The Wisconsin Sports Rant

Ok. I realize that Indiana University’s football team is one of the worst in the Big Ten, but we didn’t even beat Division I-AA Western Illinois this badly. Listening to the Badger Hour with Homer and Mitch this Friday (really, it was just Mitch since they had technical difficulties getting Homer on) not one caller predicted anything approaching Wisconsin’s 52 point outburst. I believe 38 points was the closest, and that was from the host himself!

It must have been a great week of practice and preparation, because the Badgers looked extremely sharp from the beginning. Of the three things I pointed out last week that frustrated me, they seemed to address each one. They came out throwing on first down at the beginning, and were able to move the sticks. There were really no major mental mistakes, by the coaches or the players. And the special teams play was much improved. They did their job well until the fumble at the end, when the game was over anyway.

Stocco had an excellent game, standing in the pocket delivering spot on passes all over the field. The receivers stepped up their play tremendously, running solid routes and making catches. Hill looked strong, breaking tackles left and right. And of course, the defense simply didn’t allow Indiana to do anything for nearly the entire game. This was a statement by Wisconsin that they are to be taken seriously. Despite the loss at Michigan last week, the Badgers were able to regroup, go on the road and stick it to a conference opponent in brutal fashion. Bielma had this team prepared to play, and they executed their offense and defense flawlessly. I must say, I am almost disappointed we don’t get to play Ohio State this season. I would like to see the Badgers have a crack at them. However, a date with Iowa at the end of the year could be just as challenging (not to look too far ahead or anything). What I do look forward to is continued improvement, so that as we near the tougher opponents at the bottom of the schedule, the Badgers are playing at their peak level.

Well well…not bad! I think the new uniforms may actually be nice to watch. I was hoping for red to be the primary away color, but it seems that green is forever ingrained in the Bucks scheme. Maybe red could be an “alternate” jersey? Just think of the headline! Redd in Red Red Hot! Ha!

Miller Park must be considered the Pinto of baseball stadiums. It seems that the roof is constantly in a state of disrepair. After the last home game of the season, they were opening the roof when a part of the system shattered. Maybe next time they should buy the extended warranty.

Let me just say that 31-24 is not a score we Packer like to see very often. It brings back extremely painful memories of Super Bowl XXXII, the Gas-Out in the Gas Lamp, if you will. Yet that score is not the only connection between that era and Sunday’s victory in Detroit for the Green Bay Packers. Favre would be the other one. The stats don’t even tell the whole story. 25-35, 340 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT (that’s ZERO INT’s!). Those alone are quite impressive numbers, but there were two plays that stood out as bygones from Favre’s MVP seasons. First, the toss, on the run, to Koren Robinson after the play began to break down. Favre took a mishandled shotgun snap, and turned it into a 24 yard gain. That was also a huge 3rd down conversion for the Packers (something they did VERY well throughout the game). Second was the touchdown to Driver. Classic Favre-style playground football. Scramble around until you find a man open the endzone and then fire one of those “frozen ropes”. There was no point at which Favre looked like he was going to throw an interception. Playing with a lead definitely helps, but he managed the offense perfectly all afternoon.

On the defesive side of the football, it was a Jekyl and Hyde performance. For three quarters, they couldn’t stop anything. The secondary, which was supposed to be vastly improved with Woodson, continues to look like the weak link of the unit. The interception for a touchdown was dumb luck for Manuel, who otherwise appeared to be in over his head. That “attempt” at tackling Shawn Bryson on his touchdown demonstrated Terrell Buckley-like effort. Oddly enough, Ahmad Carroll was the best looking DB out there. Collins was burned on two big plays, and Woodson continues to look pretty average. However, in the fourth quarter when it mattered, the entire defense stepped it up and made the plays required to win the game. Hawk is starting to show his speed and talent. Both his sack and the excellent tackle on the swing pass to Jones were perfect examples. Barnett joined in with some nice tackles, and the defensive line played well as a unit too. The fact that a team actually designed protection to thwart Aaron Kampman is a testament to how far he has come as a player. Still, if the Packers are to beat teams better than the Lions, the defense has a long way to go.

