Halloween

It's that time of the year again when I think... Show me the Candy! It's the second of two times a year a kid can indulge on chocolate with no guilt from parents, with the other being Easter. As an adult, you can eat candy/chocolate whenever when you want, but it still feels special at Halloween. Every so often I see or hear of a parent that punish their children with their unreasonable personal beliefs of Halloween by masking them from the good things that come with this day. All I want to do is give them some candy or chocolate if I was not afraid the parents would not go off on me because they think I'm corrupting their kids more then they have already. Speaking of eating chocolate, I think I will go now and consume some chocolate :)

Happy Halloween!

Dr. Pepper

As I sit here drinking my Dr. Pepper, I think... "Do I have a Forrest Gump Complex?". I have one with Lunch and Supper just about every day. Maybe if I start saying "Life is like a box of chocolates..." my first statement might hold true, but anyway... I take another sip.

Favorite Muppet Show Character

I was thinking today on the drive to work, what is my favorite Muppet Show character?

The Swedish Chef. I don't really why, I guess it is because he throws whatever is in his hands, his segments then end with disaster or chasing something like a chicken.

Bork, Bork, Bork!

Time to Fire Bret Bielema

This weeks loss to Michigan State sums up what I have been thinking for a long time. We can not progress with Bret Bielema as the Head Coach of the Wisconsin Badgers. He is incapable is making decisions for the team to win in close games and allows to be out coached or out coaches himself.

Many people say on other blogs or comments "But Bielema has a winning record and has taken the Badgers to two Rose Bowls, that's all you should need to see Bielema is our coach". I have come to the conclusion that he has won up to this point for two reasons. 1) He won with players from the Barry Alvarez era. 2) They still won despite his poor choices. Examples of the second reason would be:

• Cal Poly (Missed Cal Poly Extra Point)
• Arizona State (Blocked Extra Point)
• Northern Iowa (Ran out of time)
• Utah State (Missing Chip Shot FG)
• 2010 at Iowa (Iowa player stays inbounds not giving FG kicker a chance to win)
• 2007 at UNLV (Donovan with a great QB run at the end of game to win) 
• Big 10 Championship Game vs Michigan State (Roughing the Kicker penalty wipes out long return)

There are many other games that we have lost that should have been wins due to poor choices. The Michigan State game (or should I says all the previous Michigan State games) are proof Bielema is taking the Football program to a place we have not seen since before Alverez, in the before time, in the long long ago, when we were consistently at the bottom of the Big Ten. This drop to the bottom is not going to be a quick one.

With Bielema, we will slowly drop down the standings over a span of 5-7 years until we are at the same level with the likes of Indiana. Then we will replace Bielema, but the damage will have been done and will take another 20-30 years to reappear as a relevant team especially with the likes of Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State paying signing, in the Big Ten, the bigger names in the country.

My logic behind this impending doom is the slow degradation of incoming talent that will (or in this case will not) play for Bielema. For example, lets look at the QB position starting with when Bielema first took over:

1. John Stocco - Very good QB, was able to run the offence and was a left over from the Alvarez era
2. Tyler Donovan - Also a good QB, backup to Stocco, but was able to run the offense and could run a little faster. Also left over from the Alvarez recruiting class.
3. Dustin Sherer/Allan Evridge - This is where the wheels starting falling off the bus. Both QB's not especially accurate with a slight edge to Evridge to run the offence, but when you have PJ Hill running the ball the way he did, who needs a good pass game?
4. Scott Tolzin - A slightly better passer than Dustin or Allen but not to the level of Stocco or Donovan. He did what he needed to do since the running game was once again dominate.
5. Russell Wilson - A lucky Free Agent pickup, very good passer and runner, but should not really count since Bielema did not recruit him from High School. He just got lucky he could not hit a baseball and NC State did not want him back.
6. Joe Brennan - In limited action, Brennan on every play looked like someone who just witnessed a large car crash and was still in shock. By just watching, you knew he was not going to improve. I don't know what Bielema saw on the recruiting tape, he must have been watching it with his eyes closed.
7. Danny O'Brien - Another Free Agent signing. For everything that was right about Wilson was wrong about O'Brien. Frankly I don't know what Bielema was thinking with this signing. This guy last year was 2-10 at Maryland with 7 TD's and 10 INT's. This guy appears to think the right decision then, 5 seconds later, decides to execute the decision , but by then it is too late. Once again Bielema must have watched the tapes with his eyes closed
8. Joel Stave - I'm giving this one an incomplete due to the limited playing time and the play sabotage by Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada. There is hope, but I want to see how he plays next year.

With the exception of #5 on the list if you look at the list from the top to the bottom, the talent level generally got worse and worse, a sign to Bielema is taking the program in the wrong direction. This lack of recruiting is seen heavily at WR, TE and somewhat at DE, CB, K, P. No division one program should struggle at Kicker or Punter.

To avoid this program being sunk to the bottom, the only right thing to do is to find a new coach to replace Bielema before it is too late.

Giants World Series Champions

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants on their World Series victory. It was all worth the $117 million they spent on payroll. I guess you can not win on the back of only two players (Fielder and Cabrera)

About Football (A.K.A Soocer)

In my first post of this blog I want to talk about a sport that is emerging here in American as the fifth sport behind the established Baseball, Basketball, American Football & Hockey. That sport is.... Soccer or in the rest of the world .... Football.

Today, I got up early to watch the Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton on ESPN with Ian Darke and Steve McManaman with the call. In my opinion, Ian Darke is the best Soccer announcer around that calls games for America. His ability to relate to the experienced fan and novice fan without talking down to them makes him the best in the business.

Overall this was a great 2-2 draw and a great comeback from Everton in the first half with exciting disallowed Liverpool goal at the end of the game. With that disallowed goal (which was an incorrect call), I've thought this would be a good time to put in words some ideas to  "modernized" the game of soccer and take the game from the 20th century to the 21st century.

A great step to modernize the game was taken place in the 20th century with the implementation of the Taylor Report and the formation of the Premier League in 1992, but watching Soccer now for the last 10 years, I've got a few additional ideas to ensure that the game is played and refereed correctly.

1. The use of a instant replay system. Now this could be completed in two phases:
1. The implementation of goal line technology to determine if the ball has completely crossed the goal line. This has been talked about lately with the possible use of GoalRef and Hawk-Eye. In my opinion, this should be implemented in time for the World Cup in Rio to avoid any more unnecessary and conversational calls. In this modern age of computer technology, I still don't understand why this has not been implemented. That would be like saying "We have computers, but our Bank is going to continue to track our customers with pencil and paper"
2. The implementation of an expanded replay system for other on the pitch calls. After the technology in sub point one is put into place for a couple of years, there should be a expansion to other areas of Soccer. Give the ability for each manager to challenge lets say two calls per game within a set amount of time (15 seconds of incident?) by informing the fourth official. This could be used for throw in's, corner kicks, goal kicks, foul in/out of the box, ect. I've too many games adversely affected due to an incorrect call that could be easily and quickly correctly.
2. The stopping of the clock during throw ins, after goals, injuries, ect. Since the start of soccer there has been a continuous running clock which, in my opinion, is an outdated function of the game. Back in the early days of soccer, it was a necessary function, due to the clock management technology of the day, but now a days time can be stop, started, added, subtracted with ease. This would resolve the issue with how much injury time to add to the game since the clock will not be running during these stops in the game. This would also relive the issue of players falling down with fake injuries late in big games since the clock will not be running during these blatant attempts to run out the game.
3. Give the referees PA mics. There are usually a few calls a game that leave me wondering "What was that call?". This would be a good time to give the referee a mic to announce to the crowd the call similarly to American  Football. This would take the mystery out of the close calls and could avoid some adverse reactions from the crowd in the long term if they understand the officials reason/call
4. Two referees on field. In American football, there is seven officials for 22 on field players. In basketball, there is 3 officials for 10 on court players. In baseball, there is 4 umpires for 10-13 on field players. In hockey, there is two referees for 12 on ice players. In soccer, there is one referee for 22 players.... one referee and with a playing surface as large as soccer, that is too difficult in today world to see and correctly call the plays on the pitch. It is time to add another referee to the pitch to get a different angle of the close plays. There can still be a "5th Official" which is today's 4th offical. American football, basketball, baseball and hockey have all expanded their number of officials over the years since the inception of their professional leagues, now it's time for top flight soccer leagues to do the same. They owe it to the players, coaches and most importantly, the fans.
5. Awarding more Yellow Cards for barking at Ref's. One thing I have noticed since watching soccer is the amount of complaining to the referees for calls/no calls. Not only does this look bad, it holds up the game. It is time to start issuing more cards for questioning the calls on the field by the use of loud verbal language or gestures. In American Football, if you bark, you will be out of place for the next play due to the play clock but officials do eject players for touching officials. In basketball, you get a technical foul. In hockey, you get a 2 minutes unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. In baseball, you get tossed out of the game from the over-zealous umpire, but that is a subject for a another blog post.

 I would think that with any of these changes, the game would move towards the 21st century and make the game more enjoyable for the players, coaches, officials, and fans.