And then we did this...

However, after proving what great folks we are, we turned around and immediately showed how weird we are.

Apparently in order to cash in on our piece of the Hank Aaron/Barry Bonds hoopla, the Brewers have hired someone to determine the exact landing spot of Hank Aaron's 755th Home Run.

From jsonline.com:

Where did Aaron's 755th land?

File this item under the strange, but weird column.

Next Tuesday, the Milwaukee Brewers will hold a press conference to discuss arrangements to unveil a commemorative marker that would symbolize the landing location of Hank Aaron's 755th home run.

That, of course, was the last home run of Aaron's career. It happened on July 20, 1976.

The Brewers say they will call upon the services of Alan J. Horowitz, associate academic program director of civil engineering and mechanics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I'm pretty sure I know what Horowitz does for a living, but I hope it also means he's watched enough video of the home run and knows where the old County Stadium was built to make a reasoned judgment on the spot in question.

I'm thinking the landing is somewhere around the playground equipment just behind Helfaer Field. But we'll know more on Tuesday when the Brewers and Horowitz will gather at THE SPOT.

With the attention this season on Barry Bonds and his drive to pass Aaron, it's inevitable that baseball fans will relive Aaron's feat. Judging from this press conference, it appears the Brewers want to be part of the hoopla.

A plaque marking the spot will be unveiled in June.

Cleveland and LA in Milwaukee

Almost a week ago everyone from fans of the two teams to national sports personalities were upset about the fact that the Cleveland Indians were moving their home series against the Angels to Miller Park.

Naysayers predicted less than 10,000 people would attend the three games total. Even at just $10 a ticket for the lower two levels, people were saying this was Bud Selig handing off to his home city.

Turns out everyone was wrong.

Over the three days, more than 52,000 people headed to Miller Park to see the first American League series to be played in Milwaukee since the Brewers headed to the National League. Breaking it down, that's 19,000, 17,000 and 16,000 people at each game, give or take a few.

There was a traffic jam to get into the Miller Park parking lots and lines were 20 deep at the ticket windows before first pitch. Ticket officials were outside with stacks of tickets in their hands attempting to get people inside more quickly.

The Brewers didn't make money off of the series. All costs were recouped (it's something like $5000 a game to light the stadium) and the profit all went back to the Indians.

This guy is selling tickets from a stack to waiting fans IN THE FOURTH INNING.

The anecdotes that came from the week were spectacular stories, from the Cleveland native now living in Milwaukee who also happens to work at Miller park who was the first guy in his seat, a full hour before the gates opened to the man who has been at every Indian home game for 35 years banging away on the big chief bass drum. As soon as the details were finalized, the Indians called him up and flew him and his wife, and the drum, out for the series.

Or how the out of town fans, and the Indians players, really, really, really liked our slow-mo wave.

"When it all was finished, the team that hadn't played since the previous Wednesday pounded out 10 hits en route to a 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Yet afterward, the buzz in the Indians clubhouse wasn't Sizemore's three stolen bases or Shoppach's game-ending laser of a throw that nailed Erick Aybar attempting to steal second base.

No, the Indians wanted to talk about this crowd. And more specifically, a slow-motion wave the fans did during the seventh inning that nearly put the team in a trance. The slow-motion wave is a tradition that was started during football games at the University of Wisconsin.

"It was one of the coolest things I had ever seen," Borowski said. "I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me."

"I had never seen the slo-mo wave before," manager Eric Wedge said. "That locked me up."

For those who don't know, at Wisconsin football games we do the regular wave, the super-fast wave, the slo-mo wave and the split wave. Some bad YouTube evidence:

Apparently the people of Cleveland were very impressed with the turnout and wrote one of our newspaper columnists to share.

But aside from all the fun, games and Major League references, I was really proud to be a Milwaukeean this week. I'm not usually one to be all sappy and proud, but I don't know that this could have gone any better. The series was a PR flack's dream. Bud Selig and MLB have messed up in many occasions (hello All-Star game at Miller Park ending in a tie) but this week they proved that they do indeed get some things right.

On what ESPN does wrong

I get these daily emails from a very worthy journalism school of sorts called the Poynter Institute.

A few weeks ago I got one that included a link to the final Ombudsman column of George Solomon. He recently stepped down and I've actually linked to a column from the new Ombud in reference to Colin Cowherd.

For reference, an Ombud is supposed to be an objective third party of sorts that works to maintain balance and good news judgment. Every major news source has one. They are paid to ask the tough questions of their staff and make sure they have integrity.

Anyway, that's all just an intro to say how I came upon this column that Solomon wrote noting the good, bad and ugly from his time at ESPN. It's unabashedly critical at times and not to overly self-indulgent.

Specifically, Solomon takes the ESPN.com column writers to task, saying:

I would suggest ESPN.com do more editing of its Page 2 columnists -- some of whom seem to shoot from the hip for the sole purpose of shooting from the hip. In the same vein, ESPN commentators, including some of the network's biggest stars on TV and radio, might be more thoughtful and less outrageous and loud in their opinions. I've always believed just because someone has the title of commentator or columnist, it doesn't mean he or she should not be held to the same journalistic standards of fairness and accuracy as everyone else on the ESPN team. I also wonder why some commentators believe viewers are interested in their political views? Also, ESPN editors should be more careful of their staffers claiming exclusive stories when these stories are not always exclusive.

That's one paragraph of Solomon's column, but it sums up neatly what is wrong with much of ESPN's content. Reporting of sports doesn't preclude you from the rules that govern journalism. Covering sports doesn't somehow mean you aren't going to be expected to have journalistic integrity.

You can make jokes about the media and journalists and bias, if you'd like. But first and foremost, I'd like someone to define this all-encompassing term of "the media." Certainly one cannot claim that the folks who work at ESPN are the same as the people on MSNBC or CNN and certainly all those folks are infinitely different from the journalists who work on your local newspaper.

Frankly, I'm not particularly sure what my point is in posting this. I just found it interesting and I think it says a lot about the state of journalism today and I thought I'd share.

My first baseball game of the season, Brewers vs. Cubs 4/7/07

If you look closely against the green, you'll see snow. That's right, SNOW! In April. On my way into Miller Park for a baseball game. Stupid Wisconsin winter!











Our seats were great, especially for viewing the Sausage races. I actually think this guy's fat noggin is blocking the Chorizo, who was in the lead rounding behind home plate.

ESPN scolds Colin Cowherd...Kind of

By now you're probably heard about the attack ESPN personality Colin Cowherd launched on the blog The Big Lead. Upset with their content, Cowherd encouraged readers to flood the site, effectively crashing its server and rendering the site down for 48 hours.

The way Deadspin described what happened is this: However: Today, upset with something The Big Lead had written about him (or someone, or something, imagined or otherwise), Cowherd told his listeners to unleash a DNS attack on the site. One of the tech people here at Gawker Media tells us: "When someone floods a website with so many fake hits that the servers get overloaded, the site, essentially, goes down. A programmer could write a script to load the website once a second."

Pretty childish behavior, but not all that unheard of for Cowherd. Last year he unabashedly stole content from The M-Zone, a well read Michigan blog.

In what has turned out to be her second column as the new Ombudsman for ESPN, Le Anne Schreiber, addressed Cowherd's antics. And while she does chastise the act, she all but applauds him for coming up with new and unusual douchebag-like behavior. AND if anyone does this sort of this, they will be punished. But since Cowherd's antics were the first of their kind, he's getting away with it.

