Selig causes another bench clearing brawl

Once upon a time there was a disagreement during a baseball game that led to a bench clearing brawl, how do you correct that from ever happening again? If you are Bud Selig, you don't, and you don't even acknowledge that there is a even a problem. That is what happened Sunday during the Brewers-Pirates contest. If you have not seen the play you can see it here.


This incident is the one of many unnecessary multi-player incidents that seem to occur weekly MLB baseball in this so called "Modern Era" of baseball. It should be of no surprise to anybody that the commissioner does absoultly nothing to address the issue nor acknowledges that there is a problem while his counterpart league have resolved their issues years or decades ago. Bud Selig sits around while the kids run the household, but this no surpise to me since he has proven before that he is weak on punishment.  

I have written about this before, but it amazes me that nothing is done about a simple rule change. Suspend the players that join in from the outside and suspend anybody that comes out of the dogout/bullpen.

In this case, Gomez will get what he deserved unlike last year, he escalated a shouting match with the pitcher. This appear to be the one thing that Gomez needs to work on or he will self-destruct as everybody will try to get into his head all the time and provoke fights with him, especailly since it appears that Selig will do nothing to curtail these indicients from occuring.

The use of instant replay should used in these situations (if commistioner do nothing does nothing) to assist in ensuring who should be ejected. I would normally expect this to be an easy thing to change, but given that it took 10 years longer than it should have just to get replay, I'm not expecting any changes anything soon.

In the end, it should be of no surpise that if at the end of the season attendence is down, what is the cause of it. The lack of changes or the delay to put in much needed changes will be the downfall of MLB if drastic action to bring back the youth to the game are not implemented. There are other sports that will be more than happy to fill its spot, this incident is just one of many problems with baseball.

MLB Predictions

It is that time of the season again when people are just ready for baseball which means I will make some pre-season predictions.

• AL East
1. Yankees
2. Rays
3. Red Sox
4. Orioles
5. Blue Jays
• AL Central
1. Royals
2. Indians
3. Tigers
4. White Sox
5. Twins
• AL West
1. Angles
2. Rangers
3. Mariners
4. Athletics
5. Astros
• Wild Card
• Rays and Red Sox

• NL East
1. Braves
2. Phillies
3. Nationals
4. Mets
5. Marlins
• NL Central
1. Pirates
2. Brewers
3. Cardinals
4. Reds
5. Cubs 
• NL West
1. Giants
2. Dodgers
3. Diamondbacks
4. Padres
5. Rockies
• Wild Card
• Dodgers and Phillies

Thoughts for the week

It has been a while since I have published a meaningful post so here is goes. This week I would just like to do a couple of quick hitters thoughts.

• A big win for the Badgers on Sunday over Michigan State. A couple of things I noticed with the victory.
• Traevon Jackson did come up with the big shot, but did do plenty along the way to shoot the team in the foot. When Traevon does not think about the shot is when he comes through.
• Sam Decker comes out with another below average game. He was only 3-8 from the field with all 3 pointers along with 2 free throws. Decker, who claims that he was going to be more aggressive inside took only 3 shots inside. It appears that Decker let the NBA 1st round pick status go to his head.
• Bo Ryan has shown that he is unable to learn from his past mistake and truly understand how good coaches play certain situations. The other night Bo did not understand that in a last shot situation with under ten seconds. You should get the ball in the front court and either take the shot or make one quick pass and then shot. Traevon hesitates and the game is lost. Tom Izzo being down 3 at the end of the game, inbounds the ball, makes one quick pass and buries the three. Only the three ball hurts you, but yet he seemed not ready to cover it.
• Bo Ryan as has the trend to put the final play in the hands of the point guard. This is generally countered by the double team, but this did not occur Sunday. Any team that plays the Badgers should understand this and exploit it in the future.
• I have been doing a lot Olympic watching and have noticed a couple of things.
• NBC has to be thanking the television gods for the location of this Olympics and the location in 2018. This time difference between Russia and the United States allows NBC to cut the broadcast/sport down and insert as many additional commercials. There should be no reason that NBC loses money this year. I think that is why some people do not watch, or do not watch as much as they should.
• On the lighter side of news, I was crowed 1st division champion on Saturday on Smallball.com on the football side.
• I see that the Brewers are having another go around with K-Rod, any guesses to who will he be traded to?
• Flappy Birds is a really addictive gam.

