The Wisconsin Sports Rant

Wow. How are you even supposed to feel, as a fan, after a game like that Thursday night? I know a win’s a win, but come on. The only thing allowing the Packers to win that game, or the weekend before for that matter, was the fact that the opposing team was even worse than the Packers. I don’t know what the record is for most turnovers inside the opposition’s 15 yard line, but the Packers have to be close for this season. It has almost reached the point where I would rather them kick a field goal from 35 yards out than try to score a TD, although after those two misses by Rayner in the first half, I am not so sure. So back to the question: What to make of the Vikings game?

Well, let’s start with the positives:

• The defense was superb. Alright, alright, they were playing a rookie QB in his first NFL start. I get that. But think about how bad the Packers defense looked in the first few weeks of the year. Opposing teams looked at our defense and thought “All You Can Eat”. There were big plays all over the place. Thursday night, there was NO offense for the Vikings. Receivers couldn’t get open at all thanks to excellent coverage by the corners. I’ll admit, I was very down on Woodson at the beginning of the year, but he has truly improved his play one hundred percent. His interception was one of skill and came at an opportune moment. Brady Poppinga’s tackle of Jackson on 3rd down just short of the first down marker was one of those key plays that can change the momentum of the game. He made a great tackle on a mobile quarterback that stopped a Vikings drive. His play has vastly improved as well. Cullen Jenkins has really turned out to have an excellent season. He will command a decent wage in the free agent market this off-season. And Aaron Kampman…wow. The Packers are looking smarter each week for having given him the money they did. He has definitely become a pro-bowl caliber player.
• Donald Driver - It is amazing that he can still make the plays that he does, and have the productivity he does when all the other options are just so terrible. Any defense knows where the ball is going, because no one else can seem to make a play on offense. Yet Driver still had nearly 100 yards and makes the difficult catches all over the field.
• This one is almost disgusting to say, but everyone knows it. The Packers are in the playoff hunt. This is truly a testament to how bad the NFC is. If New Orleans beats the Giants, which they should, and St. Louis loses to the Cardinals, which they could, we may actually have a legitimate reason to watch the game next week.

Which is the perfect segue into the negatives:

• The Packers will not beat the Bears next week. I know the Bears will be resting their players, but let’s face it. Even their second string could give the Packers a tough game. Let’s also not forget that if there is one thing that Bears fans, players and coaches would love from their team is to kick the Packers’ asses and keep them out of the playoffs.
• The Packers offense moved the ball pretty well, but they continue to transform themselves into a train wreck every time they get into the red zone.
• Bubba Franks, who should have been cut right there on the field, has gone from being a TD machine to a non-productive, pass-dropping, ball-fumbling liability. I don’t see any positive contributions from him anymore.
• The running game still needs a lot of work. This is most likely something that will get better next year as the rookie offensive linemen gain more experience.

Obviously, this list is not exhaustive, but I don’t want this post to get inordinately long. Let’s face it. The Packers are still not a very good team. However, if you look at the improvement from last year, you see that at least they are headed in the right direction.

A lopsided win over the defending NBA Champs is always a good thing, even if said champs are not what they were the year before. Ever since the Bucks got healthy again, they seem to be playing better basketball. 11-14 is definitely not a good record, and is disappointing for a team looking to improve on a mediocre-but-playoff-bound season from a year ago. Injuries have slowed the Bucks down, well, that and some pretty uninspired play. That seems to be changing. Mo Williams getting a triple double shows that this team is capable of being more than just the Redd show. Bogut continues to grow as a 5, demonstrating that well rounded game we knew we were getting when we made him the #1 pick a year ago. And again, getting Villanueva back is key to having more big guys available to play in the paint. The NBA Central division is not quite as good as it looked before the season, but it is still the toughest in the East. The Atlantic is just plain bad, as even the Bucks would be in first place if they played in that division. Hopefully the momentum has swung back to the positive side for the Bucks.  Next goal: getting back over .500.

