Mark_Concannon's Blog

The Kohl Center was a bit sleepy yesterday for the Badger men's basketball season opener against Long Beach State. I attended the game and about half the seats were empty. The Packer-Bear telecast no doubt impacted the turnout(even though the tip-off was moved to 3 PM) and I'm guessing many UW students were still recovering from Saturday's celebration after the football win over Minnesota. Or, for the sake of parents of Madison scholars reading this blog, perhaps the kids were at the library catching up on late term schoolwork.

When I told my friends I was going to the game they thought I was wasting my time because they were certain this would be a Badger blowout. Not so fast, I told them. Long Beach State is a division one program with some chops. The 49ers have been to 8 NCAA tournaments, 5 NIT's and have turned out 15 all-Americans. Jerry Tarkanian and Lute Olson once coached there. Former Gonzaga and Minnesota bench boss Dan Monson is the coach now. This wasn't Chicago State or New Jersey Tech.

Sure enough, the Californians hit a bunch of early three-pointers and took the lead. Badger fans sat in bemused silence until Marcus Landry woke up the place with a thunderous alley oop dunk, then a blocked shot on the following defensive sequence. The 49ers had thrown in bombs from everywhere and still trailed at half.

The Badgers got the lead up to 9 midway through the second half, but Long Beach wouldn't go away. UW led by one and had the ball in the final minute. Trevon Hughes drove into the lane, drew two defenders then kicked the ball out to Landry who nailed a big time three to make it a four point game. LB's Maurice Clady tried to get a quick hoop in transition but Landry raced back to the other end and swatted Clady's shot into the stands. It was over. The Badgers were 1-0 but just barely.

As I inched my way through post game traffic, I flipped on the Badger broadcast and heard an interview with coach Bo Ryan. He was asked about Landry(who finished with 23 points) and his leadership down the stretch. Bo didn't hesitate. "On that last block, Marcus should have kept the ball in bounds," the coach said.  Wow, I thought. That's a bit harsh. This kid just rescued the team from an embarrassing upset and you're criticizing him because he got too theatrical on a game-saving block? But as I navigated the dark rural stretches of I-94, I thought about the coach's comments. This is what makes Bo, well, Bo. He expects his players to perform at a certain level on every possession, regardless of the score or what the player had previously accomplished that day. And that's why Bo Ryan has been successful in small gyms and large arenas all across the state. And that's a big reason the Badgers found a way to win Sunday, despite the sleepy crowd.  

*****SAFETY DANCE-In the games involving Wisconsin and Minnesota's two most prominent football teams(Packers at Vikings and Gophers at Badgers) the last two weekends, the winning team in each contest both recorded two safeties.

*****A GAME TO DIE FOR?-Investigators told the Press-Register newspaper in Mobile, Alabama that Dennis Smith, an LSU fan, called Michael Williams, an Alabama fan, after Alabama's 27-21 overtime win and an argument ensued. The Smiths went to Williams home. Investigators said Smith had a pistol and Williams had a shotgun and fired, killing Dennis Smith and his wife Donna who was a relative of Williams' girlfriend.

*****LIONS LYING DOWN-The 0-10 Detroit Lions have lost their four home games by an average of 20.5 points. And Jacksonville's David Garrard became the seventh quarterback in nine games to register a season-best passing performance against the Detroit defense in a recent Lion setback.

*****QUICK WHISTLE-The Seattle Seahawks were flagged five times for false starts in last week's loss at Miami.

*****QUITE A HEIST-The Bucks made the steal of the draft in Luc Mbah a Moute. While most 2nd round picks struggle just to make the team, this kid from UCLA is starting and closing games. He had 19 points and 17 boards in Milwaukee's overtime win at Memphis last Friday.

*****EVERY BASKET COUNTS-when you're betting on the game. With his team trailing by 9 as the final seconds ticked off last week at Cleveland, the Bucks Richard Jefferson nonchalantly threw up a 28-footer that went in at the buzzer, a gratuitous basket to most observers. But that three pointer took the score from 99-90 to 99-93, which elicited cheers or groans in the Las Vegas sports books depending on which side of the 189.5 total you had bet.

*****THE NAME GAME-I don't know much about the Premier Basketball League but they do have two of pro sports' great franchise names: The Montreal Sasquatch and the Vermont Frost Heaves.

*****LACK OF INTEREST-The Penn State New Kensington women's basketball team had a full schedule. What it didn't have was a full team. Unable to field even a five-player lineup, the school chose to cancel the team's season. Only four players were committed before the season was called off. Last season, the women's team was forced to cancel its remaining schedule at midseason due to a lack of players.

