Samurai Bucky

Essegian needs to work on the mullet, for sure.

What happens to those who enter the Portal and do not sign? If that was covered in the previous 25 pages, I apologize ?

This also isn't entirely true. I had one daughter transfer from La Crosse to Milwaukee for nursing and not all nursing related credits transferred. I also know other students that had the same issue transferring from Oshkosh to Green Bay for example. There are parameters around the transfer, but I think it is easier than it was. It depends on the field of study, and how much of a money grab is involved.

How else is he going to scuff up the ball while on the bump? ??

Bob McGrath (Bob from Sesame Street) died at age 90 after a stroke. He was one of the original cast members.

Justin "JT" Taylor is also coming this weekend. Tressel went to visit him on Friday.

My son went to the game with his girlfriend and sat in the student section. He is a Wisconsin fan and she attends Marquette. Reluctantly, he wore a gold-colored shirt. There were other Badger fans in the student section who wore the Cardinal and White. I guess if there were any issues between Marquette fans and Wisconsin fans in the student section, the Wisconsin fan was removed from the section. The F-Wisconsin chant was quite telling, too.

I know it is somewhat "apples and oranges," but when I watch high level club teams from EPL and La Liga, there is often a pass and move component to it. Weah did that and Dest(?) found him on a 1-2 which was huge. During most of the first half, even in the attacking third, it was: receive the pass, stop the ball, and then decide what to do with it while a lot of your teammates stand around. Maybe they watched the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team. But I digress... When you do that in the mid or even towards the defensive side, you let the Netherlands regain their shape. There was rarely any dynamic play. In the second half when they were in the offensive zone more, the US did what they have done so many times -- played U7 soccer. Your teammate has the ball at the top corner of the 18 and what should you do? I guess the answer is to get 2-3 other US attackers within 5-10 feet of the ball because that is what they did. When you do that, you bring your defender with you and even Lionel Messi couldn't dribble through that. During the next four years, US team members need to learn how to take a good one touch in the box to create space... and then strike it WITH POWER! Most times when they were in the box, they didn't seem to have a plan. They were not prepared and subsequently failed. Robinson had maybe 2-3 good touches or plays? I don't care if he is as fast as the Flash -- if he constantly gives the ball away on the first touch, he shouldn't be on the field. Very poor Now, there were some good things, I thought. Matt Turner is very good. Is he Tim Howard, good? Not yet. He is the backup at Arsenal... I wonder if he will be transferred to some other club where he can be the primary GK. Christian Pulisic is the real deal. The weight on his passes is almost always spot on. The power on his shots needs to improve, but I think he was nursing his injury. He has GUTS and he either needs to play at Chelsea or needs to go somewhere else (Norwich or Man U from what I heard). Tim Weah impressed me today. I was surprised they subbed for him. Looking forward to following the players on their club teams.

If anything else, they could trade for a bunch of guys in their late 20's who are hitting, say, .220?

Texas: where careers go to die.

The Brewers are going to have to do something about Toro's lifetime K% of 17.6%. Gotta bump that up.

Maybe with possibly losing recruits like Amare Snowden will convince McIntosh to bring baseball back to Wisconsin?

In my non-medical-professional opinion, it was a contusion to his, um, how to say this in a forum, his manhood. He got squared big time. Not intentional for sure. I don't know if anybody else came to the same conclusion. When a guy gets hit in the nuts during any game, it seems like it is taboo to say where the player got hit. Perhaps there needs to be a standard phrase when a guy gets hit down there? ?

Wisconsin has no beef up front. They can't box anybody out because they don't have the strength. Crowl is 7'0" and 245? I don't know what a strong seven footer would be, but Crowl doesn't have it. Also, for all of the praise Wahl gets for playing "exceptional defense," his frequent matador impersonations are a joke. Wisconsin needs a guy who can go to the rim and either score, draw the defense, or get a foul. Wisconsin has employed the "run the swing for 7 seconds," then stand around while somebody dribbles the ball for the rest of the clock. They still have a lot of learning to do.

Greg Gard is going to ask for a raise! $3.55MM is chump change compared to Fickell's.

You could certainly see a lack of play when Pulisic was out of the game. Towards the end, there were a lot of long balls where the first touch was atrocious. Also, I don't remember who took that off-balance shot at around the 97th minute, but he needs to take that to the corner and protect it. It would be nice if all of the players could be Premier League worthy, but there are some that aren't. When one of the announcers said that the Free Kick taker for the US had a similar kick in the MLS Cup Final, I literally said, "That really means nothing." If it was in EPL, La Liga, or Serie A, I would have been a little more excited. All in all -- they played harder than I ever saw them play. For those wankers in England that say Pulisic isn't worthy, fit, or doesn't work hard: suck it. Yeah... that's it!

