The worst 8-1 team in the country

Who are the Wisconsin Badgers? You are correct.

There is nothing wrong with the offense of the Badgers, that's for sure. Calhoun is the best RB in the Big Ten this year (yes, this includes Maroney) with 1200+ yds rushing and 19 TDs. He is also an outstanding receiver out of the backfield, similar to a Warrick Dunn or Tiki Barber. Stocco is having an outstanding year in completing over 60% of his passes and putting a lot of pressure on opposing defenses with his play.

The defense however is another story. Granted, they lost 8 starters from last year and have massive injury problems this season. They are playing the classic bend-but-don't-break defense and have the "W"s to show that it's working. I think the world of Bielema and the job he has done this year, but the 400+ yard games against his defense are going to bite him big time someday, and that day might be at Penn State this weekend. Let's hope he can make some fixes in time for what is going to be the game for the Big Ten title.

And to further continue the "Ying and Yang" trend that I posted last week, the Badgers won and the Packers lost on the same weekend. This is now 7 straight weeks of the fate of the Packers being determined by the Badgers.

Buck, Buck, Buuuuck

Before I get into Bucks news, I have to say Happy Birthday to my beloved wife Rachel! Yes, we are going out for dinner tonight at a restaurant of her choosing. The sitter is all set and we are looking forward to a fun night.

The Bucks came to a very interesting trade yesterday with Desmond Mason being traded for Jamaal Magloire. Now, I am a big Mason fan so my first reaction was that this was about as useful as another folk singer back in the 70's. However in looking at the trade a bit more closely, I do like it. There was a logjam at the #3 with Simmons and Mason with Welsch coming off the bench. Simmons is an excellent defender and can score as much as Mason does. I'm not too thrilled with giving up a 1st rd pick next year, but if Magloire gets them to the playoffs, I can live with it.

Magloire is a solid center with an All-Star history and is just entering his prime. The Bucks beefed up a rather weak frontcourt with a bonafide center. Magloire is a solid scorer and rebounder and is going to be able to body up to the big boys around the NBA, thus enabling Bogut to play some at the PF slot with Smith and giving him more time to get acclimated to the NBA. Plus with Magloire inside, teams cannot just focus on the Bucks perimeter players on the defensive end.

Starting lineup of Ford, Redd, Simmons, Magloire and Smith with Bogut, Mo Williams, Gadzuric and Bell off the bench is a solid 9 man rotation. Not too many teams out there can lay claim to that good of a rotation.

UPDATE: I've got a new entry over at The Frozen Tunda (link to the right) with a Bengals blog writer on the upcoming Packer/Bengal game. It's in the same style as the one for the Viking/Packer game I did with Mr. Cheer or Die. Take a gander and comment if you like.

Pie Poll

Fall is here and a men all over the country start turning their thoughts to one thing and no, I'm not talking about football or the SI Swimsuit issue.

It's pie.

Yes indeed, fall is the official season for pie. Why is that you may ask? Well for starters, women (namely our wives) now look for ways to use the oven now that the temperatures have dropped as a nice way to warm up the house. This leads to a natural increase in pie production. Men cannot resist a warm piece of pie when it's 50 degrees or colder outside. Women know this and thus use pie as part of their diabolical plan to make their husbands do extra work.

Being used for evil plans aside, pie is wonderful. So I've decided to see what are some favorite pies out there. We are leaving individual places to get pie out of the discussion as people (as ill-informed as they may be) have their preferences of who makes the best pie. We'll just focus on the pie itself.

My favorite has to be banana cream pie. It's rich, creamy smoothness is simply divine and is a veritable Mardi Gras of enjoyment for the taste buds. I am not alone in my enjoyment of this dessert, here are what some other notable people have said about banana cream pie:

"I cannot tell a lie, Banana Cream pie is the best there is" -- George Washington, 1780

"Banana Cream pie is so good, it makes me want to scream! Oh OOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" -- Sam Kinnison, 1985

"This pie is so good it's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" -- Neil Armstrong, 1969

"Banana Cream pie essential to achieve enlightenment" -- Bhudda, long time ago

There you have it. Do you have your own favorite?

