Wisconsin, Badgers and national sports update for week ending December 31

Happy New Year BadgerBratwurst readers! Thank you for your support and I hope that you have a happy and healthy 2009. As we close out 2008 today it’s been considered one of the best sports years by experts so lets hope for a great 2009!

In Wisconsin and Badgers sports action this week, the Badgers lost a close game at home in men’s basketball to nationally ranked Texas 74-69 after Wisconsin beat them 67-66 on a shot at the buzzer in Texas last year. The Badgers football team didn’t fare so well in the Champs Bowl in Orlando, Florida against Florida State. After trailing 14-6 early in the third quarter, the Badgers gave up four straight touchdowns on their way to a 42-13 defeat. The Badgers finished the season with a 7-6 record.

The Green Bay Packers finished their season 6-10 and avoided embarrasment by not losing to the Detroit Lions in their season finale and winning by a score of 31-21. The Lions finished with a winless season at 0-16. Also the Milwaukee Bucks are playing better as they beat the San Antonio Spurs for the second time this season this time in San Antonio by a score of 100-98 and they are showing steady improvement lately.

In national sports news four NFL coaches, Rod Marinelli of the Lions, Eric Mangini of the Jets, Romeo Crennel of the Browns and Mike Shannahan of the Broncos have already been fired and who knows what other firings and hirings are yet to come.

In this weekends NFL wildcard playoff action badgerbratwurst likes the Falcons over the Cardinals in a battle of the upstart dirty birds, the Colts over the Chargers although the Chargers are playing well, but the Colts have MVP Peyton Manning. I like the resurgent Dolphins who won the AFC East after finishing 1-15 over the Ravens, but the Ravens strong defense will most likely keep them in the game. Finally, the Eagles are hot after winning 4 of their last 5 and trouncing the shambled Dallas Cowboys 44-6 to end their playoff dreams and I pick the Eagles to beat the Minnesota Vikings who are still inconsistent at quarterback with Tavaris Jackson even though they have superstar Adrian Peterson and a strong defense which will possibly keep them in the game as well..

The following weekend we’ll look forward to the divisional round when the four top teams with byes, the Giants, Panthers, Titans and Steelers host the winners of this weekend’s NFL playoff games. Ben Roethlisberger the Steelers quarterback suffered a concussion and numbness in his hands after getting hit against the Browns in the season finale Sunday but doctors say he should be ready to play in the Steelers first playoff game on January 11 so that’s good news.

Anyways best wishes again for a happy healthy and safe new years and enjoy all the sports action.. Take care always. badgerbratwurst.

If the Yankees keep getting to spend ridiculous amounts of money I wont watch them in the playoffs or World Series. That’s my strike back against the Evil Empire!!!!

Ok this is getting ridiculous!! I am sick and tired of seeing the New York Yankees spend $423 million dollars in salary with no end in sight on top free agents this winter like pitchers CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and now a talented hitter in Mark Texiera. What’s next Manny Ramirez or the moon?! The Yankees are already moving into a palace in Steinbrenner’s new and huge Yankee Stadium.

And they continue to own the economic end of the sport even far surprassing their richest and biggest rival the Boston Red Sox. Of course these rich signings don’t guarantee a championship but don’t tell that to the bottom salaried teams in baseball that can’t dream of competing economically with the Yankees.

So baseball still doesn’t need a salary cap?  I’ve heard the arguments of the luxury tax and revenue sharing but baseball isn’t the NFL where the Green Bay Packers of the league can compete with the big boys on an annual basis. Not so in baseball where the small market Tampa Bay Devil Rays might have a good season like this year where they went to the World Series, but if the Yankees have their way they and most all teams will become the new St  Loius Browns, the biggest have not team in history.

So what’s my revenge as a disgruntled fan without equally competitive baseball. I won’t watch the Yankees if they make the playoffs or World Series withouit a salary cap or more equally competitive league economically.

I just can’t do it any more. I’ll still watch baseball and my teams like the Boston Red Sox or the small market Milwaukee Brewers during the summer. But if the Yankees are dominating econmically on and off the field without a salary cap then I just won’t watch when they make the playoffs and win championships against watered down competition. Just give them the trophies because it won’t mean as much to me if it’s not against tough and balanced competition. I’ll just turn the channel to football earlier in the fall because I want to watch competitive games!

To sum this up I’m not crying sour grapes because I hate the Yankees. I understand the power and history they have in baseball. I just don’t like it that they have such unfair advantages over all the other teams in baseball so I am striking back against the Evil Empire and baseball and I encourage all fans including Yankees fans to do so because it is really ruining the competitive balance of baseball. Please let me know what you think and we’ll talk soon. Best wishes. BadgerBratwurstinTexas

Wisconsin and national sports update for week ending Monday December 22.

