Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
April 29th, 2009 By Justin Williams
Dan “Rudy” Engler has been running ReitzFootball.com, the “unofficial” forum for discussing Reitz football since 1996. It wasn’t until April Fools Day that he caught the eye of the EVSC who was none too pleased with his April 1 joke.
Drew Bruno writing for the Courier & Press:
As a spoof, Engler, a Reitz graduate who now lives at Nashville, Tenn., had posted a story on the Web site and distributed it by e-mail that made it seem as though the company installing artificial turf at three EVSC football fields, including Reitz, was going out of business.
School officials were not amused, and on Saturday, Engler posted that his site would, therefore, “come to an end,” and its regular features, including a message board, were taken offline.
You can check out the letter he received from EVSC here. It sounds like the EVSC is overly sensitive to me. I’m fairly certain there are more pressing issues to be concerned with than one alum’s bad April Fools joke.
Update: Looks like EVSC and Engler have made peace.
December 17th, 2008 By Justin Williams
A 7-1 start for the University of Evansville Men’s basketball team is impressive, but how about an upset of the number one team in the nation? Possible? Probably not, but we can hope.
The Purple Aces take on the 9-0 North Carolina Tar Heels Thursday at Chapel Hill. Tip-off is at 6:00 CST, and the game will be televised by ESPN. The game will be called by Terry Gannon and Stephen Bardo. I was hoping for Dan Shulman, Bob Knight and Allen Hopkins.
While the game will be in North Carolina don’t let that stop you from yelling things at your television about Tyler Hansborough. No guarantees, but if I’m around and have some time I’ll try to live blog the game. Either way I’ll be TiVoing it and watching as Evansville gets back on the national stage.
photo courtesy of UE Basketball
December 17th, 2008 By Justin Williams
While this doesn’t exactly sound like my idea of a fun way to watch the BCS National Championship Game, if you’re into that 3D stuff, Showplace Cinema East will be showing Oklahoma vs. Florida in 3D on January 8th.
The game will still be produced by Fox, but distributed via 3-D theater company Cinedigm. I’m not exactly sure what a 3-D football game will look like, but I don’t think it is enough to get me to shell out $20 and leave the comfort of my couch.
If you go, let me know how it is.
Thanks CrunchGear
December 1st, 2008 By Justin Williams
Anyone that was here in the mid to late 90’s remembers the glory days of USI’s mens basketball team under current Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl. Pearl won a national championship while at USI before heading off to UW-Milkwaukee and then Tennessee.
Now that he is at Tennessee, Bruce has had quite the interesting career off the court. He and his wife of 25 years announced their divorce last September and Bruce quickly hit the co-ed scene (see above). It looks like his ex is ready to extract her revenge:
Kim Shrigley, Pearl’s former wife, recently opened a nail salon in Knoxville with the monthly money she gets from her ex-husband as part of their divorce settlement. The shop is appropriately (and awesomely) named Alimony’s.
Well played, Ms. Shrigley. As for this season’s Volunteer team, they are ranked 10th in the nation though they lost to Gonzaga over the weekend.
November 12th, 2008 By Justin Williams
While we can’t celebrate the joys of college football locally in Evansville, basketball season is always fun. The University of Evansville is set to tip off their regular season this Saturday night against Austin Peay. The Aces are coming off a rather lackluster 9-21 season last year, should be improved this year with second year coach Marty Simmons.
In addition to the opening of the season Saturday night, the Aces will be dedicating the floor to former coach Arad McCutchan.
In terms of the big Indiana schools, #10 ranked Purdue hits up Detroit Friday night while Indiana takes on Northwestern State Saturday evening. BOILER UP.
Back locally, the Evansville IceMen, our new local hockey club will also start their regular season this weekend with a pair of home games at Swonder Ice Arena. The IceMen will host the Chi-Town Shooters on Friday night, with the Battle Creek Revolution coming to town on Saturday night.
The IceMen had an impressive exhibition against the USI team, which should bode well for attendance this weekend. The puck drops for both games at 8:05PM. Tickets are just $6 and because hockey isn’t the same without alcohol, beer will be available at the rink, thanks to Jillian’s.
