Packers Use A Battering Ram On Their Way To Home Field Advantage

 As if quarterback Aaron Rodgers needed another toy to play with in his offensive arsenal, the Green Bay Packers unveiled one during Sunday's Lambeau Field win over Tennessee.

Getting more playing time due to the injury to Jamal Williams, and a nicked-up Aaron Jones, rookie AJ Dillon stepped up, running over and through Tennessee for 124 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. The 6-0, 247-pound Dillon is just what the doctor ordered at this time of year, a battering ram of a runner in bad weather and bad field conditions. Jones added another 94 yards on the ground in Coach Matt LaFleur's potent offense, a balanced attack that has averaged an NFL-high 31.6 points per game.

That bodes well for the 12-4 Packers as they head to Chicago to take on the Bears late Sunday afternoon. A win gives Green Bay an opening round playoff bye, and means the road to Super Bowl LV would run through Lambeau. It would also knock Da Bears out of playoff contention, which is always sweet. But in order to do so, the Packer defense (allowing 23.5 points a game) has to step up and play as well as it did in shutting down Tennessee.

In his tenure as Packers' quarterback, Rodgers has never played at home for the NFC Championship. Four times he's taken the team on the road, going 1-3 -- with two very painful losses in Seattle, when the team had the game won but found a way to let it, and a Super Bowl trip, slip away.

Despite all the crap that we've all faced in 2020 with Covid-19, et. al., maybe it's time for something good to happen to PackerNation.

And a Happy New Year to all from cheeseheadrants!

Could A New Home Run King Be Crowned?

Is Barry Bonds losing sleep these days, thinking about a player who, despite being dead for 73 years, could take his record away from him?

Major League Baseball's home run leader with 762 -- unless, like me, you still feel Henry Aaron, with 755, is the TRUE king -- Bonds may be dropped to second place now that the Negro Leagues have been recognized as a "major league" in the eyes of MLB.

Guys like Willie Mays, Monte Irvin and Satchel Paige could see their hits or win totals increased thanks to this decision, and many would say it's about time the Negro Leagues and their players were recognized as such.

The player who stands most to benefit is Josh Gibson, a star in the Negro Leagues who was called "the Black Babe Ruth" for his prodigious home runs and power. While some have estimated that Gibson slammed over 800 home runs during his 16 Negro League seasons, it's unlikely that enough accurate box scores, newspaper accounts and witnesses exist to have him pass Bonds.

But Gibson will be credited with one notable record, a stellar .441 batting average posted in less than 80 games in the 1943 season. That's enough to edge Hugh Duffy's .440 posted in 1894. Gibson was just 36 years old when he died in 1947.

All this does, however, help bring credit to the 3,400 or so of deserving Black ballplayers who played in the Negro Leagues. During their hey day from 1920 to 1948, these players often played two or three games a day, seven days a week. 

The Negro Leagues Museum is located in Kansas City, Missouri. It's a great little museum and worth the time to anyone traveling through. (So is the National World War I museum in the same city!)

The Badgers Should Go Bowling

 Despite an iffy, Covid-19 plagued season, the Wisconsin Badgers of Coach Paul Chryst are still  taking part in a post-season bowl game.

And once the bowl schedule was released, lo and behold there's the 3-3 Badgers, packing bags to head off to Duke's Mayo Bowl (say what?) at Charleston, N.C. on Wednesday, Dec. 30th. Their foe? The Wake Forest Demon Deacons, a 4-4 team that has averaged 37 points and 435.3 yards per game. That's a pretty imposing offense. Looks like Jim Leonard and the Wisconsin defense had best bring their "A" game.

Can't blame Chryst and the Badgers for wanting to line up another game. It gives more practice time in a season that, to be sure, was a scheduling disaster for many teams.

Granted, I've maintained for years that there are way too many bowl games, so it helps that 15 bowls have pulled the plug -- including the Rose Bowl, thanks to the rising Covid-19 numbers. And several FBS programs (Big Ten teams Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State and Rutgers, as well as Boston College, Pittsburgh, Stanford and Virginia Tech, to name a few) have bowed out of bowl contention.

