Oshkosh's Bauer Wraps Successful Career

A topsy-turvy high school football season wrapped, and here's hoping the preps never go through a season like 2020 again.

Many teams never walked onto the field due to local Covid-19 restrictions. Others tried to get a season in. Some were successful in managing to play as many as nine games, others got to maybe four games, some less.

Still, a couple of bright spots did emerge, without a lot of fanfare. Granted, geeks who follow this will look on the net and find the stories. That's why I'm here, I guess.

Joshua Bauer of Oshkosh Lourdes Academy led Wisconsin in passing. The senior hit 146 of 213 passes for 2,469 yards -- along with 34 TDs and only seven interceptions.

Bauer had a solid career for the Knights. He completed 62.2% of his passes (350 of 563) for 5,704 yards, 76 TDs and only 15 interceptions. Plus Bauer rushed 282 times for 1,775 yards and another 32 TDs. So all told, he leaves Lourdes Academy after producing 7,479 total yardage and 108 scores.

But his passing totals don't crack the top five career totals in the state. The career passing leader is Ben Hempel of Franklin (2001-2004) with 9,508 yards.

Tanner Marsh of Mondovi emerged as the state's top rusher, piling up 2,043 yards on 242 carries with 27 touchdowns in 27 games. He wrapped up his career playing in 35 games, rushing for 4,563 yards on 606 carries and 60 TDs. The state career leader, by the way, is Tyler Tenner of Racine Lutheran. Tenner played 2016-2019 and gained 6,932 yards.

Long Time Between All-Senior Starting Fives At Wisconsin

 Recently noted that this year's Wisconsin Badger men's basketball team is regularly starting five seniors and wondered when the last time that happened in program history -- not counting, of course, senior night games.

Well, you need to go back to the 2000-2001 season for it, when seniors Mike Kelley, Roy Boone, Maurice Linton, Andy Kowske and Mark Vershaw. That was Dick Bennett's sixth season with the Badgers, and he left after the third game due to burnout, saying he "simply was drained."

Brad Soderberg coached the final 26 games and the club (which included sophomore Kirk Penney from New Zealand, along with freshmen Freddie Owens and Mike Wilkinson) finished 18-11 on the season, 9-7 in the Big Ten; qualified for the tournament but fell to Georgia State, 50-49, in the opening round.

Bo Ryan got the head coaching job the next season and, well, the rest is history. A very successful history from Bo to Greg Gard. Let's face it, Badger fans, we're pretty spoiled!

The Detroit Lions dropped the axe on Coach Matt Patricia right after the team was embarrassed yet again in a Thanksgiving Day game. Also hitting the unemployment line was General Manager Bob Quinn. This franchise hasn't been all that relevant in years.

Last time Detroit won an NFL Championship? Go back to 1957, when they knocked off San Francisco in the Western Conference playoff (31-27) and then mauled the Cleveland Browns, 59-14, for the title. Since then? Nada. Zip. Zilch. In fact, only one playoff victory, and that came in 1992.

I was a bit surprised Detroit pulled the plug before the end of the season, but at least it gives Wisconsin Badger alum Darrell Bevell his first shot as a head coach, even if "interim" is part of the title.

So, The Ohio State Buckeyes had another Big Ten football game cancelled due to Covid-19, their second. Three strikes and they won't have enough games to qualify for the Big Ten title.

Or not.

Seems the Big Ten has a new proposal in mind, something about the average of games played, the full moon and maybe UFOs? No, seriously, they have a plan in place to adjust from the original -- one that will, no doubt, assure Ohio State of a place in the Title tilt.

Giving Thanks For What Sports We Have

 As we pass the turkey or ham or turducken around the table, where we have less family and guests than in the past due to Covid-19, let's think about a few things.

Sad that Marquez Valdes-Scantling received death threats on social media after his untimely overtime fumble cost his Green Bay Packers in the 34-31 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

Seriously, people, we have much more pressing things to concern ourselves with. It's easy to throw darts and hate when you can hide on the internet. Not the best image for Packer fans to put forth. We're better than that!

That was a tough loss, but it's not fair to put all the blame on MVS. When a team has a 28-14 halftime lead, then runs only 6 plays in the third quarter, something's wrong. The shuffle of players in the offensive line after center Corey Linsley's injury may have had some influence.

Elgton Jenkins moved over from guard (the versatile second-year man has played every O-Line position except for right guard) and rookie John Runyan (sixth rounder from Michigan) took over at left guard for Jenkins. Thank you Elgton, for being the most versatile O-Lineman in recent memory, Here's hoping that, in a blowout, you get a couple of snaps at right guard.

Still, did those changes force Coach Matt LaFleur into a couple of pass plays on third-and-one and fourth-and-one? 

Let's fact it, those are the times to let your big guys up front get physical and move the pile. Instead, incomplete passes and missed opportunities.

Charles Woodson, LeRoy Butler are among the 25 finalists for the NFL Hall of Fame. Both are deserving, but will the voters put in two Packers together?

Saturday's Battle For The Axe at Madison's Camp Randall has been cancelled by Covid-19, as the Minnesota Gophers have had big numbers this week. This ends the longest uninterrupted college football series at 113 years, stretching back to 1906. Bucky won the Axe back last year, now holds a 61-60-8 record in the series.

