Welcome to Boilermusings where I take a look at some topics that I don’t have enough for an entire article for but that I find interesting.
Drew Brees
The retirement of Drew Brees from the NFL has left a huge hole in the Purdue NFL community. For the past 20 years Brees has been the most notable Purdue alumnus and he’s represented the school with great pride. Seeing Brees at the top of so many records really does fill me with pride. Billy Dicken is really the first Purdue QB I can remember so it makes sense that Brees means so much to me and those who were fans at the time. It wasn’t until Dicken, Brees, and Tiller that Purdue football really turned it around. Obvious I know, but it’s hard to quantify just how much Brees meant to Purdue at that time. Yes, he’s donated millions and yes he’s been a great ambassador for the school but his accomplishments on the field made pretty much everything else possible.
As he rides off into the sunset (somehow never having won an MVP) he’s earned all the praise he will receive over these next few weeks. I look forward to watching one Notre Dame game a year as Brees will be calling Notre Dame games in the future. Love ya Drew but I’m not gonna be watching Notre Dame games when I don’t have to, even for you.
NCAA Tourney - Purdue’s Chances
As Drew has stated on the site a number of times, the NCAA Tournament is a terrible way to determine the best team. It’s a crapshoot from year to year. You just never know who is going to get hot at the end of the year or what one injury could mean for a team. With that said, it also means that as a Purdue fan hope springs eternal. My hope going into the season was that Purdue would make the NCAA Tournament and win one game. Now, with the draw they’ve got and a possible second round matchup with an injured Villanova squad means Purdue has a real shot at the Sweet 16. Once you get there who knows what can happen. You take each game one at a time. Odds are if thet get to the Sweet 16 they would face Baylor and they are not an unbeatable team.
With no 2020 NCAA Tournament we’ve been waiting for this for far too long. I’m ready to just enjoy the ride and see what happens.
NCAA and the Bubble
In our group chat this afternoon it was pointed out that TV Teddy Valentine went on a prominent radio show to complain about being ejected for the bubble. Does anyone but me see the hilarity in this situation? TV Teddy is a referee. What does the referee do? He enforces the rules and shows others that when the rules are broken there are consequences. Now suddenly TV Teddy broke the rules and faces the consequences but somehow he’s angry about it?
There’s a reason Teddy Valentine was kicked out of reffing in the Big Ten. He is all about the #refshow. No one but the refs is there for the #refshow. It’s perfect that despite being kicked out of the bubble and being unable to referee on the biggest stage he was somehow made it all about him. I for one won’t miss him.