Why can’t I be a Favre fan and a Packer fan?

It is impossible to escape from the hype of the Packers-Vikings game Monday night in Minnesota.  Brett Favre finally gets his chance to stick it to Ted Thompson for forcing him out of Green Bay.  I have heard a lot of people say if you support Favre then you can’t support the Packers and you aren’t a true Packer fan.  That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.  Lots of people have a favorite team and a favorite player and those two things are mutually exclusive.

I followed Favre throughout his career in Green Bay and was fortunate enough to live in Green Bay when he won his Super Bowl.  I love the guy and love watching him play.  Is he a prima donna?  YES.  Does he have a huge ego?  YES.  So what?  That describes almost every professional athlete, have you ever met one of them?  They all suck because everyone kisses their butt because they are great at sports.  

I want Favre to do well Monday night and if he plays well and beats the Packers then awesome.  As much as I hate the Vikings, their atrocity of a stadium, their horn blowing, pigtail wearing obnoxious fans and everything else associated with Minnesota I’ll still support Favre.  Maybe he can teach them bragging about 10,000 lakes is only cool if you have more lakes than anyone else.  Come to Wisconsin where we have more lakes and don’t feel the need to brag about it.  Better yet maybe he can teach the Vikings how to win a Super Bowl.  Something else they have never done.  All those Vikings fans that hated Favre so much have no problem rooting for him now.  What happened to all that hate and venom?  I thought he sucked, was overrated and couldn’t win in the dome?

If the Packers signed Gus Frerotte, Tarvaris Jackson, Daunte Culpepper, Wade Wilson, Tommy Kramer or Jeff George do you think I would get all excited and think they would be our savior??  No.

The only reason I would be happy if the Packers lost is because I hate Ted Thompson.  I want him to leave.  This is the guy that claimed he built teams from the offensive and defensive lines first.  The offensive line has sucked ever since he got here and he hasn’t come close to addressing their problems.  I don’t like getting lied to.

Good luck Monday night Brett.

-Aaron

Boyce Hodge is a douchebag

You gotta love it when high school coaches who had to fight to get there job back from the school board (and got it back for one reason which we all know-read complexion) make an ass of themselves the first game back on the job.  After losing his cool and talking trash to Vander Blue and getting his lunch handed to him by Vander’s 6 three pointers and 27 points, he actually said the following:  “Vander is a poor 3 point shooter.”  WTF Boyce?  Ummm dude just served you a plate of the shut the f up and you’re still talking making a total @$$ of yourself.  Here’s a bit of advice:  You’ll keep your job for a little while longer because of the color of your skin, but it won’t be much longer if you continue to embarrass the school you represent and the coaching profession due to your extreme lack of class.  That would be like a high school baseball coach walking the 4 hitter to face the 5 and then the 5 hitter going off for 3 doubles and 6 rbi and then saying the kid can’t hit.  Get a clue Boyce.  You’ve kept your job for one reason.  No matter how PC the city of Madison is, you aren’t a cat and you don’t have many lives left.

Bo and the redshirt strikes again

I’m going to preface this with knowing all the Bo apologists will give me quite a tanning for what I’m about to say.  The guy is a great basketball coach no question.  But he has zero idea what he’s doing when it comes to redshirting players.  Playing Ian Markolf last night for 1 min. 57 seconds when you are up 36 points against SIU-Edwardsville (who?) defies any possibility of logic for the following reasons:

1.  JP Gavinski is still ahead of him on the depth chart.  Regardless of what anyone thinks, JP came in at the 7 minute mark and played.  If Ian was being looked at as a regular contributor, he’d for surely come in before JP.

2.  Why not keep the shirt as an option?  He gained nothing more than he gains in practice by coming into that game.  If you need him later when it means something, it’s totally different.

3.  They have admitted that they didn’t have the “luxury” to redshirt Leuer who barely played and Keaton they admit should have redshirted.  Jarmusz barely played either.  The fact Bo didn’t make the decision for one of those 3 is asinine.

4.  Big men take time to develop.  Brian Butch and Mike Wilkinson brought so much to the program in their 5th years.  Too bad we won’t get to see what Ian would have done in that 5th year.

5.  I don’t want to hear any of the “rounding out the classes excuses.”  You look at next year’s depth chart and figure one of Brusewitz/Diamond Taylor will be redshirting too-HOPEFULLY:

Point-Trevon and Jordan

Two guard-JBo, Timmy and Rob, Diamond

Three-Rob, Evans, Leuer

Four-Leurer, Bergren, Keaton, Bruiser

Five-Keaton, Markolf, JP

Sure would have been nice to see Jared and Ian play their jr and senior years together.

