Thursday, March 31, 2005

Days of our Packers

Well, there's less than a month until the NFL Draft so I figured I'd throw out who I think the Packers will take, it's sorta my wish list actually. The Packers have needs on defense that they will be needing to address this year and I expect their 4 picks in the first 3 rounds to be all defense. Yeah, yeah Brett may retire someday, but Nall is the future IMO as QB so I'm not overly concerned about getting a QB at this time.

1- Matt Roth, DE Iowa (6'4" 270). The man is a natural pass rusher. He has the ability to either bull rush or speed rush and has good pursuit abilities. He had an awesome showing at the Senior Bowl where he just toyed with OL. He has the ability to take over games a la Erasmus James and can create havoc by just pushing OL into the backfield.

2- David Pollack, DE Georgia (6'3" 265). I watched this guy against the Badgers in their Bowl game, and I was impressed as hell. The Badgers OL is a very good unit and he shredded it. The man has a very quick burst off the line. He has the monicker of an "intense" player and is a natural leader. I give Roth the nod as #1 as he has better bull rushing abilities.

3- Brodney Poole, S OK (6'3" 208) Immediate starter at FS. Outstanding ballhawk with excellent cover skills and has great quickness. He is essentially a younger version of Darren Sharper. Would be a natural addition to Bates' system.

4- Shawn Cody, DE/DT USC (6'4" 295) One of those tweeners that could play either inside or outside. Has been a consistent pass rushing force his entire career with USC, which makes him very attractive. I'll admit I haven't seen much of him, but everything I hear is great.

The draft is very deep this year on the DL, so there are a lot of options available for the Pack. I'm not going to get into 2nd round players and such as at that point, there is so much speculation involved, that it's pointless. Needless to say, there should still be other good defensive help available that will provide excellent depth. Don't expect any draft day trades from the Packers as Thompson prizes draft picks and is more likely to trade a player to get more picks, than to trade up or trade away picks.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Mr. Crankbutt

In lieu of the slow WI sports scene, and given our favorite complainer back from his vacation, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the demolisher of delicate sensitivities, Mr. Crankbutt.

What the hell is with people and their obsession with bumper stickers? Let me ask you a question: Let’s say that you are a Bush supporter (hey 50% or so of you were), and you saw a bumper sticker that said “No War for Oil”, would you suddenly do a 180 degree turn and become anti-Bush just from that? Hell no! Or you see the wonderful ones that rednecks with pickup trucks like, the famous picture of Calvin peeing on another car company’s logo (classy), does this suddenly turn you off to Ford? When has a bumper sticker ever changed someone’s opinion on a topic? Never! This is the kind of story one would see on a headline at The Onion: “Man keeps changing views based on last bumper sticker he sees”. Furthermore, the election is over, get your damn Kerry/Edwards and Bush/Cheney stickers election stickers off your car. You know what you are saying? “I’m too lazy to clean outdated crap off my car”. What’s with the people who put 30 stickers on their cars talking about saving the trees, whales, and Peruvian llamas, do they think they are changing the world with this? All it’s doing is increasing the chance of accidents. People start tailgating and straddling alongside in an attempt to read what the hell is on the car, like it’s the Dead Sea scrolls or something important.

I will say this, there has been 1 bumper sticker that actually made me laugh, “My son knocked up your honor student”. That one always gets me.

Thanks Cranky! Tune in tomorrow when I actually make an attempt at writing something sports related. Given I went and put a bunch of team logos at the top of the site, I really should do something along those lines.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Ladybug

If you are tuning in for sports discussions today, well, I'm going to have to disappoint you. It's kinda slow now with the Brewers spring training winding down, the Bucks sucking, the Packers not doing much for FA and the Badgers tourney run over. Today's blog entry is all about family.

Today is my daughter's 2nd birthday. She has been an absolute joy and so very special to us. Her cherubic smile and laughter has brought me out of many a low Packer moment this last season (there were many). She runs to the door and greets me when I come home from work yelling "Daddy!" and giving my knees a great big hug.

My favorite thing that she does though, is pretend that her fingers are little ladybugs, which she will run up your arms while cheerfully singing "Here comes ladybugs", then taking her hands into the air "now they fly away".

When one is outside in the summer, lounging around on a hammock or a chair just relaxing, and a ladybug lands on you, you are instantly cheered up. Ladybugs do no harm, they bring a smile to your face as you realize that their simplicity is delightful. Eventually they fly away and you know that someone else is going to enjoy that ladybug's company.

I know that my daughter will someday fly away and be someone else's ladybug. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy her company while I can. I love you little ladybug, and happy birthday.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Almost...

What a great weekend of college hoops! AZ absolutely choking against Illinois, Michigan State finally getting that Duke monkey off their backs and the Badgers... Wow, they played their best game of the season against NC and almost beat the #2 team in the country. Had the Badgers played that good against Ill in any of their meetings this year, they would have beat them. This game alone just increased Bo Ryan's recruiting ability ten-fold. Nobody gave WI a chance and many figured it would be an embarrassing 12-15 point loss and that they did not belong in the Elite 8. Great job guys! I know there is no such thing as a moral victory come this time of year, but they can hold their heads up high. This just puts the stamp on the program that they are a national powerhouse. Ryan can stay as the coach for life as far as I'm concerned. Oh yeah, 3 teams in the Elite 8 and 2 in the Final 4 from the Big Ten. To all those who talk smack about the "down" Big 10, BITE ME!

On to depressing news, the Bucks suck. I know, I know, this is breaking news and all, and at this point, I'm just waiting until next year.

Rest in peace, Bob Casey, you'll be missed.


I gotta go, have to do a fantasy baseball draft today. Instead of players, you pick teams and form a starting lineup for each position, 3SP 2 RP 1 misc P. Max of 4 players from any 1 team and a minimum of 1 player from each team at any given time on your roster. My first year doing this style of fantasy baseball, I'll let you all know how I did tomorrow.

Friday, March 25, 2005

The Fab Five

It's time for a new edition of The Fab Five. My quick look at 5 other blogs out there on blogspot, simply by just clicking the "next blog" button in the upper right of the screen. But before I do, I have an announcement (toot toot!): I've been asked to be the Packers Correspondent for fantasyfootballexperience.com. It's and interesting site as it is mostly geared towards, surprise, fantasy football. However, they have a section dedicated to each team with some great links to info, and also they are getting bloggers for each team to give a unique perspective on each team. Give the site a look for yourself and see how you like it. I'm not sure when my first article will appear over there, but should be next week sometime. I'm looking forward to writing some articles with a different slant over there than what I put here, and it should be fun.

Big props to the Panthers for last night's game. Nothing to hang your head about when losing to Illinois, they are just an awesome team. The Panthers gave us a great run to remember.

Now, onward with today's blog entry, and have a great Easter weekend everyone!

Traveling the World with Ryan
This dude is seriously partying around the world. Currently he is in Australia and partaking in drunken orgys the likes of which haven't been seen since the days of the Bacchanal festivals in ancient Greece. I'm jealous as hell.

A Mesa de Cafe
Spanish site of people who are regulars at a cafe and listen in on other people's conversations, then post them on the blog. Unfortunately, one of them listened in on a drug and arms transaction and they are now running for their lives, while continously updating what they are doing and where they are staying on the blog. Their pursuers are constantly finding them, wonder how that is?

Analyze Julie
A single gal living in MI who has a neighbor who complains about the noise from the townhome next to her. That home is occupied by what she feels is a gay, pot-smoking, loud-sex-having man. She is trying to plot a way to see if she can turn him straight, or at least share his pot.

Pet-rx
One of those damn annoying blogs out there that are just an advertisement for some other website. Get rid of this you morons!

My Life in Spain
A nice site about an expat living in the mountains of Spain. Great photos and a real interesting read about the frustrations of living in another country. This is a blog that my sister-in-law (who ironically is in Spain now on a trip with some high school students) would love.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Days of our Packers

It's been a while since I have talked about America's Team, so figured it was high time I did so. Granted, the fact that they finally signed some FA makes this appropriate.

The Packers re-signed Gary Ruegamer back into the family. Gary was the starting C last year when Flanagan went down and now that Flanagan is back, Gary will be in the running for one of the starting guard spots. He was signed for fairly cheap at 540k, which was less than 1/2 of what he was slotted to make prior to being cut. It's good to have a player come back that will be familiar with the system and has the confidence of the remaining linemen from last year. This leads me to believe that the RG position is his to lose, IMO.

The Pack also signed 2 other guards to help in the competition, Adrian Klemm and Matt O'Dwyer. Now, both of these guys will add some much needed depth along the OL, but I'm certainly not giddy about getting them. Both have injury histories and that troubles me. Not "finding a pair of men's underwear in the under the bed that's not mine" troubling, mind you. Klemm is younger (28) and got a 2 year deal, whereas O'Dwyer (32) only got a 1 year deal. But neither of them got big deals by any stretch. Klemm was told he was going to be trying out for the starting LG position and they wouldn't put him up against Gary, hence my thought on Gary going for RG. We'll see how they are come mini-camps and pre-season.

Given that they have not signed any defensive help yet, this leads me to believe that the club is going to draft strictly defense in the first 3-4 rounds. I'll get into mock drafts next week, but needless to say, it's all about the D this year.

The Pack have approx $6.1M left on the cap, so another pickup or two is not out of the question, however I think they might wait until after the draft given they have not been real aggressive to sign anyone outside of OL.

That's all for today, not much going on with our beloved team right now.