It was another exciting weekend in football across the board as the NFL went into the final few weeks of the season, the college bowl season has begun, a national championship was decided in Division 3 football and state high school championships wrapped up in Texas.

In pro football the Packers lost another close game 20-17 to the Bears. It was their seventh loss by less than  4  points as their record dropped to 5-10. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if the 0-15 Lions came to Green Bay and upset the Packers because no one wants to go winless and the Packers are in the giving mood of giving away games this season so we’ll see.

The Steelers lost to the Titans 31-14 in Tennessee, so the Titans will have home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs but the Steelers still have a first round bye and are still in good shape so that’s ok. If they go to play Tennessee again in the playoffs I think they will be ready as they were in 2005 when they lost to the Colts badly in the regular season, but then came back to beat them in the playoffs on the way to their Super Bowl victory that year.

As for the Cowboys they lost 33-24 to the Ravens in their Texas Stadium finale but if they beat the Eagles this Sunday they’ll still make the playoffs as the sixth seed in the NFC. Good luck to them and all the rest of the teams trying to make the NFL playoffs.

Finally the small college, the University of Wisconsin Whitewater where I attended for four years, lost the Division 3 National Championship Game to Mt Union of Ohio, 31-26 in a game where Whitewater fell behind 14-0, but almost came back to win if they had made two missed field goals as in turned out. It was Mt Union’s 10th national title in 16 years and their third in the last four years all against Whitewater who won last years title game against Mt Union.

Well I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a safe and blessed holiday. In my next report I’ll talk about Wisconsin’s basketball game against Texas Tuesday night and their Champs Bowl game this Saturday in Orlando, Florida against Florida State. I’ll also talk about the final weekend of the NFL and make some playoff predictions, though don’t bet your money on my picks. Anyway best wishes and talk soon. BadgerBratwurst in Texas.

Are we hearing another melancholy swan song from Brett Favre?!

WELL HERE WE GO AGAIN! BRETT FAVRE IS TIRED AND HURTING AT THE END OF ANOTHER LONG SEASON HIS 17TH, THIS SEASON WITH THE NEW YORK JETS AFTER 16 LEGENDARY SEASONS AS QUARTERBACK OF THE GREEN BAY PACKERS

And now big surprise NOT, Favre is saying MAYBE he is down to the LAST THREE GAMES OF HIS CAREER. BIG WORDS ARE NEEDED AND CRIES AND SALTY TEARS  will SURELY COME NEXT.

And then BRETT will FEEL BETTER, GET LONELY AND WANT ATTENTION AND DECIDE NOT TO RETIRE AGAIN FOR ANOTHER YEAR PROBABLY NEXT SUMMER WHEN HIS BODY AND MIND HEALS.

BUT WHAT IF HE’S SERIOUS ABOUT RETIRING OR IS HE JUST LIKE ROGER CLEMENS WITHOUT THE STEROIDS.?! So why can’t Brett Favre retire QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT?

First of all he LOVES THE GAME AND CAN’T IMAGINE RETIREMENT. He WON’T probably be a MEDIA MEMBER OR COACH so WHAT WILL HE DO?! FAVRE ALSO CANT GO ON FOREVER PLAYING EVEN THOUGH HE”S played in over 260+ CONSECUTIVE GAMES.

Is Favre looking for the BROADWAY JOE SUPER BOWL ENDING TO HIS CAREER IN NEW YORK? He LIKELY  WON’T GET IT BECAUSE THERE ARE BETTER TEAMS OUT THERE THAN THE JETS.

He’s led the Jets BACK TO SUCCESS with a 9-5 RECORD SO FAR after they went 4-12 in 2007 WITHOUT HIM. Also the PACKERS who GAVE UP ON FAVRE are CURRENTLY 5-9 WITHOUT HIM AFTER GOING 13-3  and to the NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME WITH HIM.

IN SUMMARY NO ONE KNOWS WHY BRETT FAVRE IS HAPPY OR UNHAPPY BUT AS FANS WE’RE TIRED OF THE SAME OLD MELECHOLY SWAN SONG. BUT FAVRE WANTS TO HAVE THE LAST WORD AGAIN SO WE’LL JUST LET HIM SAY IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. UNTIL THEN BEST WISHES AND TAKE CARE. BADGERBRATWURST.

