Some Pre-Thanksgiving Thoughts

 Watched a bit of the high school football title games last week. Franklin, led by UW recruit quarterback Myles Burkett, topped Sun Prairie, 38-17 in D-1.

This is the last time Sun Prairie will be in the state playoff per se, as next year the city splits into two high schools. Will be interesting to see which schools are powers in which sports.

The G.O.A.T of Wisconsin high school football coaches can be found in Fond du Lac. Bob Hyland just wrapped up his 51st season (yes, you read that right) leading the St. Mary's Springs Ledgers. Though Colby stopped Hyland's run of three straight state titles, 22-7, Hyland still stands atop the state with a record of 492-113-2.

That's a winning percentage of over 81%, folks.

Will the 76-year-old Hyland come back for a run at 500 wins? We'll see.

I would recommend "The Baseball 100" by Joe Posnanski as a great Christmas gift for the serious, or even casual, baseball fan. The book is more than just statistics. It goes into detail on each player that is sure to give more than one "Wow? I didn't know that..." moment.

Anyone's list of anything is always so open to discussion. That's what Posnanski wants, as he includes players from baseball's past and present as well as those from the Negro Leagues -- denied the chance to compete in the Major Leagues before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947-- and Japan's Sadaharu Oh.

Why Oh?  Well, all he did in the Japanese League was hit 868 home runs. The major leaguers who saw him play or played against him in exhibitions all agree he would have had great success in the U.S. That's good enough for me.

By the way, my all-time favorite Chicago Cub, pitcher Fergie Jenkins, came in at No. 81. Fergie is the only Canadian-born pitcher in baseball's Hall of Fame. When the Cubs traded Fergie, I gave up on them and have held that grudge for over 50 years!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Safe travels.

"Next Man Up" Rings True For Packers

 With quarterback Aaron Rodgers sidelined with the covid kerfuffle, it's time for the next man up to step in. Jordan Love will be sorely tested by the Kansas City Chiefs, but I think the Green Bay Packers rally 'round their young QB and get the job done.

As to Rodgers, am sure many Packer fans share his feelings on covid and vaccinations. And are probably willing to forgive him at this point in the year.

But make no mistake about it, had this arisen during the playoffs and cost the Packers a Super Bowl shot, the torches and pitchforks would have come out of storage in a hurry. Remember, this is the fan base that, in the early 1970s, killed head coach Dan Devine's dog when the team fell into mediocrity!

The Wisconsin Badgers made short work or Rutgers yesterday, with the defense helping to force a 52-3 route. Bucky is now bowl-eligible for a 20th straight season. Those of us of a certain age recall when all Wisconsin fans did was dream about a bowl game. Any bowl game.

Those were the days of Greg "Grape Juice" Johnson and Rufus "The Road Runner" Ferguson toting the ball for Bucky. When Wisconsin was normally drubbed by any and all Big Ten foes.

What ever happened to really cool nicknames for football players? Gotta come up with something sweet for Fond du Lac freshman Braelon Allen, who now has five straight 100-yard games. The 17-year-old running back won't turn 18 until January. We need to give him a classy moniker.

No surprise that Avi Garcia of the Milwaukee Brewers is testing the free agent market. If he gives Milwaukee a home-town deal, fine. Otherwise, look for the Brewers to be aggressive in the free agent market as they have salary to work with and a solid base of starting pitching to build on. The club was 19th in MLB with a payroll just over $99 million -- below the league average of $128 million.

Tops in baseball? Those Los Angeles Dodgers at over $271 million. Two other clubs, the New York Yankees and the New York Mets, topped the $200 million mark.

Congrats to the Oregon High School boys soccer team, capping a 22-0-3 season by winning the Division 2 state championship, beating Whitefish Bay 3-1. For my local high school, this is a fourth state title and the first since 2018.

Oh, Mr. Rodgers!

 From time to time, I serve as a volunteer driver for the local senior center, dropping off noon meals around the village and the area.

Other than a "Hi, are you doing okay?" exchange with the folks I am dropping off to, there's not much else said.

But Thursday, an older gentleman took the meal from me, noted my Green Bay Packers stocking cap and asked "So, what do you think about (Aaron) Rodgers?"

Certainly, that's been the main topic of concern for Packer fans everywhere, as our Hall of Fame quarterback contracts Covid-19 and will, per NFL protocols, be out for at least one game and possibly two, starting with this week's contest with the Kansas City Chiefs.