What a huge win for the Badgers Saturday against the #2 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers! Having attended the last game in which Wisconsin beat a #2 ranked team (versus Minnesota in the final Big Ten contest at the old Fieldhouse), this was definitely a different feeling. Back in 1997, the underdog Badgers desperately needed the win to solidify their NCAA tournament resume. This time, the Badgers were ranked almost as highly as their opponent, and demonstrated that they deserved to be classified among the best in the nation. The Badgers cruised to a relatively easy win, in which they maintained a double digit lead for the last 25 minutes of the game. Their best players, Tucker, Butch, and Taylor all stepped up their games in accordance with the task at hand. Butch and Tucker had career performances (which has become normal for Tucker), and Taylor came out in the second half and made some clutch shots to keep the Panthers at bay. The rest of the team contributed as they have throughout the year. Krabbenhoft with sheer hustle and determination, Chappell and Stiemsma with their big bodies in the paint (which was crucial to keeping Aaron Gray from dominating), and Landry and Flowers with solid minutes off the bench.

Getting back to Butch and Tucker; when these guys play like this consistently, there is truly no team in college basketball that the Badgers can’t beat. I am not saying Wisconsin is the best team in the nation, just that when they are clicking on all cylinders, they will be a formidable challenge for any team. This bodes very well for the Big Ten season. It is not unthinkable that they could win 14 conference games this year. Sure, this win came at the Kohl Center, where they seem to be much tougher to beat, but I sense that the experience and knowledge of each other as a team will be more of a factor than the location of the games.

So, after a week in which Wisconsin put away a pair of Panther teams, they may find themselves ranked as high or higher than they have ever been ranked before. (Another interesting tidbit: this is most likely the first time the football team and basketball team have identical 11-1 records at the same time. If I could afford a research department, I would have them check it) They have at least one more difficult non-conference game when they travel to Georgia on New Year’s Eve, but backing up what I said above, I believe they should go into Athens and emerge victorious.

It was an exciting game, and things are looking great in Badgerland right now. Let’s Go Red!

After reading the JS Online Article about how the Brewers are going after Jeff Suppan, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I am excited that they are actually looking at signing one of the top free agents left on the market. On the other hand, Suppan’s career numbers are still not those of a pitcher for whom I would like to see the Brewers break the bank. Sure, Suppan has been excellent the last few years, but remember, he was playing on one of the best teams in the NL. He had a lot of players around him to pick him up. What I really wanted to see, and it seems to still be a pipe dream, is for the Brewers to break the bank going for a guy like Barry Zito. Sure, he should command $10-15 million per year, but those extra 18 or more wins on our schedule puts us in the playoffs. The playoffs put butts in the seats. Butts in the seats translates to more revenue. More revenue translates to more talent on the roster. More talent translates to a greater probability of playing in the World Series, and that’s what it’s all about. Think about that initial investment the Packers made in Reggie White. Now I am not saying Barry Zito’s arrival will bring with it a powerhouse team a la the mid 90’s Packers. However, it could really do a lot to change things around for the better in Milwaukee. So please, Mr. Melvin…if you are going to spend, why not just go all the way?

The annual UW-MU rivalry has come and gone, and I wonder what we can take from it. The first half was really quite ugly. All I could think of was how neither team really appeared to justify their ranking. However, the second half proved very entertaining. Wisconsin really held Marquette at bay for the entire second half. It made me realize that the Badgers really have a strength in their size. They may not be the prettiest team out there, but there are not many teams that will match up favorably against them. The other thing I took from the game was how Marquette will struggle when they can’t hit their outside shots. Unlike Wisconsin, Marquette just doesn’t have a whole lot in the paint, especially when Barro is on the bench in foul trouble. Jerel McNeal did some nice things for them down the stretch, but Dominic James didn’t quite play the game that they needed him to.

The only thing that kind of stinks about the outcome of this game is that Marquette will probably fall out of the rankings. It is really a shame too, because that will be more the function of losing to North Dakota State than to the Badgers. Still, it is early in the season, and the rankings really don’t mean much at this point. Marquette will have a plethora of opportunities to prove themselves throughout the Big East season. For the remainder of the calendar year, the Warriors finish the their non-conference, delicious cupcake-filled schedule.