Wisconsin and national sports update for week ending Monday December 15

This weekend in Wisconsin and national sports featured NFL action with the Packers, Steeler/Ravens and Cowboys/Giants among other exciting games. Also there were a couple of smaller college championship/playoff games featuring midwestern teams, Minnesota Duluth and Wisconsin-Whitewater who both won big games. Also Oklahoma’s Quarterback Sam Bradford won the Heisman Trophy beating out fellow quarterbacks Colt McCoy of Texas and Tim Tebow from Florida who won the Heisman Trophy in 2007.

Unfortunately for Wisconsin NFL fans who root for the Green Bay Packers, they were beaten by the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-16 and were eliminated from playoff contention this year with their record falling to 5-9 The Minnesota Vikings lead the NFC North at 9-5  and the Chicago Bears are 8-6.

Meanwhile the Pittsburgh Steelers won another big game 13-9 over the Baltimore Ravens on a controversial touchdown where the receiver Santonio Holmes feet were in the end zone but there was question if the ball crossed the goal plain. Once again the Steelers benefitted from a play based of controversy in a pattern that has follwed the team over the years for some unknown reason  in big games dating back to Franco Harris Immaculate Reception in the 1972 playoffs. While the Steelers are definitely good at 11-3 this year sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good although you always want things to be fair wink wink.

In the Sunday Night Game the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants 20-8 at Texas Stadium to keep their playoff hopes alive. Tony Romo, Terrell Owens and Jason Witten were all smiles winkwink after the Cowboys win so things are good in Big D as they keep their playoff hopes alive with a record of 9-5.

Finally congratulations to small college football teams Minnesota Duluth and Wisconsin Whitewater, Minnesota Duluth won the Division 2 football championship beating Northwest Missouri State 21-14. Meanwhile Wisconsin Whitewater advanced to the Division 3 championship game beating Mary Hardin Baylor 39-13 in Texas. The Whitewater Warhawks will meet Mt Union who they beat in the championship game last year and will be facing Mt Union for the fourth year in a row in the final game. Mt Union won the Championship in 2005 and 2006 before Whitewater retuned the favor last year.

There was action in basketball and hockey as well but I chose to focus on football which this time of year is most significant. Anyway best wishes for a happy holiday season and talk soon. Take care. badgerbratwurstintexas

College Football Bowl Games: Are the games or the sites of the games more exciting to the fans and teams?

The college football bowl season starts its first of 34 games on December 20 and it continues until the BCS Championship Game to be played between Florida and Oklahoma at the Orange Bowl site in Miami, Florida on January 8.

While everyone argues about the BCS and the lack of a playoff system in major college football it is also somewhat interesting to consider the other 33 bowl games and often the sites that they are played at.

For instance this year Notre Dame which just qualified for a bowl barely with a 6-6 record will play Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl on December 24.. Other smaller non BCS bowls take place in smaller cities like Orlando, Tampa or Jacksonville, Florida. Other sites include San Antonio, El Paso and Dallas Texas or San Diego, California among several other nice warm weather destinations for bowl games to be played at.

Now consider this other than universities who make more money from BCS bowls, and with the lack of a true playoff system in major college football, isn’t it exciting for fans and teams to go to some of the smaller but interesting and warm weather bowl sites?

With the bigger BCS sites it’s more about the game more than the actual destination sites such as the Rose Bowl in Pasadena which is pretty neat and the grandaddy of all the bowls played since 1902. Other BCS sites include Miami, Florida for rhe Orange Bowl, New Orleans, Lousiana for the Sugar Bowl and Glendale, Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl.

Outside of the size and check for the universities, I think some of the smaller bowls are pretty neat and give teams a chance to play an extra bowl game, get extra practice and attract recruits besides giving fans and alumni a chance to watch and attend a bowl game at a warm weather site.

Without a true playoff and even if there was one it’s still good for these teams to play in a bowl game even if it isn’t the biggest ones. It’s like a college basketball team at least qualifying for the NIT or NCAA Tournament instead of sitting home in March.

For instance I’m glad Wisconsin qualified for the Champs Bowl in Orlando, Florida with a 7-5 record. It isn’t the Rose Bowl or other BCS or New Years bowl games, but it is a bowl game for them to play at a warm weather and interesting site for the teams and fans. In other words it beats sitting home in Wisconsin or other places with losing records not being able to play in a bowl game. That’s why I think Notre Dame even with a 6-6 record is lucky for their team and fans to be able to play a bowl game in Hawaii. The universities don’t get as much money in the smaller bowls and there is somewhat less prestige in these games, but I’ve always enjoyed the smaller bowls for the enjoyment of the games and sites for fans and teams most of which are at a  neat and fun warm weather site like a fun holiday vacation.. Take care, best wishes and talk soon and happy holiday bowl viewing fom badgerbratwurstintexas

CC Sabathia: $161 million dollar contract to the Yankees. Why I might eventually tune out baseball and professional sports in general. Please change the system!!!!!