A win’s a win, right? I know this was a game against a team possibly worse than the Packers. I realize that they played with a depleted secondary. However, there are some undeniable positives about this game. One, even when the Packers were elite, they had trouble winning in Detroit, so any time you do achieve victory there, it’s a good win. Two, Favre was as good as he has ever been, which proves he is still capable of playing at a very high level. Sure, he may not do this week in and week out, but the very notion that he could turn in a performance like this every time he plays is very reassuring. Third, at 1-2, we are on par with many teams that were supposed to be much better than the Packers (New York Giants, Carolina Panthers, to name two). All you can ask from a young team like this is that they improve every week. This is the NFL, and while there are definitely big margins between bad and good teams, it’s not like college where you have cupcakes on the schedule to beef up the record. This was a divisional win, a conference win, a road win, and something the Packers can hopefully build on.

So, when all was said and done, complete disaster was avoided in the state of Michigan this weekend. The Badgers represented themselves pretty well even in defeat, and the Packers brought home a victory. As a kid, it always irked me that the Lake was named for their state instead of ours. Why couldn’t it be called Lake Wisconsin, I pondered, aside from the fact that the center tank in the Milwaukee County Zoo’s aquarium already staked claim to that moniker. When you look at it from a sports point of view, perhaps they should retain the naming rights. Except for the glorious win against the Wolverines in 2005, the two Michigan Big Ten schools have had their way with Wisconsin football lately. And although the basketball Badgers have had a good run against the Spartans the last few years, remember that they beat us FOUR times the year they won the NCAA Championship (most teams don’t even meet 3 times in a season!). Wisconsin still has trouble with the winning in Crysler Arena. The Pistons have eliminated the Bucks from the playoffs in each of their last two appearances. Of course, as I mentioned previously, the Packers do not have a stellar record in the greater metropolitan area of Detroit either. Heck, even the Tigers beat up on the Brewers during interleague play this year. Perhaps the Lake’s name should change each year to signify which state holds current sports supremacy over the other. Somehow I doubt such a far-fetched idea would engender enough support to take hold. That’s okay. Upon further research into the subject, I satisfied my childhood annoyance. Michiganites didn’t get to name the Lake after their fair state. They took their name from it.

Winning was definitely not something I was looking for today, however there are three things about this game that were incredibly frustrating to me:

1. The incredibly poor special teams play, especially from Zach Hampton. That fumble was really the beginning of the end, as instead of perhaps being able to score before halftime and go in with a lead, they allowed Michigan to tie the game. That, coupled with the personal foul penalty made for a forgettable day for Hampton. The coverage also got worse and worse as the game rolled on. Breaston was getting 20-30 yards on the last few returns. Finally, the blocking for kick and punt returns was poor. They would have done better to down it on the kickoffs EVERY time, as they kept bringing it out and getting stuffed at the 15.
2. The need to use those timeouts early in the 2nd half due to mental errors. I realize this is a young coaching staff, but these kinds of mistakes should not happen, especially more than once in a game (let alone a half).
3. The complete lack of creativity with the offensive play calling. Come on! I appreciate the need to stick to the running game, but if you are not moving the ball AT ALL on first down with P.J. Hill, perhaps it may be a good time to try THROWING the ball on first down. I realize the wide receivers were pretty terrible today as well, but it’s not as easy to make plays when you are constantly trying to complete 3rd and long situations. They did not try to adapt at all in the 2nd half, and thus, had the offensive numbers to show for it.

The defense played very well for 3 quarters, and just ran out of gas at the end. Also, someone get some ice for Ken Debauche’s leg! I haven’t seen that many punts in a game in a very long time, and he was able to keep them relatively high and long throughout. Overall, things turned out as I thought they would. While it was competitive for a while, Wisconsin got crushed in their Big Ten season opener. And, since this is D-1 college football, a loss means no hope for a NCAA Championship this year, (I know, they weren’t going to get it anyway, but this just makes it official) and it will also be pretty unlikely to win the Big Ten title. There aren’t many positives in losing a game, but hopefully they can improve as the year continues.

Like Samkon Gado did for the Green Bay Packers last season, Carlos Villanueva is emerging as a bright spot on an otherwise crummy season. Last night he pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, even if it was a no-decision thanks to the Brewers’ wonderful offense. The question is, does he go the way of the Steve Woodards and Cal Eldreds, or does he emerge as a star? We haven’t had the best luck with young pitching panning out, but it would be a wonderful change of pace to see this guy turn into an All-Star pitcher in our rotation next year.

I know my last Brewers post really had a sense of finality about the Brewers, but I wanted to make a quick post as a sort of epilogue, if you will. To top off a marvelous day for Wisconsin Sports Fans everywhere, the Brewers dropped the rubber match to the Nationals today, thereby making two things official: A) They will finish worse than last year, and B) They will finish with a losing record for the 13th time in the last 14 years, and the 14th straight non-winning season. Congrats to all in the organization!

