It has been a strange week here at BHGP.  We compared Big Ten basketball teams to presidential candidates on Sunday, got a Deadspin-induced traffic bump on Monday, were accused of stealing the concept from people we had never heard of - and Steve Lavin - by Tuesday, and watched in horror as Iowa hoops neared the abyss on Wednesday, then came back from the grave on Saturday.  What better way to get back to normal than with the weekly link dump?

The "Hey, one thing sure is similar to another unrelated thing" column is hardly a novel concept (it's not even new to us):

• Hey Jenny Slater compares presidential candidates to college football teams.  HJS also famously did SEC teams as Simpsons characters.
• The Joe Cribbs Car Wash once compared the SEC to characters from "Arrested Development" (those responsible for the cancellation of that show remain at large).
• Someone does presidential candidates as Star Wars characters.
• In April, SI.com compared presidential candidates to NBA teams.

SportsBlahg issues its list of the All-Time Best Moves in Sports Video Games.  Auspiciously missing from the list is the juke button on Madden 2000 for Nintendo 64.  That being said, the wraparound shot on NHL '94 (ranked #3 on their list) made post-FAC games on Super Nintendo very profitable.  I don't think I paid for a beer in three years.

You can't stop it.  You can only hope to contain it.

Purdue might not have actually fired its current coach, but that didn't stop them from hiring a new one.  Which raises the question:  What do you get when you cross the steely manliness of the Zooker with the sublime moustache of an early-00's Tom Selleck?  Danny Hope, that's what.  (By the way, if you're not reading Boiled Sports, what's stopping you?  Company blocking software that isn't happy with "Sideboob Friday"?  Oh, OK.  Read it at home.)

Some quick hits:

• Lady Andrea watches Iowa kick the crap out of everyone at the National Duals (we will have more on this later in the week).
• Run Up the Score is going streaking.
• I'm not one to admit it, but my only must-read blog is This Week in Milford, the hilarious daily analysis of the immortal Gil Thorp.
• Story of the Week:  Former Michigan Wolverine and current R. Kelly impersonator Glen Rice finds a man in his closet; unknown whether he subsequently found a midget under the sink.

And finally, Vladimir Putin may be Time Person of the Year.  Brett Favre might have won SI's Gunslinger  Egomaniac  Chris Berman Wet Dream  Sportsman of the Year.  But only Akon's path of destruction was enough to secure Realest of the Year.  Former Hawkeye Ricky Davis (the Susan Lucci of RotY) was unavailable for comment.