Marquette Makes "Smart" Decision

So the Marquette Golden Eagles (and, yes, I still think of them as the Warriors!) have hired Shaka Smart as their new men's basketball coach.

Smart move, in many ways.

An Oregon High School grad (Go Panthers!), Shaka Smart will bring a new attitude to Marquette, one which the previous coach, Steve Wojciechowski, let get away. A disciple of Duke's Mike Krzyewski, Wojo (128-95 in seven years) saw his street cred among Wisconsin players (among others) go south when the Hauser brothers (of Stevens Point) both transferred out to other programs. This after Wojo let high-scoring (and high shooting) Markus Howard pretty much run the program.

Smart won't let that happen. He had success at VCU with players who played with a chip on their shoulders, guys who played hard and together. He took VCU to the 2011 final four and made Sweet 16 appearances the following two seasons before he was hired by Texas.

In six years, he posted a 190-86 record, but this year the No. 3 seed Texas team was upset by 14-seed Abilene Christian in the opening round of the tournament.

But keep in mind that in Texas, basketball usually seems like an after-thought. This is a football first school in a football first state in a football first region.

Over 12 seasons, Smart has a record of 414-272. Can he get Marquette back to the national stage? Al McGuire set the gold standard for the school, going 296-79 in 13 seasons AND bringing back a national championship in 1977. Lofty goals, for certain, but I think this program is headed in the right direction.

Baseball Should Limit The Dreaded Defensive Shift

 That scourge of baseball, the dreaded "defensive shift" has one again raised it's ugly head.

Today's baseball managers tend to over-use it. The Milwaukee Brewers, for example, employed a shift 44.4% of the time last season, the fourt-highest rate in baseball. That's not likely to change in 2021.

But it's a tactic that's been around for decades.

I was reading "The Big Fella" recently, a great biography on Babe Ruth by Jane Leavy. To quote the passage:

Having created the expectation he (Ruth) understood it was his job to fulfill it. During the 1946 World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals employed a then radical defensive shift to foil Ted Williams, packing the right side of the infield and leaving the left virtually unprotected. "They did that to me in the American League one year," Ruth told Frank Graham. "I coulda hit .600 that year slicing singles to left."

"Why didn't you?" Graham asked.

"That wasn't what the fans came out to see."

Sadly, too many of today's ballplayers ignore what the shift presents.

Fun fact coming from that Babe Ruth book...the Yankees added pin strips to their uniform look -- now a classic -- to make Ruth look svelte!

Major League Baseball is going to test several new rules in the minor leagues this season. MLB wants to limit defensive shifts, change the pickoff rules for pitchers, expand the size of bases and perhaps test automated strike zones.

I'm fine with most those, and perhaps adding the DH to the National League should be a thought as well. But as for automated strike zones, I think we need to skip that. Call me old school, but I still think the human umpire gives spice to the game. Just as long as said umpire is consistent! When the strike zone changes from inning to inning, or from the start of the game to the end, that's a BIG problem.

Got my Opening Day tickets for April 1st! We had tickets for Opening Day 2020, and we all know how THAT worked out, but I rolled the credit over and was given the opportunity to purchase early.

So, our little group (Stevie joins Garrett and I) will be among the "Chosen 12,000" cheering on the Crew against the Minnesota Twins. Nice thing about the smaller crowd -- less traffic, easier parking, less lines. It's all good.

Time For Bucky To Think Outside Of The Box

 Let's talk Wisconsin Badgers winter sports for a bit.

Women's hockey? They just won their sixth National Championship. Kudos to Coach Mark Johnson.

Men's hockey? Back in the National Championship tournament for the first time in six years, and Coach Tony Granato's squad is a Number One seed in the 16-team tourney with a great opportunity to win it all.

Men's basketball? Coach Greg Gard's squad closed out a somewhat disappointing season with a quick exit in the NCAA tournament, falling to a Number One seed (Baylor) after shocking North Carolina. Streaky team on offense, but it was Baylor's defense that sent Bucky home. Still, Wisconsin went dancing, again.

Women's volleyball? Technically a fall sport competing now in this Covid-19 season, but still this squad is the top-ranked team in the nation and the program is consistently ranked among the best under coach Kelly Sheffield .

Then there's the women's basketball team. WHY can't Wisconsin put a competitive team on the court? Hell, they haven't had a winning season since the 2010-11 season, and haven't been in the NCAA tournament since 2010.