That leaves 30 bowl games. Of the bowling teams, there are seven with losing records and another four that are .500! And, of course, the usual suspects (Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Ohio State) get to square off in the Final Four and the eventual National Championship.

That's a joke, since the Final Four is a television event, not a true playoff (sorry 11-0 Coastal Carolina and 9-0 Cincinnati, your record is good but you're just not good enough to attract viewers). Let's expand the field to eight teams, make it a better tournament and let it go at that, a drum I've been beating for a long time.

Senior Quarterback Jack Coan is entering the transfer portal. No surprise here as an injury that required surgery allowed the Badgers to move on to stellar freshman Graham Mertz. Coan will be immediately eligible for whichever school he heads to. And while Mertz has had some ups-and-downs, and left Saturday's win over Minnesota with an injury, he's still shown enough promise to be a star at Wisconsin.

The Oft-Times Overlooked Gem In Lambeau Field

 When it comes to the Green Bay Packers, the biggest diamonds in Green & Gold uniforms are, without a doubt, quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his favorite target, wide receiver Davante Adams.

But true Packer fans know there's another gem on that Packer sideline, one whose reliability in recent weeks has been a bright spot. That's 36-year-old kicker Mason Crosby, who signed a three-year contract worth $12.9 million in the off-season.

That keeps the kicker around Lambeau Field, not the easiest of places to perform in the late stages of an NFL season. Perhaps management learned it's lesson when, just a after the 2005 season, it let Ryan Longwell exit -- to the hated Minnesota Vikings, no less!

A sixth-round draft pick out of Colorado, Crosby has never missed a game in this, his 14th season. He entered the year the club's all-time leading scorer (1,575 points) as well as the franchise leader in field goals (329), 50-yard field goals (35) and extra points (588).

Crosby has been absolutely stellar this season. He nailed a 56-yard field goal in Sunday's 31-24 win at Detroit and is a perfect 15 for 15 in field goals. In fact, his own kicking mishaps have come on PATs, where he's 47 of 50.

It wasn't that long ago, remember, that a LOT of fans were calling for the team to move on from Crosby. This outcry came after a 2018 game at Detroit, when Crosby missed five kicks (one PAT and field goals from 41, 42, 38 and 56 yards). Those kicks cost Green Bay a win, and the trolls on social media went crazy.

But then-head coach Mike McCarthy and the Packers stayed with Crosby.

All Crosby has done since is put the ball through the uprights at an amazing rate. From that dismal day in Detroit in 2018 through today, Crosby has hit 57 of 61 field goals (93.44%) and 115 of 119 PATs (96.64%).

I dare you to find another, more reliable kicker in the NFL today. Consider that he went through a personal challenge with his wife's cancer a year ago, but didn't let it affect his on-field performance, and you can see why Crosby is special.

Christmas Comes Early For Bucks Fans

 He didn't come down the chimney, and he's not a jolly fat man in a red suit. But Santa came early for Milwaukee Bucks fans -- and to Wisconsin in general.

In this case, Santa is Giannis Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP and only the third player to be MVP and defensive player of the year in the same season.

The Greek Freak put smiles on fans all over Wisconsin this week by signing the largest contact in NBA history, worth $228 million over five years. The fifth year is an option year, but it still means Giannis is under contract for six more seasons.

"This is my home, this is my city," Giannis said in a Tweet after news of the deal broke. "I'm blessed to be part of the Milwaukee Bucks for the next (five) years. Let's Make these years count. The show goes on, let's get at it."

Let's fact it, Milwaukee and Wisconsin have been home to Giannis since he was drafted by the Bucks, an 18-year-old from the Sepolia neighborhood north of Athens, Greece. He, and his family, have grown up here. Now 26, he's done nothing but grow, work and improve. Last season averaging 29.6 points and 13.6 assists per game, also dishing out 5.6 assists. He's the first player since Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlin to average at least 29 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Chamberlin did that playing over 47 minutes a game with the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1967-68 season.

It's refreshing to have a superstar like Giannis WANT to stay in a small market. Says a lot for the moves the Bucks have made to build a championship-caliber team around him.