Hope you like the picture of the sausage racers, hopefully I'll be able to post the results of the races at Miller Park this year. Figured it would be a nice addition, let's see if it works out.

Fielder of Dreams?

Ok, today's topic may be unpopular with some Brewer fans, but it's an interesting one: Should the Brewers trade Prince Fielder? Lyle Overbay had a great season last year, and here are his numbers with the rank among all MLB 1B last year
.301 avg (7th)
.863 OPS (11th)
53 2B (1st)
16 HR (25th)
87 RBI (14th)

Now, given that the Brewers have an arguably better lineup with Krenzyl leading off (hey, anything's better than Pos last year, a .244 hitter should not be leading off) and Lee hitting behind Overbay it is not unreasonable to think that these numbers will not only stay similar, but improve. Now, I ask you, if his avg stays over .300, his OPS tops .910 and brings in 100RBI, what more do you want from a player? Forget about the notion that 1B is simply a power hitting position, look at the player you have there. If you believe that more HR is a better player at 1B, I present this case: Craig Wilson of Pit had 29 HR last year, almost double that of Lyle, but had an avg of .264, OPS of .853 and had a 3-1 K/BB ratio, compared to Lyle's of 1.5/1 ratio. My point is this about Lyle, he is a good hitter and helps keep his team in games and is more likely to sustain a rally than a traditional power 1B. Lyle is only 28 yrs old and is insanely cheap to keep around.

Now, where does this leave the artist formerly known as Prince Fielder? Prince is undoubtedly a better long-ball hitter than Lyle. But he has not proven that he has any other tools than that. His body is built like David Ortiz and can hit the sexy HR, but his fielding is questionable, he's simply too big to be a productive fielder. He is a DH trying to play 1B in the NL. He belongs in the AL, so I say trade him to an AL team. His stock may never be higher than it is now, and the Brewers could get a ridiculous amount of talent for him (maybe even a good, everyday 3B). They would certainly get more for him than Overbay, and it's silly to have both on the roster. I know that he's labelled the future and all, but maybe the future would be better served in trading him.

Anyway, that's my Brewers thought for the day. I'm sure the more seasoned baseball gurus will rip this to shreds, but hey, it promotes discussion if nothing else.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Dancing in the streets

This opening weekend of the Tourney left me with 2 discoveries:

1- I can eat a boatload of food while watching the games all day for the opening 2 rounds as I was victim to several food-induced comas.

2- The WI teams can flat out play some ball.

UW-Milwaukee
Holy sh*t! I have not been able to see them play this season prior to the tourney, and I heard they were good, but damn! First they knock off the 5 seed Alabama, then top it off with a thrashing of 4 seed Boston College. BC was "offended" by such a low seeding, and they talked smack to the Panthers and the Panthers handed them an embarrassing loss. How do you like your Big East now Billy Packer? Sorry, I have issues with the Big East and Billy Packer and parsnips (horrible little food).

I was incredibly impressed by their constant defensive pressure and clutch finishing of games. They still attack the hoop and run their offense and do not wither and use the refreshing philosophy of trying to win games instead of trying not to lose them.

Their next game is against #1 Illinois, the team that just about everyone (except Billy Packer) has winning the whole thing. I really like the Panthers chances in this game as they do not have just 1 or 2 scoring threats like most teams, they have 5. Plus, their overall hustle will give the Illini fits. This has the makings of a high scoring game, and right now, the Panthers have the ability to keep up with them.

UW Badgers
Playing with consistency and poise so far this tournament, WI has been a pleasant surprise. I had them going to the Sweet 16 in my own bracket, but thought they would lose in the 1st or 2nd round and disappoint me as they seem to like to do. They have put teams away in the last 4 - 5 minutes of games with their trademark 3 pt shooting and solid defense.

The NC State Wolfpack will be a good test for the Badgers. Both teams are very scrappy and State has played 11 teams in the tourney and had an absolutely brutal schedule this year and still came out with over 20 wins. Knocking off #2 seed UConn has given this team an unbelievable amount of confidence. This is going to be a heck of a game and quite possibly, the last team with the ball could win. I believe that this game will be in the 60's for scoring.

What do both of these teams have in common other than being from the now basketball hotbed that is WI? Outstanding coaching. Pearl and Ryan have instituted their systems into their players and made them understand and believe what it is they want to do. They do not change what has gotten them to this point. That is the biggest mistake that coaches do in the tourney as they get too cute with trying to outhink thier opponents. There are no McDonald's All-Americans on their rosters, no freshmen or sophmores just auditioning for the pros. Just guys who want to hustle and work their asses off because they understand the team concept their coaches want, give me that any day.

Monday, March 21, 2005

No Blog for you!

