Look who's in first baby

I have to start off with the exciting news, the Boilers are in first place in the Big Ten with 4 games to go, trying to win our first big ten title since 1996. The schedule doesn't get any easier with a tough road game to the barn and Minnesota Wednesday, and then after that hosting a PISSED off Michigan State team, so keep your fingers crossed.

Lets look back first. Thank you to all of you who said a Boiler Up for me last Wednesday, as you helped propel the Boilers to a 60-57 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes at Value City Arena, handing them their first home loss of the year. We used a similar game plan that we did at Michigan State getting out to a good lead, and then holding on for dear life as a three point attempt was missed at the Buzzer, sending yours truly into a euphoric state! Ohio State had the best individual, Purdue had the best team.
Some observations from the game via TV of course.
If you had told me we'd only get 4 pts from Junior superstar Robbie Hummel and we'd win, I would have laughed at you, however JJ stepped up once again with a big 24 pt game, and the biggest factor was Keaton Grant's 13 pts off the bench including a 4 point play in the first half.

Of course TONS of media covering this one a match up of two top ten teams, but my favorite thing I read was courtesy of ESPN's Pat Forde who was blogging live. Commenting on the OSU crowd which had its first sell out of the year, "this crowd is supposedly a sellout just not too enthusiastic yet" and later said "If this game were at Purdue's Mackey Arena the crowd would be 400 times louder than this" I loved that line, and how true. Here's the thing about OSU they have a HUGE ego, sure they can fill a 110,000 football stadium, but they are and always will be a football school. A 20,000 seat basketball arena a little ambitious for them.

In the end this was a HUGE win on the road, and we now have 4 wins over top ten teams this year, with 2 coming on the road, 1 at home, and 1 on a neutral floor. Only 2 other teams in the country can claim that. As good as the win was we had to come back yesterday and beat a SCARY Illinois team. Not scary because they are great, but scary because sometimes they are great sometimes they suck. You never know which team is going to show up. They shot 50% against us, yet timely three point shots, and another great game from Keaton Grant, led to a Boilermaker Victory!! We now stand 23-3 and after Ohio State beat Michigan State today we're all alone in first place!!! Just need to somehow get thru the next two and it looks good. We're also closing in on a #1 seed which hasn't been done since 1996. Right now it's great to be a Boilermaker.

Speaking of the NCAA tournament, I am planning on doing the Bracket Contest yet again, and in order to make that work I need your help again. I am hoping I will have enough people participate to make it fun. Bekah is the defending champ so she has no choice she has to compete :) If you are new to my blog, or weren't around last March and want in, please let me know. Basically you are assigned a region and pick the region all the way out, and the four region winners will then pick the final four with me for a chance to win some prize. Hope you will all participate again.

Winter Olympics
OK I admit I am getting into the games. The halfpipe with Shaun White was INSANE that trick he did at the end was AWESOME!! Tonight Team USA beat Canada in hockey I believe that's an upset, and even watched some Ice Dancing the one US team did a cool routine that was Indian pretty neat. Of course I have a MAJOR crush on Tanith Belbin of the US. Watching the bobsled, and luge scares me I have no idea how they keep it on that track going as fast as they do, it's nuts! Here is one thing though I don't understand, in the summer olympics softball has been dropped from the games and one of the reasons given the US is too dominant, even though they didn't even win the gold in Beijing. What I don't understand is then how does the Olympic committee explain Womens Ice Hockey? Canada beat some team like 18-0 and the US has beaten a team 12-1, and I am not sure if these teams have played again but from the sounds of that is routine. So, what's the difference? It doesn't appear the other countries are anywhere near catching the US and Canada, so why is Womens Hockey allowed to stay in the olympics and softball is not? I would much rather watch softball. Are you all watching the olympics? I am still a summer fan, nothing tops the summer games but it has been fun watching these games.

A few entries ago I wrote about my mom breaking her wrist some new developments have happened since. After 4 weeks in her hot pink cast, she went in for another check up and x-ray where it was revealed she needed to have surgery. It sucks because she was getting excited to almost be done and have her cast off, instead now she has another 6 weeks. So, she had the surgery this past Tuesday, everything went well even though it took longer than they thought because the break was apparently worse than they thought. Now however the swelling isn't going down, and it's hurting so she is going in tomorrow to see what's going on. Hopefully it's an easy fix she's been through too much already!!

That's all I got for ya, everyone have a great week. I am pretty excited here I can see my grass again, the snow is melting!!!
Phats

It's amazing

EDIT BOILERS WIN BOILERS WIN!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SAID BOILER UP!! :)

So, one of my all time favorite shows started back up Sunday, The Amazing Race and if you're not watching it I simply have to ask, why the hell not? I love this show, and yes it's a reality show(for the record I love reality shows) but it's better than most. For those that don't like the backstabbing, scheming, fights, and what not, you get that but not nearly as much on this show and there is no real alliances since you aren't voting someone out it's a race to the mat with the last team getting Phil-imnated! Competing on this season are two of my favorite alums of Big Brother, another reality show I am highly addicted to, Jordan and Jeff. Jordan won the show last season and Jeff became her in house boyfriend, and apparently they are still together. Anyway, I was surprised how well they did considering how dingy she was on Big Brother! They actually came in first, and I was glad for them. Does anyone remember I believe she was Miss Teen South Carolina? The one who answered really really dumb about how to find America on a map, yeah she's on this season too! They came in second but endured a penalty and actually came in 7th. Still getting to know the rest of the teams, there is a grandma/granddaughter team that's pretty awesome they do half marathons, and triathlons together. There is a team of brothers one is gay, and he hilariously recognized Miss South Carolina right away then in his confessional repeated her speech she gave word for word it was awesome. Anyone else watching this show??

Staying on reality, we get the Fox Reality Channel, and I happened to catch a pretty twisted show on there called Solitary. Anyone seen this show?? They lock up I think it's 9 contestants in really small rooms and then a computer name Val pretty much tortures them their entire stay. This new batch was escorted to their rooms locked up in chains, and they have had to drink smoothies that were well DISGUSTING, and the latest was smacking themselves pretty hard on the face and stomach. Basically you either quit or last to compete a challenge is how you lose. It's pretty twisted, yet I watched it haha.

Winter Olympics
I will be the first to admit I have never been a HUGE fan of the Winter Games, I prefer the summer games, and I am not sure why that is. Tina pointed out on Twitter maybe it's because I hate snow and winter? I think it's because the Summer games get more pub, they hype those athletes so much more, and you see the trials for Swimming, track, and gymnastics. The only hype I have seen for these games was for ice skating, and uhh PASS. I think that's part of it too, I just can't get into the sports that much, I don't watch hockey when it's NHL season so why would I watch olympic hockey, especially without the fights! Figure Skating, only watched that in 94 when it was Tonya vs Nancy, and come on who didn't watch that?! Curling, bobsled, luge, skiing yeah don't get me started. I will say though I caught the moguls the other day, WOW I was impressed with that!!! Where they ski downhill and then do a trick off a jump ramp!! Some of them both men and women were doing a full twist in the laid out position. I can do a full on land, I can't imagine doing a full on with a pair of ski's on!! I would break my neck. I also got into the speed skating where the three Koreans were leading, and two of them went down allowing the two Americans(including Apollo) to get in and get 2nd and 3rd, that was NUTS! So, maybe I am warming up to the winter games a bit who knows. I do feel awful for the Luger who was killed, how tragic. That sport is scary enough, I can't imagine having to go down that course knowing someone was killed on it. So sad, I feel for him, his family, and his teammates what they must have been going through.

Hard to believe but my HS tennis season(I coach) starts in 1 month! I told some of the girls when I saw them today we might be shoveling snow off the courts for our conditioning! Man lately mother nature has been PISSED off at us. We had 2 major storms hit us, and a third came through today, luckily though it stayed south. I would be perfectly fine if we didn't have anymore snowstorms, please. I am ready for spring and a warm up PRONTO.

Big game for the Boilermakers Wednesday night, I would appreciate it if you all said a BIG Boiler Up around 6:30! We can take all the luck we can get. We might be closing in on a number 1 seed! GO BOILERS!!

That's all, BTFU Baby
Phats

Hey Tony Dungy, how's that crow taste?

Hello Bloggers
I feel good I am blogger more regularly now, and I am back into the swing of things. I will admit this is going to be mostly a sports post, but please still comment I love reading them :) I still hate winter, however it wasn't as bad as they were originally calling for we only got 3 inches of snow. Kind of hard to complain when DC is under 30 inches. They are calling for possibly 3 more inches tonight, so we'll see. All the schools here canceled and I have to say I don't get it, I was out in it all day and it wasn't that bad at all, the worst part was fing shoveling BOO. I really hate winter.