*****A SIGN OF THE TIMES-Selling suites may not be so sweet a business for the New York Yankees in these tough economic times. Seven luxury boxes down the foul lines priced at $600,000 remain available for the 2009 season, the first at the new Yankee Stadium.The team still had seven available in August, too.

*****A SIGN OF THE TIMES #2- The sluggish economy is also impacting the Arizona Diamondbacks front office. The team cut 31 employees from its front office Friday, moves that team President Derrick Hall said were a result of rising expenses and a sluggish economy.

*****SIGN OF THE TIMES #3-According to the Sports Business Journal, the Dallas Cowboys are seeking to borrow an additional $350 million by Dec. 1. The club's proposed deal would refinance $16 million the team borrowed through the now-imploded auction-rate securities market, as well as add new debt to cover cost overruns at the team's $1.2 billion stadium that is set to open next year.

*****WATCH YOUR STUFF-Lucas Leiva has become the latest player on Liverpool's English Premier League soccer team player to fall victim to burglars. The midfielder returned to his home in Woolton following Liverpool's Champions League game with Atlético Madrid on Tuesday night to find that thieves had taken items of football memorabilia, including the bronze medal he won with Brazil at the Olympics three months ago. The incident follows a string of burglaries on the homes of Liverpool players which started in June 2006, when former goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek had his Porsche and football mementoes, including his 2005 Champions League winners' medal, taken from his home in the Wirrall. Dirk Kuyt, Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reina, Daniel Agger and former Anfield striker Peter Crouch have all been burgled subsequently, each of the incidents occuring while the players concerned were on match duty.

Watch our stuff! We're back with more musings next Monday, November 24th.

Since the government is bailing out the banks and the auto industry, what about a stimulus package for the NFL? I'm not talking about the feds pumping in more cash. Pro Football has plenty of that. The league needs an infusion of talent. 2008 is offering fans of the gridiron the most mediocre product since the nation's heartiest young men started strapping on helmets on Sundays in the fall.

Has there been a worse division in the history of professional sports than this season's NFC West? Three of the four teams are 2-7. And the only reason Arizona leads this woeful gathering at 6-3 are three Cardinal wins against the West's bottom-feeders.

The AFC West is only slightly better. The Broncos are the division "leader" at a robust 5-4, despite giving up 27 more points than they have scored.

But before we get too snooty here in the heartland, let's take a hard look at our NFL neck of the woods. The NFC North is comical. The two 5-4 first place teams are the Bears, whose offense staggers and stumbles in perpetual search of a quarterback. Chicago is tied with the Vikings which are led by the ancient Gus Frerotte who threw three interceptions last Sunday against the Packers but Gus's guys still won the contest because the 4-5 Pack can't get through a round of pre-game calisthenics without drawing half-a-dozen penalty flags.

Where are the great teams? Is Tennessee really a "great" team? Sure the Titans are 9-0 but five of those wins came against clubs with losing records and two other victories were triumphs over 5-4 squads. The 8-1 Giants are admittedly impressive winning their last three games at Pittsburgh, at home against Dallas and at Philadelphia. But as of right now, the monsters of Broadway are the only bonafide "cut above" team on the whole Sunday circuit.

Where has all the quality gone? Hobbled Quarterbacks have hobbled it badly. With Tom Brady and Tony Romo out and Peyton Manning slowed by knee problems, overall offensive output is dropping faster than the Dow Jones. With seven weeks left in the campaign, a couple of clubs may start late season runs and emerge as truly superior. Let's hope so, or the last team left standing on Super Bowl Sunday will be nothing more than the best of the worst.

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the end of World War One. The "Great War" is a subject with which I have recently become entranced. I have been reading much about the conflict and there are three issues that really stand out.

The overall human cost of the war. 20 million military and civilian deaths. 40 million casualties overall. The loss of a generation. There were 630-thousand French widows by 1918.

The war was totally preventable. Unlike the clear cut reasons for the start of World War Two, an obscure incident started WW1. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was assasinated by a Bosnian Serb. The Austro-Hungarian retaliation against Serbia could have been the beginning and end of all hostilities. But that retaliation led to a series of alliances resulting in Germany, Russia, France, England and eventually the United States joining in the continent wide combat.

The war could have turned out much differently, if a German U-boat hadn't sunk the passenger ship Lusitania in 1915. 128 Americans were killed in that attack. At that point, the U.S. was neutral and there was no small contingent of American support for complete non-intervention in the war, a view that this was strictly "Europe's problem." The U.S. had little emotional attachment and in fact some resentment for Great Britain. A British shipyard built two warships for the Confederacy during the Civil War, a conflict still fresh in the minds of many in the States. But when Americans on the Lusitania died in the cold Atlantic waters, the U.S. attitude changed, led to Americans joining the fight in 1917, a fight the Allies would not have won without U.S. involvement.

Nearly two million Germans died in battle, but one who survived would make a great contribution to world literature and write what I consider to be the most compelling account of the horrors of this war. "Storm of Steel" is a diary written by German officer Ernst Junger who would become a successful novelist. Here is his description of trench warfare:

You cower in a heap alone in a hole and feel yourself a victim of a pitiless thirst for destruction. With horror you feel that all your intelligence, your capacities, your bodily and spiritual chracteristics have become utterly meaningless and absurd. While you think it, a lump of metal that will crush you into a shapeless nothing may have started on its course.

Today is Veterans Day, a day to remember not just the end of the "War to end all wars," but to pay tribute to all of the American military. If you know or see someone who has served our country or who is still serving, take a minute today to tell them "Thank you."

*****THE GAMES THAT REALLY MATTER-Here's just another reminder that preseason games in any pro sport are meaningless. The Lions, now 0-9, were 4-0 in exhibition play last summer.

*****SILVER LINING-The Kansas City media are desperate for positive news about the Chiefs. Here was the headline in the Kansas City Star after the Chiefs surrendered a huge lead and lost to Tampa Bay November 2nd: "At least Chiefs were in a position to blow it at the end."

*****THE BRADY EFFECT- Patriots coach Bill Belichick, still reeling after losing QB Tom Brady to injury in week one is mindful of keeping his team healthy. He hasn't let the Patriots practice in full pads since Oct. 17, a sign he's trying not to beat up players who are already beat up.

*****MAKING A LIST-The Yankees' GM Brian Cashman said last week he was shopping for as many as three starting pitchers, "but it's not easy. It's hard enough getting one."

*****DOES THAT INCLUDE SECRET STADIUM SAUCE?-The hotel hosting MLB GM's is as pricey as some of the free agent salaries being tossed around. The St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in California is where the GM's started face-to-face trade talks the lobbies of the hotel, where a bagel goes for $5.50 and a kobe burger with truffle cheese fetches $28.

*****BEST OF THE WORST-Texas shortstop Michael Young became the first infielder to win a Gold Glove from a team with the worst fielding percentage in the majors.

*****GIVE ME BASEBALL OR GIVE ME....-Best nickname of the week? The New Hampshire American Defenders of baseball's independent Can-Am League

*****HAIR TODAY-Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony is in the beauty business opening the barbershop "Studio 15"(his jersey number) last week. "I always wanted one," he said. Asked what type of 'do you can get there, Anthony smiled and said: "All sorts, all sorts. Each gender. And there's lineups, a cosmetologist, manicure, pedicure. We've got the works."

*****HAIL TO THE CELTS?-Celtic guard Rajon Rondo wants to win a 2nd straight NBA championship and get invited to meet Barack Obama at the Whitehouse. Asked if he thought Obama would greet the Celtics as a fan, Rondo said, "He's probably a Celtics fan now. A lot of people love to watch us play."

*****A FOUL SITUATION-Former Tosa East and Badgers star Devin Harris shot 24 free throws in the Nets win over Detroit Friday. The rest of the team took just 12 foul shots.

*****GOOD GRIEF!-- New Jersey City University will honor longtime coach Charlie Brown by naming the main basketball court in its athletic center in his honor. The dedication of "Charlie Brown Court" will take place prior to the Gothic Knights' season opener against York College (N.Y.) on Nov. 15.

*****STAY ON THE COURSE NOT ON THE HORSE-Pro Golfer Anthony Kim limped around the links at last week's tournament in China after badly spraining his right ankle and bruising his jaw while horseback riding recently. He said the horse raised up and as it came down, his mouth slammed shut as his mount hit the ground. "I don't know what's going on with it," Kim said of his jaw. "I just can't open my mouth very wide." "My diet is pretty much limited to noodles," he added.

*****THE NAME GAME-One of Kim's competitors in China was S.S.P. Chowrasia, a golfer from India. His given name is Shiv Shankar Prasad but his nickname is "Chip-putt-sia" because of his short game.

We'll tee off with more musings next Monday, November 17th.

After watching way too much football this past weekend, I am certain of two things: I watched way too much football this weekend and both the NCAA and NFL could benefit from adopting one rule from each other's playbook.

What a finish in Lubbock where Texas Tech stunned top-ranked Texas in the final seconds! With that victory, Tech jumped to #2 in the BCS standings. Alabama is #1 which means if the season ended today, the Crimson Tide and Red Raiders would play for the national championship. Those are certainly deserving teams, but this year, there are a boat load of deserving teams. Penn State, Florida, USC, Oklahoma and the just defeated Longhorns must be included in the discussion. But alas, only two of the above will get to play for the title. The NCAA should take a page from the pros and have a playoff. Take the top 8 teams. Keep the current bowl structure with the 8 teams playing off in 7 currently existing pre-selected bowls that would rotate quarterfinals, semis and championship. All the other bowls would remain in place. Let the best teams face each other to decide the champion as opposed to some bizarre computer formula which factors in everything from strength of schedule to the number of Tuba players in the school band.

What a finish in Nashville where the Packers lost in overtime without getting the ball! This is another example of the archaic NFL O.T. rule being nonsensical and unfair(and I would say that even if the Packers had won) After two teams battle heroically for 60 minutes without resolution, it is absurd that a coin toss gives one of those squads an immense advantage. The NFL should imitate its college brethren in overtime giving each team the ball on the 25 and playing it out until one side outscores the other. This system is equitable and it works. No one in the NCAA ranks has complained so far. The NFL should give both teams a chance. Those of us who watch way too much football demand nothing less.

*****NOT A SUITE DEAL-11 of 21 luxury suites on one side of Detroit's Ford Field were empty for the Lions recent game with the Redskins. And for the first time at Ford Field, the Lions couldn't sell out, the game was not televised.

*****SLOW STARTERS-The Oakland Raiders scored one first-half touchdown in their first seven games. They had 43 possessions and 209 plays in the first two quarters, producing just one trip to the end zone.

*****WASHINGTON WOES-The University of Washington football team can't win for losing. The Huskies are winless, their coach Tyrone Willingham has been shown the door and before UW's recent game with Notre Dame even started, tackle Senior Kelemete injured his knee in pre-game warmups.

*****CONSOLATION BRACKET-9 teams qualified for the Wisconsin high school football playoffs despite the fact that they had losing records. Milwaukee Custer got in with a record of 3-6

*****QUITE A CATCH- An Arkansas high school player set a single game national receiving record last week with 24 catches for 421 yards. J.D. Felice also scored six touchdowns for Rose Bud high school, which apparently doesn't have much of a defense. Despite Felice's considerable efforts, Rose Bud still lost the game 64-55.

*****ALUMNI DAY-Three former Brewer pitchers all got new gigs this past Friday. Chris Bosio was named pitching coach of the Reds' minor league team in the Carolina League, Doug Henry was appointed minor league roving pitching coach for the Royals, and Chuck Crim was tabbed as pitching coach for the Dodgers farm team in Ogden, Utah.

*****SAMMY THE RAIN-MAKER The president of the Dominican Republic has appointed Sammy Sosa the country's ambassador of foreign investment. Sosa, who has said he plans to announce his retirement from baseball soon, will be responsible for attracting U.S. investors to the Caribbean country for project development.

*****A HARD FALL-Just three years after he led the majors with 47 saves, Chad Cordero was assigned to Triple-A by the Washington Nationals. He refused the assignment and is now a free agent.

*****IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?-The Anaheim Ducks' 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets last week was seen by just 10,494 fans, the smallest NHL crowd ever at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

*****GOT THEIR NUMBER-Mike Knuble, Simon Gagne and Joffrey Lupul each scored two goals and the Philadelphia Flyers earned their 11th straight win over the Atlanta Thrashers with 7-0 victory Tuesday night.

*****FEELING OLD YET?-Former NHL star Mark Messier's son is now playing for the Charlotte Checkers of the East Coast Hockey League.

*****GOOD WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT-Four golfers were quite fortunate to compete in last week's Kiwi challenge. Hunter Mahan got 1.5 million for winning the event. Anthony Kim settled for 2nd place and a paltry 500 K. Brant Snedeker took third(350 K) and Adam Scott finished 4th and last and took home a cool quarter million for basically just showing up.

*****BIG LITTLE TOWN- When they attend games in Germany's top soccer league, the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim fans wear T-shirts with the inscription, "The entire village is here." It may not be an overstatement. Hoffenheim has fewer than 3,300 inhabitants, yet the club draws more than 25,000 to home games. When its new stadium is finished in January, it will have the capacity to seat nearly 10 times the population of the village. And little Hoffenheim is playing big too, currently at the top of the league standings.

We hope to draw quite a crowd with more musings next Monday, November 10th.

It's me against the squirrels. This is war. Years back, I purchased a special bird feeder that cost only slightly less than I paid for my first car. It is spring-loaded to shut the open slots for feed when a squirrel stands on it. But the little varmints found a way to hang from the side of the feeder, distributing their weight in such a fashion that the slots won't close, while the four-footed foragers graze on the suddenly available seed inside.

So I bought myself a "baffle," a dome shaped plastic device put over the feeder meant to keep the squirrels away. I also bought a water pistol, telling the store clerk it was "a gag gift" for a Halloween costume to avoid the embarassment of divulging the real truth: this was a critter cannon designed to soak-scare these yard rats off my feeder. The squirrels figured out how to navigate past the baffle. And the water pistol? After being frightened at first, the squirrels now treat the liquid volleys as a refreshing shower in the middle of their lunch.

So I got a second baffle, and put it under the first baffle. And this seems to be working most of the time. These pea-brained pillagers appear daunted by the double obstacle although I have witnessed some alarmingly athletic manuevers, dramatic dives with Jordan-like hangtime, affording my mortal enemies occasional success. George Harrison, a local bird expert and author of "Squirrel Wars," wrote that he once saw a squirrel try 26 consecutive times to get into a feeder, succeeding on the 27th effort and on every endeavor thereafter.

So this is a cunning, relentless foe I face on the field of honor. But I shan't back down. I will fight them on the grass, on the driveway and in the garage. Victory must be mine.

*****THE JOINT IS JUMPIN'-At the start of the 4th quarter Saturday at Camp Randall, at least a dozen Illinois players were "Jumping Around" along with thousands of UW students to the House of Pain's anthem to start the final period. The Badgers jumped on the Illini with ten unanswered points in the last 15 minutes to get their first Big Ten victory of '08

*****WON IF BY LAND, ZERO BY AIR-Navy beat SMU 34-7 on Saturday despite not completing a single pass.

*****SITUATION HOPELESS #1-Chiefs coach Herm Edwards summing up his winless football team,"We don't have any strengths right now."

*****SITUATION HOPELESS #2-Former Packer coach Mike Holmgren in his final year with the Seahawks after his team was trounced by Green Bay, said he hasn't had a team this bad since he was teaching high school in San Francisco three decades ago. "It reminds me of when I first started coaching at Sacred Heart High School, you know? We were kind of overmatched all the time, playing against better players for a while."

*****SITUATION HOPELESS #3-Finlandia University, in northern Michigan has a women's soccer team that can't wait for this season to end, with a 2-14 record, 8 goals scored, 114 surrendered.

*****THE NAME GAME #1-In Brookfield East's 2-0 win over Wauwatosa West in Saturday's High School Soccer regionals, East's first goal was scored by Luke Goodnetter.

*****THE NAME GAME #2-Cristiano Ronaldo, star striker for English soccer club Manchester United was named after Ronald Reagan. His father was not a staunch Republican. Reagan was his dad's favorite film star.

*****TRUE CONFESSIONS-Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is in hot water with the FA after he wrote in his autobiography that he wished he had punched Nemanja Vidic during the Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester United in May. Drogba has also confirmed that his mind can wander during matches and suggests that he has missed goal scoring chances as a result. Drogba has admitted that he can drift off mentally, especially when play is at the other end of the field. "Yes, it happens to me many times, it happens to every one of us," Drogba said. "It's funny because there are some times in the game where you don't touch the ball for a while and then you realise that the crowd is there, or they're not reacting, or you notice something specific going on and focus on it."

*****WEARING MANY HATS- John Jay College in New York City just appointed Diane Ramirez women's basketball coach. She was also named the team's equipment manager.

We'll get the job done again next Monday, November 3rd when we return with more musings.

Amidst all the recent news of global financial turmoil, I have been paying great attention to one story in particular. Iceland is broke. Busted. Currency downgraded. Banks nationalized. Collective pockets turned inside out.

Thought much about Iceland lately? I have. I want to visit there. And I'm finding out I'm not alone. There's just something about that piece of ground surrounded by the north Atlantic. It's a mysterious nation with a prehistoric landscape populated by peculiar legends of elves and fairies. Yet is also a pretty hip place. Reykjavik is an emerging business center. Just about everyone there can speak English and they will readily tell you that their average temperature in January is warmer than New York City's.

And it is so close! Iceland Air has a direct flight from Minneapolis that takes just 6 hours. Round trip is about 600 bucks. That's about the same travel time and cost as a trip to L.A. If you look at a map, you can see Iceland is almost off the coast of Maine. This enchanted land, this whole different world, is practically our neighbor.

My friend Jon is equally smitten with these thoughts. He watches a newcast from Iceland that airs every night on cable. He doesn't understand a word the reporters are saying, but the pictures are taking him THERE. Recently, I watched a documentary on an Icelandic band, Sigur Ros Heima. They're a bit like Coldplay but with a screechy lead singer. So I turned down the volume and took in panoramic shots of glaciers, mountains and valleys. What time does that flight leave from the Twin Cities?

I came upon a respected colleague at the station a few weeks back and saw him looking at a world atlas opened to.... Iceland. The computer on his desk showed the Icelandic tourism web page. He looked up from his screen. "I've always been fascinated by that country," he told me. I nodded in response with a knowing smile. Yeah, baby. Let's go. With the country now hurting for cash, American tourists are bound to find some glacier-sized bargains.

*****'TIL THE COWS COME HOME-If you noticed it was a bit loud at Tampa's Tropicana Field the last couple days - and it was - you weren't alone. It was just as loud for the players in the bullpen, underneath a layer of cowbells and PA music. So Manny Delcarmen did his best to help out his eardrums, and those of his teammates."There are like two rows of fans right behind us," he said. "The bells are right here [as he put his hand to his ear. I gave a ball to a little girl [Saturday], so she would stop ringing the bell. And she stopped. I mean, I could hear better."

*****TOOTHLESS TIGERS-Since franchise founder Paul Brown died before the 1991 season, the Bengals have started a season with six losses far more times than any other team. This is the sixth time in those 18 years that they've done it. The Bengals also had notable 0-for starts in 1991 under coach.  Sam Wyche (0-8), in 1993 under Dave Shula (0-10), again in 1994 under Shula (0-8), in 2000 under Bruce Coslet, who quit halfway through an 0-6 start, and in 2002 under Dick LeBeau (0-7).

*****TEXAS TOUGH- A Dallas Morning News Blogger had little sympathy for Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo-"A BROKEN PINKIE FINGER!? Hahahaha! Romo, if you read this, I want you to know...you are a sissy!"

*****READY, SET, HIKE!-The New England Patriots topped all NFL teams by increasing ticket pricesthis year by almost 30 percent to an average of $117.64.

*****PENTHOUSE  TO OUTHOUSE- Omaha Central High won Nebraska's large-school state football championship 11 months ago, and the Eagles haven't won a game since. The school that produced greats such as Gale Sayers and Ahman Green is on the verge of the biggest flop ever by a returning champion. No team has gone winless as a follow-up to its title season since high school playoffs started in Nebraska in 1975.

*****EVIL TWIN-Lakers forward Lamar Odom who had been on opposite poles of Coach Phil Jackson for weeks, publicly questioning him at the team's annual media day, but an olive branch was extended last week. "That was like my alter-ago talking," Odom said of last month's outburst. "Seriously. That's Odom. Not Lamar. I'm being dead serious. I'm a good locker-room dude. I don't want to be detrimental to the team, especially, like, how this is a championship-caliber team."

*****BASKETBALL BUCKS-The news from Los Angeles that 99 percent of season ticket holders for the Lakers had renewed for the upcoming season was a rare note of economic cheer during a time of economic chaos. The fact that it was accomplished despite price hikes that raised the cost of Jack Nicholson's seats  at Staples Center to $2,500 a game would seem at first glance to be an indication that big-time sports may be recession-resistant.

*****BASKETBALL CUTS-But the NBA office just cut 80 jobs, so you know pro basketball is not recession-proof.

*****SWEET SPONSOR-London Olympic executives are set to announce a multimillion-pound sponsorship deal to provide welcome relief from the gloom of the credit crunch hanging over sport. It is understood that Cadbury will sign up to sponsor the 2012 Games in a contract that could be worth 40 million dollars.

*****SPEEDWAY SHUFFLE-Four top drivers, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer will change their major sponsors next season.

*****NOT A SUPERIOR EFFORT-UW-Superior's women's soccer team is 0-7 in WIAC play, hasn't scored a goal in those conference games while surrendering 45.

We'll give it our best effort with more musings next Monday, October 27th.