Sorry gang, after being off work a week and being out of town for the last 4.5 days, I got more issues to deal with than your typical Viking fan. I'll put up a post tomorrow on the incredible weekend and the outstanding performances by the UW Badgers and the UW-Milwaukee Panthers. For a great joke however, take a look at what my good friend and neighbor, Shane did to me this weekend while I was gone, as he did his best Calvin snowman impression.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Vacation's all I ever wanted

Hey hey hey... Today's the day that I head on down to Milwaukee for some March Madness! The Badgers have a good draw for the 1st 2 rounds and I'm looking forward to a great time. I'm picking up pies at the Norskie Nook in Osseo, WI on the way down. What? You haven't heard of the Norskie Nook? Holy missing-out-on-the-best-pies-in-the-world Batman! Seriously, they are far and away the greatest pies on the planet, and if you are one of those sorry bastards who likes Perkins or Bakers Square pies, I cannot help you.

Packers
Of course, what's a blog entry on the Oracle of Cheese without some sports crap! The Packers re-signed OL Gary Ruegamer, their starting center from last year to a fairly cheap 1 year deal at $540k. Gary can play OG and is marked at taking over one of the current vacant spots as Mike Flanagan comes back next season, to take over his starting duties after coming off of injury. Gary is very familiar with the OG duties and will be an excellent addition to the line. So, 3 starters return and a 4th is coming back from injury to reclaim his starting spot. Like I said before, what worries are there on the OL? NONE! Nice try Packer haters.

In a fun little game I have for you to spend your time at work with, see if you can come up with the next lines of these '80's songs. It's far more fun if you sing them aloud at work. Come on, you know you're looking at this on company time, have some fun dammit! Start with the song that the title refers to and enjoy the flashbacks to the roller skating rinks. See you all on Monday as I won't be blogging until then!

We are the world...

Josie's on a vacation far away...

If you want my body and you think I'm sexy, come on sugar let me know...

Whoaaa here she comes...

When I said that I love you, I meant that I'd love you forever...

We're not gonna take it...

I don't want to work, I want to bang on the drums all day...

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

The Madness is descending

I am getting so pumped up about this year's NCAA men's tourney. Every year for the past 13 years I have watched the opening 4 days of the tourney with my 2 best friends Gabe and Murph. It's a great annual tradition that makes us get together, which is tough given Murph is in Madison and Gabe is in Milwaukee. I've only missed one year, and that was 2 years ago due to the birth of my beautiful daughter. Not the best timing to keep up this tradition, I guess I could have kept my hands off my wife in July the year before... not a chance, but that's far too much info for all of you. Anyway, I get to watch the tourney on a 52" HDTV at Gabe's house and he has paid for the HD broadcast as well. Like the Kool-Aid man says: "OOOOOHHHHH YEEEAAAHHHH!!!!

Bucks
Their worst performance of the year, by far in a
110-71 loss to the Miami Heat. Wow, I knew it was going to be bad, but not this bad. Nobody played worth a crap and it appears as they did not even try. The Heat shot 55% from the field. Even more proof that the D is gone from this team and they are just playing out the season. Disappointed in this team right now, big time. Like some damn lemming I'll still follow and root for them though.

Packers
Bringing in some free agents at LB and OG. I like the last two that visited in LB Anthony Simmons and OG Roberto Garza. Garza is a solid player and I would love to see him in green and gold. Simmons has some injury history, but has still played at a very high level. Has gotten some serious considerations for the Pro-Bowl in the past few years. Both guys could be brought in for rather cheap as the big-money guys are all gone, so the interest is not as high as it once was.


On a final note, you will see that Mr. Crankbutt's Weather Challenge is now complete, and the winner was FOX9!!! When reached for comment, Mr. Crankbutt said: "Big deal! They had 19 days of stats with a maximum score of 57, and the winner got 37pts. That's a 65% accuracy rate. So the weather man is only correct 2 out of 3 times, wow, I'm so flipping impressed. Now go away, I'm busy."

Monday, March 14, 2005

Short Week

This week I will only be able to blog M-W as I will be out of town to watch the opening weekend of March Madness. I am also staying at home right now as my wife is in training for a new work-from-home job. Needless to say, she'll be needing the computer for most evenings so I'll have to find some other way of getting my blogging going. Not sure if I'll be doing this everyday or if I'll just go every other, including weekends.

Let's see what the weekend brought us, shall we?

Brew Crew
It's nice to see some good hitting coming out of AZ, but I am concerned with Capellan. He got shelled again in his last outing. I don't think he is going to be the 5th starter and frankly he should not be. If he gets the news that he is going to be coming out of the pen now, then he can work on the mentality of being a 1-2 inning relief man. The kid needs confidence and focus right now. Sounds like Lee's hand is going to be fine, just needs some rest.

Bucky
They lose, predictably to Illinois again in the Big Ten tourney, even though they played a great defensive game, but the offense was awful. They also got a #6 seed in the Big Dance as I predicted. This is right where they deserve to be. They got a good draw for the 2nd round (potentially) in Kansas. KU is reeling and has historically done poor in the tourney and a team like WI can take advantage of them and squeak into the Sweet 16.

