Thursday, February 26, 2009

I Found Your Camera website

I stumbled upon this site today and I have to say that it's one of the coolest things I've seen people do.

As someone who is physically attached to her camera, I can't imagine what I'd do if I ever lost it or my memory cards.

This blog provides a place to post pictures from found cameras and memory cards in hopes of reuniting them with their owners.

There's a recent post of a camera found here on the East Side of Milwaukee, so I'm cross posting it in hopes of finding the owner.

Fujifilm camera found, Milwaukee




"I found a pink Fujifilm Fine Pix camera on the east side of Milwaukee, WI., near UW-Milwaukee campus the morning of January 4th. The camera was found demolished and damaged beyond repair, but I salvaged the 4 GB memory card. I am more than happy to return the card to the owner, but I have tossed the camera as it was so badly destroyed."


Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Crap! Dominic James out for the year

From ESPN.com

MILWAUKEE -- Dominic James' career at Marquette is over after the senior guard broke a bone in his foot in Wednesday night's 93-82 loss to No. 2 Connecticut.

James, one of three star guards for the Golden Eagles (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today, No. 8 AP), left the game after playing only 4 minutes in the first half. The school announced at halftime that James broke the fifth metatarsal in his left foot, and coach Buzz Williams said after the game that James would miss the remainder of his final college season.

"We are hurtful as a program and hurtful as an institution for Dominic," Williams said. "He has been absolutely incredible throughout his career."

James, one of the Big East's top defensive players, has 1,749 career points and was an integral part of one of the country's top perimeter units, alongside fellow seniors Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews.

Williams said James would likely face about 100 days of rehabilitation after having surgery, which will be scheduled soon.

"It's a big loss not having Dominic," said Maurice Acker, who filled in for James after the injury. "He's one of the leaders of the team, and a game like this we need everybody. Everybody has to pick it up and get ready for the next game."

Marquette faces a brutal finishing stretch, traveling to No. 6 Louisville and No. 1 Pittsburgh before ending the regular season at home against Syracuse on March 7.


Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press


Big Loss For Marquette

Marquette starting point guard Dominic James has a fractured bone in his left foot and is done for the season. James entered Wednesday's game third in the Big East in APG (5.3).

Dominic James
Career at Marquette


Team Rank
Games 127 1st
PPG 13.7 2nd
RPG 3.4 5th
APG 5.0 1st
FG pct 40.7 3rd
>>>Since 2005-06 season

Marquette vs UConn

Tonight’s match up has got to be the biggest games Marquette has played since the 2003 Final Four.

UConn comes to town with a nine-game undefeated streak on the road while Marquette has a 17-game home winning streak. Obviously, something’s going to have to give.

Marquette is the Big East’s most prolific scoring team while UConn is the league’s best defense.
Working against Marquette is the fact that the Huskies are also coming off a loss at home on the 16th to Pitt, who lost last night to Providence.

Though UConn looms over MU size wise, working in MU’s favor is the fact that UConn is missing guard Jerome Dyson.

MU hasn't hosted an opponent when both teams were ranked in the top 10 since 1979.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Some Brewers signing notes

Brewers avoid arbitration with Corey Hart according to NY Post
BREWERS SIGN CORY HART

By JOEL SHERMAN


The Brewers signed outfielder Corey Hart for $3.25 million, avoiding arbitration, the Post has learned.

Hart also can earn $50,000 for being an All-Star, $25,000 for the Silver Slugger, $25,000 for Gold Glove, $25,000 for being LCSMVP, $50,000 World Series MVP, and $1000,000 for being the MVP. He would received $75,000 if he finsihed second in the MVP voting and $50,000 for third.
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The Brewer I most wanted to do well, Eric Gagne, has been re-signed for this season, though only to a minor league deal with a non-roster invite to Spring Training.
It's on the JSOnline.com Brewers Blog.

Not only did he really seem to be a different guy after time off late mid-season for an injury, but the guy is another veteran presence on a young team. We can only begin to hope that some our players learn to be half the civic citizen and presence that Gagne is. He led the team last season in charitable donations.

High Schoolers show sportsmanship isn't dead

Read this on ESPN (actually saw the link on Twitter) and it's about a game between DeKalb (Ill.) High School and Milwaukee Madison.

One of the Madison players had just lost his mother and wasn't planning on playing. He showed up late to the game, having decided to play. He wasn't on the scorebooks because no one expected him to be there, so if he played, the team would have to take a technical.

The other team, however, chose not to "take" the free throws.

It's nice to know good guys still exist and not everyone's playing for the money (or possibility thereof) all the time.

