Besides NCAA recruiting violations, seems like there was a bit of a drug problem on Kelvin Sampson’s men’s basketball team at IU last year. According to standout freshman, Eric Gordon – now in the NBA – there was separation between those using drugs and those who weren’t, Gordon being one of the latter according to him, which caused a rift in the team and ultimately turned last year into a wasted season.

What a mess. I’ll take a 5-25 season if it means a clean program with hope of success in the future.

That may have been the least interesting blowout I’ve ever seen. The Colts beat the Bengals 35-3. It was entertaining finding out that Bengals’ receiver Chris Henry has a bad attitude. First, he gave the Colts awesome field position after delivering an extremely late hit following a Colts’ interception. Then, he ran a bad route leading to another Colts’ interception and then just started walking around instead of trying to chase down the ball.

The Colts move to 9-4 with the Detroit Lions coming up next. The Lions have an even worse record than the Bengals. So, they have a good shot at getting to 10 wins next week. Not bad from a team who was sitting at 3-4 — a lucky 3-4, since they could’ve pretty easily been 1-6 at that point. Go Colts!

It’s snowing outside, so the kids’ agitating for some outside time trumped my normal Sunday morning review of the news. Now, after some shoveling and snowman building and hot chocolate, I find that I don’t really care what’s in the news today. What I do care about is the Colts. They are playing the Cleveland Browns today.

As always, one of the best Colts blogs out there is Stampede Blue. The game is in Cleveland and starts at 1 p.m. Center Jeff Saturday is out and Bob Sanders will likely sit as well. Those are two big gaps in the Colts’ lineup. Antoine Bethea and Melvin Bullitt are expected to play. The Browns aren’t great, but they aren’t horrible either. Hopefully the Colts don’t let down after a few weeks of victories over some very good teams.

So, last year, Vinatieri missed a chip shot against the Chargers that would have won the game. This year, he hits a 50+ yard kick to win the game. I guess I like this year better than last year.

Incidentally, is it physically possible for an offensive lineman to do something against Dwight Freeney that would result in the officials throwing a flag? I’m not at all saying the officials were anti-Colts; if anything, they were a little generous to us. But I saw several plays where Freeney’s face mask was being used as a handle, his arm was being locked, and generous fistfuls of his jersey were being grabbed.

The Colts are now 7-4 and in the driver’s seat for one of the wild card spots. Tennessee lost today, but they’d have to have an epic collapse to lose their lead in the division. But, Indy currently holds the #5 seed, giving them the 1st wild card spot. You can’t take anything for granted, but they have a very favorable schedule, playing the Browns (4-7); the Bengals (1-9-1); the Lions (0-11); and the Jaguars (4-7). They do, however, finish up with the Titans. It remains to be seen whether the Titans will have anything to play for in that game. They hold tie-breakers against the Ravens and the Patriots, the two other main contenders for the wildcard spots.

After what looked to be shaping up to be a train wreck, the Colts appear to be cobbling together a respectable season. Let’s just hope Jeff Saturday’s injury isn’t too serious.

It’s no secret that I’m an IU fan — which does me no good at all in terms of college football. To the extent I have a rooting interest in college football, I’m a Buckeyes fan: a vestigial remnant from my college days at Miami where some of my buddies were big Ohio State supporters. Even so, I can appreciate what Joe Tiller has done for Purdue football. He is Purdue’s winningest coach:

Tiller led 10 Purdue teams to bowl berths — including the 2000 appearance in the Rose Bowl — in his 12 seasons at the helm — a substantial feat considering that before his arrival, the Boilermakers had not been to a bowl since 1984.

Tiller isn’t exactly leaving Purdue on a high note. Nevertheless, I think the Boilermakers are going to have a hard time replacing him.

Well, the Colts keep teasing us with a potentially adequate season. Last night, they beat the Patriots 18-15 on the strength of two touchdowns by Antonio Gonzalez, a long Vinatieri field goal, and a dumb, dumb penalty by New England tight end David Thomas who got flagged for a cheap shot after the play was over. So, a 3rd & one for the Patriots turned into a 3rd & 16. The Colts still have an awful time getting off the field on third down, but even they could handle a 3rd & 16. The penalty also took them out of field goal range.

In any case, it’s always nice to beat the Patriots. Though, I’m much less excited about this one than I typically am.

My local football franchise did not perform as well as I would have hoped. Oh, and ESPN’s Monday Night Football crew sucks. There was a series where the Colts stopped the Titans on 3rd down which was negated by an illegal use of hands penalty. This was a critical, momentum shifting moment. From the replays there was no penalty anywhere in evidence. And yet, the sportscasters barely commented at all on the significant development of the penalty and did not do a thing to explain why the penalty wasn’t a complete phantom.

The Colts play the Bears tonight in the season opener. Kickoff is 8:15. One of the few downsides to having had the Colts be successful over the past several years is that they play at night way too often. I hate night games. Oh well. Just glad to have the Colts playing again. As always, Stampede Blue is the best site around for keeping up on the Colts.

Mike Chappell asks, “if you had to choose for the Colts, would you keep Dwight Freeney or Bob Sanders?” I like Freeney, but for me it has to be Bob “I make the world hurt” Sanders.

Freeney’s like a scalpel. Sanders is like a club. Both tools are useful, but in a sport like football, I’m going to choose the club if I can have only one.

Thanks for asking my opinion, Mike. (The Colts, incidentally, have chosen “both” — which is the correct answer, I think).