Thursday, November 15, 2007

I Hate Purdue

"I don't like to use the word 'hate,' but I'm not a fan of that school . . ."
--IU senior fullback Josiah Sears, when asked what the IU/Purdue game means to him
"Hate" is okay to use here, Josiah. The Old Oaken Bucket game is coming up on Saturday. For the first time since 1980, both IU and Purdue have winning records coming into the Bucket game, and the game actually has bowl implications for both schools. While thinking about all of this, I was reminded of something: I fucking hate Purdue. Unlike Josiah, I love using the word "hate" when appropriate, and it's very appropriate when it comes to Purdue. I hate Purdue more than the Packers, more than Hinsdale Central, more than Illinois, more than Notre Dame, more than the Cubs, more than Steely Dan, and yes Hess, more than AIDS. This primal hatred is sometimes overpowering. Shepley and the many pint glasses and file cabinets that met their fate at his hands during IU/Purdue basketball games know what I'm talking about, and it's time you did too. The simple fact is that there is nothing to like about Purdue.

Founded by a man who was denied a professorship at IU, Purdue offers nothing of value to society. The piss-yellow jerseys, the chronic underachievement in every facet of life, the inability to comprehend the word "facet." Frankly, Purdue annoys the shit out of me. It's the less-talented, bastard younger sibling of the Indiana state university system; the Edward M. to IU's John F.; the Ashlee to IU's Jessica; the Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County to IU's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; the World According to Jim to IU's late 70s era SNL. By state charter, IU gets a law school, a med school, a world-renowned music school, Olympic heroes, a beautiful campus filled with buildings made from the same limestone that built the Empire State Building and the Pentagon, a completely ambiguous mascot, and gorgeous women, while Purdue gets an engineering school, an agriculture school, an aviation school, a vet school, inferior athletes, a train as a mascot, and a campus enveloped in industrial smog and the overpowering stench of pig shit and broken dreams. Sure, they have a wonderful animal husbandry program, and a few astronauts have managed to avoid suicide long enough to graduate, but let's not kid ourselves. Purdue is little more than a glorified two-year technical college located on a plat of flat, desolate land where the sun simply does not shine.

Have you ever been to West Lafayette? As the saying goes, walk north until you smell it, and walk west until you step in it. It's obvious that Purdue does not have an architecture program, and it's unclear if they've ever hired an architect to design anything. The buildings are as drab, uninspired, and depressing as the overfed engineering and ag students they house. Ross-Ade Stadium -- which is basically a larger high school stadium -- is a horrible place to watch a football game, although a great place to go if you want to see what is proudly (and incorrectly) hailed as "The World's Largest Drum." Holy shit, Purdue, are you kidding me?

On the other hand, the only reason Mackey Arena is a tolerable place to watch a basketball game is because there are no NCAA championship banners to block your view. Although, if you talked to one of these slovenly creatures that went to Purdue, they might lead you to believe that their men's basketball program has some sort of storied tradition. Technically they're right, if you consider a tradition of consistent underachieving, zero NCAA championships, and not a single Final Four since the Carter administration to be storied. I guess that's why, in 1999, they rioted after they won the women's NCAA basketball championship. Yes, you read that right. They rioted after winning the women's NCAA basketball title. And who could blame them? After all, they had waited 38 long years to finally double their NCAA championship count. For all sports.

Around this time every year, a rush of IU/Purdue-related football memories -- both good and bad -- overload my brain: losing 15-14 in the '89 Bucket game, thus preventing IU from going to a bowl and costing Anthony Thompson the Heisman; getting knocked to the ground by a Purdue linebacker while rushing Ross-Ade after IU won the Bucket in '96 to send Bill Mallory out on a winning note (and finally put Jim Colletto out of his misery); watching in 2000 as those bastards clinched their first Rose Bowl since 1966; Martin "The Killer Québécois" Lapostolle stopping Montrell Lowe in 2001 on 4th and goal from the 1 to seal a rain-soaked victory for the Hoosiers in Randle El's senior year (and verbally depantsing a Purdue student during a halftime IU/Purdue-based argument so badly that his fellow Purdue friends ended up on my side); last year's 9-point loss, where 4 turnovers cost us a bowl bid. The common thread in these memories -- win or loss -- is absolute, unabashed hatred for that abomination they call a university. A win makes the season. A loss ruins my week.