October 29th, 2008 By Justin Williams
After the Colts won the Super Bowl I became a bit disinterested in football and started following college and pro basketball a lot more. I’m good for a few Aces games a year, and the opening exhibition game of this season certainly looks like one local people would want to attend. The third Community Classic will feature USI vs UE at Roberts Stadium this Saturday night.
I’ve been to one of these games and they are fun. It’s not Purdue or Indiana basketball, but its the closest we have in Evansville. Tickets are $18 and $13, with a $3 discount on the $13 tickets for those 17 and younger or 65 and older.
October 27th, 2008 By Justin Williams
Since the Colts are doing the Monday Night thing against the undefeated Titans of Tennessee, I thought I’d do a liveblog tonight while I’m watching the game. Check back later tonight for my commentary on the game and probably some other random sports stuff.
For now, talk smack. Don’t be too harsh though. We wouldn’t want to hurt Vince Young’s feelings.
6:48: I refuse to watch any pre-game coverage. I will, however, watch PTI. Penguin Dance, baby.
7:09: I gave up and put on Countdown. Without the PTI studio makeup, Kornheiser’s combover is even more apparent.
7:25: ESPN keeps reminding us that the Colts must win this game. Thanks, guys.
7:30: GAME ON.
7:35: I thought it was bad when I read a script on Plugged In, but Kornheiser’s dramatic lead in is even more forced.
7:52: What’s the overunder for references to Jeff Fisher’s mustache tonight?
9:56: OK. I suck at live blogging, but blame our food editor who got hungry. 14-14 going into the 4th.
10:01: Marvin Harrison isn’t the same since that alleged shooting.
10:12: The key to watching ESPN NFL telecasts is the mute button with Sirius NFL Radio’s play-by-play going in the background.
10:17: Baseball is suspended. You now have no excuse to not watch the last 10 minutes of the game.
10:20: Stick a fork in ‘em.
photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports
October 23rd, 2008 By Justin Williams
Back in May, I posted a blurb about a professional hockey team making its way to Evansville. Some 5 months later the Evansville IceMen will take the ice for their first game tomorrow night.
The IceMen will be playing an exhibition against the University of Southern Indiana Ice Eagles Friday night at 8 PM at Swonder Ice Arena. General admission tickets for the game will be only $4, and there will be a silent auction featuring donated items from Casino Aztar, Holiday World and several other Tri-State businesses. All proceeds from the game and auction will go to Jacob’s Village.
The IceMen are part of the new All American Hockey Association, a Single-A minor league that also includes teams from Chicago, Detroit and Battle Creek. The team will play 20 home games at Swonder from November through March, with nearly all games at 8 PM on Friday and Saturday nights. The regular season for the IceMen begins on November 14, so grab your tickets.
I’m a hockey fan, so I’ll probably check out a few games, but I’m not sure how popular the sport is with the rest of the area. Finding an NHL game on TV is next to impossible these days. It always seems like the local minor league teams have a hard time staying afloat, but people seem to see something in the Evansville market, so time will tell if hockey will go the way of the long-standing Otters or the short lived BlueCats.
September 8th, 2008 By Justin Williams
Week 1 of the NFL is now behind us, and the biggest story nationally is Tom Brady going down with what looks to be a torn ACL. Earlier in the afternoon I was doing a dance thinking this made the road to the Super Bowl even easier for the Colts, but then I watched them sputter along in their loss to the Bears last night.
The Bears ran through the Colts defense while the offense looked a bit rusty as Peyton Manning finally took the field after his knee injury. I don’t think that was how they wanted to start the Lucas Oil Stadium era.
The college side looked a bit better with both Purdue and Indiana picking up wins over the weekend. Purdue opened their season with a strong second half against Northern Colorado. Curtis Painter threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns, though he looked a bit slow to start.
Indiana put up an impressive win against Murray State. The IU game was a much more lopsided game with Marcus Thigpen and Kellen Lewis taking the lead.
Neither IU or Purdue played meaningful games compared to Big Ten competition, but they are nice tune ups. IU plays Ball State next Saturday while Purdue gets a loftier challenge in 18th ranked Oregon. Boiler up!
Photo courtesy of Purdue Athletics
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