Go home!Me

Kirk Penney

Pictures After endless hours of perusing the internet, I've acquired quite the collection of Penney pictures. I don't have any copyright information or anything, so hopefully I won't get sued or something. But for the record, I got most of them from one of the following: uwbadgers.com, Daily Cardinal, Badger Herald, Wisconsin State Journal, JS Online, nzoom.com, and Basketball New Zealand. So check these sites out. Some pictures may be on here more than once, but that's because there's an insane number of pictures and there's no way I can remember/notice if I have one on here more than once. Enjoy!

Break in Action	Basketball Pose 2	Defense	More 3
Break in Action 2	Off the Court	Defense 2	More 4
The Misfits	Woo-hoo!!	Kiwi Kirk	More 5
Lay Off Me!	Shoot it!	Kiwi Kirk 2	More 6
Lay Off Me! (2)	Whoa, Nelly!	More	2003 BT Champs!!!
Basketball Pose	The Grind	More 2	More 2003 BT Champs!!!

Audio Here are some links to a few audio reports. The quality is kind of crappy and you have to listen to a bunch of other people talk besides Penney, but if you're patient enough you can hear him talk about whatever. I love his accent. But as a warning, his accent mixed with the horrendous audio quality makes many of the reports indecipherable. I thought I remembered there being some from this year, but I've only found one and the audio link was broken. I hate broken links. If any of my links aren't working, let me know, please.

On Bennett's retirement
UW-Xavier game (Dec. 2, 2000)
UW-IU game (Jan. 4, 2001)
Preseason 2001 (Oct. 18, 2001)
UW-Marquette game (Dec. 22, 2001)
UW-Iowa game (March 8, 2002)
Preseason 2002 (Oct. 16, 2002)
Wake Forest (Dec. 4, 2002)
Minnesota (January 15, 2003)
Iowa (January 22, 2003)

Video You can go to uwbadgers.com, go to Men's Basketball on the pulldown menu and click on multimedia. There you will find some Penney (other other player) highlights from various games. Too bad the clips from last year aren't up any more- there were some great ones. Apparently there isn't sound for the clips this year...and the quality isn't as good as I remember it being last year. But anything is better than nothing. So thanks to whomever is in charge of putting them on there!

Articles Here are some nice articles I've found...I'll try and add more as I find them. There are also a bunch of game summaries that he may be talked about in, but not much. So if you want to read all those, look for them yourself.

Articles from 1998 through August 2000
Articles from September 2000 through August 2001
Articles from September 2001 though August 2002

Articles from September 2002 to present (earliest date first):
Penney for hoopster's thoughts as the world sits up and takes notice
Penney drops for Dream Team
Miller doesn't disappoint Penney
Badgers' Penney makes himself known at Worlds
International man of hoops If you have the hard-copy of this newspaper there's 3 pics of Kirk, including one of him doing the haka! Next time I have access to a scanner I'll scan it and stick it on here somewhere.
Saving the best for last
UW's Penney gains a world of confidence
A Penney for your thoughts Man, Penney articles come in bunches.
Harbour player in line for US pro spot
Hoop Dreams VERY great article. "Penney's young cousin...wants to be a Badger." I almost died when I read that, it's so cute!
Designs of success
New Traditions; Kirk Penney and Andreas Helmigk experience the Thanksgiving celebration
Best for last? Penney off to sizzling start
Penney: No need to rest
Penney grins and bears injuries
Penney putting it all together
Penney has the touch on court and paper Very cute article
Penney enjoys time with his mother
Penney turns up defensive intensity
Bloody good pickup for the Badgers
Penney's in heaven
Badgers follow Captain Kirk An especially nice title, being as I'm a Star Trek nerd.
Penney gears up for scrum
Penney refuses to hang his head
Tucker follows road to success Yeah, Tucker's the headliner, but there's lots of good stuff on Kirk as well.
Long-range success Very enjoyable read. Then again, I think all of the above are very enjoyable reads.
Penney has shot at NBA
A Glance at Kirk Penney: By the Numbers
Progress is personal for Penney
A Penney for their shots
Last Ride
Penney's dream comes true
Standout finals could open NBA door for Penney Written by NZ's most outstanding bloke (after Kirk), a Kiwi god with the wisdom of Stephen Hawking, the humour of Robin Williams and the body of a Greek god. Or some mental New Zealander with the wisdom of a Greek goat, the body hair of Robin Williams and the animal magnetism of Stephen Hawking. I'll let you pick which one. But in all seriousness, the author is a very nice guy. He actually asked me what I thought about Kirk's NBA chances...hey Anders, why the hell didn't my comments make the article?!? :) Oh yeah, I had nothing very enlightening to say.
Badgers' Bet Begins With a Penney Ante
Badgers silence critics, dump Weber State Not really an article on Kirk, but there was a lot of nice things about him in it.
Shooting High My moment of fame! I have now appeared in a New Zealand newspaper article! I will now give the aforementioned author (who is also the author of this piece) the benefit of the doubt and say that he's NZ's most outstanding bloke (after Kirk), a Kiwi god with the wisdom of Stephen Hawking, the humour of Robin Williams and the body of a Greek god.
Money man; Wisconsin's Badgers have seen a big change in Kirk Penney
Brains of the Badgers
Guard doesn't want trip to end
Penney has developed into Wisconsin's do-all player Woo-hoo! Another article with my name and website in it! How exciting!
Penney out of touches
Wisconsin's Penney draws confidence from 2000 Olympics
Badgers' Penney happy to assume leadership role
Penney's UW career comes to an end
Chat between Kirk Penney and the general public
Recker enjoying Madison; Former IU and Iowa star working out with Penney I think I was almost ran over by Luke Recker a couple of weeks ago...
Penney ready for big audition Go kick some ass, Kirk!
Penney battles to bitter end
Penney stands out at pre-NBA draft camp
All former Badger Penney can do now is wait his turn
Big Ten Awards Penney won
Take a Penney, Bennett advises
Timberwolves target undrafted Penney
Timberwolves sign free agent guard Kirk Penney
Five players competing for final Wolves spot
TIMBERWOLVES REPORT: Penney's shooting gives him a shot
By any name, Penney is glad
Heat add Penney to its depleted rosterJust to cut him mere games later. Aholes.
Penney for his thoughts
Islands in the sunChirp, chirp, chirp. I'm a canary.
From the Auna Gran Canaria websiteComplete with original Spanish verison as well as my translation

Tribute to Kirk Penney and the Badgers

Other
As many of you probably know, Penney is from Auckland, New Zealand. From what I've heard, Kiwis are incredibly nice. My sister hung out with a bunch of them during New Year's 2000 when she was in Scotland, and said that they're "fucking awesome. They're the coolest people." Also, my roommate has actually spoken to Penney's dad because he visited her place of employment a couple of summers ago. She said that he was really nice, really funny, and a proud parent. And all of the Kiwis who've emailed me have been really nice. When I was little my dad used to be obsessed with asking us (my siblings and I) if we wanted to move to New Zealand. I always said no because a) I didn't think he was actually serious, and b) when I was little I thought New Zealand was near Greenland. Not sure why- I guess I never learned about it. Besides, GreenLAND, IceLAND, New ZeaLAND... I guess a wee one could make that mistake. Ok, who am I kidding? I was an idiot. Anyway, if you want to read more about New Zealand, here are a few sites that I've found:
Discover New Zealand
New Zealand on the Web: Guidebooks
Kiwi Words and Phrases
Language This is another site with Kiwi phrases and words.
Adventures as two New Zealanders living in Austin, Texas I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I came across it and I thought it was hilarious. So, if you feel like it, give it a read.
Article snippet This is a little snippet from an article in Newsweek about "Lord of the Rings." I've put the first couple paragraphs here because it has some nice things to say about New Zealand.

Links
UWBadgers.com If you click on Picture Gallery, then Men's Basketball, you'll find TONS of really great pictures from various home games. This is where I've gotten many of the pictures I have.
JSOnline This has some really nice articles
Capital Times This also has some nice articles
Wisconsin State Journal This has the occasional nice article
Badger Student Fan Club Support the Fan Club!
ESPN
Big Ten Generally a crappy site. I pretty much go there for the weekly releases. And, of course, when they name Kirk Player of the Week.
Basketball New Zealand All you want to know about basketball in NZ, and the communications manager for the site is really nice!
nzoom.com An NZ news page
Badgermaniac.com A site with a nice and informative message board. Click on BadgerBoard at the top of the screen to get to the message board.

Miscellaneous Comments

11.13.05Wow, it's been ages since I last updated this site...almost a year and a half. To make matters short, if you don't know, Kirk is currently playing basketball in Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv. It's a very good team and so far he seems to be doing well. I heard through the grapevine that the fans there are loving him...no surprise there, eh? Anyway, due to circumstances (namely I'm currently living and teaching in South Korea) I will probably not update this site much, if ever. But hey, I'm keeping the site up for anyone who's still interested in reading about Kirk's basketball past. And if you just found this site because you're a new fan of Kirk after his joining Maccabi, I'm jealous! Not only am I not able to see Kirk in action anymore, but I can't even watch the current Badgers this year. How sad. Anyway, enjoy!