"This is my home," says Giannis, "and I'm going to continue working hard and do my best to make the Bucks, our fans and the city proud. Let's have fun, win and make these years count."

The Unnecessary Death Of A Minor League Franchise?

 Got a note recently from one of those friends that it seems like you've known forever.

Well, 40+ years can seem like forever, doesn't it Ted Tornow? Ted, a multi-sport guy from Menasha, Wisconsin (Go Bluejays!) enters his 23rd year as general manager in Clinton and will have been involved with pro baseball teams for 38 years in all with additional stops in Green Bay, WI; Memphis, TN; Huntsville, AL; Jackson, MS and Butte, MT.

 It wasn't a typical Christmas/New Year's Letter. It was a press release, confirming unthinkable news.

The death of the Clinton LumberKings, the only remaining charter member of the Midwest League, part of Major League Baseball's minor league system. Well, MLB killed off some 42 teams last week. Maybe killed isn't the right term, as some will survive by hooking on in other ways, with Independent Leagues or wood-bat leagues that feature college players (the successful Madison Mallards of the Northwoods League being one of those.)

But many may not survive. That's a shame, as MLB issued "invitations" to 120 of 162 teams to remain affiliated with a professional franchise. Cities like Appleton, WI, home to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, were invited to remain part of the Milwaukee Brewers' organization. Appleton is also a Midwest League member, at one time known as the Appleton Foxes.

For the LumberKings, it's more than being part of a league. It's being part of a community. In this case, the 'Kings have been playing baseball in Clinton, Iowa as part of the Midwest League since 1954 -- and has been playing ball at a stadium built in 1937 as a project of the Works Progress Administration.

A community-owned team like the 'Kings brings jobs to the area as well as millions of dollars in impact. That's the kind of impact that 42 cities are trying to absorb.

Tornow will not let the LumberKings, who over the years were affiliated with 16 different MLB franchises, go gently into that good night. He has vowed to the community, to ownership, to the politicians, that there will be baseball at Nelson Corp. Field in 2021. This despite the fact that, once the 'Kings lost their MLB affiliation, the current lease with the city was terminated.

It may not be baseball affiliated with a Major League team, as it has in the past, but it will be baseball. Tornow is very optimistic.

"We've talked with the Frontier League, the Prospect League and the Northwoods League," explains Tornow. "The Frontier is an Independent League, and the team pays their players, so that's probably not in the cards for us. The Prospect and Northwoods are college wood bats league. They play 60 or 70 games a year and the college guys aren't paid."

MLB has assured the LumberKings, as well as the 42 other "orphans" that it will assist entry into others leagues.

"They (MLB) said they won't leave us hanging," said Tornow. "They promised our senators, our governor, our mayor all of that. We (the LumberKings) will have a board meeting and move from there, determining which league to join."

Clinton could well go two routes, joining the Prospect League as well as forming an additional league with other orphans.

Proud Of Area High School Athletes

Saw this in the Wisconsin State Journal on Saturday, and I was both pleased and surprised.

 It was a photo of a Friday night high school boy's basketball game (Lodi hosting New Glarus) and in the photos the paper ran, players from both teams are wearing their face masks during game action. 

Good for you, I say! Especially since the state of Wisconsin has seen numbers rise to near 450,000 cases as well as over 4,000 deaths. While Dane County schools haven't allowed high school games yet, perhaps the powers that be will take another look at their policy.

A Florida Gator defensive player drew a penalty late in Saturday's game with the LSU Tigers when he threw a shoe he had pulled off the running back he had just tackled. Oops! Th penalty allowed the Tigers to kick a game-winning field, a big upset as LSShoe was a 23-point underdog.

This probably few under your radar, as it did mine.

Seems that with last week's win, the Green Bay Packers became the first NFL franchise to win 800 games. That's a pretty amazing statistic.

And while we're talking about the newly-crowned champions of the North, thanks to a 31-24 win over the Detroit Lions, let's all hoist one in salute of kicker Mason Crosby. He talked Coach Matt LaFleur into letting him try a 57-yard field goal late in the game, and nailed it. Crosby is 15-for-15 in field goals this year and 47 of 50 in PAT kicks.

