Tag / Carver-Hawkeye Arena

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2025: The Year In Travel

As we ring in the new year, it’s time to take a look back at the few trips out of Illinois that I took last year.  Things got off to a quick start in early February when I made my second ever trip to the state of Iowa to take in the Purdue men’s basketball team take on the Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  It was an easy win for the Boilermakers, who topped their conference rival 90-81.  After a night in Davenport, I returned home early the next morning.

My next trip came at the end of March, when I headed down to Texas for the first time since 2005 to visit Michael at school.  After getting a tour of his dorm on Friday, we travelled to Fort Worth on Saturday to see a live production based on the movie Clue.  That night, he rested while we picked up groceries and brought him dinner and his laundry.

My final trip of the year came in October, as I made my annual visit to Boston to celebrate birthdays with Angelina.  She got out of work early, so we met up at my hotel and caught up before heading to dinner.  Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, where she gathered her belongings, and her gifts, before heading back to her apartment.

And that’s it.  Here’s hoping 2026 has a little more adventure throughout the year.

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2025 College Basketball Tipoff

The Purdue men’s basketball team kicks off the 2025-2026 regular season tonight against Evansville.  With Danny out of school and losing my John Purdue Club pre-sale opportunities, it may be a while before I attend another regular season home game, but, like last year, I can look for road opportunities.  So, with the 129th season in school history about to get underway, let’s take a look at the results of the now 25 men’s college basketball games I have attended in my lifetime, with the latest coming at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa.

All-Time Team Records – Men

Team Won Loss Winning Pctg
Indiana Hoosiers 1 0 1.000
North Texas Mean Green 1 0 1.000
Virginia Commonwealth Rams 1 0 1.000
Butler Bulldogs 1 0 1.000
Purdue Boilermakers 17 7 0.708
Northwestern Wildcats 2 3 0.400
Illinois Fighting Illini 2 4 0.333
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 0 1 0.000
Gonzaga Bulldogs 0 1 0.000
Houston Cougars 0 1 0.000
Iowa Hawkeyes 0 1 0.000
Iowa State Cyclones 0 1 0.000
Long Beach State 49ers 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
Jacksonville Dolphins 0 1 0.000
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2024-2025 Final Standings

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
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Fitbit XI – Week 3

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