jaybird2001wi

Katuluu, ARod is of Cuban descent I believe. But this kind of irks me in a way. I am one of the very few people who takes a very mild interest in the WNBA (only because of Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson, but that is a whole other deal) and Hammon is one of those great players of the WNBA.

I am not sure what player this was, but I remember a feature on a San Diego Padre player undergoing "vision therapy" leading to him increasing his numbers the following season. It became a trend on the team causing Trevor Hoffman to join in the "vision therapy" program.

WNBA All-Star Becky Hammon - an American-born player - will be joining the Russian Olympic basketball team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. I just can't believe a person of her playing status (she is a good player) is deciding to be a traitor to our country to join another Nation's team and compete against her native country is downright shocking. I am at a loss and it will be awkward to see. It is one thing for American coaches to coach other nation's team (wasn't it Del Harris or Don Nelson who coached the Chinese team?) but a player deciding to do this is outrageous. Hammon is like the WNBA's Jason Kidd and I would imagine there would be some controversy if he ever decided to join another nation's Olympic team.

Today is my chore day where I get to clean my room (I live with my parents and am only responsible for my OWN bedroom being cleaned) and I hate dusting and vacuuming with a passion. But hey, its better than my chores at work on third shift. I work at a group home and I gotta do EVERYTHING there (dusting, sweeping and mopping, clean the stove/oven with oven cleaner, clean and sanitize both bathrooms, sanitize all trash cans, sanitize all light switches and telephones, wash out refrigerator) and that is what I have to do EVERY night I work third shift. It gets to be a pain after awhile.

The latest Brewers' jsonline.com blog indicates that Ryan Braun's agent is in town to begin formal talks with Doug Melvin and owner Mark Attanasio about a long-term contract. From the way Tom Haudricourt wrote it, it sounds as if he is obviously more optimistic about Braun than Fielder given that Fielder is represented by Boras. I would also believe that Fielder may want further compensation after being angered when the Crew decided to renew his contract to a "measly" 450k or something this offseason. So it may take more to make Prince happy. And with Ryan Howard's record arbitration raise this winter, I would anticipate Fielder may be worth somewhere between $11-15 million a year. I would think Ryan Braun would get maybe at least $7 million next season with an "escalating" salary for every year afterwards, ending with a possible total of $12-13 million in the final year of the contract. Maybe even more. But the price may need to be upped since the Blue Jays signed Alexis Rios to just a shade over $10 million and the new contract of DBacks Chris Young. Keep in mind, Braun's stats his rookie year were much better than Young's, so I would be led to believe Braun will get substantially more than Young. Perhaps add some award bonuses into Braun's contract and also Fielder's.

This may be a bit of old and new news, but there have been three unsolved homicides involving college students in or around Madison since June/July. I think this is a bit rare to me since Madison is a predominant college town and given past history, national media makes a big deal out of Madison Crimes (see: Audrey Seiler case awhile back). I have heard on the news that Madison citizens are on edge right now with the recent killing of Brittany Zimmermann. The recent homicide captured FoxNews attention to the point where Greta Van Susteren and Mark Fuhrmann of OJ Simpson trial fame discussed the issue in Madison and CNN's Nancy Grace had a discussion about it as well. Since I am in the Milwaukee media market like most people on here are, how have the Madison media handled this? How far along has the Madison PD gone towards the investigations Kelly Nolan, Zimmermann and the 31-year-old graduate student? Does it look like any of these homicides are anywhere near being solved? I assume Noble Wray is being very tight-lipped about the investigations given the fact that he and the police force were badly burned over the Seiler case a few years earlier and may not be disclosing as much information to prevent another bad PR mark on the Madison PD. I know hawing is from Madison, but are there others? Is the community really on edge to the point where citizens want answers?

Well, if you live close enough to Milwaukee... you could try disconnecting your cable service and getting an antenna and picking it up over the air on actual channel 41.

As a person who works in the Mental Health profession, your brother does have the right to cast a vote. It is actually written in the State Department of Health and Family Services for Resident Rights. During a Resident Rights class, an individual can vote for anyone they feel. I was told they can vote for themself as a write-in or even Mickey Mouse. But as stated above, you can go the absentee route. Just head to your City/Town/Village Hall and head to the clerk's office and get an application. I remember some of the residents I deal with at the group home went to the polling place and voted a long time ago and one resident voted for himself as President. It may not be the smartest idea, but they are following their rights as citizens.

I have been watching all the Brewer games on FSN thus far and am wondering who the new on-field reporter is. It seems like FSN is over-loaded with analysts and on-field reporters. Wasn't it Craig Coshun's job to interview players before and after games? I haven't seen enough of her to form an opinion yet, but does anyone think she is better than Ann Carroll was last year? And what happened to Jeff Grayson? I am confused because it was never mentioned on jsonline.com or anywhere that I know of.

This is a bit of a spinoff of the Fukudome topic, and I couldn't help but notice some of these comments are downright hilarious. Especially the one about Morgan Ensberg getting pulled over by NYC police and they didn't believe he was a Yankee even after he showed him his "Yankee card." The blog seems Onion-esque but actually is truthful. They also have a funny blog with the headline of "Daron Sutton is really excited about baseball." Although they misspelled Daron's first name.

I believe Lids or Hat World at either Southridge or Brookfield Square may sell this hat. I have this same hat, but bought it in Cooperstown during Hall of Fame week. The Fan Zone at Miller Park may also sell this hat, but since Brookfield Square has the Clubhouse Store, the odds are they may have the hat in stock. But the hat is part of the "Cooperstown Collection" so if you can't find the hat at all in person, you may need to go online.