House of Cards coming soon!

To go a little off topic than the usual sports.... Only 7 more days until House of Cards!

Let the 24/7 Football Continue...

With another season in the books for the NFL, this will lead tomorrow into the non-stop over-analysis for the 2014 season. What I expect starting tomorrow:

• Power Ranking every team 1 to 32 for 2014 (if you watch ESPN, it will be in the exact same record finishing order for 2013)
• Power Ranking Top 10 for every position including a special ranking for free agents
• Top 10 ranking of every draft position
• Breakdown of the strengths of each player including how one offensive linemen is better than another because his range of motion is 0.01% better. Each breakdown will finish with the comment that this guy is the best person and will play in NFL for many years for all 200+ picks
• Breakdown of every Quarterback including how one QB is better than another because his arm slot is 3/8th of an inch higher than another.
• Projected post draft power ranking
• The projected teams that Tim Tebow will play for

This is the problem with the NFL today is that there is no "off season" on television, what makes it look like one season goes into another. I don't feel like I miss football like Baseball, Hockey, Basketball.

TJMG: Traevon Jackson must go!

The reoccurring theme during this post will be about, after another loss this time to Ohio State, how Wisconsin point guard Traevon Jackson is the reason for the recent Wisconsin struggles on both ends of the floor.

In addition to his recent flub up on the final shot against Ohio State, the Wisconsin offense seems to go or no go based on the fact if Traevon Jackson is on the floor. Whenever Bronson Koenig, take over, the offense seems to take over. For example in the first half when Bronson came into the game, the Badgers, there was a six minute stretch where we were able to move the ball freely inside and outside, but for the final five minutes, when Jackson when back into the game, we went on one of our patiented loooooong field goal droughts that have plagued us the last two seasons.

This is due to Traevon Jackson inability to move the ball or run the offense. Traevon is unable to direct people to move the ball around and run a play. Traevon is only capable of doing a couple of unnecessary cross leg dribbles with a covered shot. This leads to many misses and lower shooting percentage from a position that should be solid. Along with today's game, Traevon is shooting 27%.... 27%.

Treavon Jackson is not a point guard, per 40 minutes, Treavon averages 3 turnovers which by and far leads the team and something that should not be allowed out of your point guard. This is almost a full turnover more per 40 minutes that Jordon Taylor while playing less minutes than Taylor did. This is an area that should be improving but has not.

While most of this is on Treavon Jackson, a small part of this is on Bo Ryan for not noticing this issue and making the needed changes and allowing Bronson to play more minutes. Bo should know that Jackson was going to be incapable of running the final play.

It is time to send Traevon packing, if he wants to play the dribble through 3 defenders every play, then maybe he should transfer to UW-Superior where they like to do that kind of stuff... or maybe transfer to Ohio State, that way we might have a chance when he is cleared to play.

Brewers 2014 Lineup

Another Milwaukee Brewers season on the horizon and with that, I will put together to my predictions for the 25 man patchwork lineup from Doug Melvin.

Starters in Bold
Catcher: Lucroy, Maldonado
Firstbase: Reynolds. Overbay
Secondbase: Gennett
Shortstop: Segura
Thirdbase: Ramirez, Bianchi
Outfield: Khris Davis, Gomez, Braun, Schafer, Gindel

Starting Pitchers:
Gallardo
Lohse
Garza
Peralta
Estrada

Relief Pitchers:
Gorzellany
Henderson
Kintzler
Wooten
Burgos
Hand
Thornburg

Starting Lineup

1. Gomez
2. Segura
3. Braun
4. Rameriz
5. Lucroy
6. Reynolds
7. Davis
8. Gennett
9. Starting Pitcher

When the Pro Bowl could not be any less interesting

Lets call this blogging... Part 3. After another Siesta from writing on my thoughts, I will give it another try to write on this blog, this time I will blog a little less consistently so that I don't become so discouraged.

The topic this evening... The NFL Pro Bowl.  It is another week before the Super Bowl which means another meaningless game before the Super Bowl, they call it the "Pro Bowl", but it is anything but a Pro Bowl. What we have is a game that few top tier players care about with too much to lose that do not want to play in a game that is treated as a joke, there is no incentive too play in the game or in the case of the players too play 100%. I will admit that this season the players did seem to give a better effort and the play itself was somewhere between High School and College - Division 2.

The Pro Bowl is a game that has been muscled out by is own league.  There is football on TV every day for 365 days a year, so another game is no big deal for football fans. The Pro Bowl use to be the last time we would get any football until the Draft in April and Training Camp in August, now the day after the Super Bowl, every network is breaking down teams for next year. Along with every game and every player being analyze from top to bottom, there is no need to see what makes the best players the best.

We do not get to see the best players anymore because most players get paid above normal common blue collar people. The "Pro Bowl" players can go to Hawaii on their own dime and they do not have to put on a show for Commander and Chief Roger Goodell. Back in the day of lower salaries, players would appreciate some paid time in Hawaii since the players generally could not go on their own.
The draft this year was a joke, there was no reason or thought process to extending that over two days. I also thought that the draft would have been better if it would have been a real draft instead of by position.

The problem I'm having watching this years game is I'm unable to identify with the teams this year. While my disinterest in the game was waning in the last decade, this year the bottom fell out for me, who am I suppose to cheer for? Why do care about either team? How does this game relate to me? None of these question are answered with the format of this years game. For me you need to give me a reason to watch, maybe some kind of contest tie-in with the game with a drawing after the game, that might get me to watch for the right price or prize.

The rules for me have always been a joke for me since I have been watching, but that was always going and is the reason that this game is not watched or played like it should be. If this game was played with full rules along with a bonus or incentive for the participating players to fully... participate, the game would be played to its full potential. The rules for this years game have been especially annoying, 4 two minute warnings, switching ends after each quarter, no kickoffs, etc. This more and more sounds like the Roder Goodell experimental rules game.

It is time to end this game and give it a proper send off, the purpose of this game in the end was the ability to see players play each week that you could not see normally. This era of football of 24/7 football takes away that need for this game. Lets one and for all make this years game the series finale for this one great game and allow this game to end with dignity instead of a dong

Smallball

I would like to go "off-topic" in this post to talk about this website I have known about for the past 10 years and have used for the past 5 years. It is called www.smallball.com . This site allows you to train your own baseball or soccer team and then play them in simulated games.

This game is good for the player who does not want to play a whole bunch of games or rely on your own keyboard skills.

McCarthy's play calling leaves many questions

During the Green Bay Packers 22-9 victory over the Detroit Lions, there was something that was that bothered me, it was not the great play by the special teams, it was not the defense and it was not even the offensive players. It was the offensive play calling.

Overall, I thought the player played a good game, but Mike McCarthy leaves me wondering what runs through his head with the play calling especially in short yardage situations. There were two key moments that stuck out to me, the third drive of the game during the 3rd & 1 with a roll out pass. situation which was made worse by the fact we had to burn a timeout just before the play. The second was at the end of the game, in which we were trying to run out the clock, we had been using Lacy to run the ball, but then we decide to just take a knee? Take a knee with Detroit having a timeout remaining. How... Why? Give yourself a chance to get the first down, which improbable, but not impossible.

These two situations along with a lackluster passing game today show that Mike McCarthy's offensive game play has passed its prime and it is time for someone else to be calling the plays. We were able to pull the game out today, but against the better teams down the road, we will most likely not come out on top. It has not worked already this year against the 49ers and Bengals.

McCarthy needs to relinquish the play card, he is unable to make the right calls at the right times. We need someone who will provide a scheme that will test the opposing defenses, but also will make the simple calls at the simple times. The one and two yards situations are the simple times, this situation seems to bring out the worse in McCarthy with overcomplicated play calls when maybe a quarterback sneak will do.

