The Wisconsin Sports Rant

I don’t usually like to post immediately after a previous post, but I want to make one thing very clear. The Packers did get screwed by that call, but I make no excuses for this team’s absolutely wretched performance in the 2nd half. The defense was absolutely horrific, as it has been most of the year. I thought the secondary was the problem (which it was), but where the f**k was the run defense? On the second of back to back 15 yard runs for Alexander in the 2nd half, I saw guys jogging after him out there! That is unacceptable! And I would seriously consider firing the special teams coach after this game. It looked like the 80’s Packers out there. That was one of the worst performances I have ever seen out of a kickoff coverage unit. Their own 40 yard line was bad field position for Seattle! Finally, the offense could not get anything, except for that Driver TD. The play calling was terrible. Why all the deep throws?? Why not keep the running game moving? Just terrible. This game was a f*@king mess. This team is done. They will be just good enough to not get a top pick in the draft. They have taken a major U-turn back towards that hypothetical pile of shit I discussed last week, and it is frustrating as hell to watch. I don’t know why I continue to do so, because it is an exercise in immense frustration.

I admit it. Our defense is f*&king terrible. This is the only team in the NFL that can get 4 takeaways, score off of 2 of them, and still lose. And you can’t win when your QB throws shit up for grabs. But when it is a 3 point game, and you stop the other team, and then there is a BULLSHIT call like the one on Cullen Jenkins, that is a back breaker. Literally, the referee, Tony Carente (sp?) gave this game back to the Seahawks. Tony, if I can call him by his given name, should be suspended for this ridiculous gaffe. He cost the Packers a win. Everything that happened after that call is incidental. Favre’s picks hurt, but do you think he throws those passes if we are WINNING?? NO!!! I hope that Tony Carente (again, sp?…but who cares, he doesn’t deserve to have his name spelled correctly anyway) gets his ass handed to him by the league. That kind of call is inexcusable. It ruined the Packers chances of winning the game, and gave Seattle new life. I never hope for people to get hurt, but I DO wish him nothing but ill will. Memo to that asshole Carente: Karma is a BITCH!

Before you read this post, please review the BCS standings. Wisconsin is 11-1. They lost to Michigan. They are 6th in both the Harris and Coaches’ polls. They are the 3rd best team in a ridiculously top-heavy Big Ten. They are even ranked ahead of the undefeated BCS darlings, Boise State. Now please, someone tell me, do you think Boise State could beat Wisconsin? Do you think Oklahoma or Nebraska could beat Wisconsin? Do you think Louisville, Rutgers, or West Virginia could beat Wisconsin? Do you think Notre Dame could beat Wisconsin?

Here’s the thing…if you answered yes OR no to any of these questions, it doesn’t matter. The real answer is YOU WILL NEVER KNOW! That’s right! As I have already harped on numerous times, the wonderful BS..er, I mean BCS rules prevent 3 teams from the same conference from participating in BCS bowls in the same year. However, there is another BCS rule, that probably won’t matter, but theoretically could have. If you are in the top 4 spots of the BCS standings, you are in. Because of the way scheduling played out this year, Wisconsin’s season ended too early, and thus, they cannot win any more games to up their standings in the BCS. The computers have them pretty low too. So today I want to examine the resumes of two teams that will likely go to the BCS games instead of the Badgers:

Notre Dame:
The BCS has a sweetheart deal with Notre Dame about qualifying since they aren’t in a conference. You think Notre Dame, and you think tough schedule, right? Let’s look at that tough schedule. Beat Georgia Tech, then beat Penn State when they were ranked. So far so good. Then the 26 point loss to Michigan at home (Wisconsin lost AT Michigan by 14). From there they won 8 straight. Good right? Those wins were over zero ranked opponents, and really, not one of them is even a good team. Finally, the blowout loss this past weekend to USC. So how does that make Notre Dame better than Wisconsin? 10-2 with a single win against a ranked team. Now granted, Wisconsin’s schedule was not good either. But Wisconsin’s 11-1 holds up Notre Dame’s 10-2 just fine.