Bucks
The defense has absolutely dissappeared from this team. They just get into high scoring games and they do not have the firepower to win them. All I can hope for at this point is that they end up signing Redd and another big man, and winning the draft lottery. I shudder to think of what Miami is going to do to them tonight. Prediction: Miami by 18, Shaq and Wade get over 25 pts each.

Packers
Darren Sharper signs with the Vikes. It was tough to see him go as I feel he is still a very good safety. MN has significantly upgraded their defense with their FA signings and are poised to be very tough next season. Right now, I would have to say that they are the favorites to win the division. I love the Packers and have a great amount of faith in Bates, but there's nothing wrong with being realistic.

Friday, March 11, 2005

Favre from done

He's baaaaaack! Mike Sherman announced today that Brett Favre, the man, the myth, the legend will be back for a 15th season.

Brett's coming back was a much needed boost to the Pack's morale in a week where their two starting guards leave, Darren Sharper being cut and questions abounded about what would happen next. I know some fans were seemingly waiting for the other shoe to drop. The only shoe that will be dropping is the one going up the rest of the NFC North's asses by the Packers. This sets one of the best offenses in the game back on track and with Bates taking over the defense, there is much to be happy about in Packerland.

Speaking of Darren Sharper, he was a necessary and expected cut, he simply was not worth $8.6M. Now don't get me wrong, I do like Sharper and he is still a very good safety and will help some other team out tremendously, but the Packers are in the cap shape they are in and so he had to go. It turns out to be a savings of $3.4M and this puts the Packers at $5.2M under the cap. This now gets the Packers to the point where they can go after a FA guard and sign their draft picks. I know, not all that exciting of a forecast at this point, but it is what it is. Edit: The Packers are actually over $7M under the cap (sorry, poor math on my part, plus a restructured Favre bonus I didn't know about). So it appears that there will be a bit more movement by the Pack than originally thought.

Brew Crew
Big Ben pitched for the first time since offseason back surgery for 1 inning yesterday, and the results were phenominal: 1IP, 2 K's, 12 pitches. Only about 8 more months until his official announcement as the 2005 NL CY Young award winner. Not a real great outing by any other Brewer, so we'll just leave it at that. If you get a chance, in the latest ESPN Magazine, there's a great article about Big Ben, interesting read. Available at fine newspaper and magazine stands everywhere.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Unisex

Well, Blogger is giving me fits today, so please excuse my late posting and the look of the site, there's just something going on with them. Oh well, this is free and I shouldn't complain. That and I am at home as my wife is sick as hell and I'm watching our 2 lovely kids.

Last night I attended a happy hour in honor of several of our marketing directors that were in from Chicago. Plenty of free drinks and food for all and it was a great time. One of my co-workers happen to come back from using the "facilities" and noted that it was a unisex room. Well, this prompted quite the discussions amongst the group. Now, this was the first time I was ever in a place that had one of these, so I had to go in and see it for myself. Given that I already had a few in me and we were all having a good time, I turned to one of the out-of-town marketing directors of the female persuation (who I get along great with) and said "Hey, let's go to the bathroom together!" I figured that women get to ask each other this all the time so it was time for me to get in on this action. Needless to say, she declined my offer, but it didn't stop me from going. I'm sure she is questioning my ability on working on her accounts, but it needed to be asked.

The room itself consisted of 4 stalls, 2 for each sex (clearly labeled on the top) and 4 sinks. I was awaiting my turn for the loo when a woman came out of one of the stalls. Needless to say, she was a bit shocked to see me there, whereas I was amused, she got over her embarrassment and smiled politely as she washed her hands and left. The one thing that you should realize is that if a man shows up in a women's restroom, usually that is grounds for a macing of a lifetime. However, if a woman is in the men's room, hey, it's time for a parade! Confetti falls from the ceiling, a marching band plays and guys start introducing themselves to her.

If you are ever in a place that has one of these, don't be ashamed, it's far more fun than you can possibly imagine the bathroom could be.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Round 'em up!

Last night was Kindergarten Roundup night for Saint Louis Park and we had to get Adam all registered for Park Spanish Immersion school. So after turning in the 24 proper forms, 3 different verifications of identity and getting Adam tagged in the ear for easier identification for next year, we're all set.

My wife took Adam to the Roundup and here is her take on the whole experience:

Adam and I went to "Kindergarten Round up" tonight, it's where you register for kindergarten and learn what is expected of you as a parent to support the child's kindergarten experience, how the busing schedule works, what the hours are for after school day care, blah blah blah. I tuned out and all I heard was "RACHEL, THESE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO TAKE YOUR BABY AWAY FROM YOU AND YOU WON'T HAVE ANY MORE CONTROL OVER HIS LIFE YOU WONT KNOW HIM BY THIS TIME NEXT YEAR, HE'LL BE A MOHAWK-WEARING PUNK WITH PIERCED NIPPLES WHO HATES YOU KISS HIS INNOCENCE GOODBYE HE'S OURS NOW MWAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
Adam had a great time, making crafts with the kids in another room, I want to cut my wrists but I'm putting on a happy face so he has no idea. I'll be better tomorrow.

