Be Thankful For Paul Chryst

Unassuming. Bland. Boring. A winner.

University of Wisconsin Badger football coach Paul Chryst is all of these. But he does things "The Wisconsin Way" and that's just fine with us.

Since taking the Wisconsin job in 2015, Chryst's team have gone 62-19. That's a winning percentage of .765. During that stretch, the Badgers won the Holiday, Cotton, Orange and Pinstripe bowl games -- and this year SHOULD have closed out the Rose Bowl with a win instead of falling 28-27. Bucky was clearly the better team on the field, but was uncharacteristic in committing turnovers and penalties at crucial times.

The only game in which Wisconsin was truly blown out this year came on Oct. 26th at Ohio State, a 38-7 loss. Otherwise, the defeats at Illinois, the Big Ten title game with Ohio State and the Rose Bowl were all winnable.

The one real Achilles' heel for Bucky this season, in my opinion, was special teams. Let's face it, Wisconsin punters just didn't cut it. I find it interesting that BOTH All-Big Ten punters, chosen by the Associated Press, hail from Melbourne, Australia.....Blake Hayes, Illinois junior was first team while Rutgers junior Adam Korsak (featured in a Sports Illustrated piece) was second team. Maybe it's time for Chryst & Co. to head Down Under to recruit a strong leg from an Australian Rules Football roster.

Wisconsin loses some studs at linebacker through graduation, and four players have announced they will leave early

• RB Jonathan Taylor, who's exit is totally understandable. Sure it would be nice if he came back, but running backs only have so many carries in them. Leaving for the NFL and a salary was expected.
• C Taylor Biadasz, probably the best interior lineman in the draft
• WR Quintez Cephus, a surprise in a draft that is wide receiver heavy
• WR Aaron Cruickshank, who REALLY surprised Badger Nation by entering the transfer portal. Despite his success as a kick returner and his explosiveness, he may well have looked around the receiver room and decided he wouldn't get a chance.

No matter. Wisconsin will reload at linebacker, the O-Line and running back. In fact, a four-star runner from New Jersey, Jalen Berger, committed to the Badgers.A solid all-around runner who is 6-foot, 205-pounds, picked UW from a final five that included LSU, Penn State, UCLA and Rutgers. He's the fifth four-star recruit to join the Badgers. It's rare for Wisconsin to get those four-stars, so it shows that this program is in good hands.

Take A Deep Breath, Packer Nation

Be honest.

If someone had come to you in August and told you that a) the Green Bay Packers would finish 13-3, win the Northern Division AND have the second playoff seed but b) that they would be winning ugly with an inconsistent offense and an up-and-down Aaron Rodgers, would you have been happy?

Damn skippy you would have been! Close to cartwheels, I'm willing to bet.

That's why, for the days following the season finale (by the skin of their teeth) victory in Detroit, the airwaves and water-cooler discussions were about how bad the Packers were...how lucky the Packers were...how undeserving of a second seed the Packers were.

Get over yourselves, Packer Nation, and appreciate what the team has done. Seriously, too many of you feel too damn entitled -- you remind me of Alabama football fans!

I'm of a certain age and remember (sadly) the years from about 1972 to the mid 1980s, when Packer football SUCKED and it was a challenge to be a fan and remain a fan.

"Funny Money" Runs Wild In Baseball

Whoa, Nelly! Major League Baseball is totally out of control. 

Why do I say that? Well, the dreaded New York Yankees just ponied up $324 MILLION over 9 years for the pitching services of Gerrit Cole. This breaks the record of $245 million (seven years) paid by the Washington Nationals to retain pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the MVP of the World Series.

Let's see. That averages out to Cole making $36 million a year to Strasburg's $34 million a year. The REAL winner here is super-agent Scott Boras, who makes anywhere from four to 10 percent from brokering those deals.

It's sad to see the haves put that much money out for a single player, a total that, in the case of a couple franchises, equals nearly half of their TOTAL team salary.

Of course, teams like the Yankees and Nationals (along with, say, the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals) can afford to sign players to sky-high contracts and weather the storm IF the player gets hurt and things never pan out.

Franchises like the Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals COULD pay out that much for a single player, but NEVER WILL -- because they have to look at the long-term consequences.

