I know Grant was sick, but that performance was just miserable.

Despite all this, Purdue came close and gave themselves a chance to win. They are only a game out of the Big Ten race and it would not surprise me if first place ends up with four or five conference losses at the end of the year. They almost won in spite of themselves. I guess they can take that fact and build on it. I just wish they had given me my headline.

Purdue OSU Preview

2009-02-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

Tonight, the Purdue Boilermakers (#13 in the AP, #12 in ESPN, #1 in your hearts) head to Value City Arena to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Based on a quick look at Ohio State's team, I have to say I am pretty worried about this game. I mean, Mike Conley Jr. has some serious game and Greg Oden was pretty damned impressive when they played at Lawrence North in Indianapolis. Now that they are juniors in college, they have to be quite formiable....wait....they aren't there anymore...and Titus is injured? Sweet.

Anyway, a banged up Purdue squad heads to Columbus tonight. The current injury list included Robbie Hummel (back), Chris Kramer (nose), Lewis Jackson (concussion) and Bobby Riddel (short). That being said, they have a good chance to handle Ohio State. It is pretty impressive that 2 years ago any road win in the Big Ten was huge news and now a trip to Value City is seen as an expected victory. Hopefully, they can take care of business tonight and keep pace with Michigan State.

Boiler up!

Update: According to Jeff Washburn, you can also add Keaton Grant and JaJuan Johnson to the list of the walking wounded as both are recovering from the flu. Also Chris Kramer will have surgery on his broken nose tomorrow. Seeing as how he came back and played in the same half that his nose was broken, I would expect Kramer to not take anesthesia and assist during the procedure.

No word on whether anyone on the team has located lifts for Riddel's shoes.

Purdue 67, Michigan 49: Did you know Chris Kramer used to play football?

2009-02-01T02:00:00.000-08:00

As you may or may not have heard (OK, you probably didn't), The Powers That Be kept me from watching today's Purdue/Michigan game. Accordingly, I missed what I am guessing was a play in three acts. It started with Ridiculously Frustrating, moved on to Frightening and then resolved itself with Enjoyably Expected.

Terrifying

I know, I'm going out of order, but I didn't want to bury the lede. Just pretend this post is in some Lost-like time travel vortex. There can be no doubt that this game changed about a minute and a half into the second half when Manny Harris was ejected for elbowing Chris Kramer in the nose. The play occurred as Harris caught a pass on the left wing and appeared to be squaring up to face the basket. Unfortunately (for both Purdue and Michigan fans, I think), Chris Kramer's nose had the audacity to run into Harris' elbow. This sent Kramer to the ground and left him to wake up in a pool of his own blood. Official Jim Burr called a flagrant foul on Harris and kicked him out of the game. Kramer eventually got up with what appears (I would link to this, but my current source is my Dad, who listened to the game on the radio) to be a broken nose.

It might be possible that reasonable people can disagree on this call, but based on what I've seen (poor angles and grainy replays), it appears that kicking Harris out of the game was a terrific over-reaction. I know, the injury to Kramer was pretty serious, but I simply fail to see how Harris had any intent to hurt Kramer on that play. Should it have been a foul on Harris? Yes (although this is even arguable in the Big 10). Should he have gotten a rest for the last 18 1/2 minutes? Based on what I have seen, I don't think so.

Quick aside: As a Purdue fan, I have to make the case for throwing out Harris. Here goes. This play happened after Harris had been guarded by Kramer for over a half of basketball. Thanks in large part to Kramer's D (rumor has it, he's kinda good at that part of the game) Harris had been limited to only 5 points. Harris had to know that the second he caught a pass, Kramer would be right up in his chest. It didn't matter that the play was probably 23 feet from the basket, Kramer would be there. Harris knew when he turned he was going to hurt Kramer and for that, he should have been tossed.

Unfortunately, this case relies on an official knowing what is in Harris' head based on the quality of the defender against him and the quality of the team defense Michigan was playing against. I'm not saying it is the best case, but it is the best one I can make (What might be a more reasonable point, is that Burr was really reacting to Zach Novak's elbow against Ohio State earlier in the week. For more on that, you can look here).

Enjoyably Expected

After the ejection, Purdue flipped the switch. The Boilers went on a 30-8 run and turned a close game into a blowout. Admittedly, this was an easier proposition with Harris wandering the halls of Mackey Arena instead of Keady Court, but still, both the defense and the offense seemed to have improved their play markedly. As Purdue has done much of this season, their 3 point shooting improved later in the game and they started to move and adjust to Michigan's multiple zone looks. Michigan was forced into several poor outside shots as the game slipped away from them. Finally, Bobby Buckets continued his assault on the NCAA's 3 point percentage leaderboard (#2 in the country if you adjust for those who have attempted 13 or more 3's!).

Ridiculously Frustrating

It appears the first half was just plain bad. Purdue shot poorly and failed to take care of the ball. Again, I am purely guessing here as I have not been able to watch the game, but my guess is that Michigan's zone defense lead to a lot of standing around for Purdue on offense. I do not understand how we are unable to move against a zone. I do not understand how we are unable to incorporate aspects of a 2-1-2 offense into our motion scheme to break these zones. We have two big men who pass well and plenty of shooters that can be terrifying to cheer against if they are allowed to spot up from outside. How is this line of attack not apparent? Finally, I do not hope that any Big Ten coach reads these previous sentences.

Epilogue

Purdue got a good win at home. They definitely got some help from the zebras, but that is obviously more likely to happen at home. The sophomores carried the offense (all 3 in double figures) and the defense kind of speaks for itself at this point. Chris Kramer got the TV moment that might propel him to another Big Ten defensive player of the year award (Quick aside: can we stop comparing Kramer to Brian Cardinal? I loved (love?) Cardinal as much as I can anyone who grew up in Illinois, but Kramer is on a different level. The better comparison is Kenneth Lowe (although Kramer probably has better hops). Unfortunately, people forget Kenny because he played on some forgettable Purdue teams, but both were tenacious defenders despite multiple injuries. Turned out the aside was not so quick) More importantly, they kept themselves in position to catch Michigan State. On to Columbus to take down the Club Trillion army.

Boiler up!

Update

Thanks to the guys at maizeandbrew.com for letting me crash their site and get info on the game while I couldn't watch it at home.

Tyree, Redux

2009-02-01T01:46:00.000-08:00

Its late and the rest of the world is sleeping. However, like most sane people I'm awake right now watching Federer Nadal and flipping channels during the commercial breaks.

Anyway, my current flip channel is the NFL Network as they are showing last years Super Bowl. As luck would have it, I started watching the last 3 minutes and just saw The Catch, by David Tyree. Anyway, there are obviously many memorable things about that play. Eli's escape, Tyree's ability to catch a ball against his head while a guy who may or may not have been on HGH was pulling on his arm, the multiple offensive holding penalties that weren't called, you name it.

Anyway (2 paragraphs in a row starting with that word. I'm feeling a streak coming on.), the thing I had forgot was the crowd when that catch was made. The noise is often my favorite part of a big play. There is nothing quite like the sound of a stadium full of people instantly getting exactly what they had hoped for. However, when Tyree makes the catch, you do not hear any of that from the crowd. Instead, you hear what can only be described as this: a shriek.

Giants (and the streak ends at 2!) fans do not cheer. I think they are shocked into silence (my best guess is many are saying "Who the fuck is David Tyree?"). I don't think the realize what has happened yet. However, the rest of the stadium does, and they are terrified.

Oh, and then Plaxico shot himself in the leg. Well played.

A Letter To DirecTV

2009-01-31T10:38:00.001-08:00

Dear DirecTV:

I pay you $117 per month. Occasionally, I even pay you this amount in a timely manner. In return, you say that I get your "Premier" package and I don't think I get more channels unless I ordered every Spanktravision channel individually (tempting as this is, I generally enjoy having a girlfriend who makes more money than me, so I'm going to pass on this one).

So why, for the love of all that is holy, are you forcing me to watch the debacle that is Washington State/Arizona when I should be watching Purdue/Michigan? As I live on the west coast, I understand that the PAC 10 game should be on my local cable (although I have to ask, why is a west coast game starting at 10:00 local? They never start the west coast NFL games early. Why would they do that for college basketball?). However, is there seriously no way to make Purdue/Michigan available? You have like 2,000 channels. Put it up somewhere. Anywhere. I'd probably even pay extra if you gave me that option.

Obviously, I can't watch the game right now. This might make writing a recap a little difficult. Right now Purdue is up 25-22 with about a minute left in the first half. If I were to guess, I would say that Michigan is using a 1-3-1 to slow Purdue down and Purdue is yet again refusing to use a variation of a 2-1-2 to break it. Alas, it is pure speculation because you refuse to let me see this. Please help.

Hugs and kisses,

Dalt

Michigan State - Iowa

2009-01-29T16:09:00.000-08:00

Its early, but Michigan State 8% of the way done with pulling a Covenant High School. My guess is that Izzo would not be fired if they were to actually get it done.