Alright we have to talk about the new most watched Television event of all time, of course the super bowl that just happened on Sunday. Something finally broke M*A*S*H's record as the Saints and the Colts put on quite a show. For those of you who don't know I am a New Orleans Saints fan, and if you want to call me a bandwagoner fine go for it, but I have been cheering for them ever since they signed my boy, former Boilermaker quarterback Drew Brees. Let me tell you I never thought rooting for the Saints could be so dangerous! At the super bowl party I was at I was called "hater" "traitor" and some words I will refrain from sharing by family friends just because I wasn't cheering for the Colts. They simply felt that I had no right to cheer against my "hometown" team. Lets get one thing straight, I have never been a Colts fan ever, nor do I consider them my hometown team. So, as you can see this game was very interesting, and I got a lot of trash talked to me all the way up to halftime with the Colts leading, but thank you Sean Payton for calling one of the greatest plays of all time the onside kick to open the second half, and thank you Mr Kendra(girls next door) Hank Baskett for muffing it! That turned the tide, and the whole complexion of the game. Of course the Saints went on to win 31-17 successfully getting me kicked out of the party I was at for literally jumping out of my chair when Porter returned the Peyton INT for a pick 6! WHO DAT BABY! So proud of the Saints, and Drew Brees for pulling this off. So, for those that might not understand I basically have a mancrush on Drew Brees, he is basically a GOD around Purdue. The guy has a street named after him in West Lafayette, he led us to our first Rose Bowl in like 60 years(so it seemed), and he continues to this day to just give back to Purdue over and over, and I don't think I could ever root against the guy. So to see him holding the Lombardi trophy, almost brought tears to my eyes, but what really pushed me over the top was the image of him with his son, I still get choked up when I see that imagine. Might not be a better post game image in super bowl history.

Lets talk about Peyton Manning. I can't stand the guy, everyone in Indiana thinks the dude is like some kind of St, uhh he's not. I love how the camera seems to always catch him throwing some kind of fit during every game when something happens he doesn't approve of, during the super bowl it was when his kicked missed a tough 51 yarder. Look Manning maybe if you could convert the third down you wouldn't be in that situation. So, the fact that he threw a pick 6 with the game on the line made it even that much more sweeter, and he got face planted into the field on the return excellent! What really upset me was not only did he not seek out Drew Brees or Sean Payton after the game to shake their hands, he left the game before it was over, to me that is a douchebag move Peyton BIG TIME. His explanation was the field is big, and it's their time, umm that's BS you're freaking Peyton Manning if you want to shake someone's hand someone will help you find them, and how about your coach, he shook hands. What I find comical is a few years ago when the Colts beat the Patriots to go to the Super Bowl the Colts fans were in a HUGE uproar because Belichick didn't shake hands, how is this different?

How about the non football aspects of the super bowl? What did you all think of Queen Latifah and Carrie Underwood? I thought Queen did a decent job, I always forget she's a pretty good singer. Sure I felt Carrie might have missed a note or too, but I am pretty much in love with her. Also I appreciate she sang it live with no tracks or anything that's rare! How about the halftime show? I think the NFL and MTV need to kiss and make up, because I am sick of seeing halftime shows sponsored by AARP! The Who? Seriously?! I think I heard Saint fans saying "Who Dat" when they started. It's been a few years now since Nipple Gate I think they could get over it and start bringing back the young acts that people want to see. Why not put them on a 10 sec delay that should do it. I remember back when halftime shows at the Super Bowl were entertaining, lets get back to that please. Commercials, favorites? I loved the Snickers commercial with Betty White, you just can't go wrong with the Golden Girl! The doritos commercial was pretty awesome too, and how about Farve actually making fun of himself props to him!

As if the Saints winning the Super Bowl wasn't big enough, tonight my Boilers did the unthinkable, as they went into East Lansing and the Breslin Center and beat the #10 ranked Michigan State Spartans 76-64, and basically controlled the game from start to finish. At one point led by 18 in the second half, but like all good teams MSU made their run and cut it down to three, that's when E'Twaun "Smooge' Moore took over, burying a three silencing the crowd, and MSU only scored 2 pts the rest of the way. This was a HUGE win for many reasons but for one MSU, ILL, OSU, and Purdue are all tied in the loss column for the big ten lead. We are currently 20-3 (8-3) and still have games with all three of those teams, with both Illinois and Michigan State having to come to Mackey, so we sit in a good position. However, got to solidify this win by beating Iowa on Saturday. BOILER UP!

