Our man

Neat update on Bart. But seriously, who pays for my favorite CA high school football team to fly to Fort Lauderdale?

GOD'S TEAM... INTO THE SUNSET.

Well this is fun. Living in California, if I even see someone with a green shirt on I throw up a high 5. Yesterday one of the Mexicans waiting for work outside home depot was wearing a packer hat and I went in for a bear hug. He's my pool guy now. I don't have a pool. My Mom bought championship gear. It's on the way. I've watched every video on NFL.com from the start of the playoffs until Matthews went on ELLEN at least 5 times. Some well over 20. I haven't spoken to anyone I know from Chicago and I think its well clear that I wont until after Labor Day. I just learned all the names on the Badger Basketball team. I've had season tickets since I was eleven. I know that the Badger Hockey team tied Minnesota tonight.
The Superbowl was fun. Rooting for Rodgers in that game was what I always imagined it would be like to root for Tom "sugar gumdrops" Brady. He wasn't losing. Either was I. I hit my halftime square and my Game square. I won 3 $20 bets on the game and I gave up the 3 points quickly. I won marijuana from a cook at work. I won 2 $5 bets on the color of the gatorade they dumped on Mccarthy. I lost on how long Christina Aguliera would hold "Brave" for in the Anthem. The over/under was 6.8 seconds. I went under like a complete tourist. I was paying excruciatingly close attention to the Anthem and neither I nor anyone in the room full of people I was watching with had any idea that she messed it up. USA.
I can't wait for next season. We're loaded. Greg Jennings just guaranteed that we are gonna go to Indianapolis next year on the NFL network just after he'd said that the Lions needed to draft defensive backs 'badly' in the "NFC North draft preview", with Solomon Wilcots and Warren (Met Simeon Rice once and asked him who the best athlete he ever played with was and he said Warren Sapp without hesitation) Sapp. Yyyyikes. Tone it down, Greg. But we are, and they do. Sapp said we needed a running back. Way off. No we don't. We're strong at running back. It's going to hurt to lose B. Jackson, which we will. Also, I think we'll probably lose James Jones. Those might be our biggest loses. Also AJ Hawk if he doesn't restructure. But no one we can't replace.
Im not going to pretend to know who'll be available for us at 32, but I've seen as many as 5 tackles predicted to go in the first round and in a year where we seemingly have depth and and players getting healthy at almost every position, I'd be in favor of grabbing another O-Tackle. Especially if theres quality at the top. Which it sounds like there is. Unfortunately the Bears need O-lineman and they'll be poaching right before us. Oh well.
Can we get Casey Matthews? How about that? Lets get these Matthew boys some walkie Talkies and hand grenades.

