This and that: Bracket, busted edition
Oof, Purdue.
How’s everyone holding up this morning?
OTHER READS …
J&C reporter Sam King was in Columbus, Ohio, where the Purdue women’s basketball team nearly completed a 15-point deficit before losing in the final seconds to St. John’s in a play-in game between two No. 11 seeds at the NCAA Tournament. Here’s that report on the Boilers’ first tournament game since 2017: “Even in defeat, 'bunch of fighters' elevate Purdue women's basketball program.” IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel was there, too, with this: “Purdue's future is as strong as that Katie Gearlds, Cassidy Hardin hug.”
J&C reporter Margaret Christopherson had this profile of Sharanya Kar, a West Lafayette Intermediate School fifth-grader, as she prepares for the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee in May. Sharanya won the regional bee earlier this year. Here’s the story.
WRTV reporter Kara Kenney had a look at how the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles made nearly $25 million in 2022 selling personal information from transactions through the license branch to attorneys, debt collection agencies, private investigators, insurance companies and more. Here’s her report: “Indiana's BMV makes millions selling your personal information, and they don't even tell you they're doing it.”
Mitch Daniels, former Purdue president, didn’t hold back about the state of today’s athlete in his latest Washington Post column. The headline was about women’s sports, but Daniels really laid into what he considered “sports figures who embody self-absorption over collective commitment, who cultivate their personal ‘brands’ at the expense of collective success.” An example: “A top athlete can consort with criminals, brandish guns in public and litter the landscape with illegitimate children in whose lives he has no intention of playing a father’s role, seldom with career consequences.” Read the rest here: “In a me-first era, my appreciation of women’s sports just keeps growing.”
Bet you could have predicted how this one turned out: Indianapolis Star reporter Rory Appleton had a piece that had Indiana’s gaming officials going off the top ropes to knock down chances of taking action on professional wrestling matches. Recent reports had the WWE floating the idea to several states, including Indiana, about including wagers on matches in sports betting portfolios. Indiana’s answer: Uh, no. Here’s Appleton’s report: “Indiana regulator body slams rumors of betting on scripted professional wrestling matches.”
Is free agent Gardner Minshew the Indianapolis Colts’ answer, even short term, at quarterback? IndyStar reporter Joel Erickson had this: “Colts get veteran QB Gardner Minshew on good deal; can mentor young quarterback.” IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel had this take: “Stay calm, but signing Minshew MEANS (FLORIDA’S) ANTHONY RICHARDSON IS NEXT.” And Zak Keefer with The Athletic says …
A little far afield, and maybe it’s from all those days hitching up to the lift lines when I was in school, but I enjoyed this piece from Anne Helen Peterson from her Substack,
, about getting over the discomfort of doing things alone. In this case, going skiing: “Ms. Petersen Went Up the Mountain Herself.”
LACE ‘EM UP, A DOWNTOWN RUN: Also, happening today at 1 p.m., the second annual St. Patrick’s Day Main Street 0.1K – yes, 0.1K – a fundraiser for the Almost Home Humane Society starting in the 600 and 700 blocks of Main Street in downtown Lafayette. Here’s a link for entry and the pre- and after-run festivities.
AND, FINALLY …: Not based in Lafayette, but what a treat this news and trailer were, as a revival of Jonathan Demme’s “Stop Making Sense,” a Talking Heads concert film circa 1984, heads soon to theaters. See you there.
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Yesterday's NY Times feature on Purdue Basketball asked a question in its headline that got an answer.
Also, I've never met an illegitimate child just like I've never met a unicorn. They don't exist. And----- I entirely understand a college student with the possibility of a professional career and improving the circumstances of a current or future family sitting out games to avoid injury. I think it can be a tactically smart team move for a professional player to sit out if not needed to improve play in later games. These can be viewed as selfless acts, not selfish.
There's nothing wrong with Purdue's basketball team that a state-of-the-art $65 million training facility wouldn't solve. Look what it did for the football team!