Milwaukee Weather
The O' BlogHere's the email I received from the Brewers media relations department:
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers today acquired outfielder Carlos Gomez from Minnesota in exchange for shortstop J.J. Hardy. The announcement was made by Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Melvin. “Carlos brings to our club great speed, athleticism and energy at a position that we needed to fill,” said Melvin. “His defense will serve as a key component to us improving our pitching. At only 24 years of age, Carlos can further develop the offensive aspect of his game and give us a different look to our lineup.” Gomez batted .229 with 3 HR, 28 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 137 games with Minnesota this season. He made 86 starts in center field and committed just one error. The highlight of his season came on October 6 vs. Detroit when he scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning of the Twins’ victory in the American League Central tie-breaker game. In 2008, his first full season in the Major Leagues, he batted .258 with 7 HR, 59 RBI and a team-leading 33 stolen bases in 153 games, including 143 starts in center field. He set a Twins single-season record with 30 bunt hits, leading the Major Leagues, and produced 50 infield hits overall, which ranked second only to Ichiro Suzuki (52). Gomez was acquired by the Twins on February 2, 2008 as the key player in the deal that sent two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana to the Mets. He joined the Twins after being ranked as the Mets’ third-best prospect by Baseball America heading into that season. “J.J. has been a steady performer for the Brewers,” said Melvin. “His professionalism and popularity with our fans and his teammates made this difficult, but he has been given the opportunity to go to a great organization to play and perform at the high level he is capable of playing.”
So what do you think, Brewers fans? Was this a good trade for the Brewers? Leave your comments below and we'll read some of the best of them on the air this afternoon! Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Whitney Isleib is in some hot water for her Lil' Wayne Halloween costume:
Here's what she looks like the other 364 days of the year:
Yeah, that's blackface. And yeah, she's quite stupid and incredibly insensitive for wearing it, but perhaps even dumber is the fact that either she or a friend (another Cowboys cheerleader) posted the pictures on Facebook. When are people going to learn that your pictures on social networking sites ONLY lead to bad things?
Making matters worse, another of the pictures allegedly shows one of Isleib's friends in blackface as singer T-Pain. It doesn't appear that Isleib will get in much trouble with her employer, though, since a Cowboys spokesman said the team will "handle it internally." Translation: "It's too late in the season to hold auditions, so she'll likely get a slap on the wrist.
I'm not saying that she should be fired for this, but she definitely deserves a stern talking to and probably a suspension. If athletes, as Charles Barkley famously asserted, are not role models, then certainly cheerleaders aren't either (except for breast implant enthusiasts), but anyone in the public eye needs to hold him or herself to a higher standard of conduct. Such insensitive posturing casts both Isleib and the Cowboys in an incredibly unfavorable light, and the team should react accordingly. More signifcantly, in the supposedly post-racial 2009, it's a shame that people (public figures or not) still think costumes like these are funny.
From my weekly column at SportsBubbler.com:
Ho-hum, another Bucks loss last night. Big deal. For a franchise that has posted a 158-252 record over the past five seasons and has failed to make it out of the first round of the playoffs in the last decade, losing is nothing new.
And neither is the fact that most fans simply don't care anymore.
To say that Milwaukee's alleged NBA franchise has suffered from a lack of interest is about as gross an understatement as the suggestion that Packers fans were a little annoyed that Brett Favre became a Minnesota Viking.
If you were one of the untold thousands who missed last night's Bucks loss in Chicago, however, you missed something special.
No, it wasn't Milwaukee blowing an 18 point third quarter lead and no, it wasn't Ersan Ilyasova airballing a potentially game-winning three with seconds remaining. Those sorts of things are nothing new, either.
What is, though, is the energy, the excitement, the sheer electricity with which rookie point guard Brandon Jennings has started his career.
With a game-high 25 points last night and a team-high 24 in a win over Detroit on Saturday, Jennings pushed his scoring average on the young season to 22 points per game (on 50 percent shooting, mind you) to go with 4.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.7 steals. In the season opener, he was a board and a dime away from dropping the first triple-double in an NBA debut since Oscar Robertson.
If all that weren't enough, he averages approximately four "Did You See That?" plays per game and, in so doing, has the potential to single-handedly reinvigorate a fan base that has all but abandoned their team since it abandoned Ray Allen.
Celebrity Web site TMZ.com is reporting that the Vikings beefed up security for their star quarterback when he returned to Lambeau Field this weekend.
We spoke with a Vikings spokesperson who told us, "I can confirm that we did have extra security in place throughout the trip, including at the hotel Saturday night and at the stadium yesterday.
Taking the necessary precautions to protect our players on any road trip is always a priority of the team, and this situation was no exception."
Interesting. Now, could the Packers borrow that security team for Aaron Rodgers? He might be killed this season if his protection doesn't improve! Just days after one fortysomething Hall-of-Famer returned to the site of his former glory, former Badger hockey legend Chris Chelios will lace 'em up against the Admirals tomorrow night. Somehow I don't think this will generate the buzz of, say, Brett vs. the Packers, but it's still nice to see a local boy come home...now please don't boo him!