How Suite it is

Last night upon my arrival home from work, my wife informed me that my long lost friend Keith had just called wanting to know if I could go to the Wild game as he had an extra ticket. Given it was free, I jumped on the chance to finally go to the XCEL Center and see a Wild game. Upon my arrival, I was handed the ticket by Keith and looked at it to see where we were sitting. Immediately the word "SUITE" stuck out at me. I looked bewilderly at Keith and he just grinned as he informed me that one of his buddies won the tickets.

The suite (#32 to be precise) was located directly behind the goal that the Wild were shooting at for the 1st and 3rd periods. I met the reps that were there for Taylor Corporation that owned the suite and thanked them for the tickets and let them know this was my first time at the X. They laughed and said that I get to sit in the front row of the suite and let me know that we all could dig into the free nachos, fajitas and soda.

I was in heaven. I have admittedly given up on following hockey years ago, but being at the game in such great seats brought back a lot of great memories of watching and following hockey as Keith and I reminisced about when we grew up watching hockey on SportsChannel.

Even though the Wild lost 3-1, it was a great night.

This is the end

This song by the Doors just keeps going through my head when I think of the Packers. Go ahead and click the link over to The Frozen Tundra for sh*ts and giggles.

Ying and Yang

Sometimes one notices that a "power" couple that when together do well, but then when apart their individual fortunes change or vice versa. For example: Sonny and Cher, the easiest comparison. Together they had one of the more popular variety hours with Sonny's self-depreciating humor and Cher's tough-girl persona. They were on top back in the day. Then they split up and Cher has gone on to be an international superstar. She commands an incredible amount of respect in the music and entertainment industry, not to mention David Letterman's fury. Sonny on the other hand, in comparison was a total flop. Yes, he was by all accounts a fine public official, but compared to what Cher turned herself into and accomplished, he fell quite a bit short (yes, that is also a dig on his height).

Another example is Andre Agassi and Brooke Shields. Pre-Brooke, Agassi was "the man" of tennis. Winning Wimbletons and other grand slam events, getting huge promos thanks to his "rebel" image of Daisy Duke cutoff shorts fashion statements and was overall the face of tennis. Then he marries Brooke and his career takes a complete nosedive. He's injured, he is getting beat by nobodys in early rounds and tumbles embarassingly quickly on the tennis rankings. Meanwhile Brooke's career takes off with "Suddenly Susan" and comes back into the limelight. They divorce and Andre's career once again takes off and Brooke's crashes back to where it was pre-Agassi.

I bring this up as this season has shown that the Badgers and the Packers cannot win on the same weekend. Apparently their fates are intertwined this season and it's time for WI sports fans to recognize this. Look at their records and games this year, the lone Packer win came on the weekend of the lone Badger loss. It's an interesting phonemenon that doesn't happen often in life, let alone major sports.

It leads a fan to look at what is happening and decide which way he wants this trend to end up. Does one root for the Badgers at the expense of condemning the Packers in possibly Brett Favre's final season to an embarrassing end, or does one sacrifice the man who single-handedly resurrected the Badger football (and athletics) program in his final season as coach?

To me, it is truly a difficult dilemma, as I love both programs deeply. At this point the Packers season is beyond saving and let's have Barry go out with a bang. In the words of the renowned philosopher and huge Badger fan Rene Decartes: "F*ck 'em Bucky!"

In Favre We Trust

The Packers are going to kick the Vikings ass this Sunday! Go Pack Go!

It's Vikings Week!

Go ahead and click the title of today's post to see myself and Mr. COD talk about the Packer/Viking game over at The Frozen Tundra. You know you want to click on it, go ahead, treat yourself. Go on, click it... CLICK IT!!!!

THEY BLOCKED THE PUNT!!! (part II)

Today I shall talk about my adventures with Dave, Gabe and Tony after the Badgers glorious victory on Saturday.

So, I'm in this gay bar minding my own business... What? You want to know how I got to this point you say? Very well then...