6. Greg Stiemsma, Ray Nixon, Kam Taylor.  It’s time to make the decision for these kids.  No kid doesn’t want to play, but some need to be told they won’t.

Wisconsin Badger Scrimmage Review

Otherwise known as the Keaton Nankivil coming out party.

This post is brought to you by “Another hill to climb”, the biography of Bo Ryan.  I’m already sick of hearing about that book at Badger games.  I’m mad I went to two events and DIDN’T get a free book.  Everyone else did.

Ryan did a good job summing everyone up, I’ll add just a few comments.

I’m not sure who the first guys off the bench will be.  The starters HAVE to be Hughes, Bohannon, Krabby, Landry, Nankivil.  I thought Leuer would be first off the bench but he was terrible last night.  I loved his aggressiveness but he did not get the job done.  I’m guessing Jordan Taylor will be the back up point and Jarmusz will also be off the bench early.  I’m guessing Bo will play 9 guys so those three and possibly Gavinski.  It pains me to say that because I’m not a fan but he played some decent D last night and Bo loves his defense.  Maybe one or two freshman will get some garbage minutes but I doubt it.

There are a lot of freshman that need to redshirt.  I like their game and think they will be really good players but they won’t get any significant minutes so why waste a year?  This is a continual problem with Bo and I think only one person will redshirt even if more people should.

I also think this is the deepest and most athletic Badger team ever.  With the way Gavinski played last night I can’t say there is a wasted scholarship on the team.  Also no one who will play is someone that doesn’t bring something to the table.  If guys play their role and step up when needed this team will do really well.  Bo does a great job preparing his guys and making sure they are in a position to succeed so I don’t see this being a problem.

Overall I was a lot more impressed yesterday then I was last year and we know how well last year’s team did.  I still think Purdue will win the Big Ten but I see UW as the tourney champs and battling with Purdue all year long.  UW will not lose twice to Purdue this year because they significantly closed the gap on the one big difference between the two teams – athleticism.  It should be a great year for Bucky and a fun team to watch.  I’m looking forward to watching them.  I also am sad because I thought UWGB would give them a great game this year and now I’m not so sure about that.  

-Aaron

Review of UW Basketball Red-White Scrimmage

Here are the basics of how the teams were divied up:

Red-Smith, Taylor, Bohannon, Valentyn, Cain, Leuer, Berggren, Nankivil

White-Landry, Hughes, Evans, Jarmusz, Wilson, Gullikson, Gavinski, Krabbenhoft, Markolf

Starters were Landry, Hughes, Jarmusz, Gullikson and Krabbenhoft for the White and Taylor, Bohannon, Cain, Leuer and Nankivil. 

Red ended up winning 72-67 after leading 38-33 at half.  Teams shot only 15-27 from the free throw line and hit 12 3 pointers between them.  Co-players of the first half were Keaton Nankivil and Jason Bohannon.  Co-players of the second half were Landry and Nankivil.  Nankivil was easily the best player on the floor tonight and the player of the game.

Here is an in depth take on each player and how they played in the game along with a letter grade for their performance:

Marcus Landry-Took a little while to settle in, but eventually was very active and made a lot of stuff happened.  Looked a lot more comfortable from the 3 point arc.  Threw down a nice dunk off a break later in the game.  Ended up with 20 points.  B

Wquinton Smith-Enough said.  Nice kid.  Good teammate.  2 points.  Won’t see the floor. C

Trevon Hughes-Much is expected of Trevon.  He finished with 12 points, but could have played better.  This team will go as far as he takes them.  C plus

Ryan Evans-0 points and was pretty much invisible.  Redshirt should be used no question.  Nice athlete, but has a long way to go in the weight room and on the court.  C

Jordan Taylor-Freshman point will be part of the rotation.  Had 10 points and played nice d.  It will be nice to see a 3 guard lineup at times with Tre and J Bo.  The kid can play and is very solid.  B

Jason Bohannon-Played a wonderful basketball game shooting the rock very nicely and ending up with 8 assists.  He’s a lot quicker and really getting his shot off well also.  13 points.  A-

Brett Valentyn-Another good kid and teammate.  7 points. C

Mo Cain-See above.  4 points. C

Tim Jarmusz-A poor man’s Krabbenhoft.  Has great length and can shoot a bit.  A serviceable, smart kid who will be part of the rotation.  3 points. C plus

Jon Leuer-Where do I start?  The kid laid an egg.  2-14 shooting only made worse when you realize he had his lunch handed to him 4 times by JP Gavinski.  Unacceptable.  He was very weak around the basket and got pushed around a good deal.  Of all the guys who are supposed to be in the rotation, he was the worst player on the court.  5 points and much egg on the face. D minus

