It is Bucket Game week 2017, as the Purdue Boilermakers host the Indiana Hoosiers this Saturday in West Lafayette. In the spirit of the rivalry, today we take a lighter look at the series in light of the Hoosiers’ recent success.
It has been a while. There was the New Deal, JFK was assassinated, and the Cold War ended. OK, perhaps it hasn’t been quite that long, but a lot has transpired since November 2012, the last time Purdue won a game in the Old Oaken Bucket rivalry series with Indiana. The Hoosiers’ current 4 game winning streak matches their longest run of consecutive victories in the series (1944-47). No player on Indiana’s current roster has ever lost to Purdue. Indiana has also won 6 of the last 10, clearly indicating that the Hoosiers have been the better program in the recent history of the series.
Just how long ago was November 2012? Take a look back at what transpired around that time:
- Barack Obama is elected to his second term as President. It has now been more than a year since Donald Trump was elected President.
- Washington and Colorado become the first states to legalize marijuana. Since then Alaska, Oregon, California, Nevada, Maine, and Massachusetts and have all legalized marijuana, and the legal industry has grown to more than $4 billion in revenue.
- In connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP announced it will plead guilty to charges of manslaughter and obstruction of Congress. There has since been a movie made about the event.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II grosses $500 million in 24 hours to become the biggest entertainment launch of all time. Black Ops III has since been released and Black Ops IV is set to be released in 2018.
- Johnny Manziel wins the Heisman Trophy as a freshman. He since played another year of college football, was drafted in the NFL’s first round, played 2 seasons in the NFL, and is now in his 2nd season as a free agent.
- Playboy founder Hugh Hefner (86) married glamour model Crystal Harris (26) at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. Heffner died in 2017.
- Hugo Chávez was re-elected as president of Venezuela for a fourth term. He died in 2013 and was succeeded by Nicolas Maduro, who has overseen the economic collapse of the country.
- Lance Armstrong loses a host of endorsements as a result of a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) investigation concluded that Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs over the course of his career and named him as the ringleader of “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”
- The Avengers was the highest grossing film of 2012. A sequel, titled Avengers: Age of Ultron, was released on May 1, 2015, while two additional sequels, Avengers: Infinity War and an untitled one, are currently in development and scheduled for release on May 4, 2018 and May 3, 2019, respectively.
- Taylor Swift’s album “Red” was number 1 the Billboard 200 charts. She has since released two more albums.
- Grammy Award winning singer Justin Timberlake (31) weds “Total Recall” actress Jessica Biel (30) at the Borgo Egnazia resort in Fasano, Italy. Timberlake has since released 3 albums and Biel has acted in 7 movies.
[photo credit – iuhoosiers.com]
