The Wisconsin Sports Rant

How does it feel now Coach, that this was “just another regular season game”. By treating it that way, you have assured that the road to the Super Bowl will go through this very stadium in which you cannot win, whether it’s due to poor play, shitty officiating, or dumb luck. I am extremely disappointed that this is yet another loss in Dallas. The defense was not prepared at all to play this game. The offensive game plan was horrendous through the first quarter. Why revert to the 2005-2006 offense? I don’t know if that was all Favre, or the plan, but either way, it was brutal. We were lucky to have a chance late in the game. But of course, just like 4th and 26 in 2003, our defense could not get the job done on what should have been an easily defendable 3rd and 19 deep in Dallas territory. After all the adversity we were one prevent play away from being in a position to take a late lead. Instead our secondary proved that without Charles Woodson and with Atari “I am a colossal detriment to the team” Bigby, they are truly awful. There were so many open Dallas receivers all night long it was a wonder that they didn’t score 100 points on us. Which also points a finger squarely in the face of the over-hyped Al Harris. Without his counterpart in the game, he is nothing special. How about the play where the ball sailed over his head and he had no idea where it was? Or the TD that put Dallas up 34-24? And don’t tell me about his interception. That was pure luck. Like the aforementioned debacle of a DB that is Atari Bigby, Harris was a huge disappointment in this game.

Bottom line, 10-1 doesn’t mean shit anymore. The “2″ in 10-2 is what matters. We lost home field in the playoffs. We lost our franchise QB. We lost the chance to make a statement that we are, in fact, an elite team. Just an all around disaster. This season looks like 2002 again. We started off hot, and then injuries destroyed any chance for a championship. This team had everything going for it. Just one regular season game, huh? Seems like a lot to lose for just another date on the schedule.

What a maddening way to lose. Marquette played an outstanding game in the Maui Invitational Final Wednesday night. They passed well, played tremendous defense and all this despite a rather mediocre performance from Dominic James. There were some very unlucky bounces as I counted no less than 4 rim-out layups, and at least 4 outside shots from James and Jerel McNeal. Still, it is hard to win when half of your team is in foul trouble the whole game. The officiating was very poor. While I would say this was the case for both teams, it was definitely more detrimental for Marquette. McNeal and Dan Fitzgerald had to sit for significant periods of the game, taking away the team’s best defender and best 3 point shooter. It seemed that more than a few charges called on Marquette were blocking fouls at the other end when Duke was on offense. Still, missing a few key free throws and Big Dogs at the end (for those of you who don’t know…a Big Dog is a short shot of less than 6 feet that you pathetically miss despite no real defense) didn’t help. Oh well, better to lose a big game now than in March. Maybe they will have sufficiently softened the Dookies for Wisconsin’s visit on Tuesday.

Note: Yes, the Badgers will be playing less than 8 minutes from my house, but it is a long shot that I will be able to attend the game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The prices for tickets are outlandish, though I would very much like to be there wearing red from head to toe among a sea of Dookie blue.

Substitute Ranter Mighty Gosling here.  Maybe it’s ’cause i’m not in the midwest but i totally missed the unveiling of Marquette’s new logo and uniforms.  The logo no longer looks like an airline’s.  And the uniforms, the away ones at least, are fantastic.  They have the distinct classic Milwaukee aura with the powder blue.  Makes you want to grow a handlebar mustache and head over to Goolesby’s for a Schlitz.  Just another reason to be expecting a lot from Marquette this year.