by John Walters

Edey Does It

Another night, another dominant performance from Purdue’s 7’4″ Canadian tower, Zach Edey. The junior from Toronto, the tallest player in Big Ten history, scored 23 points and grabbed 18 rebounds as the Boilermakers easily handled Hofstra, 85-66, to move to 9-0.

It’s early December but Purdue has soared from unranked in the preseason to No. 4 in the nation in Week 5. On a neutral court on Thanksgiving weekend Purdue toppled then No. 6 Gonzaga by 18 and then No. 8 Duke by 19. There’s not another current Top 10 squad remaining on the Carbombs’ schedule.

If Purdue, and Edey, stay healthy and upright, look out. He’s a Bill Walton retro model in an age where seven-footers wanna face the basket and jack threes. Edey has yet to attempt a three in his three seasons. He’s in the top four nationally, though, both in points per game (23.2) and rebounds per game (13.3).

Brittney’s Back—And NewsMax Is Mad

We woke up to the news that Brittney Griner had been released from a Russian penal colony after 249 days in captivity, the beneficiary of a prisoner swap between the U.S.A. and Russia. The Russkies got Viktor Bout, a notorious arms dealer in return. And not a few people are upset that a former U.S. Marine, Paul Whelan, still wastes away in a Russian jail cell. Whelan was arrested in 2018 and accused of spying.

You cannot please everybody. That’s the job of president. Twitter is really angry or really relieved, depending upon whom you follow. Now, who lands the first BG exclusive interview? Our money’s on Holly Rowe, then Robin Roberts.

The Portal Bowl

RaRa Thomas. Kavoisey Smoke. Decoldest Crawford. Casey Case.

You are among the more than 600 college football players who entered their names into the transfer portal on Monday. But, bad news: you’re not Cade McNamara or even Drew Pyne or some other high-grade talent sought by a bevy of schools. What to do?

Why not devote a week of your life to playing in The Portal Bowl? It’s structured similarly to the Senior Bowl, with scouts/college recruiters having open access to your practices. They also may conduct one-on-one interviews to get to know you better. It’s like a Match group event. Then, on Saturday, you play in front of whatever fans show up and also on, say, ESPN2 or FS1 or even the Pac-12 Network.

If you consent to play, you are guaranteed $20,000 no matter how much you play. But you play at your own risk. We’ll stage the game in mid-December, like this Saturday or next, either in Arizona or Florida or even (our wish) at the Los Angeles Coliseum, which is seriously underused after USC’s final home game each autumn.

What’s not to love?

Gilgeous-Alexander The Great

Remember when the Thunder were one of the worst teams in the NBA last season and landed the No. 1 overall pick, Gonzaga freshman seven-footer Chet Holmgren? And remember when Holmgren suffered a season-ending foot injury playing in a summer league game with a bunch of established NBA stars? Well, all is more than OK in OKC thanks to a refugee from the Los Angeles Clippers.

Fifth-year guard Shae Gilgeous-Alexander is not just having a terrific season, he’s having an All-NBA First Team season. SGA, who is 6’6″ and like the aforementioned Zach Edey hails from the Toronto area, is averaging 31.1 points per game, third-best in the NBA. That’s 7 ppg better than last season, his previous career-high. And while the Thunder are not soaring, they are 11-14. Not bad for a player the Clippers gave up on after his rookie season in order to land Paul George, the Half-Beatle.

Tanking: The Texans, Crypto and Elon

A few items (besides us) that were doing far better early in 2022 as compared to now:

Bitcoin: Nearly $51,000 a coin the day after Christmas; currently just under $17,000. But then, all of crypto in general, including Sam Bankman-Fried, who could be going away to prison for a long time unless President Biden arranges a prisoner swap with XTF.

Elon Musk: Not only did he overpay egregiously for Twitter ($44 billion), but shares of Tesla have cratered from $402 last January 4 to $170 today.

Carvana: Shares were at $274 in mid-December of 2021 but were at $3.55 yesterday.

The Los Angeles Rams: Playing in SoFi Stadium (a company whose stock has gone from $17 per share a year ago today to $4.57 today), the Rams won the Super Bowl. They’re now 3-9, in last place in their division, and they just signed Baker Mayfield, who went from Heisman winner and No. 1 overall pick in 2018 to being released by his second NFL team last weekend.