Just hours (maybe minutes!) after falling in the Big Ten tournament, Athletic Director Barry Alvarez fired Coach Jonathan Tsipis. In five seasons (counting this year's 5-19 record, and a pathetic 2-18 Big Ten mark) Tsipis was only 50-99 overall and a miserable 16-74 in conference.

To add insult to injury, the team's best player, 6-1 junior forward Imani Lewis, entered the transfer portal.

Come on, Barry. Let's think out of the box on hiring a new coach, maybe take a long, hard look at bringing in someone out of the WNBA. Wisconsin hasn't been able to attract most of the state's top women's talent, keeping them home like the Badgers have done in football.

Certainly someone with a WNBA background might be able to stir things up a bit, bring some attention to a program that needs desperately needs it.

Shake things up, Barry. Do the unusual.

What does Wisconsin have to lose?

It's NCAA Tourney Bracket Time!

 We've waited a long, long time for this -- the return of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

March Madness, in all it's glory, is back this week after getting sidelined in 2020 by Covid-19. That means that Virginia and Coach Tony Bennett have been, technically, the defending champions for two years.

It's a wild tournament field to be sure.  It's been a long time since teams like Kentucky, Duke and Louisville didn't get invited to the Big Dance. The streak of 24 straight appearances ends for Duke, while Kentucky fails for the first time in eight years.

I always fill out a bracket or two, though the method for my madness is questionable at best. I've been known to pull for teams I root for (like Wisconsin and a few others) or teams I have a connection to (Louisiana-Lafayette and LSU from my time living down that was, as does Texas, coached by the pride of the Village of Oregon, Shaka Smart) or teams I just root AGAINST like Notre Dame, North Carolina, etc.

What's amazing about this year's tournament is the fact that nine of the Big Ten's 14 teams were invited, with two of them Number One seeds (Illinois, Michigan) and two of them Number Two seeds (Iowa, Ohio State). The last Big Ten team invited, Michigan State, needs to get through a play-in game to advance. The Spartans are only 15-12, and I suspect the selection committee may have given them this shot based on venerable coach Tom Izzo. That and the fact that the Spartans put up some serious wins down the stretch.

As for the Badgers, a team that struggled to a 17-12 record and went winless against ranked opponents (0-9) since the first of the year, getting a ninth seed was a gift. If the Badgers don't figure out a way to put the ball THROUGH the basket, not just around it, this will be a short stay. 

Wisconsin meets an 18-10 North Carolina team and it's veteran coach, Roy Williams. Since returning to his alma mater, Williams has taken NC to the tournament 13 out of 14 years, and seven times has been the Number One seed in the process.

Bucky has it's work cut out for it. But as we know, when it comes to this tournament, all it takes is a hot hand or two to give a team momentum.

Speaking of brackets, if you're interested go to Yahoo Fantasy Sports Tourney Pick'em; I've got a bracket group set up: Jim's Magnificent Group  (Group ID #3785). If interested and you need the password, reach out to me on facebook messager. 

Staying True To The Brew Crew

Ever the optimist, that's me.

But, seriously, the Milwaukee Brewers will challenge for the Central Division title. In fact, I think they'll win it with 88 victories. Maybe 90, but that might be a little crazy talk.

Beyond those darn Cardinals of St. Louis, I don't see another challenger in the division. Well, maybe the Cincinnati Reds, but they won't get much beyond a .500 record, if that. The Chicago Cubs? Rebuilding and in chaos. The Pittsburgh Pirates? That ship has sailed.

Sports Illustrated ranked Milwaukee 13th among the 30 MLB squads as a World Series favorite. (Of course, the cash-heavy, talent-laden Los Angeles Dodgers are first, but that's a conversation for another day.)

No, I do see the Brewers as winning this year. After all, whatever could go wrong in 2020 did go wrong. That's in the past. There are several things that need to sort themselves out. A few of them

• Christian Yelich returns to an MVP-caliber form. That shattered kneecap at the end of 2019 interrupted a season that was on the verge of a second straight MVP probably took more time to heal than anyone thought. But get him back to hitting above .300 again and Yeli leads the team to wins.
• Aivisail Garcia, a career .271 hitter, also returns to form
• Lorenzo Cain comes back after sitting out 2020 due to Covid-19 AND teams with free agent Jackie Bradley Jr. to form a great defensive center field tandem
• Kolton Wong wears our pitching like he did as a Cardinal AND gives the infield a lot better defense at second base
• Keston Hiura gets hits bat going again AND gives the team a better-than-average defensive firstbaseman
• The Mayor of Ding Dong City, Travis Shaw, comes back and gives the team some power
• The pitching staff, led by Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burns and anchor Josh Hader, shines

Might be asking for a lot, but what the hey? It's spring and time for optimism.

