Tebowmania

In the midst of the Packers so far dominating season, another major story has popped up. Unless you've been under a rock or had ESPN removed from tv service, you know what Tim Tebow has or hasn't done with the Broncos this season. The Broncos are leading their division and i would be a moron to say that Tebow has nothing to do with it. i just believe he is getting more credit than he deserves for the Broncos winning ways lately.

Don't get me wrong, its great to see a guy like Tebow win, it shows that sometimes the good guys do win. Tebow is an excellent role model, hard working, and keeps himself clean of a negative image by staying clean from scandals. It is also great to see someone of great faith able to be put in a position to influence people and he has a great opportunity to share his faith.

I just don't think he deserves all the credit for winning the games on the field. If you look at his stats for the first 3 quarters of a game, they are atrocious, his completion percentage is awful, and his main job is to hand off the ball to his running back, which he did so 51 times in a game earlier this season. His numbers in the fourth quarter are pretty good i'll say. But without the help of his defense, which has been spectacular, and special teams, these games could be well over before Timmy has a chance to shine it was is now being called 'Tebowtime.'

Don't get me wrong, Tebow is a great guy, who looks to be a great leader as well, he did after all help lead Florida to at least one national title, whether or not the guys on his team are inspired by him i don't know, i just think most of the credit for Tebow's wins this season belong more to the defense and the coaching. (One thing from Tebowmania i have got caught up in is 'Tebowing' as shown in the picture. haha)
GO PACK GO!!!

Raise the Banner!

Although i wouldn't consider myself a big fan of the NBA. i will say that i am rather excited for the 2011-2012 NBA season to begin one week from today on Christmas day. I am excited for the start of the season because the first game of the year will feature a rematch of last year's NBA finals between my favorite team the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat in which the heat will have to watch the Mavericks raise the championship banner won this past June. For my blog this week i would like to give a brief season preview for the upcoming NBA season for the Mavs.

The Mavericks have a few key departures that may cause some issues in title defense this season. The first big hole the mavs have to fill is at the center position where last year's starter and defensive stopper Tyson Chandler has left the team to play in New York for the Knicks. Chandler's departure leaves the Mavs looking for a defensive presence in the middle where they hope last year's backup, Brenden Haywood, who was signed to a good deal before last year can step up and fill the void. Another key departure for the Mavs was explosive guard off the bench, JJ Barea. Barea's departure means the loss of a solid contributor on the offensive end where he is a good passer and can penetrate into the paint for easy baskets. The Mavs are better prepared for this loss as they have depth at the guard position, depth that will more than likely be tested this season.

Where the Mavs lost some key talent they also went out and were active in making some deals to bring in players that will be helpful in the quest for title defense. Lamar Odom was picked up to add some explosiveness to the small forward position where Sean Marion is aging and not quite the factor as early in his career. Another key addition to the champs is shooting guard Vince Carter, although not what he once was, Carter will be an able addition to the team and add depth to the guard position.

With most of last year's championship group intact the Mavs looked poised for another successful regular season led by Dirk Nowitzki and Jason JET Terry, hopefully the group can make another deep playoff run and challenge for another championship. With all the key pieces intact things look like they will be good in Dallas once again.
LETS GO MAVS!!!

Another Case of the media Blowing things out of proportion?

Unless you've been living under a rock the last 24 hours I'm sure you've heard the news that left many Brewers fans begging for answers and utterly devastated. Is it true? Did Ryan Braun the newly crowned NL MVP use performance enhancing substances? As we all await the results of Braun's appeal to the test the answers simply aren't coming fast enough for those of us around Brew City.

Since the news came out on ESPN yesterday many rumors have also arisen regarding what substance Braun tested positive for and what the repercussions of this test are. If found guilty Braun will have to serve a suspension for the first 50 games of next season. In which it is hard to say if the Brewers could recover from losing the superstar amidst a free agency season in which it appears the Brewers other superstar Prince Fielder is destined to shine in another city.

