Sunday, May 15, 2011

School's out for summer - now I can school you

The title says it all. After an extremely busy yet productive semester, I was forced away from the blogging scene, but I gained valuable experience by writing for the Advance-Titan at UW Oshkosh and taking a reporting class that basically drove me into the ground all semester long. Both sucked a lot of my time up, but I was able to become comfortable with the whole reporting aspect that goes along with the writing and this is a pretty big step for me in my path to becoming a sportswriter. All in all, I would say the most difficult task to conquer is learning to write like a journalist. While I took Reporting and Public Relations courses, I also took a traditional writing class in Advanced Composition, so I was forced to flip-flop between two very contrasting styles. Hopefully, it will be one of the last times I have to deal with such confusion because my brain had to work major overtime and it feels damn good to finally be done. So what's next? Finding a job. Crap.

Enough about my uneventful life. Let's get caught up on what's happened on the Wisconsin sports front since I've been gone. For those who follow the American Hockey League closely (in other words, like three people), the Milwaukee Admirals were knocked out in the semifinals in seven games by the Houston Aeros. Oh, what I would give to see an NHL franchise move into Milwaukee...or maybe even Green Bay. I mean, c'mon. Florida Panthers anybody? Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan, albeit not much of one, of the Admirals but the NHL during playoff time can't be beat. The NBA is the same way. However, even though we have the Bucks, I still favor the NHL regular season over the NBA's, which is why I prefer the NHL as a whole over the NBA. Imagine if I had a team from in-state to support. For one, the Blackhawks would go from my favorite team to my most hated team and two, the NHL would be a much bigger priority in my sports-watching life. A young adult can dream.

We also had the NFL draft, which is usually something I pay a pretty decent amount of attention. This year, I missed out on all of Saturday's action because I participated in a bags tournament. How did I do, you ask? Took home 2nd place and 100 smack-a-roos. No big deal. Suffice it to say, I missed what was going on with the later rounds. As Packer fans know, this is where GM Ted Thompson likes to do his damage so I missed quite a bit, but after reviewing the picks I have to say I like what the Packers did. Taking an offensive lineman (Derek Sherrod - Mississippi State) with the first round pick is exactly what Green Bay needed to do, especially with so many good D-linemen off the board. The second round selection of WR Randall Cobb from Kentucky was interesting, but when taking a deeper look it's possibly the best selection the World Champs made. Cobb is a possession receiver (5'11") who will replace James Jones. He has big-play ability and could be a possible fill-in at the return position next season. It was also nice to see a running back picked in the 3rd round (Alex Green - Hawaii), especially one who put up monstrous stats in his final year of school. People are saying he could be a guy that catches a lot of balls out of the backfield, but he did come from a shotgun offense so there could be that adjustment period for Green as far as getting used to a pro offense. Did I mention that he also attended Butte Community College? That sounds familiar...hmmm. Moving on, the fourth round pick of CB Davon House from New Mexico State was a steal at that stage of the draft, so he could perhaps work his way into some nickel/dime packages and be the guy in waiting for Woodson. The Packers also took a tight end from Arkansas in D.J. Williams, arguably the best TE in the draft and someone who had a rough childhood that could be a great guy to have in the locker room. Snatching up a few defensive linemen in the late rounds as well as an O-lineman, a linebacker and another tight end (strange) left me feeling extremely good about the 2011 draft class of the Green Bay Packers...I hope you feel the same after my brief and optimistic analysis. Here's to actually having a 2011-2012 NFL Season!

Last but not least, the Milwaukee Brewers. I'll tell you one thing: thank God for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The most recent series was relatively easy on the heart and placed the Brewers back in my good graces following one of the most pathetic stretches of baseball I've seen in forever. Seriously. That was awful. However, a 5-1 home stand has injected some optimism into Brewer fans and being in third place while just four games out of first in the central is reassuring to say the least. The split between the success at home and horrendous play on the road is concerning, no doubt, but to get the bats going and score enough runs to support some rather dismal pitching was good to see. Braun has been a maniac, Fielder has had one of his best starts to a season as a Brewer and Weeks and Lucroy have been very solid as of late. But let’s get back to the pitching. Not only has the bullpen been failing to get the job done, but the pitchers in the Brewers' starting staff have taken turns being awful. Greinke trying to find his groove is understandable, but I still expected better from him coming off of his injury. Wolf managed to trick all of us yet again by starting out strong and then going into his usual funk. Now, we have Gallardo clicking on all cylinders after choosing to go with the Marco Estrada special (high socks/Estrada’s pants), Marcum pitching like an ace save for his last start (which was still a W) and Narveson, who is pitching just like a five starter should be (if not better). All in all, I think things will continue to come together for the starting five. The bullpen is a different story.

Obviously, injuries have riddled just about every aspect of this squad, but the bullpen seems to be the unit that hasn't been able to handle it. It's sad when the pitcher you have the most faith in is LaTroy Hawkins. Yikes. To be fair, here is a list of the bullpen pitchers out with injury: Manny Parra, Takashi Saito, Zach Braddock, Brandon Kintzler. Without a doubt the two best lefties at Ron Roenicke's disposal aren't at his disposal and a few other pitchers who play a smaller role aren't there as well. Still, other guys are expected to either step in or hold their own and neither of those has been happening. Axford has been, dare I say, Turnbow-esk. The supposed setup man Kameron Loe (who apparently pitches every single game now) has been sketchy. Mitch Stetter, the only lefty available out of the pen, is about as unreliable as LeBron James during crunch time, but there has to be a left-hander in the bullpen. What I can’t understand is why guys like Marco Estrada and Sergio Mitre don’t get some crucial, late-game opportunities instead of Loe or even Axford once in awhile. I know it might sound a little drastic, but Ron can't keep sending out the same guys in the same situations night-in and night-out if they cause the entire Brewer fan base to hold their breaths. I believe that things will come together once we see Parra and Braddock return (couldn't care less about Saito and Kintzler...sorry) but Roenicke can't wait much longer to make some changes. Every game matters even though the season is 162 games long and you can only give guys so many chances until it's time to try something new. The bullpen rotation is nearing that time limit.

I know that might have been a lot to digest, but hopefully the read went down smooth. I'll be blogging much more frequently over the summer and into the next school year and I can only hope you're looking forward to it just as much as I am. There's one more thing I'd like to mention: the comment section. I don't just want to be the guy who rambles on and doesn't generate any conversation or make you think. I check this thing pretty regularly, so feel free to comment on anything that gets you going. I'll always be replying and it makes things more fun as well. I'm trying to get my name out there a little as I near the end of my college career so I'll try and bring in some more traffic to get things going. Bottom line is that interaction is fun and I'll do my best to make it happen here in the future.

Happy summer!

2 comments:

  1. There's actually some major NHL relocation talk right now. Phoenix was in talks to move to Winnipeg then the city put up some money it doesn't have to keep them. When that happened, Winnipeg shifted focus to Atlanta. The current ownership owns the Hawks, Thrashers and the Arena they play in and have run the all 3 teams into the ground. Thrashers may be moved by the end of this week.
    I'd love an NHL team in Milwaukee too but it just doesn't seem to be financially viable. Winnipeg pretty much guarantees a sell out because it's their national sport.
    Also, the Bradley Center is a pile of crap.

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  2. Yeah, doesn't seem very likely. I have heard about Winnipeg really pushing for a team and it would be cool to see them get one because of how much they would be supported. Kind of like OKC right now. That would too bad if you guys lost the Thrashers though.

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