11.08.2009

The Week In Review

Four headlines worth noting from the four major Wisconsin mascots:

Packers - Spitz Out For Year: This was just announced, and it hurts more than it may seem. Jason Spitz could fill in in any of the middle three offensive line positions, and with him being out the entire line is downgraded. Wells is serviceable at center, but too small to make me feel comfortable against sizeable DTs, and if either Colledge or Sitton goes down, TJ Lang has to fill in. And that’s a problem for me, because Chad Clifton is as good as done as a Packer.

He commits too many penalties and is too injury prone to be worth the Packers time any longer. Lang may not be the future at left tackle, but he deserves playing time, and there’s nothing left to gain from playing Clifton. On the other side, Barbre has been pretty terrible, and we have yet to find out what we have in the returning Mark Tauscher, so that replacement is worth exploring. But Clifton, as far as I’m concerned, can go to the waiver wire. We'll miss you, Spitz.

Bucks - Milwaukee Hoops Worth Watching?: Its crazy early, and I’m not about to get carried away, but Brandon Jennings is a fantastic reason to watch Bucks basketball again. He’s a spark plug, and though he had an off game the other night against the T-Wolves, he seems to have helped rejuvenate a Bucks team that figured to be down and out minus Michael Redd. Meanwhile, Andrew Bogut, who many had written off as a bust, seems to have found a bit of a mean streak this week. He worked his way to the basket for several dunks against Minnesota and was integral in their win over the Knicks on Saturday. The Bucks will be lucky to make the playoffs, but this team is starting to feel a bit like the early Yost years of Brewers baseball. Hop on now before the bandwagon gets too crowded.

Brewers - Hardy Traded For Carlos Gomez: This was a great trade for all parties if you ask me. The crew can move forward with Alcides Escobar, Hardy can return to a daily starting role, and the Brewers free up several million dollars by replacing Mike Cameron with Gomez. The only question lies with where Cameron goes from here, but being a Wisconsin sports blog, that no longer concerns me, so happy trails Mike. Hopefully we can use the money we’re not paying you to get a #2 guy in the rotation. For some great insight, check resident Brewers guru Mark Lange's breakdown of the trade.

Badgers – Blocking Bemidji: When the Badgers play the Beavers of Bemidji State, its reasonable to assume it’s a hockey game. Not last week. In a Badger basketball exhibition game that generally wouldn’t be worthy of note, one stat line sticks out: 5 blocks in the whole game, all from one player. That player was 6’6” redshirt freshman G/F Ryan Evans, who at one point had 4 blocks in 4 minutes. He also ended up with 12 points as many minutes. After losing Diamond Taylor to a life of crime, it was nice to see one of the youngins make an impact.



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