Purdue’s men’s basketball season came to an end last weekend, falling to Houston in the Sweet Sixteen. It was a strong showing, coming off their appearance in the title game last year and the loss of Zach Edey. Tickets were hard to come by this season, and the only game I was able to attend was in Iowa City, adding Carver-Hawkeye Arena to my collection.
2025 Team Records – Men
| Team | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purdue Boilermakers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Iowa Hawkeyes | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
The Sweet Sixteen kicks off today following an opening weekend light on upsets and heavy on top seeds. Three of my Final Four picks are still intact, which is better than usual.
Things look good here in the South region, as I have a clean bracket heading into this weekend.
A few picked upsets that didn’t happen mar the bottom half of this region, but the top half, including my reginal champion, is clean.
The nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks as the NCAA tournament kicks off later today. I found myself joining a free pool at work this year, so while most of these selections have no ultimate bearing on my life, there is some personal pride on the line. Things are not looking good for me to attend any game should a certain school from West Lafayette manage to make another run this year. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.
My selections here are mostly chalk, with a couple early upsets but with the top two seeds heading to the Sweet Sixteen. Michigan State is my pick to advance to the Final Four, though that may be some inherent bias towards the Big Ten.
Old friend Mason Gillis shows up with top seed Duke, who I have heading to San Antonio for the Final Four.
For the third consecutive year, the Big Ten’s Men’s Basketball Player of the Year calls Mackey Arena home. Braden Smith took home the honor on Tuesday, thanks to a season averaging 16.3 points, 8.8 assists and 2.3 steals per game. He became just the fourth player in Division I history to have at least 500 points, 270 assists, 140 rebounds and 70 steals in a single season. Along the way, he scored his 1000th career point, his 500th career rebound, and broke the school record for career assists.
After Zach Edey won the award the previous two years, Purdue becomes the first school to have three straight Big Ten Players of the Year. This is the seventh time overall that a Boilermaker has won the award.
Spring training is in full swing and opening day is coming up in a little less than 3 weeks, as we continue our tour of all of the baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. Now tied for my most visited city, outside of Chicago for baseball contains the homes of the Cincinnati Reds. Between the two stadiums that have been located on the riverfront of the Ohio River, I’ve seen 8 games. So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my history with Cinergy Field and Great American Ball Park.
Stadium Name: Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field
Years in Service: 1970 – 2002
Visits: 1
Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati’s version of the cookie cutter stadium that popped up in the late 60s and early 70s, opened on June 30, 1970 as the Reds hosted the Atlanta Braves. In 1996, the stadium was renamed Cinergy Field thanks to a sponsorship deal with the local energy company. Prior to the 2001 season, after the Bengals moved to their new home down the street, the stadium was reconfigured for baseball-only use, and portions of the outfield stands were removed to make room for the construction of the Reds’ new home, the future Great American Ball Park. The 2002 season was the final one for the stadium, with the final game played on September 22 and the stadium was imploded on December 29.
In 2000, Ken Griffey Jr. joined the Cincinnati Reds, which put two of the most feared sluggers in the game in the NL Central. When Sammy Sosa and the Chicago Cubs were scheduled to make an opening week visit to Cincinnati in 2000 to face Griffey for the first time, the idea of a road trip was hatched. Friday, April 7, 2000 started with Krispy Kreme donuts at the house before heading towards Cincinnati. Along the way, there was a brief stop at Purdue. because why not, and the trifecta of a KFC/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut seemed like a good place to stop for lunch. We arrived in Cincinnati well before the stadium opened, so some time was spent walking around the bustling metropolis that was, and continues to be, Cincinnati.
Our tickets were in the upper deck and, to be honest, I have little to no recollection of the game itself. My one and only memory of the game is losing my balance and tumbling down 5-10 rows, landing on a group of fans below. Certainly not my proudest moment. I do recall some of the drive home after the game, which included listening to the White Sox/A’s game where Jose Valentin committed a number of errors for the eventual AL Central champs.
Stadium Name: Great American Ball Park
Years in Service: 2003 – Present
Visits: 7
After 32 1/2 seasons at Riverfront Stadium, the Reds moved next door to the newly built Great American Ball Park for the 2003 season, opening against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bronze statues of former stars Joe Nuxhall, Ernie Lombardi, Ted Kluszewski, and Frank Robinson are located in front of the main entrance.
Less than a month into the stadium’s existence, I made my first trip to the GABP with my friend Scott, who had moved to the Cincinnati area, to see the Reds take on the Padres. The next season, the Cubs opened their season in Cincinnati against the Reds, so another trip was in order, where Vice President Dick Cheney threw out the first pitch. In August of 2005, I attended the Reds game against the Diamondbacks, kicking off a string of 3 stadiums in 3 states in 9 days. In 2006, the Cubs once again opened their season on the road against the Reds and again it constituted a road trip down to see, where this time President George W Bush threw out the first pitch. I made a return trip that summer for interleague play to see the White Sox battle the Reds. In 2007, when the Cubs were looking the clinch the division, I made the trip down, but missed it by one day. The next year, I made my final, to date, trip down to Cincinnati and saw the Rockies defeat the Reds.
Of all the newer stadiums that have opened over the past 20 years, Great American Ball Park does not often illicit the praise that the others get. However, I like it. It’s a fine place to see a game and has plenty of the modern amenities that are required here in the 21st century. I wouldn’t hesitate to return, despite the fact that it has been over 16 years since I’ve been there.