SUPERBOWL, EXTRA LOVE

As the regular season progressed and we ran low on ways to make the playoffs, I felt like if the Packers were somehow able to make it to the postseason and get Rodgers his first playoff win, the season would be salvaged. Then we could lose and regroup with Jermichael and his twitter account*. With so many injuries, I was certain that we didn't have the horses to make a run like this.
Then the Giants imploded, Jay Cutler retired, Cullen Jenkins got healthy, We hurt Desean Jackson, Matt "Ice Man" Ryan Leaf shit his pants, Dom Capers proved to have effectively maintained a rock solid Defensive scheme able to adapt to role players in places while being anchored by stars everywhere, Sam Shields and Tramon Williams took control of the matrix and started seeing the world in green numbers, and Aaron Rodgers established himself as one of the very few quarterbacks in the league with such a rare combination of athleticism and robot like attention to detail.
Also the bears, in typical bear fashion, made it to the NFC championship game with an atrocious offense. I predicted if we could make it passed Julius Peppers, AKA Da bridge troll, we'd win the Superbowl. I still feel that way. The Steelers might be mean and fast and have rings, but they do not have the longest strongest fastest best athlete in the league. Which is exactly what Peppers is. And in that NFC title game he executed, to perfection, what I can only describe as an all out assassination attempt. The lick he put directly on Aaron Rodgers chin was beautiful. If I was a Bear fan I would have loved it. It was exactly what they needed. They needed to take out Rodgers. And they tried. But what did Aaron Rodgers do? He stood up immediately and proceeded to win Poppa Bear's trophy at soldier fucking field.
Forgive me if I'm confident in the Packers going into this Superbowl. It'll be our first non-road game in 4 weeks. Rodgers wont have to contend with a hostile crowd. The stadium wont even be half filled with Steeler fans. I look forward to watching Rodgers shout and move guys around as much as he wants without worrying about crowd noise.
Also, people just accept that the Packers wont be able to run the ball on Pittsburgh. Why? We did on the Bears and I would argue that the Bears have a better front 7 than the Steelers. Statistically I think Chicago would have been the top team against the run if they hadn't gone up against 4 3rd string QB's (ie running teams). And we ran on the Bears. James Starks is a stud. He will start for us next year. He's got great instincts, incredible hands and he rarely, if ever, falls down in the back field (one of Ryan Grants slight flaws). I re-watched the NFC championship, and aside from that gorgeous opening drive, the thing that stood out the most was the play of James Starks. He had 22 carries for 74 yards and a td, with a long of 16. And he had a couple big runs called back on holding penalties. He'll be fine on Sunday and will also benefit from a less noisy environment. If we can loosen up those safeties, I don't think we'll be running all over them, but it wouldn't surprise me to see Starks go for 70 or 80 yards.
Finally, BJ is gonna destroy this back-up rookie center. Rapelesburger is fixin to get chased and pounded. I think they'll get deep on us once or twice. And if Mcarthy decides to take a knee with 5 minutes left we could get stung, but as superbowl champion Drew Brees put it, "if Green Bay plays their best game, and the Steelers play their best game, Green Bay wins." Sounds right. I'm glad I don't have money to bet or I'd jinx the shit out of the Packers this Sunday.

*On Jan. 19th @JermichaelF88 tweeted "I got alittle break so im going head to get a pedicure, to get these toes right.." So perhaps the twitter hubub might could may be unnecessary? Anyway, get y'all's toes right. IT'S THE DAMN SUPERBOWL!!

Memo to McCarthy: Apologize for this Loss

In many ways, the Packers' loss this afternoon to the Atlanta Falcons had the makings of a moral victory. The Packers were on the road against an excellent team, gave up 100 yards rushing, failed to force a turnover, failed on a fourth down conversion, fumbled the ball at the goalline, got nothing from their star defensive players, and reverted to their penalty-prone ways, but still had a chance to win the game. This demonstrates that they can, indeed, compete with anyone in the league on any given day. What held them back today? Coaching, specifically McCarthy's boneheaded clock management decisions.

At the end of the first half, Atlanta had a first and goal with roughly 80 seconds left on the clock. The Packers had two timeouts remaining. But as the last minute of the half ticked away, McCarthy chose to use neither of his timeouts, and the Falcons went on to score a touchdown with 8 only seconds left. Why, in God's name, would McCarthy not call timeout in that situation? The Packers had moved the ball in the first half. You know Atlanta is either going to kick a field goal, turn the ball over, or score a touchdown. If you use your timeouts, you give Rodgers and company a minute on the clock and see if they can get somewhere close to field goal range. And Atlanta had all three timeouts left. You know they're not going to run out of clock, even if you stop them on third down. So there was ABSOLUTELY no reason not to use your timeouts. Terrible, terrible mismanagement of the clock. And three points (what Crosby could have gotten at the end of the first half) turned out to be the margin of victory.

Then, at the end of the game. Unless Rodgers is constantly audibling into passes, the Packers' failure to call at least one run play during the goal-to-goal series was inexcusable. Have confidence that you're going to score. Think ahead, milk the clock, and make sure that Atlanta does NOT have enough time to march down and kick a field goal. By not running at least once on those four downs, McCarthy essentially lost the game. He gave Atlanta, with a great quarterback, and an excellent offense, playing at home, in a dome, more than a minute to march down and at least attempt a makeable field goal. Of course, Wilhem (who should be booted off the team for his double-penalty performance today) and the special teams made it easier. But the Packers have done this before in recent years--- they don't pay attention to the clock and end up shooting themselves in the foot, undermining what are often heroic offensive performances.

