Thursday, December 31, 2009

Hooray for loldogs and Arizona Basset Rescue

Nothing says Happy New Year and welcome to a huge football weekend like Bulldogs and Basset Hounds dressed up for the Packers...


These are pics of a girl named Joanie from Arizona Basset Hound Rescue - apparently their mom is a Packer fan from afar...


































This one is from today's icanhasahotdog.com

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

#6 West Virginia 63, Marquette 62

Only watched the final few minutes as we were tuned into the Badger bowl game, but this loss is a heartbreaker. Marquette should have had an upset of #6 WVU and couldn't hold on to it.

From CrackedSidewalks.com said it better than I could while also watching the Shalala Bowl:


MU managed to lose a 5 point lead in the final minute, three times having the ball, making 1 point at the line out of a potential 6 points, and allowing WVU to score at will.


A shame, MU played well for 38+ minutes and deserved to win....something we've seen and heard several times before this year. MU slips to 0-1 in the Big East and 9-4 overall. The Golden Eagles were led by senior sensation Lazar Hayward who posted another 20+ point performance and seems to have found his offensive touch from the outside.

Brewers fans like to be made fun of


From Deadspin: Help name the Brewer Baby!

This comedy here is that she redacts the first name in the writing, but it's on the ultrasound pic she included. Smart lady.



My husband and I are expecting our first child, which we found out last week is a boy. Now that we know the gender, our attention has focused on picking a name. My husband is a huge, die-hard Milwaukee Brewers fan. I screwed myself royally by casually mentioning one day that Brewer would be a decent boy's name possibility and now he has locked in on it to the exclusion of all else.

He has paired it with Wynn for the middle name to create Brewer Wynn (Win!) LastName, edited down from his original choice of course - Brewer Wynn Molitor Yount 1982 LastName. I have mixed feelings...I think this is heading down a dangerous Pilot Inspektor (Jason Lee) type road that will induce eye rolling from all. Also, the first thing he did with our first sonogram picture, is the attached. (above)

Even if you weren't naming him after a sports team, Brewer is a fucking stupid name. According to the Baby Name Wizard, it belongs squarely in the category of trendy, workman-style names that so many stupid white people are giving their children these days: Porter, Cooper, Ranger, Banker, Magic-User, Taxidermist, and so on. And why Brewer Wynn? The Brewers don't win. If anything, the child should be named Brewer Sheetdebed Jones, or something like that.

If your hubby likes the Brewers so much, and you don't want the kid to grow up getting pinned down in the schoolyard and drooled on, you should name the kid Paul. Or name him Prince and feed him nothing but scrapple and corn dog batter. Don't name him Brewer. He'll end up playing lacrosse and fisting passed out sorority girls. Just last week, I found out a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend named their son Hedges. Fucvking Hedges. And the kid doesn't even have a brother named Benson. It's an epidemic of dipshit white person baby names. Kwinsee Pittsnogle weeps for the future.

However, if you insist on having one of those "standout" names for your kid, you can surely do better than Brewer. Commenters, help poor Liz NAME THIS BREWER BABY.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Aaron Rodgers sack tracker

Have you all seen this Sack Tracker that Madison.com has going? Though the obvious topic here is how sad it is that there is enough data to compile such a graphic, I'm just going to go ahead and give major props to them for such spectacular use of graphics and data to make an interactive page for fans. Pardon my journalism nerd-ness, but this is great usage of the internet and websites to give readers more information than can be printed in the paper's pages. Well done, folks.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Now that's comedy


For some reason this is loading super small, but if you click on it it enlarges in a new screen.

All politics aside, you have to admit it's never a good idea to put a controversial figure's picture over the headline "Top 10 mistakes of the decade"

Mason Crosby - which season was a fluke?

Packer fans are pretty unanimously ready to see the back of Mason Crosby and for good reason.

But all I can think about every time the "Fire Mason Crosby" remarks come around is that last year Crosby was hailed as a savior. Since Ryan Longwell left, the Packers hadn't had a strong leg to rely on and here came Crosby and Packer fans were happy.

Now this season he can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn and it leaves me wonder, which season is more indicative of his ability and how long do we wait to find out?

In 2008, he led the league in scoring with 141 points. Doing so made him the first rookie to hold the scoring title since 1985. He was 31-of-39 on field goals and didn't miss an extra point. All that added up to Crosby setting a franchise record for kickers - most points in a season.

In looking for some of Crosby's stats from previous seasons I came across this spectacularly compiled chart of well known Packers kickers from the past and how their stats and Crosby's compare. It was compiled by a poster named Muddy Mask over at the Sports Bubbler. It's the first post on this page.






