Well, it’s a good day to be a sports fan in Wisconsin!
The Milwaukee Brewers recovered nicely tonight from the nap they took during the Cardinals’ visit to Milwaukee. And just as the Brewers were pounding the Astros with late-inning heroics, the Reds were beating the Cardinals. I’m sure St. Louis feels very good about sweeping the Brewers in their series up here, but the clock is ticking on them. As of this night’s wins and losses, their elimination number is down to 16 with 47 games to go (combined).
Meanwhile, the Badgers football team got back on the field last night, and they made quite an impression. There’s a lot of talk about Wisconsin's new quarterback, Russell Wilson, who made believers of Badger fans in his debut. Even more important than Wilson, however, is Wisconsin’s epic offensive line. Rick Reilly has a great piece at ESPN.com, which is worth the reading just for the humor of it. Among other things, he waxes on about our O-line:
Do you realize the Badgers' offensive line this year will weigh about 1,600 pounds? That's more than the max payload of a 2008 Toyota Tundra. It's also about 80 pounds more than the Green Bay Packers' offensive line. That's a sixth grader more. They will cut down everything in the conference like wheat threshers. Welcome to the adult dinner table, Nebraska.
With traditional Big Ten powers Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State in various states of flux, Wisconsin should be headed back to the Rose Bowl. (Speaking of which, my remnant bitterness from last year’s bowl game was delighted to see that TCU was upset tonight by unranked Baylor!)
And then, most important of all, there are the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers. I was at Lambeau last night for their final exhibition game -- a mostly undeserved win over the visiting Chiefs. It was an uninspiring preseason for the Packers, yet still they managed a 3-1 record. McCarthy looks to me like a poker player who likes his hand and is ready for the real betting to begin.
The experts at NFL.com like this year’s squad pretty well, too. They unanimously picked Green Bay to win the NFC North. Four of the seven expect Aaron Rodgers to win the NFL MVP award at the end of the season. And three of them pick the Packers to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, with two of them predicting we’ll win it.
And the last team standing at the end of the 2010 season will be the first team to play in the 2011 season. We host the Saints in less than a week. ‘More about that critical match-up in a few days.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment