A rivalry renewed

I hate Purdue – plain and simple.\nEvery Boilermaker loss makes me feel warm inside. But for the last several years, the decline of Purdue’s athletic program made me realize my heightened emotions for the rivalry aren’t optimized unless they field a competitive team.\nDuring the past few years, there have been whispers around campus about Illinois replacing Purdue as IU’s top rival. The disdain between the Illini and the Hoosiers has been well documented since the recruitment of a certain shooting guard during the fall of 2006, but does it really surpass the history between the cream and crimson and the black and gold?\nNot a chance.\nAs I mentioned, the Boilers have been slightly down in big-ticket sports. The past three football seasons, the Boilermakers went 8-5, 8-6 and 5-6, which are far from the Drew Brees glory days in 2001, when they became the first Indiana school to play in the Rose Bowl since the Hoosiers did so in 1968. As for basketball, Purdue coach Matt Painter led a major resurgence following the Gene Keady era in impressive fashion, turning a horrid 9-19 debut campaign around with a 22-12 follow-up season and a second round loss to Florida in the NCAA tournament.\nI hate to say it, but they’re back. \nIf you have been paying attention to the scoreboards recently, you would know there is a little thing called the Crimson and Gold Cup, which now carries more than just bragging rights at family gatherings.\nThe inception of the series raises the stakes of the storied rivalry. All sports weigh equally in pursuit of the cup. The winner of each sport’s respective IU-Purdue match earns its school a point in the series. In say, cross country, where competitors often participate against more than just two schools, the winner between the two still gets the point.\nHeading into Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game, the Hoosiers led the competition 5-4. IU recently lost a chance to go up 6-3, but Purdue’s wrestling team pulled off a victory in the final seconds of the heavyweight contest during its Feb. 8 dual meet in West Lafayette. \nIn a matchup traditionally dominated by the Boilermakers, the women’s basketball teams split their series this year. The two schools also split in volleyball and men’s and women’s cross country. \nIU’s edge in the cup race can be attributed to the boot of Austin Starr’s 49-yard field goal, which gave the Hoosiers the Old Oaken Bucket and one point toward the Crimson and Gold Cup.\nLast year, the Hoosiers lost the cup 10.5-9.5 after destroying Purdue the first two years, 11.5-8.5 and 12-8.\nAlthough it has only been around for a few short years, I’m already a huge fan of the Crimson and Gold Cup. It fuses the importance of match-ups between the two schools by giving both teams something additional for which to aim. The rivalry is no longer a single-sport entity – the rivalry has now been elevated to athletic department versus athletic department.\nNothing would make this sports columnist happier than for the Hoosiers to recapture the cup.