Which makes it even more imperative for MLB to have salary caps. Let's face it, wild spending by some teams could lead to MLB losing franchises.

Speaking of salary, I see that the Brewers re-signed relief pitcher Alex Claudio to a more team-friendly contact along with bullpen ace Corey Knebel -- who avoided arbitration with a one-year contract. Knebel, of course, is coming off Tommy John surgery and probably won't be throwing again until late in the season.

The Sky Isn't Falling in Milwaukee

For all those "Chicken Little" Milwaukee Brewer fans scurrying around screaming The Sky Is Falling! Might I suggest y'all just chill?

The Chicken Littles are upset because the Brewers failed to resign either catcher Yasmani Grandal or thirdbaseman Mike Moustakas to a free agent contract.

Those guys pretty much put on a ski-mask and the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds ponied up -- Grandal got $73 million for four years while Moose bagged $64 million for four years. Both will be 32 in 2020, but they were WAY overpaid. Just proves that there's one (foolish franchise) born every minute...

People, it's not like the Brewers will play with seven on the field each game instead of nine. General Manager David Stearns knows what he's doing and how to manage the payroll.

The club declined to offer contracts to infielder Travis Shaw, right-hander Jimmy Nelson, infielder Tyler Saladino, Eric Thames, plus relief pitchers Alex Claudio and Junior Guerra. I look for Shaw to resign (club was avoiding arbitration). As for the pitchers...well, Nelson is damaged goods and has never come back from that freak shoulder injury while Claudio and Guerra aren't worth the roster spots.

Stearns addressed the catcher position via trade with Seattle, getting a left-handed power hitter in Omar Narvaez. The club will have three years of control on the 27-year-old Narvaez. The one big drawback with Omar is defense -- he only threw out 18% of runners last season, and had a plethora of errors/passed balls behind the plate. But defense can be improved -- Grandal is example of that.

Milwaukee recently swung a trade with San Diego, shipping off pitcher Zach Davies, outfielder Trent Grisham and either the popular Player To Be Named Later or cash. All this for left-handed pitcher Eric Lauer and infielder Luis Urias. I think the Brewers had gotten as much out of Davies as was possible, and Urias may light a fire under the up-and-down Orlando Arcia. Love his defense, but his offense runs hot and cold. This is not the case for Urias. Good trade for Stearns.

Stearns must still look at the corner positions to fill -- doesn't look like there's much in the free agent market other than OLDER players, and those might fill the gap for a season, but long-term? Probably not. Still, the club might re-sign Shaw and Thames at bargain prices and still work to develop within the farm system.

Stay tuned....baseball's winter meetings are going on in sunny San Diego.

Thoughts On The WIAA Football Championships

High school football players and fans (Bay Port brought 22 buses down from the Green Bay area!) invaded Madison this past Thursday and Friday for the WIAA Football title games. Champions were crowned in seven divisions, and a few observations from the games I watched.

First and foremost, the big change in offensive philosophy since I started covering prep football in the early 1970's. By and large, most high school quarterbacks can (and will) throw with precision. Long gone are the days of "three yards and a cloud of dust". Oh, sure, there are still programs at schools that will run-run-run to daylight (Edgar in D-7 and Brookfield East in D-2 come to mind).

I watched the D-6 contest between Fond du Lac St. Mary's Springs and Eau Claire Regis with interest. I ran across Springs starting in 1972 when, as a college freshman, I was given the Lourdes Academy beat while a sportswriter with the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern. Springs was coached then by Bob Hyland, who had been on the job two years -- 49 years later, Springs is STILL coached by Bob Hyland.

Yes, 49 years at one school with a Wisconsin-best 478 victories, plus 26 trips to a state football title game. This year, Springs won 7-0 for a third straight title and ninth WIAA overall (out of 12 appearances) since the WIAA absorbed the teams from the WISAA. Hyland took Springs to 14 title games in WISAA, winning another 8 titles there.

This season resulted not only in a state title for the 72-year-old Hyland, but State Coach of The Year honors.

He was coaching a grandson this year, sophomore QB/DE Isaac Hyland, son of 1991 state player of the year Rob Hyland. Says the elder Hyland, "I'm a lot nicer to (Isaac) than I was to my son. He gets away with a lot more, because Grandma would kill me."

In other thoughts

• Stratford, in D-5 entered the game having outscored opponents 649-7 (yes, you read that right!) and led 13-0 before falling 22-13. 
• Deforest knocked off the Menasha Bluejays 8-6 in D-3. Hated the outcome, as Deforest scored with 32 seconds left  and then made the 2-pt. conversion. Felt bad for Menasha, a school I covered back in the day -- they had really dominated most of the way.
• Waunakee lost to Brookfield East in D-2, a wild 32-31 game. Waunakee scored with 8 seconds remaining, but on the PAT kick the ball slid off the tee as the holder was spinning it, and the kicker shanked the attempt. STILL not sure why Coach Pat Rice didn't go for the 2-pt attempt. He wasn't having any real success stopping Brookfield East all day.
• The 8-Man title was won last weekend by Luck, beating Wausau Newman Catholic 42-27 behind Levi Jensen, who rushed 25 times for 432 yards, scored five touchdowns and three two-point conversions. Jensen, a 5-10, 195-pound senior, capped a pretty good campaign for unbeaten Luck -- finishing with 175 carries for 2,321 yards (13.26 average) along with 38 touchdowns and 19 conversions for 266 points.

There are 50 schools now playing 8-Man Football in Wisconsin, with five other programs currently inactive. For those schools seeing shrinking enrollment, and maybe those that lack the co-op opportunity with a nearby school district, this seems to be a growing state trend.

NFL Is Missing The Boat

Every time an NFL player heads to the sideline and into the "tent" for evaluation, I see the league missing an opportunity to make yet more money.

For a league that seems to have every action sponsored by somebody, the NFL has yet to get a sponsors name on the evaluation tent.

May I suggest Budweiser?

And name it the "Bud Light Party Tent".

Maybe I should look into trademark rights? And then get a sweet check from The Shield for it.

Hey, it's gonna snow tonight -- so the mind is wandering a little!

Can The Badgers Keep Jim Leonard?

Now that the unbeaten University of Wisconsin Badgers are top-ranked in the nation defensively, and just posted their fourth shutout of the season, how long will it be before a bigger fish comes along to pile up cash in front of defensive coordinator Jim Leonard?

Leonard will be 37 the end of the month. His defensive approach to football has the Badgers making history (most shutouts in the modern era since 1930!) and headlines. Granted, three of those shutouts came against South Florida, Central Michigan and Kent State -- hardly powerhouse offensive squads.

But Saturday at The Camp, Bucky took the Michigan State Spartans behind the woodshed and stomped on 'em. Giving up just 149 net yards on the day to a Spartan team that had the ball for only 20:50 and forcing a pair of turnovers -- one returned for a touchdown. Take away the 20-yard gain on the fake punt, and Sparty rushed 20 times for 10 yards!

By the way, that's the fourth defensive TD this season for Wisconsin -- which has only allowed four TDs as well.

How good does the defense look?

• has allowed 268 rushing yards, 44.7 per game
• has allowed 129 passing yards per game
• has allowed 173.7 yards per game
• has allowed 3.1 yards per 340 plays
• opposing teams have been successful on third down conversion just 15.66% of the time

Wisconsin, 6-0, is allowing 4.8 points per game. The big tests are ahead with Ohio State, Iowa, Purdue and Minnesota waiting in the wings.

This brings us back to my original thought -- can Wisconsin KEEP Leonard? He's not the highest paid defensive coordinator in the Big Ten, but he's not hurting, either. In 2017 he signed a two-year deal worth $1.25 million -- $300,00 the first year, $325,000 the second. The UW Foundation added $300,000 per year as well.

In comparison, LSU's Dave Aranda (who was at Wisconsin from 2013-2015) was making $1.8 million before getting a nice bump. With Texas A&M in hot pursuit, LSU gave Aranda a four-year, $10 million deal. That works out to $2.5 million a year. In second place is the D-Coordinator from Clemson at $1.7 million.

Shoot, Alabama head coach Nick Saban makes $11 million -- and that doesn't count benefits, like the house 'Bama purchased for him, etc.

