After 20+ years of following Purdue football closely, I'm done with the moral victories. Seen plenty of them. They're no longer impressing me. I enjoyed them during the Colletto years. I even enjoyed them during the Tiller years, but since we haven't beaten a ranked team in 5+ years, I've gotten numb to them.
Likewise, perennial visits to bowl games that didn't exist 30 years ago doesn't impress me either. I simply want to see a 10 win season occasionally. Say once every 10 years. Then I'll get excited. I'll suffer through some losing seasons to do it. But put together a great season now and then. Tiller got close a few times, and in 2003 and 2004 he had the talent to do it but never closed the door.
After last night's game, not sure if Hope is the one to get us there. Four games is certainly too early to tell (after all, two games into the season I liked the direction the team was heading). 1-3 against two MAC opponents and a ND game at home certainly isn't building confidence in me. And a couple things concerned me last night 1) the lack of offensive production in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and b) the lack of aggressiveness on defense down the stretch. The former speaks to weaknesses in the coaching staff's ability to game plan and adjust properly; the latter speaks to the mindset of the coaching staff. This team will get eaten alive in the Big Ten if that doesn't change. Akers deja vu? At least Colletto consistently had offenses in the top three of the Big Ten, even if his defenses couldn't tackle to save their life (wait, didn't that happen last night?).
That said, it's been a long time (2004?) since I felt Purdue looked like a real football team, and the showings against Oregon and ND have convinced me they belong in the Big Ten. And not just because the Big Ten sucks this year. So I do have hope for this team. Just frustrated Hope isn't closing the door sooner with this team as I had expected.
9.27.2009
9.14.2009
In retrospect, it was a great game
When you're in the moment of Purdue giving up 17 points on stupid turnovers and missing extra points, you lose sight of one thing: the Purdue-Oregon game was a great game. 6 or so lead changes, a tie game at halftime, great efforts offensively and defensively, and last minute heroics where Purdue had a chance to tie with a minute left.
We had a great time in Autzen, of the best road trips we've had. Nothing will ever beat Purdue's 41-16 drubbing of the Irish under touchdown Jesus, and it's hard to top Penn State as an overall environment, but Oregon was an overall good experience.
The drive down was beautiful as would be expected. So long as you close your eyes through Portland. Sheesh, anyone who doesn't like Pittsburgh should really take a view at Portland. Traffic wasn't too bad, which was surprising given there is literally only two ways into Eugene. And they have great parking/transportations options - never seen anything as easy and organized as their bus system.
Autzen stadium, if you can get over the plethora of green and yellow on your eyes (if snow is God's dandruff, then the inside of Autzen stadium is God's vomit), is a nice, small stadium with lots of activites. They open their practice field up with big screen TVs, tables, and food for fans to enjoy before the game, which is a great idea - haven't seen that done anywhere either.
Overall the fans were fine. One bitch of a lady on the bus put Spencer in tears with her taunting (half Spencer's fault because he's so sensitive), but I got to yell at her so that was a bonus. Started the trip off poorly. But most fans left us alone, and a few where actually nice to us.
Of course it rained, and our smart selves left our rain gear at the hotel. Not sure what we were thinking.
Wasn't until I watched the game on tape until I realized that Adams DIDN'T NEED TO JUMP FOR THE BALL on the two point conversion. Damn, we're in OT if he keeps his feet on the ground (the ball hit him right in the chest).
We had a great time in Autzen, of the best road trips we've had. Nothing will ever beat Purdue's 41-16 drubbing of the Irish under touchdown Jesus, and it's hard to top Penn State as an overall environment, but Oregon was an overall good experience.
The drive down was beautiful as would be expected. So long as you close your eyes through Portland. Sheesh, anyone who doesn't like Pittsburgh should really take a view at Portland. Traffic wasn't too bad, which was surprising given there is literally only two ways into Eugene. And they have great parking/transportations options - never seen anything as easy and organized as their bus system.
Autzen stadium, if you can get over the plethora of green and yellow on your eyes (if snow is God's dandruff, then the inside of Autzen stadium is God's vomit), is a nice, small stadium with lots of activites. They open their practice field up with big screen TVs, tables, and food for fans to enjoy before the game, which is a great idea - haven't seen that done anywhere either.
Overall the fans were fine. One bitch of a lady on the bus put Spencer in tears with her taunting (half Spencer's fault because he's so sensitive), but I got to yell at her so that was a bonus. Started the trip off poorly. But most fans left us alone, and a few where actually nice to us.
