Show Prince The Money

The other big story that going around Milwaukee is how Prince Fielder is not getting his money that in most opinions he likely deserved. The baseball purists argue its how the MLB works and they do not give out the big money until you are three years deep into the league.

I think the Brewers need to give Prince Fielder his money now because as most of us know Fielder is known for holding grudges against people who have screwed him in his opinion. That is not a good thing because he could just head right out of Milwaukee and demand a huge amount of money from an east coast team. Take a second to think about this, David Ortiz is getting pretty old and the Red Sox would love to have a new DH in Prince Fielder in a couple years. It just scares the literal hell out of me because if the Brewers were to lose the face of their franchise would just be detrimental to the fan base.

Matt Laporta who was the Brewers first round pick last year is an impressive power hitter but in scouts eyes would of been a better fit as a DH in the American League. Was this a foreshadow by Doug Melvin basically saying "Well we are going to lose Prince in a couple years so Laporta becomes the next best thing? C'mon get real, I want to keep Prince a Brewer.

I have a feeling that Melvin is trying to make a point that he isn't scared of Scott Boras- MLB's No.1 Asshole. I am sorry I just think Melvin should give in and give Prince the big bucks that Grady Sizemore and Troy Tulowitski got.

Charlie.

An Ode to Brett Favre

As you all heard Brett Favre retired yesterday. If you were like me, you looked at the television multiple times, did not want to believe it and then convinced yourself that your day is completely ruined leading to just deep depression. I knew it was coming but I never thought it was going to happen so I was not prepared for this dark day-But we have to move on. I am just going to reflect on some of my favorite Brett Moments and what they all meant to me.

-I am 19 years old, all I know is Brett Favre as the Green Bay Packer quarterback, granted I was a just a toddler when the Majick man was throwing the pigskin but I do not remember that at all. All I know is Brett doin the damn thing every Sunday.

-My very first Brett Favre memory is him diving into the endzone to beat the Atlanta Falcons in County Stadium to get into the playoffs I believe. I also remembered how much we got owned by the Cowboys and how I hated them.

-Then sitting in my living room watching Brett throwing the deep ball to Andre "Bad Moon" Rison in Super Bowl 31 and his pass to Antonio Freeman then Desmond Howard return. Probably one of the happiest days of my life even at the young age of eight.

-Then the next year I realized how much a prick John Elway was robbing Brett of his second Super Bowl and how much I cried that night over that lost. Then that next day going to school having nothing exciting to talk about just feeling like I do know, depressed.

-Watching Favre make all his receivers into playmakers such as Sterling Sharpe, Robert Brooks, Antonio Freeman, and Donald Driver. He has probably broke most of their fingers out of the five of them.

-Every underhand shovel pass brought their own personality to add to legend that is BF4.

-When he came out and had the game of his life against the Oakland Raiders after his father passed away. That game was obviously important to me five years ago but has so much more meaning now as I realized how much my father and I's relationship involves sports. I know if I was in that same situation I would play for my dad without a question and I know that's what he would want me to do.

-I will just missed the fact of laughing at all of Brett's different characteristics on the field just playing the game because it was fun to him and enjoying every minute he was on the field was just so special which I think we will not see again in a long long time.

-Every minute that I watched of Brett Favre I loved even the INTs I knew shouldnt of happened and got pissed, I feel blessed being able to grow being a Packer fan and watch Brett Favre.

-As I am writing this I have my Ipod going and Kanye West's "The Glory" comes on and he has a line in there that sums up how Wisconsin would think of Brett Favre. "Even if I came out in a speedo, I would still be look at as a fuckin champion."

No doubt we wouldn't think any different of Brett. I am not going to go into why he retired and all of that mess because all this is really is telling my audience how much I enjoyed watching Brett Favre play.

So this is what its like Bulls fan who lost MJ, Celtics fans who lost Bird, Broncos fan who lost Elway and Dolphins fan who lost Marino. Lemme tell you even though time has past since your legends left you, it still sucks to go through it.

Charlie.

Other Random Basketball Thoughts

I just thought I would make another post because my Marquette and Georgetown one was getting pretty long. So here are some other thoughts about the weekend that was in college basketball because it was a pretty good one.

-Good to see Tennessee and Bruce Pearl got to taste #1 for a week. I personally saw it coming, Vanderbilt had been money all year at home and they had thing for knocking off number ones. What I did not expect was a sloppy game against Kentucky, I thought that Tennessee played out of control and I worry if more of that is to come later on in the year

-As a North Carolina fan, it scares me to think that the Tar Heels are just a turn it on and turn it off type team. They were just getting owned by all means by Tyreese Rice in the first half and then they respond with a huge second half. They remind me of a better version of UConn two years ago that got beat by George Mason.