Among stories i've heard regarding the fiasco are that MLB tries to keep stories like this out of the knowledge of the public and media until known for sure the results of the test, it is said Braun and MLB knew about the positive test as early as late October and Braun immediately appealed the test and suspension and had another drug test taken for which he tested as clean from PED's. MLB procedure in this case is to keep things quiet until Braun is found guilty or innocent and that has not happened yet and the story was leaked. As of yet we have heard from a representative for Ryan, but heard nothing official from MLB regarding the subject, leaving everyone in the baseball world waiting the results.

When i first heard the story my immediate thought was that it was not a steroid type substance to build strength but rather probably something to help the body in rehab from injuries as Braun played through a few ailments this year. At this point i can only hope that the accusations against Braun are false and he is cleared from the ominous 50 game suspension and he can be back to help the Brewers defend the NL Central crown and take it one step farther and get to the World Series.

Just what professional bowling needed...?

Red Sox vs Yankees, Packers vs Bears, and Badgers vs Minnesota, all well known rivals in their respective sports leagues, well it may soon be time to add Sean Rash (pictured above) vs Jason Belmonte of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) to that list of heated rivals.

Not known as a sport where intensity shines such as in football. Under the pressure of the bright ESPN tv lights, total focus is a must and even the slightest distraction can throw a player off and cause them to make a bad shot which cost them the title, a load of cash, and maybe even player of the year. Enter Belmonte and Rash in the 2011 Geico Team Shootout, the following video link is what started the entire rivalry between these two, two of the best bowlers on the planet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p4-ypFE72c What Rash is complaining about in this video is that he says Belmonte made crinkling noises with his water bottle during his approach and release, althought Rash threw a good shot and struck, this was not the first time that Belmonte had been called out by a competitor for such aquatic actions. In a tournament a year earlier PBA pro Brad Angelo also called out Belmonte for his bottle crunchin antics, although he did not go to the extent Rash did, it was again brought up after this incident.

To further escalate the budding rivalry, the two were clearly the two most dominant players at the 2011 World Series of bowling qualifying for a majority of the TV shows to be tape delayed on ESPN. Because of their success on the lanes at the WSOB, they were often paired together during match play where they were made to behave. Common courtesy in bowling tournements is that the player who finishes the game first marks both players' scores on the scorecard if no PBA scorer has been assigned. During match play of a WSOB event, Belmonte was finishing first of the two of them on their pair but refused to mark Rash's scores. This breaking of an unwritten rule frustrated Rash who alerted a PBA official and the matter was taken care of.

It should be interesting over the WSOB telecasts to see how the two interact with each other as they have at least 4 tv matchups. In a sport that doesn't get much national attention in telecasts or show much interest in the professional sports world, this rivalry may be able to put professional bowling on the map, something I as an avid fan and bowling would like to see, it is also big for those already involved in watching the PBA because these two routinely make the cuts at tournements and will have matches and pairings in the future and it will be interesting to see how both players move on and feel toward each other on the lanes.

Game of the Century: Part 2?

As we are now right in the middle of the holiday season, another crazy season simultaneously  descends upon us: college bowl season and the mess that is the BCS this time of year. Every year we seem to have the same debate when it comes to who should play for the title, who got snubbed from a BCS bowl, who is in that shouldn't be, and what to do with the BCS-busting schools. And yet year after year nothing changes in the system leaving us with the same mess year in and year out, and leaving many fans and players unhappy with the results of the somewhat flawed system.

