SAD DAY IN BOILER LAND

Most of you know I'm a big Purdue Boilermaker basketball fan. I've tried to be respectful of my 'IU' friends and not given weekly updates on the success of this years team. Instead, I post short comments on Facebook.

I also realize there are some of my followers who could give a rats a** about Purdue...my love of college basketball...or basketball in general.

But today...I have to write something. Mainly of my 'extreme sadness' and disappointment from events that occurred at last nights Purdue game.

To give you some background, Cindy & I have followed Purdue basketball for nearly 30 years. In the '80s and '90s, we had some exceptional teams that were fun to watch and successful. Purdue won 6 Big 10 championships from 1984-1996. They made an appearance in the 1980 Final Four (The Mecca that ALL college mens teams want to get to) but have not been back since. Close a few times...but never there again.

After the 2000 season, recruiting good players to come to Purdue became more difficult as our long-time coach struggled to get good talent. In his last years at Purdue, we struggled to win games at all. Cindy & I were used to watching our teams lose...at most...6 or 7 or 8 games a year while winning 25 or more. That's a successful year in college basketball. But in those last years...we were having trouble WINNING 7 or 8 or 9 games. Very frustrating for Purdue fans.

Yet Cindy & I were very faithful in attending games ...keeping our season tickets every year...and telling each other that..."one of these days...we'll be good again". This year...we were!

After hiring a new coach (a former Boiler player from the '90s), we began recruiting those 'good' players again. And not just good athletically...good academically. Good young men doing good things 'on' the court and 'off' the court. The kind of young men you want your children to 'look up to'.

Three years ago...we were able to sign 3 exceptional young men...JuJuan Johnson, E'twawn Moore and Robbie Hummel. In the 3 years they've been playing for the Boilers, they have gotten better and better. They have been recognized as 'players of the week'...as 'First Team selections as Big 10 Players' (as selected by the coaches of all the teams we play against). E'twawn just won an 'Academic All-American' award and Robbie Hummel is a finalist as a "Player of the Year" candidate.

The team is currently leading the Big 10 and is ranked as the #3 team in the country. They are playing well. They started the season winning their first 14 games...then stumbled and lost 3 in a row...but then found themselves and have now won 10 games in a row.

But last night...Robbie Hummel...maybe the 'heart and soul' of the team...tore his ACL and is out for the remainder of the season. I feel bad for the team...I feel worse for Robbie. A great kid from a great family, who has worked hard to be the kind of young man parents can be proud of.

We will still be a good team...but we had a chance to be a GREAT team. I believe we had a chance...finally...to get back to that 'Final 4' again.

We'll have to see if the remaining players can dedicate themselves to playing the rest of the season to honor Robbie and get us that Final 4 we all want.

We'll hope so.

I realize for those of you followers who may be saying...'get a life Dan'...'it ain't the end of the world'...well...you're right...it ain't...life will go on.

Still...Go Boilers!

Dan
Boiler grad 1992