So unless Leonard, once a Wisconsin walk-on, gives his alma mater a home town deal, Bucky may not be able to keep the salary wolves at bay.

Just How Good Are The Patriots?

When is an unblemished 6-0 record deceptive?

When it has come against teams that post a combined 7-22 mark -- just 24.14%

That's the problem I have with the New England Patriots this season. Yes, they've scored 190 points (31.67 per game average) and given up just 45 (7.5).

But seriously, WHO have they played? The 0-5 Washington Redskins, the 0-4 New York Jets, the 0-4 Miami Dolphins (a team desperately trying to go winless this season!), the 1-4 Pittsburgh Steelers and the 2-4 New York Giants. Hardly a murderer's row.

The only club with a winning record they've faced? The 4-1 Buffalo Bills, a team the Patriots beat 16-10. And in that one, Bills quarterback Josh Allen was knocked out with a concussion, which perhaps taints that a bit.

Granted, you can only play the teams on your schedule. But having the Jets and Dolphins in your division doesn't hurt. Yet playing teams like that week in and week out won't test you.

So, to all those Patriot fans out there --- pump the brakes a little. Yes, your team is unbeaten. But, again, who have they played?

Dear Fox Sports -- Time To Sideline Troy

Perhaps my Green&Gold is showing, but I can't be the only person in America to be tired of Troy Aikman cheerleading for his Dallas Cowboys during Fox broadcasts.

Seriously, can he be even the teenest bit objective? From giving excuses for the Cowboys during Green Bay's 34-24 win to questioning every call that went against Dallas, Aikman was in top form.

Need examples? Green Bay is up 14-0, yet good ol' Troy says that the Dallas offense is having it's way with the Packer defense. Or this gem -- that Green Bay played on a Thursday, giving offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga an extra recovery day, while those poor little Cowboys had to play Sunday night, then travel home.

Boo Hoo.

I've felt like this for a long time, but yesterday just riled me up. Troy may be part of Fox Sports top team (with Joe Buck), but every Cowboys game he is on, his "homer" comes out.

It's time Fox put Aikman on the bench when Dallas is on the field.

Will Brewers Rise From The Ashes?

You have to walk before you can run.

And, before you can reach the mountain top, you gotta struggle a few times. Have your heart broken before you achieve that lofty goal.

That sums up the Milwaukee Brewers' 2019 season. Yes, the team flamed out in somewhat spectacular fashion, with their ace reliever getting tossed around with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and an over-aggressive young outfielder misplaying a single. But Brewer fans should focus on the positives.

As outfielder Christian Yelich suggested after the game, "I think when all the dust settles and you really evaluate the year, we can be proud of a lot of things. I really think we'll be better off for a lot of those experiences."

Yelich, who ended up winning his second straight batting title with a .329 average, went to the Injured List with a fractured kneecap with a crucial three weeks left in the season. Despite losing the defending MVP (contending to repeat there as well), the Brewers went 13-5 down the stretch (and 20-7 in September). Milwaukee narrowly missed catching the division-winning St. Louis Cardinals.

There will be changes ahead for the 2020 Brewers ballclub. Both catcher Yasmani Grandal and thirdbaseman Mike Moustakas have mutual contract options and may not return to the club. Grandal could resign with Milwaukee for $16 million, but will probably hit the free agent market for a long-term (say three year) deal that would probably be north of $50 million. "Moose" could decline an $11 million deal and go free agent as well.

I see Grandal walking away from Milwaukee, but think Moustakas will stay. He likes the club. He likes the city. He likes playing with Yelich and Ryan Braun.

What moves will help the Brewers win the Central Division crown and make the playoffs for a third straight season? Resigning Moustakas, adding a good starting pitcher and getting All-Star closer Corey Knebel back healthy. Ditto Yelich. Oh, and Keston Hiura needs to improve defensively!

Granted, manager Craig Counsell (who should get strong consideration for Manager Of The Year!) will have to adjust to a 28-man down the stretch instead of the 40-man (with 20 pitchers) that he's successfully used the last two seasons to pilot Milwaukee into the post-season.

But as the Brewers celebrate their 50th season in Milwaukee next season, I kind like the team's chances of continuing to build on their success.