My wife is sad that her little boy is starting to venture out into the great big world. School doesn't start for about 5-6 months, so there is still that time left of him prior to being a full time school boy. It is amazing how the time does fly by. I have to say, I'm a bit teary too. But I am looking towards this as another way for my son to blossom, as he has in everything else he has done.

Milwaukee Bucks
They notch a great win over the mighty Atlanta Hawks last night
105-101 at the beautiful Bradley Center. This site's new favorite player, Mo Williams dropped 22 pts and 10 assists in the winning effort. Now, I don't have any aspirations that the Bucks will make the playoffs, as I am just looking towards next season. If the Bucks can draft a stud big man, keep Redd, and pick up a high-quality FA, and have $1 beer nights, they'll be set.

Brew Crew
Ok, they got spanked in split squads yesterday. Bright side: Hendrickson pitched well, Lee continued to abuse pitchers and Jenkins got in on the HR parade with 2 in the game, Prince Fielder even got in on the HR action. Down side: Victor Santos was awful, and Capellan was only a bit better. I'm not too worried about Capellan and Santos, they will bounce back. I only linked to one game on the left.

Poor Mike Tice
He's accused of scalping Super Bowl tickets for extra money and bullying other Viking players into giving him theirs. Now, 2 things come to mind: 1- Tice was so pitifully paid that he had to do this to make ends meet. And 2- what does this say about the Viking players that as grown men and in incredible phyical shape ( I mean they are professional football players right?) can be bullied by a man twice their age? No wonder the fans are fed up with this team. Ahhh, the Vikes are a never-ending source of amusement for all.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Guard Swap

Ok, it's been 6 games since the big Bucks trade, so let's see how all the big kiddies have done since the swap compared to before. OK, this more for my curiosity than anything, that and I've been ignoring the Bucks as of late so I figured that they deserved some air time.

Mo Williams 15.5 pts 8.6 assists 26min to 39 min 50% increase... 6 games (post-trade)
51 w/Bucks 9.2 pts 6.0 assists/game (pre-trade)

Mike James 19.8 pts 5.5 assists 27min to 35min 29% increase... 4 games (post-trade)

49 w/Bucks 10.9 pts 3.7 assists/game (pre-trade)

Keith Van Horn 11.1 pts 5.7 reb 18min to 28min 64% increase... 6 games (post-trade)
33 w/Bucks 10.4 pts 5 reb/game (pre-trade)

So, I believe that the Bucks not only succeeded in dumping an obscene salary in Van Horn, but actually made their team better by instilling Williams as the main PG. His points and assists have gone up in proportion to his minutes. His progression eliminates the need to draft a new PG. This upcoming draft is very deep in PG, and I believe that the Bucks could therefore get a very good PF even at a upper mid round pick. James has had superior scoring, but being on a team with McGrady and Ming is a far better situation than Redd and Gadzuric, and his assists should be better, the damn ball hog. Van Horn as a minimal increase in stats, but given the significant increase in minutes, they should be much better.


On a personal note, my older brother called me last night and let me know that he bought a new black labrador retriever. He's a big hunter and is considering entering this dog into competitions. Now, I've always thought that the best part of pets was naming them. At college, my roommates and I had a cat named General Victor. Well, my brother named the dog Rebel. My brother is a cop, and I thought that he should name the dog Convict, makes sense right? Dogs can have names like horses, real long ones that identify where the dog came from and such and an ode to the parents as well. The breeding company that hooked the dogs up was named Dominators, the daddy dog was named Major, so he came up with the name of: Dominators Major Felon. Now, this met with full thumbs up approval from me, but unfortunately he already filled out the official paperwork and all for Rebel, so another opportunity lost.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Cup O' Brew

I decided to make a couple of changes to the site. On the left you will notice that I have the standing for the Cactus League, which will change to the NL Central when the season starts. I'll also be linking to the box score of the most recent Brewer game. I'll also be putting up a link to the season stats once the regular season starts as well, plus some other items. I'm still working on the whole look, but hey, I'm in mortgages not IT. The Bucks standings and game info will also be posted shortly as well.