From Schreiber's column:

The official response from ESPN's communication department was: "Our airwaves should not be used for this purpose. We apologize." It is the kind of bland public statement that does little to assuage the anger and distrust of ESPN's audience over an episode like this. I could not tell from that statement how seriously ESPN regarded the offense, so I contacted Traug Keller, senior vice president, ESPN Radio, to get a clearer idea of ESPN's reaction.

Keller responded immediately to my request for an on-the-record statement. "We talked to Colin Cowherd, and we talked to all our radio talent, making it clear that you cannot do this," Keller said Friday. "Our airwaves are a trust, and not to be used to hurt anyone's business. Such attacks are off limits. Zero tolerance. I can't say it any stronger."

Keller said that he had not formulated a policy about such attacks on Internet sites until now because he had never imagined the possibility of them.
...
Now that ESPN Radio has such a policy, I presume such attacks will be treated as an offense that warrants suspension.


So there you go. Come up with heretofor unthought of mean things and you won't get in trouble. Good thing the law doesn't work like that, hmmm?

More on the Cleveland Indians of Milwaukee vs. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Miller Park

Oh, I can't wait to see all the Major League references. (That's right folks, the original Major League movie was filmed right here in Milwaukee at old County Stadium)

So far I've read a lot of backlash to the move, but I actually think it's a pretty smart move. It's certainly not the first time a team has moved games. The Marlins played in Chicago when a hurricane chased them from home.

There's been a lot of snide remarks about Bud Selig bringing the teams to Milwaukee, but all sources are saying that it was the Indians' idea. Apparently the decision was between Milwaukee and Houston.

The brilliance was sparkling over on Pardon the Interruption this afternoon as Wilbon and Kornheiser called the move moronic and idiotic and said the games should just have gone to Anaheim. Of course, the Collective Bargaining Agreement requires a rest day if travel will be from coast to coast and the Indians are in Boston right now. Sorry guys, looks like a little research could have kept you from looking moronic.

From what I've read on local message boards, Milwaukee baseball fans are psyched. There's never going to be a time that we'll be able to see a Major League game for that price. Sales figures are about 10,000 tickets sold for all three games combined. Considering Thursday is a day game and the ticket situation was sketchy at best until late this afternoon, I'd say 10,000 isn't a bad sales figure for one day. The lower level seats go for around $90 just behind the dugouts and home plate, so any fan is happy to get those seats for such a bargain price.

The best caveat to this story is that Tuesday's game was supposed to be Rick Vaughn glasses giveaway night in Cleveland. Milwaukee fans are rabidly hoping the giveaway makes the move to Milwaukee as well. Could they ask for a better tie-in?

Miller Park to serve as "home" for Cleveland Indians

Since the Cleveland area is still doing its best impression of the Arctic and the Brewers will be out of town in sunny Florida, the Cleveland Indians appealed to the Brewers and have found themselves a temporary home at Miller Park this week.

Intense snow has delayed the Indians' season thus far and they fond themselves unwilling to postpone more games. Instead, the series will be in Milwaukee tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday.

Tickets will be $10 for all seats, is the rumor so far. Though I did hear them say that prices could change if there's enough interest, which sounds really shady to me.

Full details here.

Fabulous Acquisition

Meet my new favorite Brewer: Johnny Estrada

In 3 games and 11 at bats he has 5 runs, 6 hits, 2 doubles and 2 RBIs for a batting average of .545, a .727 slugging percentage and a .615 on base percentage.

And, he wears stirrups (season's too new, no photo evidence yet).

Welcome to Milwaukee Johnny, we're happy to have you!

On anticipation and disappointment

To say that the college basketball season left me extremely disappointed would be an understatement of seismic proportions. The Wisconsin Badgers showed as much life as Anna Nicole during the tournament after having a stellar season. Instead of being hyped and using the losses to Michigan State and Ohio State to motivate themselves, they puttered into the tournament, almost losing in embarrassing fashion to 15 seed Texas A&M – Corpus Christi. You’d think that scare would have been enough to put some pep in their step, but instead the Badgers came out looking even more lackluster in the first half of their second round game. Mounting a major comeback from 20 or so down may be possible against A&M – CC but was absolutely not going to be possible the further along in the tournament they got.

After achieving the program’s first-ever #1 ranking, the team promptly lost to Michigan State and, it seems, the season was over from there. There was absolutely no way I saw this coming. With Coach Bo Ryan’s attitude and the ethic of this team, I would have never imagined that we would end up the joke team of this year’s tournament, early exit and all. After all the hype about maybe getting a one seed, we went and proved exactly how unworthy we were.

Add to that an extremely disappointing and not-so-mad March and I’m left feeling like one of the teams whose bubble burst come tournament time.

And I had such high hopes. College football season was nothing if not uplifting and surprising for Badger fans. We were all settled in for a nice rebuilding season full of low expectations and forgiveness. Instead Bret Bielema stepped in exactly where Barry stepped out and we had the season that few had dreamed of. To top it off, we won our second straight bowl game over an SEC opponent.

So here I am, needing some sports rehab. A fan pick-me-up. And my only option on the immediate horizon?

The Milwaukee Brewers.

Now any other season I’d make a smartass remark, preferably about how laughable a thought it would be that the Brewers could be the answer to my losing-team woes.

But this season has the makings of being so remarkably different from any season since my birth (the last time the Brewers saw a World Series)

Conversely, this season has the makings of one ginormous letdown. A letdown so big that after it’s over I could be joining the hordes of Milwaukeeans who bemoan our pitching, our injuries and our coaching, all in a time-honored and well-rehearsed play meant to make us feel better about the fact that once again our team failed to reach the potential it showed.

I’m waffling between wildly excited, cautiously optimistic and (thus far) unfounded doubt. I know cautiously optimistic is the way to go, but it’s just no fun. I want to be crazy excited. I want to be planning for the playoffs.

I do not want to be worrying about if we’re even going to finish above .500.

Besides, it’s not like any other team in the state is drumming up anything remotely related to enthusiasm.

The Packers made less moves than a nerd at the prom this off-season. Free agency hasn’t been pretty and I can’t remember a time I’ve been this defeated by a team before the season ever started. I’m not sure the Packers front office understands that Brett Favre isn’t Superman. It really doesn’t matter how good he is if he has no one to hand off to, no one to throw to and no one blocking for him.

But football season is months away and I’m too giddy about the Brewers to let that sort of things get me down.

For now I’m just excited about attending my first game tomorrow and kicking the pants off the hated Chicago Cubs.

What a great opening day

photo courtesy jsonline.com

The Brewers started the season off with a bang. Courtesy of Ben Sheets' complete game two hitter, the Brew Crew handled the LA Dodgers 7-1.

The Dodgers' only run came on the first batter of the second inning - a one-run homer by Jeff Kent. After that, Big Ben retired 22 straight Dodgers with only 3 strikeouts. It looked to be a one-hit wonder for Sheets until (very recently) ex-Brewer Brady Clark, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in the 7th and stayed in right field, hit a single in the top of the 9th.

This ESPN.com recap says Sheets' performance was the best Opening Day outing of the last 15 years.

" It was the first Opening Day complete game of two hits or fewer in 15 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The last to do it had been Tom Glavine with a two-hitter for Atlanta against Houston in 1992."

But Sheets' pitching wasn't the only story of the day. The Brewers strung together hits - something they weren't able to do very often last year.

Yost changed the batting order at least twice during the game, providing different power to the lineup. The power in this lineup is unmatched in recent Brewer memory. The "weakest" part of our batting order today was Corey Hart, Craig Counsell and Geoff Jenkins, which is eons ahead of some of the combinations I can remember from last year.

