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Good night for Wisconsin as the Bucks (whoa!), Badgers, and Marquette all won. Plus a little bit of gossip on the Brewers and Bucks. Read with me! (anyone with young children might get that reference)
Bucks. D+ The Bucks' win over Detroit last night is a slight abberation to the way things have been going lately. The continued losing is taking it's toll, Krystowiak is losing his control over the team. But it appears that the Bucks are not going to change things anytime soon. I too am beginning to think like the many hardcore fans who have been saying the Bucks need a change of ownership to really shake things up. That there are fundamental problems with the way the Bucks do business that will only change if the current regime is changed. My main worry with that is where do you find a potential buyer for the Milwaukee Bucks who wants to keep the team in Milwaukee. We don't want to be the next Seattle (and the Bucks have been complaining about the Bradley Center for a while now). A couple of years ago the senator reportedly turned down Michael Jordan's offer for the team after Jordan kind of half ass promised that he would keep the team in Milwaukee. Would he get much of a better offer than that?
Brewers Pitchers and catchers reported this week. Eric Gagne finally addressed the fact that his name appeared on the Mitchell Report (link by way of Sports Bubbler) but he's not quite as eloquent as Andy Pettitte. But if this guy can return to pre-Red Sox form, the Crew could have a pretty solid bullpen with guys like Chris Capuano, Jeff Suppan, and some guy named Sheets. Hopefully Yovani Gallardo can recover quickly from his injury because I have been looking forward to refering to him as 'Lardo all season. Meanwhile, the Brewers have let talks with J.J. Hardy go into arbitration, the seed of the greatest hitter in the last quarter century needs more playing time, and how Milwaukee is dealing with an unfamiliar problem: too much talent?
University of Wisconsin men's basketball. B+ The Badgers continue to bounce back after the home loss to Purdue (who is turning out to be a lot better than people thought... at least in the Big 10), running through Minnesota and the Illini like Marion Barber III. Next game at Ohio State will be a bit tougher and then comes Michigan State. Even though the Wisconsin basketball program has been top quality for over a decade now I still am awed by how we expect 20+ wins a year from a program that used to be run by Steve Yoder.
Marquette University men's basketball. B+ If Marquette expects to be one of the higher seeded teams in the tournament, all of these next games are must win games. Had it not been for that retarded lookin' Harangody kid at Notre Dame who beat them, then they would have won 7 of their last 8. 6 out of 8 is not bad either though. But still, Marquette needs to already be in tournament mode. Out of these next 5 games really the only acceptable loss would be Georgetown.
Packers. Pack franchised Corey Williams the other day, which was kind of a dubious move to me. Did they really need to tag him? Is he attracting that much attention around the league? Brett Favre still hasn't officially said he's coming back yet, but it is not really an issue like it has been in past years. So far, it seems like the media has just assumed that he will be back and is acting accordingly. I guess it makes sense that he would with the improvement of the team and all, but wouldn't it be so dramatic if he did just the opposite? Isn't that what Favre critics say he lives for? On another note, Gilbert Brown is returning to gridiron competition! As the head coach of Milwaukee's new AFL team da BoneCrushers (Sports Bubbler). Also, the Pack finally jettisoned three-time Pro Bowler Bubba Franks after 8 seasons of admirable service. Some would say Bubba was way overrated but he seemed to always come thru with the cluth 3rd down conversion/red-zone/middle-of-the-seam catch. But look at me talking like he's retiring, isn't he exactly the type of player the Pats would pick up and rejuvenate for 3 or 4 more years? Are you telling me Zach Thomas has more left than Bubba? Oh and the latest mock draft over at CBSSports.com has us taking a CB from my alma mater in the first round. I think it would be a good pick, the kid has good skills and tools and by all accounts is a good charachter guy too.