There’s no better way to put an end to the weeklong fried food debauchery of the Fall Festival than trying to run off all those excess calories in the 4th annual Evansville Half Marathon. The race begins at 8AM sharp. The race starts atop Reitz Hill in the Reitz High School parking lot. Parking isn’t exactly abundant around the Reitz area so shuttles will run from 5:45AM to 7:15AM approximately every fifteen minutes from four downtown locations: Vectren, Old National Parking Garage, Integra Parking Garage and the YMCA.

14WFIE reports that the high will be 92 degrees tomorrow, so don’t exactly expect a cool breeze while you’re running. The average high temperature for this time of year should be hovering around 71.2 degrees. Here’s some advice to prepare you for your big run tomorrow.

Carb up: For experienced runners and athletes this is probably common sense, but you want to avoid eating salads and vegetables the night before the race and instead focus on energy providing carbohyrdates. My suggestion? Pasta with a simple marinara sauce. Avoid those high fat sauces like alfredo and pesto.

Cut the caffeine and booze tonight: As tempting as it might be to put back several beers or Diet Mountain Dews tonight while you’re at dinner, stick to water. Caffeine and alcoholic beverages are diuretics, which contributes to dehydration. Caffeine will also keep keep you up at night, which leads me too…

Sleep well, runners: Make sure you get to bed early enough to get a full night’s sleep. On the morning of the race, you’re going to want to wake up early enough to eat and take care of your morning rituals, so going to bed early might not be a bad idea.

Find a ride home: After the grueling 13.1 mile run, it’d be a good idea to find a ride home. You’re most likely going to be exhausted, so have a friend pick you up and put you in front of the TV to recover for the rest of the day.

Good luck!

photo courtesy of Seamus Murray

It’s another weekend which means we have several high school football games taking place in the Evansville area. Go out and support your local team.

Vanderburgh County

• Central at Castle, 7PM
• Reitz at Harrison, 7PM
• Mater Dei at North, 7PM
• Bosse at Memorial, 7PM (Saturday)

Warrick County

• Central at Castle, 7PM
• Mount Vernon at Boonville, 7PM

Henderson County

• Henderson County at Madisonville-N. Hopkins, 7:30PM

Now that the weekend is past us, let’s do a bit of cleanup on what you might have missed.

As is customary, there was a lot of drug-related activity over the weekend. Friday started off with USI’s star point guard, Kenny Page, being suspended indefinitely after he was arrested for dealing marijuana out of his campus apartment. Evansville received a federal grant to deal with the meth problem. The grant gives us just under $350,000 that will be used by the EPD to develop a five year program that requires training, equipment, officer presence, and treatment for those caught with the drug. Will Lee Simpson Jr. learned a lesson this weekend: don’t run a stop sign if you are riding a bicycle. This is especially imperative if you are biking with a bag of cocaine in your pocket.

The Race for the Cure was Sunday had over 17,000 runners on Sunday. The event took place on Evansville east side at Eastland Mall. The event raised over $116,000 through the Friends for the Cure pledge program. It was also announced over the weekend that ZZ Top would be returning to Evansville for another aging rocker show on October 13. Tickets go on sale today. There was also an announcement that November 13 is the tentative date for daily flights from Evansville to Indianapolis to resume.

It was a great weekend for Indiana football teams. Both Purdue and IU went to 3-0 with wins of Central Mchigan and Akron respectively. Purdue starts its Big 10 campaign with a game against Minnesota next Saturday. IU also starts Big 10 competition by playing against Illinois. In the pros, the Colts got by the Tennessee Titans Sunday 22-20 to go 2-0 on the season. The Colts have another division matchup next week with the surprisingly good Houston Texans.

And following up on a story I linked to last week, that lovely dog Shithead, has been exhumed. A Uniontown priest decided he should sue the dog’s owner and the city of Uniontown over the dog’s headstone, so owner Judy Hagan just moved her dog. Remember kids, words hurt and harm.

photo courtesy of littledan77

It’s another weekend which means we have several high school football games taking place in the Evansville area. Go out and support your local team.