I'm not a person who likes to wait until the other shoe to drop to make a change and neither should be the Packers. If this was a one off case, I would not have a problem, but this has been happening for the last 3 years. That is too long in my book. It is time for change with the play calling, the time is now, not when we are in the cellar, by then you are going to lose a lot more than just your play calling responsibilities, it will be your job!

Dusty Baker another casualty

Friday brought another day where another MLB manager was fired when Dusty Baker was fired from the Cincinnati Reds. I know that I recently wrote a post talking about Dale Sveum being fired from the Cubs, Dusty Baker did posses almost all the skills that Dale did not, but was missing one minor aspect that you need. Rebound.

Over a 162 game season, there are ups and downs, but it is how you overcome the downs that makes you a great manager. It is the ability to stop a losing streak or to refocus the team after a unusual moment in the game. Dusty did not possess this.

Dusty did not have it in San Francisco, he could not calm down Cubs after the Bartman incident and he could not recover with the Reds. Someone will hire Dusty again, but whoever hires him better be really for the team to let little mistake or incidents get inside their head.

USA Qualify for World Cup

It has been a dark road, it has been a long road, but it appears after the "Dos A Cero" game that soccer has arrived in the US. Nobody more than me is glad that it appears that soccer has finally come out of the shadows of a third tier sport and is gaining media attention.

Certain spots has accepted the sport as a first tier sport for many years (Seattle and Portland), but clearly with the national attention and filled stands that US soccer and the established leagues are now here to stay. With the prolonged run of qualifying for the World Cup has brought to the attention to many people that this game is no longer the punch line of jokes/

For some, soccer will always be hated especially for the baby boomers but who can fault them? They were raised in a era in which soccer was a "fourth tier" sport only played by kids until 7 or 8 when they switched to Football (American) or Baseball. The game was treated as a joke by the soccer federation and it showed on the field by not qualifying for the World Cup between 1950 and 1990. My dad is a classic example of this theory, to this day, he continue to mock the game when I have it on TV, he mocks me for getting up at 6:45am on most Saturdays to start watching the EPL games on NBC. My Dad and other people of his generation say that they do not understand the game and say that soccer is not a sport (but isn't soccer just over-sized hockey?).

But for all the dislike of soccer for the people raised in the 40 years after the 1950 World Cup appearance, soccer has found it mark with the younger generation. While American Football is still the preferred sport, soccer has hit its mark and the attendance figures in MLS show it. With the upcoming investments coming from Dave Beckham and Manchester City/New York Yankees this further enhances this as the fifth sport.

It is said that "it takes years to win a customer, and seconds to lose one", this saying no more than true with the MLS and the US men's national team. The house has been set up perfectly with good media coverage, good teams, top players coming overseas to play here along with good fans. I hope that we do not screw this up because nobody will be more disappointed than me.

Dale Sveum: Another incomplete MLB manager fired

No, that is not a typo in the title of this post, I did not mean incompetent, incomplete is a much more realistic term. On Monday, the Cubs fired Dale Sveum as manager with one year left on the contract. As a former Brewer player and coach, I have a little something to say about what went down in Chicago.

Dale Sveum was always a iffy choice to head up a major league baseball club. A major league manager needs to posses the ability to manager players on both side of the ball. Sveum never showed the ability to manage a pitching staff during any of the two seasons, but the warning signs were there for the Cubs even before the first interview.

Warning Sign #1: Former power player generally don't make good managers
Players that generally have good careers with the potential for power do not do well as managers because they are unable to identify issues with players. Managers that seem to have played little or poorly have more time to watch other  players and identify mistakes and take the needed corrections. There is always the exception to the rule, but for every Joe Girardi there are many Charlie Manuel's


Warning Sign #2: No Pitching coach experience
Sveum entered the Cubs job with no pitching experience, not even at a basic level. If you are that one sided in baseball, it is like getting hit with a 2X4 when you have to care about the other side of the ball.