First of all I really don’t want to stop watching sports. I just love the games, action and competition too much. But when it comes to the business side of sports and the on and off the field activity  of the people who play and run it I like a lot of fans have a big problem with sports.

Today I’m going to talk again about the economic system in major league baseball, currently the only major team sport that doesn’t currently have a salary cap. Yes I know the NFL could be facing an uncapped year in a few years and the loss of their salary cap which would be a travesty to fans because the NFL is the best run and most competitive sport top to bottom in all markets. The NBA has a soft salary cap that has worked well with only one lockout for half a season in the 1998-99 season. The NHL locked out its players for a year and I think the sport came back better both on and off the ice although it will never likely be as popular as the other big three team sports in this country.

So why does baseball continue to run without a salary cap where you have teams like the Yankees and Red Sox who almost run the sport and teams like the Pirates, Marlins and Royals who should maybe bcome Triple A minor league teams?  In a lot of ways they are.

I am sick and tired of this economic system especially in these hard times where a superpower and rich team like the Yankees can pretty much own the sport economically and every other team struggles to compete with them on and off the field.

Some will say then why did the small market Tampa Bays go to the World Series then They can with good management on a short term basis. However. with a luxury tax, a superpower team like the Yankees as I call them can basically write off some money to the other teams to keep them afloat while still dominating the sport economically and if they manage it right, they will have on the field success long term as well. Just look at the big market Boston Red Sox the last few years.

It is getting scary to watch what the Yankees are doing to baseball. Opening a huge new stadium and signing the best players to ridiculously large contracts. And they can say truthfully that they are not at fault and just doing it within the system without a salary cap in baseball.

And watch out other sports because if the NFL goes uncapped teams like the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins will go to the top and other teams like Wisconsin’s historic franchise the Green Bay Packers will sink to the bottom of the salary structure and competition.

I’d like to see a system like the NHL where a dominant team like the Detroit Red Wings or  the NBA where the Celtics, Spurs and Lakers have dominated in a competitive system lately. Until then we’ll have the have’s and the have nots. Please change the system and stop holding great fans like you and I hostage to unfair competition. Otherwise someday we’ll stop watching the games and just leave but of course we won’t and owners and players know that so once again just please change the system before it’s too late. Best wishes and take care. badgerbratwurst

Wisconsin sports update among other sports news for week ending Monday December 8

In another exciting weekend for Wisconsin sports and other sports action around the country, there were big games in college and pro football, college and pro basketball and hockey as well. Also the winter meetings will begin in baseball this week and the bidding for CC Sabathia and Manny Ramirez. will begin. Get out your checkbooks small market Brewers. It still won’t likely be enough to make CC Sabathia the Brewers opening day starter next year. Oh well my baseball dream probably won’t come true this year.

On the basketball court Marquette beat Wisconsin 61-58 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee Saturday night in a matchup of Wisconsin’s two biggest major college basketball teams.

In the Division 3 college football playoffs the University of Wisconsin Whitewater beat Wartburg College in the quarterfinal round at Whitewater 34-17 Saturday to advance to the semifinal round this coming weekend against Mary Hardin Baylor in Texas with the winner advancing to the championship game.

On Sunday night the BCS and other college bowl bids were announced and as expected Florida will play Oklahoma in the BCS Championship Game. Meanwhile in one of the 33 other bowls over the holidays, Wisconsin will play Florida State in the Champs Bowl in Orlando, Florida on December 27 in a game beginning about 3:30 pm Central time/4:30 Eastern.

In pro football the Green Bay Packers lost a tough  game 24-21 to the Houston Texans in Green Bay Sunday and their record falls to 5-8. It likely isn’t a playoff year for the Packers, but also a learning experience for first year starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Packers shaky and inconsistent defense.

Meanwhile defense is king in Pittsburgh for their number one ranked defense and the Steelers had an exciting come from behind 20-13 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Piitsburgh Sunday in a game that the Steelers trailed 13-3 with seven minuites to play before rallying and clinching the game on an 25 yard interception returned for a touchdown by Deshea  Townsend that looked amazingly similar to the interception’s by Dallas’s Larry Brown against the Steelers in Super Bowl 30 in January 1996. Payback somewhat and who knows maybe a preview of this years Super Bowl in Tampa on Febuary 1st. Anyway it was a good game yesterday.

