Bleacher Report - Articles by Tim Seeman

Wisconsin-Minnesota: Badgers Retain Paul Bunyan's Axe

Tim Seeman — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:07:53 -0400

In a back and forth affair one would expect in the Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry, the Badgers held off a frantic fourth-quarter Gopher rally to hold on to the coveted axe of Paul Bunyan.

John Clay, a sophomore tailback out of Racine, Wis., ran for 184 yards (159 in the second half) and three touchdowns to help Bucky secure the 31-28 victory.

The Badgers seemed in control in the fourth quarter after taking a 24-13 lead and marching back into scoring position.

Minnesota found themselves back in the game, however, following a fumble by reserve tailback Zach Brown that Marcus Sherels returned 88 yards for a Gopher touchdown. Following the two-point conversion, Minnesota cut the lead to 24-21.

On the next Badger possession, quarterback Scott Tolzien galloped on a 47-yard play action bootleg run to help set up another one-yard touchdown run for Clay with three minutes to go. Again, it looked like the Badgers would cruise from that point.

Again, Minnesota responded. In less than a minute, the Gophers were back in the endzone, still with a chance to win the game. The Badgers recovered the subsequent onside kick, but the Gophers forced a three-and-out and got the ball inside their own five yard line with two minutes to go.

The Gophers converted a pair of key downs, one on third and another on fourth-and-16. Following the fourth down conversion, however, the Badger pressure reached quarterback Adam Weber, causing a fumble recovered by Chris Borland for Wisconsin with 30 seconds remaining.

The Badger ground attack was impressive in this game, wearing the Gophers down in the second half. The story was John Clay and his 184 yards, but a cavalcade of Badgers added 111 more yards to total 295 yards rushing in the game. Minnesota, on the other hand, passed for 271 yards.

Tolzien provided balance with play action passes, throwing for 159 yards and a touchdown to Lance Kendricks in the fourth quarter.

Wisconsin's defense also made plays when it had to, but again allowed big plays in the game's waning moments that made the final score closer than it should have been. Another concern is kickoff coverage. It seemed that every time Minnesota returned a kick, it started right around midfield.

That needs to change if the Badgers want to keep pace with teams like Iowa, Ohio State, and Penn State in the Big 10 race.

Wisconsin should expect to find itself in the top 25 rankings tomorrow, but there will be no time for celebration; the Badgers head to Columbus for a game with Big 10 championship and bowl game implications against the Buckeyes.

Brett Favre's Strange Journey: 31 Down, One to Go

Tim Seeman — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:02:58 -0400

It's no secret: Brett Favre is going up against the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football this week. Most also realize that, with a Viking victory, Favre will become the first starting quarterback in history to defeat every NFL franchise at least one time in the regular season. From September 27, 1992 (Pittsburgh) to November 4, 2007 (Kansas City), this is a retrospective look at when Favre beat every franchise, with cameo appearances from some names from the 1990's we all know and love.

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Green Bay Packers Week Two Preview: The Bumbling Bengals

Tim Seeman — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:24:06 -0400

Last week, the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears by doing some things they weren't able to do last season: stopping the run (second-year phenom Matt Forte had only 55 yards rushing), depending on Aaron Rodgers to stick the ball in the end zone in the last two minutes, and coming up with a big stop after the go-ahead score.

Sure, Jay Cutler helped a lot with the four interceptions and if he hadn't thrown them, the Bears would've won easily. But he did throw them, and they weren't all the receivers' fault. That's neither here nor there, however.

What's here is a team from Cincinnati that will be looking to remove a bitter taste from its mouth left over from an improbable 87-yard touchdown throw from Kyle Orton in Denver.

Unfortunately for the Bengals, the Packers won't provide the kind of chaser they're looking for.

Cincinnati was putrid on offense last year. A lot of it probably was the fact that Ryan Fitzpatrick was the starting quarterback for a good portion of the year, but it didn't seem like the team took much of a step up in only scoring seven points last week against a Denver team in transition on defense.

No doubt, the aggressive and talented (much more so than Denver, at the very least) Packers defense will be flying to the ball no matter where it is on the field.

Charles Woodson and Al Harris are good enough to defend Chad Ochocinco and Chris Henry when the Packers decide to blitz, and in passing situations, Green Bay has no problem sitting back and playing for interceptions, especially in their nickel package.

Green Bay's run defense, which held rising star Matt Forte to 55 rushing yards last week, should have similar success in containing former Bears bust Cedric Benson. Cullen Jenkins created a lot of havoc against Chicago's offensive front, which is a lot better than what Cincinnati will have on the field.

A lot was made of Green Bay's offensive struggles last week, but I attribute a lot of that to Chicago's intensity. It was a nationally-televised rivalry game in week one. If a defense isn't up for that game, there would be something wrong with that defense.

The game against Cincinnati will be low key in comparison. I see this allowing the Packers to get into an early rhythm against the Bengals in the running game. Ryan Grant's numbers weren't impressive last week, but he had an explosiveness that he didn't have last season.