Update: That was quick. I think Iowa was just waiting for me to post something before deciding to play offense. Very sneaky on their part.

Purdue 64, Wisconsin 63. Saved by the 3

2009-01-28T22:32:00.000-08:00

In an effort to make myself write more regularly, I'm going to start recapping Purdue games. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't anyone outside of Jeff Washburn (can't find a link to his writing) consistently writing about the Boilers so I figured i would start putting in my 4 cents (I've always been ambitious).

Getting back to the point, somehow, last night, Purdue managed to sneak out of the Kohl Center with a 64-63 win. Although they shot very well through the night, Purdue still found themselves down in the last 3 minutes before Keaton Grant, Chris Kramer and Robbie Hummel put up back-to-back-to-back 3's to take the lead for good (Christ Kramer? When was the last time he even shot a 3? High School? JV Ball? Also, if he can hit that shot, why doesn't he look for it more often? How many sentences can I end with a question mark? Will we ever find out?).

(lost in the shuffle of the last minute heroics was E'Tuann Moore. He carried Purdue for most of the game and consistently hit shot after shot despite rarely having a single decent look at the rim. He definitely isn't at the level of Big Dog yet, but he's quickly catching up with Cuonzo.)

After Hummel's triple, all we were waiting for was the D. Keaton smothered Jordan Taylor on a layup that would fall against any other team in the country. Against Purdue, those shots just don't fall. These guys are good. They can be great. I'll be there to watch.

Great Writing

2009-01-28T22:28:00.000-08:00

So, I realize that I only get a visitor or two a day. However, hopefully, one of them will follow this link and read Joe Posnanski's latest post.

Damn good stuff.

ESPN's Top 30

2009-01-26T18:35:00.001-08:00

ESPN is counting down the top 30 college basketball plays of the last 30 years. Apparently this has been going on for a couple of days as they are now on to #23 and they plan on unveiling #1 during the ACC Championship game. Since I don't know which plays they have shown so far, I'm going to take a shot at the top 20. With the obvious exception of #1, these are in no particular order:

1. Christian Laettner hits the shot that makes him the water boy on the best basketball team of all time. Little known fact, Thomas Hill is still weeping. Bonus: The Chris Farley version.

2. Bryce Drew. 'nuff said.

3. Keith Smart steals Steve Alford's glory.

4. Tyus Edney saves UCLA in the second round.

5. Rumeal Robinson. Bonus video: Unfortunately I can't find the Chris Farley version of this. I remember it being roughly as hilarious as all Monty Python movies combined when it came out though.

6. Mario's Miracle. Its great and all, but I just can't get too invested in it for some reason.

7. Bo Kimble and Loyola Marymount reach the Elite 8 in 1990. I can't find video of this, but it has to make the top 20.

8. Michael Jordan arrives. Fred Brown disappears.

9. Derrick Wittenberg and Lorenzo Charles invent the alley-oop.*

*No, they didn't.

10. I am certain that this doesn't belong in the top 20, but I'm equally certain that ESPN will put it up there anyway. Chris Webber.

11. Georgetown/Villanova. Round 3. Warning, very long video. Don't even both clicking on it. No really, don't.

12. George Mason survives UCONN (and kills every remaining bracket in America).*

*I know it is forgotten since George Mason won in OT, but Denham Brown's driving reverse layup has to be one of the most impressive forgotten shots of all time. This would make another great post. Interestingly, my initial thought is that #1 on that list would be from the same game as #1 on this list. Sean Woods hit an absolutely ridiculous running one-handed shot in the lane to give UK what they thought was the win in the '92 East Regional. I'd show it to you, but it doesn't appear to be on YouTube. Further cementing its status as the greatest forgotten shot even.

13. Illinois stuns Arizona. Here's my story about this game. Every year, I join an NCAA pool that consists only of myself and my friends Dave and Manata. The stakes are simple. Second place has to buy a bottle of whatever type of alcohol third place wants to drink (rum, whiskey, tequila, etc.). However, Second picks the brand (and therefore picks something cheap). Third place has to drink it. First place gets to watch and laugh. Well, Dave, Manata and myself were all watching this at the bar (I think it was BW3, shocking, I know) and Dave needed Illinois to make the final four or else he was guaranteed last. I'm telling you, we saw Dave's reaction to his life flashing before his eyes as Illinois came back from the dead and it was nothing short of spectacular. When Dave woke up the next day he was like the convenience store owner in Fight Club after Brad Pitt threatened to kill him. The sun was never brighter and the air never smelled fresher because Dave dodged having to drink a fifth of some God awful tequila or whiskey.