Boise State:
Now Boise State’s schedule is pretty flimsy. However, they did beat Oregon State, who in turn beat USC. Matchup syllogisms rarely hold any weight, but it is worth mentioning. Other than that game, and possibly Hawaii, who has a pretty decent offense, they play in a conference that just doesn’t have the competition of a Big Ten.

So there you have it. BCScrewed is the term, and I will continue to use it until next year. 11-1 is a remarkable accomplishment for this Badger team. It’s just too bad they won’t be rewarded appropriately.

It has been a little while since my last post. Sure, I could talk about how the football Badgers are getting BCScrewed (I have trademarked this term), or how the Packers plummeted back into the pile of poop from which they seemed to be emerging after the Minnesota game. But folks…it is now officially College Hoops time in the great state of Wisconsin! The 7th ranked (say that again and let the beauty of the word 7th roll off your tongue) Badgers improved to 4-0, and though the competition hasn’t been there yet, they are taking care of business until it is.

What is truly impressive however, was how 17th ranked Marquette (which is too low after tonight’s performance I might add) took a page from the Duke manual and used an 11-0 run late to put the 8th ranked Blue Devils away. Marquette should get a huge boost in the rankings from this one. They simply looked like the better team. They were determined, confident, and played with a ton of effort and hustle. Dominic James played like Wade did in 2003, and Devin Harris did in 2004. He took over the game when it counted and you just knew that he would do what was needed to win. Jerel McNeal was incredible as well. He was slashing, cutting, making layups over guys 8 inches taller than himself. He has definitely improved since last season. Ousmane Barro played admirable defense on Josh McRoberts throughout the second half. He just kept himself between the hoop and McRoberts, which A) prevented all the lob passes from the first half, and B) let McRoberts miss all the 8 foot shots he wanted. Wesley Matthews contributed some excellent defense as well, and I really like what I saw from the freshman David Cubillan. This team is very well coached, and plays with such intensity…they will be a tremendous amount of fun to watch this year. What looked like a pretty cream-puffy non-conference schedule has actually gained some luster with the wins over Texas Tech and Duke. Of course, you know what’s coming just around the corner. Dare I say it? Is this game on the UNC-Duke level this year? I wouldn’t dare compare the histories of the two rivalries, but in this particular season, this has to be one of the premier intra-state games played! These two teams will most likely be undefeated when they meet, and the winner will have a huge notch on their tournament belt.

Back to tonight…beating Duke to win the CBE Classic tournament is a huge win for this program. It was a great game to watch, and it definitely will open eyes as the Connecticut win did last year. This is also the second straight year in which Marquette won one of the early season tournaments. Forget the pro teams for now; it is college hoops country in America’s Dairyland this year.

Off to a not-so-blazing 3-6 start, the Bucks have been without the services of their big free agent from last season, Bobby Simmons, and are now going to be without their big move of this offseason, Charlie Villanueva, for at least a month. It seems Charlie tore a ligament in his elbow against Atlanta the other night. It’s amazing how quickly this team has sunk since my opening night post. Things were looking good for this team. Now, absent two players and a credible defense, AND playing in the NBA’s toughest division, is it already panic time? I don’t think so, as there is a ton of ball left to play, but this is starting to look like an awful lot like a typical Brewers season. Ouch.

The big complaint about the BCS in the past few years is that it can leave the odd man out if there are three undefeated teams, or a few one loss teams vying for the two top spots. Let’s face it. As long as there is no playoff in NCAA Division 1 college football, there will always be problems with the system. However, what about some of the lesser known problems with the system? Such as say, the rule barring more than two teams from any one conference from being eligible for BCS consideration. I’m here to tell you that this is complete and utter BULLSHIT. There. I said it. Bullshit. The Wisconsin Badgers have lost ONE game this year. That would be the 27-13 loss to Michigan at Ann Arbor, when they played a solid game and simply got beat by the best (or second best…we shall see this weekend) team in the country. Never mind that we finished 7-1 in one of the toughest conferences in the nation (sure, it is a down year, but how many times have they lost games to Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State, or even Northwestern simply because every conference game is a tough one?), or that we are in the top ten in the BCS standings (9th after this past weekend). Even if Michigan wins, that eyesore on our schedule (Division 1-AA Western Illinois) keeps us from winning a tiebreaker with Ohio State. So assuming we win the game against Buffalo this weekend (I hate to assume things, but come on…), we will be 11-1 and will be shut out of the big time bowls. I think this is just ridiculous. Wisconsin has proved that they can kick teams’ ass, they can come back from big deficits, they can win close games, they can win on the road, and they can win with their top player out of the lineup against a quality opponent (on the road)! This is a GREAT football team. I pegged them for 8-4. They are going to be 11-1. With the loss coming to MICHIGAN. I think the NCAA needs to reexamine the BCS rules. I understand the need to be inclusive, and allow teams from all conferences to participate. But just because the Big Ten happens to have 3 of the best teams in the country doesn’t mean that one of them should get screwed! And of course, it is Wisconsin that finds itself with the short end of the stick. Here is the other big problem with the system. Ohio State and Michigan began the year ranked, and ranked high. Wisconsin wasn’t ranked until week 5. How is that fair? How is it fair to start teams in a ranked order at the beginning of the season, without even seeing them play? It becomes an uphill battle all year for a team like the Badgers simply because the media and coaches GUESSED how good they were to begin with. The same media and coaches at that point thought Miami and Florida State were good as well! This is clearly ALL about school name, and has NOTHING to do with the quality of the team. It is hard to find something to be angry about with regard to the Wisconsin football team this year, but darn it, this is one. Bielema has vastly exceeded most of our expectations, as has everyone on this team. They deserve better than the Capital One Bowl. They deserve the Fiesta, or the Rose, or the Orange, or the Sugar Bowl. I guess they will just have to run the table next year.

I will tell you one thing…they have postponed the basketball excitement for just a little bit. In any case, I am very proud of to be a Wisconsin Alumnus!

Hail to Thee Our Alma Mater!
U RAH RAH WISCONSIN!

I love Brett Favre. He was done tons more right for us than wrong. But this season is now on the brink because of him. Now I don’t know if it was he or Mike McCarthy who made the absolutely f^$@ing asinine decision to throw the ball at the 1 yard line when they had been getting tons of yardage with every run in the 4th quarter. I think that if that one play call did come from McCarthy, it dropped my respect for him by about 75%. There was NO good reason to make that play call. NONE! You just went from 4-4 with a chance to take 2nd place in the division next week, to 3-5 and just about out of it. I can’t get over how this team has blown 2 games in the standings because of basically 3 plays. It’s one thing to lose games because your opponent is better, or you are young and inexperienced. But when you are losing games because of mistakes at the most inopportune times of the game, as with today and against the Rams, it is completely unacceptable. This is why it is so damn frustrating to watch the Packers. They tease you with drives like their TD drive, and with defense that looks incredible. Then they make the most ridiculous turnovers or blown defensive plays you can imagine and destroy anything good they have accomplished. It is a complete joke. This team looked awful at the beginning of the season, and yet they have improved every week to get to the point where I thought they could actually put together a decent season. Today they dominated the Bills for almost the entire game defensively (that ended when Al Harris did his best Ahmad Carroll impression and let Lee Evans score unabated), yet they still made every mistake they could to lose. This game, I believe, will be the breaking point of this season for Green Bay. The Packers made enough mistakes to give this game to the opposition when they clearly should have won. They should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. I think they may have felt that the St.Louis game was an aberration. Now they know it was not. It will be in the back of their minds every time they play, and they will lose more games in this fashion. What a fu*#ing disaster.

