cthomas

I mostly blame the egos of guys with too much money. The atmosphere at the Speedway in the 80's through the mid 90's was phenomenal. There was no better place to spend an Indiana spring day. Full month of activity and no better place to people watch. Some of the things I have seen out there will forever be burned into my memory. I will admit to liking the less corporate nature of the sport back then, hut the costs of the technology that was coming made the current model inevitable. Like so many other things, there is no going back. Back to the original question, the "split" was the beginning but the landscape of change was already underway.

I'm with you on this, but think it's inevitable. NIL has opened a door that can't be closed and the result is going to be a very different landscape.

I've never liked Purdue, wanted to beat them at everything, but have always respected the way they go about things. It's also an outstanding university. The NIL stuff puts every school who has trie, mostly, to do the right thing at a tremendous disadvantage. There will no longer be a student-athlete, there will only be mercenaries.

Seems to be the definition of "can of worms".

I think, for better or worse, that's the road we are heading down. Maybe a case of "be careful what you wish for".

I never thought about it from that point of view, but I can see that happening. Kids are becoming businessmen and with that comes a whole new level of scrutiny. When getting handsomely paid to do a job, performance becomes everything. Unintended consequences.

Not an IU guy, but Rick Mount probably would have scored a million points with the 3 point shot. For IU, Jimmy Rayl would have been in the same neighborhood. Makes it really hard to compare kids from different eras.

The offense still worries me. But last year we lacked the defender on the wing who could stop the other team's best player from killing us down the stretch. If Dennis is that guy, I am all for it.

Definitely an easy guy to root for.

Old neighborhoods versus the new ones. A lot of older Carmel residents are being forced out of their homes because they cannot afford the costs of living there.

Their estate is not adjacent to the "Stick". I don't remember if it was Herb or Mel, but they bought a lot of property along Ditch Road between 106th and 96th streets and built a private golf course. I used to run past it my younger days before the traffic was so bad.

I live in the area, the west side of Crooked Stick. It was a typical middle class neighborhood when my house was built in 1980. Not anymore and the changes have not been good for me. In addition to the ones you mentioned, the Simon property south of 106th Street on the west side of Ditch Road is quite impressive. Including the private golf course. On topic, I don't care one way or the other what Matta does. This is CMW's ship, he should make all the decisions.

I got to 115 mph on a motorcycle on I 465 one night. Traffic comes up fast at that speed, and yes, I scared the hell out of myself. Never did that again. I was in my thirties and should of/did know better but did it anyway. The only thing that matters now is what X does going forward. I've seen growth in him and hope he gets the chance to continue to mature under the watchful eye of CMW.

The portal is our friend at this point. Unless we recruit at the top twenty level, we can not run two or three freshman starters and expect to be successful.

I have a lot of respect for Coach Painter. He seems like a class act. He made references this year at times that sounded like his team was not easy to coach. Sometimes the talent doesn't mesh.

Painter will make some adjustments and Purdue will win going away. Hope not, but that's what I think will happen.

Dakich has morphed into the worst of the sports talk radio crowd. I listened to him for years and could see a slow transition in the, in my opinion, wrong direction. I'm not sure what his agenda is, but CMW is as IU as you can get. When Coach Knight returned to Assembly Hall, the guys on each side of him were Mike Woodson and Quinn Buckner. That wasn't an accident. We can argue all day whether Woodson should have been hired as coach, but I'll take his dedication to the university over Dakich's every day of the week.

I'm not sure that most Americans understand the real gravity of this conflict. It's not about political ideologies, it's about respecting national boundaries to maintain a stable world. Global economies require stability to function effectively. We are, for better or worse, part of the global economy and there's no going back to national self sufficiency. The human suffering is the consequence of one Russia's quest for power and greed.

No doubt they are watching this very carefully. I wouldn't be surprised if they use the Ukraine as cover to make some moves of their own.

China is the wild card in this situation. The degree to which they support their Russian allies will go a long way to determining the outcome. China is the one country with the means to somewhat mitigate the sanctions imposed by NATO countries.

My concern with this issue has always been the impact energy policies have on poor people. When someone starts talking about making sacrifices, the poor are the first to suffer. Any policy must, in my opinion, factor in ways to mitigate that impact.

Will rip your heart out and have you for lunch. One of the most vicious animals on the planet, even when sharing a Coke.

Want to be positive and think we go on a run to end the season. But, it feels like one and done.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

He goes on the recruiting trail and to the portal. He's been in the game too long to not see what is needed. Meanwhile, salvage what he can from the rest of the season.