The Weekly Word is GoldandBlack.com's weekly, obviously, column covering Purdue football, basketball and recruiting, as well as college sports issues, the true meaning of life, or whatever other topics might come to mind in a given week.

This week, Ryan Kerrigan retired from the NFL following an outstanding professional career for one of Purdue's favorite sons.

You know, it's funny when you cover this stuff for a long time you come to realize that sometimes "deserve's" got nothing to do with it when it comes to big-time success. Sometimes the best people fizzle and the sketch — of which Purdue's had very little, quite honestly — thrives.

But if there was ever an individual that deserved success, this was it.