You may remember a while back T-mill asked for some help with the blog, just to lighten the load with his job. I am that help. My name is John, and I comment here under the handle TelePunk5 (over on BoiledSports as John, for those that read both). I'll talk about myself for a just a second here before we get down to business. I am a senior in Mechanical Engineering here at Purdue, and planning to continue graduate school here through my masters at least. I bleed Old Gold and Black. I grew up in South Bend, so I have a hatred for Notre Dame that borders on offensive even to other Purdue fans. I also a big fan of the Colts, Pacers (I know, believe me I know), Chicago Blackhawks, and Chicago Cubs. Finally, you can follow me on Twitter if you are so inclined. I tweet about Purdue sports and nerdery because engineering isn't just a major, it is a lifestyle. Hit the jump and we will make with the Boilermakings.
Men's Basketball
Purdue Splits With Wisconsin; Huge win for the Boilers, helping them keep pace with Michigan State in the Big Ten race. LewJack coming off the bench was a huge boost to the team, and hopefully we will be seeing more of him against a less physical Penn State team. Was it just me, or did LewJack seem like he was already playing near 100%? Great to have you back LewJack.
Blackout Mackey; This Sunday's game against the Nittany Lions will be a Blackout game. From a charity standpoint this will be a great game. Fans can purchase an official Blackout shirt to wear in Mackey. For each shirt, $1 will be donated to both the Purdue Center for Cancer Research and Coaches vs. Cancer. Of course you could always wear this if you like cancer. In addition to the Blackout, Painter and the coaching staff will be wearing sneakers as part of the Suits and Sneakers cancer awareness campaign.
Rush The Court Breaks Down the Big Ten; They attribute our losing streak to bench play, and note that our bench disappeared during the losing streak. However, they still have us second in their power poll.
Football
Bruce Gaston, Boilermaker; "I see us possibly winning a Big Ten championship, compete for a national championship. That's what I see. That's what I expect from the school and the program." That's the attitude I like to see. He chose Purdue over ND, Boston College, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
Too Early for a Football Preview?; Rea's Day Blog has us pegged as Ohio State's 7th toughest game next season. That's tough, but fair.
Women's Basketball
The Upsets Keep Coming; Our Lady Boilers took out Penn State in overtime last night. After beating high ranked Ohio State earlier this week they are starting to make some noise in the conference. 11-10 hardly guarantees a bid to the tournament, but if they keep showing up like this they might cause some problems when March rolls around.
Boilers in the Pros;
A House Divided; WTHR looks at being a Purdue fan and a Colts fan regarding the Super Bowl, something near and dear to T-Mill and I.
Drew Brees vs. Tom Brady; Canal St. Chronicles takes a look at the statistics to determine whether the quarterback discussion should be Manning or Brees, rather than Manning or Brady.
Dikembe Motumbo endorses Carl Landry for All-Star Team; "Carl Landry, to me, is the best sixth man in the game right now. If he doesn’t win the Sixth Man of the Year, I’m going to be very disappointed." 'Nuff said.
Landry Family Brotherly Love; I have no idea how I didn't see that before. The domination continues.
Former Purdue Pitcher Traded to Rangers; At least he isn't a Yankee anymore.
Miscellaneous Boiler Tidbits;
Lady Gaga, shows up, actually plays this time; Purdue was the center of the TMZ gossip universe for a second. Now, not so much.
Meet Pete; The Big Ten Network had a chat with the students who don the headgear and wield the hammer.
Haiti; The EPICS program is working with Habitat for Humanity developing disaster resistant homes for the people of Haiti. One of our geophysics professors is also leading the research effort studying the fault that caused the earthquake. I'm sure you hear it all the time, but if you haven't contributed to the relief effort I implore you to consider a small donation. Two organizations doing great work are of course Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. Thanks.
That's all I've got for this week. If you have any tips for me, please kick me an e-mail jberlako at purdue dot edu Thanks for reading, and I look forward to keep working on the blog.