Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Wild Wild West

The Bucks lose a heart-breaker to NO/OKC Hornets 93-94 last night. A last second shot by David West won the game for the home team. I said yesterday that the Bucks had to control West's performance, but he ended up with 24 pts and 15 reb. He and PJ Brown (12 rbs) controlled the boards and the Bucks had no answer for Speedy Claxton (19 pts). Redd dropped 32 pts and the starters all had good games, however the bench contributed virtually nothing and that was the key. The bench shot 2-12 (16.7%) and had 7 pts, and it was obvious that Mo Williams is the big key off the bench and he was sorely needed last night. But with him out for a couple more games with a sprained ankle, the other guys have to step up. The up and down season for the Bucks continues.

Monday, January 30, 2006

2 out of 3 IS bad

Well, not such a good weekend for WI sports. Let's see:

Badgers Basketball
The guys lost a tough one at Michigan 76-85. While watching the game, at first I was real pissed at how the refs were letting the MI big guys manhandle the Badgers and felt a lot of contact was not being called that benefitted MI. Then I took a step back (tripped over one of the kids toys in doing so) and realized that the Badgers are just a soft team, physically. Last year the Badgers did this, led by Wilkinson, to many an opponent. This year, now with Stiemsma and Landry out, the Badgers cannot hold their own very well against teams with physical big men as Butch is a finesse big man and simply cannot muscle-out down there. The upcoming schedule is tough, but the hardest games (Ill, Ohio St, IN) are at home, but over the next 5 games I would not be surprised to see the Badgers go 2-3.

Badger Hockey
Not too surprised at the Goophs sweeping the Badgers at the Kohl Center this weekend. Elliott is clearly missed and is a major key to the team. The Goophs have been playing excellent hockey and were able to catch the Badgers when they were down and beat them.

Bucks
A nice 2 game win streak, which was the lone bright spot of the WI sports weekend, over Toronto and Boston, which are teams they should beat. Tonight they visit ex-Buck Desmond Mason and the NO/OKC Hornets. Last game against them, the Hornets stayed in the game with 39 FT attempts to the Bucks 24. The Bucks need to keep the Hornets off the line and try and contain David West who went for 27 pts and 18 rbs last game.

Official Restaurant Recommendation
Last night we went to
Q.Cumbers restaurant in Edina. They have a buffet-style, but it is mostly a salad-based one with some other main courses (usually roasted chicken or chicken fajitas) and plenty of vegetables. It was a great place and the best part is that it is cheap for kids. Kids are 63 cents/year. So my 2 year old daughter's plate was only $1.26 and Adam was $3.15. Plus, you cannot go wrong with soft serve ice cream sundaes or (cue Bill Cosby) chocolate pudding for dessert.

Friday, January 27, 2006

Whatever Oprah

I have to post about this, as it just irritates me.

By now everyone has heard about
Oprah calling out James Frey on the inaccuracies of his book that she recommended to readers in her book club. Now, Oprah is a phenominal person and has done incredible things and I have a great deal of respect and admiration for her and she has every right to feel embarassed, as she along with many other people were duped by the author in believing that his book was entirely the truth. But to come out with the righteous indignation that the editors, publishers and reviewers should have done a better job of checking things out on the book just irritates the hell out of me. Here's a quote from the show:

Nan Talese of Doubleday, the book's publisher, said she learned of the fabrications at the same time everyone else did -- when The Smoking Gun published its report.

"I was dismayed to know that," she said, adding that she never approached the author on whether Smoking Gun's report was true.

"As an editor, do you ask someone, 'Are you really as bad as you are?'" Talese said.

"Yes, yes, yes! Yes, you do," Winfrey said to loud applause.

So Oprah can blame everyone else for not doing her fact-checking for her. She was the one who read the book and then pimped it on her show. She knows what type of publicity her show can do for someone. She can say that she relies on the publishers to correctly do things, but nobody forced her to have a book club and tell people what she thinks are good books.

There is a quote from a different story that applies to Oprah that she should take to heart in this matter: "With great power, comes great responsibility." She needs to take more ownership of her own mistakes, rather than lashing out at others.

Last night on the news, I heard an anchorman say that she "took him behind the woodshed" on the show, like Oprah did some great heroic thing. She didn't. Frey did not write the book for her, he wrote it for himself, his own therapy. He didn't stand at her door everyday begging her to read it or plug it on her show. Again, it was Oprah's choice to do so.

She was not a hero for what she did. She was just an angry person who was lashing out at someone who embarrassed her. Nothing more.

Day off

I get to be stay-at-home dad today while my incredibly talented and wonderful wife is out of town today and tomorrow judging a high school speech competition. I made the kids breakfast and got the boy off to school on time (see, men are not incompetent unlike the image that is painted by the female-controlled media). Looking forward to spending a good day with my daughter. Tonight, it's take and bake pizza time!

Badger Time!
Well, the Badgers kicked the snot out of Penn State the other night without Landry and Stiemsma who are now academically ineligible for the rest of the season. This now makes for 3 players this year that have this issue. Ryan had better start paying a bit more attention to these kids and their academics. This is concerning to say the least. His new AD in Alvarez is not going to take too kindly to any continuing issues on the academic front. Bo is an excellent coach and this is probably just a one-season issue, but this still bears watching.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

America (or at least my readers), you decide!

The Badgers won last night and the Bucks lost, but we have more important things to do today. I got this idea from my blogging buddy CPF, when he posed the question about who was the hotter Daisy Duke, Catherine Bach or Jessica Simpson. I figured a more pertinent question needed to be answered: who was hotter, Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke of The Dukes of Hazzard) or Erin Grey (Wilma Deering of Buck Rogers). You decide. As for me, that alluring suit of Erin's is sweet, but a man cannot argue with those shorts so I gotta go Catherine. Feel free to comment after you clean up your drool.





Catherine Bach
vs
Erin Grey

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Stopping a scorer?

I mentioned yesterday that the Bucks cannot handle elite scorers in the league. Well, I decided to go back to their last 9 games where they played against a player who can just ring the bell and see how they have done. Here's the results:


PlayerPts ScoredPts Over AvgFG%
McGrady411453.1%
Dirk35966.7%
Carmelo381265.0%
LeBron35/528/1563.6%/65.5%
Wade35/2710/271.4%/64.2%
Iverson23-1136.3%
Kobe33158.3%
Total35859.5%



The 2 things that jump out at me are that on avg these scorers score 8 more than their avg and shoot 59.5% from the field. That's friggin' unbelievable! I took how much the players scoring average was at the time they played the Bucks. The Bucks are not a good defensive team (yeah, I know, big newsflash and all) but they cannot let the other team's big guys have this much free reign. Do what you have to to stop the big guys and make the other guys on the court beat you. The Bucks are 2-7 in these games and I'm sure the numbers are about as bad if I go back even further. The good news is, there's no big scorers in the picture until the rematch with T-Mac in about a week, bad news is the Pistons are in town tonight, so chalk up another loss.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

At least Kobe's not on the schedule soon

I shudder to think what he would do to the Bucks defense right now. The Bucks cannot handle elite scorers and have been torched by them all season. T-Mac dropped 41, most of them in the 2nd half to spank the Bucks at the Bradley Center 97-80. The Bucks scored a whopping 9 points in the 4th quarter. If you're not going to play defense kids, at least score some points. Wasn't Bobby Simmons signed and Mason traded because Simmons could play D? This team should be better than their 21-19 record and it's frustrating.

Monday, January 23, 2006

The Good, the Bad, and the Downright Fun

The Good
The Bucks won their 2 games over the weekend to improve their overall record to 21-18 and a tie for 3rd place in the Central. Michael Redd has found his stroke again, and that just puts everything back into place. Granted, the Bucks beat Atlanta (10-28) and Charlotte (11-30), who if you combined their rosters you still couldn't provide a legit starting 5 in the NBA, but they won the games convincingly like good teams are supposed to.

The Bad
The UW athletic program's weekend. First, the Badger hockey team loses their star NHL-caliber goalie to a practice injury. Then they get swept at home by Denver to shrink their lead in the conference to 4 points. To then top off a completely miserable weekend, the Badgers men's basketball team loses a home game to North Dakota State. That's right, North fricking Dakota State who are in year 3 of their 5 year transition from D-II to D-I. Why do I get the feeling that the Badgers finally overlooked a team and got burned by it. The Badgers shot 16-72 (that's 22.2% for you math majors) from the field. Even if you grab 22 offensive rebounds and force 24 turnovers, if you can't make a damn shot, you're not going to beat anyone. This combined with the Ohio St. loss, should put the Badgers dangerously close to not being a ranked team any longer. They were ranked too high anyway, so this probably balances the whole thing out.

The Downright Fun
This weekend, my best buddy Gabe came up and we went out to watch our friend Dave who coaches the Dassel-Cokato Chargers boys varsity basketball team play at Howard Lake Lakers. This is the 2nd year we have done this as we get together with several other friends and make a big night out of it. Dave surprised us all with new DC Chargers T-shirts that we all immediately put on and sat behind the DC bench and cheered. The Chargers dispatched of the Lakers 57-51 behind a very strong inside game and held the Lakers to 27% from the field, including 1-20 from 3 point range. Afterwards, we went over to Dave's house for a veritable orgy of food. We had buffalo chicken cheese dip for chips, sausage stuffed mushrooms, cheese stuffed jalapenos, swedish meatballs, hot roast beef, teriaki chicken wings and chips and dips of just about every kind. Not to mention the alcohol was flowing and all of the 20 or so attendees had a blast. The fun finally ended at 3:30 in the morning and Gabe and I made our way back for the 45 minute drive home. Dave and his wife are fantastic hosts and I look forward to this weekend every year. If you think I'm providing pictures of any of this, you're nuts.

Friday, January 20, 2006

The Fab Five

It's that time again when I hit the "Next Blog" button in the upper right and comment on the 5 randomly selected blogs and have some fun with them. The nominees are...

Asi como me ves me tienes
It's Sergio's blog! You all remember that Smirnoff Ice commercial where the 2 guys claim they know Sergio and fly and party all around the world? Well, here's his blog. Nah! Had you going though didn't I?

Moda Brasil Hexacampeano
A store to buy Brazilian-flag themed items like headscarfs, dolls, money bags, etc. I did not see any Brazilian women wearing those tennie-tiny Brazilian flag thong bikinis. Damn.

A Flower Called Nowhere
OK, this blog is pretty fucked up. A guy who is a US citizen and lives in Amsterdam and wants to marry an Amsterdam citizen so that he can then become a citizen there. Let's see his qualifications: blew all his money (including his 401k from the states) on drugs and was going to kill himself as part of a planned suicide. Gee, and nobody has taken him up yet? Go figure.

Christmas Tree Poems
This blog is nothing like the title. Here is a quote from the blog: "is & not stack I of so people remember 6:44 a 20% in christmas in prison can Chan, signed I You be a because Plays The get CHRISTMAS IN PRISON Shaolin folds are Office the least out Wet" What in the blue hell is this all about? Thank goodness crap like this is out there.

Mr. Winkie
This gay guy (not that there's anything wrong with that) has a blog where he posts pictures of women's feet to satisfy his fetish. Also dreams of sex with Michael Clark Duncan (the big prisoner from Green Mile), and also with his boss (not at the same time mind you). Hey, he's Canadian after all, so it's ok.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Double Ouch

Bucky
The Badgers lose at Ohio State last night 77-67 for their first Big Ten loss and drop to 14-3 overall. The Badgers were down 2 key reserves in Marcus Landry and Greg Stiemsma. Stiemsma is hurt and likely will miss the Badgers next game against ND State. Landry may be a bigger issue as he had to sit per academic reasons and this may turn out to be a longer absence from the team. Ohio State had their way against an uncharacteristicly poor UW defense. The Big Ten is tough this year, and if you slip defensively in a game, the opponent is going to make you pay for it.

The Badgers were ranked #15 & #13 in the polls, but that is simply too high. Their early schedule has been mostly home games where they are 10-0, but other than the Paradise Jam Tourney(where the competition really wasn't that good), they seemingly cannot win on the road. They are 1-3 and granted all those games (except MN) were against ranked teams, but teams ranked that high should do better. I really think it would do Bo some good if he scheduled some more road games early on in the season.

Bucks
They lose a heartbreaker to the Spurs 95-92, ending their streak of 13 straight when the game is decided by 6 pts or less. Their defense was stellar in the game with limiting the Spurs to 45.7% from the field and shooting 50% themselves. However, SA is loaded with talent and the Bucks did a nice job on Duncan, Ginobili and Parker, but they had no answer for Michael Finley down the streatch. He dropped 21 pts including 2 huge 3 pointers in the final minutes and sealed the game from the FT line. Overall, a very solid performance by the Bucks and even though it is disappointing, it's an effort that can be built on.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Where, O where, has our defense gone?

Go on over to the Frozen Tundra to see my thoughts on the Packers and Bates leaving.

This post will focus on the defensively challenged, Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks have lost 6 of their last 8 games due in large part to their complete unwillingness and inability to defend anyone. Here are some fun stats to show their ineptitude over the last 8 games:

The Bucks have shot 43.9% and averaged 92.1 pts/game (8th worst in the NBA on both counts)Their opponents shot 48.1% (3rd worst) and averaged 101.5/game (5th worst)

The Bucks have been outshot, percentage-wise in 7 of the last 8 games, only the win against a severely depleted Charlotte team was the lone exception. They were outshot in the win over the T-Wolves.

The Bucks have given up over 100 points in 6 of their last 8 games.

The combined record of the teams they have played over this stretch, 123-126.

Terry Stotts, it's long past time to start emphasizing defense with this team. I certainly realize that this is a young team but this is bordering on the ridiculous. The Bucks are not built to score over 100/game and that is what they are having to do in order to win games with how they play defense.

Monday, January 16, 2006

In The Zone

The title will teleport you over to The Frozen Tundra for my latest comments on the Packers. Today I go over the 'zone blocking' that the Packers are now going to implement and explain exactly what entails. I didn't really know either, learn something new everyday.

On another note. Back on Jan 5th this year, I had my 1 year anniversary of this blog. Didn't even realize it myself.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

That's one Bucking impressive stat

The Bucks beat the Charlotte Bobcats 103-102 last night in Charlotte to go 13-0 this season in games decided by 6 points or less. This really shows how far this team has come since last season as far as confidence goes. However, no way should Charlotte have been in this game last night. They were out 6 players to injury and the Bucks blew an 18 point lead. One of the downsides to having a young team is turnovers. The Bucks had 23 of them last night which totally negated their 48-38 rebounding advantage they had. TJ Ford was in the right place at the right time to get the long rebound and the winning bucket. Bogut was impressive with his 18 pt 17 rb game and really needs to become a bigger part of the offense. I liked that they got Magloire so that Bogut was not immediately thrust into the center position, but I think the time has come to put some more on the young guy's shoulders. Give him 38 minutes and 16 shots/game and he'll get you your consistant double double. Oh, and Stotts, let's see some semblance of a defense please.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Pamela Anderson vs Colonel Sanders

I know I'm posting this a little late in the day today, but in case you don't know, Pamela Anderson is wanting the bust of Colonel Sanders removed from the KY state capitol. This is a quandry for the red-blooded men of America. Who do we side with? I shall endeavor to answer this question with the following:







Pamela Anderson
VS
Colonel Sanders







Known for: CS- Drop dead delicious chicken PA- Drop dead gorgeous physique
National treasure since: CS- 1952 PA- 1991, thanks to Baywatch
Empire covers: CS- The stomachs of men worldwide PA- The minds (and other parts) of men worldwide
Introduced the world to: CS- Sporks PA- Slow motion running on a beach in a swimsuit
Biggest secret: CS- 11 herbs and spices PA- Why she went out with Scott Baio and Kid Rock
Best asset: CS- Breasts PA- Breasts (in both cases, they are all natural)
Biggest downfall: CS- Not enough restaurants PA- Not enough brains


It's a close call, but the winner is Colonel Sanders! Sorry Pam, gorgeous women come and go, but crispy, juicy, heavenly chicken is eternal.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

The New McCarthyism

Click the title of the post to go to the wonderful land of The Frozen Tundra to see more of my thoughts about the Packers newest hire.

The Bucks against the Pacers in Indianapolis last night in a game I didn't think they were going to win anyway, apparently they didn't either as they clearly mailed in their performance losing 112-88. Since they didn't feel like playing last night, I'm not posting anything further on it.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

The Double Whammie!

The state of Minnesota got the double whammie last night, as WI proved to be the superior basketball state with wins by the Bucks over the Timberwolves and the Badgers over the Goophers. What a glorious night indeed!

Bucky, Bucky, Buuuuucky!
The Badgers defeated the Goophs on the Goophs own home floor last night 64-62 to improve to 13-2 and 3-0 in the Big Ten. The Badgers held the Goophs to making only 3 shots in the first half. That's right people, they made 3 friggin' shots. The defense that the Badgers can bring is simply phenominal (64.4 pts/game) and given that they average scoring 76.7 pts/game, they can do it on both ends. This team could have folded after giving up a huge lead on the road, but held together and won. This team is possibly better than last year's squad that made it to the Elite 8. But please, Mr. Tucker, work on that FT shooting would you? Shaq is even making fun of your ineptitude. The Border Battle is now 160-120 in favor of the Badgers over the Goophs.

The Bucks
Now, the Bucks have not played very well at home having a 9-7 record, oops, I mean 10-7 now that they beat the Wolves (sorry, cheap shot). The Bucks had to sit 6th Man of the Year, Mo Williams with plantar fascitis so they were down one of their big guns for this game. The Bucks did a great job in containing KG so that he could not get into the flow of offense for the Wolves. The bench contributed 34 points led by the immortal Toni Kukoc with 14. To me, this was the key to the game as the bench has been fairly silent during the 3 game slide. The Bucks broke out of their shooting slump against one of the better defensive teams in the league by hitting 51.3% of their shots. The Bucks defense was its usual self by allowing 52.9% shooting by the Wolves, but were able to hold on. One of the better home performances from the Bucks to improve their record to 18-14 and 3rd place in the Central Division. They now have 5 of their next 6 on the road starting with being at Indiana tonight. Ugh.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Calhoun off to the NFL

Brian Calhoun has declared himself available for the 2006 NFL Draft. Given the season he had, he was the best overall back in the Big 10. He knows that he will not be picked until the 2nd round at the earliest and possibly later, so it's good that he does not have too high of expectations. Given how he bucked the odds at the college level, I wouldn't rule him out of being successful at the pro level. Best of luck to you Brian! Now, Bielema has his work cut out for him in his first year coaching at the U in replacing him.

Monday, January 09, 2006

The Good, the Bad and the Stupid

THE GOOD
The #24 Badgers kicked the snot out of the #7 Michigan State Spartans 82-63 at the Kohl Center in a nationally televised game. Kammron Taylor led the charge with a dominating 27 point performance. The Badgers received continuous praise from the CBS announcers for their outstanding overall team play and great coaching. The Badgers are now 67-3 at home under Bo Ryan. That's a 95.7% winning percentage, and that's domination. Bo has definately taken this program to new heights during his reign.



THE BAD
The Bucks lost their 3rd straight game this weekend. Their poor shooting is coming back to bite them big time. Over this 3 game losing streak, they shot 41.1%, which is incredibly poor. They also were outrebounded as well in each of the losses, which is disturbing, given this was a strength all season so far. TJ Ford came back and had a decent game against Cleveland on Saturday night, but he was not able to turn the losing tide the Bucks are in. They are now at a 17-14 record and the #6 team in the East, but maybe I have been expecting too much from this team. This is a trend that is concerning. They have a huge 4 game stretch coming up of home games against MN and Denver and road games at Charlotte and Indiana. They have to, and can go 3-1 against these teams.

THE STUPID
Not a picture big enough for this one, but it's the MN TV media. I have seen the sports anchors on the local news (and the news anchors as well), crowing about how the Vikes "stole" Childress from the Packers and how they stuck it to the Cheeseheads. NEWSFLASH: You didn't steal jack-shit. Thompson had 8 interviews lined up and would have gone through them all prior to hiring any coach. He's methodical, that's the way he is. He wasn't just going hire Childress right after he got off the plane like the Vikes did. I get a kick out of these TV people acting all smug and superior and define their worth from what they perceive they do to the Cheeseheads.

Friday, January 06, 2006

Mailbag

Before I get to the mailbag, I have a shameless plug for myself. If you have enjoyed my musings on The Frozen Tundra, go on over to MVN and vote for me in the writer awards.

Oracle: I have a question about Brett Favre, and know that you will have the answer. Is he under contract or is a free agent? I am wondering if he wants to play elsewhere if the Packers would have to trade or release him. Being the Oracle and all, I know you help me with this one. What do you think will happen? I have heard rumors of him going to Miami to take one more shot at the Super Bowl behind a solid offense, but th thought of him not in green and gold is just too hard to picture. I agree that the Packers should look no further than Bates if they are committed to bringing in a defensive coach. I have no idea what the Vikes will do, and am very much on the fence in regards to Brad Chilldress. I'd like to see them interview Rivera from the Bears, but the thought of an ex-Bear as coach of the Vikes may be too much for me to handle.

I'd also like to thank you once again for being in my Yahoo Fantasy Football League again. It was a much better league this year than last, and I appreciate you being in it. Keep giving Shane heck. Take care.

Curt (in Grand Forks)


Thank you for the complement O Curt in Grand Forks.

Favre is under contract for 4 more years so if he would choose to play for another team, a trade must be made. If he retires, he is still property of the Packers for the length of the term of the contract, so again a trade must be made should desire to come back and play for another team in that timeframe.

Miami has a solid offense? This confuses the Oracle as that has not existed since the late 80's.

The Oracle sees great things should the Packers hire Jim Bates as their head coach. I see visions of a silver football on a stand being handed to him. The Oracle cannot however influence the minds of those in Green Bay, he can only say what he sees.

You are correct on Rivera, as anything Bear-related is unclean and will taint anything it is associated with.

My participation in your fantasy football league was enjoyable, I am glad that I helped all there have a good time.

May fortune smile upon you Curt in Grand Forks; and oh yes, I forsee a banner year of heck for one Shane.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Sports Spectacular!

Lots of stuff today.

First off, last night's Rose Bowl was one of the best games on any level I have ever seen. The game not only lived up to the hype, but exceeded it. Vince Young had the greatest collegiate game ever. Wow. He is a phenominal talent, and he's leaning towards staying in college next year. If he does, nobody's stopping TX. Matt Leinert wins classless ass of the year with his comment after the game of "We're still the better team" line. No, you're not the better team, otherwise you would have won the game which was essentially on your home field. Lose with some class and dignity. I feel sorry for the team that gets him in the draft. He's a coddled prima donna that has a good chance of being a head case in the NFL. For the record, the 4th and 1 call by Carroll to go for it with White was the right call. TX was not able to stop him all night long. Had Leinert passed and it was an incomplete or a Leinert sneak that failed, everyone would be wondering why Pete did not give it to his unstoppable RB.

Packers
I've got some stuff on the Packers HC situation over at
The Frozen Tundra. Go check it out and comment, tell your friends and family as well.

