What a Weekend for Wisconsin Sports

It was a good sports weekend for us here up in Wisconsin.

The Badgers had an awesome turnaround in the second half against bitter rival Minnesota. They played like they should have all season, and made Minnesota look like they did last year at times in the second half. They ended up winning 35-32 after being down 21-7 at the half.


The Packers destroyed the Chicago Bears in every facet of the game on Sunday, they ran for 200 yards and Aaron Rodgers looked really solid against a maligned secondary. He only threw, really, one bad pass that was picked off by Brian Urlacher. Kyle Orton who came back from injury to play this week, probably came back too soon. He was limping around on da Bears first drive of the game. Matt Forte was pretty decent for da Bears. The Pack still won 37-3.


The Bucks got 'er done on at Memphis Friday in OT. This was without Michael Redd for the sixth time this year, and Charlie V (Villanueva) was out as well. But in Charlie's absence, Luc Mbah a Moute stepped in as the starting Power Forward and had 19 points to go with 17 rebounds. On Saturday, they took Boston to OT. I never thought they would do that, they lost but oh well, they are playing pretty well right now for having a starting five of: PG Luke Ridnour, SG Charlie Bell, SF Richard Jefferson, PF Luc Mbah a Moute, C Andrew Bogut.


On a side note, the Badgers Men's Basketball team escaped with a 68-61 victory over Long Beach State on Sunday afternoon in Madison.

College Basketball, Already?

Many people like UNC. Many people like Duke.

Well, I say fuck both of 'em. I like Maryland.

It's that time of year again people where we try to predict who is going to go to the Big Dance and the Final Four and, ultimately, win the title.

I think that Connecticut has a real good shot at it. I'm a sucker for the big guys, I never like to pick a team to win it like Tennessee last year, no big men, four guards and a 6'8" guy. Hasheem Thabeet=7'3".

The easy choice would be to say North Carolina is going to win it. But I don't like UNC. In fact, I was nearly in tears on that bitterly cold January day here in Wisconsin when the Terps went into Chapel Hill and took down #1 North Carolina. They'll miss James Gist and Bombale Osby in the middle, but Braxton Dupree will be a force. Greivis Vasquez is a great leader, and also very ugly.

I think having Louisville in the top 3 is ludacris. They'll lose to Kentucky.

The story of Texas' back-up Center Buck Burnette is classic.

I can't leave the monitor without mentioning the Wisconsin Badgers. Bo Ryan is a coaching god. He recruits slow, white guys from the South Dakota and they're perfect for his offense. I can't wait for the Marquette vs. Wisconsin game, and I know Charlie can't either, it's always a good one, and the game is in Milwaukee this year so I think Marquette has a slight advantage.

NBA: Northwest Division Thoughts

Hey, sorry it's been so long but Gears of War 2 came out the other day and I finally beat it yesterday. So here goes...

1. Utah Jazz (3rd in Conference) - The Jazz are gonna be a very solid team coming out of a weaker division in the West. Deron Williams is an awesome point guard, I don't think anyone can deny that. Carlos Boozer is a great player, he's averaging 11.2 boards a game so far. I can understand why Sloan has Andrei Kirilenko coming in for a spark off the bench. They are a solid all around team, but their downfall is that they aren't nearly as good on the road as they are on at home. They'll finish like 59-23.

2. Denver Nuggets (6th in Conference) - Denver is great shape after acquiring Chauncey Billups from Detroit. He can flat out play, and when it counts too. I find myself liking J.R. Smith more and more and especially off the bench. Carmelo is Carmelo. I hope Kenyon Martin shows up this season along with Nene. 52-30.

3. Portland Trailblazers (8th in conference) - Yeah, I'll give them a playoff berth this year. Barring a long-term Greg Oden injury. Brandon Roy is a good NBA player. Steve Blake is underrated. Travis Outlaw has a lot of upside, he's not exactly Kobe but he'll do the job. The Blazers should finish somewhere in the 46-48 win range.

4. Minnesota Timberwolves - The T'Wolves are gonna be good one day, just not one day this season. Al Jefferson is a superstar in the making. Kevin Love is a possible Rookie of the Year. Mike Miller is a proven shooter in this league, but they are just too young to make the postseason my friends. Like the Blazers last year. 36-46. Two words: Mark Madsen.

5. Oklahoma City Thunder - Oh boy. This is the NBA's nether region right now. They move the franchise out of Seattle, and don't get me started on that, with Kevin Durant and who? Robert Swift, the red-headed step-child, I think he's on the roster still. They'll be lucky if they win 20 games this season.

So Long, DeAngelo

The Oakland Raiders released/waived former Pro Bowl cornerback DeAngelo Hall on Wednesday. Hall has been sort of a disappointment for us Raider fans, he gave up 40 catches for 552 yards so far this season (STATS LLC.) He gave up more yards than any other defensive player in the league. Having said that, we could give him a break for playing across from Nnamdi Asomugha who is emerging as the best corner in the NFL.