-This just in Memphis got into another fight! Learn how to control your kids, John. They qualify for the team most likely to have a fight that resembles "Indiana-Detroit".

-Jerryd Bayless is a straight up stud and I hope he stays another year so he can so off his talents to the entire nation. People are losing him in the shuffle between all of the great freshman and if he does return, my favorite for POY.

-I find it amazing that a team in the Big Ten can score 100. I thought that was against regulations of the conference or something. Michigan State was just out of their mind against Indiana. Somewhere Dick Bennett is crying

-Louisville is playing some of the best ball in the nation right now. I would definitely put them in my final four right now if the tourney started today. They just seemed to be truly in the zone and have not peaked. More to come when they play Georgetown this weekend.

-Texas Tech pulled off the first big win for Pat Knight over the weekend, how would they follow that up? With a Speed 2 performance at Kansas 109-51, awesome.

-Stanford once again has another victory, and Mach pointed out "how ugly is their coach". Yes mark it down another reason not to like the Cardinal and their dopey tree.

-Duke pulls one from the jaws of defeat to get Coach K's 800. I have no idea why they struggle so much on the road but then again I really think every ACC team gives their best effort against Duke and UNC.

-Syracuse and Ohio State bubbles are all but popped. It is too bad to for the Orange it would been quite the accomplishment to make the tourney without their top players and led by freshman.

And I am spent.

Charlie.

Marquette-Georgetown: Depression City Baby.

Well I was going to write this Saturday night but I realized it would turn out into a huge rant about the game and how depressed I was at the outcome. So now composed I can write a logical post about it

So let it begin

-First off I was at the game which made it two times worse and to add insult to it, I was in the student section which made it two more times worse. Although it was the best atmosphere I have witnessed and a great time with my buddy Mach. After the game, every Hoyas fan I saw I wanted to punch them in the head. Mach whose a complete fanatic about the Warriors, "I have not been this depressed since Jerry Smith last year (awful game)."

-I really cannot explain Dominic James fouling Johnathan Wallace whose Gtown's best free-throw shooter of ALL-TIME. Wallace was rushed into the corner, he would of likely been off-balanced when he attempted the shot. All DJ had to do is stick his hands up and that shot probably does not go in.

-Not all of the blame can be put on James for the defeat, Jerel McNeal and Lazar Hayward shot a combined 5-29 from the field when that happens usually results in a blowout for the other team. It was great perseverance by the other players to get through the rough games by both McNeal and Hayward. Hopefully Lazar can break out of his mini-slump in the next couple of days.

-I am still puzzled why Tom Crean calls a time-out with .17.6 left down one, he had been running a man press that seemed to confused the Hoyas somewhat and they knew who to foul too. If he saves it, Marquette can draw up a play to try to send it to another overtime.

-The refs were decent throughout the game until the last two minutes. They just seemed to make some calls and not others, such as the Hoya player who nearly tackles McNeal (I believe) no call then the jump ball call when DJ clearly stole the ball (it was a foul if anything) that led to the dagger in OT from Johnathan Wallace which was a nuts shot.

-Definitely props go out to Wes Matthews. He carried the team in the first half and had a helluva game for the Warriors on Saturday. I think he is ready to blow up and might be an underrated force in the next following weeks.

-Big time props to the front line of Ousmane Barro, Trevor Mbwake, and Dwight Burke. Granted, Roy Hibbert (aka Shrek) had 20 points, it was a very quiet for sure. All of them did a great job on containing them in man-to-man which I did not expect Marquette to do. Very promising for the next couple of weeks.

-I really believe that Georgetown is the luckiest team in the nation. They just keep pulling wins out their asses and some would say "thats a sign of a good team", whatever I will call it luck. I think MU beats them if they meet again the Big East Tourney.

-MU can ill-afford to lose against Syracuse. Their bubble has pretty much popped but playing in the Carrier Dome is a bitch to play at. Plus Marquette does not handle a 2-3 zone and thats all they will see from the Orange. I hope for a big Warrior win because I need some bragging rights against Shay.

Charlie.

Tiger Woods Unbeatable?

I know this post is about a week late but I felt like still making a point of it. Tiger Woods is amazing right now, he is playing the best golf I have seen out of him in years. The question everyone posed on Monday, could he make a run at Byron Nelson streak of eleven straight?