Not like Michael Jordan. Everybody wants to be like that Mike. I want to be like Mike Redmond. He's the Minnesota Twins backup catcher who just signed a one year extension with the team for 950-thousand dollars. Mike Redmond played in 38 games last season. That works out to my hero getting paid 25-thousand bucks per contest. In all fairness, Redmond did bat .287 in limited duty backing up Minnesota's redoubtable receiver Joe Mauer and is a career .292 hitter. Redmond was praised by Twins' management as being "a great guy to have in the clubhouse." If I only had to work 7 months a year, and  just one out of 4 days during those 7 months for that kind of cash, I'd be a great guy too.

I am Redmond's biggest fan because he has made a handsome career out of being a bit part player. In 11 seasons, he's seen action in just  697 games. He's competed sparingly because he's had the misfortune(or good fortune) of playing behind two aces; Mauer and Ivan Rodriguez. And did we mention that while playing(or not playing) with Rodriguez in Florida, Redmond picked up a World Series ring?

The 37-year-old Redmond was thrilled to get a new deal with the Twins and said he hopes to play until he's 40. 40? Why stop there? Being so well-preserved, Mike Redmond could still occasionally strap on the gear when he's 50. And that gear is a lot less expensive with an AARP discount.

*****BREWER ALUMNI GAME-When Tampa clinched its ALDS with the Whitesox, ex-Brewers Gabe Gross and Grant Balfour were on the field for the final out.

*****WHAT'S THE CALL?-Now that the Rays are in the playoffs, America's baseball fans are becoming acquainted with the many eccentricities of Tampa's Tropicana Field, the only park in baseball whose ground rules distinguish between four possible calls that can be made on balls that strike one of several catwalks suspended over the field. ("Batted ball that is not judged a home run and remains on a catwalk, light or suspended object: Two Bases.")

*****ROUGH ROOM-One Chicago columnist suggested that if the Rays win the World Series on the heels of championships for fellow league newcomers Arizona and Florida that the Cubs, whose title drought has reached 100 years, should fold and Chicago should apply for an NL expansion franchise.

*****TOUGH TICKET- Phillies fans are shelling out major cash to see their team in the playoffs. StubHub suggested last Thursday that the average price for a Phillies ticket for the NLCS would be $222. Tickets into the NLDS at the park averaged around $145.

*****C'MON, LIVE A LITTLE-One Philadelphia baseball writer was not happy about the atmosphere in Milwaukee for game 4 of the NLDS, writing, "It is is Thunder Stick afternoon here at Miller Park. If you aren't aware of what Thunder Sticks are like, imagine sitting inside a giant bass drum while a junior high school band member who hasn't quite learned the intricacies of rhythm pounds away."

*****OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN?-The National Hockey League has an unwritten rule that a goalie cannot be team captain. Vancouver is breaking that rule this year making Robert Luongo the captain.The Vancouver captain, forbidden by NHL rules from wearing the letter on his jersey because he's a goalie, sported a "C" on his mask Sunday night against Anaheim in the final exhibition game. He became the first goalie in 61 seasons to receive the honor after Bill Durnan served as captain of the Montreal Canadiens in 1947-48.

*****CONFERENCE CALL-The most bizarre college sports conference in America? My vote goes to College Hockey America. The CHA consists of four longtime bitter natural rivals: Alabama Huntsville, Bemidji State, Niagara and Robert Morris.

*****EXPENSIVE LETTERS-Insurance giant American International Group Inc., which was bailed out by the U.S. government last month, pays  $27.4 million annually for its branding(AIG)to be emblazoned across Manchester United's jerseys.

*****DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT?-Tottenham Hotspur, the most disappointing team in the English Premier Soccer League, is at the bottom of the league standings and the butt of many jokes. In fact, the London Times is encouraging people to send in their favorite jokes. Here's one: "What does a toothpick and Tottenham have in common? They both have two points."

*****THIS CADDIE IS NO CAD- Tiger Woods' New Zealand-born caddie has made the most of his employer's injury-enforced absence from golf to raise $620,000 for child cancer sufferers. Caddie Steve Williams presented the money to Auckland's Starship Hospital to help fund the construction of a new cancer ward. Williams promised to raise the money for the hospital a year ago after visiting child cancer patients. As you might imagine, one of his main sources of income is auctioning Tiger Woods memorabilia.

*****KICK-BUTT P.M.-Vladimir Putin is out on video as a judo expert.On Tuesday, he presented an instructional judo DVD that bears his name and shows him throwing an opponent to the mat."Let's Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin" is the product of collaboration between Putin -- a black belt -- and former World and Olympic judo champion Yasuhiro Yamashita. At a nighttime presentation minutes into his 56th birthday,Putin said the title was little more than an "advertising trick."Anyone who watches it "will be learning not from your humble servant but from real geniuses" of the martial art, he said.

*****NUMBER ONE, FAIR AND SQUARE-The leading horse in the latest National Standardbred poll conducted by Harness Racing Communications is named "Deweycheatumnhow."

No cheatin' here. We're back with more musings next Monday, October 20th.

September was an agonizing month for Brewers fans. Every contest meant something. Milwaukee baseball supporters have also experienced the angst of Packer games, but not 25 of them in 30 days.

The darkest and most intense day was September 18th. After the disastrous 4-game collapse in Philadelphia, the Brewers had split the first two games of a series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field and had a chance to take game 3 to seriously reverse the mojo. So much at stake. My wife and I couldn't bear to watch the entire live telecast but couldn't resist tuning in late in the afternoon for an update. We clicked on FSN. The Brewers led 6-2.

"Turn it off!" my wife exclaimed. And I did, immediately realizing the logic of this. The team had done well with us not watching. We would continue to not watch. We dove into our current books, hoping that immersing ourselves in literature would at least distract us somewhat from the events 90 miles to our south. 20 minutes passed. I needed some air. I decided to run a few errands.

I was backing out of my driveaway, car radio turned off, still disconnected from the pennant race when I heard my neighbor John through his open kitchen window. "Oh, no! Oh my God!" That was of course the moment Salomon Torres gave up the three-run homer that tied the game the Brewers would eventually lose.

For the next two weeks, I resigned myself to the fact the my neighbor's  anguished cry of "Oh no! Oh my God!" would be my defining soundtrack of yet another fruitless Brewers season. Happily, it is not.

CC Sabathia laughing while being doused with the gallon of champagne needed to thoroughly soak him. Ear-splitting cheers when Phillies' leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins had two strikes in the count in the top of the first inning Saturday night. Silence at the Miller Park concession stands early in game three because no fan wanted to miss a second of their team being part of the most priviliged inner circle in professional sports. That will be my soundtrack of the 2008 Brewers. They could have won the division. They could have won their NLDS. But all in all, it still sounds pretty sweet.

*****SERIES-LY EXPENSIVE--If the Brewers had made it to the World Series, Miller Park lower level tickets that sold for 32.00 during the regular season would have cost 225.00. They were 45.00 for the NLDS, 75.00 for the NLCS.

*****ROUGH ROOM-Some fans at Miller Park had fun at the Cubs' expense Sunday, a day after the Cubbies were swept by the Dodgers. Two fans held up an "L" flag, which flies above Wrigley when the Cubs lose. Two other fans paraded through the concourse holding a sign that proclaimed "100 years and counting"(with a Cubs logo on the "C") and a jersey which read "Bartman 1908," referencing the infamous Cub fan who interfered with Moises Alou in the 2003 NLCS and the last year the Cubs won the World Series.

*****UNFAIR ADVANTAGE-The Minnesota Twins had to play their division tiebreaking game at Chicago despite beating the Whitesox 10 times in 18 games this season. And Twins players were not thrilled with the fact the dirt around home plate was ''very wet'' during their game Tuesday, hindering bunting and favoring the Sox who play a game of lumbering long ball.

*****TIMING IS EVERYTHING- The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals finished 83-78, won the division and ultimately the World Series. The 2008 Cards won 86 games and finished in 4th place.

*****SPEAKING OF WHICH-Are the Dodgers this year's '06 Cards? They were the best team in a bad division and are getting hot at the right time.

*****WE ARE THE WORLD- In NCAA men's basketball, non-U.S. players now account for 8% of all Division I players - one in every 12½.

*****THE NAME GAME #1-Best football matchup last weekend: Lakeland College(the Muskies) defeated Rockford(the Regents)

***** THE NAME GAME #2- There is a motorcycle racer from Australia named Casey Stoner

*****WHAT'S A GUY GOTTA DO-to play goalkeeper for a national team? In the case of Manuel Almunia, a native Spaniard who plays for the English club Arsenal, get a UK passport so he can play for England's keeper-straved squad. He's out of luck in Spain where Iker Casillas(Real Madrid) and Pepe Reina(Liverpool) are firmly ensconced in the nets.

*****SENIOR MUSHER- One of the sled-dog racers who signed up for the Iditarod is Gary Paulsen, the 69-year-old author of children's books, had previously signed up and then dropped out before getting back in the race last Wednesday.

We'll have all our dogs in a row for more musings and perhaps mushings, next Monday, October 13th.