And the unsuspected hero of today's offense was none other than J.J. Hardy. Hardy, fresh off missing half of last season to an ankle injury, had 3 singles, a walk and a run scored. Catcher Johnny Estrada, brought in for his ability with the bat, was 2 for 3 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI.

Bill Hall hit the first homer of the season in the 6th inning with am opposite field line-drive.

So there you go, an amazing start to the season. One game in and the team has failed to disappoint, which is something, I think. I'm all about small victories this season. It's going to be a long few months and I'm going into it with a lot of faith. I haven't been this excited for a baseball season ever.

Opening Day

We're heading into the 4th and it's 3-1 Brewers with Weeks, Hart and Estrada scoring.

Today's lineup looks like this:

2B Weeks
SS Hardy
1B Fielder
CF Hall
C Estrada
LF Jenkins
RF Hart
3B Counsell
P Sheets

It's almost here!!!

Less than 24 hours until opening day!!

I haven't been this excited about a baseball season ever. I'm excited for what Opening Day means in terms of the end of winter and the upcoming spring and summer. I'm excited for gameday at Miller Park and tailgating and random give-a-ways.

But mostly I'm excited for this team. We have an amazing starting rotation (all of which rests upon Ben Sheets apparently rather fragile shoulders). We have a solid defense. We have the bats of Prince Fielder, Bill Hall, Corey Hart and Johnny Estrada.

I'm more than a little nervous about the national attention and expectations this team is receiving. More than one pundit is picking us to win the NL Central, though we're not exactly talking a powerhouse division here.

But I don't think it's wrong to imagine a 90 win season and I do think that less than a .500 season will mean serious letdown. This team has been brewing (no pun intended) for a few years. We seem to have all the tools and have gotten all the tune-up we need. These guys aren't rookies anymore. It's time for them to show they're worth.

UW Women's Basketball in NIT Championship Game

The Lady Badgers will play the University of Wyoming Cowgirls today in Laramie for the NIT Championship.

From UWBadgers.com

The Badgers moved on to the title game with a 79-72 win over Western Kentucky in the semifinals Wednesday at the Kohl Center. Wyoming advanced after beating Kansas State at home in triple overtime, 89-79.

The title game appearance is the third for UW, who advanced to the championship contest in each of the three seasons it has been in the tournament. The Badgers beat Florida to win the WNIT championship in 2000, and were the runners-up to Arkansas in 1999. UW is now 13-1 in WNIT tournament participation. Wisconsin, however, is looking for its first road win in WNIT play. The Badgers have hosted and won 13 of 14 games in its WNIT history. The lone loss was on the road to the Lady Razorbacks in 1999.

Wisconsin also will be looking to build on its record-setting year, already setting a program mark in an 84-78 come-from-behind win over Virginia in the quarterfinals last Sunday.

Footie Goodness

Tonight on ESPN2 there will be an international friendly between the US and Guatemala, which in itself is a reason to watch.

But rumor has it that Wisconsinite and Green Bay boy made good Jay Demerrit will be interviewed at half (and may be pimping local, fabulous bar the Highbury)

Alando Tucker named AP All-American

By Mark Stewart

Tucker named AP All-American

University of Wisconsin senior Alando Tucker was a first-team All-American on the Associated Press team released today.

Tucker, a 6-foot-6 forward who averaged 19.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, already received first-team All-American recognition from United States Basketball Writers Association, National Association of Basketball Coaches, the Sporting News, SI.com and ESPN.com. He is the Badgers first first-team All-American since 1950.

Tucker was joined on the AP first team by Arron Afflalo, a junior guard from UCLA, Kevin Durant, a freshman forward at Texas, Acie Law IV, a senior guard from Texas A&M and Greg Oden, a freshman center from Ohio State.

Marquette Golden Eagles sophomore guard Dominic James earned honorable mention after averaging 14.9 points and 4.9 assists per game.

Lots of moves for the Brew Crew

There was so much housecleaning today I almost wonder if today was some sort of self-imposed deadline for Ned Yost and the Brewers.

The cleaning began last night when we traded Brady Clark to the Dodgers (along with $2.1 million dollars) for right-hander Elmer Dessens. Yost said Dessens will fill a middle relief role.

According to a Journal-Sentinel article, the Dodgers are mighty thin in the outfield, more-so now with injury and were looking for a solid guy. Brady fills that role and will also be the only right-handed batter in their outfield.

Heading into spring training the Brewers had 6 "starters" on the roster vying for 3 outfield spots.
As previously discussed, Kevin Mench and Geoff Jenkins are sharing left field. Corey Hart (my favorite!!!) will be in right and Bill Hall has been tagged for center, leaving Brady Clark and Gabe Gross "homeless." In addition, Tony Gwynn, Jr. and Layne Nix, who showed themselves rather well when they were called-up last season, are possible outfield choices. Nix is currently injured, but Gwynn should be given serious consideration to make the roster.

The Journal article is actually a good read with a lot of details, including Dessens' stats and the probable bullpen situation.


Yost also announced the starting rotation, though it contains little we didn't expect.

Ben Sheets will start on opening day, followed by Chris Capuano, Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush and Claudio Vargas.

The Brewers also traded AAA pitcher Ben Hendrickson to the Royals for minor league catcher Maxim St. Pierre, who will probably be sent to AA Huntsville.

The catcher position has plenty of depth now, since catcher Mike Rivera has stayed in the organization despite being put on waivers. He wasn't offered a contract by any other major league team, so he took direct assignment to Nashville. Another catcher, JD Closser cleared waivers earlier in camp and has been assigned to Nashville.

The presumption is that Rivera being in Nashville opens a finally roster spot, most likely for Tony Gwynn, Jr.

Too Funny Not To Post

This pic comes from Deadspin, who has it via some North Carolina fanboard. Hilarious!

Tubby Smith leaving Kentucky for Minnesota???

In what may the strangest news I've heard all day, Tubby Smith is leaving perennial basketball powerhouse Kentucky to coach at Minnesota. Yes, the same Minnesota that hasn't won a NCAA tournament game since I was in high school, and they had to cheat to win that one!!

Tubby had four years left in his contract, but up and left for a lower profile and lower paying job in Minnesota.

The scuttlebutt is that Tubby didn't like being the center of attention in Kentucky and wasn't a fan
of being at the end of the looking glass, but I still can't possibly comprehend this move.

The word on the street is that this is an all-win situation, so I guess we'll see. I'm certainly not relishing the prospect of Minnesota becoming a basketball powerhouse. It seems an odd marriage, but it would appear that the Gophers are looking to raise their basketball power.

I don't see Tubby being able to avoid the fishbowl, no matter where he goes. Though basketball at Minnesota is nowhere near the top of the state's radar, his mere presence is going to bring attention and, I can only imagine, some serious expectations. I can't imagine that a big name coach switching to a no name program and trying to revamp it would be any less of the microscope Tubby is said to want to be away from.

WISCONSIN WOMEN'S HOCKEY WINS BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Wisconsin Women's hockey team brought home it's second straight National Championship just minutes ago by beating the University of Minnesota-Duluth 4-1.

Congratulations to Mark Johnson and the women's team for winning the National Championship!

Click here to see a nice tribute from the UW athletics website.

Links to follow.

Damn you Xavier!

For reasons not entirely explainable, I refused to put Florida and Ohio State in the NC. I just plain refuse.

So here goes Xavier, about to pull of the upset of the year. They're up by 3, less than minute left, Greg Oden fouled out of the game.

AND THEY LET OHIO STATE TAKE THE 3!

Why on god's green earth do you let them take the 3?

Someone explain to me why you don't foul them and force them into a 2 point situation. Oden is out of the game, so your rebound chances are high if they deliberately miss the second free-throw.

SO WHY DO YOU NOT FOUL?

This will haunt me.

(Also, Maryland just completely busted my bracket. I'd have been so much better if Ohio State had lost!)

Cute Sports standings

We kick off today with Rick and Todd tied for first place, while I toil away pathetically alone in last place!

UW Women's Hockey team in Frozen Four

The University of Wisconsin women's hockey team will be playing St. Lawrence today at 4pm in the semi-finals of the national championship today in Lake Placid.

The game is being televised on CSTV. It will be on the radio in Madison and a live broadcast will be available at USCHO.com

From UWBadgers.com

Wisconsin has not allowed a goal in the last 328 minutes and 13 seconds of NCAA tournament play. That includes 127:09 against Harvard on Saturday, 60 minutes against both St. Lawrence and Minnesota at the 2006 Frozen Four and 81:04 against Mercyhurst in the 2006 NCAA quarterfinal.

Of that 328:13 streak, sophomore Jessie Vetter has been in net for all but eight seconds. Vetter was pulled briefly for an extra attacker on a delayed penalty in the third overtime against Harvard.

Vetter enters the Frozen Four with a personal shutout streak of 354 minutes and 9 seconds which includes four straight shutouts.

In playoff games, Vetter has not allowed a goal in 448 minutes and 5 seconds, or nearly 7.5 hours. That total includes five straight playoff shutouts dating back to last season.

The Badgers have continued to improve as the season has passed. In 19 games since Jan. 1, Wisconsin has out-scored its opponents 73-9 while posting 12 shutouts. In their last 51 games, the Badgers are 46-1-4 for a winning percentage of .941.

The Badgers have allowed just 35 goals in 39 games this season, an average of 0.90 goals against per game. The NCAA record for fewest goals allowed per game is 1.14 by both Mercyhurst in 2004-05 and New Hampshire in 2005-06.


If Wisconsin wins, they will play the winner of the Boston College - Minnesota-Duluth on Sunday at noon.

Even sausages need to check their email!

This picture is from inside the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student center, where two of the Milwaukee Brewers' racing sausages were kneeling, typing away at some computers.

No one can say that the Bratwurst and the Italian are from the old world!


(sorry for the blurry pic, the boyfriend captured this on his camera phone)

Deadspin preview part 2

Here's Deadspin's preview of Wisconsin.

Why you should respect Wisconsin

I saw this on HBO last week and have been waiting for someone to have the equipment to post it on YouTube. My prayers have been answered.

It's in two parts, but the whole thing is less than ten minutes and it's well worth your time.

Check out an up-close-and-personal look at why Alando Tucker is the guy you should want your kid to grow up to be. And see why we're so happy to have Bo Ryan. He's the winningest coach with 20 years of experience or more. He's got class. He's got morals. And he's not afraid to put those things before a winning season.

Jerel McNeal out for the tournament

Now that this is out maybe we'll get some more information on what, specifically, McNeal did to his thumb.

The information thus far has been, understandably, sparse. Clearly too much information would have been detrimental to the team.

I hope we get some answers because thus far we know that he injured his thumb in practice and it's starting to reek of Rickie Weeks' wrist injury - suffered while playing with his bat on the bench (no pun intended, get your minds out of the gutter!)

Deadspin breakdowns

Deadspin is doing a breakdown of every first round game.

Here's Marquette's, but just go to Deadspin.com and scroll the past three days to see any team you'd like.

Breaking down the Tourney - Mascot form

Found on Deadspin.com


This post breaks down the teams in the 65 team field based on their mascots. It's an interesting compendium, but loses some street cred by naming the badger an "aquatic animal" along with ducks, terrapins and gators.

Maybe he was thinking of Beavers, though I still wouldn't call them aquatic. At least not in the way ducks, turtles and alligators are.


The Badger. Not often found in water.

More on how Marquette got the shaft...

from Cracked Sidewalks


"What a crock. MU gets in as an 8 seed in the East Region. WTF? This is an absolute joke.

MU's 'reward' for a 24-win season (including a 10-win conference season while playing the Big East's second-toughest intra-league schedule)? ........a Thursday game in Winston-Salem against #9 seed Michigan State (who also deserved a higher seed). Mentor vs. Mentee, how cute. The winner gets UNC.

Its been said that the selection committee factored in unbalanced conference schedules in choosing Texas Tech over K-State - - but they must not have considered it with Marquette. Imagine if MU was 26-7 (12-4) because the team had beaten St. John's and Cincy instead of losing on the road to G'town and ND. MU was a victim of the unbalanced schedule.

A few cases in point:

• ND as a #6 seed? I guess conference road wins don't matter (unless you beat RU and Cincy like the Irish did -- their only road wins in Big East play and part of their 13th ranked Big East intra-league schedule. The Irish lost at SJU, btw. And don't forget the Irish played 10 teams north of 200 in the RPI. 10! MU played 5 such opponents).
• Duke as a #6 seed? 4-6 in their last 10, one and done in the ACC tourney. Get Vitale off of the committee.
• Vandy as a #6 seed in MU's region? They have fewer road/neutral wins and a lower RPI. Losing to Furman and Appalachian State must not matter. The Commodores are the most over-seeded team in the field.
  
• Boston College, I mean Betting Central, as the #7 seed in MU's region? Again, a team with a lower RPI than MU and fewer road/neutral wins.
• Indiana as a #7 seed? The Hoosiers have a worse RPI, fewer top 100 wins, twice as many road losses as wins, and were 5-5 in their last 10 (like MU). How on earth is IU a #7 seed?"

Is Wisconsin screwed?

This guy thinks Wisconsin is the worst of the 2 seeds, has the toughest path and can't be counted on to go very far.

Congratulations to the Badger Women's Hockey Team

In echoes of last year's mens team, the Badger Women's team went 4 OTs last night against Harvard before Jinells Zaugg's one-timer sent the team to the Frozen Four.

Details here and here






photo from USCHO.com

Brackets

I'm sick (again) and so I really can't stay upright very long to write. I have lots of comments on today's picks, not the least of which is that I think Marquette's 8 seed is bogus.

But for now, sign up for my bracket and let me know what you think...

REMINDER

Brackets were announced today and I'm running a pool on CBS Sportsline. Leave me a comment or shoot me an email if you want to sign up.

Big Ten tournament shakedown

I can't find where I read it now, but two days ago I read someone predict that Indiana would win the Big Ten Tournament. That's a pretty bold prediction considering how Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State have played this season, but to each his own.

Unfortunately for that anonymous blogger, Indiana couldn't make it out of the second round.

So tonight's Big Ten matchups look like this:

#1 Ohio State vs. #5 Purdue @ 12:40 CST on CBS

#2 Wisconsin vs. #6 Illinois @ 3:05 CST on CBS

Wisconsin 70, Michigan State 57

Unlike Marquette, who ran out of answers against Pitt, Wisconsin found a way past Michigan State after playing them for the third time in three weeks.

Alando Tucker was quiet in the first half, so Micheal Flowers, Kam Taylor, Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry stepped up.

Flowers had 8 of UW's first 10 points. And the rest of the UW offense managed what few have against Sparty's tough defense this season. This was the second highest point total Michigan State had allowed an opponent. And UW finished over 50% from the floor, something only one other team had done this season. To put that in perspective, UW shot around 35% in

photo from Jsonline.com
their two previous meetings this season.

But Tucker was not out. He scored 18 of his game high 21 points in the second half, going four for six from behind the arc.


Of course, it didn't hurt that two key Michigan State players fouled out and Drew Neitzel's first point - free throws, no less - didn't come until there were 11 minutes left IN THE GAME. Neitzel averages well over 20 points per game, but finished last night with just 10.

The Spartans were 2 - 11 from 3 point land. Both made baskets were Neitzel's, but he averages many more than that a game.

Wisconsin 70, Michigan State 57

Unlike Marquette, who ran out of answers against Pitt, Wisconsin found a way past Michigan State after playing them for the third time in three weeks.

Alando Tucker was quiet in the first half, so Micheal Flowers, Kam Taylor, Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry stepped up.

Flowers had 8 of UW's first 10 points. And the rest of the UW offense managed what few have against Sparty's tough defense this season. This was the second highest point total Michigan State had allowed an opponent. And UW finished over 50% from the floor, something only one other team had done this season. To put that in perspective, UW shot around 35% in

photo from Jsonline.com
their two previous meetings this season.
But Tucker was not out. He scored 18 of his game high 21 points in the second half, going four for six from behind the arc.


Of course, it didn't hurt that two key Michigan State players fouled out and Drew Neitzel's first point - free throws, no less - didn't come until there were 11 minutes left IN THE GAME. Neitzel averages well over 20 points per game, but finished last night with just 10.

The Spartans were 2 - 11 from 3 point land. Both made baskets were Neitzel's, but he averages many more than that a game.

Wisconsin 70, Michigan State 57

Unlike Marquette, who ran out of answers against Pitt, Wisconsin found a way past Michigan State after playing them for the third time in three weeks.

Alando Tucker was quiet in the first half, so Micheal Flowers, Kam Taylor, Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry stepped up.

Flowers had 8 of UW's first 10 points. And the rest of the UW offense managed what few have against Sparty's tough defense this season. This was the second highest point total Michigan State had allowed an opponent. And UW finished over 50% from the floor, something only one other team had done this season. To put that in perspective, UW shot around 35% in their two previous meetings this season.

photo from Jsonline.com

But Tucker was not out. He scored 18 of his game high 21 points in the second half, going four for six from behind the arc.


Of course, it didn't hurt that two key Michigan State players fouled out and Drew Neitzel's first point - free throws, no less - didn't come until there were 11 minutes left IN THE GAME. Neitzel averages well over 20 points per game, but finished last night with just 10.

The Spartans were 2 - 11 from 3 point land. Both made baskets were Neitzel's, but he averages many more than that a game.

Wisconsin 70, Michigan State 57

Unlike Marquette, who ran out of answers against Pitt, Wisconsin found a way past Michigan State after playing them for the third time in three weeks.

Alando Tucker was quiet in the first half, so Micheal Flowers, Kam Taylor, Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry stepped up.

Flowers had 8 of UW's first 10 points. And the rest of the UW offense managed what few have against Sparty's tough defense this season. This was the second highest point total Michigan State had allowed an opponent. And UW finished over 50% from the floor, something only one other team had done this season. To put that in perspective, UW shot around 35% in their two previous meetings this season.
photo from Jsonline.com

But Tucker was not out. He scored 18 of his game high 21 points in the second half, going four for six from behind the arc.


Of course, it didn't hurt that two key Michigan State players fouled out and Drew Neitzel's first point - free throws, no less - didn't come until there were 11 minutes left IN THE GAME. Neitzel averages well over 20 points per game, but finished last night with just 10.

The Spartans were 2 - 11 from 3 point land. Both made baskets were Neitzel's, but he averages many more than that a game.

MU out of Big East tournament

Marquette lost to Pitt 79-89 last night, ending their "run" in the Big East tournament.

I'm not sure anyone out there (or at least, anyone who's not a homer) picked Pitt to lose to us a third time. It just wasn't going to happen.

The "big" story for Marquette this week was the play of Dan Fitzgerald, who suddenly decided to hit the shots he took as well as to take shots from within the 3 point arc.

It's early and I'm on my way to work, so more on this later.

Yesterday's UEFA matches

There were some seriously amazing goals in yesterday's UEFA action, but You Tube is working against me, so I'm just going to post links.

Check out Bayern scoring the fastest goal in UEFA history: 11 seconds!

Also, a nicer header from Lucio to put Bayern up 2-0.

Finally, AS Roma put up two beautiful goals against Lyon. This is full highlights, so it's a few minutes. This is the second goal, a spectacular display of footwork by Mancini.

Breaking down the Big Ten...

by assigning them a character from Saved By the Bell.


Good stuff.

Congratulations are in order!

Alando Tucker was named Big Ten Player of the Year this morning.

From the Big Ten press release:

Wisconsin's Alando Tucker captured the conference's highest honor as he was named the Big Ten Player of the Year in voting by both the coaches and the media. He is the second Badger in the last four years to earn the award as Devin Harris claimed Wisconsin's first Player of the Year laurel in 2004. In Big Ten games only, Tucker ranked second in the conference in scoring (19.7 ppg) and tied for eighth in rebounding (6.1 rpg). The senior forward led UW to a school-record 13 victories in the Big Ten, while also tallying a 17-game win streak earlier in the season, the longest in school history. This year, Tucker became the second Badger and the 23rd Big Ten standout to reach 2,000 career points. He enters this week's Big Ten Tournament with 2,125 points and is close to breaking UW's all-time scoring record held by Michael Finley (2,147 points from 1992-95).

I'm not sure how it works, but both the coaches and the media vote on these awards. Tucker's award was unanimous.

Badgers also receving accolades were Senior Kammron Taylor, who received a second-team selection by both the media and the coaches. Junior guard Michael Flowers made the league's all-defensive team and received honorable mention from the media. Junior forward Brian Butch received honorable mention from the coaches.

Wisconsin Women's Hockey team continues to dominate

After securing the WCHA regular season title way back on February 11th, the UW Women's Hockey team then went on to rush through the WCHA tournament, defeating North Dakota (4-0, 3-0) in the playoffs, then Ohio State (4-0) and Minnesota (3-1) to win the WCHA tournament title for the second straight year.

The women also swept the WCHA Individual Awards and had 8 ladies named to all-conference teams.

Senior Sara Bauer was named WCHA Player of the Year for the second straight season. She ended the regular season with 51 points in 28 conference games.

WCHA Defensive Player of the Year is senior Meaghan Mikkelson. This is the fourth straight year a Wisconsin player has taken home this prize.

Meghan Duggan was named 2006-07 WCHA Rookie of the Year. She was also named to the WCHA All-Rookie team.

Mark Johnson was named Coach of the Year for the second year running.

Also, senior goalie Christine Dufour was named the 2006-07 WCHA Goaltending Champion, a statistical award based on goals against average. Her stats were: 1.07 over 727:01 of action.

Bauer and Mikkelson, and sophomore Jessie Vetter were named All-WCHA First Team selections.

Duggan, junior forward Jinelle Zaugg and senior defenseman Bobbi-Jo Slusar were named All-WCHA Second Team

Sophomore forward Erika Lawler and senior goalie Christine Dufour were named to the All-WCHA Third Team.

Finally, Sara Bauer has been named one of the top three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award - the MVP of women's college hockey. Bauer won the award last year.

Now the ladies move on the the NCAA tournament. Wisconsin hosts Harvard, who tied for the top spot in their conference. Wisconsin received the #1 seed heading into the tournament, which is single elimination. The winners of each of the regionals head to the Frozen Four, held this year in Lake Placid.

It seems fitting for Mark Johnson to head back to Lake Placid, scene of his triumph as a member of the Miracle on Ice team.