Warning Sign #3: 2008 season
This should have been the biggest reason not to hire Sveum. After Ned Yost was fired near the end of the season Sveum was named the interim manager and continued the effort of Yost to mismanage the pitching and having to overusing C.C. Sabathia. This was a sign that he was unable to manager or turn around a pitching staff. This should have raised the red flag for all teams that Sveum could not manage both side of the game.

The Cubs did not heed warning sign #3 and made the two year mistake of allowing him to manage their team. Some guys are just not cut out to be Major League managers. If he wants another shot at managing a MLB team, he should go down to a "AA" or "AAA" team to manage, learn the ropes and if it works out, it works out. In this case, Dale Sveum will make a good hitting coach and that is what he should do.

Josh Freeman over-hyped career over?

As reported on Sunday, Josh Freeman has played his last game in the Tampa area and maybe in the NFL. For me, this "I don't care" attitude was something that does not surprise me about this quarterback.

This was a long time coming, Josh Freeman was not NFL caliber quarterback and should not have been in the NFL as long as he was. He lasted in the NFL as long as he did for the sheer fact that he beat the Green Bay Packers in his rookie season back in 2009. People started looking at him different and unfortunately viewed him as a real quarterback based on the caliber of defense that Green Bay was at the time.

But everybody has a bad day, it just was not Green Bay's just happen to have one that day. Bad start after bad start, year after year were shadowed by the fact that "He beat the Packers back in 2009". You can not rely on one game as the reason a quarterback should be propped up for this long. If there is no improvement by the end of the next season, get rid of the player.

The pressure and the limelight got to Freeman, he thought he was something because everybody in the media said he was something because of one game. Josh Freeman would have benefited by waiting a year or two like Aaron Rodgers, learn the ropes, learn how to handle himself in the NFL.

I'm guessing when he lost the captain role from the team was the end for him, when the other shoe was going to drop was just a matter of time. To spike that quick in the NFL at that age is just too much for most. Someone will most likely give him another shot at a backup most likely (because someone will remember that '09 Packers game), but the damage is done.

In the end, this occurs more than it should in the NFL, every game is make or break. The media likes to proclaim the rise to stardom from just one game or sometimes from just one throw. It should not be this way, but once again another victim has been claimed in the form of Josh Freeman.

'Rush' movie review (more like statment)

So what did I spend the Packers bye week doing? Going to a movie. I decided to go see the movie Rush from director Ron Howard.

I'm not going to get into the plot of the movie, that is what Wikipedia is for. Overall, I thought this was very good movie that does live up to its name. The acting is above average, but not award winning. The awards from this movie will come from the directing which was great in my perspective.

This movie was well worth the Matinee price I paid to get in.

Brewers End of Season Grades

Another season is in the books for the Milwaukee Brewers and while the season was far from perfect for what fans were expected, this blogger knew it was coming. With that being said I have completed a season ending grade list.