While I'm surprised, I'm not fully disappointed. What I know about Leonhard is that he is the epitome of what it means to be a Badger. Work your ass off and be loyal to your team. Unfortunately, that doesn't always equate to being a good head coach. We don't know what he would have done. Was Wisconsin football ready to roll the dice with him? I guess not. With that said, Fickell is 49. I think this is going to be his destination unless there is something HUGE that comes to pass. Is OSU going to fire Ryan Day? No. If they do, then Ryan Day can come coach at Wisconsin. Some random points: Barry Alvarez was from outside the program. He was a product of Nebraska, Iowa, and Notre Dame. He also had the opportunity to leave for Miami, Fla. and didn't (although he was playing Donna Shalala for more money). I believe that Fickell will stay true to the Badger culture. It probably isn't much different than that at Ohio State -- except the booster and NIL money at OSU is much, much different. Sorry, but when people say that Wisconsin has always been a second-tier program, I have to disagree. They have been to 20-straight bowl games. They were one or two spots away from a BCS bid. Are they at the level of OSU, Alabama, Clemson? No way. Up until this year... and last year, they were very competitive. Remember, Paul Chryst didn't set things ablaze when he coached at Pitt. He was a very good offensive coordinator and I think he was not able to be as successful fulfilling the responsibilities of being a head coach. I have a feeling the same might be said for Jim Leonhard -- good defensive coordinator, but not as good of a head coach. We don't know, and it would probably be better if he got his feet wet somewhere else. How is Dave Aranda doing? He even left for LSU and is the head coach at Baylor. Being a good DC or OC doesn't necessarily mean that person will be a good HC. I saw either Tom Oates or Jeff Potrykus mention that the Badgers had two of their best recruiting classes ever and that recruiting wasn't a problem. Really? No evidence for that. Those journalists are too close to the program to think objectively. Fickell stayed on at OSU after he was the interim head coach and Urban Meyer was hired. Are we sure that Leonhard is going to leave? Everyone thinks he is gone. Of course, they all thought he was going to be the HC. Leonhard might just stay on board. Brad Soderberg all over again? Some have already decommitted. It seems like the ledge is getting very crowded and people are already jumping off. The next few weeks will be interesting for sure.

I only saw the second half of the game. It appeared when somebody like Pulisic came to the top corner of the 18 yard box, ALL of the other forwards were coming towards him. I would have liked to have seen them spread it out a little more and not bring their defenders over. Zimmerman almost cost the US the game... again! That pass in his own zone at the end of the game was almost fatal. Uggh!

Tomorrow (Sunday), Leonhard gets announced as the head coach. Then, he needs to get his recruiting staff together. Chryst didn't spend nearly enough time or money on recruiting. QB, OL, TE are all HUGE needs. It will be interesting to see (if Leonhard is the coach), whom he gets to make up his staff.

Why are they "fake papers?" It is a paper saying that they are committing to play at that school. Better yet, there is direct intent to play at that school. Has this tradition changed recently? Sure. Did the D3 kids "earn" the right to receive money from a college institution in the form of an athletic scholarship? No. So, if the definition of signing a letter of intent is to "intend to receive money in the form of an athletic scholarship to attend [insert school here] and participant in [insert sport here]..." then, yes, it is "fake paper." Do you think that some ordinary Joe or Jane can simply walk onto a D3 program? With the competitiveness of (at least) baseball, coaches are in contact with these kids ahead of time. I know a lot of other kids who play D3 football and basketball who were in frequent contact with their college coaches. I know that D3 coaches still have to work hard to keep their jobs. Not only do they want to keep their jobs, but they may be looking to make a good impression and move up the ladder. I know a coach for a D3 baseball school who was recruiting kids to come out from California to play. Typically, those kids are not looking for a Major League contract, but are looking for an education. If they choose the right school, money can be found for them in other forms. Really for the D3 kids, they are all walk-ons. If they really suck during the tryout camps their freshman year, they could be cut. By the way, these D3 kids do not get training table, specialized tutors, or may of the other amenities that come with a D1 school. That is understandable and expected. The experience of signing the "fake paper" is not only a commitment by the player, but also a reward for the hard work that many of these boys and girls put in. Also, I don't think these letters can simply be downloaded from the Internet and signed. The ones I have seen were sent to the player by the D3 coach. I have a feeling that things are much different than when you played D3 baseball. From what I have seen, it is not like that. Things are certainly a lot different than when I tried to walk on with Wisconsin... that's for sure.

Yup. That's it.

There is a chance he could still end up on the practice squad. He needs to clear waivers, first. The Packers kept their end of the bargain by using an injury activation this year for him. If he does clear waivers, he might come back hat in hand and ask for another chance to prove himself. We'll see.

This is a great opportunity for Pulisic to show what he can do. He has been buried at Chelsea for reasons stemming from a questionable work ethic to the manager simply not liking him. I'm pulling for him to show he is a top player.

The best quote from the video is: "For all of its curves, Crokinole is the antithesis of sex appeal."

I'll quote myself, I guess. That was a nice pass. Joel Stave would have overshot him by 20 yards for sure ?