crewcrazy

Rumors going around that something big might be happening on Raw tonight in terms of HHH/Orton fall out. I hope they don't just leave last night's result as the blowoff for the feud, because it left a lot to be desired. Orton could easily say something about HHH having to use the sledgehammer to beat him, and since HHH was supposed to lose the title if he was disqualified (and he would've been had the ref been "conscious"), he could get some kind of rematch tonight. The Undertaker/Michaels match was incredible, though...instantly one of my favorites ever. I think part of the reason why the main event seemed so discombobulated and awkward was because the crowd and the announcers were burnt out from that match. The probably would've been better off having that match main event the show, because it was just incredible all around...especially considering both guys are well into their 40s and were still to pull off some of those spots despite having some serious body concerns (Michaels' back and Taker's knees).

Tampa Bay/Boston has already been postponed, due to the huge storm system over the Northeast today. Kind of a shame, because that series is one heckuva way to open the year in the AL East.

To be fair, I think Money in the Bank was kind of screwed over by injuries this year. Evan Bourne and Wisconsin's own Mr. Kennedy (....Kennedy) would have been two good bets for the match instead of Kane and Mark Henry, but were both out for extended periods of time (Bourne returned a couple weeks ago, Kennedy's still out). I was surprised that they had Shelton Benjamin drop the U.S. title to M.V.P. just a few weeks before the PPV...maybe they're getting ready to push him with a MITB win, and they didn't want him to lose momentum by losing the title after he already held the briefcase? MITB should be fun because even though there's only a handful of guys who probably have a real chance of winning it based on the way they've booked recently (Benjamin, M.V.P., C.M. Punk, Christian), but there's no real clear winner. The rest of the card seems pretty predictable to me...I think Rey Mysterio's going to beat JBL for the IC title (ugh...first time the IC title's been defending at Wrestlemania since 18, and it's a crap match), Miz/Morrison will beat the Colons (Morrison's going to be a star in a few years), Jericho's probably going to lose to the Legends thanks to interference from Mickey Rourke, Jeff Hardy's probably going to beat Matt (although the build for this match has been total crap; very disappointing and not exactly Bret vs. Owen caliber wrestling), John Cena's going to win the World Heavyweight title (Edge is rumored to take more time off, and I don't see Big Show as a viable world champion), Undertaker's beating HBK in what should be a great match, and I think Orton should win the WWE title (I love the work he's been doing lately).

I was a pretty big wrestling dork during the Attitude Era, and actually started watching again fairly recently (because I'm still a dork at heart). The only two things really enticing to me about this year's WrestleMania is Undertaker/Michaels (even though it's a given Undertaker will win, the match should at least be entertaining), and the HHH/Orton feud. Everything else I'm pretty indifferent on, and the Chris Jericho vs WWE Legends feud has been pretty disappointing overall. Had my hopes on Steve Austin coming back for one last match since he's getting inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, but it looks like that match will just be a crapfest that ends with Mickey Rourke interfering. Another thing that bugs me -- April Fool's jokes. I thought I was old enough to not have to worry about this stuff, but apparently not. I got a call from the girlfriend this morning saying that it looked like someone picked one of the locks to her apartment this morning, and there were reports of a break-in in an apartment on the floor below hers. After about 10 minutes of worried coversation (do I need to drop everything today and come out to make sure everything's fine? Is the super able to replace the lock? Is she sure nothing's missing from the apartment?), she tells me April Fool's. I did not appreciate this.

One home run shy of 500, too. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

I was actually mildly surprised about this. I had always pegged Cal is the type of coach content on racking up 30 wins a year in a weak conference after coming back from the NBA with his tail between his legs. At Memphis he's largely been given full control of everything, and had some of the best job security in college basketball. Kentucky's shown that they're delusional and living in the past by firing guys in rapid succession...this is the same program that fired Tubby Smith because he could "only" get the team to Sweet Sixteens and Elite Eights. I guess at worst Cal figures he'll give a shot at "resurrecting" Kentucky basketball. If he's successful, he becomes a legend. If he fails, oh well, he'll collect a $6 million buyout like Gillespie did and go back to dominating mid-major conferences every year.

Here is the video of the incident, if someone hasn't seen it yet. The footage starts about 55 seconds into the video if you want to skip the Dallas newscast. I also respect that the officer perhaps didn't know what to expect, and always need to be alert when getting out of their car. Still, it's the way he handled the situation that rubs me the wrong way -- "Shut your mouth," "I can screw you over," etc. is over the line. Yeah, the guy needs to be a cop, but he also needs to be a human being at times -- they pulled into a parking spot at the hospital...even if you didn't know what was going on, it seems highly unlikely that they'd be lying about a relative dying.

I'm still not too worried about it, to be honest. Braun himself seems to be kind of bewildered by all the concern...if he's not worried, I'm not prone to be. After reading Tom H's blog post about Braun being taken out today even though he didn't ask to be, it makes me think the Brewers are just playing it extra-safe. If this is still an issue three weeks into the season, then I'll start to get worried.