This season the BCS is a total mess, and many teams feel they have a legitimate argument as to why they should be playing in the BCS Championship Game on January 9. There are a total of 5 one loss teams and two undefeated teams in the top 7 of the BCS standings. All of these teams believe they should be in position to play in the title game but only two can actually play in the game. The one argument that gets many of these teams in a frustrated, almost angry position is that the top two teams; LSU and Alabama, are both in the same division of the same Conference; the SEC. But where the real problem comes in is that Alabama will not be the SEC champion no matter what because of a loss to LSU in the "Game of the Century" earlier this month. Despite this loss, Alabama has a rather commanding cushion over the #3 team in the nation; Oklahoma State, in the BCS standings making it nearly impossible for Oklahoma State to pass an idle Alabama team, setting 'Bama up for an easy route to the title game, meanwhile LSU has a SEC championship game to play in which a star player may be hurt, so in a sense 'Bama is rewarded for losing to LSU by getting a bye week and still being able to play in a National Championship game.

Another situation that's not getting national attention, but caught my eye comes from the Pac-12. Oregon beat Stanford by a hefty margin this month, but yet the Andrew Luck lead Stanford Cardinal rank #4 in the country while Oregon is stuck at #9, yes I know Oregon has 2 losses while Stanford only has 1, but if you look at those losses, one of them is to #1 LSU, in a game in which was reasonably close (13 pts) and a close, tough loss to a tough USC team, I don't get how Stanford is ranked ahead of them with the soft schedule they played in non-conference games, and Oregon is in the Pac-12 title game while Stanford sits at home, like Alabama, just waiting to be invited to a BCS bowl without winning their conference.

I think that the best solution to this whole mess would be to set up a playoff system, a tournament, similar to the basketball one, in which you still have the BCS standings but the standings only seed the teams in the bracket, take the top 16 teams in the standings at the end of the year and playoff to determine the National Champion, this way these teams have a chance to prove they belong in the title game. In this system you could also eliminate the month off teams have between the regular season and the bowl games, you could still have bowl games for those not in the top 16; but i think this would be a more fair solution to determine the national champ.

That said, in the current system i believe the BCS actually has it right, i believe 'Bama and LSU are the 2 best teams in the country and should be playing in the title game, i think that's how it would work out in the playoff format, and would agree with the BCS if they had a rematch for the national title, i just see how the other teams have a legitimate argument as to why they should be in instead of Alabama.

It's a Family Thing

I wasn't really sure what to write about this week so i thought i'd write about something that is a little unique and something that i think is really cool with my family. As you all already know i am huge into bowling, what many people, even many of my close friends don't even know that i am a 4th generation bowler, it may even go back farther than that but that is as far back as i know.

I know my great grandpa Roerdink was a bowler because my grandpa has a picture of him with his team from the American Bowling Congress National Tournament from sometime in the 1950's, i was also just told this week by a member of my church that he (my great grandpa) was a pretty good bowler back in the day, unfortunately i have no memory of him.

My grandpa has been involved in bowling for a long time in his life. It started out when he got a job as a pin boy for the 4 lanes that were at the former Knotty Pine in Oostburg. His job was to set pins, clear 'deadwood' off the pindeck, and get the ball rolling back to the bowler. He has told me stories about how he knew who was bowling and who to take cover for as some bowlers threw the ball much harder and sent pins flying places, making it necessary to dive for cover to avoid being hit by flying pins.

My dad has been the biggest influence on me getting into bowling, he's been one of my coaches for as long as i can remember, even when he didn't realize i was doing things backwards at the start because i am a lefty and everything looked right from his perspective as a righty. I owe much of my success on the lanes to what my dad has taught me and supported through as i bowled tournaments and leagues and high school meets.

One of my grandpa's brothers (my great uncle) is also a bowler, as is my dad's brother (my uncle) altogether on our monday night team there are 5 Roerdinks on the roster. We have already had 3 generations bowling on the team on the same night which i think is really cool. How many other sports are there where you can have 3 generations of family competing at a high level in a sport they share a mutual love for?

I love bowling for many reasons but this is one thing that makes bowling really special for me that i take for granted way to often.
Thanks Dad and Grandpa for getting me involved in a game i now love!

A Little Early....?