Saw this on the MLB site that I found fascinating.....

Brewers

TL;DR: Great mascot, announcer and pitching

Christian Yelich is an all-world player, but he’s also human, as last year showed: Watching him get back to form is enough reason to get on board. But also, the Brewers themselves are just inherently likable. They have a massive, incredibly underrated fanbase that routinely passed three million fans in attendance a year, back when such a thing was possible. They also have Bernie Brewer, a mascot with a massive mustache that slides down a massive beer slide when the Brewers hit a homer. They also have a segment at their games where large personifications of meat race each other around the stadium. And, most of all, they have Bob Uecker. How do you not root for a team with Bob Uecker? Oh, and between Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes, Josh Hader and Devin Williams, they have some nasty pitchers.

Watt Takes Arizona Over Green Bay

 For those Green Bay Packer fans  having a hard time coming to grips with why J.J. Watt chose the Arizona Cardinals over the Green & Gold, I have a simple explanation.

Money. Lots of it.

For all of the "gee, I want a shot at a championship ring" talk from Watt, it just came down to the money. Arizona gave Watt a two year contract worth $31 million -- with $23 million of that guaranteed!

Green Bay was never going to come CLOSE to that kind of deal, not with so many free agents of it's own to sign (Jamal Williams, Aaron Jones, Corey Linsley come to mind first and foremost).

Watt finds himself in a division with the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. That's something of a murder's row when it comes to getting to the playoffs.

In the long run, the Packers did themselves a favor by NOT getting J.J. 

No Longer Calling Houston Home, Where Will J.J. End Up?

 The Houston Texans let the face of their franchise, defensive end J.J. Watt, walk away from the club recently, letting him become free to sign with whichever NFL franchise appeals to him.

That appeal isn't just with a pay day, mind you, but a good chance at a championship ring as well.

Seeing the headline speculating about Watt returning to Wisconsin -- where he starred as a Badger -- to ply his trade with the Green Bay Packers, my significant other of nearly 37 years said "well, has anyone ASKED Watt if he wants to come to the Packers?"

Gotta say, that's a GREAT question. We can talk all we want about team-friendly contracts, salary cap issues and the like, but in the end, somebody needs to ask J.J. if he's interested.

I would say his answer would be yes. After all, in addition to being a former UW Badger, Watt was one of those kids hugging the fence during summer camps in Green Bay, hoping for an autograph from a Packer...any Packer.

BUT if he's smart, and playing his cards close, he won't say where he wants to play, just that he wants to play.

SAW THAT Lew Krausse, who threw the first pitch in Milwaukee Brewers history on April 7, 1970, passed away at the age of 77.

Pitchers & Catchers Set To Report For Baseball

It's a great time of year, this stretch of mid-February, when pitches & catchers report to their Major League spring training camps. The Milwaukee Brewers did so today.

Even in this Covid-19 era, one can't help but feel hopeful with the start of baseball. Hopeful enough to MAYBE believe we can get into the American Family Ballpark (still think of it as Miller Park....) for the home opener April 1st against the Minnesota Twins.

What kind of season will the BrewCrew have? Well, Christian Yelich HAS to return to his MVP-caliber playing and show that last year's disappointing season. I'll put much of that on that broken kneecap he suffered at the end of the 2019 season. Yeli will be back with a vengeance this year, as will Lorenzo Cain, who said out the season.

Another veteran presence who probably won't be missed is Ryan Braun, who reported recently "he's just not feeling it" for playing again. This after Milwaukee paid him $4 million to buy out the remaining year of his contract. I interpret Braun's feelings two ways; 1) he needs to see where Covid-19 will take the team and the season -- will there be DH in the National League, for example and 2) no teams are kicking down my door and offering me the kind of money I was hoping for.

Despite picking up Kolton Wong to help solidify the infield at second base, the team could still use some power at the corners. Keston Hiura, moving over to first base, won't supply that. Nor will Luis Urias do so at third. Stay tuned, as Milwaukee auditions several candidates.

The club signed pitcher Jordan Zimmerman, pride of Auburndale, WI, and UW-Stevens Point, to a minor league contract. We'll see if the veteran has anything left in the tank.

Another player signing a minor league deal was Jonathan Lucroy, former Brewer catcher. Lucroy spent six productive seasons with the Brewers, left after the 2015 season and has played with eight different teams since. A career .274 hitter, Lucroy signed on with the Chicago White Sox, giving the Pale Hose a matching pair of ex-Brewers behind the plate, since Yasmani Grandall joined the Southsiders as a free agent prior to the 2020 season.

Post-Super Bowl Thoughts

 We can officially put the wraps on this Covid-19 NFL season, a season that challenged fans and players alike.

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers held up the Lombardi Trophy for winning Super Bowl LV, it capped a ho-hum, disappointing game that failed to live up the the hype. (Felt my own Super Bowl food choice of home-made crawfish & chicken gumbo was far better than the actual game, but I digress.)

Put the blame for that  boring game on the Buc defense and the injury-plagued offensive line. Poor Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, it is said, ran for over 400 yards while doing his best Fran Tarkenton impression in trying to avoid Tampa's relentless pass rush. Am still marveling at his ability to escape, and that throw -- while parallel to the turf -- of 30 yards that hit his receiver in the hands!

Because that defense was so dominant, I felt the Bucs defense (or defensive coordinator Todd Bowles deserved the MVP, not quarterback Tom Brady.

When you look at the past 55 Super Bowls, a total of 31 MVP awards have gone to quarterbacks (Brady has five in his seven wins -- in 10 games played). Running backs and wide receivers have won seven each, a kick returner once (Desmond Howard in the Green Bay win in 1997) along with nine defensive players. That's actually 10, since Randy White and Harvey Martin shared the award for the Dallas Cowboys in 1978.

As an aside, while Bart Starr won the MVP award in the first two games (technically the NFL-AFL Championship Game) as the Green Bay Packers won, he should have at least shared the first one with wide receiver Max McGee. McGee wasn't expected to play, came in for an injured teammate and, hung over, caught seven passes for 138 yards and both of Starr's touchdowns.

By the way, in case you were wondering, the NFC has now won 27 of 55 games. The NFL split with the AFL prior to the merger of the two leagues, with Green Bay winning the first two, the New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs winning the next two.

Lagniappe During Super Bowl Week

On the eve of Super Bowl LV, and because I'm fixing a crawfish & chicken gumbo for game day (my homage to my Louisiana days and my Cajun friends) here's a little lagniappe.

That's Cajun for "a little extra".

Picking the Kansas City Chiefs to win, 36-24. They're favored by three, with the over/under at 36. I think the Chiefs cover both.

And speaking of the Chiefs, saw an editorial in the Kansas City Star calling for the Chiefs to change their name. In these politically-correct times, the Star feels the name should go.

Not in agreement on this one. I agree that the "tomahawk chop" should be retired, but as for the name and the logo? Nothing wrong with an arrowhead. Have been a fan of this team since their AFL days, when the Green Bay NBC TV affiliate carried games as part of the regional package. Heck, even have a personal letter from their coach at the time, Hank Stram, when the Chiefs knocked off the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.

Speaking of names, there was a letter to the editor recently in the Wisconsin State Journal suggesting that the home of the Milwaukee Brewers should be renamed "Hank Aaron Field" instead of American Family Field. He cites Lambeau Field and Camp Randall as examples to follow.

Clearly, the writer doesn't understand the concept of corporate naming rights. We go from Miller Park (thank you Miller brewing, but since they are no longer locally owned, they got outbid) to American Family Field.

 Now, perhaps somebody at American Family Insurance will take a look at this and decide that we could live with Hank Aaron Diamond at American Family Field, or some such. 

The Wisconsin Badgers may be preparing for a new defensive coordinator, since the current DC, Jimmy Leonard, is among those interviewing for the position with the Green Bay Packers. I would rather lose Leonard to the Packers than to another college team -- and of course, he can always come back to the Badgers as head coach down the road.

The Brewers signed free agent second baseman Kolton Wong away from the St. Louis Cardinals. The 30-year-old Wong, always a thorn in the side of the Brewers, inked a two-year contract worth $18 million.

It's a good addition for Milwaukee, as the three-time gold glove-winning Wong (a career .261 hitter) improves the defense over third-year pro Keston Huria, who will probably move over to first base to keep his bat in the lineup.

Brewers still need to upgrade with power, but this is a step in the right direction.