Glad the Pack resigned Crosby in the offseason. We need to have this guy play his entire career in Green Bay.

And hopefully that will apply to a certain quarterback having an MVP year in the Green & Gold!

By the way, Green Bay will host the Carolina Panthers on Saturday, a game flexed from Sunday. Kickoff will be 7:15 p.m. Saturday, but if you don't have the NFL Network or live in a Milwaukee or Green Bay television market, you won't see it.

That's gonna hit the Madison area hard, as well as the rest of Wisconsin, Wausau and Eau Claire for example.

Charlie Pride, 86, passed away over the weekend due to Covid-19. I bring him up not because he was the first Black Country-Western signing star, inducted into that hall of fame. I was a big fan of him in the 1960s and '70s.

But I didn't know he was a pitcher/outfielder for the Memphis Red Sox in the Negro American League. Seems he was a pretty good ballplayer. Put in some time in Montana in the Pioneer League as well, then had a tryout with the New York Mets before landing a recording contract in Nashville.

The Cleveland Indians of the American League have announced they will DROP the name "Indians" after the 2021 season. Will they add a name? Or go without, like the Washington Football Team is doing this season?

Rodgers Would Trade Records For Another Super Bowl Win

 Like many fans, I watched Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers throw his 400th career touchdown Sunday.

The nine-yarder to Davante Adams was the clincher record-setter in just 193 games, faster than any other NFL quarterback in history. Adams also snagged Rogers' 200th TD as well.

I'm willing to bet that Rodgers would trade this, and all the records he has or will have, for another Super Bowl championship. And thus far in this weird 2020 season, isn't Rodgers the logical pick for NFL Most Valuable Player?

I mean, seriously, isn't No. 12 the reason the Packers sit at 9-3? Beyond Adams and running back Aaron Jones, just who are the game-changers on that Green Bay offense? Certainly not any of the other wide receivers. Allen Lazard is developing, but he's not there yet. Certainly not Marquez Valdes-Scantling, a player who from time to time amazes us with his speed and a great catch -- but just as often we smack our forehead with a miscue.

No, Rodgers is the difference-maker. You could take Patrick Mahomes out of the Kansas City lineup and the Chiefs, with a TON of big-play guys, would still be winning. But put Rodgers on the sideline and, well, Green Bay is lucky to be mediocre.

He's playing his best football of the season, having fun and is comfortable with second-year head coach Matt LaFleur and his system. Here's hoping the roll continues!

WOULD SOMEONE please teach J.K. Scott how to at least try and make a tackle? Sunday's game featured another punt return for a touchdown by a Packer foe, and another game in which Scott found himself posterized by the football equivalent of the dunk.

Would expect more from a guy who played at one of college football's professional program, Alabama.

THAT SIGN OF relief you heard Tuesday morning was coming from the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the last team to go unbeaten in an NFL season. Am sure the surviving members of the Dolphins were calling one another to celebrate after the Washington Whatevers knocked off the previously unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers.

HOPING AGAINST HOPE that the Big Ten has the good sense to pair Wisconsin and Minnesota in a rescheduled Axe Game in two weeks. All teams were to be playing their division opposite during the Big Ten Championship Game weekend. But I expect the Big Ten to change things around and schedule the Gophers-Badgers to keep the longest-running rivalry in college football rolling.

And in that Championship Game, you can bet the conference will do it's best to get THE Ohio State Buckeyes into the game, and maybe in college football's final four title chase. It's better for the Big Ten's coffers to have OSU in that discussion (of course, all the Big Ten teams would share in the money that comes in!)

Random Thoughts On A Cool December Day

Was out walking Homer the Malamute this week, listening to sports talk radio to help fill the time. This day, it's Colin Cowherd talking with Dave Wannstedt. Among other topics, the pair are discussing Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and how the team didn't draft any help for him.

True. But then Wannstedt says "and I thought they would at least go after a free agent, but they didn't". His view might be a bit jaded, as he put up a 1-11 record against the Packers while head man of the Chicago Bears.

Hold on there, Dave. Green Bay DID sign a free agent, picking up wide receiver Devin Funchess, a 6-4, 225-pound former second round draft pick by the Carolina Panthers. In his career, he had 164 receptions for 2,265 yards and 21 touchdowns.