I am not a person who dislikes Christmas, like some people out there. But i thought it was a little ridiculous last week wednesday when i was driving and a Christmas song came on my radio. Just past halloween, barely into November, and hardly thinking about the next holiday, Thanksgiving, and there it was, Christmas music on my radio. And then this evening, sitting at home paging through the channels trying to find something interesting to watch, since the NFL games on at the time were not close or had no significance to the Packers, and again more Christmas stuff. Dr Suess' how the Grinch Stole Christmas on one channel, Elf on another. And i again thought to myself, Christmas movies on TV already?

So i guess what i'm asking is, how early is to early? I think it is still tooo early to be airing Christmas themed shows and songs on the TV and radio, I think the proper time to start airing Christmas stuff is after Thanksgiving, whether it be the day after or December. By playing the Christmas songs and shows before Thanksgiving it almost feels like Thanksgiving is being skipped over. I also think that Christmas stuff on already brings the somewhat dreary feeling of winter that everyone is trying to put off as long as possible.

So i kinda wanna know what other people think, is it too early to play Christmas music and be playing Christmas movies on TV? And when is the appropriate time to start hearing and seeing Christmas shows and songs? Or am i kind of alone on this one and really more of a grinch than i think i am.

The Warhawk Invite

I spent my weekend in Madison watching a couple of my friends college bowling meet. I had friends bowling on the teams from Nebraska, Robert Morris University, and UW-Whitewater, I found myself also watching many of the other teams there, there were 38 total at this tournament, the Warhawk Invite. As i watched the bowling go on with my friends dad and my high school bowling coach as we focused on Nebraska (his son is bowling on the team and we're really close as we've been teammates since we started bowling) and my dad who was our assistant coach, i found myself thinking i could probably make it at this level.

I had considered going to a college with a bowling program all along, but in the end i thought it was a smarter decision to attend UW-Sheboygan to save a little money, keep my job, and i'd still be able to bowl competitively anyways. As i watched, i saw many things that made me think i could make it at this level. For one, many of the kids bowling looked as if they had no idea where their ball was going once it left their hand, and they seemed to have no idea what kind of adjustments to make as the lanes dried up and started hooking more, i also saw many makable spares missed and thought the spare shooting was not as good as it could be. I also saw that the lanes did not play as difficult as i had thought they would, i saw other bowlers there who were left handed and threw a similar shot to what i do, and be fairly successful. i have also been told by my friend that i could probably have made their team had i chosen to go to Nebraska.

I kinda feel like i'm talking up on myself and getting away from the tournament, which was fun to watch, it was also fun to get to see some friends i havn't seen in a while and will probably only get to see when they come home for break. The Nebraska team with my close friend struggled a little bit, but my other friend's team Robert Morris is currently ranked 2nd in the nation for men's bowling and won the tournament easily, they along with another 10ish teams were very good in my opinion.

All in all it was a good weekend and i had a lot of fun watching all the bowling and seeing my friends again, but it also made me think again about what i want to do after my time at UW-Sheboygan is over, i may consider going to a college where i can participate on their bowling team.

Brewers offseason outlook, NBA lockout developments, and the PBA

I've been trying to come up with topics not about sports, and come to the conclusion that this mostly is in vain. Sports are what i know and pay attention to, and i can become rather opinionated about certain situations and consider myself to be pretty passionate about my teams.

With the World Series over and the hated Redbirds winning the title, the big question in Brewer nation now is, what do we do in the offseason to get even better to go all the way next year? Many Brewer fans i talk to seem to think that the Brewers NEED Prince Fielder to have any chance to compete for a NL pennet. I tend to think the other way though, i think that the Brewers starting pitching is now good enough to keep the Brewers in games and in contention, i just think they need some help at a few positions to solidify the team and push the Brewers to the next step. Although i just stated that the Brewers starting pitching is good enough, i think the big needs lie in extending the contracts of Greinke and Marcum; yes the same Marcum who was atrocious in the playoffs. also i think the Brewers will make a push for Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson, the acquisition of Wilson would push the Brewers over the top. i think 3rd base is a big question as well, do we stay with McGehee, Taylor Green, or do we make a push for David Wright or possibly Kevin Youkilis. and then 1st base, does Fielder stay, do we put Matt Gamel there or go into free agency for a 1st baseman.