I personally hope he gets close or does it because it would definitely bring the casual fan to golf to see if he had a chance at winning it. I have a tough time seeing it happen only because the Masters is still always tough and everyone brings their A game. Sawgrass has been an absolute bitch to Woods in years past. Also if he is gunning at this record doesn't that inspire others to be that much better to try to knock off the titan of golf right now.

The argument for it is that Woods does not play every week and sometimes it a three week period before he decides to play in a tournament. That gives him the ability to keep up with the grind of golf. I think if anything that plays to advantage and people are disappointed he did not play a lot in the West Coast Swing although he has dominated the Benz Championship, and Pebble Beach. I really think he should of tried to challenge Rivera again since he has been awful there.

You can already write it down as Tiger being my pick to win the Masters and hopefully he still is unbeaten.

Charlie.

The NBA Is Fun Again

So last night after I finished all my lovely reading for class, I made an effort to sit down and watch an NBA game. I watch the occasional NBA game but usually not for the entire game just few snippets or the final three minutes for a various amount of reasons.

1. It was not that fun to watch, no one played defense and it was boring to watch an And1 show every night of the week

2. The Milwaukee Bucks could be one of the worst teams to watch if one applies to you and they act like they do not give a damn about playing basketball half of the time so you feel yourself uninspired to watch.

3. They did not have like able guys and had thugs who showboated all of the time.

A lot of their guys are truly like able you cannot help but love Chris Paul, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, and Lebron James, I do not want to hear of the NBA having an image problem because they are right now the cleanest out of all the top leagues. They have more of the run and gun style of basketball which if you are casual viewer that is the type of basketball that you would like to watch. That is one of the reasons why I wanted to watch the Los Angles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns and just the hype that ESPN built around it I wanted to watch it.

I was pulling for the Lakers because I like Kobe Bryant and I think he is the best player in the NBA right now, not Lebron James, Kobe Bryant. The thing about it is Bryant fails to get the respect that he rightfully deserves. Plus what finger injury? The guy had forty-one points so I do not want to hear the talk that his finger is a legit concern. Pau Gasol really flows with the triangle offense that Phil Jackson runs and really was pulling Shaq outside out the post which was allowing easy baskets. One of the big reasons I think the Lakers will be the favorite out of the West will be the bench depth, their second team had multiple runs in the second and fourth quarters.

I also wanted to see how Shaq did in the Suns offense and he looked respectable plus paved the way for Amare Stoudamire to have a huge night (37 15). He seemed to move around and did not show signs of being out of shape. I think Shaq will help them out somewhat although just I do not see bringing him in resulting in a championship. Also when you look down the Suns bench they are lacking after Leoandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw thats pretty much it you go to the likes of Eric Piatkowski and Brian Skinner.

Oh by the way the Bucks still suck. Sometime maybe at the end of the year I would tell you how I would fix the Bucks.

Possible second post later on today....

If there is something you want to see on here, email me at tritscca@uwec.edu, let me know.

Thanks

Charlie.

Find Me One Person That Likes Stanford

As I was battling to not die over the weekend from influenza and of course when I am sick all of the games on ESPN are not that exciting.

Louisville and Providence was just boring because you knew the Friars werent going to win because they have given up on coach Tim Welsch.

So i resorted to the Big Ten Network to see Wisconsin-Minnesota playing which was once again boring then I get a text from the Birdman just discussing the days events in hoops.
Then he goes into that he is watching Zona against Stanford and how much he hated the Lopez Brothers".

Thats what got the wheels turning for this blog entry. Who really likes Stanford? I have always remember hating their basketball programs throughout the late 90s and into the 2000s. They always seem to reap the benefits of having two twin towers which immediately makes them dominate over the rest of the league- The Collins Bros. and the Lopez Bros. which also gets me to think both were smart enough to get into Stanford? Wow, usually one of them is dumber than a box of rocks.

Another thing I always didnt like about Stanford was their goofy ass tree mascot and the nickname to go along with it. They are not the Cardinals, just the Cardinal which is a color and somehow that turns their mascot into a happy redwood. At least the Orange have Otto whose an actual Orange, see the Cuse has their shit together. I hate wimpy mascots, the Tree look at that thing, it would just get owned by most mascots in America if we had a battle royal. This also has given me the idea to post my own list of top 10 college mascots but that will be for another day.

Lets just hope they do not make a run in the NCAA Tournament so we dont see that damn tree dancing around.

Charlie.