You are at home, in Lambeau. You have caused 3 turnovers. you are up 13-0 on a mediocre team. But you are a BAD team, and thus, you still find a way to lose. Simply ridiculous. It is week 2, and I am already tired of hearing about the “youth” and “inexperience” being the reason this team is bad. What are the two main plays that lost this game for the Packers today? Favre’s interception in the endzone, and Green’s fumble inside the Saints’ red zone. Plain and simple. Is that youth and inexperience? I think not. Those are two of the former All-Pros. Favre actually evened his performance out with some excellent play. Green looked awful. As did Franks. As did Ahmad Carroll. By the way, why in the hell is he still out on the field? He is either a TD or a penalty waiting to happen EVERY play. I am sure the most anticipated matchup of week 3 will not be the battle for the NFC Central cellar between Detroit and Green Bay. I cringe to think how this team will perform on the road.

Speaking of other “disasters waiting to happen”, it looks like we may be in for a pretty horrific weekend in the state of Michigan next week. The Badgers did nothing to assure anyone that they will be able to score in the Big House. Sure, the defense looked excellent, but they are really untested, as they have faced a pair of Division I patsies and a Division 1-AA team. Michigan just destroyed the 2nd ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Not exactly a cupcake, are they? I hope we are pleasantly surprised shocked to see at least one of the teams come away with a victory. More likely, though, is that we will all come away excited for college basketball.

In trying to be more positive and optimistic about sports, here are the good things we can take from the game today:

• Great idea to get rid of Cundiff! Rayner’s FG try at the end of the first half was really close. If it were from 50 yards instead of 53, it would have only been really wide left.
• That multimillion dollar deal for Woodson is really going to work out for them! He did a SUPERB job of covering Muhammad, and returning punts.
• Brett Favre didn’t throw a pick until the second half, but then he threw 2. He is on pace to best his record 29 INTs from last year!
• The Packers streak of consecutive games in which they scored ended. It had been 15 years since the last one (roughly the same amount of time since the Brewers had a winning record). The bright side? Now we can start a new one!
• Mike McCarthy can learn from his first challenge. There was no question, even in real time that Herron fumbled the ball, but at least he learned how to use that red flag early on so that he can be quick on the draw when necessary.
• Lambeau definitely is not intimidating to the Bears anymore. Oh wait, that is a negative.
• The Defense got a great workout, since they were on the field the entire time, so it seemed. They should be prepared to play 60% of the game since the Offense can’t seem to stay on the field longer than a few downs.
• We got Bears game #1 out of the way

So I think we have a lot to look forward to this season! I think we are definitely on the right track, and will contend for the playoffs.

We just need to figure out a way to score, that’s all.

I don’t know if you have read Michael Hunt’s column in the JSOnline today, but I wanted to respond to both this and the comment by Smoothie from the last post. I agree that injuries and the Lee trade basically decimated this team to the point that they could no longer compete for the Wild Card. Actually, they competed for a while after the trade. I completely agree, as I posted a few days ago, that Yost should not be fired. However, there are a couple of points Hunt makes that I don’t agree with. First is the contention that “The pieces are mostly there…” There is just no way to say that without results. We have had teams in the past that have been totally rotten with no pieces to speak of. However, we have had seasons where the pieces did seem to be there, but never materialized into anything resembling quality. The other point, “There is no connection” to Brewers teams of the past, is just plain wrong. There is a sizeable connection. LOSING. The who, what, where, when, and why may not have any relationship at all to the current situation, but the results are the same. I don’t care about excuses anymore. Injuries have always been part of sports. Trades have historically stripped this team of what little talent they possessed. Whether the excuses have been legitimate or not, the bottom line is this will be the 24th consecutive season in which the Brewers will be be done playing baseball after the first weekend in October, and it will be the 14th straight in which we did not win more games than we lost.

So why don’t Wisconsinites and Milwaukeans care any more, as Smoothie commented? If they don’t, why did we spend several hundred million dollars of taxpayer money on a huge spaceship-like shrine to futility simply to keep this wretched team in town? Were we that jealous of Chicago that we needed our own “loveable losers”? I think the answer is simple. Brewers fans do care, and do want to see their team make the playoffs. We want to end this dynasty of ineptitude. Losing has been an epidemic for the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club. The reasons, excuses, justifications, and causes just don’t matter anymore. Winning will.