The schedule is as follows:

2007 NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Championship

Regionals (at campus sites)
No. 1 Wisconsin vs. Harvard (March 10)
No. 4 New Hampshire vs. St. Lawrence (March 10)
No. 2 Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota Duluth (March 9)
No. 3 Darmouth vs. Boston College (March 10)

Women’s Frozen Four (Lake Placid, N.Y.)
Semifinals, March 16
Final, March 18

MU, UW move up in polls

After big wins this weekend both state teams moved up in the rankings.

Wisconsin is #3 in the AP poll and #4 in the ESPN/USA Today poll

Marquette is #18 in the AP and #19 in the ESPN/USA Today poll



Also, Marquette is set to play St. John's at 8 pm CST on ESPN in the first round of the Big East tournament. If they win that, they'll meet Pitt (again) on Thursday at 8 pm CST, also on ESPN.
Full Big East tourney schedule


Wisconsin will play the winner of the Northwestern/Michigan State game (go Northwestern, GO NORTHWESTERN!) Friday night at 5:40 pm CST
Full Big Ten tourney schedule

Two Marquette players named to All Big East team

Dominic James was named first team All Big East and Jerel McNeal was named to the second team.

Congrats, gentlemen!

I'm so not the only one...

That thought Ohio State coach Thad Matta's gum situation was disgusting!

Spring Training

And UniWatch features a pic of the Brewers in their Cerveceros unis.


Also, here's an ESPN.com article about Ben Sheets' new pitch.

Wisconsin 52, Michigan State 50

What a game! I was losing faith in the end, I'll admit it. This team has not proved itself too well in close games this season. I was with the team, assuming they'd pull it out against Indiana, Sparty and Ohio State, so this time my faith was a little tired.

But down by 1, Michigan State missed a shot and Wisconsin got the rebound. We took it down the court and called a timeout with 11 seconds left. Bo Ryan called a screen with Tucker and Taylor that Taylor said after the game involved an option. The screen worked and Taylor had the ball by himself behind the arc. He pulled up and hit a beautiful three with 3.9 seconds left.

Michigan State took the ball back down the court and Neitzel threw up a prayer 3 from NBA range that was short.

What an amazing way to end Senior Night for Taylor! Unbelievable!

It says something about Ryan's confidence in Taylor when he calls a play that allows him to take a 3 with 10 seconds left in the game.


This game just makes me that much more upset that we didn't win the Big Ten this year. It's absolutely the team's fault, since they just flat out didn't step up when it was truly necessary. Today's game was about saving face, but the first Michigan State game and the second Ohio State game were the two key games this season and we just couldn't pull it off.

It's just so frustrating because this has been something of a dream season and I really feel like it has lost some of it's sparkle and I know that those losses set Wisconsin back in some mindsets. We're constantly fighting for respect and this doesn't help.

Wisconsin vs. Michigan State

Well, Wisconsin did a lot to try and lose this game, but thankfully, Michigan State decided to suck, too! Alando didn't have a basket in the second half until the 10 minute mark. There was a 5 minute drought with no FGs in the first half and a 6 minute drought in the second half.

Luckily, they were also able to keep Drew Neitzel in check. He picked things up towards the end of the game, but with more than 10 minutes gone in the half, he was at 7 points for the game. However, Suton picked up his game and at last check had 16 points.


AND OH MY GOD! KAM TAYLOR JUST HIT A 3 TO WIN THE GAME! UNREAL!

Ahman Green may no longer be a Packer

Ahman Green, he of my Quizons autograph experience, is an unrestricted free agent as of this morning.

This doesn't mean (yet) that he won't be in the green and gold next season. It just means that he and the Packers couldn't reach a deal. Green apparently has said he wants to see what his worth is on the market.

The guess is that he's trying to prove to the Packers that he's worth more then they are trying to give him.

One month and counting...

Until baseball season.

I can't imagine how the outlook for this season isn't bright, but we said that last year too! This is a team with so much potential - the problem is that they rarely reach that potential. Plagued by injuries, some questionable trades and really, really untimely slumps, last year's team failed to live up to it's own hype.

So heading into this season, I'd say the Brew Crew has a lot riding on it's shoulders. I definitely feel like we're in put up or shut up territory.

And there's drama galore going on in Brewtown.

A few days ago I posted this, which in the second paragraph talks about Mench and Jenkins splitting time in left field.

Apparently, this is being called the platoon approach, and Mench and Jenkins are none to happy about it.

Mench is quoted as saying he'd "pitch a fit" if that's the approach manager Ned Yost decides to take, which, you know, is a very mature way to handle it.

Jenkins isn't too happy about it either.

But come on guys. Mench, after coming here you hit .230, one homer, and 18 RBI in 40 games. Jenkins hits a distressing .133 against left-handers.

Mench's thoughts? "We've already talked about it," Mench said, referring to a conversation with Jenkins. "It's not like he's 38 years old and washed up. The guy had a couple of bad months."

A couple of bad months?!

The plus side? Yost could care less about their whining and has publicly denounced the whining.

Yost reacted to Mench's comments in similar fashion to those of Jenkins, saying such complaints would not alter his goals for the team.

"What we're looking for is guys that want to be team players and want to win a championship, be on a winning team," Yost said.

"I understand they've been everyday players. Here's the problem. If you want to get good, you've got to increase your depth, and you've got to have quality depth. For years and years, everybody said, 'I want to be on a champion. I want to play on a great team.' Then you finally get the players and, all of a sudden, they don't want to do it.

"That's where my job comes in. These six weeks are to mold these 25 guys into one team. If you don't want to be a part of the team because you've got other aspirations or other ideas of what you want to do, that's fine. We've got some areas we need to address."

When it was suggested that Yost might be headed for a confrontation with Jenkins and/or Mench at some point, he said: "Maybe I've already had one. But that's nobody's business. That's our business.

"I'll bet you it will not be a problem. If you want to be a part of this thing, fine. If you don't, that's fine by me, too. But you know what? We're here to win ball games. To be really honest, there's more than one person that can throw a fit."

Damn straight, Yost. It's nice to see him display a backbone.

And now for some links:

This is a nice profile of Prince Fielder.

This is a preview of the season from Deadspin.

This is a column about the oft-injured status this team has.

This SI.com article calls the Brewers the sleeper NL team for next season.

This is an interesting breakdown of the team at Protrade.com

Another preview, this time from CuteSports fav. new site, Babes Love Baseball

CuteSports March Madness Challenge

Ok, it's been set up over at CBSSportsline.com and all you need to get into this year's CuteSports Bracket challenge is to shoot me your email address so I can send you an invite.

Last year I sucked, and since there were like 5 of us in it, I didn't award any prizes. I'm poor, so this year's prizes won't be any better, but I'm sure I could scrape together the cash to buy the winner a Wisconsin Championship Tshirt! :)

Anyway, we're under two weeks to selection Sunday, so get yourself signed up and get ready to pick some upsets!

Corey Hart to get starting role with Brewers in 2007

This article is about my favorite Brewer, Corey Hart. Ok, the title of my "favorite" Brewer shifts to a different guy every week, but I have an affinity for Corey Hart.

I'm sure it has something to do with seeing him play for Nashville, who often visited New Orleans to play the AAA Zephyrs. Also, I just think he's a good, clutch player. Finally, I hate everything that is Geoff Jenkins. It's admittably an irrational hatred. But there you go. Corey Hart=fabulous.

The article says we should be seeing Corey as the starting left fielder with Mench and Jenkins splitting duty in right. Since I've been less than impressed by either of their offensive output, not to mention their lack of hustle in the outfield. The best possible outcome, you know, other than not having them on the team, is to have them split time. At least their not both on the field!

