Purdue Festivus!

It is December 23, so that means it is time for Festivus! We would have the traditional Festivus  pole up on campus, but the Board of Trustees allocated the aluminum for it from the athletic department as part of the cost of doing business. Once again, the board wins, but we can probably jury-rig a pole from the South End Zone tent at Ross-Ade.

As for the Festivus dinner, there indeed will be alcohol:

As expected, we have to do this on a budget. Dinner will consist of Natty Light along with Rotel and Queso, courtesy of the Big Ten Network. The good news is that as the night goes on we can build our on Festivus pole:

The biggest part of Festivus is the Airing of Grievances, which is big this year. As expected, there were a lot on Twitter:

1st Grievance goes to Purdue..Why go to Purdue if ur not going to play w the toughness of a PURDUE PLAYER."I got a problem w you people "

— Dan Dakich (@dandakich) December 23, 2014

@HammerAndRails coach Hazel won't grow a mustache, thus, the team struggles

— 1800 (@1800tweets) December 23, 2014

@HammerAndRails Grievance: Boiler Bylaws contributing to the wussification of football and men's basketball.

— Kent Shadley (@gold_badge) December 23, 2014

The best came from Boiled Sports, who penned an excellent post today concerning the current situation and showed that Morgan Burke is NOT the issue here:

At the same time, Mr. Burke is simply done fighting. In his defense, why should he fight for better results any longer? His contract should take him to retirement...and if he leaves in the next few years, Purdue will still be in the black. Barely.

The foci of President Daniels, Director Burke and the group in the shadows, the Trustees, are all consistent. That is a team that is well-coached and winning while achieving its goals.

Sadly, winning on the field of play is not a priority for them, and the trickle down is what we've seen at Mackey and in Ross-Ade during the last few years.

It is a sad truth. Those with the real power to change things do not care, and Burke, a Purdue alum and long-time athletic director, is basically handcuffed and charged $7 million per year by the school as a "You should be damned grateful we let you even have teams" charge.

If we're going to air grievances I might as well air mine:

Big Ten Network - Nice of them to give them $24 million, but is it too much to ask to be able to see the games given the problems with BTNPlus.

1988 Men's Basketball team - This is the one that should have won a National title, but choked in the Sweet 16. Yes, they choked because we had blown out Kansas State during the regular season and had a double-digit lead in that game.

Glenn Robinson's back - His back injury in the 1994 Sweet 16 against Kansas cost us greatly against Duke in the Elite 8.

Wisconsin - For several reasons, mostly the 2000 Elite 8 and The Fumble. I still hate that game in the Elite 8. It cost Gene Keady a Final Four.

The Demon Wood of Xibalba at The Barn - Damn it for Robbie's knee.

Scott Martin - Because we haven't blamed him for anything in awhile.

Bobby Knight - If he hadn't been so good we could say the Banners had 60 years of dust. Great basketball coach, but major asshole.

The Alexander Field Construction Crew - This is for not having the facility done in time to host the 2012 baseball Regional, possibly costing us a trip to Omaha.

ACL injuries - Always.

Taylor Richards - The football season took a major turn south when he made his stupid penalty at Minnesota, keeping alive their drive for the game-winning field goal.

The end of Drew Brees' career - We saw this year that it is coming, and he is pretty much the only good football thing we have going anymore.

So those are my grievances. We end this with the Feats of Strength. The challenge, of course, is to save Purdue sports with the current Board of Trustees in charge. Good luck!