All this came after DeKalb had waited upwards of two hours for the game to begin because the team's coach was at the hospital with the player. DeKalb had even said it was ok to cancel the game, but the Madison coach felt bad they'd driven so far. So DeKalb said "take all the time with your team you need, we'll play when you're ready."

Even further - the coach then wrote a letter to the DeKalb newspaper thanking the team, coach and community.

Great story.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Badger Hockey: Jamie McBain is kind of great

Jamie McBain is a junior defender for the Badgers. That doesn't stop him from being the team's top-scorer, with 28 points. Nor did it keep him from winning WCHA Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.

McBain scored the opening goal of the Badgers' weekend when he notched a short-handed score just before the end of the first period Friday night to totally take the wind out of the Gophers' sails.

He also assisted on Saturday's first two goals and scored the final goal, a power-play goal that gave the Badgers the lead for good after they had let a two-goal advantage slip away.

For the performance, McBain was awarded InsideCollegeHockey.com's National Player of the Week Award.

He's always held a special place in my heart after we had dinner with him at a Badger function two years ago.

Additionally, goalie Shane Connelly was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week.

Read about it at UWBadgers.com
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The Badgers are hyping Jamie as a Hobey Baker (it's kind of the Heisman of college hockey) candidate, but I'm still not sure how serious that whole campaign really is.

Defenders don't often get serious consideration for the Hobey. The finalists are usually the top goalies and goal-scorers in the country.

That being said, Jamie, though a defenseman, leads the WCHA in points with 34 (7 goals, 27 assists.)

One of the other candidates is Minnesota's Ryan Stoa. While he has more goals that McBain (16) he has two less points. And he's a forward.

McBain is the fifth overall scorer in the country and the only defenseman in the top nine.

*edit: McBain's a junior, not a senior

Trivia Answers

On April 6, 2001, the Brewers opened Miller Park against the Cincinnati Reds. What was the final score, and who was the Brewers' 8th inning hero that day?

The Brewers won 5-4 on a solo home run by Richie Sexson.


What numbers are retired for the Milwaukee Brewers?

44-Hank Aaron
34-Rollie Fingers
19-Robin Yount
4-Paul Molitor
42-Jackie Robinson
Bob Uecker

Miller Park was the site of the 2002 MLB All-Star Game. What was unusual about that contest?

It ended in a tie

What 2004 movie, starring Bernie Mac and Angela Bassett, was filmed at Miller Park?

Mr. 3000

Monday, February 09, 2009

Brewers acquire Braden Looper

Pending physical exam (Ben Sheets will tell you how important that is.)

Tom H has the story on his Brewers Blog

Melvin confirmed earlier in the day that a deal was in the works and his quotes to Tom H were interesting:

I asked Melvin what made the Brewers stray from their previous statements that they didn't plan to sign a pitcher on this market because they'd lose financial flexibility down the road to add a better pitcher. He said they did a study of the pitchers who might become available and decided their contracts were too rich and it would involve trading players they'd want to keep.

"We do lose flexibility by making this decision now," said Melvin.

"But it's hard to pass up a guy that would have led our staff in innings pitched (199) last season. He's durable. He grinds it out and throws strikes. We needed some innings."

I asked Melvin if another factor in going after Looper was that the market had come down since the beginning of the winter. Wolf just signed with the Dodgers for $5 million guaranteed.

"That has an impact," said Melvin. "It matters if a player wants to be here, too."

In other words, Looper expressed mutual interest. He'll stay in the NL Central, where he is familiar with the other foes.

The Brewers were going to be reporting to Spring Training with just five starters - one of whom is the much-more-comfortable-in-the-bullpen Seth McClung. With no room for error and a fairly sub-par staff to begin with, it wasn't looking pretty for the Crew.

Milwaukee was reportedly interested in Looper earlier in the season, but decided he was out of our price range.

Savvy Doug Melvin has held out and now it looks like the discount shopping has begun. Looper will likely be taking a pay-cut from the $5.5 million he made last season.

Though Looper's ERA over the past two seasons has been in the 4.5 range and he's not known as a strikeout pitcher, the Brewers are obviously drawn to his durability-he pitched 199 innings last season, 14 more than anyone on our staff.

According to MLB.com's Brewers reporter Adam McCalvy:

The latest negotiations mark a bit of a change in club philosophy from just two weeks ago, when Melvin and Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio hinted strongly that there would be no additions to the starting rotation before the start of Spring Training. Instead, they floated the idea of holding spending at its current level -- about $82 million, pending the outcome of outfielder Corey Hart's arbitration case -- to allow for flexibility early in the season, when the Brewers could try to acquire a top pitcher via trade from a team off to a poor start.