Once again I'm having Image issues today, so click on it to have it open bigger and more readable in a new window. Sorry.







The three most salient points in defense of Crosby, I think, are that the team has changed the holder on Crosby multiple times, all but one of his misses have been from the right hash mark and there is not anyone better available.

Think about it - the Saints were so frustrated with John Carney that they decided to go with Garrett Hartley, a guy who sat multiple weeks of the season because he tested positive for a banned substance.

Hartley promptly took to the promotion by missing a 37-yard field goal that would have won the game for the Saints and instead sent the game into OT where they Saints lost their second game in a row.

Both Ted Thompson's and Mike McCarthy's butts have been on the hot seat this season. The playoff berth certainly cooled things off for them, but both know that their jobs aren't as secure as they'd like. If Crosby were replaceable and if there were better options out there, the Packers would be checking them out.

I'm not saying Crosby hasn't struggled at times and I certainly hope the Packers draft a kicker (since Ted Thompson clearly won't pick up a free agent) - if only to give Crosby the kick in the rear and competition he so clearly needs. Either he steps up to the challenge and we get Crosby circa 2008 back or the new guy kick's his butt and Crosby is never to be seen near a field again.



Monday, December 21, 2009

Poor Jeronne Maymon

From Scout.com via Trenni's Twitter feed comes some stories about J. Maymon’s father’s over-the-top antics and ridiculous demands and over-involvement in his son’s college career. Everyone saw his outrageous displays by a parent ever. Rumors are that members of the coaching staff told him to cool it and he ignored them and the MU big wigs were not happy.

According to Scout:
So Tim Maymon shows up at the Kohl Center on Saturday night and goes over to the Marquette will call desk to get his tickets. The woman at the desk (who works for the Marquette ticket office) hands him his four tickets. Tim says there must be a mistake because he said he needs a total of 20 tickets and demands his 16 other tickets. The woman tells him that even if she had 20 extra tickets, which she doesn’t, she couldn’t give him 20 tickets because NCAA regulations only allow for tickets per player.

Papa Maymon proceeds to call her names and says he doesn’t care about NCAA regulations and the woman is in tears and someone else has to take over and usher Maymon inside.

Fast-forward to the next morning. I’ll head back to Scout’s recap of the situation:

Marquette had a practice at the Al McGuire Center. As it is beginning, the doors fly open and Tim Maymon and Hennessey Auriantal (J.May’s AAU coach) come walking in. Tim is swearing up a storm again about his son playing the wrong position, not getting the ball, etc.. Buzz calms him down and ushers him out and tells him that they’ll talk after practice. The two of off to either the AD or assistant AD’s office (who has already been briefed on the antics of Saturday night) and tear that guy a new a-hole for an hour.

Finally the AD has enough and walks the two back to practice. He pulls Buzz over in front of the team and says, “Buzz, this had gone on long enough. If it’s ok with you, I’m throwing these guys out of the building and I don’t want to see them ever again.” Buzz says fine and they tell Tim and Hennessey if they don’t leave immediately, campus police will be called and they’ll be arrested for trespassing. Buzz tells Jeronne to shower up and head home – he’s off the team.

Sunday night into Monday, Jeronne calls everyone from Buzz to the assistants to his teammates and is basically in tears saying that he doesn’t want to leave the team.


So basically everyone who assumed that that Papa Maymon was the problem was right and while its good that Buzz finally stood up to him, it’s clear that these problems were happening for quite a while and Buzz let him get away with it.

The Scout piece speculates that since Jeronne was Buzz’s first big recruit, Buzz didn’t want to admit it was a bust and therefore let the thing go on too long.

Either way, it’s too bad that an 18-year old’s life is so dictated by his crazy father.

More US Women's Hockey

I posted last week that 7 Badgers were named to the US Women’s Olympic Hockey Team, but I never got around to posting the names. Hilary Knight, Meghan Duggan, Jessie Vetter, Erika Lawler, Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej, Molly Engstrom, and Kerry Weiland will all be representing the Badgers in the red, white and blue.

One Badger, Angie Keseley, didn’t make the final cut.

The US Women played a friendly against Team Canada last weekend and it WASN’T pretty. They were flat and sluggish and just didn’t look good.

We’re super excited to see Team USA play the Lady Badgers at the Kohl Center on January 5th. I know it’s a Tuesday night and that kind of sucks, but if you can find the time in your evening, I highly suggest heading to this game.

Women’s hockey games are just $5 and have general admission seating and the quality of play you should see will far exceed that value.