• Jonathan Lucroy (B+) - Once of the most consistent players over the entire season minus a slow start. Made the transition to playing first base on a as needed basis. The only thing holding this grade back from a "A" was some base running blunders that occurred throughout the year along with the slow start to the year.
• Juan Francisco (F) -Too slow, Too Fat, Too many K's. His new name should be Juan Fran-wiffo
• Rickie Weeks (D) - Once again Rickie has another slow start with a season ending injury, I almost think that is Weeks gameplan at the start of the season. He is too slow and too fat, he got away from the way he got in the major leagues, with his speed.
• Jean Segura (A) - Jean had his breakout season at the plate and in the field, a well deserved top grade.
• Aramis Ramirez (C-) - Ramirez has outlived his welcome in Milwaukee, a very streaky season for when he was healthy. He is too slow and on the DL too much to be of much use for the Brewers anymore. Time to move on.
• Ryan Braun (C) - Based solely on his play, Braun would get a "A", but given the events of the season, I have downgraded him to a "C". It will be long road back for Braun, and some people will never forgive him even if he cures cancer, provides world peace and finds Jimmy Hoffa.
• Carlos Gomez    (B+) - An above average season for Gomez who signed a contract extension before the season. Did recently start to cool off at the end of the season and is plagued by the injury bug.
• Norichika Aoki (B-) - The faults that did not show themselves during last season seemed to manifest themselves during this season. Seemed to not be able to slap the ball as well, plus Aoki seem to have troubles covering right field from time to time. Overall though, he did have an average year and used his speed efficiently.  
• Yuniesky Betancourt (D+) - Making another trip though the Brew city did not prove any better for Yuni-B. To slow, too inconsistent.
• Logan Schafer (C-) - Too young and inconsistent. Most likely will be no better than a defensive replacement.
• Jeff Bianchi (C-) - Not enough speed, not enough power to be an every day starter. Only a utility or every fifth day starter.
• Scooter Gennett (C+) - A breath of fresh air from the play of Rickie Weeks given the defensive play that he provided this season, but it was a tough year for Scooter. His power is below average, he has trouble with lefties and drawing walks. He was able to hit righties over .300, so there is hope. He should compete for a starting job next season, but could be beat out.
• Martin Maldonado (D) - When working with pitchers from the minors, he seemed better, but struggled at the plate for most of the season. He is replaceable.
• Caleb Gindl (C) - Capable backup player, will have to see how he develops 
• Khris Davis (C+) - After a slow start, Davis has been able to turn it one with the bat. Does continue to struggle from time to time in the outfield.
• Sean Halton (C) - Started the season slow, but near the end of the season started to play more consistent.
• Kyle Lohse (B) - Overall an average year for Lohse coming over from St. Louis, did have his moments without Dave Duncan to oversee him. St. Louis appeared to know what he was doing when letting him go just like with Suppan and Looper.
• Wily Peralta (C+) - Wildly inconsistent throughout the year, when he was on, he was on. Threw a complete game shutout on July 9th.
• Yovani Gallardo (C) - Most people would think I'm crazy for giving the grade I have to Yo, but given that he has now pitched about 5 1/2 years in the major leagues (1/2 of 2007, missing most of 2008) that he would learn how to pitch the complete game. He has too many pitches too soon in the game. Many times he has 25+ pitches in the first inning, but does not give up any runs. So he is only able to go 5-6 innings. With stuff that Yo has, he should be able to 7+ innings consistently. Gallardo does not always have to go for the K. Gallardo did once again present a threat at the plate this year.
• Marco Estrada (C-) - Another year of solid 5 inning starts. After that, disaster. Did fill in in the starter role again this year, but injuries once again plagued hit. Better fits a long reliever role.
• Jim Henderson (B) - Solid in most of his appearances, does not rely solely on the fastball.
• Brandon Kintzler (B) - An acceptable bounce back year lowering his ERA to career lows with a good strikeout to walk ratio, could be a good 8th inning man next year.
• Burke Badenhop (C) - Was not worth the money we paid this year, but given what we gave up, the deal was average. Might be worth a look next year if the price is right.
• John Axford (F) - I understand that Axford is no longer a Brewer, but I had to give him his grade. Does not throw anything but a fastball and that pitch can give him trouble at times. Has the tendency to overthrow the fastball which causes trouble. Please use the following guide to evaluate Axford on any given day. Pitch MPH <= 94 - Doing Good; <=96 At the limit; <= 97 All over the place; >= 98 Do not have your drink on the ledge behind the plate. Unfortunately he was at 97+.
• Mike Gonzalez (F) - I don't know who is more to blame, Melvin for signing Gonzalez or Gonzalez not declining the offer stating he really can not pitch. Melvin of all people should know that you just don't sign a lefty for the sake of signing the lefty. We won a division back in 2011 without a single lefty in the bullpen. Gonzalez lack any kind of control or ability to work the corners of the plate. Let this guy go and be someone else's problem.
• Tom Gorzelanny (C) - I was always nervous with this signing. One good season generally should not be a reason to sign a guy especially given the past seasons and how he done against the Brewers. Gorzelanny was a good long reliever, but an awful starter. The Brewers should only keep him if they plan to use him as a long reliever.
• Donovan Hand (C-) - A roller coaster first season for Hand. While he shows the ability to get batters out, he is no starter, or at least right now not a starter. Should work at the middle relief.
• Tyler Thornburg (C) - I consider this a bounce back season for Thornburg. Seemed to be able to get batters out and string together good starts. My concern is that this was done against teams that were already out of playoff contention so the focus might not have been all there this year, but might have lit him up at the start of the year.
• Johnny Hellweg (D) - Wild, Wild, Wild. That is the book on this guy. Can not go more that 5 innings and goes through these painful stretches where he can not get anybody incurring large pitch counts.
• Rob Wooten (C-) - Did get use through some tough games when the Brewers were not playing their best. Does posses the ability to be a 8th inning or closer in the future, but the 7/8th is most likely his role.
• Jimmy Nelson (D+) - Only played in a couple of games this year for the Brewers, but I'm concerned with the pitches to the backstop along with the high pitch counts, but he is only 24 years old.
• Chris Narveson (I) - Another season cut short by the injury bug. One might ask if his time might be done in Milwaukee given that he will be 32 years old when he comes back and he can only give you 6 innings max a start.

