Happy Mothers Day Matt Painter

First appeared on May 12th, 2010
in The Lebanon Reporter

Happy Cinco De Mayo Matt Painter. Happy National Hamburger Month, happy National Duckling Month and happy Strawberry Month too. May 14th is National Dance Like a Chicken Day and, while I’m fairly certain Coach Painter has never done so before, there’s definitely good reason to celebrate it this year.


I’m fairly certain Purdue Boilermakers E’Twuan Moore and JaJuan Johnson gave their coach the greatest Mother’s Day gift he’s ever received when they announced late last week they would be returning to West Lafayette for another season.

Of course this decision once again unites Moore and Johnson with star forward Robbie Hummel, who was lost to a knee injury in 2010. Combine these three with a fully healthy Lewis Jackson and Purdue should find themselves ranked near the top of the preseason polls again next season. Beyond this they will be a clear favorite of many to win it all in Houston next year.

Perhaps the only guy more shocked than Painter last week was the loser who ran out onto the field in Philadelphia during a Phillies game. After all, in the course of less than 3 months Painter went from having a national title contender to having the scorched skeleton of said contender to, after Moore and Johnson’s decision to withdraw their names from the draft, once again being a favorite to win it all.

I’ll be the first to say the NBA’s draft policy is awkward, but players having the ability to change their minds and return is the only part of it that works properly. So, in this one instance, the system worked.

Maybe saying its awkward is harsh. Maybe it’s just my selfish side that wants to see the Butler’s of the world have a player like Gordon Hayward for another year. Maybe it’s just my jealous side that doesn’t want to see another 19 year old make more money with the stroke of a pen than my family will see in generations.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to propose any grandiose solutions; I just like to whine. But the truth is the credibility of college basketball itself is rapidly eroding as top tier kids continually choose the same 3-4 schools every year only to leave a season later.

One simple solution would be to make these 3-4 college teams a separate developmental league for the NBA (because this is basically what they already are). But that’s fairly obvious and not the way the NCAA or NBA tend to do things.

Over the course of the last 20 years college sports has gone from a great way for talented athletes to ensure a future for themselves to becoming the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Nobody wants to talk about it, but everybody knows what’s going on.

Laugh if you will. Scoff if you must. Use me to line your bird cage or wad me up and stuff me in a coffee mug if you’re moving; but if you think classes are being attended and passed at most of these places I’ve got some fascinating Bigfoot memorabilia you might be interested in.

If you want the real truth I can’t provide it. If you don’t mind the truth as I see it, then there is no easy solution. This problem is bigger than me and you. It’s bigger than the Staples’ Easy Button and it’s bigger than society itself (Pretty deep I know). The point is forget about solving the world’s problems Purdue Fans, now is a time to celebrate. Yes, the time has come to dance like a chicken with Matt Painter.