Finally if anyone cares, the Milwaukee Bucks dropped to 9-13 after losing to the Lakers 105-92 in Los Angeles on Sunday night. Also Wisconsin’s mens hockey team moved into first place in the WCHA, their college hockey conference and the women’s team is having another great year as well.

Well that a wrapup for Wisconsin and national sports this week and I’ll be talking to you soon again. Take care and best wishes. badgerbratwurstintexas

Just a thought: If you don’t agree with the results of a sporting event or situation then I believe you as a fan can choose not to honor it. What else can you do?

I was thinking about the recent decision of the Big 12 South to allow Oklahoma into this weekend’s Big 12 Championship Game even though Texas beat Oklahoma earlier this year 45-35. The decision to send Oklahoma to the game was decided by a computer which deterrmines complicated BCS standings instead of just the results on the field. Frankly I feel the same way about the whole BCS system and championship without a true playoff system. Without that I think you can just shatter that crystal football that they give the winner of the game into a thousand pieces.

I think with the total chaos in college football that is what they do anyway so it is symbolic. As fans of sports we don’t have many rights. We just mainly watch and comment. We can’t change the rules, make decisions or change the results even when we really think they are wrong. All we hear are half hearted apologies after the fact and the games are rarely replayed to a satisfactory and fair conclusion in our minds. All we’re left with is burning memories.

For example the 1972 Olympics when the United States lost to the Russians by one point on a disputed call after they thought they had the gold medal won. To this day those American players protest and refuse to recieve their silver medals. I think we fans can have the same right at least in our own minds. It won’t change the result, but if organizations like the NCAA or high schools for example can take away championship results after they’ve been played for whatever reason then why can’t we as fans do the same thing if we don’t agree with the results.

As I said it won’t likely do anything to change the results, but like the American’s protest in the 1972 men’s Olympic basketball final maybe we an fans of sports can stand up and not honor the result when we don’t feel it is right. Just to clarify I don’t mean when you are upset and your team has been beaten, but instead when you clearly think the result is wrong with good reason. Don’t honor it. That’s all you can really do as a sports fan. That’s just my interesting view on it. Please let me know what you think and thanks for reading. Best wishes. badgerbratwurst

Wisconsin sports update and other national sports action for week ending Monday December 1

Hello. This is my Wisconsin and national sports report for the week ending Monday December 1st. It was another tough weekend for Wisconsin’s sports teams mostly as the Packers lost to the Carolina 35-31 Sunday on a last minute touchdown dropping their season record to 5-7 and putting a big dent in their playoff hopes as they fall two games behind the division leading Minnestota Vikings with four regular season games to play.

The Milwaukee Bucks continue to struggle or play mediocre at best losing to Cleveland over the weekend  and their record so far is 7-12. The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team did win an exciting game Monday Night beating Virginia Tech on the road on a last second jumper 74-72 in their ACC/Big Ten Challenge game.

In Wisconsin college football as the Badgers continue to await a postseason bowl bid, the UW-Whitewater Warhawks continued to win,  30-27 at Williamette in Salem, Oregon in the second round of the Division 3 playoffs. They will advance to play Wartburg College in the quarterfinal round at Whitewater this Saturday.

In national sports news there were three big stories that caught my interest. As I said in my first blog, I am a Pittsburgh Steelers fan and they beat the New England Patriots 33-10 in New England. The Steelers have a 9-3 record against the toughest schedule in the league this year and the number one rated defense. Next up for the Steelers is the Dallas Cowboys in Pittsburgh this Sunday. It should be fun to watch.

I didn’t agree with the results in the BCS and the Big 12 South as Oklahoma got the chance to play in the Big 12 Championship game against Missouri over Texas even though Texas beat Oklahoma 45-35 in a head to head matchup in October.  I also wish the Big 12 went with the top two teams instead of by divisions so Texas and Oklahoma could play for the Big 12 Championship instead of a 3 loss Missouri team which won the weaker Big 12 North.

Finally what was New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress thinking when he carried a gun in his pants to a New York City nightclub and accidently shot himself in his leg. He wasn’t hurt bad fortunately, but what he did was a felony carrying a gun in a public place wihout a permit. I know several NFL players have been shot or killed the last few years in public, but Mr Burress needed to think about the consequences of his actions and there are always other alternatives when it comes to a person’s decisions and actions. It was a poor choice for Plaxico Burress and he might be in a lot more trouble such as facing years of jail time than he probably ever thought about in the first place.

In summary it was a good and interesting week as always in Wisconsin and national sports and we’ll see what happens next week. Until then take care and best wishes and have a joyous holiday season.