Hopefully, the Packers can take advantage and get the running game established within the first two possessions of the game. Successful running attacks always set up the passing game well, and Rodgers and his stable of receivers should be able to take advantage of the Bengals' secondary.

Besides, an offense as talented as Green Bay's can't lay two eggs in a row, can it?

Final score: Green Bay 27-10 Cincinnati

UW Report: Washington Finally Wins, Wisconsin Pulls Through in Two OTs

Tim Seeman — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:48:18 -0400

In a game that figured to be a defensive battle in Madison, two young quarterbacks had career days for teams that put up a combined total of 65 points.

Fresno State quarterback Ryan Colburn had an excellent first half in his second career start, throwing for three out of his four touchdown passes on the day in the game's first two quarters.

The Bulldogs also had no trouble converting long third downs in the first half thanks to precision throws from Colburn and good hands from receivers Devon Wylie and Seyi Ajirotutu, and the team was 11-18 in converting third downs on the day.

Trailing 21-7 with seven minutes remaining in the first half, the Badgers put together a drive that swung the momentum back in the home team's favor. David Gilreath put the cap on a drive that took only two minutes and 24 seconds off the clock on an eight-yard end-around touchdown run.

Fresno State, unable to get to halftime without relinquishing the ball, allowed Wisconsin kicker Philip Welch to boot a 57-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, cutting the lead to 21-17 going into the locker room.

When the teams returned for the third quarter, the Badger defense tightened the screws on the inexperienced Colburn.

Two Bulldog drives ended on interceptions by Wisconsin in the third. In the fourth quarter, Fresno State moved into position for a 45-yard field goal that kicker Ryan Goessling missed wide right.

Following the miss, Badger running back John Clay broke free for a 72-yard touchdown run that gave Wisconsin its first lead of the game and the Grateful Red crowd a reason to jump around.

Goessling redeemed himself late in regulation, kicking a 40-yard field goal to force overtime. Both teams scored touchdowns in the first extra period, and Fresno had possession first in the second overtime.

This is when Colburn threw his third and most fatal interception in the end zone to Badger safety Chris Maragos. Welch finished the game with a 22-yard clincher, sending the Badger faithful home happy.

Again, a Badger win is overshadowed by the shakiness of the victory. The Wisconsin defense cannot afford a sluggish start against teams like Ohio State or even Michigan because those defensive squads will not allow the Badgers back into games like Fresno State did.

One name I failed to mention above was Badger quarterback Scott Tolzien, who had a great game throwing the football. He played smart, he played within himself and he played within the Wisconsin system, finishing with 225 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

The Badgers haven't been known for their passing attack for a long time (despite the inexplicable fact that former Badger great Brooks Bollinger still has a job in the NFL), but Tolzien is a passer capable of keeping defenses honest, given his top receiving targets (Nick Toon, Isaac Anderson and Garrett Graham) stay healthy.

Wisconsin faces FCS opponent Wofford next weekend in Madison.

Off the Schneid

Washington Husky head coach Steve Sarkisian earned his first collegiate win against the Idaho Vandals Saturday afternoon in a 23-42 game that was closer than the score indicates.

In fact, the Vandals outgained the revived Husky offense, 412 yards to Washington's 374. The disparity was especially clear in the passing offenses, with Idaho rolling up 349 passing yards in the game.

The difference in the game and the reason for the Huskies first victory in 16 chances was efficiency and discipline.

In four first half drives, the Vandals moved inside Washington's 30-yard line. Three of those drives ended in field goals, and another resulted in a lost fumble. Washington, on the other hand, scored touchdowns on six of its drives.

Third down conversions and penalties also hurt Idaho's cause. On third down, the Vandals were 4-12 compared to Washington's 11-14. Idaho committed eight penalties for 72 yards while Washington had only four for 45 yards.

Altogether, the Huskies' offensive performance was impressive with quarterback Jake Locker accounting for four touchdowns, three of which came through the air. Running backs Chris Polk and Johri Fogerson each had touchdown runs of their own.

Washington still has trouble stopping the pass, however, as evidenced by Idaho's ability to move the ball through the air. With a big game against Southern California next weekend, the Huskies have a lot of work to do if they expect to hang with the Trojans, who will be coming off of an emotional victory at Ohio State.

Green Bay Packers Week One Preview: Here Come The Bears

Tim Seeman — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:14:02 -0400

It's finally here...almost.

The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are less than 48 hours away from opening their 2009 regular seasons. Both have aspirations of winning the NFC North and making a run to Super Bowl XLIV. The roads for both teams start this Sunday night against each other at Lambeau Field.

For once, there wasn't a quarterback causing a stir up Green Bay's way. There definitely was a stir in Chicago though.

Jay Cutler, unhappy with the way new Denver coach Josh McDaniels failed to hide his dream of coaching Matt Cassell as a Bronco (and maybe with the way mean ol' Philip Rivers picked on him), demanded to be traded.

Denver found a suitor in the Chicago Bears.

Without question, this is a significant upgrade for the entire Bears franchise, whose quarterback history will not be re-hashed here, but suffice it to say that it's not a good one.

Cutler will find himself going up against a revamped and, from the looks of the preseason, rejuvenated defensive unit for the Green Bay Packers. Charles Woodson will be able to show off his Heisman Trophy winning athleticism and All-Pro zone coverage instincts for the first time since coming to Green Bay.

But the Bears aren't stupid. They know that the Packers secondary will have the advantage against a group of number two receivers and a kickoff returner masquerading as one.

Instead, the Bears will try to take advantage of Aaron Kampman, who is moving from defensive end to linebacker in the new 3-4 defense. Look for Bears tight end and top receiving threat Greg Olsen to line up on Kampman's side trying to take advantage of his inexperience in pass protection.

If the Bears are to win this game, they will need Olsen and running back Matt Forte to control the football and efficiently move the offense down the field in clock consuming scoring drives. This will make the Packer defense tired and, more importantly, keep Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense off the field.

But if Chicago is unable to sustain drives, watch out. The Bears defense, assumed to be stout because it's the Bears defense, isn't as good as it has been in the past.

Brian Urlacher and the rest of Chicago's defensive front seven is aging. Same with the Bear safeties. Top cornerback Charles "Peanut" Tillman is listed as questionable for the game, which could spell big trouble for third-year player Trumaine McBride, who will be forced to cover either Greg Jennings or Donald Driver.

When the Packers have the ball, Aaron Rodgers will try to exploit the short handed secondary of Chicago. Sprinkle in a little Ryan Grant to keep the safeties honest, and there's a good possibility of Rodgers having a huge game in his 2009 debut.

In an exciting game pitting the NFL's oldest rivals against each other, Rodgers and the Packers passing attack will be too much for a dinking and dunking Chicago counter-attack.

Final Score: Green Bay 30-17 Chicago

Jake Locker's Importance to Washington's Future

Tim Seeman — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:07:58 -0400

College football.

The only place where a winless team from one year can find an opponent the next year that will make the winless team a 21-point favorite.

Before last weekend, that betting line would've been downright outrageous.

Following Washington's strong display against Louisiana State makes it only slightly ridiculous. Either way, it looks like the Huskies are going to break that 15-game losing streak it's been riding since the end of 2007.

It's just that this win is going to have to come with an asterisk.

The Idaho Vandals are one of the few teams that have been worse than the Huskies the past three seasons, and it's been just barely. The Vandals are 10-38 since 2005; the Huskies are 11-38 in that time.

As it stands now, it looks like the Huskies should win this game easily, so I want to talk a little bit more about Washington quarterback Jake Locker and his impact on his team.

Locker will likely have a field day against Idaho's defense, both throwing and running the ball.

Last weekend against a historically strong LSU defense, Locker threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 51. Combined, the Huskies racked up 157 yards on the ground.

They currently rank 32nd in the nation in total offense. Last year, they finished 117th behind such powerhouses as Wyoming, San Jose State, Southern Methodist and Louisiana-Monroe.

Obviously, Locker is a huge factor in this.

He's not a dropback-and-pass kind of quarterback. He's one of these dual threats that litter the college football landscape, and that's what makes him so dangerous; he can beat you with his arm or he can beat you with his mobility.

In fact, he's more of a threat running the ball than he is throwing it.

In his freshman year in 2007, he ran for 13 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards. He had 14 touchdown passes and 2,062 yards that same season.

These are the kind of numbers Locker will have to have this season for the program to start winning somewhat consistently again. In order to do this, he will have to stay healthy, which is something he had trouble with in his first two seasons in Seattle.

He only missed one game in 2007 (which, ironically, was the last game the Huskies won), but in 2008, he played in only four games, injuring himself in the fourth against Stanford and missing the rest of the season.

This CAN'T happen this season or the next if the University of Washington wants to rebuild its football program. Winning is how you get into bowl games and playing in bowl games is how you attract top-tier high school football players.

It's simple: If Locker doesn't play, Washington doesn't win.

If Washington doesn't win, Washington can't recruit.

If Washington can't recruit...well, they'll continue to be the 11-38 program that fans in Seattle have been watching for the past four years.

Why the Green Bay Packers Will NOT Win the NFC North

Tim Seeman — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:26:51 -0400

Just a disclaimer: Most who read what I write, both in articles and in comments, know that I'm a big Packer supporter. This is merely my attempt to play devil's advocate and to try to temper my very optimistic views about the team this upcoming season.

Up until the conclusion of the Green Bay Packers' third preseason game, that team was still considered to be a mediocre team—a team that caught some tough luck but with better quarterback play in the fourth quarter might have finished better than 6-10.

Following the first three preseason games, however, something magical happened around the Packers.

The offense literally could not be stopped.

The defense got to the quarterback and forced turnovers on nearly every drive.

Bottom line: They didn't look like a team that just had a top 10 draft pick.

Many have started to laud the Packers as the team to beat in the NFC North this season.

Others have anointed Aaron Rodgers as league MVP before any snaps of significance have been taken.

Still others, though in smaller numbers, have gone as far as calling the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl favorites.