This next part i guess would be my "Jim Rome is Burning" opinion. Earlier this week reports were heard that the NBA would probably have to cancel another 2 weeks of games. Then the very next day it all sounded as if a deal was close at hand, just to take that back two days later and cancel two more weeks of the season and say that talks had broken down. i wanna know how you can be in a room discussion the proposed deal for 15 hours and not get any closer but in fact take a step or two backwards and put yourself farther away from reaching an agreement than when you started the day? I just don't get it.

Being a bowler myself and a person who enjoys watching the PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) i am kind of finding it a little depressing with the fact that the PBA season hasn't even started yet, when no more than 5 years ago they would have 3 tournaments in by this point, the first of which was in Milwaukee for a 4 year period. I also am not a huge fan of the way the PBA has structured its "World Series of Bowling" where 6 tournaments are held within a two week period and the TV broadcasts of the finals of these tournaments tape delayed. i always enjoyed going to the PBA website to watch the live scoring updates of qualifying and match play when the tournaments were bowled on a week to week basis and all of the TV broadcasts were live.

I would look for the Brewers to make a splash in the free agency market upcoming, the NBA to not have games till after the new year (anything before that would be a bonus), and for those of you with nothing to watch on sundays when the packers play the late game, starting Dec. 4 flip to ESPN at the noon hour and watch a PBA tournament, you may not find as interesting as i do, but its still gotta be more interesting than watching golf or tennis.

The Jet is on the Runway..............?

With the Brewers out of the playoffs and my interest level in the World Series waaaay down for the fact that the Cardinals are in it and not the Brewers...actually i wouldn't mind if it was anyone except the Cardinals, but i know find myself on weeknights i'm home looking for something to watch. It is about this time of year i start watching my favorited NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks, just out of boredom because the NBA regular season isn't really all that interesting, but the NBA is currently in a lockout and the stand off between the players association and the owners doesn't look to have a light in the end of the tunnel yet.

But let's think for a second...who is really hurt by this lockout? No, not the players, i'm sure LeBron is still doing just fine with his shoe endoresements, and many of the players have signed contracts to play overseas during the lockout. The owners? Ya...not so much, they're all rich businessmen who can suffer to take a little bit of a hit from the postponement of the season at this point. i think the people that are really hurting from the lockout are the teams employees. The people who work the ticket offices and the various venders of refreshments and memorabilia. While LeBron is off endorsing his shoes for Nike and chilling at some vacation home many of these people have no work to do right now, forcing them to search for another job until this whole dispute is over and players are back on the court and tickets can be sold.

Unlike the NFL lockout in which there was a legitimate shot at working out a deal before the season, the NBA has already cancelled the first two weeks of the season and are not making any progress toward a new deal. All along everyone new this lockout would be worse than that of the NFL, nobody really expected to have any real games before the new year, but now it is beginning to look like there may not be a season at all. It's not like i live and die with the Mavericks like i do with the Brewers or Packers, but it's gonna be a bummer not being able to watch a team as fun like the Mavericks do what they do.

In a typical post about the NBA, I'd end it with a sign off of LET'S GO MAVS!! but as there is no NBA and the Packers rolled again to go 7-0, I'll have to end it with...
GO PACK GO!!!!!

UGH......

With lots of stuff going on in the sporting world today, i still cannot get away from what is really bugging as i write this right now...the Brewers game. I could write about the Packers dominating to move to 6-0, or the tragic death of Indy Car driver Dan Wheldon in a race today in Las Vegas (R.I.P. Mr Wheldon), or even the Badgers standings in the first BCS standings of the season. The Brewers play so far tonight even has this die-hard fan feeling the life of another season slip away wondering...why?