After THEY BLOCKED THE PUNT!, many of the 30,000 Badger fans that were in attendance stayed for the UW marching band to go through a Camp Randall tradition of the 5th Quarter of playing songs and just having a good time for about 25 minutes or so out on the field. We danced in the stands and had a jolly old time.

We then walked over to 1st Avenue where all of the bars were taken over by Badger fans laughing, drinking and having a jolly old time. BTW, the Loon Cafe has incredible burgers and fries and I highly recommend them if you get the chance.

After being there for about 2 hours and several rounds, the 4 of us in my group decided to head out to a different bar. Dave, the outspoken one, wanted to find a dive bar to just hang out in where we didn't have to yell to be heard by one another. We were walking along and he decides that he wants to go into The Brass Rail. He doesn't consult anyone, just goes in.

Well, we have to follow him so we all go in. It's a pretty small place with about 12 or so people in it and after about 5-10 minutes he notices there are poles near the back. I goad him into giving a mock pole dance, to which he accomodates us. We are dying laughing at his performance, and he comes back and says "You know, nobody else was laughing, they were just watching. I think this is a gay bar." We all told him that yes it was indeed a gay bar.

Now, Dave is what you would call a fairly conservative Bible-Thumping Conservative Christian. This fact only heightend the enjoyment that Gabe, Tony and I had at the whole situation. I have to give Dave credit, he stayed there for about another hour and a half, and even accepted a round of drinks that some older, gay Badger fans bought us.

Thus brings me to the beginning of my post. So I'm in this gay bar minding my own business watching the end of the Notre Dame-USC game. USC just converted a 4th and 6 with a 50 yard pass. I yell out "Oh my goodness!"

Now, let me explain, I have 2 young kids and I really have to watch my language around them. I have trained myself not swear in just about all situations. It is just habit at this point. 5 years ago, I sounded like a truck driver and had no problems with that.

A gentleman at the end of the bar says "Who said 'Oh my goodness' down there? Butch it up!"

Needless to say, this caused another round of laughter from Gabe and myself as yes, he did say that phrase how the stereotypical way you would expect it to sound.

After Matt Leinert fumbles out of bounds which essentially wins the game for USC, I once again out of habit say "Oh my goodness."

The retort from the same man at the bar said "Oh my god, it was you who said 'Oh my goodness'. Butch it up sweetheart."

I then replied "Holy crap! I cannot believe that fucking happened!"

"That's much better, stick to the craps and the fucks" he replied.

We then left after that game was over and headed over to Kieren's Irish Pub for some scotch and Guiness. And there, Gabe flung not one, but 2 pieces of spicy pepper cheese at an Asian woman on the other side of the bar. And that my friends is how my story ends, one of the funnest days and nights out I have ever had.

THEY BLOCKED THE PUNT!!! (part I)

In what the the most stunning and memorable finishes of all time in this border battle rivalry, THEY BLOCKED THE PUNT! The Badgers (as I so correctly predicted) kept Paul Bunyan's Axe in a 38-34 victory. It was the best game I have ever been to. Several items also stood out in the Badgers favor other than the final score. THEY BLOCKED THE PUNT!

1. While we were waiting for the rest of our group to arrive outside of the Metrodump, my friend Gabe pointed out to me that the women who were in WI garb were clearly better looking than the Goopher women. I have to say, I agree.

2. THEY BLOCKED THE PUNT!

3. The UW marching band came out at halftime and put on a very high quality show. The rows of the band members were straight, the motions were crisp and clean. The music selection was quite good. Overall, they put on a show one would expect from one of the best marching bands in the country. The MN band was... how you say? Ah yes, bad. They played Georgia On My Mind and America by Ray Charles, both incredibly slow songs. It was like musack was suddenly turned on. The place went to sleep when they performed. Also, their lines were crooked, they didn't even make an attempt to step to the music and looked like they didn't even practice.