We come to the end of the first quarter of 2025 and the start of meteorological spring with two pictures of Danny performing with the band at a Purdue women’s basketball game last January, a loss to the dreaded IU at Mackey Arena.
A decent week, thanks in part to surpassing my daily step goal for the first time in 2025. Sunday got the week off to an ok start, finishing just 3 steps shy of 3900. A nice improvement on Monday, thanks to some unseasonably warm weather and a lunch trip to Portillos, left me 22 steps away from 4800. A road trip to Iowa on Tuesday to see Purdue defeat Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena put me over 7600 steps, my first time reaching my daily goal since my trip to Boston in November. An early morning drive home followed by a day of work on Wednesday dropped me to 4000 steps. An 18-step improvement left me pretty even on Thursday. Friday saw a very slight drop-off, leaving me just 14 steps away from 4000. A midday brunch threw me off track on Saturday, ending the week with just 3100 steps.
Total steps: 31,486
Daily average: 4498
As we ring in the new year, it’s time to take a look back at the trips out of Illinois that I took last year. Things got off to a fast start, as I traveled down to West Lafayette the first weekend of the year with Danny to see Purdue take on Illinois at Mackey Arena. Since they were still on break, Danny was able to play with the basketball band as Purdue topped their conference rival 83-78.
I returned to campus mere days later, as the Iowa women’s basketball team, featuring star attraction Caitlin Clark, invaded Mackey Arena. Danny was once again playing with the band, so I watched the game, which Iowa won easily, solo before heading back to my hotel.
Later in January, I made my final trip to Mackey Arena of the year as the Purdue women’s basketball team battled IU. While the game did not go well for the Boilers, Danny did get to spend some time with his Nana for her birthday the following day.
After a quiet February, basketball again was the reason for my next trip at the end of March. Purdue’s men’s team was in Detroit for the Sweet Sixteen. They won Friday night against Gonzaga to advance to the Elite Eight. Saturday night, we headed across to border to Windsor to have dinner at Caesar’s Palace. Danny drove up on Sunday for the return trip to Little Caesars Arena, where Purdue earned its first Final Four appearance in 44 years.
We returned to West Lafayette in late April for Danny’s last band concert. Atter lunch with him and his friends, we headed to the Elliot Hall of Music and settled in for an afternoon of music. Thankfully, his section was first, so we were able to take our leave early and head back home.
A few weeks later, we returned to Indiana for Danny’s graduation. First, we all met up at Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana for an early dinner and pictures before making the remainder of the journey to West Lafayette. After the ceremony, we were allowed time to take a picture or two before Danny went off to celebrate with his friends and we headed home.
A week later, it was time for another graduation, this time in Boston. We arrived in town on Saturday, hunkering down in a hotel just off the North End. We eventually met up with the graduate-to-be at a local favorite called The Yardhouse, where we enjoyed a traditional Massachusetts dinner. After a quick breakfast the following morning, we headed to Agganis Arena on the BU campus for the graduation ceremony. After a quick lunch, we decamped to the hotel for gifts before a nice dinner in the North End. Monday we were able to meet up with Angelina for lunch before an afternoon flight home.
With all of that out of the way, I had my first international trip since COVID in July, when I went to Amsterdam for a week to visit Val, leaving on a Tuesday afternoon and landing in Amsterdam on Wednesday morning. After a day of rest to recover from the overnight travel, I set out to visit the local sights, including the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands, before dinner out with my hosts. On Friday, I headed out to see some working windmills. The next night, we headed out to the former Heineken brewery to see the Heineken Experience. After a day of rest on Sunday, I spent Monday bumming around the museum campus before dinner and a tour of the Red Light District. The next morning, I set out to the airport for the long flight home.
My final trip of the year was a return to Boston in November to celebrate birthdays with Angelina. I arrived in town on Friday night, getting to the hotel late. Saturday, we went to see Heretic before going out to dinner. Sunday morning, I Ubered around Boston to see Angelina at various points of the Boston Half marathon. Once she finished the race, we had lunch and then I headed to the airport to return home.
Danny turns the ripe old age of 23 today. To celebrate, we have this shot of him from his senior day celebration at Purdue’s final football game of last year.
Fresh off of an appearance in the championship game of last year’s NCAA tournament, the Purdue men’s basketball team kicks off the 2024-2025 regular season tomorrow night. With Danny out of school and an expanded Big Ten limiting how often each team visits the other schools in the conference, it may be a while before I attend another regular season game. So, with the 128th season in school history about to get underway, let’s take a look at the results of the now 24 men’s college basketball games I have attended in my lifetime. You’d think it would be more, since I was a big fan and we had a great team while I was in school, but for some reason I only made it to two games while enrolled in college. The other 22 have been post-graduation, having added four games last year, two at Mackey and two in Detroit for the NCAA tournament. Anyway, without further ado, here are the standings for those 24 games.
All-Time Team Records – Men
| Team | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Texas Mean Green | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Indiana Hoosiers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Virginia Commonwealth Rams | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Butler Bulldogs | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 16 | 7 | 0.696 |
| Northwestern Wildcats | 2 | 3 | 0.400 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | 2 | 4 | 0.333 |
| Gonzaga Bulldogs | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Houston Cougars | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Iowa State Cyclones | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Jacksonville Dolphins | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Ohio State Buckeyes | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Penn State Nittany Lions | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Tennessee Volunteers | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Vermont Catamounts | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Long Beach State 49ers | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |