It's time to call it quits

I've been blogging for over 2.5 years and as you probably have noticed, I really haven't done much in the last 2-3 months. It's about time that I give this up as the drive just isn't there anymore. I covered the last 2 Packer seasons, drafts, etc and I watched all the games thinking in my head "How can I best blog this?". It has become tiring. Now I am simply going to enjoy the games and still critique them, but I think I would be better served for a while just commenting on other Packer sites and blogs, as that is what we all crave, someone to comment on what we do.

This blog was originally started as a writing experiment and turned into a primarily WI sports (mostly Packer) site with some snippets of my life thrown in. I've met a lot of great people while doing this and found sites I never would have.

So, where should you go for great Packer info?

Brats and Beer has always been a favorite, he's a good writer and not afraid to call BS when he sees it.

Mr. Carriveau does a fantastic job over at the Railbird Central. He's made leaps and bounds in his blog over the last 1.5 years. Proud to say I was there in the beginning for him.

The gang over at The Frozen Tundra has carried the torch very well that I started 2 yrs ago there (where I had some of my best writings).

Check out SBNations Acme Packing Company. It's a new guy who's just started about 2-3 months ago but he's doing a nice job.

Someday, I hope to write again when the muse strikes and hopefully one of these fine sites would allow me to join their team as my days of flying solo are at an end.

It's been a great run of over 450 posts and 75,000 visitors. I thank all of you for making this site so much fun for so long. Take care and God bless.

First preseason game in the books

The Packers played the Steelers on Saturday night. The final score really doesn't matter (we won 13-9) and all that does are injuries and several positional battles. So, here's what we learned:

• Brandon Jackson is a rookie. He had several moments where he stood out, but this was his first "game" as a pro and had the understandable rookie moments.
• Jones is a stud WR. He's quickly moving from being labeled a draft "reach" to a "steal".
• Aaron Rodgers is nowhere near the bust the critics like to label him as. He looked fantastic and if he keeps this up, he's looking to be a fine successor to Favre.
• The starting defense was awesome, especially Jenkins. He and Kampman are going to be a fantastic DE combo this year.
• The starting offense was understandably rusty. A bit disappointing, but again, just the first pre-season game and they'll get better as they get more playing time in the preseason.
• Blackmon is making a huge play for the nickelback spot and contributed quite well on special teams. He has really stepped up his game this year.

Most importantly, nobody got hurt in the game. Justin Harrell was exhausted at the end of the game, but he needs to get into football shape after such a long injury layoff. Plus, the Packers are thin right now with DT and he needed to play some extended time.

47 games to go

What is with the Brewers on the road?

They are the 5th worst road team in the MLB. They have a winning percentage of 38% on the road, that's pathetic. They have lost 9 of their last 11 on the road, add in that they have lost 5 of their last 9 at home, that's 6-14 in the last 20 games and it's a sad state of affairs in Milwaukee. The worst part is, they have more road than home games to finish the season.

This has gone way beyond the Brewers not catching breaks or catching a hot team at the wrong time. This is flat out a crappy ballclub right now and has been for some time.

Sure, some may say I'm just mad after we get swept by Colorado. True, but the Crew was not even competitive in that series, not even close. They were outscored 36-10. 36-10!!!

The vaunted starting pitching staff we were supposed to have has failed us for over the past two months. Suppan (ERA 4.84/ WHIP 1.52) has been a complete bust, Bush (5.03/1.36) hasn't repeated last year's performance which likely was a fluke, Vargas (4.97/1.50) only wins because he happens to get run support, otherwise he's not much better than Bush. Cappy (4.96/1.49) has hit bottom, and our best pitcher Sheets (3.39/1.16) is on the DL for a while yet. Don't even get me started on how completely unreliable our bullpen is.

I'm making the call right now:

This team is not winning the division, nor are they making the playoffs.

There is no pitching here and at this point in the season, that's what separates the contenders from the pretenders. There is absolutely zero confidence in the Brewers dugout right now. They are hoping they can win the division, hope is not a strategy. They have to go out there and take the division. However, this team is not ready yet to do that, they don't know how.

It's another disappointing season in Milwaukee, I'm just choosing to believe it a month and a half early. I hope the Brewers prove me wrong, but I just don't see it happening.

Photo of the Day

Training camp is looking great right now, but it's camp and I won't get too worked up about it. So to pass the time, I figured some nice picures will pass the time this week until we get to the first preseason game.

KG gone from MN

Got a comment from my NYC atty buddy Russ wondering about the KG trade. Since I live in the Twin Cities I get a front row seat for it.

The T-Wolves are a complete disaster right now and have been for several seasons. They gave stupid contracts to poor players who had some success. Those players than went on to suck horribly. However, the worst contract that was given was to the Big Ticket himself. His deal he got in 1997 for 6 yrs $126 million was worse for basketball than A-Rod's deal was for baseball. KG's deal handcuffed the Wolves for years as they simply could not sign players. Then his contract extention in 2003 which gave him over $20M/yr continued the lunacy. Sure they made trades, but eventually, those players left for more money.

The T'Wolves are rebuilding, yet again and KG simply couldn't and wouldn't go through that. He wants to win a title and Boston offers him a better chance of getting there in the weak Eastern Conference. If he, Pierce and Allen can stay healthy, Boston should run away with the Atlantic Division and be a 1 or 2 seed come playoff time. Happy days are back in Boston.

Minnesota sports fans love the big name player and essentially need it to really root for and follow a sports team. Right now, the T-Wolves don't have that and I would be surprised if they avg in the top half of attendance this coming season. This is a 20-25 win team in Minneapolis right now.