Yes, the Purdue sports year is technically over.

But here at GoldandBlack.com, and throughout the Rivals.com college sports network, there is no such thing as an “off-season.”

If you’re a Boilermaker fan and you haven’t signed up for an Ultimate Ticket subscription to this web site, you’re missing out big-time.

Missing out on what, you might ask?

Summer is the time to find at GoldandBlack.com the best Purdue football and basketball recruiting coverage available anywhere.

You’re also missing out on the best available “off-season” team coverage of Boilermaker football and basketball, and the only place to find in-depth Purdue-related commentary during these “slow” months.

Let’s take last week as an example.

If you didn’t have access to GoldandBlack.com – the Internet counterpart to Gold & Black Illustrated, here’s a look at what you missed.

O GoldandBlack.com’s Keith Thomas provided as in-depth a look at Purdue football’s summer workout set-up as has ever been done, in his exclusive four-part series.

Here’s a free look at one of the stories included: Jim Lathrop: Purdue’s Muscle Behind The Weights

O With Matt Painter – GoldandBlack.com was the pacesetter from start to finish on the story of his hiring, by the way - now in charge of recruiting this summer, things have gotten hot and heavy on the summer basketball scene.

Blue-chip point guard Dominic James is Purdue’s top target and a potential flagship recruit for Painter, and a decision is expected in coming weeks. Last week, GoldandBlack.com reported his visit last weekend to West Lafayette, his selection to the USA Basketball Men’s Youth Development Festival (free link and his performance in last Wednesday evening’s Indiana Senior-Junior all-star scrimmage in Shelbyville (free link). Monday morning, GoldandBlack.com will have much, much more on the dynamic point guard.

O With Joe Tiller and Co. coming off an outstanding ’04 recruiting class, the search for the Class of 2005 is underway. Camps have begun, which means so has recruiting in earnest. GoldandBlack.com is the authority on Purdue football recruiting. Last week, camp-related coverage included articles on top Indiana prospect Donald Washington and other intriguing Indianapolis prospects, Ohio camp visitor David Bruton and heralded quarterback Evan Sharpley, who visited Purdue Wednesday, among others.

Our exclusive premium message board feature “BOILING OVER” included much more coverage. What is “BOILING OVER”? Find out here.

GoldandBlack.com also features an exclusive weekly “recruiting focus” series that takes a closer look at the bigger picture in recruiting.

Oh, and GoldandBlack.com will also continue to keep you updated on Purdue’s incoming signees. Last week, Indianapolis Star Indiana Mr. Football Desmond Tardy was featured.

O For all you history buffs, GoldandBlack.com frequently produces series chronicling Boilermaker athletic history.

Currently, publisher Alan Karpick's “Boilers By Numbers” series is counting down the top Boilermaker football players who’ve occupied each jersey number, from No. 1 to No. 99. The series will conclude the day Purdue kicks off the 2004 season against Syracuse. Here’s a free look. Take a more in-depth look here.

And there’s so much more, and much more still to come.

In coming weeks, we’ll unveil a multiple-part retrospective on each of Joe Tiller’s previous seven recruiting classes at Purdue, as well as a series on the top 10 Boilermaker athletes of the year gone by.

July brings the NIKE All-America basketball camp, and with it numerous Boilermaker prospects, to Indianapolis. We'll have full coverage.

In August, we’ll kick off our unparalleled coverage of football training camp – practice reports, player features, breaking news and photo galleries included - leading up to the Orange’s arrival in Ross-Ade Stadium.

With an Ultimate Ticket pass, you’d also receive full access to the entire Rivals.com network, providing you the best football and basketball recruiting coverage on the Internet, as well as full coverage of all the teams Purdue may be competing against – whether it be on the field, court or in recruiting - in the coming year.

You’ll also become part of GoldandBlack.com’s premium message board: “Knucklehead Central," named for the infamous term of endearment given to the most passionate Internet-savvy Boilermaker fans, where you can interact with only the most serious Boilermaker fans and be privy to information available to no one but you.

Signing up is fast and easy.

You can do so here, or by calling Rivals.com at 1-866-2-RIVALS.

Not convinced? We think you will be after you sign up for a seven-day free trial.

Once you do, we encourage you to do two things: 1. Check out all the stories you missed by clicking here - and – 2. Visit Knucklehead Central, then Rivals’ revolutionary recruiting databases (football | basketball).

If you don’t feel ready to subscribe or give the free trial a go, please take a few minutes to explore GoldandBlack.com and peruse its many features, which are too many to even list here. Maybe register for a message board account. Perhaps make a trip to our GBI Newsstand part of your daily morning routine.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to e-mail Brian or to call Rivals.com customer service at 1-866-2-RIVALS.

You know, GoldandBlack.com’s commitment to customer service was recently named best among all sites in the vast (and growing) Rivals.com network.

Thank you for visiting GoldandBlack.com. We appreciate your support and consideration.