Ok, so I don’t really think we have answered any of the questions I posed about this team in yesterday’s post, but I do think this win against the Pistons is big for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a divisional win. Remember, we are in toughest division in the NBA, so every win against a divisional opponent is big. Second, an opening night win on the road against a good team is a huge confidence builder for a team that has yet to define itself. There are eight new players on this Bucks team. Chemistry is important in the NBA, perhaps more so than any other major sport. A victory like this on opening night means more to a team that is learning to play together than an established one. Some other positives to take from game 1 of the 2006-’07 season:

• If you haven’t checked yet, take a look at the turnover differential. Pistons: 22 Bucks: 8 Turnovers make headlines in football, but don’t get discussed enough in terms of basketball. Teams that protect the basketball can overcome other difficiencies. Remember the 2005 Wisconsin Badgers? They didn’t make it to the Elite Eight on pure talent. The turnover margin was larger than the difference in the final score of the game, meaning that if the Bucks hadn’t protected the ball half as well as they did, the outcome may have been different.
• The passing was outstanding. Time and time again the Bucks made the extra pass. The Bucks had 26 assists, and seemed to have great ball movement. They had several easy layups and dunks because of that last pass.
• The jerseys may be green, but if #22 plays like this, they really should consider an alternate Red[d] jersey. Michael was outstanding. The best part of his game was that the 37 points came as part of the natural play of the team. There weren’t any rushed shots, nor did he try to take over tha game. It was a quiet 37 points (if you can have that many quietly)
• The newcomers looked good. Charlie Villanueva had a double-double with 16 points and 12 boards. Ruben Patterson played tough underneath and had 7 rebounds. Steve Blake made some key passes down the stretch to keep the Bucks ahead.
• Andrew Bogut, who was supposed to be out for another month, not only played, but played very well. He took a couple of charges, and nearly had a double-double of his own with 16 points and 9 rebounds.
• Finally, the Bucks led from wire to wire. Every time the Pistons looked like they were coming back, the Bucks held them off. This is not something the Bucks have been able to do against Detroit, and certainly not in the Palace. They simply looked like the better team Wednesday night.

It’s easy to put too much stock in the opener. I am trying to point out all of the positives for the Bucks coming out of this game, but I do realize that when all is said and done, it is only 1 out of 82 games. I still think it may mean more for the Bucks for the aforementioned reasons. In any case, let’s hope this game is an indicator of good things to come.

The Bucks open up tonight where they left off last season, against Detroit. I truly don’t know what to expect from the team this year. On the one hand, the Bucks have added some excellent talent in Villanueva, and should hopefully see improvement in Andrew Bogut’s play. They will have a more physical post presence with Ruben Patterson and Brian Skinner. Of course, their most solid position is the 2 where they have an All Star scoring machine in Michael Redd. On the other hand, they have several unknowns. Will David Noel be a Redd-like find, or will he ride the pine? Will Bobby Simmons play like he did at te beginning of last season, or the end? Will Mo Williams be able to handle the starting PG role? Finally, just how deep is the bench? Some of the newcomers are true unknowns. It seems that this team could be quite good, or quite average. Stotts will definitely have the opportunity to prove himself as an NBA head coach this season.

The competition is going to be more difficult as well this year. The Eastern Conference is on the rebound. Detroit and Miami are not heads above the rest anymore, as Chicago, Cleveland, Indiana, and New Jersey are catching up. Notice that 4 of those teams are the other 4 in Milwaukee’s division, which makes for an even tougher road this year. Michael Hunt wrote that the Central Division is the toughest in the NBA this year, and I agree with him. All five teams may make the playoffs as they did in 2005-’06.

The Milwaukee Bucks are not the fashionable dark-horse pick as are the Bulls, nor are they going to garner much national TV time (I think it is currently at 1 game on February 2nd vs. the Heat). But if they can mesh well and play great team basketball, I believe they have the talent to be competitive. Still, I am not convinced of any one direction this team will head in ‘06-’07, which in itself is a compelling storyline.