That's right: a 6-10 team from last season is now, at least to some people, a Super Bowl-contending team.

Let's back up for a second.

First, we need to keep the 2009 Packers' accomplishments in perspective. Teams have played four exhibition games.

Games used by teams to determine the 51st, 52nd, and 53rd players on the rosters.

Teams don't even watch game film of their opponents. It shouldn't be surprising that the Packers defense confused opposing quarterbacks; the quarterbacks had no idea what to expect.

Same goes for the offense.

Nobody focused on stopping Rodgers or Greg Jennings or Ryan Grant; they just wanted to see what the younger players had to offer and prayed that their key guys wouldn't get injured.

After all, the Detroit Lions did go undefeated in the preseason last year. So let's just slow down on the Packers, at least for a couple more weeks.

Furthermore, the Minnesota Vikings haven't really lost any key players from a team that won 10 games last season.

In fact, they have improved at the most important position on a football team by signing quarterback Brett Favre.

Even without Favre, the Vikings would have had three key components to a competitive football team: a strong running game, a strong defense, and an above-average offensive line.

No one is really certain if the Packers can say the same.

Grant seems to be back to his 2007 self now that he's fully recovered from a hamstring injury and had a full offseason of activity. But hamstring injuries can linger, and it only takes one little tweak to put him on the shelf.

The 3-4 defense has looked good up to this point, but again, it was only preseason.

Once teams get their eyes on some game tape of the Packer version of the scheme, the growing pains associated with such transitions will become apparent.

Green Bay's offensive line has been shuffled and reshuffled like a deck of cards at a basement poker game.

Chad Clifton is old at left tackle. The guard spots have never really been settled since Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle left town.

Mark Tauscher seems to be out of the picture at right tackle. Scott Wells, who had started at center for a few seasons, has been supplanted by the younger Jason Spitz.

There's just no telling how this ragtag group will operate in the running game or how well they can protect Rodgers, who is absolutely critical to the team's success because of the current void on the depth chart behind him at quarterback.

The Packers have been quite impressive in the preseason, but they still haven't really proven anything yet. The Vikings still have to be the favorite in the NFC North because as long as Adrian Peterson is on that team, they always have a chance to be successful.

The UW Report: Washington and Wisconsin

Tim Seeman — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:29:53 -0400

Bleacher Report, it's been far too long. Maybe it's my fault for not coming up with something to say. Maybe it's the Brewers fault for not giving me anything to talk about. Who knows? But lately, I've found something to write about.

You see, I go to a university that doesn't have a major college football program, Marquette. By virtue of where I grew up, I had always been a Wisconsin Badger fan. One of my earliest, though vague, memories is watching the 1994 Rose Bowl as a 5-year-old. Another early memory is attending a game at Camp Randall Stadium during the Ron Dayne years in Madison.

But this prologue isn't going to be so much about the Badgers as it is going to be about another UW, this time the one in Seattle.

I had been pretty close to some people up in the majestic northwest for the past couple years, and I kept an eye on the Huskies season of futility last year. Zero wins. Couldn't even beat Washington State.

Since that time, I've fallen out with those people I knew, and in a juvenile attempt to spite them from afar, I desperately wanted Louisiana State to crush the Huskies and make Steve Sarkisian second-guess his coming to the university.

But as the Huskies marched down the field on their first drive behind the talented-but-injury-prone Jake Locker, I couldn't help but to find myself getting behind the underdog.

When it became clear that the Huskies weren't going to hold on, I stopped watching and went to bed because it gets late in Wisconsin when teams are playing night games in Seattle.

I woke up the next morning to check the final score, and the Huskies only lost by eight points. I found myself intrigued by the result and intrigued by these Washington Huskies. With the intrigue generated by the Huskies and my already-existing affinity for another UW, I'm going to try and write up a dual UW article every week.

Excitement Following a Loss? You Bet!

New head man Steve Sarkisian definitely gives the Washington football program an energy that it just didn't have with Tyrone Willingham as head coach. His players fed off that energy and gave a good challenge to a tough team from the Southeastern Conference.

Another observation: Jake Locker and a handful of others on the offensive side of the ball for Washington can really play. If the Huskies are to start rebuilding and accomplish what I think they can accomplish this season, it's critical for Locker to start every game for the Huskies.

I think the Husky revival starts in earnest next week against Idaho; all good things have to start somewhere, after all, and breaking a 15-game losing streak is a good spot to start. Following that game, it will be up to Sarkisian and Locker to carry the momentum down to Southern Cal.

There are plenty of games the Huskies can win if they can continue to play the way they did against LSU. A .500 record and bowl game eligibility certainly are not out of the question, and there are some teams that Washington might be able to surprise later this year (I'm looking at you, Notre Dame!).

According to Plan...Sort Of

The Wisconsin Badgers got off to the start they wanted following a disappointing 2008 campaign. They opened up a 28-6 lead after three quarters over another group of Huskies, this one from Northern Illinois University.

The problem is the final score was 28-20. That's right; NIU scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and had a chance to tie the game after recovering an onside kick after pulling within eight points.

It's not exactly reassuring when you have to fend off a furious comeback from a MAC team on your home field. In Big Ten play, the Badgers won't be able to afford final period mishaps they survived against NIU.

Fresno State rolls into Madison next week on a wave of confidence following a 51-0 blowout of UC Davis. After that, Wisconsin plays FCS power Wofford. The Badgers should win both games, but both teams, especially Fresno, will offer stiff competition.

Expectations are always high for the Badgers, but this looks like it will be another season in which the team falls just short. Look for another Christmas week bowl game and for the Badgers to hold on to Paul Bunyan's axe, but don't be surprised when the Badgers finish somewhere in the middle of the Big Ten Conference.

The NFC North's Aerial Assault

Tim Seeman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:35:23 -0400

Ah, the NFC North division.

Cold-weather games at historic Soldier and Lambeau Fields always have necessitated a strong running game of the four teams in the division.

With names like Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Paul Hornung, and now Adrian Peterson, strewn about the history of the division, it's no surprise that it has come to be known as the black and blue division.

This season, though, the division will shed its reputation as a boring, ground-pounding group and become one of the most exciting offensive divisions in the entire NFL.

The transformation started long ago in Green Bay when Brett Favre took the helm in 1992. Before that time, the NFC Central, as the division was known then, hadn't exactly been a breeding ground for talented quarterbacks. Bart Starr and Fran Tarkenton were really the only greats to come from the division in the Super Bowl era.

Minnesota kept the new trend going, winning 15 games in 1999 with Cris Carter, Randy Moss, Daunte Culpepper, and Randall Cunningham running wild on the artificial turf of the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome.

Eventually, the Packers and Vikings couldn't sustain the potency of their passing attacks as the NFC Central became the NFC North. Favre was aging in Green Bay and Moss was misbehaving his way out of Minnesota.

Chicago tried a variety of quarterbacks including Rex Grossman, Kyle Orton, and Brian Griese during this time, but with no competent receivers to throw to, all failed.

Detroit spent high draft picks on wide receivers. None lived up to expectations, and the quarterbacks in the Motor City weren't much better.

But now it's 2009, and the entire division has something exciting to look forward to in terms of passing offense for next season.

The Green Bay Packers signed Aaron Rodgers, the successful (up to this point) heir to Favre's quarterbacking legacy in Wisconsin, to a six-year contract last season and also locked up his primary target, Greg Jennings, to a long-term deal.

The Chicago Bears made a move for a strong-armed quarterback from the south, Jay Cutler. It's hard to deny that Cutler has great physical tools to play quarterback, but questions remain about the head on his shoulders, not to mention the lack of a true number one wide receiver.

With the top pick in last year's draft, the Detroit Lions (hopefully) secured their quarterbacking future with Matthew Stafford. If he doesn't work out, the Lions can be glad that at least one of their wide receiver picks worked out. Calvin Johnson just may be the best receiver in the division.

And the Minnesota Vikings, with their already dominant running attack, signed a 40-year-old quarterback who just had shoulder surgery. In addition, this quarterback missed all of training camp and still has a small tear in his rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.

The thing is, though, is that this quarterback is one of the greatest to ever play the game. And did I mention that he established his greatness with a division rival?

Sure, Brett Favre's move to Minnesota might be a short-sighted ploy by Viking management to sell tickets, but Favre's competitive drive and still-adequate physical ability should be better than the alternatives in Minnesota this season.

The question remains: who's passing game is going to be the best in the NFC North this season? The early favorites are the Packers, who have one of the best young quarterbacks in the league and a receiving corps that runs five deep.

The Vikings are much-improved, however. As I said, Old Favre is an upgrade for the Vikings, and Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian are both burners on the outside, but will it be enough to surpass Green Bay's depth and experience?

Chicago's got the arm they've been looking for since Sid Luckman, but have the hands of Devin Hester matured to the point of a number one receiver in the NFL?

Detroit will depend on either a rookie (Stafford) or another divisional retread (former Viking Daunte Culpepper) to deliver the ball to one of the most threatening receivers in the league, and it will be difficult for either quarterback option to succeed behind the porous offensive line the Lions will trot out on Sundays.

No matter who prevails in the aerial arms race this season, one thing is certain: it will be a fun change to follow for those who have followed the division year after year.

Circling the Wagons: Can the Milwaukee Bucks Avoid Relocation?

Tim Seeman — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:26:42 -0400

In 1968, the National Basketball Association expanded with franchises in Phoenix and Milwaukee. After the two teams finished tied with the league's worst record in their respective first seasons, the NBA tossed a coin to determine who would draft first overall in 1969.

With the fate of two organizations resting on each side of a coin, the side favoring Milwaukee came up, allowing the Bucks to draft one of the greatest basketball players of all-time, Lew Alcindor, better known in NBA history as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

On the backs of Alcindor and free agent Oscar Robertson, the Milwaukee Bucks became one of the most successful expansion franchises of all-time in any sport. They won the league championship in only their third season of existence and rattled off three consecutive 60-win seasons between 1970 and 1973.

In the summer of 1975, Milwaukee indefensibly traded Abdul-Jabbar to the Los Angeles Lakers for four players who are of no significance historically speaking. Despite the baffling move, the Bucks continued to have success in the 1980s under coach Don Nelson, earning seven consecutive division titles from 1980 to 1986 behind the leadership of the under-appreciated Sidney Moncrief.

Since that point, the franchise has been in a steady decline, and aside from another division title and run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2001, the Bucks have been mostly irrelevant for the past 25 years or so.

This lack of success has led the Bucks to where they are today: The sixth-most popular sports entity in a state with only three professional teams, and this makes the once-proud franchise a tragic candidate for relocation.

Of course, the Bucks could dodge their seemingly inevitable fate, and like anything else in sports, winning is the elixir the franchise needs. But are they doing enough right now?

It's true the Bucks are restricted by the small market in which they play, but not as restricted as meets the eye.

Milwaukee is underrated as a basketball town, mainly because the biggest basketball attractions are collegiate ones and also because the biggest successes in the city came 30 years ago.

Still, the Marquette Golden Eagles routinely sell out Big East games at the Bradley Center and even though the crosstown rivalry has been lopsided (Marquette has never lost to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers), both sides take the newly renewed rivalry seriously.

With the right players, the Bucks could tap back into that Milwaukee fan base, one that is just waiting for the right player or group of players to cling on to, much like recent iterations of the Milwaukee Brewers have provided.

Unfortunately, those players just aren't present at the moment. Who's going to provide the basketball equivalent of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder for the Bucks? Certainly not Andrew Bogut or Michael Redd, both of whom are good basketball players but who are not great ones.

Recent moves such as the addition of Hakim Warrick and Sonny Weems aren't ones for Milwaukeeans to rally around in support of the team, either. And if Ramon Sessions ends up leaving, there will be little to nothing to look forward to as a Bucks fan.

If there's no reason for fans to show up to the Bradley Center, it only follows that there will be no reason for any owner to stay in Milwaukee in an empty, dated arena.

As a Wisconsin sports fan, I'm hoping that the Bucks can rally my support and that of the many other sports fans in this state. As the offseason goes by, however, it seems that the relocation of one of the NBA's proudest franchises is getting closer and closer.

Danged If You Do: Managing Personnel in The NFL

Tim Seeman — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:23:42 -0400

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

It's July, and there's some question as to whether or not quarterback Brett Favre will be returning to play football this season.

Familiar, right?

Of course, Favre's decision this summer was whether or not to join the Minnesota Vikings, not the Green Bay Packers. The most recent news on the Favre front is that he's still retired. No condominiums in Minneapolis. No family booking hotels in Green Bay during Vikings week.

With that news, Brad Childress and the Vikings are getting slammed by the press and the blogs for not being more strict with Favre.

Jim Souhan, a columnist from the Twin Cities' Star Tribune wrote that Childress "should have imposed a strict deadline on Favre" so that he could come out looking like a "clear-eyed decision-maker" who "wasn't willing to sell his soul" for a Hall of Fame quarterback.

But wait a minute. What happened when management in Green Bay made the kind of decisive move last summer that Souhan said the Vikings should have made this summer?

If you can't remember, I'll refresh your memory.

Green Bay's general manager, Ted Thompson, quickly became one of the most reviled people in not only Wisconsin, but wherever else Packer fans gather.

Thompson knew his choice: give Favre what he wanted and alienate the heir-apparent at quarterback, or be firm and tell Favre, who had already retired, that he missed the boat.

Thompson went with the latter and the fans hated him for it.

Childress went with the former, and if the Vikings have any quarterback trouble this season (which is likely), the fans will hate him for it.

This all goes to show that none of us are as smart as we think we are when it comes to what our favorite teams should do.

We as fans have no idea what the general managers of professional sports teams have to weigh when they make their decisions. And, most importantly, most of us have no clue what it's like to be hated by tens of thousands of people no matter what we decide to do concerning any one player.

So the next time you don't like something your favorite team's general manager did for the team, keep in mind that they're just doing the same thing you do every day at your job; the best they can.

And you thought this was going to be another Brett Favre article, didn't you?

Is Bleacher Report Journalism?

Tim Seeman — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:18:18 -0400

I want to preface this article by saying that I'm a big fan of Bleacher Report.

It is a great forum for people to share their thoughts and meet others who share them. I have spent inordinate amounts of time, like many here have, leaving comments, writing articles of my own, and reading the work of some great wordsmiths.

Ever since I found this site as a journalism student at Marquette University (alumni include former Sports Illustrated columnist Steve Rushin, MLB Network reporter Trenni Kusnierek, and Chicago Cubs broadcaster for WGN Len Kasper), though, I have been pondering the titular question.

After reading this article by jillie jones, in which the author demands Bleacher Report writers to be better journalists, my answer dawned on me. It is impossible for Bleacher Report to be considered journalists if members are not forced to adhere to journalistic basics such as factual accuracy, fairness, and efficient gathering of information?

First, let me reiterate what I said at the outset: I love Bleacher Report. The community is wide-reaching and unlike anything else on the Internet. I can find many things about the Packers and Brewers (my first two priorities), but if something about the NBA or professional wrestling catches my eye, I can read about that too.

Bleacher Report also offers nearly unlimited freedom in what registered members can do on the site.

Those with a mind for analysis and statistics can analyze statistics. Those of us who are more creative can create slideshows and write humorous pieces.

In fact, before the front page change, it was not uncommon for slideshows and humor articles to be featured as the Pick of the Day, which has always been fine by me. After all, it was an act of the community.

And this is part of the reason why I do not think Bleacher Report is journalism and why those who do write exclusively on Bleacher Report are not journalists yet, myself included.

It is true that there are spectacular writers on this site, beginning with the 50 top writers that are listed here, and continuing with the top writers in each community such as MJ Kasprzak, Nino Colla, and TAB BAMFORD, to name just a few.

But, as I'm starting to learn after my first two years of journalism school, there is more to journalism than being a great writer.

The biggest difference is that professional journalists have obligations that simply do not exist on Bleacher Report if people do not think about them. People do not have to be factually accurate here if they do not want to be.

Sure, credibility is important to some on Bleacher Report, but they impose those restrictions on themselves. After all, the worst that will happen is a thorough belittling in a comment thread.

There is also no obligation to present a balanced story.

Do you want to personally attack everyone who cast an All-Star vote for Manny Ramirez? Or maybe an article about why Brett Favre is a traitor if he ends up playing for Minnesota this season?

Well, you can do it here with no negative repercussions. Favre and Manny cannot refuse to grant you interviews if you were not interviewing them in the first place, right?

Also, there is not much information-gathering going on here at Bleacher Report. The vast majority of writers here specialize in the art of interpretation of information already gathered.

I, for one, definitely am not working sources for this article or any article I have written here. Some people here, such as Kristin Hamlin, have interviewed sports figures. That is great for the site, but is the exception and not the rule on Bleacher Report.

With that said, however, I do think that Bleacher Report is a great place for aspiring journalists to practice the craft.

People can find their voice, sharpen their wit, and participate in public sports debate. That is fun, first of all, and also creates a more knowledgeable community.

And, as many NFL writers here know, the site has a partnership with CBS Sports, and CBS is hiring 32 writers, one for each NFL team, to cover the 2009 football season.

Certainly, this is a great opportunity for anyone seriously interested in breaking into true sports journalism. I just think that those lucky few who get selected will have a learning curve that they will have to navigate.

To conclude, Bleacher Report is a great starting point for armchair columnists, but the world of journalism encompasses so much more than opining about this team and that player.

It is about informing the masses and holding those dignified people, whether they are clean-up hitters or Congressmen, accountable for their performances. It is also about holding ourselves accountable for the facts we present and the reputation we build.

Without the stringent guidelines that bind journalists in respect to these obligations, Bleacher Report simply cannot be considered a journalistic venture, no matter how much we want it to be.

The Future of the Milwaukee Bucks

Tim Seeman — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:53:43 -0400

First thing's first: pay that man. Ramon Sessions has been the biggest question for those select few that follow the Milwaukee Bucks, but I'm summing it up with those three words.

He's strong with the ball when he drives into the lane, can score the ball amongst opposing big men, and, most importantly for a point guard, makes solid decisions with the ball. The smartest thing Milwaukee can do is keep Sessions around for a few more years.

Now, on to a few more pressing questions.

Secondly, we'll talk about the guy at the two. Michael Redd will be coming off of ACL surgery from last season, which is always a touchy situation for a professional basketball player. Will he be able to do all the things he can do when he's healthy?

And even if he does, will the decidedly offensively focused Redd committ to the defensive philosophies of head coach Scott Skiles.

While I can't answer the first question, I think there is a response for the second question. Last season, Redd showed, in his limited time, a new dedication to defense under Skiles that was missing in seasons past. Only time will tell whether or not he will be the offensive Michael Redd of years past.

Another issue revolving around Redd and teammate Richard Jefferson is whether or not the Bucks will trade either of those players. The rumors have been swirling around Redd for years and they started with Jefferson before he even put on his red Milwaukee uniform. As I move on to talk about the big men, keep this possibility in mind.

Charlie Villanueva will be a restricted free agent this summer, so Milwaukee will have to decide what to do with him. Following his best season in his career, there will be teams looking to add him to their rosters. I think the Bucks ought to let him go.

Before his contract year this year, Villanueva had always been inconsistent in some facet of his game. I'm not sure he can be trusted to continue playing the way he did in 2008-2009. With a new opening at the four, Milwaukee will have a need to be filled that can be handled through a trade using Jefferson as a major component in the package.

With the void created by a Jefferson trade, Milwaukee would be very comfortable with plugging in defensive and hustle specialist Luc Richard Mbah a Moute in the starting lineup at the three. He certainly doesn't score like Jefferson can, but Mbah a Moute's defensive contribution will make up for it.