4. When MN scores, they spell out Minnesota, say it 3x, then say yeah Goophers. With the announcer then going RAH!. Sorry, this is insanely lame. I actually felt bad for their fans having to do this. With this in mind, when the Goophers come out, they have 4 guys with flags run ahead of them spelling S-O-T-A. Did they forget how to spell their team's name? After all, they spell the damn name before and during the game. Again, quite sad. They really need to attend some games at Camp Randall to see how cheering is done. Hell, the wave was started by the WI fans in attendance, and the student section did not even participate.

5. THEY BLOCKED THE PUNT!

6. They take the lead in the Border Battle Cup.

So there you have it, the Badgers not only have a better team, they have better looking fans, a better band, and better cheers (and student section), plus...

THEY BLOCKED THE PUNT!

You can't have the Axe Goophs!

This weekend, the Badgers and Goophers will be playing for Paul Bunyan's Axe at the Metrodump. This is the oldest rivalry in NCAA Division I-A. The teams have met every year since 1907. Before Paul Bunyan's Axe, the teams played for the "Slab of Bacon", a piece of wood with the word "BACON" and a figure that would represent an "M" or a "W" depending on the point of reference. The idea was that the winning team "brought home the bacon". It was lost in the early 1940's, but resurfaced in 1994. The tradition of Paul Bunyan's Axe started in 1948.

The teams are probably thier most evenly matched in a long time with both teams at 5-1, MN is ranked #22 and WI is #23 in both the AP and Coaches Polls. Both teams have outstanding rushing offenses with 2 of the best RB in the nation in Maroney (MN) and Calhoun (WI).

It's going to come down to defensive effort and special teams. Both of which I would give the edge to the Badgers. Before last week's aberration, the Badgers had not been scored on in the 3rd Q and gave up 24 points total in the previous 5 games in the 2nd half. They will turn it back around from last week. Brandon Williams already has 2 punt returns for touchdowns this season and seems to be in the zone currently, so expect something big from him tomorrow. Prediction: MN will come out quickly as will the Badgers, but the Badgers will shut MN down in the 2nd half. Final score: UW 34 MN 24. You Can't Have The Axe Goophs!

Life's Lessons

I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in.

I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just assholes.

I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it.

I've learned you can get by on charm for about 15 minutes. After that, you better have a big willy or huge boobs.

I've learned that you cannot compare yourself to others, they are more screwed up than you think.

I've learned you can keep vomiting long after you think you're finished.

I've learned we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrites.

I've learned that 99% of the time when something isn't working in your house, one of your kids did it.

I've learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon and all the less important ones just never go away.

You gotta be kidding me

52-3? The Packers kicked the holy hell out of Saints in the most impressive overall team showing in many years. I don't think the Packers have ever had 3 passing TDs, 2 rushing and 2 defensive TD in the same game ever. BTW, I believe that regardless of the fantasy football league you are in, the Packers were the best unit to have. Not too often that phrase gets uttered, but it's nice to see every now and then. I'll have some more on the Packers over at The Tundra later on, but DAMN!!!

Bucky
Well, didn't really think they would go undefeated this season. The defense, which has been unbeatable in the 2nd half this year, got steamrolled for 4 straight TDs in the 3rd Q alone. This performance, combined with the big Gopher win against MI certainly makes this Saturday's game between UW and MN that much more intriguing. Also, I would like to say that Michael Hunt at the JS in Milwaukee is the biggest bandwagoner I have seen outside of the Twin Cities. This one performance and he is now questioning if Alvarez did the right thing by naming Bielema his successor. What a choad Hunt is.

Memories...

Camp Randall is an incredible place to watch a college football game. I have a lot of great memories such as the derisive chants between the student sections (O SUCKS!), cup wars and of course, "Jump Around". Even though the student section numbers about 14,000 out of the 80,231 capacity, they own the stadium and are the undisputed leaders in cheering and various forms of The Wave. The marching band is not something that people put up with at halftime. The UW marching band is one of the best in the country and is an integral part of the whole gameday experience as they put on an awesome show, along with the tuba players that travel among the crowd during the 3rd and 4th quarters. With the outdoor stadium and the sun shining on your face and the brisk autumn air, it represents what is right about college football. It's one of the best venues to watch a game at in the country, and it's not just a proud alum saying it. CNNSI in 2004 rated it as the #9 place for a college football game in the country and #1 in the Big Ten. With the recent renovations, the experience is only better. Without a doubt, the experiences this place provides is one of the crown jewel of the University.