A week later, we were at the bar (again) watching the national semi-final together when Illinois won to make the national title game and cement Manata's third place finish. Dave and I celebrated by sending him awful shot after awful shot. Worth every penny.

14. Mike Miller beats Butler and UCONN beats Washington. I lumped these together because I remember them as being basically the same scramble resulting in a 10 foot jumped at the buzzer that sent each time on a deep tournament run. Also, I realized that I'm already at #14 and I haven't had to mention any non-tournament games. I'm apparently unable to self-edit. Also Also, I can't find the video for either.

15. Again, I don't think it deserves to make the list, but I would imagine that Stephon Curry and Davidson from 2008 will make the cut. Don't get me wrong, it was impressive, but I don't think it belongs that high up. For my money, Big Dog was more dominating for Purdue in '94 (yes, I'm incredibly biased).*

*One of the greatest things about having Big Ten Network: Big Ten's Greatest Games. Right now I have the Purdue/Kansas sweet 16 game from '94 waiting for me on my TiVo. I haven't seen that game since I watched it live with my dad. In my memory, Big Dog throws down a nasty dunk of Greg Ostertagg. Man, I hope I'm right.

16. Laettner stuns UCONN in 1989 (can't find the video) . Since this is the second time I've mentioned the polarizing #32 in this post, I'll change the subject (kind of). How long do we have until everybody starts writing stories comparing Tim Tebow to Laettner? Can we create a world wide football tournament featuring the best NFL players before Tebow leaves college so he can join that team despite having no business being on the same field?

17. I wanted to put Duke's upset over UNLV in 1991 here but I figured that would be a little too much Blue Devils for most to handle.* Instead, lets go with a Bobby Knight montage. Sure, it doesn't exactly fit with the rest of the list, but dammit its my list so I say Bobby deserves a spot. As an aside, its really bizarre watching a Sportscenter Top 10 without commentary from the anchors. No joke, just odd.

*You MUST watch this video. Just as I implored you not to watch #11, please watch this. I don't ask for much.

18. This was going to be a video about Brian Cardinal and Purdue's improbable run to the 2000 Elite 8 but the only Cardinal video I could find on YouTube was called "Robert Horry Dunks On Brian Cardinal" and I didn't have the heart to click on it. Instead, I'll put my homer-ism to bed for a moment and pick Kentucky's comeback against Utah. I really dislike Kentucky and wanted to come up with 20 moments greater than this game and the run that went along with it, but it was pretty damned impressive.

19. Lisa Lesley makes a layup. Sorry, I couldn't resist.*

*Surprisingly, there is not a lot of layup footage on YouTube. Please control your disappointment.

20. The 1994-96 Purdue Boilermakers. This needs to be (and will be) its own post. For now, just let me say this. During my formative years, this was the team and I loved every minute of watching them. Whether it was Big Dog doing it all in '94, Cuonzo and Waddell coming from nowhere to win the Big Ten in 95 or the 5 seniors in '96 (Brantley, Roberts, Foster, Dove, & Jennings if you are keeping score at home) this was my team. The rest of the world might not remember them, but I do.*

*Bonus: I found video of Big Dog's dunk on Ostertag. Upon further review, it wasn't as incredible as it seemed when I was 14. Doesn't matter, I'm sure his dunk against Alabama in the second round of the '94 tourney was as impressive as I remember it. I think he took off a foot or two behind the 3 point line on that one.

So, that's my list. I'm sure most of them are wrong, but I enjoyed the time I spent on YouTube to write this. Got another take? Leave it in the comments.

Happy New Year

2009-01-26T17:29:00.001-08:00

I'm celebrating it with General Tso. While the internets claim this is the year of the Ox, I think we all can agree that it will be the year of the Dalt.

More frequent updates are planned. They would have been here sooner, but my laziness has a habit of creeping up. Thanks for stopping by.

1/20

2009-01-20T00:00:00.001-08:00

So, it kind of goes without saying that there are plenty of other people out there who can write about today much better than me. They can eloquently tell you what this means and how things will change and how they will stay the same. Right now, I'm not the guy who can write that column.

However, here's what I can do. I can tell you that today, I can listen to to "The Times, They Are A-Changing" and finally feel like it was written for me.

Bob Dylan never sounded so good.

Confused Pt. II

2009-01-12T20:01:00.001-08:00

Why is Jason Kidd one of the air traffic controllers on 24?

Confused

2009-01-12T17:10:00.000-08:00

Its Monday.

Its Monday, and it is no longer day-time

To be more specific, its Monday night.

However, despite my best efforts and about 600 channels to chose from, I cannot locate Monday Night Football.