Bucks
The Bucks lose at home last night to the Cavs when they let them go on a 16-0 run to start the 4th Q. Not gonna win too many games doing that. The Bucks shot 37% for the game from the field with the bench not contributing any points the entire game. Too many things went wrong for the Bucks and the poor showing at home games this year continues.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

2005 Backyard Border Battle Final Results

On Saturday, December 31st, my neighbor Shane and I participated in the last event of the 2005 Backyard Border Battle, bowling. I was already assured the championship by being up 4-2 after shellacking Shane throughout the year. This event was simply to go through the motions and finish out the contest.

Shane insisted on bringing his boys along with him and wanted me to bring Adam. I thought this sounded fishy as they all were giggling amongst themselves when I agreed to bring along my son so that he could witness my final victory. Little did I know the depths that Shane would sink to just to win the event to make the final score look closer than it really was.

The first game was a close one, with both of us taking the lead at various times. The victory was preserved for Shane in game one after my son inadvertantly threw a ball that crashed through the bumpers of the kids lane and into the gutter on our lane, during the 10th frame.

Game two Shane saw the true destructive force of my bowling prowess as I marked 6 straight times to even the score at 1-1 with a 50 pin victory. Shane was asking for a time out and even said that he forgot something in my van (I drove us all over, see what a great guy I am) in order to get me outside in an attempt to have the freezing air outside cool me off.

Then, came game three. The start of the game was a tight affair, then I noticed Shane give a signal to his two sons who then started taunting my son. The venomous chants of "The Packers stink! Brett Favre is a loser!" came from his children's lips and stung my son to the quick. My son, being only 5, broke into tears as he could not understand why his friends and Viking fans would be so mean-spirited. Shane would not tolerate any delay in the game and demanded that I bowl immediately. My mind was clearly on my tormented son and I simply threw the ball down the lane and quickly returned to him. This continued for several frames while I helped my son understand that Viking fans simply don't care about things that are good and pure, and only care about being mean and ugly and bringing others to their despicable level. My son, now armed with this knowledge, was able to fend off these bullies and enjoy his bowling experience. However, having to devote all my thoughts and energy to him, got me too far behind to catch up to Shane. He won the bowling event 2-1.

Even with this setback, I was still the 2005 Backyard Border Battle champion! As my reward, Shane must provide me a beverage of my choice for a day. We will be going to Snuffy's shortly so that he can provide me with a chocolate malt. Ahhh... the chocolately taste of victory! The 2006 Battle will be starting soon with more events and more excitement. I'll still win, but keep reading to see how this year.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

How Sweet it is!

The Badgers roll all over the #7 Auburn Tigers in the Capital One Bowl 24-10 in an absolute ass-whuppin'. This game frankly is on par with the Rose Bowl wins. Auburn was 10 1/2 point favorites and nobody expected this to happen. The Badgers did their best to "win one for the Barry".

The offense put up 548 yards against one of the better defensive squads in the country and the much-maligned Badger defense (that the announcers loved to point out was #100 in the country) just stuffed the vaulted Tigers offense time and time again and only allowed 236 yards of total offense for the game. Shit, Calhoun almost had more offense just by himself with his 213 yds rushing than the whole Tigers team. The defense was swarming all day. I found myself jumping around and cheering during the game like I was back in college.

Brian Calhoun, Brandon Williams (173 yds recieving) and John Stocco (301 yds passing, 135.6 QB rating) had phenominal games all. I was most impressed with Stocco. His 3rd and 7 completion to Brandon Williams for 35 yards while having 2 Tiger defenders tackling him as he threw the ball was quite possibly the best play I've seen all year. He was calm and focused the entire game.

Words cannot express how happy I was during this game, as this may game may go down as Barry's greatest achievement. Barry became the coach during my 2nd year at Madison and I saw first-hand what he did for the school and the athletic program. He brought back pride. Barry is now in the rarified air that used to be reserved for Lombardi, Starr, Taylor, Hudson and now Favre. He is a larger than life legend in the state of WI. The fact that he is will continue to be in charge of the entire Badger athletic program is simply heart-warming.