Perhaps those ideas were floated as a negotiating ploy, perhaps Looper's asking price had fallen to a point that made more sense for Milwaukee, or perhaps Brewers officials simply had a change of heart. By Monday, Melvin was singing a different tune.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Brewers Trivia

Got a Brewers page-a-day calendar, thought I'd share some of the trivia questions. They're pretty easy. Hope they get more difficult as the months pass...

Answers posted tomorrow:

On April 6, 2001, the Brewers opened Miller Park against the Cincinnati Reds. What was the final score, and who was the Brewers' 8th inning hero that day?


What numbers are retired for the Milwaukee Brewers?

Miller Park was the site of the 2002 MLB All-Star Game. What was unusual about that contest?

What 2004 movie, starring Bernie Mac and Angela Bassett, was filmed at Miller Park?

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There's also some Brewers facts:

On April 11, 1975, Hank Aaron, now wearing a Brewers uniform, made a triumphal return to Milwaukee in front of 48,160 fans. He went 1-for-3 with a run scored and one RBI in his AL debut.

On July 26, 1987, during Paul Molitor's 39-game hitting streak, he also tied a Major League record by stealing three bases in the same inning, swiping second, third and home against the Oakland A's in a 7-4 Brewers victory.

Outfielder Larry Hisle was the first Brewers player to record a hit in an MLB All-Star Game, knocking a pinch hit single in the 7th inning at San Diego Stadium in the 1978 Midsummer Classic.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

The Man of Glass crumbles some more

The story is that Ben Sheets signed a contract with the Texas Rangers, but went on to fail the physical.

The elbow injury that kept Sheets out of the end of the season has apparently not healed itself as doctors said it would and it's now being reported that surgery is necessary.

As he was on our roster when he injured it, it's likely that the Brewers will have to foot the bill for his surgery. Additionally, if he remains unsigned come June, the Brewers will not receive the compensatory draft picks they would have gotten for losing a top free agent.

Monday, February 02, 2009

Brewers sign seven to one-year deals

Though they're most likely all going to spend the season in AAA, the Brewers signed right-hander Tim Dillard, left-hander Mitch Stetter, infielders Alcides Escobar, Mat Gamel and Casey McGehee, infielder/outfielder Brad Nelson and catcher Angel Salome to one-year deals.

According to MilwaukeeBrewers.com: "Teams control salaries during players' first three years of Major League service. The Brewers pay so-called "zero-to-three" players based on a system that compensates for statistical achievements and awards."

Without Brian Shouse on the roster, Stetter looks to be the bullpen's resident LOOGY, though it will be interesting to see if new manager Ken Macha is as adament about LOOGY matchups as Yost was.

Dillard spent a good portion of last season in the bullpen and will at least compete for a spot on the 40-man through Spring Training.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Marquette: Are they for real?

My assignment was to give five questions for this Marquette team as they head into the meat of their conference schedule. The questions are supposed to help determine if the Golden Eagles can make a definitive run deep into the NCAA Tournament.

The thing is, there aren’t five burning questions this team needs to answer—there’s just one.

Can they keep it up?

Or, more specifically, will they come up against a large inside four that they can’t handle?

This is a team that’s incredibly aware of both its shortcomings and its advantages.

They’re lacking size, but feature a front four that thus far hasn’t been matched by any other team in the country. It would be hard to make an argument against Jerel McNeal as the top guard in the nation. Dominic James is arguably the fastest player in the country and actually seems to get faster with the ball in his hand.

The number one question entering conference play was how well Marquette would be able to handle the much larger front-courts of Big East teams like Pitt, Louisville, UConn, Notre Dame and Georgetown.

Marquette’s answer? So far, so good.

Despite a definitive size disadvantage, the Golden Eagles have managed to start the conference schedule 8-0.

How crucial is the size difference? In Saturday’s game, Marquette’s biggest man was 6’8” Dwight Burke, who played 26 minutes. Burke wouldn’t even be the fourth biggest guy on Georgetown.

After Saturday’s win, coach Buzz Williams was quick to point out that if MU continues to let opposing teams shoot 56 percent, they’ll lose a lot more games. He knows that his team needs to improve. He makes sure they know it, too.

But how does a team out-sized and out-shot dominate the second half of play? By out-rebounding the Hoyas and taking 25 more free-throws. Marquette had 30 points from the charity stripe. Georgetown had eight.

In any given game, Marquette features four players in James, McNeal, Lazar Hayward, and Wes Matthews that can put up 20-to-25 points. Teams can’t defend that.

And while those four are doing most of the offensive work—Marquette did not have one bench point during the Notre Dame win—it’s the lesser-known players that are making a difference on defense.

