Samurai Bucky

One of my favorite pictures of Alando:

When Longo was brought in, it reminded me of the change in philosophy Gary Andersen brought with him. It wasn't an Air Raid type of situation, but it was a change from the standard Badger philosophy. Kudos to Fickell to having the huevos to do this now. It was obvious to everybody that things just weren't working on the offensive side of the ball. Here is another tweet from Potrykus that sheds some good light on what might have happened if he let him stay on. Here are some things that frustrated me about the offense: Dead ball penalties. There simply seems to be a lack of discipline on the offensive side of the ball. This improved over last year. I went to one game last year against Buffalo, and their heads weren't where they should have been. This is coaching. Make your offense fit your players. Is your offense so structured that there aren't plays designed to fit better with your backup quarterback? They started using motion a little more, but probably not enough IMHO. This is coaching. Braedyn Locke. He has made some poor decisions. However, I don't know if he was put into a position to succeed. Did you notice something on the late touchdown that was called back due to a penalty? He threw the touchdown pass LEFT HANDED!!!!! Nobody mentioned anything on TV and I haven't seen anything on Social Media regarding that. How many times was there a run / run option where he didn't keep the ball? Keep the ball to, at least, keep the defense honest. I'm not saying Locke shouldn't be blamed for what happened, but I think the coaching staff has to do a better job. So this is Player Performance and Coaching. Trying to throw a football through the head of a needle. If the pass was 5-15 yards, Locke seemed like he had to throw it 100MPH to get it through the traffic. Were there any plays called where he could put touch on it? Yeah... the opening play where he doesn't float it over the outstretched hand of the Edge rusher... he should have done much better. I also saw something where people think they can't get athletes to come to Wisconsin. Sorry... I don't buy it. They need to have a great win against Nebraska this weekend to show the offense they can win. I believe Fickell will be able to keep a good number of the guys who show they can get open. I still don't have full trust in Tressel's defense, but a team doesn't hold the #1 team in the Country to 16 points without doing something right. I am hoping for two more wins. This means the ax stays in Madison, another bowl game, and a positive outlook for 2025.

I'm sure there will be some type of statement from the Big Ten... not.

No different than people looking at their phones while driving. 🤦‍♂️ Well... maybe a little different. Neuralink is next...

The players really don't care. Those "billionaire" owners are just trying to stick it to the players. Having teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets allows the players' salaries to keep creeping up. https://www.forbes.com/sites/berniepleskoff/2024/02/15/major-league-baseball-team-payroll-disparity-continues-to-escalate/

This is wonderful!!!!

I think Prince had hit a three pointer from the wing and one of the play by play guy had said, "That looks like the Celtics." I liked the spacing. I liked that the Bucks were more consistent with their threes. Bobby P still missed some bunnies and made some poor decisions. They also made Maxey work. I liked that, too. It did seem like the refs swallowed the whistle a little more than usual. I heard the term "point of emphasis" a lot during the broadcast. What is the NBA supposedly focusing on in regards to allowing the defense to play defense better? The Maxey cross body block on Giannis should not have been called differently... 😉

The Packers did this for a long time by having some home games in Milwaukee. It is a little different, but somewhat similar. I wouldn't be in favor of sharing the team.

Sounds like he could be solid and the Pitching Lab might help him to get that K rate up some more. My guess he ends up with the Dodgers. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/10/npbs-chunichi-dragons-to-post-shinnosuke-ogasawara.html

I'm not surprised. <Insert the "we get no respect" card here> I'll bet if Alabama loses again this week and has three losses, they will still be in the top 25.

Notre Dame opens -17 vs. Navy. It moves to -13. That would be a big upset if Navy wins.

I am trying to be a realist when it comes to next week. I see Penn State opens -6.5. Consensus seems to lean towards -10 before long.