On the UW side, Alando Tucker continues to impress me with his sheer ability to score from anywhere and against anyone. Every time I see this kind of performance from him it really makes me wonder how far that 2004 team could have gone had he not needed to take a medical redshirt after this rivalry game. In any case, he has developed into one of the best pure scorers UW has ever had. Kammaron Taylor proved once again, that when he can hit the three, the offense flows much better. Michael Flowers has become more than just an average contributor, hitting a key three, and playing some very solid defense. I love what I am seeing from Marcus Landry! This guy has returned to the team in a big way. Greg Stiemsma also helps out in the paint quite a bit, but needs to keep those elbows in check. I am definitely looking forward to the UW Pittsbugh game this weekend. This is one of those “statement” games, if the Badgers can pull it out. They are playing in Madison this year, and we all know how UW performs at home, especially against non-conference opponents. Unless, of course, that opponent is the aforementioned North Dakota State.

UPDATE: Marquette stays in BOTH polls…20th in AP, 22nd in Coaches’ Wisconsin is 7th in both!

Well, it has been a few days since the BCS selections were announced, and I have a few things I would like to throw out there.

Thought #1:
we all know the arguments for and against the BCS. The two biggest reasons for not moving to a playoff right away are the money the bowls generate, and the perceived “tradition” of the college football bowls. These are both faulty arguments. The money would be inordinate in a college football playoff. If you think the BCS generates a lot of cash, imagine what a couple of extra weeks and a playoff would do for revenue! As for the tradition of the Bowls…Ha! Tradition? TRADITION? Are you telling me that there is a long and storied history behind such games as the Music City Bowl, or the Poinsettia Bowl? The bowls that have been around for a long time no longer have festive or fruity names like Hall of Fame or Citrus, supplanting them with Outback and Capital One. Heck, even the corporate-sponsored bowls have changed so often that you can’t keep them straight?

Quick quiz: What is the current name of the original Blockbuster Bowl?
Answer: The Champs Sports Bowl
Extra Credit: One point for each of the four names it had in between.

Thought #2:
My dear readers all now by now how I feel the B(C)S has treated the Wisconsin Badgers. So I ask you this. What would have happened if Michigan had beaten Ohio State? Now I realize that because the Badgers scheduled a Division 1-AA team (Western Illinois), that they technically only have 10 wins according to the tie breaker system, and thus, would have lost out to OSU. However, from a practical perspective, you would have had two 11-1 Big Ten teams tied for 2nd place in the conference, that didn’t play each other and only lost to the #1 team in the nation. I understand this is an exercise in futility for Wisconsin fans, but I think it is an important point to make. It is part of the overall problem with the system; that things are not decided on the field, where they should be.

Thought #3:
This one is of the negative, pessimistic variety. It is one that no one wants to talk about. What if Wisconsin loses to Arkansas? Would this nullify all of the arguments we have been making about how it is unfair for Wisconsin to be excluded? I think not, but it sure gives it a lot less credence. We have seen this happen time and again; where teams that feel they have gotten the BCScrew under-perform in their bowl game. Remember when Wisconsin beat UCLA in the 1999 Rose Bowl? UCLA had been ranked at the top all year, but then lost to Miami in the makeup game at the end of the year. They felt that the timing of the game caused them to lose out on a chance for a national championship. The game originally had been scheduled for the beginning of the season, but was delayed until the end due to a hurricane. The loss at the beginning of the year would have been far less damaging to their chances, which is another problem built into the system. Thus, when UCLA “slipped” down into the Rose Bowl, they were less motivated, and ultimately got beat by an underrated Wisconsin team (if you can be underrated at #6 or whatever they were). We shall see. Arkansas is by no means a slouch of a team. And I am sure Bielema will have his Badgers more than ready to play. I just hope that should they suffer the loss that the arguments we have been making for their inclusion in the BCS are not dismissed.

So there you have it. My BCS thoughts for today. When all is said and done, the Bowls are still a lot of fun to watch, even if they don’t always provide a true NCAA Division 1 Football Champion.

Here is the email I wrote to ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski in response to his article about how Michigan got jobbed. I realize it doesn’t directly relate to his point about the national title game, but it does relate to the concept of the BCS being a f**ked up system and the Big Ten getting the screw. Why did I write to him instead of someone else? I don’t know. I just read his column, and after all the hysterics yesterday about the controversy for the BCS title game, I wanted to complain to someone in the media, not just to my readership.