The Brewers opened spring training with a couple of wins and some good pitching and good hitting. Now granted, this is spring training and one should not get too wound up about it or read too much into it, but they are clearly the cream of the crop in the NL. Seriously, it's great to see the team winning and playing well. So many questions have been raised about how this team was going to do. I think it's a good start so far. Hey, it sure as hell beats being 0-4 and getting shelled in every outing. It's still way too early to make any determinations on what is going to happen. I'll save all that for after spring training. However, I do have to talk about the big offseason acquisition, Carlos Lee. He's jacked 3 HR in 3 games this preseason. The OF trio of Jenkins, Krynzel and Lee are going to be outstanding.

Bucky Badger
Bucky kicked the crap out of Purdue like a red-headed stepchild in the last regular season game
64-52. Don't let the final score fool you, the Badgers were up by over 20 for a decent part of the game. The FT shooting was good, and the defense held the Boilers to 19 first half points. Mike Wilkinson had a good game (figured for all the ripping I give him, I should say a kind word when appropriate). Now, on to the Big Ten tourney as the #3 seed and a first round bye. The Badgers need to win at least 1 game to lock up a #6 seed. I want no part of that 5-12 matchup, too much bad voodoo.

Bucks
After a blowing a game against the Wolves, the Bucks bounced back nicely against the Bulls. Mo Williams continues to flourish after the trade enabled him to be a full time PG. This is one position that the Bucks do not have to worry about. Even if TJ comes back next season, the Bucks have their PG of the future right now in Williams, but that would make a very nice 1-2 punch. After Monday's game, I'll go a complete before and after trade comparison of the stats.

As an aside, I hate Microsoft. I got the XP upgrade installed at home this weekend (I know, I know, it's 2005 and I should have had this a while ago), but the f*cking thing erased all of my Outlook emails. I'm going to send them a nice, pissed off email which of course will not amount to anything, except me being able to vent.

Friday, March 04, 2005

The post to be named later

If you're a Simpsons fan, check out this interview with Harry Shearer and Dan Castellanetta from the Conan O'Brien show. Seeing them do their respective voices for the Simpsons live is hysterical. For those who didn't know, Conan used to write for the Simpsons years ago. Speaking of Conan, I have to link to Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog at the opening of Star Wars II. This is one of the funniest damn things I have ever seen, other than watching Shane trying to be athletic that is.

Packer Nation
Well, as expected, Wahle is gone (Carolina) as is Rivera (Cowboys). Now, this is a big blow to the Packers, as they simply could not afford them any longer, but it is not the apocolypse that is being proclaimed by some of the national media.

However, as I have said, the Packers have lost Pro-Bowl OL before and have survived. They have an excellent OL coach and I have complete faith in Thompson to get either good FA in or draft a quality OL. Let's take a look at what the Packer line was like and how the Packers got them:

Tauscher (RT) 7th round
Rivera (RG) 6th round
Flanagan (C) 3rd round
Wahle (LG) 2nd round of the supplemental draft
Clifton (LT) 2nd round

So, as you can see, the Packers have found great values in the later rounds. Notice that Wahle was a 2nd round supplemental draft pick. He truly was a find! Adam Timmerman was another great Pro-Bowl lineman for the Packers and he was drafted in the 10th round (last year of those). So pardon me if I don't join in on the doom and gloom surrounding the Packers OL.

So fear not, Packer fans, the NFC North is still ours!

Brewers
Hey Hey Hey! Spring games start today in split squad action against Seattle and Oakland. I'll do a rundown on these on Monday. My first season trying to diagnose the Brewers, I am so excited!

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Days of our Packers

The continuing soap opera saga of America’s Team. Let’s check in to see what has happened in the story recently:

The Packers needed to get under the cap to comply with NFL rules. When the plot to replace the current NFL cap administrator with a brain-washed clone created by Ted Thompson failed, the Packers had to resort to other, more desperate methods: cutting players! *Gasp*

The first player to go was Mike Wahle as his contract was the largest. He will be missed, but given that he once broke into the testing lab at the hospital to switch the paternity test results for Mike Flanagan’s baby, maybe not. Seriously, he should have been a Pro-Bowler the last 2 years and will be highly compensated this offseason by some other team.

The other player cut was backup center Gary Ruegamer. He was a savings of $1.4M to the cap but after his blatant sabotage of the LeRoy Butler’s Big Brothers Big Sisters charity event, he needed to go. The Packers may resign him for the veteran’s minimum, make him the starter at center and move Flanagan to one of the guard spots.

The Packers kept Darren Sharper, for now, in an attempt to get him signed to a contract where he takes a major paycut. When Sharper tricked Ahman Green’s wife into sleeping with him, he brought this retribution on himself. His $2.6M roster bonus is not due until 3/12, so there is time to work something out. Sharper is not really willing to take much of a pay cut as he needs money for his plot to steal away Grady Jackson’s all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. He’s evil I tell you…. EVIL! Bwahh ha ha… I sincerely hope they find some way to keep him, his leadership and experience will be definitely needed this upcoming season.