Wow, Brian... you got a Racine link? I went to high school with this guy who attends the same church as the Hanel family in Racine. They attend Grace Church on Hwy 31 in Racine. As weird as this sounds, the one time I talked to Hanel was at Wrigley Field during batting practice and I mentioned the last name of the guy I went to high school with and he went on and on about whats been happening with the entire family. I think he used to shop at the grocery store where my brother used to work as a high schooler.

A new coworker of mine told me her cousin is married to Casey Blake of the Cleveland Indians and for some reason I didn't believe her even though she isn't that avid of a baseball fan to the point she knows everyone. She said she only roots for the Indians because of her relation to Blake. I asked her what her cousin's name is and it is Abbie and I checked it out online and lo and behold, look at this bio of Blake on the Indians website. My new coworker just moved from a small town in southern Iowa and she even told me Blake didn't grow up in Des Moines where it says he was born according to his bio on the Indians' website: Full name: William Casey Blake... Wife's name is Abbie (Archibald)... They have three daughters, Bailey (6/14/2001), Lauren (7/14/2003) & Dana (9/27/06)...Was a 1992 graduate of Indianola (IA) High School where he played baseball, football, basketball and ran track...Was named a top 10 HS athlete in the history of Iowa in a Des Moines Register survey in a list that included Bob Feller and Nile Kinnick. What is much more amazing of this coworker of mine's knowledge of him is that she mentioned he went to Indianola HS, which makes her story more believable and on top of that, Blake's wife's maiden name is the same as my coworker's. I was so amazed I asked her if she ever sees him at family functions and she said once or twice. I am also less than six degrees of separation from Brewers' Vinny Rottino. When I covered the Snappers in Beloit, him and I made small talk in the Snappers' clubhouse after every game and he graduated high school with another coworker of mine and I know baseball guys from Racine who used to work out with him every offseason. Anyone have any stories like this?

For some reason "A League of their Own" makes me tear up. It kind of hits close to home, since the Racine Belles were featured. I mostly cried at the end when they reunite at the Hall of Fame and Kit and Dottie hug, and then they show the picture of them during the AAGPBL Inaugural Season. It also hit close to home because it illustrated the rivalry between an older and younger sibling, which I can relate to. A lot of moments at the end of movie made me cry, when Dottie wanted to reunite with Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) only to find out he died years earlier and then Dottie running into the little boy who said, "You're going to lose" and learning his mother died. Just thinking about the moments makes me want to find where I stored the VHS tape since I don't have the DVD for the movie and then try to figure out where I put my old VCR if I even still have it.

The Giants appear more than ready to get rid of the Barry Bonds aura at AT&T Park as they removed all banners, images and other things related to Bonds within the stadium. Giants officials won't even take him back at a discounted price. Makes us all wonder if the Giants were waiting to wash their hands of Bonds the moment they had a chance.

I knew the Brewers were going to play some of their minor leaguers, but even I am at that point where I am asking... Who are these players? I follow the minors but never heard of Cline at 2B, Maldonado a C and this guy named Caufield. For a minute, when I tuned in a bit ago and Caufield was batting I thought it read "Chuckie Carr" for a split second. It kind of freaked me out. And who is this D. Miller pitching?

We mathematically can't "tank" the rest of the season to increase our odds of getting the No. 1 pick right?

I think you may be able to get a decent spot next to a TV somewhere in Miller Park. Sometimes they have tables and stools set up near a TV on the concourse. Maybe you could save a table next to one and watch both at the same time. I think I did that once when I watched the Packer game at Miller Park. But I don't think you will have much trouble keeping up to the minute with scores. I remember last season during the September 29th game when the Brewers won their 83rd game, they had updates in between innings right on the scoreboard.

By the way, I am going to send this clip to the Journal Sentinel Bucks' beat writer for comedy relief.

That is downright hilarious. To make things for easier viewing, I embeded it: Evidently, somehow I cannot embed youtube deals anymore for some reason.

http://www.fresh99.com/images/steveurkelscar/urkel.jpg

As Bill Simmons is quoted in his most recent Bucks-related column: "Hey, did you hear that the Bucks finally interviewed Simmons for their GM job?" "Who's that?" "Bill Simmons, the guy who writes the 'Sports Guy' column for ESPN." "No, I know who Simmons is -- who are the Bucks?" The Bucks pretty much mailed in the season back in December and the fans followed suit, so this should be a no-brainer.

I remember the Fab Five of Michigan. Its too bad all of what they did was erased following the Wolverines scandal (a booster paid the Fab Five or something like that) and the NCAA erased everything they ever did. What is really weird looking back at the Fab Five was Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard and Webber were part of it. Now its like all of them are now out of the NBA, isn't Rose an analyst now? And isn't Howard just basically trying to hang on as long as he can? Although Webber's stats indicate he could be a Hall of Famer, but I think the voters will be turned off by not only the erasing of his Michigan days, but also his turbulent NBA injury history. Plus, he never won a ring. He could become the Jim Rice of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

No, my parents don't claim me on their taxes. I haven't been declared as a dependent on my parents' taxes in like five years.

I am not sure if this has been asked or answered yet, but I am a bit confused. I am a single person with no dependents or children and currently live with the parents. I know married couples will be getting $1,200 (600 for each person?) but my Mom told me I will get a $600 check and my Dad said I will get $300. I make about 22,000 a year and am wondering and always put down "0" in both the state and federal W2 forms. What check will I get? 300? 600?