Packers Bye Week

What to do during the bye week since I will not have to yell at the TV on this Sunday?

Anderson learns recuriting is key from Ohio State game

During the 31-24 lost to Ohio State on Saturday night, Badger head coach Gary Anderson might have been dumbfounded how Ohio State was able to move up and down the field at will with the speed rushers and speed receivers, but it call comes down to "Recruiting".

That is something that has been missing in Wisconsin the last couple of years when Bret Bielema failed to properly recruit for the Wisconsin program having one foot out the door. Most people will say that we just won three consecutive Big Ten titles, but each one came with a catch. The first was due to a lucky tie breaker rue, the second the Badgers benefited from a good conference alignment along with Ohio State being nailed for violations plus a roughing the punter penalty. The final title was thanks to backing into the game along with two schools being ineligible to for postseason.

Recruiting was lacking at the end for Bret at these key positions:

• QB
• WR
• TE
• S
• K
• P

This lack of recruiting manifested themselves on Saturday night well have Bret(Who also lost Saturday) decided to cut and run.

I hope that Gary Anderson learned a lot about the game, I hope that he knows what he has to change for next season because of this game. If Anderson can not learn what he needs to change from this game, then he is of no use to us. I know the changes can not completed this season and I personally think that he called about the best game he could have given the circumstances.

Arkansas Razorback Football: It begins

I could not help noticing that on Saturday, while I watched Stave miss on pass after pass, that Bret Bielema blew a pretty big lead against Rutgers. This was the always the concern when he was at Wisconsin, blowing the big game and playing down to his opponent. If you are reading this and you are from Arkansas, I'm glad you took this problem off our hands. We had many close calls with him but we all knew here in Wisconsin, that what we saw Saturday was going to happen.

Best of luck Arkansas and once again, thank for taking Bret.

Selig continues poor punishment record

Given the events of last nights altercation between the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves, I would have expected some kind of punishment to be handled down, but once again the kids are running the house with no guidelines to controlling the household.

First and foremost, I will state that I agree with the Gomez suspension for 1 game. You can not jaw with everybody around the base paths and not expect something to occur. I also agree with the suspension of Reed Johnson, though I like how he then hid behind his coach after getting his shots.

Like one of my previous posts , how does McCann not get anything out of this, just like Matt Kemp earlier this year? How can not punish the secondary and third party offenders who commit equal or greater offenses than the people caused the initial starters. McCann ignited the fight, yet he gets nothing. This can no longer occur now or with the new commissioner in a couple of years.

You can not have these major brawls night after night in baseball. People might say that it is going to occur over a 162 game season with 30 teams, but honestly how is it even remotely acceptable in baseball, but in any other job where you work 3 times the hours a night for double the number of nights a year? If you start a fight at a normal job, you are out of a job, but in baseball you might not even get a fine.

This needs to change now, any person who does joins a fight should get ejected and suspended for future games. Period!