7.7.04No, I'm not dead. Good news: neither is KP! :) Here's a very very very quick and brief update. Right now he's playing on the Minnesota Timberwolves' summer league team. They played last night and the night before. I think they play tomorrow and the day after that as well. So far they've lost both their games. I don't have the stats in front of me right now and my internet connection is pissing me off right now so I have no details right now. I think he played 10 minutes the first game and scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting. Nothing to jump up and down about. Tonight he played only 5 minutes but scored 10 points!!! On 4-4 shooting (2-2 from 3). Now that is not too damn shabby. Let's see how he does tomorrow night...and the next game. If you want more complete details go to the Timberwolves site at www.nba.com/timberwolves .

1.11.04Ok, I haven't improved any on my updating. Just call me lazy. And busy. For all his game stats thus far, check out Kiwihoops. When I don't have a massive headache I'll try putting the info on my actual site. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that KP has basketball cards out--a couple of him as a Timberwolf. With the help of ebay (I love ebay!) I purchased them both. I also have a basketball card of him from his senior year as a Badger that they gave out before a Badger game last year. I wonder if there's any Auna Gran Canaria or Tall Black cards out there of him? :) Here's what the cards look like (well, they're crappy pics because of the glare of the camera flash):

12.1.03Ok, so I've done a crappy job updating this site. Lo siento. I got more detailed info on KP's stats from the first game he played as a Canary vs. Ricoh Manresa (which they lost 65-69). He played 21 minutes. He had 13 points on 5-11 shooting (2-6 from 3) and was 1-4 from the free throw line (hmmm, that's not too characteristic of him). He also grabbed 4 rebounds and had 2 assists. Not too shabby. Since then Auna Gran Canaria has played a couple more games. They played Etosa Alicante and won 76-73. KP played 20 minutes and had 12 points on 4-10 shooting (1-4 from 3) and was 3-3 from the line (there, that's more like it!). He had 1 rebound and 1 assist. They have also played Caprabo Lleida and won 90-77. Kirk played 19 minutes and had 11 points. He shot 2/3 (2/2 from 3) and was 1/2 from the line. He also had 1 assist.

So, I got an email from a Kiwi the other day (thanks, Nat!) informing me that I had made it into an Australian magazine. Which is really hilarious and amazing to me. It's a magazine called "Ralph"...sources say it's akin to the US magazine "Maxim". Now I don't read either so I can't say how true that is. Anyway, there's a page article thingy on Kirk and "How to be an NBA star." Then there's little boxes with 'tips', and one of them involves having crazed fans...which is where I come in. :) Anyway, Nat was kind enough to email me a scan of the page, so for your viewing pleasure I'm including it here for you--click on the image to make it bigger. They did get my website URL wrong though...

For those of you interested in reading things I have to say about the Badgers of this year, I'm making a new site for that. It's not done yet (yes, I'm aware that none of the pictures work) and I need to update it, but here is the link nonetheless: Badgers

11.16.03So, Kirk played his first game with Auna Gran Canaria. It was against Ricoch Manresa. They lost 65-69. So it was pretty close. Kirk scored 13 points...3rd best on the team. I couldn't get any other stat info other than the number of points he scored though. I don't think they have that on the website, and if so, I couldn't find it because my Spanish is not that great. Mi Espanol no está bueno. It's really bothering me that I can't get the tilde on the 'n' or the accent on the 'a' to show up.

11.15.03Nothing new to report here, but I've added an article to the article list from the website of KP's new team Auna Gran Canaria. The site is all in Spanish though, so my roommate and I translated it to the best of our abilities...no guarantees on the accuracy of our translation. If anyone's fluent in Spanish and spots a glaring inaccuracy, feel free to let me know! Oh, and for those interested in checking out the website of his new team the URL is http://www.cbgrancanaria.com. Link: Auna Gran Canaria

11.12.03Wow, my favorite NBA teams are not remaining my favorite for long, are they? So the Miami Heat cut Kirk from their team. Boo! Poor KP. He didn't even get to play against the Timberwolves. :( I was looking forward to that. Now Kirk has signed with Auna Gran Canaria. It's a team in the Canary Islands (which is west of Africa and south of Spain). He's #21 now (Andreas' #!). Hopefully he'll get lots of minutes and actually be appreciated on this team. NBA teams suck. I'll try to keep this site updated with how he does as a canary. I've added a couple more articles to the article list. They are a bit old now, but that's ok.

11.5.03I should have updated this a bit ago, but I've been too busy...so sorry. Anyway, Kirk DID sign with the Miami Heat!! Woo-hoo!!! New favorite NBA team=Miami Heat. And they play the Timberwolves next. Here's hoping the heat kick the Wolves' ass! Being as wolves are northern animals I bet they can't take the heat...so down they'll go! I have a couple of new articles that I need to stick on my article list, but I don't have time for that now so it'll have to wait. As for how KP did in his first two days as a Heat teammate: In the first game against the Dallas Mavericks they lost 93-103. Kirk played 13 minutes and had 3 points on 1-6 shooting (1-3 from 3). He also had 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 steal. And 3 turnovers. Not too bad considering he hadn't had a single practice with the team yet. He was even wearing a jersey that had his name spelled wrong (Penny). They then lost their next game against the San Antonio Spurs 73-80. Kirk played 4 minutes. That's all I can say about that. The rest of his stat sheet for that game consists of zeros across the board. I hope he plays more in the next game...but being as it's against the Timberwolves and he'd practiced against them all summer I bet he will get more time. Wouldn't it be great if he racked up the points? :)

As for Badger news, the first game is on Saturday against the EA Sports All Stars...featuring none other than one of my least favorite players ever (an ex-Illini) Lucas Johnson. Man does that guy bother me. Sadly, I'll have to miss that game. :( I'm going home to Minnesota to go to the Badger-Gopher football game at the Metrodome. That and my brother's fiancee is having a wedding shower. I am very ashamed that I'll be missing the very first game. At least it's only an exhibition game. You know what sucks (other than your apartment living room getting flooded from too much rain...which did happen to me the other night)? We have a crap-load of injuries occurring. Alando Tucker broke his foot and will be gone until December, Jason Chappell broke his foot or something and will be gone until January, Boo Wade just sprained his knee and will be gone for 3-4 weeks, and I believe Andreas Helmigk and Freddie Owens are coming off of some minor injuries. What the hoznu are they doing in practice?? Quit killing each other, boys!

11.2.03What a day! Student season ticket exchange was this morning. Being the first group in line and waiting in line for over a month paid off. I was able to score first row seats!!! For the entire season! Woo-hoo! Apart from the Kohl Center screwing over my friend, the morning was wonderful. Liz, I hope everything ends up working out all right.

Then I hear from a trusted source that KP may have signed with the Miami Heat! Please be true! Here's hoping! [Hey Christi, I bet this is all due to our conversation on Thursday;)]

10.25.03Well, no longer do I call myself a Timberwolves fan. The T'wolves have decided to cut Penney from the squad. Now I hope they lose all their games. Some may say I'm fickle...well, maybe I am. As for what he'll do now, I have no clue. But whatever it is, I wish him the best of luck.

The stats on the last 2 games he played as a Timberwolf (before he was cut) are the following: On Monday the 20th they played the Milwaukee Bucks and won 91-86 thanks to KP's heroics in OT. Kirk scored 7 of the T'wolves 9 points in OT, finishing with 8 points on 3-3 shooting. He had one free throw in regulation and a 2-pointer and two 3-pointers in OT. And he had a rebound... all that in only 8 minutes of play. Not too shabby. His performance got his pic up on the Timberwolves main website. I guess they didn't appreciate his work enough though. :( On Wednesday the 22nd they lost to the Boston Celtics 80-96. Kirk played 8 minutes and shot 2-4 (1-1 from 3) for a total of 5 points. He also had 3 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Again, not bad for only 8 minutes of play! I hope the T'wolves' decision to cut Kirk comes back to bite them in the ass.

10.19.03More updates from the Timberwolves' preseason games: Last Saturday they played the Knicks and won 96-77. Kirk played 18 minutes and was 2-2 (1-1 from 3) and was 1-2 from the line for a total of 6 points. He had 4 rebounds and a blocked shot. Last Monday they lost against the Hawks 86-98. Kirk played 26 minutes and was 5-8 (0-1 from 3) and 2-2 from the free throw line for 12 points. Nice! He also had 2 rebounds and an assist. They lost to the Raptors 76-90 last Wednesday. KP played 21 minutes. He was 2-6 (0-2 from 3) for 4 points. He had 3 rebounds (2 offensive) and 1 assist. On Friday they played the Pacers and lost 93-96. Penney played 22 minutes and was 2-9 (2-5 from 3) for 6 points. He had 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Even though the T'wolves lost their last 3 games, they've been playing without as many as 3 of their starters due to injuries. Here's hoping Kirk plays well in their next 3 preseason games to possibly get signed in their last regular roster spot! If not, I guess he'll possibly be signed on their IR list. What with all the injuries the team has right now that wouldn't be too bad a place to be! Good luck, KP!

Oh, I also read on the Timberwolves site that Kirk passed out backpacks to kids in elementary schools in the Twin Cities area with a few other guys associated with the team. What a cute thought...already doing charity work with the T'wolves. :)

10.11.03Here are a few updates on Kirk's time so far with the Timberwolves. And I added few articles. From the most recent stuff I've read I guess he's one of five guys competing for the final spot on their roster (other than those who may get on the IR list). Hopefully he'll impress them enough to nab that last spot! Anyway, the T'wolves had an intrasquad scrimmage not too long ago. Kirk's side won 72-53! Yay! Kirk played 25 minutes, was 4-8 from the field (1-2 from 3), and was 4-4 from the free throw line for a total of 13 points. He also had 2 rebounds and a steal. Not too bad! He was on the same team as Kevin Garnett who was the leading scorer...and Sam Cassell was the 2nd leading scorer on his team (with 14 points). Kirk had more points than any other individual player on the opposing side. I think the T'wolves should sign Kirk because then there'd be a KG and a KP on the team. :)

The T'wolves played their first pre-season game a couple of days ago against the Milwaukee Bucks. The T'wolves won 99-98 on a last second 3 pointer. Nice! Kirk played 27 minutes. He only had 2 points on 1-5 shooting (with no 3 point attempts). He had 2 rebounds and 3 assists. Not the best shooting game ever, but what can you expect from someone playing against (and with) veteran NBA caliber players? I mean, if he played as well as Kevin Garnett all the NBA teams would be fighting for him! So that's all I have for now. Oh yeah, one more thing I noticed--Kirk's T'wSolves jersey # is 6...the number he uses when on the Tall Blacks squad (kinda sad not to see him wearing #20).

9.9.03The Tall Blacks did indeed play their last game against the Australians. They lost yet again, with the final score being 75-84. Penney did not have a stellar game. He shot 4-18 (2-11 from 3) for a total of 10 points. He also tacked up 4 rebounds, 3 assists, while playing 37 minutes. Too bad they lost all 3 games, but hopefully they'll be able to get it together when it really matters. Good luck to Penney when he participates in the Timberwolves' Veterans camp, hopefully solidifying his contract with the T'wolves.

9.3.03The TBs lost their second game to the Aussies this morning. :( The final score was 76-90. Kirk didn't have as great a shooting game as the other day--he shot 3-11 (2-8 from 3) for 9 points. He was 1-2 for free throws and had 10 rebounds (nice!), 2 assists, and played for 35 minutes. I really don't know if they still play their last game against Australia since it'd pretty much be a moot point, but who knows? Maybe they'll play again for fun...or not. So anyway, the Australians have won the seeding battle against the Kiwis...but hopefully the Kiwis will win the war!! Whoa, sorry about that last sentence...got a little carried away with myself...

9.1.03Well, the TBs lost against Australia last night. The final score was 66-79. Penney had a nice game, however, leading all scorers with 22 points. He shot 7-17 (5-9 from 3), and was 3-4 from the free throw line. He had 3 rebounds and played 31 minutes. Hopefully they can win their next 2 games against Australia! Good luck!

8.26.03Penney will be playing for the Tall Blacks this week as they face off against Australia in the Oceania Olympic qualifying series. As far as I can gather, two teams from Oceania are guaranteed a spot in the Olympics (because of NZ's wonderful 4th place finish at the World Basketball Championships). I guess the only two countries with teams that can even qualify are Australia and NZ...so both are guaranteed a spot in the Olympics, but whoever wins this series will get the better seed...or something. Anyway, the games are on Monday (1st), Wednesday (3rd), and Thursday (4th) at 10:30 pm NZ time...which I think are the same days but at 5:30am for Central time. But this time difference thing really confuses me, so that may be wrong. But it's not as if we can see it on tv here in the US anyway, so it's not really THAT important we know the exact time...I hope Penney plays well and the Tall Blacks kick some Aussie asses!

8.23.03The Timberwolves signed Kirk!!! Read the latest article I linked to read more about it. What great news! Great going, Penney!

8.10.03I'm slowly changing the style and setup of my site, so if things seem weird or whacky at times, that's why. I'm trying to figure out how best to rearrange the site for the upcoming basketball season--I want to keep the Penney page up, but I also want to continue a page on the Badger team. So sometime in the future this site will be split into two different pages. I changed the colors so they're a bit more Badger-y. Apparently a tiny bit of red and white writing makes it look more Bagder-y... :) If there's something you like/don't like about what I've done, feel free to let me know. If you have any suggestions for anything you can tell me that as well. I really do plan on updating the pictures sometime soon, so please be patient with me!

7.29.03 Ok, so I've finally gotten around to putting Kirk's stats from the Timberwolves' summer league games on here. They played the Detroit Pistons in their first game and won 74-72. KP played 16 minutes and had 6 pts, shot 2-5 (2-4 from 3), had 1 rebound, and 1 assist. Those 2 3s were at the end of the game to help rally them to a win. :) Game two they played the Milwaukee Bucks and won 98-78. KP played 12 minutes and 7 points, shot 3-6 (1-2 from 3), had 1 rebound, and 1 assist. Game three they played the Miami Heat and won 85-69. KP played 17 minutes and had 16 points. He shot 6-10 (1-2 from 3), 3-4 from the free throw line, had 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 steal. 13 of his 16 points were in the 4th quarter! They played the Cincinatti Cavaliers fourth (minus Lebron James) and lost in OT 98-99. KP had 14 points and played 25 minutes. He shot 4-9 (1-1 from 3), 5-6 from free throw line, had 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. They played the Orlando Magic last and lost in OT again 98-101. KP played 23 minutes and had 14 points. He shot 5-10 (2-4 from 3), 2-2 from free throw line, had 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. Phew! Think I got it all... And he was invited back to attend the Timberwolves' veterans camp later this year. A good sign! It seems like Kevin Mchale is pretty keen on Kirk. Here's hoping he'll get signed by them! Btw, he totally outperformed Rick Rickert's ass in the games as well...haha!

6.27.03 Well, no team was smart enough to snatch up Penney in the NBA draft. :( However, he is attending the Minnesota Timberwolves' summer camp. So if he does well, he just may become a member of the Timberwolves. Meaning he may play with Rick Rickert, who was drafted by the Timberwolves in the 2nd round. As far as NBA teams that I'd want Penney to play on, the Timberwolves have got to be up there. They're based not too far away from Madison and I would have to say that the Timberwolves are my favorite NBA team for the simple fact that they're my "home team" (being as I'm from Rochester, MN). Good luck, Kirk!

6.25.03 Sorry abou the horrid job I've been doing on updating the site. So here's a huge slew of news: Added a couple of new articles. There's also another article I'll post soon, but can't right now. The NBA draft is tomorrow night...I believe it will be on ESPN at 6pm tomorrow (Thursday). In Madison, anyway. It lasts 5 hours!!! Wow, long enough, eh? Kirk won a couple of Big Ten awards recently as well. He was a Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient and won an Outstanding Sportsmanship Award. Nice! For more info on these awards read the article I posted about them. I particularly enjoyed how he was voted Big Ten's Most Personable Player last year. :) That's actually all I can think to say about Kirk right now...I can't wait to see him drafted tomorrow (which he should be if teams know what's good for them!)!

In other news, great job we did supporting our sports teams last year! Wisconsin is the only school in the nation that had 6 varsity sports ranked in the top 20 in national attendance at home games. We were ranked #1 in Men's Hockey, #2 in Women's Hockey, #3 in Volleyball, #6 in Men's Basketball (Yay!!), #10 in Women's Basketball, and #15 in Football. Men's Hockey, Men's Basketball, and Volleyball were all #1 in the Big Ten. Hurray for us! It's actually kind of sad seeing that we were ranked #2 in Women's Hockey with an average attendance of only 905 people. :( Not too popular, I guess. For the record, we averaged 16,930 people at our Men's Basketball games (and 78,023 at Football games).

6.8.03 For info on Kirk's performance at the pre-draft camp, look at the latest article posted (Penney battles to bitter end). While not the star of the camp, he did hold his own. Now on to June 26th and the draft! Good luck, Penney!

6.2.03 This week Kirk is at an NBA pre-draft camp. I hope he does great to impress "those who matter." For info on Kirk's NBA chances, the best I can say now is to read the last article I posted on the article list ("Penney ready for big audition"). I don't know much more than that. Ok, I don't know any more than that, really. And congratulations to Dave Mader on his marriage! Is he the only married Big Ten player?? He will now be the Mark Vershaw of years past...

5.10.03 No exciting news here. Just added a couple of articles that I had never gotten around to adding. One of these days I need to update the picture pages...but it definitely won't be within the week. Finals take priority, I'm afraid. Something else I was alerted to a while ago...on the UW Volleyball poster from this year, it looks like Penney is in the crowd...near the front, being framed by another person's raised arms. The pic is a bit blurry, but if it's not him it's a guy that looks a lot like him! Thanks to Laura for noticing that when she was looking at the poster in one of the Physics bathrooms. Not having a volleyball poster handy, I myself have observed it hanging up in the Greenbush Bakery entrance. Mmmm...donuts...

4.15.03 I hope everyone has their taxes filed! So, Penney's team lost their last game at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament 86-93. He had 16 points (7-12), 2 rebounds, and 2 assists, and no turnovers. He was named to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament All-Consolation team. Which puts him in the top 15 of the 64 players invited to the tournament.

4.11.03 So, Penney's team won their second game at the Portsmouth Invivtational 66-60. He scored 7 points on 3-9 shooting. He had 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 3 turnovers in 28 minutes. And Sharif Chambliss is officially transferring to become a Badger next year. He'll have to sit out next year (as per NCAA rules) but will be eligible to play the following year. I hope he fits in well with our team. Good luck to him!

4.10.03 Ok, here's a slew of info..some of which is new, some of which isn't that new but I kept forgetting to put it on here when I updated it for some reason. First off, a while ago Kirk was named an AP Honorable mention All-American. Not bad. The Badgers finished at #13 in the Coaches Poll for the season (tied with Illinois). Not bad, again. Also, Frank Burlison at Foxsports.com has the Badgers at #3 NATIONALLY in his pre-season ranking for 2003-2004. Extremely not bad! A bit too optimistic? Nah. Andy Katz at ESPN.com has the Badgers ranked a pre-season #20. Which averages out to a #11-#12 ranking. About where we currently are...how interesting.

Penney was also invited to play in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. I don't know much at all about this, but I guess the top seniors in the nation who aren't already assured of a spot in the NBA draft are invited. Or something. If you play well in it, then I guess you get noticed by the "people who matter." So anyway, Kirk's team played yesterday and lost. :( Final score was 79-91. But, Kirk was the leading scorer on his team with 15 points on 7-14 shooting. He also had 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, and only 1 turnover. And he logged the most minutes of any other guy on his team (32). They played again today but I don't know if they won or lost yet, even though I'm pretty sure the game is over. So I'll update that soon.

Sadly, Tony Bennett is leaaving the Badger staff to assistant coach at Washington State University, where Dick (his dad and former Badger coach) was recently named head coach. I will miss seeing him on the bench. So next year we'll be missing both Kirk and Tony. :( But, we may be getting Sharif Chambliss, who may transfer here from Penn St. That would be interesting. I used to hate him, but that was only because he was a 3-point shooter and I hate 3-point shooters who aren't on our team. So, if he ends up on our team, he's ok.

4.7.03 I watched the College Three-Point and Slam Dunk Competition the other day. All I have to say is, "Where the hell was Penney??" He could have totally kicked some ass in that competition (the three-point, not the slam dunk...obviously)! From the Big Ten they had Willie Deane and Tom Coverdale, both of whom sucked it up big-time. How do they pick people for this anyway? Deane's 3-point%=32. Coverdale's=35. Penney's=39. And one of the guys from the Salukis team that was in the competition was also on this MTV show earlier this year (Real Life: I'm a College Baller, or some other such show). He's getting quite a bit of extra exposure. And he never blinks. That's all for today. No noteworthy news on Kirk that I've heard, anyway.

3.27.03 And the Badgers played their last game of the season tonight, losing to #1 Kentucky 57-63. Kirk had a great game, scoring 20 points (5-7 from 3), grabbing 6 rebounds, and dishing out 3 assists. Even though they lost, the team played wonderfully, showing that they do, in fact, deserve the respect all us Badger fans knew they should have received all along. It's sad to think that this was Kirk's last game as a Badger, but I'm sure next year will be great as well. I wrote a little something in appreciation of Kirk and the team, but that 'little' something turned into a long something. Therefore, I have it linked as "Tribute to Kirk Penney and the Badgers" at the bottom of the article list. Read at your own discretion! :)

3.22.03 OH MY LORD!!!! SWEET SIXTEEN, HERE WE COME!!! Is it possible for me to love Freddie any more than I do at this moment?? Maybe I should whip up a website on him... :) Ok, maybe not. So, after playing a not-so-good game for about 38 minutes, the Badgers went nuts and pulled out a come-from-behind win with a Freddie Owens 3-pointer with 1 second left. After having resigned myself to a loss (yes, I am ashamed to say) I was absolutely freaked (in a great way) after Freddie made the three. The sad thing was, I was watching it alone and had no one to share my joy with. But that's ok... I'm sure my neighbors heard me. Kirk had a HORRID game. I'm SOOO glad that this wasn't his last. That would not have been a good game to end a college career on. He had 6 points on 2-12 shooting (0-5 from three), but had 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Mike played a great game, and I was also impressed with Boo. The Badgers play either Kentucky or Utah (Go Utah!!!) next week in Minneapolis. Hopefully, we'll have a lot of Badger support, being as it's in Big Ten territory. Kirk has a great track record in Minneapolis, so here's hoping! Man, I keep thinking about how happy Freddie must be (well, the entire team, but Freddie especially) and it makes me smile every time. Well, that's all for now.

3.21.03 Happy first day of spring, everyone! Or first day of fall for those in the southern hemisphere. Well, I'm back from my vacation, so now I'm able to update. I bet you all couldn't wait, right? So, the Badgers didn't do too hot in the Big Ten tournament. They lost to Ohio State 50-58. Not pretty. Kirk had a team high 14 points, including 4 threes. He also had 4 rebounds and 3 assists. They ended up getting a 5 seed in the NCAA tourney, playing Weber St. the first round. They played them yesterday, and won 81-74. Kirk had a great game, scoring 21 points, grabbing 9 rebounds, and dishing out 5 assists. Muy impresivo! I was unfortunately on an airplane for the first half. During the first part of the second half I was pulling a Home Alone and running frantically through the Chicago airport in the dismal hope I'd make my connecting flight (my previous flight had been delayed). But I did, in fact, miss it. So I then wandered through the airport looking for a place where they were playing the game, and found it. I was able to watch 2 minutes of it before they cut into Iraq footage and I had to leave to make sure I caught my standby flight. But I did get to see Kirk get a turnover and Alando make a basket. But it was announced to all on the plane before lift-off that the Badgers had won the game, prompting many cheers. That alone made my frantic day worthwhile (I swear I was going to kill the cab driver who drove us to the airport...for the love of God, STOP PUMPING THE BREAKS!!!). So I get home and my roommates's mom had recorded the game for us...but mysteriously it didn't record any audio. So I watched the game sans audio. I think they showed Kirk's dad like 5 times. Thankfully, Sarah's mom had gotten about 5 other people to record the game as well since she was paranoid about screwing it up, so hopefully I'll get a normal version of the game from someone. Anyway, the Badgers play in the second round tomorrow at 4:50 against Tulsa, a 13 seed. I'm confident, even though "Tulsa is tougher than Weber St." But hey, everyone (besides Badger fans) thought we'd lose against Weber St., so what do they know? Not much, is the answer to that. However, if we win we'll have the pleasure of playing tourney favorites #1 seed Kentucky. That is, if Kentucky beats Utah...likely. Well, that's all for now (thank God, right?). Good luck tomorrow, Badgers!!!

3.14.03 Congratulations are in order for Kirk, Bo Ryan, Devin, and Alando. Kirk was named to the Big Ten's first-team. He and Brian Cook (boo!) were the only 2 who were unanimously selected for this honor. Great job! Brian Cook edged out Penney for BT Player of the Year. Well, Kirk had my vote for BT Player of the Year. Too bad my vote counts worth crap. Bo Ryan was named BT Coach of the Year, yet again. This is the first time that a BT coach has won Coach of the Year both his first 2 seasons. Let's see if he makes it three after next year. :) Devin was named to the second-team by the coaches and third-team by the media. And we all know that the coaches know more than the media! The coaches put Alando on their all-freshman team and the media made him an all-league honorable mention. Super job, guys...and this goes to the entire team, not just to those officially honored. In the sad news category, Dave broke his hand in practice and won't be able to play the rest of the season. That really sucks, and I feel super bad for him. We love you, Dave!

Tomorrow (Friday) the Badgers play Ohio St. in the BT Tournament at 11:00am. Too bad it's at 11:00. I have to miss the beginning because I have to be at a mandatory school meeting. Education should never get in the way of sports watching. :) Maybe I can sneak out early...I hope that Ohio St. plays tomorrow like they did today against Iowa. Because they pretty much sucked it up. Both teams did. And how about Minnesota losing to Northwestern? Too bad about that. I have to say that I root for the Gophers after the Badgers. Hey, they're my "home-town" team, if you will. Besides, my dad was at the tournament (9th row behind the bench...how'd he score those?) so it would've been nice for them to win at least one. Now my dad's probably pissed off. Boo-hoo. Indiana beat Penn St. by about 30. No surprise there.

Ok, it most definitely IS Freddie in that Sprite commercial. Wow, Freddie made it into a Sprite commercial! Good job, Freddie. I swear Tom Coverdale is in it like 5 times. Then again, maybe not. But once is too many for him. Oh my God, I just saw a Hooters commercial with Dickie V in it. I am now scarred for life. As if either of those aren't bad enough on their own, they have now been paired together. Thank you very much for that nightmarish image. Spring Break starts tomorrow (although technically it's another Winter Break, but whatever the name, I'll take it). I'm heading to sunny San Francisco. Too bad the forecast for the week there is rainy and not that warm. Such is my vacation luck. Oh well. Even if it snowed there I'd still be happy with my break from school. I just wrote 35 pages of schoolwork in a week and a half. Break is severely needed. On another unrelated note, I went to a Coldplay concert last night (right in the middle of Marquette territory...ew). It was very good, even though they didn't play 3 of my favorite songs. They can't play them all, I guess.

3.7.03 Congratulations to all on the team for winning BACK TO BACK BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES!!! The Badgers beat Illinois on Wednesday night 60-59. I seriously thought I was going to pass out at the end of that one. I was absolutely trembling when Devin went up to shoot his free throws. Then he missed the first one and I think I stopped breathing until he hit the second. Thank you, D-Ha!!! Of course rushing the court was great, but I wish people hadn't filled the aisles with like 3 minutes left in the game. That was a little annoying. My seats weren't quite as great this year for court storming (last year at the Michigan game I had front row seats!), but I still managed to get in a decent place on the court. I practically had front row "seats" for the net-cutting down. I had my camera, so I hope my pics turned out ok. What a GREAT couple years of basketball! I'm so glad Kirk had an extremely memorable last game at the Kohl Center. I'm sure everybody will miss his presence on the team next year (not that I anticipate the team's success to drop, mind you). Kirk ended up scoring 14 points (the leading scorer), had 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. He also played all 40 minutes. I can't believe that Brian Cook scored 25 points when it seemed like tons of his shots didn't go in. Then again, he did have 18 field goal attempts and 10 free throw attempts. That'll do it for ya, I guess. Penney was honored before the game since it was Senior Night, and he had a very nice ovation...much deserved. The Badgers play the winner of the 8/9 seed game on Friday, March 14 in the Big Ten Tournament. That will most likely be either Iowa or Ohio St. Iowa scares me because of their freakish ability to make great runs in the tournament. Wouldn't it be great to win the tournament to help put to rest all those who complain that the Badgers only won the championship because of their "easy schedule"? Good luck the rest of the season Kirk Penney and the Badgers!

3.3.03 AND THE BADGERS REMAIN IN SOLE POSSESSION OF THE LEAD IN THE BIG TEN!!! I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to "The Barn" yesterday. What a great game...got a little scary in the second half, but we ended up with a 'W', so I'm happy. There were quite a few Badger fans there, which made me happy. Kirk had 16 points (15 of which came off of five 3 pointers!) on 5-7 shooting (all 7 attempts were 3 attempts..the only 2 pointer he attempted he was fouled on... very interesting to me). He also had 6 rebounds and a steal. And 5 turnovers, but 2 (especially 1) of them was really not his fault. So anyway, the Badgers play Illinois at the Kohl Center on Wednesday...If they win that game then they will clinch sole possession of the Big Ten championship...that would be Sooo great! If we lose then Illinois will have to lose at home against the Gophers for us to share the championship with Illinois. And it's not likely that Illinois will lose at home to MN, so we have to win our next game! But hey, what's our record at home against conference foes under BO Ryan? 15-0? Well, it's not likely we'll lose at home to Illinois! :) It's also Senior Night and Kirk's last game at the Kohl Center. I hope he has a great last game and that he gets a super ovation!

2.27.03 AND THE BADGERS ARE IN SOLE POSSESSION OF THE LEAD IN THE BIG TEN!!! For now, at least! After kicking some serious ass against Michigan (73-42), the previous owner of first place, Wisconsin is now 1/2 a game ahead of Michigan and Illinois. It was an excellent all-around game for everyone. Kirk finished with 15 points, including three 3s. He also had 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Alando had a double-double and Mike had a team high 16 points. Devin was only 1 point away from double figures, but had 6 assists and did a great job defending Horton--keeping him to only 2 points! The Badgers only had 6 turnovers as well. Wow! Hopefully we can continue playing this great this Saturday when we head up to Williams Arena to play the Gophers. I'll be attending the game and cheering them on! They've only lost 1 conference game at home and it was against Illinois...the other game that I went to in Minneapolis. So, I'm hoping that the games I go to jinx the Gophers and they lose. Go Badgers!!!

It was my roommate's 21st birthday yesterday (Happy Birthday, Sarah!) and I am beyond jealous of her. She knows a girl who knows Kirk Penney and she got him to write out a birthday card for her! So she has a birthday card from Kirk Penney...lucky girl! Her birthday also reminded me of why I don't go out drinking more often. Let'e just say that alcohol and I don't mix. She got a birthday card from Kirk Penney (and quit rubbing it in my face, Sarah!)!!!

2.24.03 How sad. :( Look how pretty the new saeson ticket sheet is. Now look how empty the ticket sheet currently is. Only 2 home games left!!! Well, let's make them good ones!

And the Badgers beat Iowa @ Iowa on Saturday afternoon! After a very scary start (reminiscent of the beginning of the Purdue game) the Badgers finally heated up and went on a roll, thanks in large part to Mike Wilkinson. He was a crazy-man from behind the arc, hitting 4 3s to give us the lead in the second half. We ended up winning 61-53. Kirk had 15 points on 5-11 shooting. He also had 4 rebounds and 4 assists (and only 1 to).

How about Chris Hill's (MSU) performance against Syracuse on Sunday? Holy crap, that was impressive. He made 10 three pointers!!! I think he was 10-18 from 3...or something like that. His last 3 was from like 30 feet out as well. Quite amazing. Ok, and towards the beginning of that game they played a Sprite commercial that featured clips of different college basketball games. I looked over at the tv just as one image was leaving the screen, but I swear it was Freddie Owens! But they never showed the commercial again, so I really have no idea if it was or not. For that one fleeting instant it did look like him, however. They also did a feature on SportsCenter on Julian Swartz who used to play for the Badgers. It was pretty good, but also sad (he has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). I hope everything turns out ok for him.

02.20.03 These are the team posters from the years that Penney's been on the team. I don't have a picture of the 2000-2001 season because that particular poster is cut up into 5 pieces and scattered around my room...besides, there's no Penney on it. Not like you can really see him in these other pictures, though. Sorry about the poor quality. The lighting in my room is far from optimal for photographing posters.

Congratulations are in order for the Tall Blacks! They won Team of the Year at the Halberg Awards in NZ, and ended up with the overall Halberg Award...which is NZ's "supreme sporting honour." Their coach, Tab Baldwin (whom I believe is from Florida), won the Coach of the Year award. What an accomplishment coming from a sports-crazed nation (they even picked basketball over rugby for the award!!)! Thanks to Rose for the heads up on this news.

2.19.03 Ummm...what a horrendous loss. Why can't we win at Penn St.??? I really wanted Penn St. to win a game, too. Just not against us!!! Final score: 57-58. That's all I'm saying about this game, otherwise I'll end up saying something I'll regret and then get emails telling me to go to hell or something. At least Purdue lost...so at least one other team tied for first had to lose tonight (being as they played Michigan, now in sole possession of first place). Well, those two teams play each other again, so next time Purdue can beat Michigan and it will all cancel out... On a positive note...congratulations to Kirk for being named co-Big Ten Player of the Week for his performances against Michigan St. and Indiana. This was his 5th time being named BTPotY, setting a Wisconsin record, and tying for 3rd in Big Ten annals. What a word--annals. So hey, at least that was good this week. Oh, and I just remembered that he was also named First-Team All-District. That's a great accomplishment. Joining him on the team are Brian Cook (boo!), LaVell Blanchard, Dwyane Wade (boo again!), and Henry Domercant (never heard of him). Shall I explain my boos for those who may think that I'm not appreciative of good basketball players? Brian Cook is Kirk's biggest threat for the Big Ten Player of the Year award. Hence, me not liking him. As for Dwyane Wade, I just hate everything about Marquette. Their fans are like the most annoyingly idiotic people ever. You could say I think that simply because they're our opponent, but I don't have a problem with any Big Ten teams' fans. Strictly Marquette. And besides, Wade kept Kirk's scoring in single digits when we played them. Not a way to get on my good side.

2.16.03 Hurray for our win against Indiana, 71-59! It was 'a tale of two halves,' pardon the cliche. We were losing 21-29 at the half, then outscored them 50-30 the second half. We started the second half on an 11-0 run. Man, that was really satisfying. Kirk had a game high 22 points, shooting 7-11 (2-3 from 3), and making all 6 of his free throws. He had 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists, and no turnovers. Overall, a very nice game for him. Mike Davis (Indiana coach) really needs to work on his anger management. He was standing on the court for like 90% of the game, much to my annoyance. I was hoping he'd get pissed off enough to run out onto the court yelling at the refs like he did in a previous game, but no such luck. He did get a technical, however, with 45 seconds left in the game. So that was fun. Kirk got to shoot free throws for it (his last 2 points). At one point in the second half, Devin threw an alley-oop-type pass to Alando who kinda layed it in. I was watching the news later that night and the NBC sports guy said while replaying that, "Reportedly, Tom Izzo is upset about that one too." That really made me laugh. Our next game is on the road against Penn St., so we should win. But we did lose there last year, so let's hope they don't get their only win this year against us!

2.13.03 Wow, I got a few hate emails yesterday about my last misc. comment. Ok, so 2...not quite a lot, but enough to make feel really bad. In case there are others who felt the same way as those 2, I thought I'd clarify a few things. 1) I appreciate more than many people the work of the BSFC. NEVER have I said that they have done a crappy job on something or was unappreciative of the work that they do. In fact, I defend them to many people who don't seem to appreciate them. I realize that they worked hard to set up the pep rally which is why I didn't say that they personally did a bad job. 2) As for me not respecting the players, I have the utmost respect for them. I'm obviously a huge fan of all the players and I can't imagine having to work as hard as they do and still perform well in school. Yes, I do realize that they have practice...I foolishly assumed, however, that the rally would have been planned to start after they would have been done with practice. Sorry if I was wrong on that. And yes, I will admit that it didn't occur to me that some of the players were at class at 7:30-8pm. I forgot that classes actually ran that late. I'm extremely sorry if I made it sound like I didn't appreciate the work of the BSFC, because I truly do. As for my anger towards Izzo, my comments were made in the heat of the moment...sort of like Devin and Alando's alley-oop. :) It just annoyed me that we got a big win and all that people could talk about was how disrespectful our last play was. If I was disrespectful, I apologize, and I'll try to be more sensitive and thoughtful in the future. I hope it wasn't the language that you were offended by...then again, I think not, since you guys used quite a bit of it in your email to me.

2.12.03 And we bring Michigan St. down!!! 64-53 was the final score. Kirk had 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists. The Badgers only had 5 turnovers the entire game...not bad at all, especially compared to Michigan St.'s 15. So now there's all this "hullabaloo" about the last 5 seconds of the game. With 5 seconds to go (in which we were clearly going to win) Devin throws the ball towards the basket and Alando finishes with a great alley-oop. Crowd loves it. Tom Izzo (Michigan St. coach) is absolutely pissed off about it. He says to Bo, "I'll remember that" (okay, creepo-suave) and then says in the post game press conference, "I would never let my team do that." Whatever, asshole. Your team lost. Deal with it, don't sit there are whine about everything. I don't want to get off on my "nobody respects the Badgers" rant, so I'll shut up about that now. One more thing though...shut the fuck up, Izzo.

On Monday the Badger Student Fan Club organized a pep rally to get everyone psyched up for the game that was yesterday. I was a little bummed out because I didn't win the scavenger hunt (I was only missing 3 things!!!), but I did win a hat for answering a trivia question correctly (How many consecutive home games had Michigan St. won before we broke their streak last year? Answer: 53). A hat is comparable to 2 plane tickets to anywhere in the continental US...right... The team came to speak to us, but were a half an hour late. It was a little disappointing because I got the feeling that the pep rally was the last place that they wanted to be. Like they were late because they spent a half an hour down in the locker room playing 'rocks, paper, scissors' for who HAD to show up. Bo's speech was nice enough though. Cute article on Kirk in the Cap Times yesterday.

2.8.03 What a way to come back from a bad loss...get a nice win. The Badgers beat Northwestern @ Northwestern this afternoon 74-59. Kirk was back to his usual self this game after a horrid performance against Purdue (I forgot to mention before that at that game Purdue fans started chanting "Penney's worthless"...which I actually thought was pretty clever and funny). He scored 23 points (3 threes) on 7-17 shooting (although some sources say 7-15), had 6 rebounds, 3 assists (again, some sources say 4), 1 block, and 4 turnovers. Yes, he leads the team in turnovers...but he has a nice assist-turnover ratio! And how about Clayton Hanson today?!? 12 points, hitting all 4 of his 3s! Not bad for a guy who doesn't get to play much (I think he averages like 3.5 minutes). Too bad we had to miss the first 5 minutes of the game because ESPN is stupid. They don't cut to our game because they were too busy showing the end of their "bonus coverage" game of Boston College vs. Rutgers. The last 15 minutes of which consisted of us watching the refs watch themselves on a little tv determining if there should be 0.05 or 0.08 seconds left on the clock. Like it mattered. I was so mad that I was missing our game that I was acting like if I yelled loud enough ESPN would hear me and flip over to our game. So that wasn't fun. Ooh,Purdue got the asses whupped by the Gophers. That made me very happy, since I now hate Purdue. Even though Gene Keady said some nice things about Penney. His hair is creepy.

2.05.03 Ok, that game was just horrendous...no getting around it. So, we lost to Purdue (@ Purdue, at least) tonight 60-78. All I can say is, "how did we only lose by 18??" Seriously, at one point we were on par for a 18-70 loss. We did outscore them by 1 the second half! Purdue was nailing all their 3s and we weren't nailing...anything. At all. We also weren't rebounding, passing, or playing defense of any kind. But we were tossing up random crappy shots. Well, Kirk finished with 8 points (you don't want to know what his percentage was...), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 to. The Badgers only had 9 turnovers while Purdue had 17 and we still lost by 18! 5 minutes into the game my goal was to have them not lose by more than 20 points. At least that was met. Well, our next game is @ Northwestern. I really doubt we'll lose this game. And I hope Purdue starts losing!

2.02.03 Granted, we were playing Penn St. at home, but beating a fellow Big Ten team by 31 points (86-55 F)?!? I still say that that's very impressive. Kirk had a season high point total of 28. He shot 10-15. And that's 28 points with only one 3 (from which he shot 1-2)! Wow. He also had 6 rebounds and no turnovers. The only bad thing about his game was that he didn't have any assists. But I think that the rest of his game more than made up for it. What a great game for D-Ha as well. He came close to a triple-double (14 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists). Even though the game was a blow-out, it was very fun to watch because we were playing so well. Hopefully we can continue our stellar playing when we head off to Purdue on the 5th...where we haven't won in like 30 years or something. And how about Michigan St. beating Illinois? Nice! I hate Illinois.

1.29.03 And the Badgers handled Northwestern, no problem! 69-50 was the final score. It was a pretty quiet game (crowd-wise). I don't think that next game will be much louder...hey, it's against Penn St. Then again, they almost beat the Gophers tonight. I wonder if they'll get even one win this year. It'll be sad if they don't. As long as they don't get a win against us! So in tonight's game Kirk scored 18 points on 6-14 shooting (2-5 from 3). He also had 12 rebounds! Woo-hoo! Great job with the double-double! He had 2 assists and 6...turnovers. Hmmm...that's not too hot, but when he's doing everything else he's doing I think we can overlook that. There was a nice news story on Kirk on NBC 15 news tonight. I had to laugh when they showed a clip of him in his landscape architecture class spouting off different kinds of trees and the various merits of their bark. Anyway, until Saturday!

1.27.03 Ok, I've finally gotten around to putting up new Kirk pictures. I've also added a couple more audio links. These other pictures were taken at the MN game on the 15th and were on uwbadgers.com. Thanks! The one on the left is Sarah, Liz, me, and my dad. The one on the right is horrible. It's me "punching" my dad, but what kind of punch I'm throwing him I have no idea. You can tell I'm not a boxer. It's also terribly unflattering. But I thought I'd put it up anyway, in all fairness. I'm sure I have some pictures of Kirk on here that he's less than thrilled about, so I thought I'd treat myself the same.

1.22.03 Woo-hoo! The Badgers took out Iowa tonight 74-61. So we were the privileged team to break Iowa's Big Ten unbeaten string. Stupid Michigan's still unbeaten. But we're now 13-4 total and 3-2 in Big Ten. Very respectable. After only getting 2 points in the first half of this game, Kirk lit it up the second half nailing 4 3s for a total of 14 points. He had a dip in his rebound total (only 2), but he had 5 assists and only 1 to. As a team the badgers only had 5 turnovers...extremely impressive. I guess they're making up for their last couple of games. I think Kirk's been interviewed after all of the last 3 games. Twice by Mike Kelley (whom he called 'Mikey,' much to my delight). I'm feeling confident about out next 2 games... home games against Northwestern and then Penn St. They are 0-5...and they can chalk up another L after they play us! Well, I'm going to go now and try to soothe my aching throat...too much yelling for me tonight!

1.18.03 Ok, how close can one get to having a heart attack without actually getting one? Because I may have been right at that line at the end of this last game. All I have to say is, GREAT game-winning shot with 7 seconds to go, Kirk!!! And GREAT last-second shot block, Alando! Whew! The Badger ended up beating Ohio State 53-52. Kirk finished with only 8 points (with one 3)...and not great shooting stats. But who cares!?! He made the game-winner! He also had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. The first half was just painful to watch...extremely sloppy. We were committing turnovers all over the place. We ended up with 16 turnovers for the second consecutive time. I hope that trend does not continue. In other basketball news, I was very happy that Maryland beat Duke (and only had 3 turnovers!), but I was sad that UConn Cornelius got beat by North Carolina. The Badgers next play Iowa at the Kohl Center. As surprising a start that Iowa has, I'm confident that we'll beat them by a comfortable margin on our own floor. But do I ever think we're going to lose? And for all you Kiwis out there--"It's moments like these you need Minties" (I'm sure you can come up with your own favorite scenario). Man, those things are addicting!

1.16.03 The Badgers beat Minnesota last night 66-50. Yay!!! I do cheer for the Gophers on all other occasions (hey, I did grow up a Gopher fan), but definitely NOT when they play the Badgers! It was great to win by 16 points, especially because my dad got my roommate's ticket and was at the game. Haha! My team's better than yours! It was interesting seeing a 53 year old man wearing a Gopher shirt standing in the student section. Anyway, Kirk had 22 points on 8-12 shooting, including two 3s. He also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Great job, Penney! I guess his mom was at the game...nice that it was a win and that her son did excellently. But the Badgers did lose against Illinois last saturday, 63-69. So it wasn't too bad of a loss. For once that whole "let's keep fouling in these last 50 seconds in the small hope that they'll miss their free throws and we'll get more points" strategy worked. Well, it didn't work well enough to get a win, but we did get closer. Kirk had 18 points and 12 rebounds, (and 4 assists) so he had a double-double! Nice. Tv guide said that the game wasn't playing on tv in my home town of Rochester, so I went to a sportsbar to watch it. I sat in front of this little tv watching it with the sound turned way down. I swear 30 other huge tvs in the place were blaring some stupid football game. It was weird, because usually I have to just listen to away games when I'm at home and not watch them (on internet radio), but that day I was watching them and couldn't hear anything. Then I find out later it actually was on tv. Oh well.

Random things: Ikea is the best store EVER!!! It's seriously dangerous for me to go in there because I want to buy everything...it seems like everything is so cheap! I went there last wednesday when I was in Chicago because I went to the Oprah show. It was very interesting--she had the former governor of Illinois (George Ryan) on talking about his decision to commute the sentences of all inmates on death row in Illinois. They had 3 guys on who were fully pardoned by him as well. I'd just like to state that I totally agree with Ryan's actions. And today I had the pleasure of eating some New Zealand candy (or "confectionaries" as the package states). They were sent to me by my friend in NZ-- thanks, Kimmy! Minties and Macintosh's toffees. Both are pretty good, I have to say. But some of the flavors on the toffees were a bit odd--malt, egg and cream, and harrogate? Whatever harrogate is...it tastes ok though. I also love the slogan for Minties. It' s too long and probably boring to go into though, so I'll just leave it at that. I also just got sent some candy from Germany...I'm like international candy girl this week. Weird...but enjoyable.

1.8.03 So I was wrong thinking we'd win our first 2 conference road games. My crap-ass night culminated in a horrible loss to Michigan 65-66. We were ahead by like 15 at one point and blew the lead. The worst losses are those where you're winning the whole time and then decide to not play defense. And 17 turnovers? Ouch. NOw I'm really hoping we don't get our asses kicked at Illinois on saturday. Kirk was the leading scorer with 16 points on 6-10 shooting (again!) with one 3. He also had 9 rebounds...so almost a double-double! And he had 4 assists. Not much else to say about this game right now. So I went to the Gopher-Illinois game. The Gophers played like crap, the Illini didn't play that poorly, and the Gophs didn't lose by much, so hopefully we can beat them. Then again, they'll be at home...I guess we'll have to wait and see. I don't know if it was just because it was the Big Ten opener or what, but the fans at Williams Arena are WAY louder than those at the Kohl. Our student section is better, but our "regular" fans are worse. At many points in the game everyone was standing and yelling. That doesn't seem to happen much at the Kohl. Hopefully we'll pump it up during Big Ten play. Anyway, here's hoping for a win on saturday! Oh yeah, congratulations to Devin Harris for being co-Big Ten Player of the Week. Great job, D-Ha!

1.4.03 Ok, it's just weird typing 03 instead of 02. So the game today was nice. Some say it was boring, but I don't think any Badger basketball game could be boring. We beat Chicago State 73-45. Kirk had 14 points, including 2 3s. He actually should have had 16 points...they called an offensive foul on him that was SO not an offensive foul. Whatever. He was 6-10 again (2-3 from 3). And 2 people on Chicago State fouled out..the second of which decided to play the "I'm not going to sit down but will walk around a lot" game with us. So we got to yell "left, right..." until the end of the game. Funny for a while, but come on! You need to sit down at some point...you can't deny us the satisfaction of yelling "sit down, you bum!" You foul out, that's your punishment...well, that and not being able to play anymore. Did anyone else notice that one girl cheerleader who is completely ripped? I swear her muscle tone rivals the guys on the basketball team. She's actually probably without a doubt stronger than some of them. It's quite amazing, I tell you. So now Big Ten season is starting. The first 2 are away games (Michigan and Illinois). I would love SO much to beat Illinois @ Illinois. And we need to redeem our loss @ Michigan from last year. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we're going to win them both...hmm. But I'm going to have to find a sportsbar or something to watch those games in since my city doesn't televise Badger games. Crappy.

1.3.03 Wow, long time with no update. You'd think that I'd have more time to update my website while I'm on my break than when I'm in the middle of school. I actually do, I guess, but for the majority of my break I've been at my house with a different computer making updates slightly more complicated. But, I'm currently at my beloved computer (named Jaivon, fyi) so I have time for updates. 1) I got a haircut...which many people don't notice even though I cut off more than 6 inches. Apparently it's "still long, and long hair looks the same." 2) My sister's getting married. 3) My brother has a new girlfriend. And now for the basketball news...

The Badgers' record has improved to 9-2, with wins against Texas Southern, Ohio, and Temple. UW won 81-58 against Texas Southern. Kirk scored 23 points on 9-18 shooting (another 50% outing!), 2-4 from 3. I sadly don't remember this game (or the Ohio one) too well... they were a while ago! But I do remember that there was a guy on the Texas Southern team named Walker, so I called him Walker Texas Ranger. I thought it was funny. Unfortunately, I was pretty much the only one to think so. I guess my wit is just too advanced for others. Right... On to the Ohio game: UW won 75-51. Kirk only had 8 points, but he also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Getting things done in other areas. And this game was great because all the players were able to play. I love it when that happens! Against Temple last night (@ Temple) the Badgers won 80-67. This was a great game to watch. And listen to, since Mike Kelley was doing the commentary! Kirk had a great all-around game with 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. He was 6-10 on shooting and, "Hi, I'm Kirk Penney and I'm the best passer EVER." He had numerous GREAT passes. Must be from playing on the Tall Blacks squad. Not that Bo Ryan can't teach passing, but man was I impressed with the Tall Blacks' passing when I watched them play this summer. How can someone pass so well when they aren't even looking at the guy that they're passing to? Practice, I guess. So anyway, we play Chicago State tomorrow. This should be a very easy win, but we'll see. Let's raise our record to 10-2! Man, will they already have played 12 games?! After tomorrow's game we start Big Ten play...therefore a tougher schedule. On a side note, I'm going to the Gopher-Illinois game on the 7th. I hate Illinios, so I hope the Gophers pull out a win. Suck, it Illinois!

12.14.02 As interesting as it was watching a game in the Bradley Center, I can't wait to get back into the Kohl Center. The Badgers ended up losing 54-63, but the game was closer than the score makes it seem. We were actually ahead by 1 at the half, which was very surprising to me considering how poorly I felt we were playing. We just couldn't hang on second half. Another poor game for Kirk. He finished with 7 points, going 3-10. No 3s from him tonight. I hope he has a great game soon. I had seats way up in the 400 section (section 419, row V, to be exact). Most of the people around us were Marquette fans. I've never had the experience of being practically the only one in my section cheering for my team, so that was interesting. I was pretty loud and probably annoyed many people around me, but who cares? I had fun. But I do have to say that the Bradley Center creeps me out. The atmosphere, more accurately. When they announced their starting lineup, they turned down all of the lights and put a spotlight on the court where their players ran into. They also had other colored lights flying around throughout the arena, and had really loud music playing. I felt like I was at a laser light show or something. Overdoing it a little bit, I'd say. It was also a day that they were handing out gold pompoms to everyone and dropped those annoying white tube-things to people in the end zone to "distract" us while trying to make free throws. All in all, they played WAY too much loud music, hardly utilized their band, and when they band did play, they butchered the songs...in my opinion. Every time a Marquette player would make a free throw, they'd play this sound effect that I can't explain right now, but it was hilarious in its idiocy. Oh yeah, and the whole "WE ARE MARQUETTE" cheer is slightly cultish. And dumb. Like what, I thought you were someone else? All that aside, I had a good time. Too bad we lost.

12.11.02 Man, talk about an ass whooping. The Badgers beat New Hampshire tonight 85-36. A 49 point win...not too shabby. I actually felt bad for New Hampshire though, because they were BAD. Oh well. Kirk had 16 points on 7-14 shooting (2-7 from 3). He really likes going 7-14. He also had a team high 8 rebounds and a team high 5 assists. And 1 block and 2 steals. Mader really got aggressive at points in this game, which was nice. He had a couple massive blocks. I don't really have much to say...the game was not that exciting. All the players got to play though, which is always nice. Oh yeah, and at more than one point in the game, New Hampshire had more turnovers than points. Ouch. I'm going to the UW-Marquette game on Saturday to cheer on the Badgers. I SOOO hope we win. That would be great!

12.08.02 We successfully bounced back to produce a win last night...or should I say yesterday morning/afternoon? We beat UNLV 91-74. On a side note, one guy on the NZ Tall Black squad used to play for UNLV a few years ago. Kirk had 17 points, although his field goal percentage was not especially stellar, to say the least. And he was 0-6 from 3, so I was a bit sad about that...first game this year where he didn't nail a 3. But he did play 38 minutes, have 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, and no turnovers. And the UNLV coach, Charlie Spoonhour, did have this to say of Kirk: "Even though Penney didn't have a good shooting game, he puts so much stress on the defense," Spoonhour said. "He makes you honor him all the time. He stretches you way out." So that was nice. Alando Tucker had a great game in his first start, scoring 24 points and 18!!!! rebounds. 18 rebounds?!? Holy crap! And 11 of them were offensive! All 5 starters scored in double digits, and both Alando and Mike Wilkinson had double-doubles. Our next game against New Hampshire should be a cakewalk. Ok, I'm having one of thoses moments where a word just does not look right...walk? I'm 100% sure I'm spelling it right, but I swear it looks completely wrong. How weird can the English language be sometimes?

12.04.02 Hmmm...not the greatest game. And definitely not the greatest outcome. So the Badgers' home game winning streak (14) ended today with a loss to Wake Forest 80-90. Now I'm not going to pretend that I'm a basketball expert, but I will say that we didn't look too hot. And at points I swear Wake couldn't miss...especially at the line. We had no problems with that, however (missing at the line, that is). The team was 15-24, and Kirk was 4-8. Not very characteristic of us. Anyway, Kirk had 16 points on 5-11 shooting...almost 50%. Too bad he wasn't 5-10 to keep his 50% streak alive. He was 50% on 3s...2-4. And he had a very impressive 6 assists...that's got to be a game high for him. The name of the student section was revealed tonight...and we are The Grateful Red. And we got complimentary t-shirts from the BSFC... thanks, guys. The student section was extremely loud...kudos for that! I have a feeling I will have no voice come tomorrow morning. I think I yell more than Bo. Well, let's hope we step it up a bit from this game to beat UNLV on saturday. I'm confident.

12.03.02 I hope everybody had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was fine...thanks for asking. I had to listen to the Badger-Green Bay game over internet radio at home, so I tied up the phone lines for 2 hours on a saturday afternoon. oh well. It was worth it. But I did have to compete with a Gopher game being listened to in the next room...lucky Gophers and their last second shot. So, the Badgers won the game 69-52. We're now 4-0. Kirk had 18 points and now has over 1,000 career points (1,012). He's the third active Big Ten player with 1,000 points or more. I love games where Kirk gets a three early in the game...such as the Green Bay game. He was 7-14 from the field. How's this for consistancy: not only has he shot 50% in all 4 games, but the stats for the three are 7-14, 7-14, 4-8, 7-14. Wow. I'm very excited for the game tomorrow night...ready to kick some Demon Deacon ass. The Badgers have moved up in the AP poll from #25 to #23 this week. Nice. Our march towards #1 begins!

11.24.02 Happy birthday a day late, Kirk! UW-Madison defeated UW-Milwaukee last night 83-72. After gaining a lead of like 23 at one point, Milwaukee managed to get with 5 with 45 seconds to go. It was a bit nerve racking, but we ended up winning, so no worries. Kirk had 15 points...4-8 for field goals, 1-1 from 3, and 6-7 from the line. The Milwaukee defense seemed especially tenacious...I swear, whenever Kirk got the ball there was suddenly 8 people from Milwaukee on the court all guarding him. You'd've thought the refs would've caught that... :) Whoa, a double contraction...it reminds me of that book you have to read that one time, Sarah. Man, Kirk brought the ball down the court once and did two spin moves in succession to get past his defenders...it was AMAZING! It was like ballet on the court, I tell ya. Devin had a wonderful game last night...19 points and 10 rebounds. His first double-double? I think so, but I'm too lazy to check right now. And former Badger Mike Kelley was doing some color commentary for ESPN...looking pretty dapper, I might add. On the right is a bad picture of him announcing the first game of the NABC tournament for radio.

11.21.02 Penney was named North Harbour Sportsman of the Year for 2002. North Harbour is in New Zealand, for those who don't know. I'm not sure if it's a part of Auckland or just a suburb or what, though. But it is nice recognition from his hometown area of his great performance on the Tall Blacks squad...they also mentioned his college achievements. Congratulations on the award, Kirk!

11.19.02 Kirk was named Big Ten Player of the Week this week. This is the 4th time he's been named BTPotW, more than any other basketball player in UW history. Although he was only up against his own teammates for the honor...the Badgers were the only team in the Big Ten that played last week. :)

11.16.02 And the NABC Classic tournament goes to the Wisconsin Badgers! Was there ever any doubt? I wasn't too far off with my final score prediction--it was 84-56. Kirk and Freddie tied for game high points with 19 each. AND, Kirk had a dunk! His first dunk in a Badger game. He shot 7-14 from the field again. In the award ceremony thing afterwards he was named (along with Freddie) to the NABC All-Tournament team. And Freddie got Tournament MVP...so he brings home this big ol' gold basketball trophy. There was a lot of cheering for Dave tonight, which made Liz happy. He was an offensive rebounding machine tonight. Man, now we have to wait an entire week for the next game against UW-Milwaukee. I was spoiled this weekend with two game days in a row.

11.16.02 I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed last night's game against Eastern Washington. They were our first real opponent...I believe that they are picked by many to win their conference title. We won 81-55. Kirk had another great game. He was 7-14 from the field, 5-6 from 3 point line (which was moved back to international distance for this tournament), and 6-6 for free throws. All for a total of 25 points. The crowd's getting better each game, but the Kohl Center could definitely have been filled with more people. You can't believe the announced attendance of over 16,000 people. At least I didn't...but you can if you want, I guess. I bought the Basketball Media Guide...and I LOVE it! Good thing too, since it costed $20. They have cute questions that all the players answer on their bio pages. I was kinda sad because Kirk's question list was a little short compared to the other players. But that's because more questions couldn't fit on his page because his bio was too long, having to mention all of the great things he's done these past 3-4 years. There were also some errors/typos that really annoyed me. In one section of individual records, every time they spelled "individual" in the heading they spelled it "indivdual." And it just made it worse that it was bolded in a larger font. Don't they have spell check? They also had an honors section and they didn't have Penney listed under Goodwill Games...only Michael Finley, who's listed in EVERYTHING. You could turn to any page and read off his name a thousand times. It got to be pretty entertaining after a while. And the last (and worst, in my opinion) mistake was in the section giving info about all the previous years' teams. For the 2001-2002 season they listed Dick Bennett and Brad Soderberg as the head coaches...umm, I believe Bo Ryan was the head coach. Oops. Went a little wild with the cut-and-paste there, did ya? Well, my prediction for tonight's game against Northern Illinois is 88-55...with us winning, of course. I thought I'd keep the whole 55 points thing going for our opponents (that's what Eastern Wash AND Gallos scored). And I think Eastern Wash is better than Northern Illinois, so we should get more points tonight. On Wisconsin!

11.13.02 Penney was named Player of the Week this week on uwbadgers.com for being named pre-season Big Ten MVP by ESPN.com. They also put him on the All-Big Ten team (but if they made him MVP and didn't put him on this, then they would be seriously mental). They had Wisconsin finishing 3rd. FoxSports also named Penney preseason Most Outstanding Player in the Big Ten. And I think they also had Wisconsin finishing 3rd. Hmmm...I think that's it. There's a new Kirk article from jsonline that's pretty cute. You gotta love artists. Unless it's Matisse. Not a fan of his. Van Gogh, however, is great. Not like you care, but my all-time favorite painting is Van Gogh's The Olive Trees.

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Revised: Sunday, November 13, 2005 o:p>