American Idol moved into Hollywood week tonight, and now it really gets interesting. We finally get mostly good singers and not the bad which I like. Ellen Degeneres started tonight as the fourth judge, I thought she did pretty good. I think I have some favorites so now I will be disappointed if they don't make it! The young girl whose grandma has Alzheimer's she's really good especially for only being 16. The dude that did "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul that was pretty cool, and the last hippie chick that went who got her son's name tattooed on her back, really liked her. Seems like some really good talent this year. Wednesday night starts the dreaded group night, can't wait to see all the people fall apart like usual!

Alright that's all I have for ya.
Have a great hump day!
Phats

I hate winter

HOW ABOUT THEM NEW ORLEANS SAINTS, SUPER BOWL CHAMPS!!!! DREW BREES FORMER BOILER MVP! WHO DAT BABY!

Hello Bloggers
So far so good in remembering to blog, go me! I am currently stuck in winter hell, man I hate winter. I always ask myself, phats why the hell am I still in this state, and I am not sure why. I really should relocate somewhere where snow doesn't happen. We are currently under a winter weather advisory, it could be north if you go 20 mins south of us they are under a winter storm warning, and of course the people in DC probably could complain a little bit more. You people that like snow, or don't get it often and think it's pretty to you I say YOU'RE NUTS! I hate it, I have to get up even earlier than usual to start my car, clean my car off, shovel, and of course make sure the roads aren't too bad. I keep thinking it's almost March we're almost through the worst but man I HATE WINTER. OK I have complained enough.

So, show of hands who watched my Boilers beat those pussyass wimps from Bloomington last night!? Yeah, a little too close for my liking a 78-75 win, but a win is a win. I knew it would be close for a few reasons, but mostly because it was AT IU. We hadn't won there since 1999, so to win was a HUGE relief. Some people are like it was too close we shouldn't be happy, whatever it was their super bowl. their final four, their big ten title of course they were going to be jacked, and I can even admit their crowd was INSANE. However, in the end IU fans can SUCK IT we won you lost so bite it Hoosiers. You know this is definitely one of these best and most bitter rivalries in all of sports, here is an example of some of the chants their student section performed last night, warning vulgar language to follow. First off the good old stand by "Fuck Purdue clap clap" They got more aggressive towards our guard Chris Kramer who is hated by most opposing fans for his hustle and style of play, his chants were towards his mom of and in unison "Your mom's a fat fucking whore" followed by "Kramer tell your Cu*t loving mom to shut up" Then they went for Robbie Hummel with the chant of "cock sucking fa**ot" everytime he shot free throws that one was audible over the TV. Yeah, stay classy IU stay classy. All of this prompted our guys to celebrate even harder! The best part, and I shouldn't condone this but it was just funny and I will say it said in today's paper Coach Painter made him apology. IU was trailing by 3 and their star Verdell Jones went in for a lay up and laid a BRICK, Purdue called a timeout, and going to the huddle the camera caught our starting a point guard, a Freshman, giving Verdell the choke sign, here is a picture. Like I said I shouldn't condone it but I found it comical.
Of course in the paper today Verdell Jones said "The great thing is we play them again we'll see what Barlow has to say that time" Uhh VD I mean VJ that game is AT MACKEY! After the game as well Kramer chose to stomp on the IU logo as well as getting into with some IU Students after the game, waving his arms telling them to bring it! Looks like the rivalry is BACK! GO BOILERS!

OK I am going to admit I really like the Miley Cryus song "Party in the USA" HAHA Yes I know this could potentially get me beat up, but i'll take that chance. At first I mocked it like everyone, but with coaching I kept hearing this song over and over on the bus, and well it just grew on me to the point where I JAM to it hahaha. Come on you can't tell me you don't dance a little when you hear it right? I know you're nodding your head like ya, and moving your hips like ya

Not much else going on, I started a new book tonight by John Saul called House of Reckoning so far it's pretty good. Since we looked to be snowed in I might read some more tomorrow. I plan on sleeping ALL DAMN day. By the way thanks to everyone for your well wishes, I am over my flu bug, let me tell ya that was NO FUN!

Hope everyone has a great weekend
Phats
BTFU!