Curtis Painter Convinced Me: It Really Is His Fault

As I prepared to interview Purdue’s senior quarterback Curtis Painter after a recent game against Minnesota, I had my story angle all plotted out. Just like ESPN’s The Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame... show, I examined the Boilermakers’ disappointing offense, Painter’s subpar 2008 stats (10 INTs and only six TDs), and his team’s losing record...and came to the conclusion that Painter wasn’t completely at fault for Purdue’s struggles.  There were other factors being overlooked, other players performing below expectations, and so on.  I had the story basically written—just had to plug in the right quotes.  Piece of cake, right? A funny thing happened in the postgame press conference, however. Painter wouldn’t take the bait. In fact, every time I brought up a possible reason for Purdue’s lackluster offense that didn’t have to do with himself, he downplayed it.  (And no, I didn’t ask the questions ... (link)