Favre undergoes surgery

It was one of the supposed indicators in the "will he, won't he" debate. But while Brett would not schedule surgery earlier in the off-season, he has now gone under the knife to remove spurs from his ankle.

Recovery time is scheduled to be 8-10 weeks, which means he should be ready for mini-camp in late May.

Brian Butch out 4 weeks

Brian Butch dislocated his elbow in Sunday's game and is likely to miss 4-6 weeks. There was also an associated fracture. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds redonkulously painful.

And might I just say that if ESPN or the local news shows the clip of the doc popping that elbow back in one more time, I'm going to hurl.

The Oscars

Because I'm sick and basically have been parked in front of the TV and because I'm ready to move on from that game that happened earlier that I don't want to talk about, we're going to talk about the Oscars.

I am by no means a film aficionado, so what I think barely matters. To read a really well thought out breakdown of the year's best performances as well as the nominations and who should win, go here.

ACTOR -- LEADING
Leonardo DiCaprio – BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling – HALF NELSON
Peter O’Toole – VENUS
Will Smith – THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker – THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

As far as I'm concerned, there's no one even in Whitaker's league here. DiCaprio is nominated for the wrong movie. He was spectacular in The Departed and it was a much better role. That being said, the argument should be made that Leo is the best young actor in America. He has chosen good films and given credible performances. No other actor of his age group can cop to his resume.

Forest Whitaker was outstanding in Last King of Scotland. He was creepy and beguiling and charming and sociopathic.

ACTRESS -- LEADING
Penélope Cruz – VOLVER
Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren – THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep – THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet – LITTLE CHILDREN

The only one of these movies that I've seen is Devil Wears Prada, so I'm not well equipped to decide this one.

ACTOR -- SUPPORTING
Alan Arkin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley – LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou – BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy – DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg – THE DEPARTED

Honestly, I'm not sure why all the Eddie Murphy hype. He was good in Dreamgirls, but I don't think it was a spectacular performance. For most of the movie, I didn't think I was seeing a character, I thought I was seeing Eddie Murphy. That being said, I feel the same argument could be used against Mark Wahlberg. He was a tough-guy in Boston. Next.

The Eddie Murphy conundrum is compounded because Oscar loves to reward people for playing against type and "taking risks" and Eddie does that here. However, don't underestimate the Norbit factor. Voters will have a hard time handing Murphy the Oscar for one performance when Norbit reminds them exactly what kind of actor he really is.

ACTRESS -- SUPPORTING
Adriana Barraza – BABEL
Cate Blanchett – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Abigail Breslin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jennifer Hudson – DREAMGIRLS
Rinko Kikuchi – BABEL

The blog I linked above says that Jennifer Hudson's acting just wasn't that good, but I'm not buying it. Certainly she outacted Beyonce and the other members of the Dreams. The girl came out of left field as a nobody and flat out stole the screen from a number of bigger names. I'm not sure when the last time was I got goosebumps in a movie, but I was flat-out wrapped up in her story.

BEST PICTURE
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN

The Departed was spectacularly done. It's a 2 1/2 hour movie and you feel like you're there for 45 minutes. The stories interweave and are still easy to follow. The script is well-written and it's fabulously acted. There are more recognizable names on that cast list than any other movie this year and yet no one steals the show and no one gets left in the dust. It's rare to see that these days. Plus, Scorcese needs to get some respect.

We didn't win

As Verne Lundquist just said, "The final score: Ohio State wins it."

Well Damn!

Wait, what?!

Did Billy Packer just say that Marcus Landry has nice "buttocks?"

Because I'm pretty sure that he was talking about the strength of Landry's upper legs and how he has the nice strong buttocks to keep guys off the ball.

Edit: Also, did the Ohio State coach just spit his gum while yelling at the ref, then pick it up off the floor and put it back in his mouth?

Wisconsin vs. Ohio State

GameCast here

More hype than you can shake a stick at.


Go Badgers!

Ohio State primed for early exit in March?

This blogger thinks so. In this post, he says that Ohio State's young team as well as their inability to put an opponent away (see State, Penn) mean that Ohio State won't even make it to the Sweet Sixteen this year. He also thinks they don't deserve the #1 ranking.

Obviously, I'm picking Wisconsin tomorrow, especially after the Sparty loss, but I know there many, many out there who think Bucky's going to lose. The comments on that post vary, but one guy definitely sees UW in the Final Four.

Time will tell.

We got 5 inches last night and are scheduled for a blizzard tonight and tomorrow. We've been told not to leave our houses until noon tomorrow. As long as I've got power and the Badger game, I saw bring on the snow.

Wisconsin love

Paul over at Uni Watch is having some serious server problems, but he's got things minorly back on track and is able to do new content.

Today's post is nothing but some UW love, with links to some absolutely great uni pics from the UW photo archive.

Check out the post here.

Jim Sorgi, the Maytag Man of the future

So apparently after the Super Bowl, Jim Sorgi likened himself to the Maytag man, saying he was just waiting around for something to do.

Apparently name-dropping got Sorgi some attention from Maytag and this week they held open auditions to find a new Maytag Man. Sorgi participated in the full audition process.

Since not too many backup QBs who never had a career and will always be the clipboard holders get promotional deals, I say way to go Sorgi.

Scroll down to the last few paragraphs in this article to read about Sorgi's audition.


To read the original comments comparing himself to the Maytag man, read this article


(courtesy of Deadspin)

Well that didn't last long...

Wisconsin's first ever #1 ranking was short-lived, as they lost tonight to Michigan State 64-55.

Drew Neitzel was absolutely on fire for the Spartans. It didn't matter where he was shooting from or where it hit on the rim or the backboard, the ball was going to eventually make it through the net. In the closing minutes there was a three shot that bricked off the back of the rim, bounced up, hit the front of the rim and bounced up and fell back through the hoop. The kid could not miss.


Some interesting tidbits from this telecast:

Wisconsin is one of only two teams to not have any team member foul out all season (George Mason is the other)

A stat I'm not exactly sure how they calculate, but we have 212 less fouls than our opponents.

Kammron Taylor is averaging just one foul for every 56 minutes on the court.

And an old stat, but a goody still, the Badgers have made more free throws than their opponents have attempted. This is a long standing stat that I believe was true last season as well.



This Sunday the Badgers head to Columbus to meet Ohio State. Since new rankings don't come out til Monday, it will be a #1 vs #1 matchup, the first time that's ever happened.

And truth be told, I figured we'd lose one of these two games, and I'd rather it was Sparty than Ohio State.

A win Sunday gives us the Big Ten title and I think this loss was the fire that needed to be lit. The Badgers have come out slow in the first half the past few games and haven't been as sharp as they're going to need to be to make a run deep into March. Their rebounding was non-existent tonight and the clutch free-throws just weren't there. I'm hoping tonight's loss will be just the inspiration the team needs heading into Sunday.

Happy Mardi Gras!

The CuteSports puppies say:

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!

UW Men #1 !!!!

Thanks to some major help from Vandebilt (really, VANDY?! way to go red-headed step-child of the SEC!) the Wisconsin Men's Basketball team is ranked #1 in the land in the AP poll.

Edit...

I had put up a post stating some of my political beliefs and thoughts. I decided to remove the post because, well, it had nothing to with sports and I just decided that I didn't want to go down that road. My personal thoughts and opinions on those things don't really matter because this is a sports blog.

Basically, I don't want this to become a battleground so we now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

Wisconsin football news

It's been less than two months since the end of the football season, but if you're anything like me, you're already jonesing for it to return.

Since Spring Practice is looming on the horizon and we're all starved for any bit of football info we can get, ESPN is doing a series on the teams, conferences and players that have something to prove in 2007.