How can this be? Now my only chance of watching a bunch of guys risk life and limb in the hopes of making a few bucks is to walk a few blocks and see if any fights break out among street performers in the Mission.

I guess that could be entertaining enough, but here's my main question:

How do I turn that into a fantasy league?

Random Question

2008-12-21T11:41:00.000-08:00

Outside of people who picked up the Browns D for their fantasy league (points fingers at this guy), is anyone out there watching the Bengals/Browns game?

To Dave

2008-12-17T21:01:00.000-08:00

Ask yourself this: Did I name my Fantasy Football team Shake 'n Bake specifically so I could post this video right before the finals?

I think we all know the answer.

Fantasy

2008-12-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

No, this isn't the start of a post about Dungeons & Dragons or Lord of the Rings or even Narnia (sorry Dave, the recap of The Horse & His Boy will have to wait for another day). I've been catching hell for posting infrequently, so here's a quick and dirty one.

This week marks the end of my fantasy football seasons. In one league I'm in the championship; in the other I'm in the consolation game. This unfortunately means that after Monday, I enter that uncomfortable stretch of the year where I don't have a tailor made excuse to ignore my girlfriend by watching games as trivial as the Royals vs. the Rays ("But honey, Percival might be brought in to close tonight. This is important."). This situation is made even worse by the fact that I don't get many Pacers games (the NBA Package was a bit too much for me to rationalize forking over given my current working status).

As you can imagine, I am quite concerned. I don't know that I want to live in a world where I have to do things like "be a good boyfriend" or "see the outside world." I tried to come up with a way to express my concern and I realized it had already been done by the immortal Elizabeth Berkely:

'nuff said.

We Now Return To Our Regularly Scheduled Blog-Cast

2008-12-02T22:36:00.000-08:00

Previously, on daltman.blogspot.com (OK, so before I start this, let me say that I know that a lot of the things I am about to mention happened between when I stopped writing here and now. Unforutnately, I am not imaginative enough to come up with another literary device that will explain what happened between when I stopped writing this blog during the middle of my second year of law school and now so I'm using the season premier "Previously, on" device. Just pretend that I'm the third season of Friday Night Lights or something (if you don't have DirecTV, you will understand when Season 3 of FNL premiers in about 2 years)):

The following things happened. I started law school. I started this blog. I was uncertain whether I wanted my law school career or this blog to be more successful. I survived my first year of law school without breaking many things. I became burnt out on school and writing and left this site alone during my second year. I dated an OK girl who was wrong for me at the time, got a dog (who is awesome and I will go after anyone who says otherwise), broke up with the girl and finished law school.

After that, I finished law school, studied for the bar and started my quarter-life crisis (she was perfectly nice, but young and it never really had a chance to work). I became a Public Defender, got bored and kind of settled into my bachelor-hood (it could be a word). One summer night, I met a girl while playing beer pong and, luckily enough, she took my call later that week. We met for a beer, she let me take her to a Cubs game (or 4) and things kept going from there. Before we knew it, she had a job offer 2,000 miles away and I decided to follow (while the dog stayed with my parents in Indiana. That was tough). I came to California to be with her, failed the bar by 1/2 of 1 percent and now I'm getting ready to take it again this February. Additionally, I thought it was time to start writing again. Most recently, I just saw a police car drive by our apartment while I listened to "Murder by Numbers" by the Police. I couldn't make this up if I tried. I think that pretty much brings us up to speed.

So, where does that leave us? In years past I would have launched into a diatribe about the Cubs not offering arbitration to Kerry Wood or tonight's Purdue/Duke game (along with my memories of the Elite 8 game in 1994 and the Great Alaska Shoot-Out Game), but I'm not feeling that tonight. Don't get me wrong, I will waste far too many hours here on the Cubs and Purdue (as well as the Colts, Pacers, Springsteen, Counting Crows, Death Cab, Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers, and any number of other subjects I deem appropriate), but tonight, I want to leave those all behind.

Instead, I'll leave with this. I'm 29 years old. I am in love with a woman who brought me to a part of the county that I never imagined I would live in while we were in a relationship more adult an mature than I thought I had the capacity for. I am unemployed and my current prospects for a job are uncertain at best. I have no idea what my next move is, but I know I'm going to write about it. In the meantime, there will be lots of minutia. There will be ramblings about Purdue, the Cubs, politics, life, ridiculous fights I have with my friends and my dog. Stick around. It could be worth reading.

Just When I Think I'm Out...

2008-11-25T23:08:00.000-08:00

I'm back. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this space, but its time to start writing again.

Test

2006-02-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

Test