Rob Wilson-This frosh might be the second best athlete on the squad after Trevon.  Nice silky smooth shot.  Could afford a shirt to gain weight, but it won’t happen.  He’s going to be a very nice player for Bo and will hopefully work his way into the rotation sooner than later.  5 points.  C

Jared Berggren-Frosh big needs a year to shirt and gain strength and quickness.  Did a nice job in the scrimmage.  7 points.  Must redshirt.  B minus

Gully-Got through the game w/o having a beer.  4 points. C

JP Gavinski-To me, next to Keaton Nankivil (more on that later) the most pleasant surprise of the scrimmage.  He played great defense and we all know that will get him minutes with Bo.  After tonight, he might be pushing Leuer for minutes.  5 points.  B

Joe K-Good ol lunch pail.  13 points and his typical stellar effort.  13 points. B plus

Ian Markolf-REDSHIRT, REDSHIRT, REDSHIRT.  This kid has a really, really, really long way to go.  Has a man’s body, but has zero coordination or quickness.  Has to redshirt.  Not an option.  5 points. C minus

Keaton Nankivil-Best player on the floor and solidified himself as the 5th starter.  2 monster dunks and played some real nice defense.  Looks like a different person.  Thanks for not redshirting him last year.  Man was that stupid.  24 points.  A

This is the best team athletically I have seen in Bo’s tenure at UW.  They are much quicker up and down the floor without Brian and Greg.  This team is better at this point than last year’s team was at the scrimmage.  We’ll see how it plays out.

Milli Vanilli reincarnate

Special thanks to Chris Johnson and Lendale White setting African-Americans back 20 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3nXdpilntA

Say it ain’t so, Pacman.

Did Roger Goodell really think “Adam” Jones was going to turn it around?  I know it’s America and we’re the land of 5,000 chances (ridiculous by the way), but did he really think Pacman would reward him and take the high road and stay out of trouble?  Goodell did this only because he wanted the Cowboys to be successful.  They are after all “America’s team (read revenue).”  What a joke?  I hope Goodell can get that egg of his face before he has to appear on camera next.  Coming to a state penitentiary soon, Adam err Pacman, um whatever the hell his name is, Jones.  THUG LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!

You want to be a Badger?

Why?  It is time to realize Bret Bielema is not a good coach.  It is entirely possible the Badgers were overrated coming into the year but they had too many players returning to get embarrassed like they did against Penn State.  They have continually fallen apart in the 4th quarter and have a lot of players that haven’t improved over the years.  It is time to realize you are not getting your money’s worth if you spend the insane amount of money it costs to get season tickets.  Poor tackling, players lining up out of position, blowing time outs.  Those are signals of poor coaching.  Bielema needs to make some changes or he needs to be changed.

The band isn’t even immune to trouble.  I have no problem with the University of Wisconsin Marching Band getting suspended for a week.  I think too many people are forgetting they are in college to learn and get prepared for life.  True hazing is never right.  I think some of the things were minor but forcing people to drink or sit in a bus bathroom for hours or do sexual things they aren’t comfortable with is wrong.  I wouldn’t care if I did some of those things but there are things I wouldn’t of wanted to do either.  It is obvious there are plenty of band members that don’t know how to respect other people.  Mike Leckrone hasn’t run that band for years but now it is a runaway train that needs to get reigned in.  Hopefully the suspension helps.

When does basketball season start?

-Aaron

The Packers-Are they who we thought they were?

This is the biggest week of the season for the boys to the North.  If they lose to Seattle, I think MM is ready for a Dennis Green like explosion.  He was the most animated I’ve seen him on the sidelines ever against Atlanta.  This is his and TT’s team.  They got what they wanted.  I don’t want to hear any injury excuses either.  We have been told ad nauseum how much depth they have and that this team was better than last year’s team.  If they’re better, I expect 11-0 and a NFC Championship game appearance.  No more no less.

Ok, I can hear her now

Well overall it was a good year for the Brewers but as well as they did there aren’t many pieces I’d like to see back next year.  Braun is great, for a reasonable price I guess I’ll take back Cameron.  Hart has been horrible and chokes in big situations so he can leave.  Prince is good but getting too expensive so I’d be ok with trading him for someone really good (like a SP).  Weeks needs to go.  JJ is good, keep him.  There are no third base options right now.  Kendall needs to only be half time next year.  Parra, Bush, Yovani in the rotation and McClung and Villanueva in the bullpen.  Otherwise I could care less about everyone else.  I don’t think Sveum is the guy for our manager based on what I heard him say about one of his players that I don’t want to repeat.  Hopefully they make some good moves and are competitive next year.  The division is pretty good and getting better though.

Now I can focus on football I guess.  My fantasy teams could use some help.

–Aaron