Of course it rained, and our smart selves left our rain gear at the hotel. Not sure what we were thinking.
Wasn't until I watched the game on tape until I realized that Adams DIDN'T NEED TO JUMP FOR THE BALL on the two point conversion. Damn, we're in OT if he keeps his feet on the ground (the ball hit him right in the chest).
9.11.2009
Can't say enough good things about BCS
No, not the Bowl Championship Series, but Bellevue Christian School (Three Points Elementary to be specific). Located near Lake Washington and 520, it's a small private school that Amy and I decided would be worth our $$$ to send Spencer as he entered third grade. And so far I we haven't been disappointed. Spencer loves it and is enjoying it more than his old school. The teachers and admin we have met have been absolutely great to work with. He is being challenged daily, in a reasonable way, and Spencer is already being pushed far harder than he was at CVES. Plus Spencer is a bible-thumper at heart so he loves the environment. "I have chapel today Dad!" He says it like its a good thing.
I drive him the 35 minutes to school, which is 5 minutes from where I now work. It's occurred to us maybe we should just move to Bellevue, and while we aren't in a hurry it certainly wouldn't surprise me that we make a move while the market is down and we minimize the trading up cost it would take for us to move there. The drive allows me to have some bonding with him, and it allows him to have some focused study time without his brother pestering him. Its created a riff in my work schedule, but so be it - I'll manage. And Microsoft has a great culture to support work/life balance and families, so it's almost expected that I'm not in the office before 8:30 now.
Bus transportation is actually included in the tuition, which was a surprise to Amy and I (we figured we'd be dropping another $100/month for the bus), so Spencer takes the bus to Issaquah, where Amy picks him up. She has a story to tell about the first day, just ask her about it, just make sure she is sitting down and has a drink in her hand when she tells it.
We'll see how the year goes. But I can certainly see next fall me cutting a check for 2x to send Garrett to kindergarten there.
I drive him the 35 minutes to school, which is 5 minutes from where I now work. It's occurred to us maybe we should just move to Bellevue, and while we aren't in a hurry it certainly wouldn't surprise me that we make a move while the market is down and we minimize the trading up cost it would take for us to move there. The drive allows me to have some bonding with him, and it allows him to have some focused study time without his brother pestering him. Its created a riff in my work schedule, but so be it - I'll manage. And Microsoft has a great culture to support work/life balance and families, so it's almost expected that I'm not in the office before 8:30 now.
Bus transportation is actually included in the tuition, which was a surprise to Amy and I (we figured we'd be dropping another $100/month for the bus), so Spencer takes the bus to Issaquah, where Amy picks him up. She has a story to tell about the first day, just ask her about it, just make sure she is sitting down and has a drink in her hand when she tells it.
We'll see how the year goes. But I can certainly see next fall me cutting a check for 2x to send Garrett to kindergarten there.
Audios
After a little over seven years and 135000 miles, I said goodbye to my beloved 2000 Audi S4. Gonna miss my first world-class sports sedan. My goal was to drive it into the ground, and last week the engine started acting quirky. Might have been as simple as a couple bad spark plugs, or could have been something more serious. But now that I am driving spencer 20 miles to school every morning, I decided I needed something more reliable.
My S4 had front quarter panel damage from that wonderful snowstorm a few years back, the cat had died, and had a few minor issues with it. Plus plenty of scratches and dings to boot. Not worth fixing IMHO, so I traded it in last week. I actually got three times what I was willing to take for it, so I call that a big win. Of course they never drove the damn thing or took a look at all the warning lights going off, they just walked around the car. Good for me.
Spencer cried when we left the dealership with a different car. He loved the way I drove it. Sheesh, I can't wait until his first pet dies on him. Took me a while to calm him down, and even after a week he still talks about missing my car.
My S4 had front quarter panel damage from that wonderful snowstorm a few years back, the cat had died, and had a few minor issues with it. Plus plenty of scratches and dings to boot. Not worth fixing IMHO, so I traded it in last week. I actually got three times what I was willing to take for it, so I call that a big win. Of course they never drove the damn thing or took a look at all the warning lights going off, they just walked around the car. Good for me.
Spencer cried when we left the dealership with a different car. He loved the way I drove it. Sheesh, I can't wait until his first pet dies on him. Took me a while to calm him down, and even after a week he still talks about missing my car.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)