Maurice Aker was named team player of the week against Notre Dame despite not scoring a single point. The honor was given because he held the Irish’s Kyle McAlarney to just nine points.

On Saturday, McNeal posted 26 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, five blocks, and three rebounds. What player, in any conference, is putting up numbers like that? Remember, too, that McNeal isn’t even the primary ball-handler.

One of Marquette’s biggest strengths is its ability to steal balls without committing fouls. This is where the team’s quickness and speed of play come into play. They aren’t afraid to push the pace or move the ball into the paint. They get inside and allow those oversized defenses to foul them.

That defensive pressure has been the key to Marquette’s ability to over-power larger teams.

However, despite that 8-0 start to Big East play, there are those out there who think Marquette is a “pretender” team. They point to Notre Dame and Geogetown’s poor conference records as proof that the Golden Eagles have yet to get a marquee win.

Since when do dominating wins over Notre Dame and Georgetown get you no credibility in not only the Big East, but the NCAA as a whole?

The early-season loss to Tennessee combined with a last-second win over Dayton will continue to haunt Marquette in their quest to be considered a legit team. That win over Wisconsin early in the season holds less and less credibility as UW continues its slide.

Any team in the Big East has a stretch in the conference schedule that is daunting. Unfortunately for Marquette, there’s comes in the final five games of the season. A poor run there could leave a foul taste in the mouths of the NCAA selection committee.

However, that five game stretch doesn’t look as scary as it once did. It opens at Georgetown, a team they just beat convincingly. UConn comes to Milwaukee, now one of the loudest, hardest-to-play-in spots in the country.

From there, Marquette faces perhaps the toughest test of any Big East team, as they have Louisville and Pitt back-to-back on the road. They close the season out at Syracuse, which is a far less scary game than it seemed at the beginning of the season.

What first looked like a five-game minefield could now be Marquette’s path to an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed.

After all, it’s been universally accepted that the Big East is men’s basketball’s toughest conference. If a team is the best of the toughest conference, shouldn’t they be rewarded?

It will be interesting to see what the selection committee does, should that occur. Marquette’s non-conference schedule doesn’t compare to teams like Pitt and Louisville, but if the Golden Eagles come out on top of the scrum, I’m not sure how they could be left in the cold.

Marquette stays perfect in Big East, beats Georgetown 94-82

The one downside to having DirecTV is that Marquette games are often broadcast on the Time Warner Channel.

However, I did get the old-time fun of listening to the game on the radio, which puts you in a total different mindset for "watching" a game.

There have been those that have claimed that Marquette is a fluke because they haven't "beaten anyone," but once again, the Golden Eagles came back from an early deficit and proved that no matter how big the team, they can hang.

There's no way MU will finish the season undefeated. Hell, it's possible they could lose the final five games of the season. But at this point, it's all bonus because no one could foresee this kind of start to the conference schedule.

A lack of big presence on the court should be causing MU problems, but so far, the quickness of Dominic James and Jerel McNeal combined with the shooting of Lazar Hayward and Wes Matthews have overshadowed any height problems they're seeing.

Coach Buzz Williams has done a spectacular job of coaching for what he's got, using the team's speed to compensate for any other problems.

Georgetown took an early double-digit lead, shooting almost 70 percent from the field in the first half. Marquette's biggest advantage this season has been that they don't give up. Williams knew that the Hoyas couldn't continue to shoot lights-out and told his team to just keep playing their game. Eventually, it evened out.

Despite that, Georgetown still shot better from the floor on the night - 56 percent to MU's 51 percent. However, they made just 8 free throws while Marquette scored 30 points from the charity stripe. Marquette was in the double-bonus about halfway through the second half.

The Hoyas looked slow to start the second half and seemed to get slower from there. Highlights showed at least two MU baskets where Georgetown's defense was just standing around watching.

McNeal finished with ridiculous numbers: 26 points, 11 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks and 6 rebounds.

Add to that 23 points each by Matthews and Hayward and you begin to understand why teams just can't seem to keep up with the Golden Eagles.

In the first half, the Hoyas out-rebounded MU 24-13. The final stats had Marquette with 31 boards and Georgetown having added just 2 second-half rebounds for a total of 26.

Congrats go out to Hayward, who scored his 1,000th point at a Golden Eagle.

Help Marquette Against UConn

Marquette has never sold out a weekday game.

On Wednesday, February 25th, they hose #2 UConn. There are currently less than 1,000 tickets left for sale and MU Athletics want to make sure that the Huskies know what it's like for Marquette to have home-court advantage.

So much so that they've made a website with a pretty cool video on it.

Check it out here.