My neighbor Shane recently asked me about how Camp Randall got its name. Camp Randall was a training ground for Civil War recruits. Approximately 70,000 recruits were trained here during the war. The camp was named after the governor of WI at the time, Alexander Randall. Eventually the University acquired the land, but kept the name of the camp for the area thus preserving and honoring the historical importance of what happened there.

The Badgers are on the road this week at Northwestern. This is the start of their schedule where they play4 of 5 games on the road. Northwestern has typically given them fits on the road, but not this year. Badgers should win this game by 14 points 34-20.

Links of the day

In a blatant steal from Shane at the Greet Machine (see link to his site on the right), I have decided to do a Links of the Day.

Here's one from Mark Attasasio thanking the fans for a great season. This guy is simply a class act and it's easy to see great success in the very near future for this club with him at the helm.

You gotta check out the Sausage Racers page. Just fantastic reading.

Did you know that the Packers nickname is the oldest in the NFL? It's true.

The Border Battle between WI and MN is back for it's 2nd season. There has been 7 new events added, and MN has a 40-20 lead currently. However, much like last year, the Goophs will choke and the Badgers will once again claim the title.

The Bucks are currently ranked #15 in ESPN's initial Power Rankings, playoffs for them this year are a sure bet.

News of the Wierd. You just gotta read it.

And finally, you knew this was going to be here.

Breaking News!

AP - On the heels of President Bush nominating his former personal attorney for the Supreme Court, the President has announced several other moves. His personal chef at his Texas ranch, Stacy Miller, will now be running the Department of Health and Human Services. His personal chiropractor, James Buhrat, will be the new head of the Department of Labor. The Department of Energy will now be run by his barber, Nathan Sledge and his former high school algebra teacher Nancy Cartwright, will be appointed the governor of Idaho. On the last appointment, the President said "I have very fond memories of Ms. Cartwright, even though I haven't spoken to her since high school, she'll do fine. Plus, Idaho's not all that important of a state anyway, so she's free to mess up."

On other news, I have my latest article atThe Frozen Tundra

My Wife Kicks Ass!

Rachel ran the 10 mile portion of the Twin Cities Marathon yesterday, and did awesome! I am incredibly proud of her as just 5 months ago, she was not even running. Just over a week ago, she hurt her ankle and she was unsure if she would be able to run. God certainly answered our prayers and helped her along the entire race. Her ankle did not hurt. God also put her best friend Molly right along side her and when Rachel thought she could not make it with a mile to go, Molly was there encouraging her to do it. Needless to say, her running this race was inspirational. I am incredibly proud of you Rachel!

Brewers
Well, the Brew Crew finished the season at .500. They did not beat the Twins so my prediction did not come true, but I'm still proud as hell of this team finishing 14 games higher than last season. They put this kind of improvement next season, that's 95 wins and contention for the division and certainly the playoffs. Good times are here for the Crew my friends. Looking forward to some more offseason moves by the best GM in the business, Doug Melvin, to get this team over the hump.

Badgers
Can Bielema make halftime adjustments or what? The Badgers have not been scored on in the 3rd Q and have given up 24 points in the 2nd half over 5 games this year. Wow. This team at times looked sloppy against Indiana, as I think they played down to the level of their opponent. The young, inexperienced defense made some glaring mental errors on the 2 TD passes by Indiana. That was to be expected, but they still won and that's the important thing. Only 8 more wins to a Rose Bowl championship.

Packers
Tonight is a big game for the Pack, one that I feel they must win. They have steadily improved their performance each week and hopefully this will culminate in a win tonight. Given that the division leader is still at 1 win, the Packers are far from out of the race with Detroit still being Detroit and the Vikings looking like the worst team in the division right now.