My first question is what exactly happened to our starting pitching that had been soo consistent the entire regular season? In the playoffs the Brewers have really only had 3 good starts by the starting pitchers, Games 1 and 5 in the NLDS by Yovani Gallardo and one by Randy Wolf in game 4 of the NLCS. Other than that the starting pitching has been average in some games (mainly Greinke's starts) and downright awful in the other games (Marcum's starts.) and when you really look into it it hasn't only been the starters, the middle relievers from the bullpen has also had its struggles.

The other thing leaving me scratching my head about this team is the defense. Yes, i know we are not an exceptionally well fielding team, and i never said we were, but there have been a few games this postseason where plays that HAVE to be made simply havn't leading to extra outs for the opposition and regularly leading to runs putting us in a hole.

One bright spot in the postseason has been the play of Jerry Hairston Jr. i really wasn't a fan of his before the postseason, but he has showed that he is a solid player, who might give McGehee a run for his job next spring training. It's been a great season with the first division championship since '82 but right now it looks like we'll be just a little bit short. Not sayin its over yet, im still glued to the tv hoping for a comeback but looks like we'll hafta get 'em next year!
GO BREWERS!

Tony Plush or Tony Hush?

As i sat in the pits at Lakeshore Lanes Friday night listening to the Brewers most important game since 1982, i could feel the nerves that come from being up in a series 2-0 just to be unable to finish the job and let the series go to 2-2. And then the feeling got worse in the top of the 9th with a blown save by "the Axe-Man", fortunately the Brewers were able to keep the game tied until the bottom of the tenth, when fan favorite and outspoken Nyjer Morgan came up to the plate and delivered the game winning single, once again earning one of his many nicknames "Tony Clutch."

And then came his post-game antics, some interesting interviews on live tv, and a tweet calling out the next round opponent, and division rival Cardinals. Now we all know that Nyjer is a player that plays the game with a lot of intensity and personal flare, which he credits to his alter ego, Tony Plush, sometimes though T-Plush takes over and things get out of hand. Take for instance a game against the earlier mentioned Cardinals in which Morgan struck out, then proceded to curse out Cards' pitcher Chris Carpenter and first baseman Albert Pujols' and throwing a big wad of chew at Carpenter; but it didn't end there, Morgan then tweeted about the Cardinals being a team that whines about calls, lighting, etc. and called Pujols, Alberta Pujols. The big question is do we need Morgan drawing this unwanted attention to himself and possibly even building a reputation for the team?

It may be time for Brewers' Manager Ron Roenicke to tighten the leash a bit on Morgan putting him into another self dubbed alto ego "Tony Hush" explained by Nyjer as "Tony Plush when told to be quiet." With the Cardinals' being a team that already sometimes takes offense to opposing teams antics, ex. Brewers untucking of jersey's after wins in 2008, and "lighting" issues at Miller Park earlier this season, it may be smart for Nyjer to shut his trap and let his bat do the talking so no more fuel is added to the fire of this already heated rivalry.

GO BREWERS!!!!

Transformers & T-Plush

Wasn't really sure what to write about for this week's blog, so i figured i'd write about the highlights of my weekend, the release of Transformers Dark of the Moon on DVD and the Brewers playoff series and particularly Nyjer Morgan.

First of all, the release of TF3, i was already a big fan on the Transformers movies before i went to see the new movie in theaters, in my opinion it is the best movie i have ever seen. That said, i knew i had to go get the day it came out on DVD, so that's what i did friday. i'm gonna try and not give away any of the story line for those of you who have yet to see it. but i like it because i feel it has more of a human storyline instead of just autobots vs decepticons, along with great action sequences and even some funny characters with some good one-liners, (Jerry Wang before being killed in his office).