Vanderburgh County

• Castle at Bosse, 7PM
• Reitz at Central, 7PM
• Memorial at Mater Dei, 7PM
• Harrison at North, 7PM (Saturday)

Warrick County

• Castle at Bosse, 7PM
• Boonville at Hopkins County, Ky., 7:30

Henderson County

• Manual at Henderson County, 7:30PM

If you’re fortunate enough to have DirecTV or Insight in Evansville, then you were treated to the launch of college football coverage on the Big Ten Network.

How’d it go?

Well… only what may have been the greatest upset in the history of college football.

Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32.

That’s right. A Division 1-AA football team went into one of the hardest college football venues for road teams, and in front of 109,000 opposing fans, upset an annual power.

Outstanding.

I’ve been a pretty happy subscriber of SigecomWOW since they came to Evansville, but now I am starting to think I should move into Evansville so I can get Insight Cable as they have just picked up the Big 10 Network. The Big 10 Network is a joint venture between the Big 10 conference and Fox Sports to spotlight all athletics by schools like Purdue, IU and Illinois.

During the first week, the Indiana game is on the Big 10 Network (and in HD). The second week has the Purdue game in HD only on Big 10 and the third has IU’s game exclusively. These are games that would previously be on regional networks via ESPN Plus+.

As a die hard Boilermaker Football Fan, I am going to be without an outlet for watching many Purdue games this season. Last I checked, WOW/Sigecom is holding out on bringing on the Big 10 Network because they don’t want to put it as part of their basic cable package. I’ve called and complained to WOW tonight, and if you’re a college sports fan, I’d suggest you do as well.

Sigecom/WOW
812-437-0345

(American) football season is upon us, so let’s talk about it. Whether you’re interested in high school, college or the pros football is quickly becoming the new national pastime in our country. Are you excited that the local high school teams are back on the field? Are you looking forward to the college games starting in two weeks, or are you eating up all of the preseason NFL games?

Personally, I’m most looking forward to seeing how well Purdue can do this year. Purdue’s schedule is tough, but it’s my duty as alumni to be positive and think we are going to annihilate Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame.

How about you? What teams are you following this year? Let’s use the open thread to talk some pigskin!

photo courtesy of by jglazer75.

The Arts Council Of Southwestern Indiana is putting on their “Art In The Ballpark” exhibit this evening during the Ottersr game. At the main gate of Bosse Field, game attendees will be able to see several pieces of baseball themed artwork.

Game attendees will have a chance to vote on their favorite piece of art. During the seventh inning stretch, the votes will be tallied and winners announced before the end of the game. The People’s Choice “Best of Show” will receive a Otter’s season’s pass for next year. 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive prize packs and Otter’s t-shirts.

Besides just the artwork on display, Otters games are a fun way to spend a night in Evansville. Bosse Field definitely has that olde time baseball feel to it. The game starts at 7:05PM this evening. Be sure to check it out.

photo courtesy of Meatslang

After five seasons in Evansville, the Evansville BlueCats announced today that they will cease operations in Evansville August 24 and that the team is for sale.

Evansville BlueCats owner and President John Voliva said,

This was an extremely difficult decision for us to make but one we felt was necessary due to a variety of reasons. Hopefully, we can find a local investor willing to operate the team in Evansville. We still feel that the BlueCats offer a great entertainment choice to the residents of the Tri-State area but we are not the one to continue the operation of the team.

Each time I attended a BlueCats game, the attendance wasn’t anything impressive. This year’s 5-10 record probably didn’t do much to help attendance either. I certainly hope another local businessman picks up ownership of the team, because I think it brings a different entertainment opportunity to the town.

Why do you think the BlueCats didn’t succeed in Evansville? Do you think another local owner will pick up the team and keep it here? Tell us in the comments.

photo courtesy of Evansville BlueCats

Yakima, Washington’s KNDU is in town to cover Thunder on the Ohio and has some interesting content.

They have a photo sequence of a hydroplane falling off a crane and into the water (Click Here).

They also have a video of U-37 boat flipping over during a race.

You can check out more from Thunder by visiting their HydroInsider page.