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Former Wisconsin star Chris Chelios will play in Milwaukee on Wednesday when the AHL's Chicago Wolves take on the Admirals. I didn't want to write this, I really didn't. Heck, I don't even want to be thinking it. Yet some time in the middle of Brett Favre's second consecutive dissection of my beloved Packers, I was. Again. For the first time since last summer, I got that queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. For the first time in a long time, I thought the thought that no devoted Packer fan should.
Maybe they should have taken Brett back after all.
I know what you're thinking right now, believe me, I know...and I agree with you. I'm an idiot. I'm living in the past. I'm a hopeless romantic who remembers the records and comebacks but conveniently forgets the infuriating interceptions in pressure situations and diva behavior each offseason. Trust me, I remember.
And yes, I do agree that Aaron Rodgers is one of the best young quarterbacks in football and that even with my beloved St. Brett behind center, Green Bay's banged-up defense would have still relegated the team to a sub-.500 record last season.
So why am I thinking that Green Bay should have welcomed him back with open arms four months after he retired? Why am I putting a player--no matter how talented he my be--ahead of the team (much like Favre himself did when he put the Packers through the awkward Training Camp Circus of 2008)?
Because this player proved tonight that he is still, at age 40, one of the best quarterbacks in the league and, more importantly, a leader of men who makes everyone on his team just a little bit better. With no disrespect to Rodgers, Favre's veteran leadership is precisely what separates good teams from great ones, and it is Favre's presence in Minnesota that has turned it from a great collection of players into a Super Bowl-contending team.
This is the ultimate irony of Favre: he is quite possibly one of the most selfish, "me-first" players in the NFL off of the field, but once the game starts, he is both a consummate teammate and exceptional field general. With the precision passing and cannon arm of a man half his age and veteran moxy unrivaled in all of professional sports, Favre is able to lead by example and win with talent.
Not coincidentally, this leadership and sense of direction have eluded the Packers since Favre was traded to New York. The youngest roster in the NFL (for what feels like the tenth consecutive season) is still racking up foolish penalties, missing easy blocking assignments, and looking generally lost in crunch time. Why do you think they brought back Ahman Green? It sure wasn't to return kicks!
No, the Packers recognized a deep void in their locker room that will never show up in the stat sheet--heart, grit, swagger. Green Bay doesn't so much miss its Dan Marino. It misses its General Patton.
Though much is made of Favre's stellar supporting cast in Minnesota (an I won't argue that Adrian Peterson is the best running back in football, that the Vikings have a bruising offensive line, or that their pass rush is downright terrifying), it has been Brett more than any of his teammates--even Peterson--who has won the Vikings football games this season.
Think about it. In Minnesota's two wins against the Packers, Peterson was solid but hardly spectacular but Favre threw for seven touchdowns. While Green Bay focused on containing Peterson, it was Favre who picked apart their normally-staunch secondary. Even when the superstar running back wasn't dominating, the Vikings were still winning. Why? Heart, grit, swagger.
I hate myself for even thinking this--let alone writing about it--but I'm starting to believe that my Pack has a serious deficiency of all three, and for the first time in a long time I believe I know why. A radio producer from 102.5 KTSZ in Des Moines, Iowa who loves the Packers but loathes Brett Favre is in the Halloween spirit. Kurt Van Auken has written and produced "I Want Favre Smashed," a takeoff of Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "Monster Mash."
No, not THAT one. Cornerback Antoine Winfield won't play against the Packers because of a foot injury.
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -- Minnesota Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield will not play on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.The Pro Bowler was listed as out in Friday's injury report. He also missed last week's game against Pittsburgh because of the injured right foot. FOX Sports columnist Adam Schein predicts that Brett is in for a long afternoon Sunday. One of his nine reasons? Favre himself:
What say you, Packers fans? Will Brett get buried or will he beat our beloved Pack again? My money's on the former, since every single player, coach, and team executive in Green Bay has one thing on their mind this week--showing up their former quarterback. Don't believe a word when they say in the media that they're not focusing on one player. They're keyed up and looking to show him up in their house. It'll be close, but I think the Packers win it. From my weekly column at SportsBubbler.com:
Brett Bowl II. The Return to the Tundra. Favreaggeddon 2009. No matter the name it's given, the hype surrounding Sunday's game is almost unparalleled.
Vikings quarterback Brett Favre heads to Lambeau Field in a visitor's uniform for the first time in his legendary career, and the buildup is unlike anything Packers fans have seen since...well, the last time Green Bay played Favre in Minnesota.
That meltdown at the Metrodome was the most-watched program in cable television history and the rematch promises to be even more intensely scrutinized.
Yet the Packers themselves deny any extra motivation to win on Sunday because of a certain quarterback.
"It's not a personal thing with anyone," said wide receiver Donald Driver. "We're out there to beat the Minnesota Vikings, not anyone on the Vikings."
"We feel like we're building each week, getting better, growing," head coach Mike McCarthy added. "Guys are stepping up with their opportunities. We feel very, very good about ourselves as a football team."
If in fact the Packers are, as Coach McCarthy suggests, a good football team, do they really need to beat Brett to prove it?
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