Purdue, a Timeout and a Loss of Hope

I have had a few hours to digest the Purdue loss - but it is still one of the worst I have experienced as a Boiler fan. I don't think anything will surpass the Orton fumble game (at least I hope I never.) The thing is, I came into the game expecting a loss, when you lose to Northern Illinois you kind of figure that your season is garbage. But that changed in the second half of the ND game, that is until the final drive... and one of the worst coached series I have witnessed since Jim Colletto roamed the Ross-Ade sideline.

I have been a critic of Joey Elliiott all season, but in the second half he had me believing he was at least Billy Dicken... the problem was Coach Hope wasn't Joe Tiller. I know we all need to give Coach Hope time, but when you basically give away a game there is only so much of that the fans will be willing to take (you know, the fans that finally came to life last night and had the stadium roaring.)

Why, why, why do you go into a prevent...ever? Especially when your defense finally had a swagger they had not had all season. They shut ND's scoring down the entire half, until that ridiculous coaching decision - ND marched down the field, and as a result scored... meaning we will have to hear about the miraculous Jimmy Clausen for years (is he is courageous as Brady Quinn now ESPN announcers?)

But even bigger than the prevent defense... how, oh how do you call a timeout when you stop the other team inside their 5 with about 30 seconds, the clock running, on third down, when they have no timeouts? They would either have to rush a play or spike the ball making it fourth down. Guess what, your D stopped them on third down (on what might have been fourth if not for the timeout.) How do you call that? Because you have no faith in your defensive players to stop them and you want to preserve time. What kind of message is that - what kind of message is that when you include that with forcing the D into a prevent? What that does is deflate the players and you have to hope it does not carry over into future games... or you have lost them, and for how long.

Every loss to Notre Dame stings - but this one stung more. It stings because Purdue should have won, should have had momentum, but bad coaching lost the game. I can't take another lost decade of Purdue football.

Weird 24 Hours for Purdue QB's

Within the last 24 hours we have seen former Purdue QB, Kyle Orton, get traded in a huge swap with the Denver Broncos. You know, the one featuring Jay Cutler and a ridiculous bounty of draft picks.  We have also seen future Boilermaker QB Justin Seller, well, get sent home. Drew Brees, you might want to just stay inside for a few days until the storm passes, and Curtis Painter, well, I don't think this effects you anyway.

In what many are calling the biggest day for the Chicago Bears since Super Bowl XX the talking heads are going nuts, so is a large portion of the fan base. This is equal to the second coming...of Sid Luckman I guess. I'll be honest, I am not ready to jump on this bandwagon just yet. 

Obvious Purdue bias aside, I don't see this trade as such a positive for the Bears. Chicago gives up not only a QB who reportedly was respected in the locker room, but they also give up a whole lot of draft potential (ok, Angelo may not be any better at drafting talent then me, but seriously, two firsts and a third?) The Bears give up a QB that did what was asked, did not complain and won almost twice as many games as he lost. Orton was becoming a solid fantasy QB last year until the leg injury, the one sustained fighting for a first down. So, what did the Bears get in return, a QB, who in the last few weeks flipped and flopped on whether he wanted to be traded or not. A QB that the Broncos were willing to trade for a one year wonder in Matt Cassel. A Bronco QB that was brash enough to say he had a stronger arm than Denver legend John Elway. Sure I want to see a confident QB, but to me this would be like Matt Forte coming out and saying he is a better runner than Walter Payton.

I hope it works out well for the Bears, I want Cutler to be a Hall of Famer as a Bear QB - but a strong arm doesn't beat 25 mile hour winds whipping off the lakefront. To succeed in Chicago you need to work hard, shut your mouth and put up results - hopefully Cutler can do this.

On the other side I think Denver is getting a steal - all the picks and a QB that fits a shut gun based offense. Orton, and his neckbeard, almost seem like they belong in a city like Denver. Orton never was Drew Brees at Purdue, and he will not be Elway in Denver - what he will be is KO, a guy that will put the work in, put it all on the line and occasionally provide some humorous antics.

The other Purdue QB making news is Justin Siller, who until today was projected to be in the running for the starter role with Senior Joey Elliott going into next season. Earlier today news came out that Siller was dismissed from the team for an academic violation. This is never good news for the school, team or player. The specifics are yet to be released, if they ever will be, but this is just a sad story. Siller got some play last year as a Freshman during the uneven Senior season of Curtis Painter. I hope Siller can rebound from this, and I hope Purdue and Coach Hope can get something positive going after such a bad thing to happen going into his first season at the helm.

So, Bob Griese and Gary Danielson double check your TV contracts- Jim Everret, stay away from Jim Rome for a while. And finally, somebody please send a memo to Billy Dicken please, well, just because I am sure things could be worse.

It has been a while since I have updated this - I am so ashamed. 

First things first, congratulations Boilers on winning the Big 10 Tourney and congrats on winning the first round game in the tourney - keep it up.

So far this tourney in general has not been too exciting, but something that is interesting to note is how slow twitter has been due to what I am guessing is a high tweet volume due to the tournament. The power of social media again shows that it is the future, marketers please keep paying attention. Traditional advertising is dead - there, I said it.

Sure, there were some OK ads at the Super Bowl like Shanapotomus - and the Jordan commercial with Rip Hamelton running right now is clever, but print ads are being pulled from budgets in B2B and B2C both and even when the economy comes back I don't see money going back - the smart money is going to Sales Enablement and Lead Generation and the smart strategy is social media, SEO and your corporate website. Working for the leading Sales Enablement software obviously biases me to what technology you should use for SE, but even if you don't use our software, make sure as marketers you are doing something to make sure your focus is on making sure your sales reps are having smarter, more efficient and effective communications in the field. Don't just make flashy glossies and white sheets, make sure you have tools that are easily customized for specific selling situations. Make sure sales can take what you have given them and customize it to the right audience at the right point in the selling situation (but make sure you do it in a way that they don't destroy your branding.) It is tough, but necessary.

The smart companies are the ones laying the groundwork now in both Sales Enablement and Social Media. Although all of these channels may not make sense for your business, some of them will - look at twitter, look at blogs, look at YouTube and Facebook, make sure you are represented on LinkedIn - but make sure you have a unified strategy in mind - also, above all remember to be authentic.