Excellent article about Michigan getting a raw deal. I agree that both Michigan and Florida are deserving. That is why a playoff is the only real option to eliminate controversy. But then again, if there was a playoff, there would be a LOT less to talk about between Thanksgiving Day and New Years. One thing that has only gotten sporadic mention this season is the rule about more than 2 teams from one conference getting to the BCS. Wisconsin got MORE jobbed than Michigan. 11-1 with your only loss to the “2nd” ranked team in the country and doing that in the Big Ten should get you there, period. People who back Michigan’s claim to the title game suggest that their only loss was to the #1 team, and therefore, that is a “better” loss than Florida losing to a lower (yet still highly) ranked team. Well, apply that argument to Wisconsin. They destroyed most of their Big Ten opponents. They beat Iowa with their backup QB. They beat an underrated Penn State team. And they lost to Michigan IN Ann Arbor by a much-closer-than-it-appeared 14 point margin (they were tied at halftime). Wisconsin didn’t even have a chance to match up with Ohio State this year, so we will never know how that game might have played out. The bottom line is that the BCS is broken, and not just because of the #1 versus #2 controversy. It is broken for those teams like Wisconsin that are excluded from the conversation because they have the bad fortune of being the 3rd best team in a conference that has the two BEST teams in the nation. Now that is the definition of getting jobbed.

Of course, Fox had Barry Alvarez on the BCS Selection show, and only for a moment did they touch on Wisconsin - when they displayed the embarrassing final BCS rankings graphic that showed the 7th ranked team (by the BCS…the Badgers were 5th in the Coaches’ Poll and 6th in the AP) couldn’t play because of their B(C)S rules. Alvarez, the class act that he is, instead of complaining just stated “But we knew the rules going in”. I applaud your professionalism Barry (as I would have been up there bitching to whoever would listen). If Urban Meyer had the humility that you demonstrated we would be watching Michigan versus Ohio State in the title game.

This is how the rest of the year will be. Self destruction after self destruction. What a horrible, awful, despicable team. Bob Sanders is following in the glorious footsteps of Bob Slowik and Ed Donatell. This defense is absolutely putrid. Actually I shouldn’t say that. I don’t know that the defense was even there. I am very glad I turned the game off at 17-0. I would have only gotten more and more infuriated. As it is, I was just mildly pissed, and ultimately amused at how in three weeks time this team went from staying afloat to being so f**king bad that they don’t even deserve to play in Lambeau Field. I am serious. They should play the remainder of their season in Ashwaubenon High’s stadium (no offense to you Ashwaubenon), not in the hallowed grounds which they desecrate every time they take the field. They are a disgrace to the fans, the city of Green Bay, and the state of Wisconsin. Boo!

Quick trivia quiz: What is the combined score of the last two games against the New york Jets?

Answer: 80-27!

Can a team from the state of Wisconsin please beat North Dakota State? What the hell is going on here?? How does Marquette spank the likes of Duke, and then get beat at home by this team? I just don’t get it. Can we please have ONE fu@@ing team play a season where they don’t have a let down game? Unbelievable. So much for a top ten matchup between Wisconsin and Marquette this year.

There will be a few teams in the BCS bowls this year that clearly have not had seasons as good as that of Wisconsin. After watching USC get upset today, it makes me more pissed at the stupid 2-teams-per-conference rule. The loss for USC is most certainly a “let-down” game. You know, the game that Wisconsin has lost to Northwestern or Michigan State in the past few years. Sure, USC lost their hopes for a title game, but they still get to the Rose Bowl (where they should play Michigan if Florida holds on to beat Arkansas). As i have mentioned numerous times, Wisconsin has been treated like the BCS’s ugly stepchild. If the CFA or NCAA or whatever the organization is that ultimately decides on the post-season structure won’t go to a playoff system, then here is another way to solve the problem. Why not just get the best video game player from each of the schools in the top 10 to duke it out on the virtual field? (Sorry Wisconsin fans, this may not be the best point in time to discuss anything related to video games). Seriously, that is about as screwed up a way to do it as the BCS, so why not? Get more student-”athletes” involved!