Here is an article outlining some options for other locations: https://www.news-press.com/story/sports/mlb/2024/10/18/tampa-bay-rays-stadium-options-tropicana-field-roof-ripped-off-hurricane-milton/75723010007/ If the bleachers are still retractable, I wouldn't be surprised if they go with Hard Rock. Although, a second team in Miami will be difficult since the primary team doesn't draw the best. I know the big deal is to have a place with a roof. Not sure that is going to be feasible. I wonder if Disney wouldn't pony up a little by installing 20,000 seats (perhaps temporary). That would be just under 30K. Disney does this and it would be a nice influx of money for them. There is a train that goes from Tampa to Orlando. Perhaps there could be a discount for those who have tickets to the game. So, I'm guessing ESPN's Wide World of Sports.

I would very much like to buy him a beer. He would show his loyalty by insisting on Spotted Cow. If he wants Yuengling, then we know he is a traitor. 😉

There is a small difference that, I believe, which might be exactly what you are talking about. This made more of an impact on the home run vs. the shorter swing. There is a saying when teaching hitting -- short to... long through. This means that at toe touch, your hands aren't going to be as far back in the stance. They get quick to the zone, but instead of pivoting with a rotation of the wrists, there is almost a sort of a push with the top hand. If you pause the two videos above at the point of contact, the first one is further back in the zone while the second one is hit in front of the plate a little more. That is because he used more top hand power allowing the bat to snap better. This is more pronounced with some hitters (Freddy Freeman comes to mind). By squaring up in front of the plate more allows the top hand to give more power on the plane of the ball. Frelick certainly did that here. Go Crew!

On the TNT broadcast with the awesome stats on the screen, the guys said the closer was the best in baseball. Now I know how to jinx a closer. They said the same thing about Devin... 😢

So, what is "Qualified?" I noticed Frelick isn't on there, but when I set it to 0 games, it shows DRS of 16. If Frelick has a DRS of 16 and has only 776 innings, calculating it out to Turang's 1277 innings would give Frelick a DRS of 26. Crazy. I noticed the Fielding Bible has Frelick at 1132 innings and 15 DRS. Potato, po-tAH-toe

By the way, I really like Jeff Levering.

... or maybe he is so good at his job, we don't know the difference. When he does MLB games on TNT/TBS, he is professional getting "excited" for both sides. When he broadcasts Brewers games, he gets more excited for the Brewers for sure. I appreciate how he does change his tone to be a little looser with his announcing when he is broadcasting Brewers games. I know some don't appreciate that, but I don't tune in to listen to a commentator from the NBC Nightly News. I remember seeing a video from Barstool Sports during game 2 of the Wildcard. They were complaining at how the announcers had a different "inflection" when the Brewers did well. They talked about how announcers hate the Mets. Here is the video (hopefully it starts at the point I put it -- 2:35:00): Ever fan base gets worked up when announcers aren't being homers for them. The bottom line is he is definitely doing it for the money. He is also a Brewers guy and I have no problem with him coming back to do games. Heck, the Brewers could have told Uecker to pound sand when he was doing TV and baseball on ABC, but they didn't. BA earned this and I am happy he grew into the announcer he is broadcasting for the Brewers.

Great stuff, @Jim French Stepstool

Baseball is a (sometimes) Olympic sport. I wonder if a certain school would consider adding it. Wash... rinse... repeat. I got to see Lee Kemp wrestle against Marquette at the Marquette Old Gym. The golden years of Wisconsin Wrestling. I didn't realize how many specialty academies there are in the Wisconsin area for wrestling. It shouldn't surprise me since there are soccer, basketball, and baseball academies all over the place. It has been a while since I have been involved in the wrestling scene.

double post... zoinks!

Late to this party. I always thought Bichette was a top hitter. In the academy where I helped coach, we would use Bichette's two-strike approach as a template for our hitters. Then he seemed to fall off the table. Here is a Reddit post that outlines what has happened. If he is truly injury prone, I don't know how much of a chance the Crew can take.

You are correct with the partial scholarships. There have been players I have coached recently that went to D1 Softball and Baseball schools. They were often talking about receiving half scholarships, etc. I checked the Big Ten website, and the wrestling teams out west are not listed. I checked out the schools' athletic sites and it appears they are club, too. Perhaps that will be elevated with the additional revenue.

Aren't the Wrestling teams club sports from the four new additions?