I'm not giving him a break. He was signed to a huge 7-year, 70 million dollar deal and never lived up to it. He hasn't been nearly as good as I thought or hoped he would be. I think that had he not struggled with injuries in camp he could have had more time to work at adjusting to the man coverage that Oakland runs, versus the zone coverage he played with in Atlanta where he could fly around and make plays.


We'll have to see who wants to take a chance on this guy. I'm sure someone will pick him up and he'll have a complete turnaround, but that's why they're the Raiders. You can't play under Al Davis.

NBA: Southwest Division Thoughts

1. New Orleans Hornets (1st in Conference) - The Hornets will be this year's rendition of last year's Celtics, record-wise. These guys are gonna be unstoppable. Chris Paul will win the MVP, without even trying. David West is an animal, along with Tyson Chandler. Peja Stojakovic is a deadly 3-point assassin, if you will. They also added James Posey, the ultimate 6th man and the ultimate winner. They'll finish somewhere in the neighborhood of 65-17, and win the Finals.


2. Houston Rockets (4th in Conference) - Houston is going to have a good year, behind T-Mac and Yao. They add Ron Artest to an already pretty stacked starting five. If Artest can stay out of trouble, and stay healthy he's a good player. I love Rafer Alston, he goes from the "And 1 Mixtape Tour" to the NBA and has always been a solid guy off the bench, but on this team he's the starter which isn't always good. Whatever happened to Steve Francis? Oh, that's right he got traded to the Knicks and it ruined his career, what else is new? Assuming Yao and T-Mac stay healthy the Rockets could maybe finish first in the division. They'll probably finish like 58-24.


3. Dallas Mavericks (7th in Conference) - The Mavs will have a decent year, not by Mark Cuban's standards but still a good year. Jason Kidd is good but not getting any younger. I've never heard of Antoine Wright before but he starts in front of Jason Terry. I really like Josh Howard. Dirk Nowitzki is always an MVP candidate. The Mavs are gonna fall victims to the murderous division that is the Southwest and finish something like 49-33.


4. San Antonio Spurs - Too old without Manu Ginobili for most of the season. Probably finish 40-42.

5. Memphis Grizzlies- Too young and in a rough division, if they were in the Northwest I'd give them a chance. They'll finish 28-54.

Look Out For The Sharks This Year

The San Jose Sharks are my favorite team in the NHL. Primarily, because of Joe Thornton being awesome and also because they have a kid on the team named Joe Pavelski (you might have heard of him, or not because no one pays attention) who's from right down the road from here Steven's Point.

The Sharks are off to a great start this year, led in points by Captain Patrick Marleau and the deadly RW Devin Setoguchi. The goaltending has been great in Evgeni Nabokov, but more importantly from backup Brian Boucher, who has two shutouts in his two appearances this season. Joe Thornton has, as always, a good amount of assists already. They are set to take on the Minnesota Wild tonight at the "Tank" (HP Pavilion) this should be a good matchup, as the Wild are 7-2-1 and the Sharks are 10-2.

It's a long NHL season and the Sharks are known as choke artists in the playoffs. But, not this year my friends.

Wow, That's Ugly!

To say the Raiders took one on the chin in Sunday's 24-0 drubbing by the Atlanta Falcons would be an understatement.

Oakland's lowly Raiders, a once prominent NFL franchise, had zero first downs and -2 yards in total offense, in the first half. They finished the game with 77 total yards, with JaMarcus Russell going 6 of 19 for 31 yards, that's right 31 yards. This sort of output doesn't really suprise me. It shouldn't suprise any Raider fans. It was only a matter of time until they got embarrassed like this on offense. Matter of fact, I think the Raiders defense is one the best in the league just for keeping it competitive at 24-0. I shouldn't be quick to jump to conclusions but, I don't think JaMarcus Russell was the answer the were looking for. It was Al Davis' answer, but he's got one foot in the nursing home and the other in the freakin' looney bin. I don't really know what the answer is or where they should start exactly. Maybe somebody should knock Al Davis on his ass for putting that sort of team out there for an NFL contest. The Offensive line is a joke, and we all knew that. I think Fargas and McFadden are worthy of taking the field for that offense, but other than that I haven't seen much. Especially from Javon Walker. He needs to step up and catch some balls and give Russell a target. If I were JaMarcus I would be ashamed to take the goddamn podium after a performance like that.

I think I am done for now, but next week it probably isn't gonna be any better against Carolina when they come to town. And I feel terrible for those fans, one the most animated and devoted crowds in the NFL. I hope they wear bags over their heads next week as a part of their costumes.