Welcome new readers and curiosity seekers! Why such a warm greeting some may ask? Well, I was the special guest for Pepper! on Stick and Ball Guy's site. It truly was an honor to be asked to play by the great SBG.
For those of you that are new, I started this blog as a way to write about WI sports. There seems to be a decided lack of blogs on the subject (really, you can pick up your jaws now). This also allows me to become more informed on my beloved teams. So sit back and enjoy today's post and peruse the previous ones at your leisure. If you know of any cheeseheads out there, feel free to direct them my way, the more the merrier. Now, on to today's sports topics!
Wisconsin Badgers
Well, the Badgers once again lose on the frickin' road, this time to Michigan State 77-64. The Badgers were never in this game and apparently were like most people visiting the state of MI in that they couldn't wait to get out. Their vaunted defense vanished this game by allowing State to shoot 56%! For the love of cheese, Paris Hilton doesn't score that often! Plus, they got creamed on the boards. This team does not deserve higher than a 6 or 7 seed in the tourney. "But Craig, isn't State ranked #10? Aren't you being a bit harsh on the Badgers?" Hell no! They have been awful on the road this year, 4-6 to be exact, have lost their last 3 in a row, and have been outscored by an avg of 11.6pts/game in those 6 loses. That is not even being competitive. Bo needs to change something in how he preps guys for the road games. I'm done with this topic. I need some Ritz crackers with some port wine cheese spread on top to get me back in a good mood. MMMMM spreadaliciously good....
Milwaukee Bucks
In 2 big trades yesterday, the Bucks traded Keith Van Horn, Mike James and Zendon Hamilton (forgot he was even on the team) for Reece Gaines, Alan Henderson, Calvin Booth and Dallas' 2006 and 2007 2nd round picks. I'm so happy that Van Horn is gone, I danced around like the Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz singing "Ding dong, Van Horn is gone". I was not wearing the silly outfits they did though. He would cost the Bucks $11M next year, which works out to about $500k/game that he would be healthy enough to play in. Moving James creates a clear cut, full time, PG in Mo Williams, which is good. With the increased minutes, Mo could see his assists go up to approx 8.5/game, pts to 13/game, and butt pats to 3/game, not too shabby. This also creates better chemistry with the team as he'll be out there now for 35-38 minutes consistently.
This was clearly a salary dump by the Bucks as James and Van Horn erased over $14M in salary for next season, whereas they only picked up $8M in Gaines and Booth (Henderson is a FA after the season, and he's not even a consideration to keep). They also gain another $5M as Anthony Mason's dead $ contract comes off the books as well. The Bucks need the $ to make a serious run after Redd and pray he wants to stay instead of going home to Cleveland (damn you LeBron!). It will take more than just giving him $ though for him to stay. The Bucks will need to also sign a good FA to show Mike that they are serious about building a winner. The Bucks need a physical forward to bang for rebounds and interior points (sorry Joe Smith, you don't fit that bill). I would be very happy if they signed Sharif Abdur-Rahim or Stromile Swift, as not only are they proven, good big men, they each have cool names that I would love to see on the roster.
Check back in after the Atlanta game and we'll compare how the new players did versus the old ones. That will be 7 games and plenty of ammo to determine how this has worked out.
Thanks for stopping by new readers and tolerating my ramblings. I appreciate that for all the productive things you could have been doing, you decided to read some guys blog you never heard of before. Come back soon now, ya hear?
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