The Brewers won't be the only team with a wildcard banner in their ballpark. I remember the Rockies having their "1995 Wild Card" banner painted onto the outfield wall for the longest time, and I believe there are a few others I'm forgetting off the top of my head. I didn't have a problem with it when it was first announced, and I still don't. The fact that only four teams from each league makes the playoffs makes it mean something more to me -- it's not like the NFL, where two wildcard teams get in, or the NBA where half the conference gets in.

I cringed a bit when I saw this at first, but there isn't much difference between the Brewers starting the season 0-1 and 1-0. I think it also works out that this start is against the Giants, as opposed to someone like the Cubs who would have a better chance of knocking him out early. Thankfully this also means Suppan wouldn't pitch until the end of that Cubs series, so hopefully the Brewers will already have those first two games won before he steps on the mound. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

I'd probably go with having a single, double, and home run in the same game -- those games probably happen a bit more frequently than hitting for the cycle, but are still impressive days. Of course, there's always the 3TO. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Well, that's definitely not good considering how the pitching has shaped up so far this spring. McClung may be a possibility, but like the blog post says, he may be needed to fill in for Looper. Villanueva and Riske seemingly haven't had very strong springs, either. Here's to hoping Hoffman can avoid the DL to start the year and we don't have to suffer through watching Jorge Julio saving games.

Hey, I remember the time Wes Obermueller had a no-hitter (perfect game, even?) through 5 or 6 innings in Washington once. I'm fine with giving Littleton a chance. He's only 26, and it can't hurt to try him out. Even if he doesn't last the whole year on the roster, maybe he knocks a worse option out of the bullpen out of camp.

I went until about 3:30 this afternoon before I realized it was St. Patrick's Day today. I'm obviously not the festive type. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

I feel like after this year, there won't be as much to worry about with the WBC, when it switches to an every-four-years format. Once that happens, it seems like most players will probably only play in two tournaments (maybe three at the most, if you have older guys competing just for kicks). You already have the returning guys this year on Team USA talking like this will be their last tournament, and that was a factor in deciding to come back again (I think Oswalt was the guy who was talking like it would be his last chance to represent his country, or something to that effect). The position players might end up playing in more tournaments, but the injury worries are obviously not as prevalent there. I think eventually we won't have to worry so much about pitching injuries, either, as it seemed to me that teams were starting to go away from having the starter throw a lot of innings. Team USA carried, what, three starters this year and the rest were relievers taking an inning at a time? It's hard to get too worked up over pitcher workloads if guys like Oswalt are still only pitching 4 innings like he did against the Dutch the other night.

Lunardi's most recent update: Wisconsin 12th seed against Xavier, Marquette 7th against Michigan. Yikes.

Right now Joe Lunardi actually has the Badgers as a 10th seed (playing BYU in KC) and Marquette as a 7th (playing Dayton in Minneapolis). It's ended up being somewhat of a disappointing year for both teams -- just a down year overall for the Badgers, and the James injury really derailed something that could've been really special for MU. I'm still expecting Marquette to win a game or two, but any hopes of playing in a regional final are probably gone. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the #1 seeds, since Louisville was the only projected first seed to actually make it past their conference tournament semifinals. Maybe Memphis sneaks in there or something?

I don't think we need to worry about Suppan's ERA as much as we do about his IP. Most of the projections I've seen for him have the ERA in the 4.70-5.30 range, but most of the IP totals are in the 160's. Something like that -- whether it be by injury or ineffectiveness -- could pose a problem, especially if Manny has trouble going deep into games again and Bush gets off to a rocky start.

I concur that you are awesome, John Brew. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif I'll put my name in consideration for the Prince Fielder bobble.

I was very wrong on what kind of player Hardy was going to turn into, and now that he's at his current level, it's safe to say I wish I could watch him in a Brewers uniform for the next decade. It's probably not going to happen, though, so I guess the best I can hope for is that he either brings back an attractive package in a trade or he at least nets the Brewers a first round pick (while also staying the heck away from the Cubs, Cards, or Astros). Still, if something could be worked out that would buy out a year or two of free agency, I wouldn't be opposed to keeping Hardy for that time and maybe dealing Escobar mid-season much like they did with LaPorta last year. I know dealing away top prospects is a bad habit to get into, but if the opportunity is there for the taking, I wouldn't mind another crack at the playoffs, especially since I'm not that sold on Escobar's ability to make a trade look really bad from the Brewers' perspective (I'm more worried about LaPorta in that regard).

Watching Team USA's exhibition game against the Yankees yesterday, Braun was wearing #18. I don't know which coaching staff members are wearing what numbers, but didn't Davey Johnson wear #8 during the Olympics?

I get the feeling Manny just doesn't want to go to Spring Training. I personally don't mind it...without Ramirez, they're stuck starting Juan Pierre. That's one less team to worry about in a wildcard race.

Wow, Corey does look a bit more muscular than last year. Prince looking pretty good, too. Nice pics. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Wow, Corey does look a bit more muscular than last year. Prince looking pretty good, too. Nice pics. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

The division will be won or lost today. Busting out the Prince Fielder t-shirt today for this one. I wore the Braun one yesterday. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif