Miguel Tejada, back in an Orioles uniform, this time at third base

First off, as always, apologies for the dearth of updates. Real life occupying too much time. That being said, plenty of news to report on today. The Orioles signed Miguel Tejada to a 1 year, 6 million dollar deal, apparently incentive laden. The best move of the offseason by the Orioles thus far, Tejada batted .315 last year at the age of 35, and is showing no signs of slowing down. He’ll be moved to third base, which according to Cal Ripken, takes about 100 games to adjust to after moving from shortstop. The good news is that Tejada is a hard worker so I don’t anticipate the defensive skills being as horrible as, say, Melvin Mora’s after he moved from SS to 3B. I suspect that the Orioles aren’t done yet with their offseason moves.

In other news, Purdue basketball has recovered from its rocky road two weeks ago. Beating the Illini in Urbana and today, the Wolverines in West Lafayette. Purdue is looking solid as of late, with improved bench production (compared to zero bench production in the three game losing streak). Wisconsin at Mackey Arena should prove to see if the team has fully recovered from its woes of early January.

Final quick update before I head to sleep, the Coyotes are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games. Panic has ensued as this is highly reminiscent of last year’s slide, when the Coyotes were in a similar position and ended up not making the playoffs.

But you knew all of this stuff, or at least could look it up if you didn’t care. I’d love to sit down and do some real input sometime, perhaps tomorrow.

Robbie Hummel celebrates the win over WVU

Purdue absolutely dominated West Virginia today, in a solid 15 point victory over the Mountaineers. At one point, Purdue was up 26, and the game was never in doubt in the 2nd half. Robbie Hummel went 7-8 for 18 points, and Purdue ended up not having to worry about shooting woes, shooting 60% in the second half (which would’ve been much higher if one were to exclude the last 5 minutes of time-killing). Best part is, I didn’t even mention the rock solid defense.

The Boilers are for real. Don’t mind the 20:1 odds to win the National Championship (Which I was all over when I was in Vegas), or the lack of first place votes, I think the Boilers have all the pieces to make a long run in the tournament this year. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to guess they may make an appearance in the Final Four. Did I mention the Final Four is in Indianapolis this year? A mere 60 miles down I-65 from West Lafayette? That’s a pretty nice reward, playing the two hardest games of the tournament at home. Of course, it didn’t work for Michigan State last year, but who knows where the Boilers will end up this year. The bottom line is, life is good right now in Boilermaker country.

The best part is that this is a team without one of their better players, Lewis (LewJack) Jackson, who was injured with a broken foot and is unlikely to return this year, opting instead to redshirt. The question arises, however, that if the Boilers are in the position to making a run at the National Championship, do you pull the redshirt off of LewJack for the chance at the title?

It’d be a great problem to have, that’s for sure.