Success

The Adventures of Being Robbie Hummel

Robbie Hummel is currently playing on the US World University Games team. SI.com's Luke Winn has posted an interview with the Boiler standout that wonderfully outlines the multi-faceted world that is college athletics.

In the interview Hummel hits many bases including:

• Coach Matt Painter's axioms - "Everybody can't play shortstop and bat leadoff."
• The perils of fake MySpace and Twitter accounts - "My God that thing was making me sick."
• Fans obsessed with Hummel's back health - "Did you get that Eucalyptus oil? Call me back."
• What another big man could bring to the Boilers - "[Craig Brackins of Iowa State] is big, has post moves, and can shoot.

It seems that Hummel's enjoying himself, keeping his back healthy, and even giving glimpses of a four-year career at Purdue - "It makes a mockery of what college basketball is supposed to be about: Somebody going to get their education at college, and playing basketball at the same time."

Just stay healthy Rob, and try not to make Coach Painter chuck too many balls off of the backboard.

Indiana is the Third Best Rivalry?

When asked to rank Purdue's highest rivalry, what school undoubtedly ends up on top?

Not so fast.

According to ESPN's Pat Forde, the Boilermakers just can't wait to tussle with Sparty. But wait, it gets crazier.

If given a second guess who Purdue can't wait to play after Michigan St., Forde insists it's that other team from Michigan. In fact, Indiana and Purdue don't even make the honorable mention team on Forde's Red-hot Rivalry listing.

The craziest thing about all of this: it's true.

Purdue fans got a bitter taste of success last season only to have Michigan St. pull away in the Big Ten race like a national finalist should. Sure, Purdue came back to win the Big Ten Tourney, but they didn't get another crack at the Spartans in the process. At the same time, no one could deny the psychological and nose-crushingly physical impact the Manny Harris play had on the Boilers. Purdue did in fact get a rematch with the Wolverines...and promptly lost by nine points. But as Forde notes, both crusher and crushee - Harris and Kramer - will be back on the court this season. Bring on round 3.

So, it's hard to imagine that entering what could be the third straight exhilarating season of basketball in West Lafayette that Indiana wouldn't even be in the top two rivalry spots. It's almost as surprising as seeing only one Big East matchup - Villanova v. Pitt - in ESPN's listing.

Do I think beating Indiana is going to be any less of a priority this season? Not in the slightest. For now though, I've got to think that Michigan and Michigan St. just have bigger circles on the calendar.

Oh, yeah. Football's coming soon too.

Sad Songs are the Keys that Get Our Tears Out of Eye Jail

Tomorrow evening, I will be witnessing the Bob Odenkirk and David Cross reunion show, and my inner nerd-o-meter will be peaking at alarming heights.

For no reason other than my own nostalgia, these are my five favorite Mr. Show sketches:

GloboChem
The highlight of the first season, and the first Mr. Show sketch I remember seeing. Rarely has repeated swearing been used better on television.


McHutchence vs Greeley
I still think of this whenever I see any political ads. Every election cycle, we hear artificial buzz about various SNL political bits, but nothing they've never come close to nailing the entire ridiculous nature of these productions. Every posed shot and cheesy effect is pitch perfect.


Teardrop Awards Show
I find Brian Wilson's output to be vastly overrated. Of course Pet Sounds was great, but he wrote a lot of songs that are pure garbage. (Listen to "Busy Doin' Nothing" and marvel at the supposed genius of a man giving directions to his house, then dialing a telephone!) So the concept of a song about mouth sores seems right up his alley. The overly joyous Clapton-clone is tremendous, as is just about every line the presenters deliver.



Pre-taped Call in Show
Bob seemed to play the angrier characters most of the time, but David is great, simmering in his rage for 3 minutes, and then revealing the finest-timed ending to any of the sketches (with bonus points to the chronology of David's hair growth).



The Audition
Best written sketch in the show's run. David once revealed that an unknown Charlie Kaufman applied to write for Mr. Show but didn't get the job. This seems like the kind of thing Kaufman would have written.

The Heart of Rock and Roll

Upon first seeing the trailer for Anvil! The Story of Anvil, I knew it was a must-see film.



The immediate thought is that Anvil seemed to be a perfect hybrid of American Movie and This is Spinal Tap. Indeed, Spinal Tap references are peppered throughout the film. The band Anvil visits Stonehenge at one point. Lead singer "Lips" slyly shouts "Hello Cleveland!" while they wind their way to the stage. Hell, the drummer of Anvil is named Robb Reiner! And of course, an amp is turned to 11. The similarities can't be ignored, but perception is often turned 180 degrees because these guys are real. It's justifiably hilarious when Spinal Tap are upstaged by a puppet show or denied hotel rooms, but watching Anvil left on a European train platform, gear spread out behind them, with no way to get to their next tour stop, is something completely different.

The direction of this film is a bit clunky. We're told Anvil was on the verge of stardom in 1984, but never really given a reason why they didn't break though as Slayer or Anthrax did (Bad management? Bad record label? It's a mystery.) Some seemingly key plot points are glossed over way too quickly, or not at all. But despite the storytelling shortcomings, the film works because every moment Lips and Reiner are on screen, they're beyond compelling. They've been best friends since they were teenagers, and now in their 50's, they've fully accepted their day jobs delivering meals and working construction, but have never stopped believing (Lips, especially) that the big is still there for the taking.

We're conditioned to view the act of relentlessly chasing one's dream as something to be proud of, but that's not always the case. The first half of the film, Lips seems almost ridiculously naive in accepting a European tour offer from a "promoter" who he seemingly only knows through a few e-mails. It's not a surprise that the tour is less than successful, but you find yourself actually rooting for Lips when he shows a backbone for the first time in the film and threatens to beat down a bar manager for withholding payment. At the end of the disastrous tour, the blinding optimism still exists, with Lips qualifying that "things went dramatically wrong, but at least there was a tour for things to go wrong on."

From there, the ups and downs continue as Anvil goes back into the studio with the producer who crafted their best early albums. Excruciating attempts at telemarketing for income, family fund raising, painfully tense recording sessions, and uncomfortable record label pitches follow, all leading up to a festival invitation that surprises in several unexpected ways. The biggest surprise is the degree to which you root for a band you had no opinion of 90 minutes prior.