The Packers have made qualifying offers to Davenport, Kampman, Nall, O’Sullivan, Lenon and Barry. Basically this means that the Packers have the right of first refusal - which means compensation has been set at the round in which they were originally drafted. Example: Davenport was a 4th round pick, so if he signs elsewhere, the Packers get that teams 4th round pick in the upcoming draft. The Packers are taking a chance that nobody will sign any of these guys, but with a higher offer qualifying offers, they would had to have paid these guys more $ and then would have had to given up on Sharper to make room for them.

Thompson has a big task ahead of him as he needs to get the Packers salary cap back under control. He is off to a good start, IMO. He is not overpaying for players (a la Sherman’s Hunt fiasco 2 years back) just to keep them off the FA market. The Packers may very well lose both starting guards in Wahle and Rivera, but the Packers have been able to draft good OL and create an outstanding group. Remember, this team lost both Timmerman and Verba some years ago, and everyone was worrying what they would do without them. They have an outstanding OL coach and seem to land on their feet in this area. Thompson is gambling that they can continue to do this, but it is a good gamble.


(Disclaimer: the actions referenced above by Sharper, Wahle or Ruegamer never happened, this is a fictitious story created for entertainment. Don’t sue me!)


Disturbing News
I saw the most disturbing commercial last night, in fact, I was afraid to go to sleep because of it. It was an ad for Joe Cocker's latest CD "I'm Broke and Need Money Any Way I Can Get It". I have no idea what the hell possessed this man to make a new album covering other artists songs. Among the songs on this album are: "What's Going On"," Chain of Fools"," One" (yes, the U2 song), "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" and wait, here's the coup de gras, "Everybody Hurts" by REM. The ad had him singing parts of each song by the same wall of a warehouse. I honestly thought I was watching a parody from SNL. I'm starting to convulse just thinking about it...

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Busy Day

Let's start the day off with a joke from my son:

Why did the giraffe walk through the town with a broom and a shovel in a wheelbarrow?
Because he wanted to dig a big hole and clean up the houses.

Ok then, now on to sports, sports and more sports.

Packers
As fully expected, the Packers cut Mike Wahle to make up the majority of the room that they needed to get under the cap. They have no chance of resigning him as he is listed as one of the top FA available and will get a huge contract. The Packers are trying to resign Rivera, but I believe that they will not be able to as he refuses to take any "Packer discount", and I do not blame him. The Packers surprisingly did not cut Sharper and seem intent on redoing his deal for him to take a paycut and help the cap that way. I do like Sharper and I'm happy that the Packers are finding a way to keep him for now, although they certainly could cut him at a later time. Thompson is certainly working hard to do what he can to keep his players within reason and trying to get out of the cap hell that Sherman put him in. The full story on the recent cuts and contract extension is listed
here. I'll go into this list in more detail tomorrow as there is a lot here and I am short of time

UW Badgers
The Badgers barely escape with a win over Indiana last night 62-60. Once again, Mike Wilkinson's crappy FT shooting almost cost the Badgers the game, however, he did make 3 of 4 in the final minute to help the cause. I will give him a slight pass (not that kind of pass, although there's nothing wrong with that) as he carried virtually the entire offense by himself in the first half. The Badgers went with only 1 basket in the last 9 1/2 minutes of the game, and that was the buzzer beater by Tucker to win the game. A win is a win, nevertheless. This puts the Badgers in a favorable spot of getting the #3 seed in the Big Ten tourney with a first round bye. Bucky needs to win the last regular season game and 1 tourney game to get a nice 6 seed in the tourney.

Bucks
I really did not expect the Bucks to beat the 76ers last night. High scorers have a way of having big ass nights against them. So naturally AI goes off for 48 points. That's all I got on the Bucks, they are just too depressing right now and I have to get my butt ready for work.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

The Fab Five

Heyooooooo! The Fab Five are back, and I'm not talking about the famed Michigan draft class. There's going to be major NFL action in the next day or so, so I'll save my prose until then. For now, let's see what other people are saying about their lives.


I'm Famous in the Phillipines
"Garage band" website of one of the members. Interesting look at this lifestyle. No notes that I could find on orgies with groupies while high on crack and booze. But I'm patient.

Analog
Ok, this site is in Arabic and I'm not saying one bad word about it. No siree Bob. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go change my pants.

Friends Forever
I really don't know what this site is about other than a really depressed girl in one of those "alternative spelling" sites. U no, sum1 dat speakz lik thiz nd encoper8s sad song liriks in entrez.

Almost Ridiculous
A college girl posting on how she'll never have a job and that she's missing her boyfriend while listening marathon sex sessions from the neighboring apartments. I believe that the sex sounds are eminating from the garage band guy from the first blog.

Kind of Bruin
A student at Ohio State is blogging about his life with his girlfriend, fiancee, sex kitten, whatever. He recently broke his toe while kicking himself for such a boring blog and attending Ohio State.