My response to the question? "Stupid, stupid move by Aaron. Selfish. But it's the next man up and we'll see what Jordan Love can do. Seems to me there was a guy named Zeke Bratkowski who used to fill in when Bart Starr was injured. And things worked out pretty well..."

Not that Jordan Love is Zeke, mind you, but you get the drift. If a man goes down, the next man steps up and the team rallies around him. And let's not forget that Coach Matt LaFleur has been pretty darn successful in the early stages of his career. Gotta trust that he and his staff will taper the game plan to take advantage of Love's strengths...and probably rely heavily on running backs Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon to help carry the load.

They won't get a ribbon or a partipacipation trophy for it, but note that the Milwaukee Brewers were playoff victims of the last three World Series Champions. So close, people, so close! 

Congrats to the Atlanta Braves for winning the World Series, 4-2 over the TrashCan Bangers from Houston.

The WIAA high school football quarterfinal games are this week. There's many a familiar name listed on the schedule, teams like Kimberly and Franklin to name a couple. But down there in Division 6 is Fond du Lac St. Mary's Springs, coached by the 75-year-old Bob Hyland. This is Hyland's 50th season (yes, you read that right) with Springs, having started in 1971. His squad is 9-2 going into a game with top-seed Kenosha St. Joseph. Hyland is the winningest coach in state history with a record that stands at 487-109-2. Should he come back for a 51st year, he could top the 500 mark.

I will say that our paths crossed in the early 1970s while I was covering Oshkosh Lourdes Academy, a conference foe of Springs. And Hyland's sideline presence scared the crap out of me then, I wasn't even playing!

World Series 2021: Trashcan Bangers Vs. Choppers

 The World Series is upon us starting today. I don't really have a dog in this fight, so it's hard to root for any of the teams.

On the one hand, you have a squad that started in the National League as the Colt .45s (can you get a more Texas nickname?), became the Astros and later migrated the the American League. Their most recent claim to fame? Stealing signs, banging on trash cans to alert hitters and, essentially, cheating their way to the 2017 World Series title.

Houston, we have a problem. Just can't root for these cheaters. Especially since the players who did the misdeed were not punished. Major League Baseball should have stripped them of the '17 title.

On the other hand, we have a team that's in it's third city. Once the Boston Braves, in 1953 the club moved to Milwaukee and was embraced by Wisconsin. Fans loved guys like Eddie Matthews, Hammerin' Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn ... even Bob Uecker! The squad won a World Series and just missed out on another, then packed up their bags and moved to Atlanta in 1966.

The move broke hearts throughout Wisconsin, gave the Chicago Cubs inroads thanks to WGN television and, eventually, led to Bud Selig snagging the bankrupt Seattle Pilots and creating the Milwaukee Brewers.

I have, essentially forgiven the Braves for skipping town. Most of us have. But I sure wish they would 86 the tomahawk chop (and while we're at it, maybe the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL could do the same?)

In picking the lesser of two evils, let's pull for Atlanta to win this Fall Classic.

Getting An Education At The High School Level

 I look at odd little things so you don't have to. By the way, no thanks are necessary.

Got to wondering again this week about the state of high school football in Wisconsin amid the continued Covid-19 influence.

It's not good, folks.

There were 189 scheduled games this past weekend. Of those, seven were cancelled, one played to a 0-0 tie (or did they? Am thinking it was a mutual decision with neither team able to field a squad) and 19 -- or roughly 10% -- resulted in teams winning 2-0.

That 2-0 score tells me that one team had too many players missing due to positive tests or illness to compete.

I SPENT SOME time in Louisiana in the mid-1980s as sports editor for The Opelousas Daily World. Have kept in contact with several of my friends from there and consider myself an honorary Cajun.

Guess that's why I was happy to see the October issue of Sports Illustrated with a nice feature on Dustin Poirier of Lafayette, just a few minutes south of Opelousas and home of the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns.

Poirier is a very successful UFC fighter who twice in 2021 defeated Conor McGregor, once considered one of the gold standards of the sport.

Poirier is a guy with a big heart, and has given a lot back to the Lafayette community and area. So much so that he was given the inaugural Forrest Griffin Community Award by the UFC last year.

SAW THAT ATTENDANCE for the MLB was down this year. Well, duh! So many teams opened the year with a cap on their stadium attendance (I was lucky to be part of the chosen 11,900 or so to see the Milwaukee Brewers' opener) that, of course, overall attendance is going to be down. Hell, for the first part of the season, the Toronto Bluejays called Buffalo home!

Still, Milwaukee finished 10th among the 30 MLB squads with 1,824,282 fans (an average of 22,522). At the bottom of the pile? The playoff-bound Tampa Bay Rays (28th; 9,513), Oakland (29th; 8,767) and dead last Miami (7,933).

And the Brewers will get to add to that total starting Friday with the playoffs!

TELEVISION EXECUTIVES with broadcast rights to the American League Wild Card play-in game had to be over the moon with the prospect of a one game matchup between the hated New York Yankees and the equally hated Boston Red Sox.

That subjects the country to yet ANOTHER nationally televised game between these two darlings of ESPN and the MLB.

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.

Thoughts On A Summer Day

 It's been so nice lately, I've spent a lot of time on the front porch reading, keeping Homer, our Alaskan Malamute mix, company.

You know the kind of days I'm talking about. The kind you just want to package and put away until those January or February days when it's so cold you crack when you go outside. On days like that, opening a nice breath of summer would be SO amazing. But I digress.

Homer's not much of a talker, but does a great job listening while I ponder various things, like...

THOSE FOLKS who attended the Wisconsin State Fair on the first Monday evening were shocked, and pleased, to see Giannis Antetokounmpo strolling around, carrying something very precious on his shoulders. No, wasn't the NBA Championship trophy or the NBA Finals MVP trophy.

Instead, Giannis was taking things in with something even more important, his child. Nice to see Giannis take such an interest and delight in his Wisconsin home!

CRAIG COUNSELL really, REALLY deserves to be Manager Of The Year in the National League. As I write this, he has taken the Milwaukee Brewers to 25 games above .500 and a 9 1/2 game lead in the NL Central.

San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler will no doubt get his fair share of love from the voters. For good reason, with his squad sitting atop the NL West, ahead of the heavy pre-season favorite Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

Will the Giants be there at the end? Don't think so, as I see the Dodgers running them down. 

But Milwaukee? Have total faith in the Brewers getting it done with a FOURTH STRAIGHT post-season appearance. And those four are all on Counsell.

So, he much deserves some national recognition for the job he's been doing for the Brewers.

WILL HE OR WON'T HE come back in 2022? "He" of course refers to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers. 

In his 17th season as a Green&Gold quarterback -- passing the mark of 16 years set by Bart Starr and matched by Brett Favre -- Rodgers seems content enough as the Pack works through a three-game pre-season slate. All the acrimony of the previous months seems to be in the rear-view mirror.

Rodgers knows that Green Bay is his best shot at getting back to, and winning, a Super Bowl. The team, with one or two question-marks remaining, is set up for the run. And barring any injury bug, should be playing on Feb. 13, 2022.

Jogging The Memory In Milton, Wisconsin

 Our friends from the "Left Coast" happened to be in the Midwest recently, a gathering of their clan of sorts in Illinois. So Sally and I made arrangements to meet up for dinner with Mild Bill and Tina in Milton, saving them some windshield time in the process.

This got me thinking about the pride of defunct Milton College (which closed it's doors in 1982), quarterback Dave Kreig, one of two Milton College alumni to ever make it to the NFL. (The other, in case you're wondering, is Dave Kraayeveld, who played defensive end and defensive tackle for Seattle in 1978.)

Kreig of Iola, Wisconsin (and D.C. Everest High School, Schofield), made Seattle as an undrafted free agent. He spent 12 of his 19 NFL seasons with the Seahawks (and is part of their Ring of Honor). He also played with Kansas City, Detroit, Arizona, Chicago and Tennessee, finishing his career with 261 touchdowns, over 38,000 yards and leading the way to 98 wins.

As a college freshman in 1976, he entered a game in mop-up duty and completed four passes, three for touchdowns. He graduated in 1980 -- which brings me to "the rest of the story".

As a sportswriter in the Fox Valley, then with the Neenah-Menasha office of the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, I covered a lot of sports, and athletes, in the two cities. I got to be pretty close with several of the Menasha High School guys, from football to basketball to baseball. Was sorta adopted by several of them, and we remain friends years (and years!) later.