The cancellation, by the way, means that Wisconsin has had as many games called by Covid-19 (three) as the team has played. This also means that the Badgers are no longer eligible to play in the Big Ten Championship game. This might not be a bad thing, since The Ohio State will take it's season of frustrations out on, probably, Northwestern's Wildcats.

The Wisconsin Badger men's basketball started five seniors on Wednesday in their season opener. When was the last time a Badger team, or anyone nationally for that matter, started five seniors on a regular basis?

Was looking over the recent NBA draft, held very late this year due to C-19, etc. The regular season is set to start in, what, another month or so? Doesn't give rookies much time to get acclimated. Anyway, one of the things that jumped out at me was the draft of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Unusual in the fact that all three of their picks are Euros (from teams in Greece, France and Spain). Is this because these three hopefuls won't have a clue as to where Oklahoma is and, therefore, will jump at the chance to be in the NBA? Just wondering.

Speaking of the NBA, hoping that all the moves the Milwaukee Bucks have made are enough to convince Giannis to sign that max deal and stay with the club through 2026.

When the WIAA completed it's abbreviated two round football postseason, 42% of the final games (19) were won by forfeit. Here's hoping that we can get back to some normal high school sports soon.

Congrats to the Knights of Oshkosh Lourdes Academy, finishing second to Edgar in the final Small School rankings. I still have a soft spot in my heat for LA, a club I covered for several years while with the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, highlighted by their 1974 state championship, Happy to continue to be in touch with several members of that squad, along with other athletes from some very memorable years.

Happy Thanksgiving all! And thanks for following me!

These Aren't Your Pre-Covid Milwaukee Bucks!

 When the National Basketball Association starts up in December, fans of the Milwaukee Bucks are really going to need a program.

This week, as the NBA went into the trade season (prior to tonight's draft), the Bucks were moving players left and right.

Gone are Eric Bledsoe, Donte DiVencenzo, George Hill, Ersan Illysaova and D.J. Wilson via trade. Out the door as a free agent is Wes Matthews (though he could come back on a team-friendly deal). Also exiting will be Kyle Korvar and Robin Lopez. 

That's eight members of the club that were on last fall's training camp roster. Of all of them, I think only DiVencenzo will truly be missed, as he was a young player showing promise. Bledsoe was a decent point guard but tended to disappear during crunch time.

So, what do the Bucks have coming in? 

• Point guard Jrue Holiday from the New Orleans Pelicans (for players, three first round draft picks -- 2020, 2025 and 2027 -- as well as swapping first round spots in 2024 and 2026). Let's face it, if Milwaukee camps in the playoffs and wins a title, those first round picks are deep in the round, and not as important as those in the NFL. Holiday is a leader, a good scorer and a top-notch defender. A GREAT replacement for Bledsoe.
• Shooting guard/forward Bodgan Bogdanovic, a third-year pro, is a good, solid player. But the trade can't be finalized until Sunday because he's a restricted free agent, so the deal will be a sign-and-trade. UNFORTUNATELY, a day after writing this, the trade has apparently fallen apart. Stay tuned...

It's pretty clear that ownership is pushing all the chips to the center of the table in Milwaukee, loading up with quality to prove to superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo that the franchise is serious about winning. The Greek Freak is coming off a second straight MVP season, but only has one year left on his contract.

With luck, the Bucks will get Giannis to sign a supermax contract, a deal worth $228 million that would keep him in Milwaukee until 2026.

That's a lot of money, but when you want to bag a trophy Buck, you have to make some moves.

After all, doesn't the state's gun deer season start this weekend? Perfect timing for Milwaukee ownership.

Maybe A High School Football Playoff Wasn't Such A Great Idea

 The first of two rounds of Wisconsin high school football playoffs finished last night.

Maybe this wasn't the best idea in the world, based on the current state of things in Cheesehead country.

Of the 90 games scheduled, 30 were decided by forfeit -- that's 33%!  Ouch...

The state had a record 7,777 cases of Covid-19 on game day, bringing the state total to over 301,000. We have 5.8 million people here in Wisconsin. In Canada, with a population of 38 million, they have had just over 280,000 cases.

Something's wrong here, folks.

Wear a mask, keep your distance and please STAY SAFE!

Give the WIAA An "E" For Effort

 The abbreviated high school football playoffs start in Wisconsin this week.

The WIAA, the governing board for high school sports in the state, released that schedule last weekend. A schedule that, for this Covid-19 season, was limited to just two games. No sectional games, no state championship games.

I'll give the WIAA an "E" for effort on this, although I did think long and hard about giving an incomplete. Why? Well, looking over the playoff pairings, I saw several teams with 0-5 and 0-6 records. My own alma mater, Wautoma, qualified with a 2-2 mark. Okay, I'll admit, I'm a real nerd who still looks over the agate type on the Wisconsin State Journal sports pages. Blame my years as a sportswriter and sports editor for that.

But I digress. I get the move to have a post-season, even though many state high schools (pretty much all of the Dane County schools) didn't play this season. It's one thing to put winless teams in a playoff. It's another to adjust that schedule on Friday (game day, that's Friday The 13th) to reflect that 25 (that's right, 25) games have already been determined by forfeit. That's nearly a quarter of the games NOT being played.

High school sports isn't the only area to be C-19'ed this year. Look at the Wisconsin Badgers, who had their last two games cancelled. Or this weekend's Alabama-LSU tilt in the SEC has been postponed, along with three other SEC contests. 

Give 'em all an "E" for effort. And keep your fingers crossed that all these teams, plus the NFL, can get their games in.