Tuesday's article was about Bret Bielema and the Wisconsin Badgers and whether or not last year was a fluke and whether Bielema is legitimate or a flash in the pan.

Read it here.

An interesting thought from the article:
"Bielema volunteered the observation that a defense that finished with better numbers than any in the Big Ten since the late 1990s had exactly one first-team all-conference player: defensive back Jack Ikegwuonu. "

Wisconsin football news

It's been less than two months since the end of the football season, but if you're anything like me, you're already jonesing for it to return.

Since Spring Practice is looming on the horizon and we're all starved for any bit of football info we can get, ESPN is doing a series on the teams, conferences and players that have something to prove in 2007.

Tuesday's article was about Bret Bielema and the Wisconsin Badgers and whether or not last year was a fluke and whether Bielema is legitimate or a flash in the pan.

Read it here.

Wisconsin notches 25th win

Again, I didn't see this one.

But Alando Tucker had 19 points and the Badgers shot 55.6% in the second half, a big improvement over the 28.6% they shot in the first half.

The 25 wins ties a season record, though the other teams that reached that mark did so with long post-season runs. This year's team did it with time to spare in the regular season.

Tucker shot 50% from the floor and 50% from behind the arc. He also had 9 rebounds.

Marquette drops second straight

I didn't see the game as I was off Valentining it up, but it seems that despite the fact that it was a loss, at least Dominic James showed up for the game, as he finished with 17 points. Before last night, James had managed only 18 points over 3 games.

Additionally, other players continued to step up as Jerel McNeal and Dan Fitzgerald each added 16 points.

Apparently we got over the inability to put the ball through the net, which is what plagued us against Georgetown. This time, it was a defensive breakdown that led to the loss. For DePaul Sammy Mejia scored 18 points and Wilson Chandler and reserve Marcus Heard 14 apiece.

Happy Valentine's Day

I figured nothing says Happy V-D like Rex "Sex Cannon" Grossman.

Hope everyone has a good one.

Another front page

This time it was SI.com that gave the Badger Men's Basketball team top billing.

This column follows the boys on the day of the Penn State game.

UW rewards Bielema with new contract

Having proved himself when many were wondering why Barry would name this young guy his successor, Bret Bielema today was given a 5 year, $7.5 million dollar contract. The base salary is $1.3 million next year and it will increase $100,000/year each of the following four years for the Big Ten Coach of the Year.

MU 67, Rutgers 47

Marquette looked nice and sharp as we head into the home stretch of conference play. Ousmane Barro was the go-to man tonight. How Rutgers could leave a man of his size literally all alone underneath the hoop as often as they did is beyond me.

It was nice to see the scoring evenly distributed among the players, as Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews, David Cubillan and Dan Fitzgerald all finished with 10 points. Despite the fact that Dominic James is going through a rough spot, the rest of the team is more than able to pick up the slack. This is not a one-threat team.

My favorite part of the game actually came in the final minute, when the guys that normally ride the pine entered the game. Tommy Brice pulled up for a very pretty jumper for what are likely his only points of the season. One the ensuing possession Craig Kuphall blocked a shot and Brice picked up the fumble and started for the other end.

Nice to see guys who spend the whole season being cheerleaders getting a chance to take the court. You could totally tell which were their moms, since they were going crazy at mid-court, just to the side of the MU bench.

Marquette picks it up as they head into the final stretch. They play Georgetown Saturday morning and that's on one of the ESPN's. Then the have a Valentine's trip to DePaul. What follows is a rare Saturday night game at home against Louisville then Villanova Monday night.

MU moves up in polls, UW drops a few spots

The Marquette men's basketball team moved up to the #11 spot in the AP poll and #12 in the coaches poll on the heels of their seventh straight win.

The Wisconsin men's basketball team dropped to #4 in both polls after their loss to Indiana.

Brewers sign Hall to four-year deal

from jsonline.com

The Milwaukee Brewers tied up a key piece to their future today, signing Bill Hall to a four-year contract with a club option for 2011.

Terms of the deal were not announced but the Journal Sentinel learned it is worth $24 million in guaranteed money, including a $500,000 buyout of the option.

Hall gets a salary of $3 million this year, plus a $500,000 signing bonus. His salary for 2008 is $4.8 million, followed by $6.8 million in 2009 and $8.4 million in 2010. The club option for 2011 is $9.25 million, bringing the full value of the contract to $32.75 million.

Hall, 27, was the last player the Brewers had in salary arbitration for this year. He requested a salary of $4.125 million, with the Brewers offering $3 million. That put the midpoint at $3,562,500, but the Brewers and agent Gregg Clifton concentrated primarily on doing a multi-year deal.

The contract not only buys out all three of Hall's arbitration years but also his first year of free agency, with the possibility of a second if the option is exercised.

"I think the Brewers went as far as they could go," said Clifton. "They really stepped up, and we appreciate that. We had a very productive negotiation with some give and take. I think we ended up with a fair deal for both sides."

The Brewers talked with Hall last spring about a multi-year deal, but an agreement couldn't be reached and he signed for $418,000. Eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter, he was guaranteed a big pay raise."

The timing was just right," Hall said in a telephone interview from Phoenix. "I always wanted to stay in Milwaukee. We've got a good thing going there. Now, I know I'll be there for a long time."

Playing primarily in place of injured shortstop J.J. Hardy last season, Hall batted .270 and led the club with 35 home runs, 85 runs batted in, 39 doubles and 101 runs scored. Named the most valuable player on the team, he played in a career-high 148 games and compiled 78 extra-base hits and 297 total bases, also club highs.

With Hardy expected back from ankle surgery to play shortstop, plans are in the works to move Hall to center field. "I think that's going to be my position for the rest of my career," said Hall. "I'm excited about it. Next to shortstop, center field has the most action. I've always liked running around and diving for balls."

And now he'll be paid handsomely for doing so.

So there's this game thing happening today...

and I could not care less. I don't care who wins. I don't care what happens. I couldn't be less interested in this game as a whole.

Normally I can at least muster some supreme hatred for the Bears, but even that I'm finding hard to care about.

I feel like this is one of the least interesting Super Bowls in years and I don't really understand why. I mean, the Bears have a rabid fan base. You've got the "Is Peyton a choker?" story line ...

and yet ... I'm more interested in seeing K-Fed's commercial than I am this game...

Dwyane Wade Jersey Retirement

Yesterday's halftime honoring of D. Wade was really emotional and a really cool thing to witness. I took video, but my video sucks, since my seats are in the boonies, so I've uploaded someone else's video from YouTube. It's long, but it's absolutely worth watching.

Coach Tom Crean pre-taped a message, since he was in the locker room with his team. It was clearly heartfelt and emotional and it showed how much impact Wade had in his short time at MU.

The highlights of the ceremony included a surprise $20,000 donation from the Miami Heat organization to the Marquette Men's Basketball Scholarship Fund in Wade's name. A classy move by the Heat, totally unexpected and just a nice, nice move.

Wade was clearly at a loss and overwhelmed by the whole situation, but he handled him self with humility and was humble. He also specifically thanked Tom Crean and said "Coach, wherever you're at, I love you. And I don't tell too many men I love 'em!" It was a funny, lighthearted moment.

Anyway, this video has the whole ceremony.

Marquette retiring Dwyane Wade's jersey tomorrow

and I'll be there to get my lame D Wade action figure. I'll be back with pics and/or video tomorrow.


Here's a good article about the retirement and Wade's comments on it.

Oh yeah, and Marquette's playing Providence...

Oh Rexy, You're so Sexy Take 2