Anyhow, we're in Milton. I'm thinking of the college and Kreig and then it seemed to me that one of the Menasha guys, Randy "Raps" Ropella started off at Milton College before finishing at my alma mater, UW-Oshkosh.

So I reached out to Raps on facebook. Lo and behold, I was right. In fact, Raps wrote "1979 season Milton College. (I) started the last game of his (Kreig's) career at center. So I had his hands on my butt to end his college career. You still have a great memory. (I) left for UW-O 1980-81-82 seasons."

Bucks And Brewers...And Rodgers? OH MY!

WOW! What a great week it has been with the Milwaukee Bucks winning the NBA Championship, just the second in 50 years.

I'm old enough to remember the excitement of the state when Milwaukee landed the franchise. And the winning coin flip that got the team Lew Alcindor (before his Kareem Abdul Jabbar name change), then the trade that brought in Oscar Robertson to join him, Bobby Dandridge, Greg Smith and the rest for that championship team in 1971.

I just marvel at Giannis Antetokounmpo's athletic ability, skill level and fantastic personality. Here's a guy who signed a five-year, $228 million extension to STAY in Milwaukee when all the pundits on both coasts were wringing their hands and saying how bad it was for him to walk away from joining a super team.

His response?

"Coming back, I was like, this is my city," said Atetokounmpo. "They trust me, believe in me, they believed in us. Even when we lost, the city was still on our side. Obviously I wanted to get the job done. But that's my stubborn side. It's easy to go somewhere and win a championship with somebody else. I could go to a super team and just do my part and win a championship. But this is the hard way to do it..."

"And we did it. We (expletive) did it."

It's more than a lLittle refreshing to hear a super star athlete talk about loyalty to a city/state/fan base. Think that message might sink into a certain quarterback who happens to be a minority owner in the Bucks?

SPEAKING OF GIANNIS, I doubt he will join Jake from State Farm commercial (with Suns' Chris Paul one of their spokesmen) anytime soon -- but for sure, we will see him featured as a national spokesman for more than one company. Won't surprise me if it's Chick-fil-a. That's because, mid-morning the day after winning the title, Giannis pulled through a drive-thru and ordered 50 nuggets ("not 51, not 49," he told them) and a large half-lemonade, half-Sprite ("no ice"). Hey, I'm not making this up. AND he had the trophies with him (the Larry O'Brien championship trophy and the Bill Russell Series MVP.

I mean, just how likeable is this guy? Asked after Game 4 why he had to leave for a bit in the first quarter, he didn't give a pat answer, but honestly said "I had to tinkle..." Geez, is the guy nice and humble and just a GREAT representative for the Milwaukee Bucks -- and the city as well as the state of Wisconsin.

DEVIN BOOKER of the Phoenix Suns is a talented player. But he whines waaaaaay too much. Seems like every call had him complaining to the referees. He got away with several non-calls AND should have been given a technical foul in Game 6 -- for actions similar to those that got Milwaukee's Bobby Portis T'ed up.

Part of the US Olympic Basketball team, Booker is headed to Tokoyo on a private flight with NBA Champions Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday. That's gotta be a long and strange 19-hour flight!

THE MILWAUKEE BREWERS led the NL Central at the All-Star Break, the so-called half-way point of the season. Most times, this bodes well as the teams in front at that point do end up winning. Despite closing out the first half with a stumble, dropping three to the second-place Cincinnati Reds (which cut the lead to four games), Milwaukee game out of the break with a three-game sweep in Cincinnati that pushed the lead back up.

And while the Brewers stubbed their toes this week by dropping two straight to the lowly Kansas City Royals (playing down to their opponents, perhaps?), look for the Crew to still win the division. It's pretty clear that's the only way to make the playoffs, since the two wild card teams will no doubt come from the NL West where San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego are the frontrunners.

WHAT'S UP WITH AARON? Training camp starts soon for the Green Bay Packers, and the soap opera that is will he-won't he for quarterback Aaron Rodgers continues.

Let's get this straight. He hasn't said shit about any of this. Reports of his unhappiness, wanting to be traded, sitting out the season, etc., have ONLY come from others. Speculation, not fact.

Come on, Aaron, just tell us what you want. Let's face it, you're losing the support of the fan base. Just be a stand-up guy.

Hell, be like GIANNIS!