A lot of people -- we'll call them "idiots" -- think Purdue is a private school. As if a private school would pride itself on the size of a percussion instrument. And people that ugly generally don't go to private school either. Carson Cunningham, Brian Cardinal, Kyle Orton. Need I say more? Hell, Drew Brees even got a tattoo of the State of California on his cheek to distance himself from any association with Purdue. The school had a basketball coach for two decades that looked like Mama Fratelli's uglier older brother. Speaking of Gene Keady, Sporting News once named him the best college coach never to have made the Final Four. That's adorable. Isn't that about as prestigious as being the best virgin never to have gotten laid? Certainly something to hang your hat on.

And I don't mean to be an asshole, but a hot chick at Purdue is about as common as a lucid basketball fan at Kentucky or Illinois. Sweet mother. Things are so bad that a Purdue sophomore a couple years back wrote (yes, some of them CAN write) into the student newspaper to complain that there are too many fat women at Purdue. At IU, all we had to complain about was a legend-replacing coach who had been to more Final Fours by the end of his second season at IU than Gene Keady had been to in his entire coaching career. This whole "ugly" thing shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, given that West Lafeyette's "best" bar is called Harry's Chocolate Shop, whose slogan is "Go Ugly Early." I guess the inclusion of "early" shows that someone in West Lafayette understands the concept of irony. While still an IU student, my wife once made the mistake of visiting a friend at Purdue. They went out to the bars, although it is unclear whether a chocolate shop was involved. She was not dressed in a manner differently than she would be in Bloomington (or any other city, for that matter). A guy came up to her at a bar, stunned and confused, and asked her if she was from Europe (which he probably thought was somewhere in California anyway). Why? "Because you sure ain't from around here." That was the last time she visited.

Hopefully that's the last time anyone close to me visits. My kids will not go to Purdue or apply to Purdue, even if that's the only school they can get into. (Although, if that's the only school they can get into, I have bigger problems than whether they're going to Purdue.) God willing, none of my descendants will ever step foot in West Lafayette, other than to rape and pillage and maybe get gas right off I-65.

In conclusion, fuck Purdue. Fuck Purdue's football team, fuck Joe Tiller, fuck Purdue Pete, fuck Purdue's drum, fuck Purdue fans, fuck Purdue students, fuck Purdue alumni, and fuck Purdue women, but never literally, of course. I have, do, and always will hate Purdue, and so should you.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's funny to me to hear people from Purdue try to tell me that they dont' care about their basketball team...it's funnier still that I believe they might have actually rioted after losing a women's basketball championship once as well...but the clincher to me is the fact that when they finally made that rose bowl back in 2001 they showed the world just how many times they've been there by ALTERING THEIR HELMETS to include a rose. Clowns...

Anonymous said...

I don't mean to pick nits, but isn't West Lafayette west of Bloomingtom? I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

Other than that, Purdue is not important enough to care about.

Anonymous said...

Gregerson, you are correct. I was in such a rage that I mistook east for west, although technically, if you walked far enough east, you would still end up in West Lafayette.

Anonymous said...

I prefer comparisons of the Purdue campus to Bratislava, at least how it's portrayed in "Eurotrip". It looks like an eastern bloc capital city. The bottom line, and what I'll always have is that I know people who couldn't get into IU who were readily admitted to Purdue. It's a great place to go if you want to learn how to get animals to have sex with each other...

Anonymous said...

The game sold out.

http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/111607aaa.html

Anonymous said...

Love the fact that the Hoosiers will be wearing throwback jerseys to commemorate the '67 Rose Bowl team. Hopefully the result of the Bucket game will be the same.

Anonymous said...

i know lots of old guys--like in their 50's--who are Purdue haters. one had this to say re "I Hate Purdue":

"I yield to no man in my hatred of Purdue. That, however, was a Grade A+ screed."

another 80 year old churchgoer went the Sears route:

"i dont believe we should hate anyone... but i can say that it wouldn't bother me if they lost every game. every year."

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to hear my anger and hatred is shared across generations.

Anonymous said...

How do you feel about IUPUI?

An unholy alliance?