And now the other highlight of my weekend, i was going to try and now write about the Brewers, but being the big Brewers fan i am, i simply cannot do that now that we are up 2-0 in the series heading to arizona. In this blog i mainly want to focus on one of the Brewers big role players, and a new fan favorite this season, Nyjer Morgan a.k.a. Tony Plush. Nyjer Morgan is one of those players that you hate when he's not on your team but your favorite when he is. I was excited when we picked him up in a trade because the guy is a tough out and all he's done since coming to Milwaukee is hit in big situations. He also brings energy and personality to an already fun loving group who he's really helped stay loose all through the pennet chase and into the playoffs. He also is a solid center fielder and can run down just about any fly ball. His one weakness is sometimes he gets too wrapped up in the moment, as seen after striking out against the cardinals this season, and in a bench clearing brawl he started last season as a member of the Nationals.

Bottom line, Nyjer Morgan is a player who gives his all for the team and is really enjoying being on a winning team for the first time in the career (previous time spent with Pirates and Nationals) and also being a fan favorite. Oh by the way did i mention the Badgers totally rocked the Huskers saturday night and are now ranked fourth in the nation?

GO BREWERS!!!!!!!

It's a good time to be a fan of Wisconsin Sports

Hi all, as you can or will be able to tell i am a huge sportsAft fan. this week i just want to point out how lucky we are to be fans of the major wisconsin sports team, the packers, brewers, and badgers, all are off to great starts and look to be on track for some great seasons,

Let's lead things off with the Brewers. After clinching the first division title for the franchise since 1982, the Brewers are still playing meaningful regular season games, and winning i might add. the brewers are currently in the middle of a race for the 2nd best record in the NL which would give them home field in the first round of the playoffs which would be great for the team who has the best home record in baseball. the brewers also are only 2 wins from setting a team record for wins in a season. the starting pitching has been great as has the bullpen and the brewers have an explosive offense, and are poised for a deep postseason run.

After today's win over the rival bears, the Super Bowl champion Packers are off to a 3-0 start and look to show no signs of a super bowl hangover. the packers again look to have an offensive powerhouse and a defense that pressures qb's and intercepts balls at will. although early in the season the packers look to be in form to make another deep run in the playoffs.

and then we have the Badgers, after a Big 10 title and disappointing rose bowl loss, the badgers this season appear to be better than last year. Russell Wilson looks to be a heisman contender, and the dual running back threat of Montee Ball and James White look to be unstoppable as well, put that amazing offense along with a defense that is extremely tough to score on and you will have a pretty good team. the badgers have a big matchup this week with Big 10 newcomer Nebraska in a showdown of top 10 teams. this matchup will show us truly how good the badgers are.

Wisconsin sports teams all appear to be in very good positions now and more success may be yet to come.
GO BREWERS!!!!

Why Ryan Braun should be NL MVP

Watching the Brewers this season has been incredible as a big time Brewers fans thanks to some great pitching for the team and also some of the big sluggers, specifically Braun and Fielder, both having MVP caliber seasons. In this post I want to focus in on why Ryan Braun should be the NL MVP for the 2011 season.

The first reason I believe Ryan Braun should be the National League MVP is because of his ability to combine speed on the basepaths along with big time power numbers at the plate. Braun is one of two players to have a 30/30 season in 2011, that being 30 or more stolen bases and 30 or more home runs. Braun currently has 31 home runs to go along with his 31 stolen bases.

Another reason Ryan Braun should be the MVP goes along with the first reason, this is the fact the he is the ultimate hitter, he can do it all, hit for average; Braun leads the National League in batting average at .336, hit for power; 31 home runs and a league leading slugging percentage of .597, Braun is also in the top five in the National League in runs batted in with 103, and tops in the NL in runs scored with 103.

One thing going against Braun's MVP chances are the fact that some people don't even consider him the MVP of his own team where Prince Fielder is also putting up great numbers, people will also argue that Braun would not be able to put up these kind of numbers without Fielder hitting behind him in the lineup forcing teams to have to pitch to Braun in order to try avoid facing Fielder.

All in all I believe that Braun is the driving force behind this great Brewers team we all have the great opportunity to watch and is deserving of the MVP award this season.

GO BREWERS!!!