Breaking Hearts In San Fran.....ER, Santa Clara

 Took great delight in watching until the bitter end Monday, as the Green Bay Packers reached into the chest of the San Francisco 49ers and ripped their hearts out with Mason Crosby's 51-yard field goal as time expired. It was his 10th career game-winner.

That's 22 straight successful field goal tries for Crosby, in his 15th season (matching Ray Nitschke in service). Only current teammate Aaron Rodgers (17 seasons), Bart Starr & Brett Favre (16) have been in the Green & Gold longer.

Crosby came into the season hitting 81.1% (345 of 422) of his field goals in 224 games and 97.6% (647 of 63) of extra points. He's the career scoring leader with 1,682 points.

That got me to thinking about the Packer kickers I've seen since I started following football in the 1960's and Vince Lombardi's glory years. And I thought about my Top 5, which would be:

1. Crosby. After the terrible game in Detroit in 2018 (missing four field goals and an extra point in a 31-23 loss), Crosby has been pretty much lights out. Bouncing  back DESPITE all the fair weather fans who wanted to hang him.

2. Jan Stenerud. He only played in Green Bay for three seasons after a stellar career with the Kansas City Chiefs, but Stenerud was money when it came to kicking, and holds the team record for most PATs without a miss in a season with 52.

3. Chester Marcol. The Polish Prince was amazing in Green Bay -- until his own demons of addiction ended his career after 8+ years. I had the great pleasure of not only covering the game, but being on the field when Marcol returned his own blocked field goal try for a touchdown against the hated Chicago Bears.

4. Ryan Longwell. A great kicker with the Packers, but crossing the border and putting on the purple of the Minnesota Vikings drops him down the list.

5. Don Chandler. Won the Super Bowl II against the Oakland Raiders (33-14) by scoring 15 points on four field goals and three PATs.

Honorable Mention: Paul Hornung, the do-everything player who holds the team record for points in a season (176 on 15 touchdowns, 41 PATs and 15 field goals) and Jerry Kramer, because when was the last time an offensive lineman filled in as kicker AND did it well? Try the 1962 championship season, when Kramer contributed 65 points, hitting 9 of 11 field goals and 38 of 39 PATs.

Ryan Braun's Number...And Other Random Thoughts

Saw that Ryan Braun announced his official retirement from professional baseball this week.

No surprise there. Think he had been hanging around, hoping somebody would want to sign him in a pennant run. And when that didn't happen, he called it quits.

Fun fact. A fellow UW-Oshkosh Titan and classmate, Jimmy Gantner, never did officially retire when he ended his Milwaukee Brewers career. That's sooooo Gumby! We crossed paths a few times at UW-O, but I got to know Jimmy better through my cousins. Peggy and Larry had been among his teachers at Campbellsport and had stayed in touch with them.

But back to Braun. He had a good, not Hall of Fame great, but a good career as a lifetime Brewer. Is among the career leaders in every offensive category, if not the leader.

With that said, should Milwaukee retire his number? After all, his PED issue, and the classless way he handled that, is a stain on his 14-year career which featured six All-Star selections. But his time in a Brewer uniform is a time that the franchise started to rebuild and make the playoffs again.

I'm on the fence on this a bit. I don't think they should officially retire Braun's number. But they can get around that by not ever issuing that number again. After all, the Green Bay Packers have never officially retired Paul Hornung's #5, they just don't give it out.

Maybe a statue is in order for Braunie?

A NEWSPAPER HABIT I can't quite give up is checking the "agate" page for the state high school scores, be it football or basketball. Since the local paper doesn't run that list anymore, I find it on a website.

Couldn't help but notice this week the number of 2-0 scores, which to me indicates illness (aka Covid-19) outbreaks that left teams with not enough bodies. And I also couldn't help but notice the majority of these are in the upper 2/3rds of the state.

Not judging, mind you. Just making an observation here. Come to your own conclusions...

THE WISCONSIN BADGERS had  the week off, as they get ready to take on the Fightin' Irish of Notre Dame down at Soldier Field this coming Saturday.

Last week, Wisconsin paid Eastern Michigan, the pride of Ypsilanti, $1.4 million to come to Camp Randall and get drubbed 34-7. The visitors gained 91 yards, or $15,384 per yard

Makes me wonder how much cash Western Carolina got for going to Norman where Oklahoma piled on for a 76-0 pasting.

CORBIN BURNS  pitched 8 innings of no-hit ball against Cleveland last weekend and Josh Hader came in to finish off the combined no-hitter. We went round & round here about letting Burns finish it/not finish it. My thoughts were that the Brewers have bigger goals in front of them, and piling on another inning -- and maybe 15-20 pitches -- onto a career high 115 pitches for Burns wasn't worth it.

THIS RECENT TREND of putting statues of sports heroes in front of arenas and stadiums is a good one.

At Mill....er, American Family Field, you can tell friends to meet you at Robin Yount or Hank Aaron or Bud Selig or even Bob Uecker. They know right where to find you. Or go to Lambeau Field and agree to meet a up at the Vince Lombardi statue.

So now that Fiserv Forum has become the home of the 2021 NBA Champions, I have a suggestion.

Put up a pair of statues to celebrate the team's two titles. Have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor when he won the title) and Giannis Aantetokounmpo standing side by side, each reaching out and jointly holding a NBA Championship Trophy between them.

What better way to honor the two player so instrumental in bringing a title to Milwaukee?

And I think the Bucks should take it a step or two farther and honor guys like Sidney Moncrief, Junior Bridgeman and Marcus Johnson.