Is it the state legislature's inability (or lack of will) to firmly declare Indiana's flagship university?

A serious query. Please respond.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Good question, Anonymous. I'm glad you asked. The combination campuses (IUPUI, IPFW, and the lesser-known IUPU-Columbus) are simply an unfortunate by-product of the fact that the state's two largest universities offer mutually exclusive academic programs (as discussed in the post).

While it does sicken me that the noble name of Indiana University is tarnished by placing it next to Purdue's name, I do understand that these are state schools, and two of these hybrid campuses have been installed in the state's two most populous cities to allow the residents of Indiana greater access to public education, and that's something that I think both sides can agree is a good thing.

As to whether you think this is indicative of the legislature's inability to declare a flagship univerity, I think IU is clearly the state's flagship school. Excluding the hybrid campuses, IU has 6 campuses (spread across the state), while Purdue only has 3 (all of which are located in Northwest Indiana, which the West Lafayette campus being the furthest south).

With respect to IUPUI in particular, the number of IU programs and students is much larger than the number of Purdue programs and students. Furthermore, while the IU Medical Center, the IU School of Law - Indianapolis, and the IU School of Dentistry are located on IUPUI's campus, they are all independent of IUPUI and function only as part of the Indiana University System.

The IU Med School is the only medical school in the state of Indiana, and the IU School of Law - Bloomington and the IU School of Law - Indianapolis are the only public law schools in the state.

From a common sense standpoint, I fail to see how a university without a law school or a medical school could be considered a state's flagship university.

I hope I have answered your questions.

Anonymous said...

Which is better: being fucked in the ass with a baseball bat by a woman or a man? Either way it sucks pretty bad, but I'd prefer the woman do it.

The state of Indiana sucks any way you cut it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the thorough response to my IUPUI question. I wasn't aware of most of that information.

Good luck today.

Raymond & Kellie said...

That was the most fantastic rant of hate that I have ever read. I agree with every bit of it. I actually dated a girl that went to Purdue for a 3 month period of time. She was easily the most attractive girl to ever attend that sad excuse for an institution. She was still mediocre (at best) compared to any IU girl I ever had the pleasure of manipulating with words.

Fuck Purdue.

Jalehlabad said...

I just have to say that I was having a really crappy first day back at work after being at a conference and getting stuck at fucking O'Hare and this post totally made my day. Thank you, GMYH. You are a true hero to the IU community.

Anonymous said...

i must say that as an associate of purdue-related individuals, i am both appalled and in awe of what you have accomplished in this post.

i see you have a section for classic posts, and i hereby nominate this post for induction.

Nan Wei said...

I cant believe I just wasted my time reading this. hahahahaha! seriously, man, get a real life. and that, you HICK, exists OUTSIDE fucking Indiana, which is a LAME excuse for a state in a POOR excuse for a country. You're comparing rat shit to pigeon shit here. Shit is still SHIT!

GMYH said...

Nan,
1. Thanks for reading! I can't believe you wasted your time reading this either, especially since you apparently don't have any affiliation to either IU or Purdue.
2. From the looks of it, you didn't go to college, as you clearly don't understand the importance of, and history behind, intercollegiate rivalries. Also, you misspelled "can't." Also, we start sentences with capital letters. Also, your attempted sentence that starts with "and" is not a complete sentence. You should have put a dash after "real life" instead of a period. In the future, please insult me in a grammatically proper manner. That makes it easier for everyone to understand.
3. I live in, and grew up in, Chicago, which, as you may not know, is not located in Indiana. Nonetheless, I appreciate the fact that you call me a hick and attempted to insult both the entire State of Indiana and the United States of America. Good one.
4. I find your manners to be beyond reproach. Whatever finishing school you attended needs to reexamine is accreditation.
5. You obviously haven't seen rat shit and pigeon shit. They are nothing alike.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Get a life! Rivalries are suppose to be fun. Your school puts 99% of its budget in basketball and it has only had a few good teams since the three point line was introduced to basketball. Come down to North Carolina and see a real rivalry. At least our teams have been relevant lately. I have been to IUs campus and your females might be good for Indiana but don't kid yourself, they are nothing special. Quit acting like your shit school matters in basketball.

Anonymous said...

Glenn Robinson is still God in my book!