The bf and I will be driving up and back from Milwaukee that night to see the teams in action.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

7 Badgers were named to the US Womens Olympic Hockey Team! Way to go Badgers!

Way to go, D-Wade

Maybe I’m the only one, but all these decade recaps, “Best of” lists and all the talk of the “aught’s” has kind of taken me by surprise. I just don’t remember this much navel-gazing or discussion at the end of any other decade. I know I’m not that old, but all of this seems so over the top – just SO MUCH.

I mean, they’re nostalgic and sometimes fun, don’t get me wrong – there just seems to be SO many of them.

Maybe I’m wrong.

Anyway, one of the better series of recaps is being done over at SI.com, as the guys at Quevedo at the Buffet point out:


MOST OUTSTANDING SINGLE-GAME PERFORMANCE: Dwyane Wade's triple-double vs. Kentucky; March 29, 2003



Few casual basketball fans had heard the name Dwyane Wade (much less learned how to spell it) before the 2003 Midwest regional final in Minneapolis, but the 6-5 junior guard from Marquette made quite a name for himself that day. Wade had 29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the Golden Eagles' 83-69 upset of top-seeded Kentucky. The runner-up in this category goes to Syracuse freshman Carmelo Anthony for his 20-point, 10-rebound, seven-assist performance in the Orange's victory over Kansas in that season's NCAA championship game.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Cam to Red Sox, Counsell signed

Mike Cameron signed with the Boston Red Sox and the contract is for two-years, $15.5 million.

Couple of things here –

First, it’s a shame the Brewers were so damn hard up for pitching because that’s a completely affordable contract for Cam. Before the end of the season, talk was speculating that Cam would be worth up to $10 million a year. He earned $8 million last season as a Brewer, I think, so we assumed that after his spectacular defensive season, there’s no way his price didn’t go up.

Secondly, I’m so thankful Cam didn’t end up as a Cub. This is a guy I’m going to be a fan of for a long time and I can’t imagine keeping that up if he ended up in Chicago. Besides, one of our favorite Cam memories was him taunting the bleacher bums at Wrigley when we were there in September.

also,
The team finally agreed to terms with Craig Counsell. The “Counsell’s about to sign” story has been going on for a few days, so I’m guessing there was a lot of negotiating happening. Sounds like lil’ cc wanted at least an option for a second year. The contract signed was for one year, $2.1 million, which I think is a bit more money than anyone thought it would be. I wonder if the money went up when the chance for a second year went away.

Monday, December 14, 2009

At the UWM graduating seniors honors convocation and there are 1100 Graduates. 5 have 4.0s. My boyfriend is one of them!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Wow. Im kinda shocked the Brewers didnt tender a contract to C Mike River.

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Brewers and Randy Wolf finally agree. Its 3 years 31 mil

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Randy Wolf Reports Premature?

After all that late-night kerfluffle, Tom H. is now saying that the Randy Wolf “about to sign a three-year deal” reports were premature and that Wolf is still on the table at the Winter Meetings.

Tom H. was not the only one reporting the story, so I wonder if negotiations broke down and what the deal-breaker is.

I’m speculating that Wolf’s not thrilled about ending up in Milwaukee and is holding out hope that some bigger city meets their offer – maybe the Mets came up to scratch and Wolf halted Brewers talks.

Monday, December 07, 2009

More on Randy Wolf

The Wolf rumor is gaining steam and the best part of it so far is that Doug Melvin has said that the team doesn't want to get stuck with another Suppan-esque contract, meaning the Brewers are hoping to offer Wolf a two-year deal.

Problem is, Tom H. says it's going to take a three-year deal to sign Wolf. Wolf made $5 million last season, so assume it's going to take more than that each of the next three years. Tom H. also says that Wolf is a "West-Coast guy." That means there will be a Midwest Surchage added to the contract. Looks like $28 or so over three-years.

That's nowhere near as hand-tying as the four-year $43 million dollar contract Suppan got, but it's also very pricey for a somewhat injury-prone 33-year old.

There's no mistaking the Brewers are DESPERATE for starting pitching and everyone, especially the agents, knows it.

While I appreciate that Doug Melvin understands the small window the Brewers have with the current roster of young studs (the departure of JJ is just the tip of the crumbling iceberg), being the desperate girl at the dance never went well for everyone. Aren't they just driving up their own prices?

Sounds like the Brewers will be settling for whomever is out there. I wonder if today's news about the loss of DiFelice has put more pressure on the situation.

