You already know how excited the current Purdue Football campaign has us, from the ads to the billboards. Well, it's not just a campaign -- it's the manifestation of a pretty wholesale new mode of thought around Purdue athletics.
The athletic department is debuting the first in a multi-part series online today around the One campaign, with the first seven-minute video entitled One Tradition. It will be followed by One Heartbeat and One Destiny. Naturally, in their infinite wisdom and modern grasp of the viral nature of online videos, they've decided not to offer a way to embed the video. So go to the following link and check it out. It's worth it.
Purdue Boilermakers: One Tradition.
It features many Boilermaker alums talking about the Boilermaker tradition -- both the past and what it can mean going forward. And also what they're currently doing, in bringing back past Boilermakers as mentors and a connection to what it means to wear the black and old gold. I love it.
You'll hear from Adrian Beasley, Bart Burrell, Ross Fichtner, Uche Nwaneri, Rosie Colvin, Ed Watson, Billy Dicken, Matt Light, Travis Dorsch, Anthony Spencer, Leroy Keyes, Tim Stratton and, of course, Coach Hope.
Nothing from Tiller, which kind of surprised me, but maybe he'll only be trotted out as an elder statesman after Hope makes his mark.
I particularly liked a few comments, such as Rosie Colvin saying that being a Boilermaker has been "the foundation for who I am as a person." That's some pretty high praise, folks.
I also enjoyed Travis Dorsch likening being an alum to being a parent, and the current players as his "offspring." Take it easy, Travis.
Ed Watson commented that once you put that helmet on, "you're a Boilermaker for life."
And Matt Light described how Coach Hope is very hands-on and physical, often "tossing players aside" to show them how to do the drill correctly. This is significant to me, because there was more than a little evidence that Coach Tiller was really never this way and was completely hands-off by the final years, letting assistants run things and often not even communicating with a lot of his players. It sounds like Coach Hope will indeed have this team fired up the way we've been hoping.
Now I imagine most of our readers are proud Boilermakers. However, many others try to tear us down and convince us that we're not as significant, that we have no tradition or a poor program, etc. Which is fine. But these efforts (and big props to the good work by the Purdue athletic dept and Haan Marketing+Communication) should serve as reminders that the pride many of us have in the program is not only in our heads. The players believe it -- past and present -- and the black and old gold will continue to rise. Hearing these guys talk about what they can and will do makes me believe again -- for the first time in a while -- that good things will be happening. And Coach Hope talking about Joe Tiller's arrival and immediate turnaround of a dormant program being his motivation -- and wanting to "do it again" -- get me amped up all over again.
We'll keep our eyes open for the next couple of installments. In the meantime, Boiler Up. The train is a-comin'.