Let's Take A Deep Breath, Badger Fans

Let's just tap the brakes a little on the upcoming season, Wisconsin Badger fans. That's not just my opinion, but one Head Coach Paul Chryst is pretty strong on. He's been telling his squad to ignore the hype, and for good reason.

Wisconsin is highly ranked in the pre-season polls, yes. For example, Athlon has the Badgers 9th, Sports Illustrated puts them 3rd.

But those rankings are, by and large, pretty bogus. If given the magic wand, I would wave it and ban ALL polls until the first week of October. Let teams get some games behind them before judging.

I'm not raining on the parade, here, just being a realist. Granted, Wisconsin returns 9 of 11 offensive starters (losing TE Troy Fumigali and FB Austin Ramesh, an unsung hero in the team's 13-1 season). The entire O-Line has returned, which bodes well for RB Jonathan Taylor and QB Alex Hornibrook.

This an offense just plain loaded. It may well be superior to the team Russell Wilson led.

But then we look on the other side of the line, where Defensive Coordinator lost 8 starters. That means a new-look defensive backfield, inexperience at linebacker and a green defensive line.

The young guys MUST step up if Chryst (34-7 in 3 years, a winning percentage of  82.93%) is to continue on his very successful path.

As an aside, the Badgers caught flack last season for having BYU on the schedule. Schedules are set so far in advance that, who knows how strong (or weak) a team might be. For example, earlier this year Georgia Southern scheduled a one-off game with Wisconsin for the 2023 season. They're a Sun Belt Conference team, so another softie put on the schedule along with Buffalo (MAC member). Both of those squads will get a big payday for coming to Camp Randall.

The only possible strong non-conference foe is Washington State of the Pac-12 -- and again, who knows how good or bad that school will be five years from now.

A Trip Into Enemy Territory

The Bucket List got another check mark this week. Journeying into enemy territory, I caught the Milwaukee Brewers in a game with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Brings my number of Major League Baseball stadiums visited to a dozen -- and counting.

From my Sunset Boulevard hotel, it's a 10 minute walk up Vin Scully Avenue, across Vin Scully Place (boy, they really, really like Vin!) to the stadium with my nephew, Bill. Wearing  Brewers colors, but never bothered by the Angelenos -- who are more concerned about the evening's promotion, $1 Dodger Dogs. Usually $6.50, "Doyer Dogs" are nine-inch hot dogs. Pretty good deal for a meal. And you can't beat the weather.

Dodger Stadium is impressive. It's clean. It's friendly. It's orderly. And while it's an older venue, it does not show it's age. The team is celebrating 60 years in LA. The Brooklyn Dodgers (known forever as Dem Bums) pulled up stakes and moved, bringing Major League Baseball to the West Coast -- joined by the San Francisco Giants. Both clubs fled New York for greener pastures. Not the last to do so -- the Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee and, eventually, Atlanta; the Athletics left Philadelphia for Kansas City, then settled in Oakland.

Prior to the Dodgers and Giants, the farthest outpost MLB had was St. Louis, home of the venerated Cardinals. But as the years passed, Ray Kroc (of McDonald's fame) got the San Diego Padres while the Singin' Cowboy himself, Gene Autrey, roped the Angels for Los Angeles. And while the Pilots moved to Milwaukee (becoming the Brewers) after a single season, Seattle ends up with the Mariners.

Great game, by the way, tho the Brewers fall in 10 innings, 6-4, after Yasmani Grandal bangs a two-run home run inside the right field foul pole. Milwaukee wastes a lot of opportunities -- bases loaded with 1 out and Travis Shaw hits into an infield double play. But still, a fun evening & the Crew wraps up the West Coast road trip going 5-3.