I thought it was interesting that Tom H. mentioned that the Brewers/Melvin have to make some moves in order to regain fan interest. This is something I've been saying for awhile and while I think it's legit, I wasn't sure if it was something the team actually worried about.

But in the end, but Melvin and Macha have their own job security to worry about.

EDIT: Just tweeted: Hearing #Brewers closing in on three-year deal with LHP Randy Wolf. Trying to confirm

EDIT 2: Possible hidden bonus to this signing - someone to mentor Manny Parra?

Brewers quick hits

My Twitter feed is awash with Brewers news today:

*They claimed former-Pirate, infielder Luis Cruz, off waivers.

*Mark DiFelice will likely miss all of 2010 – he had to have surgery to repair a torn labrum and rotator cuff last week

*Rumors are swirling that the Brewers are doing the hard push to acquire P Randy Wolf

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Say it ain't so, Cam

Rumors circling that Mike Cameron will sign with the Cubs on Monday.

I really, really, really like Cam and I was heartbroken that we didn't re-sign him. His signing with the hated Cubbies would really make me sick to my stomach.

Friday, December 04, 2009

The Moustache has been busy...

Brewers sign Oeltjen
By Anthony Witrado of the Journal Sentinel
Dec. 4, 2009 2:17 p.m.

The Brewers today signed outfielder Trent Oeltjen to a minor league deal with an invitation to big-league camp this spring.

Oeltjen, 26, hit .243 with three home runs and four RBI in 24 games last season with the Arizona Diamondbacks when he made his major league debut. He spent most of last season at Class AAA Reno where he hit .303 with 10 homers and 64 RBI in 114 games.


Oeltjen, who played for Australia in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, adds some competition in the outfield and he impresses in spring training he could add depth on the big league roster. The Brewers have five outfielders on the 40-man roster as it stands - Ryan Braun, Jody Gerut, Corey Hart, Carlos Gomez and Lorenzo Cain.

Oeltjen is a switch hitter and can play all three outfield spots and hit all over the order for the Diamondbacks last season. He was signed by the Minnesota Twins in 2001 as an 18-year old free agent. He became a free agent in 2007 and signed with Arizona in November of that year. The Diamondbacks removed him from their 40-man in early November.

Brewers sign C Zaun

The Brewers have signed former Tampa Bay Ray Gregg Zaun to a one-year contract that comes with an option. He says he was told he’d be the No. 1 catcher.

From Adam McCalvy’s Twitter feed: “I’ll have to earn it every day,” Zaun said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Sounds like Zaun was attracted to the Brewers’ aggressiveness – they made their interest known on the first day possible.

Also per McCalvy, the deal is worth $1.9 million in salary for 2010 and the contract includes us to $600,000 in bonuses that have to do with his number of starts. The club option for 2011 would be for $2.25 million and there’s a $250, 000 buyout.


edit: In 90 games he was a .260 hitter with eight home runs and 27 RBI and is a swich-hitter. He's 38 and seems to match Kendall grit-for-grit.

World Cup Draw

USA drew into Group C and will play England, Algeria and Slovenia.

USA will play England in their first match and, thank you scheduling Gods, it will air Stateside at 230 (EST I believe) on a Saturday!

Initial thoughts are that they have a good chance of getting through that group. Doomsday draw predictors were looking for things to be much more difficult.

Looks like Group B and Group G will be fighting for the title of “Group of Death,” though G looks to be more difficult, plus gets to play winner of Group H - likely Spain

Group B:
Argentina
NigeriaSouth Korea
Greece

Group G:

Brazil
Portugal
North Korea
Ivory Coast

The rest of the groups:

Group A:

Mexico
South Africa
France
Uruguay

Instant reaction: France and Mexico advance

Group D:

Germany
Australia
Serbia
Ghana

Instant reaction: Germany and Ghana advance


Group E:

Netherlands
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon

Instant reaction: Netherlands and Japan advance


Group F:

Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia

Instant reaction: Italy and Paraguay advance

Group H:
Spain
Switzerland
Honduras
Chile

Instant reaction: Spain and Chile advance

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Import distinction...

From their Twitter feed...

UWBadgersdotcom
Bucky says, "Go back to NC, Devils!" with the win of the season over Duke, 73-69 to clench the Big Ten win in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge...


Did they clinch the the win, as in decisively ensure it? (The final free throw clinched the win)

Or did the clench it, as in squeeze or hold tightly (He clenched his butt during the dance to maintain his posture)

Badgers Upset #5 Duke

And win the Big Ten/ACC Challenge for the Big Ten for the first time in the 11 year history of the tournament!!