The NFL is a highly competitive league. Any offense in it has the ability to move the ball forty yards in a minute and kick a field goal. Every week games are decided by who has the ball last with some time to move down the field. And so, so often, McCarthy has ignored this fact. He's been a head coach for over five years now. He needs to learn. If he doesn't, the Packers' terrible record in close games (in his tenure) will only continue.

McCarthy should man up, learn from his mistakes, and apologize to the team for this loss. It's on him.

What makes a good College Head Coach?

The last time the Badgers beat a #1 team, the U-65 crew came home and engraved our boathouse with the date and score. The boat is gone, but the message remains. Badger Football can elate.

That was a long time ago, but it is dear to my heart. Sometimes in life you hear stories so often, or are reminded of an event so often, that it becomes a memory for you even if you were too young to have lucent recollections of the event. I told the old man before the OSU game that I was looking forward to a new engraving to match the old one. (and since the DNR disallows new boathouses, I doubt any future owners of my homestead will be tearing it down any time in the next century, so let the sun shine upon it)

Thanks to the 2010 Badgers, I won't have to recall the 80s to cherish a great Badger victory over #1.

After the greatest televised Badger week ever (ESPNU weeklong special, GameDay, The Van Pelt Declaration), the Badgers then went to Kinnick stadium and gutted out a victory against an able Hawkeye team which fights with long nails and almost never loses at home. Greatest back-to-back victories in quite some time.

So how did we get here? Only weeks ago, I had to hear from alumni complaining about Bret Bielema. Now, I hear Rose Bowl chants. So why the variation? People don't like hearing opposing opinions, so they didn't want to hear about what a coach does. But let's review.

A successful coach at Wisconsin must:

1) Impress boosters (the life blood of major college athletics)

2) Get along with the AD

3) Appease the chancellor (grades, behavior)

4) Manage a staff

5) Manage the media

6) Lead young men

7) Excite recruits

8) 93 other things

101) Always make the right play call

When I hear people wanting to oust Bielema for a bad play call, I consider them to be children. How little they understand of the enterprise of running a college football program.

(This is much different than the NFL where the Head Coach is mostly responsible for play-calling and game management, with all other duties delegated. So feel free to continue to hate McCarthy for being a moron.)

Since the day that I met Beets, I have been impressed. Boosters like being around him. He's engaging. When he speaks at a podium, you want the speech to run long. He listens to Barry. He's excitable. He gets it. When you chat him up about football, you feel as though he is recruiting you, and you want to sign. He addresses weaknesses. He sees the big picture.

Granted, I may be the biggest Wisconsin football homer on the planet, but I am not playing around when I talk about our coaching and our administration. Our HC is getting the right kids. We are recruiting the hell out of south Florida. We have kept a fence around Wisconsin and have annexed Minnesota. Watch how our players respond to him on the field.

The back-to-back nationally televised big wins are great for Wisconsin, great for fans, and great for recruiting. However, they are not a surprise in Section U. We have a solid foundation, and we will continue to build.

On Wisconsin!

The Packers will never win the Super Bowl under McCarthy because he is too STUPID

Why in god's name did the Packers not let the Bears score a touchdown with 1:40 left? What are the better odds-- that you can match the Bears with a touchdown in a minute and a half or that Robbie Gould misses what is essentially an extra point? What a fucking joke. McCarthy is a coward and a loser.

The penalties need no commentary. Atrocious. Tauscher in particular is washed up. TJ Lang and Bulaga at tackle, and keep looking for a Colledge replacement. And Al and Atari can't get healthy soon enough.

To all those needing to get psyched for Badger football season