Category Archives: Sports

Posts about sports: primarily Big Ten basketball and football and Baltimore Orioles baseball

A tale of two Mackeys

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It was the happiest of crowds, it was the saddest of crowds.  That’s how I’d describe the 14,123 fans who filled Purdue’s Mackey Arena on Sunday afternoon to watch the Boilermakers play host to Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans.  A win would have kept Purdue in sole possession of the Big Ten lead and an easy road to the first conference championship, but everything changed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night. Robbie Hummel’s torn ACL was big news in college basketball, so big that “Robbie Hummel” was a trending topic on Twitter for a while.

The national media gave up on Purdue very quickly. After Kansas and Kentucky both lost on Saturday, there wasn’t even mention of the fact that #3 Purdue might win against the 13th-ranked Spartans and would be the default choice for a #1 ranking. Loyal Boilermaker fans refused to be swayed by the lack of confidence displayed by writers and analysts across the country, though, and they showed up early to give their team encouragement.

Twenty minutes before tip-off, the seats were nearly full.  By the time the teams came out for the game, Mackey Arena was as loud an energetic as I’d ever heard it.  Two hours later, the fans were slowly shuffling out in disbelief.  A game that was winnable and would make a big statement turned into a seeming vindication of the doubters.

My good friends over at BoiledSports.com have already written about some of the numbers from yesterday’s game, so I won’t repeat the effort.  While it is obvious that Purdue could have benefited from Hummel’s presence, his absence wasn’t the difference maker.  It’s hard to blame E’Twaun Moore for his poor shooting, since Tom Izzo made sure he was always covered in a sea of green.  But you can blame Chris Kramer (never thought you’d hear me say that, eh?) for committing five turnovers.  You can blame JaJuan Johnson for spending most of the day away from the basket.  You can blame Kramer and Keaton Grant for not pulling the trigger on open threes. You can even blame Tom O’Neill, Curtis Shaw, and John Higgins for repeatedly missing MSU walks in the first half.

Still, there are positives to take away from the game.  Patrick Bade, while not very impressive on the box score, looked about as good as he had all season.  He looked like a basketball player today, albeit a young and confused one, and he’ll need to continue this in order to give Purdue a non-Johnson inside presence.  The defense as a whole played quite well, as evidenced by the low score.  Michigan State had more turnovers than made baskets, and that gives the offense a lot more breathing room.

Up next is the final home game of the year, against a comically bad Indiana team.  Anything less than a 20-point win on Wednesday should be disappointing to Purdue fans, especially given that it is Senior Night (maybe Mark Wohlford will even get to play).  After that, the season closes for Purdue at Penn State. The Nittany Lions have finally figured out how to win a few basketball games, and this one might not be as easy a win for the Boilers as some might expect.  Still, if Chris Kramer (and/or Lewis Jackson) can keep Talor Battle contained, there’s no reason Purdue shouldn’t end up 14-4.

This means that Purdue will likely end the season sharing the title with Ohio State and Michigan State.  Michigan State closes out the season with home games against Penn State and Michigan, and has no business losing either of those two contests.  Ohio State has only to host Illinois on Tuesday night.  Illinois has lost 3 of the last 4 games, but will be playing for an invitation to the NCAA tournament, so they should keep it close.

The fact remains that there’s still a lot of basketball to be played, and Purdue fans have a lot to be proud of.  In the tradition of “One Brick Higher“, expect to see 14,123 loud fans on Wednesday night.

Beonard’s Losers — 2009, Week 12

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This week’s predictions

Well, the college football season is beginning to wind down.  I was finally able to find a #3 Purdue basketball jersey yesterday, so I’ve pretty much shifted entirely away from football at this point, which is part of the reason I was again too lazy to record this week’s show.  But this afternoon is the Battle for the Old Oaken Bucket.  The Bucket game is one of the biggest sporting events in the state of Indiana, and frequently a cause for…discord between my wife and myself.  Silly IU fans.  This game also determines the quality of the Thanksgiving celebration with my in-laws…more specifically whether or not I can discuss the subject of football.  Fortunately, Purdue leads the series 69-38-6 and is 11-2 against IU since 1997.  Boiler up!

I’d also like to take a moment to re-compare to my stats to the sports writers at the local paper.  They also predict all the Big Ten games, but the number and selection of games from other conferences sometimes differ from mine.  But still, here we are:

  1. Beonard (FunnelFiasco.com) – 0.753
  2. Jeff Washburn (Journal & Courier) – 0.736
  3. Nathan Baird (Journal & Courier) – 0.709
  4. Mike Carmin (Journal & Courier) – 0.700
  5. Sam King (Journal & Courier) – 0.673

Beonard’s Losers — 2009, week 10

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This weeks show

This week’s excuse for not recording is that my wife has what seems to be a feverless flu.  I do want to go on record as saying I think Purdue can beat Michigan, but I’m not sure they know it.  This is about how I felt before the upset of tOSU: Purdue is capable of winning, but I’m not going to expect it.  Enjoy your Saturday!

Beonard’s Losers — 2009, week 9

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This week’s show is posted, just under the wire.  I’d also like to take a moment to compare my stats to the sports writers at the local paper.

  1. Beonard: 0.783
  2. (tie) Nathan Baird and Jeff Washburn: 0.762
  3. Mike Carmin: 0.725
  4. Sam King: 0.675

Now, we don’t always pick the same games to cover, but it does give me joy to stack up against the professionals.

Beonard’s Losers — 2009, Week 8

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This week’s predictions

I’m not very good at this, am I?  Halloween Party preparation (yes, I know it’s a week early, you’ll get over it) has kept me busy this week.  Next week I promise I’ll record the show, and maybe even have another blog post or two.

So let’s talk football.  Holy crap, did you know Purdue can actually play a full 60 minutes of football?  That hasn’t happened in a while, nor has a win against a ranked team.  Yay!  Also, I think Michigan State could pull off the upset against Iowa, but the past two weeks I’ve thought Iowa would lose and both times they’ve proved me wrong.  Maybe they’re a better team than I give them credit for?

In a manner similar to Iowa’s perennial owning of Penn State, I really wanted to pick BC over Notre Dame.  I just can’t see it happening this year, even though it would bring me much joy.

Aaaaand finally, TCU is undefeated, but they don’t have any wins against teams that I would call “good.”  BYU will get the upset, and I don’t even think it will be all that close.

Beonard’s Losers — 2009, Week 7

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This week’s show (no recording this week, too busy with this)

I’m not even going to talk about Purdue football anymore.  As of this writing, we are just under 20 days from the start of basketball season.  I have to admit, though, it did warm my heart to see that IU lost so spectacularly.  I wasn’t as pleased with Michigan losing, although I’m normally not opposed to the idea.  I picked Iowa to be upset again this week, in the hopes that the Badgers will be a bit kinder to me.  I said earlier this season that Iowa isn’t as good as they seem to be, and I stand by that, although I’m quickly being made to look the fool.

On a happier note, I’ve discovered a Big Ten blog called “First and Big Ten“.  It’s been a great insight into the other teams around the conference, and a valuable reference when it comes time to write my Beonard’s Losers scripts.

Beonard’s Losers — 2009, week 6

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This week’s show.

I’m rather proud of myself. For the first time in a long time I got the script for Beonard’s Losers written by Sunday night.  That’s a good thing, since I’ve included a Thursday game into the mix this time.  Of course, being done ahead of time doesn’t really help if I don’t record it until Thursday evening.  Oh well, baby steps.

At this point, I’d normally talk some about last week’s games.  I’m not sure I can bring myself to do that in a way that would still leave this post family-friendly.  Purdue played one of the most awful games of football I’ve ever had the misfortune to watch.  It was an absolute travesty, and it’s not the first time this season that my beloved Boilers have folded.  I hate to place the blame on a coach that’s been in charge a full 5 games, but there’s clearly some problems in the program.  There’s talent on the field, we’ve seen it (just never for an entire game).  Our big problems are mental errors, and at some point you have to say “well the coach just doesn’t have them well prepared.”  I wanted to say that Purdue will beat Minnesota this weekend.  I think they’re certainly capable of it, but I can no longer pick them to win until they’ve shown that they can.  Is it basketball season yet?

Beonard’s Losers — 2009, Week 4

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This week’s show.

This time of the year can be a bit annoying.  Indiana fans seem to forget they have a lousy football team.  Granted, Purdue stinks on ice this year, but let’s look at IU. A game barely won against a 1-AA opponent, a game barely won by virtue of a lucky fumble recovery, and a game won against a team with a suspended starting quarterback.  As I told my mother-in-law earlier this week “let me know when you play a real team.”  IU fans, enjoy this now, and we’ll talk again in November.

Of course, the obnoxiousness of IU fans is magnified by the dismal performance of Purdue on Saturday.  That’s not intended to take anything away from Northern Illinois, they played a great game, but Purdue couldn’t be bothered to show up.  I mean, wow, what a really terrible game to watch.  It hurts all the more because it is the only game I missed in Week 3.  Perfect weeks are a bit hard to come by, and never seem to happen in conference play.

It is some consolation that I’m not the only one who didn’t have a perfect week.  Michigan State lost in South Bend for the first time in 16 years, Minnesota let California’s 4-game road slide come to an end, and USC had their annual inexplicable loss to an unranked team.

Beonard’s Losers, Week 3

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This weeks show (with unshakable cold goodness)

A few big wins last week have shaken up the college football scene.  Who would have seen Houston upending top-5 Oklahoma State?  For the Big Ten conference, this week had several opportunities to regain some of the respect it used to have.  It didn’t go as well perhaps as commissioner Jim Delaney would have liked, but there were some good games.  Purdue nearly upset Oregon in Eugene, Michigan defeated Notre Dame, Indiana managed to not lose to Western Michigan, Iowa dismantled Iowa State (I thought that game would be much closer).  On the other hand, Ohio State lost to USC (but in a quality game that bodes well for the rest of the season), Wisconsin took two overtimes to beat Fresno State, and Michigan State lost to an underrated Central Michigan squad.

So while the Big Ten at least managed to avoid any big embarrassments, there’s still plenty of football to be played, including this week’s games.

Technical notes: recorded with a headset this weekend, the audio quality is way better.  But the show doesn’t sound that great, due to my cold. Which is also why it is being posted less than an hour before the first games kickoff.  Sorries.