But when Covid-19 reared it's ugly head, Funchess chose to sit out the season for personal reasons. Can't fault that. He put family first, but in his Instagram post at the time, indicated he was looking forward to being part of the team in 2021.

So much for helping the Pack via free agency. Still, I do agree with the talking heads when they opine that the Packers should have helped their poor run defense OR grabbed a quality wide receiver with their first pick, not quarterback Jordan Love.

SPEAKING OF Rodgers, he celebrated his 37th birthday this week (fun fact, two other state MVPs, Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks both celebrate birthdays this week as well).

But back to Rodgers, who during his mid-week chat with the media, expressed hope that he would be a Green Bay Packer until he retires. Easy to agree with him on that one, as the guy is playing some of his best football this season after getting more comfortable with Coach Matt LaFleur's offense.

SEEMS ODD to be watching NFL football on a Wednesday afternoon (though NBC is promoting it as Sunday Night Football LOL).

The NFL muffed this one, and continues to do so in their reaction to Covid-19. Seems The Shield is just plain determined to get this season in by hook or by crook.

IRONIC THAT Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby has missed two extra points, but not a field goal. Of course he's had more PAT attempts (42) than field goal tries (13), putting up 79 points for a Green Bay team that leads the NFL in scoring with 349 points, an average of 31.73 per game. That's a good thing, since defensively they're allowing 25.73.

That defense might not get them very far in the playoffs.

SO LONG Corey Knebel, and thanks for the memories. Once the stopper on the Milwaukee Brewers pitching staff, Knebel was shipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers for either a player to be named later OR cash.

Hope this means that there will be more money to keep closer Josh Hader in the fold.

And speaking of contracts,  shortstop Orlando Arcia and catchers Omar Narvaez and Manny Pina took pay cuts.

More money to get a quality free agent or two?

After Skinning The Bears, Packers Eye A Strong Stretch Run

 Green Bay's Packers moved to 8-3 on the season Sunday, skinning the Chicago Bears in the process with a 41-25 win.

That's the 100th Packer victory in this, the oldest continuous rivalry in the National Football League. And the two clubs will wrap up this rather strange 2020 season with the final game of the year in Chicago, the 200th meeting.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers led a balanced Green Bay attack, throwing for 211 yards and four touchdowns (all to different receivers) while running backs Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams ran for 90 and 73 yards respectively.

Still, Packer fans, don't get too excited. This was a beat-up Bears team and on-again, off-again quarterback Mitch Trubisky (known as 'Mitch Biscuits' around our house) gave up a pair of interceptions along with a fumble that Green Bay's Preston Smith returned for a touchdown.

Why the concern? Because Green Bay continues to struggle trying to stop the run. Chicago's David Montgomery rushed for 103 yards on 11 carries -- including a 57-yard run in the first quarter that put the Bears in the red zone, where the Packer defense finally stiffened to yield just a field goal. Down big by halftime, Chicago had to turn away from the run or the numbers might have been worse.

With five games remaining on the schedule, and  three of those at Lambeau Field, I think the best the Pack can do is 4-1. That's because, in the next-to-last game, the Tennessee Titans come to town.

If Green Bay's run defense hasn't been able corral the likes of Minnesota's Delvin Cook, for example, what do we think the chances of stopping the Titans' Derrick Henry are? This 250-pounder ran all over a pretty solid Indianapolis defense this week for 178 yards and three touchdowns. And he just gets tougher and tougher to stop as the weather gets colder.

Just being a realist here.

Still, if the Packers can down Philadelphia, Detroit and Carolina to go to 11-3, a blip against Tennessee will be forgiven. The team holds a three-game advantage on both Chicago and Minnesota going into this week.

If all goes as it should, that finale in Chicago will be a moot point for the playoff-bound Packers.

AT LEAST the Packers have a stadium to call home! Seems that the San Francisco 49ers will be forced to abandon their home field and relocate to Arizona for the final five weeks -- because of country restrictions. The 49ers will share the Cardinals' stadium.

But, hey, it's not like home crowds factor in to games this Covid-19 season.