The one spot in which the Bucks are solid are down low at center. I feel strongly that Andrew Bogut is an underrated player in the NBA. The franchise caught a lot of flak for signing him to a big, long-term contract, but what Bogut brings to the team is hard to replace.

He's a big body and Skiles will get him to use it to clog the lane defensively. He doesn't put huge points up every night, but one thing he does do every night is polish the glass, both offensively and defensively. He's also an excellent team leader, a contribution that can't be understated in the NBA.

My projected starting lineup would be Sessions, Redd, Mbah a Moute, an unnamed power forward, and Bogut. Outside of those five, there will probably only be one bench player that could handle significant minutes, and that's point guard Luke Ridnour.

With the eighth overall pick in the draft, the Bucks might be able to bolster their bench with a draft class that is relatively deep with shooting guards and small forwards. Some one like Chase Budinger, Ty Lawson, or Tyreke Evans could definitely help the Bucks, and if Joe Alexander can grow a little as a player, that would be great for Milwaukee.

Overall, with Skiles and John Hammond at the helm, the future of the Bucks may have become a little less bleak than it was at one point. If the Bucks can start winning consistently, the fans will start filing into the Bradley Center just as they had done in Miller Park.

And maybe, just maybe, the Bucks will avoid meeting the same fate as the Seattle Supersonics or Vancouver Grizzlies.

Milwaukee's Dave Bush: Silent Ace?

Tim Seeman — Thu, 28 May 2009 02:45:04 -0400

Every team has its stars: Alex Rodriguez, Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Braun, Johan Santana., the list goes on.

Every baseball fan knows these guys, and every baseball fan knows all about their individual exploits.

Then there are guys who fly a little bit under the radar, guys who are known only by those who routinely watch them play. Guys like Dave Bush, a starting pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, who has been a personal favorite of mine for most of his stint in the Cream City.

Traded for the beloved Lyle Overbay before 2006 to make room at first base for young phenom Prince Fielder, Bush joined the rotation to little fanfare. He is another back-of-the-rotation guy, much like Jeff Suppan.

My opinion of Bush started to turn after watching him pitch a five-hit shutout to the Houston Astros in September of 2006, a game that, from my seat in Miller Park, seemed to end before it even got started (it took Bush only 2:13 to beat the Astros).

Two other games that really stood out for me during Bush's years with the Brewers are his two no-hit bids, both of which he carried into the eighth inning. One was in 2008 (against his former Toronto club and broken up, ironically enough, by Overbay), and the other came earlier this year in Philadelphia.

Armed with an average fastball, a sneaky cutter, and a slow, looping curve ball that occasionally makes hitters look foolish, Bush doesn't possess that electric stuff that most ace pitchers have (think Ben Sheets, Josh Beckett, and Tim Lincecum), but he knows how to get guys out, and he knows how to stay on the mound (don't think Sheets or Beckett).

In each of his Brewer seasons, Bush has started at least 29 games and pitched at least 185 innings. He's compiled a 36-32 record and a 4.51 ERA as a Brewer, which certainly aren't Cy Young Award-type numbers, but he's been much better than expected for the Brewers, especially this season.

Of his nine starts so far, seven have been quality starts, and one other would have been, had he gotten some bullpen support. His 2009 ERA is at 3.92 and is 3-1 so far.

Sure, he has a tendency to give up home runs and hits in bunches, but those haven't happened yet this year. It's only a matter of time before more people (and by "more people," I mean at least one other person aside from myself) start realizing that the Brewers already have a pretty decent number two starter to back up young Yovani Gallardo in this starting rotation which has exceeded every expectation (Manny Parra aside) so far in 2009.

Five People I Hope Haven't Used PEDs

Tim Seeman — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:57:03 -0400

When a player like Manny Ramirez gets suspended for breaking Major League Baseball's drug policy, it's big news for a few reasons. He's larger than life, he had Dodger fans at hello, and nobody suspected him of any wrongdoing. After all, he had no dramatic statistical spike and his body hasn't changed much since he came up with Cleveland in the mid-1990's. His suspension, in a time when it seemed the steroid era was drawing to a close, again shook not only the baseball world, but the entire world of sports. With the available technology and increasing pressure of multi-million dollar contracts, the temptation to use performance enhancing drugs will always be present. As a fan, I try to assume everyone's clean, and I assume that all the people in this slideshow have been clean. If it is ever revealed that they have cut corners in their training, I will be crushed. I'll count down from 10.

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Preseason NFL Power Groupings

Tim Seeman — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:31:52 -0400

Borrowing from ESPN's Bill Simmons and Nino Colla's MLB Power Groupings, I'm making my first attempt at some preseason NFL rankings that probably don't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. I have to admit, though: it's fun to debate them.

Group I: Continued Struggles

St. Louis Rams, Cleveland Browns

I put these two clubs at the bottom of the barrel because of their offensive deficiencies last season and because neither squad seemed to have done anything to improve them.

The Rams have a promising back in Steven Jackson and a quarterback who I thought was pretty good, but they have to play up to their potential for St. Louis to be successful.

Cleveland's got two starting quarterbacks, which, according to the old adage, means they don't have a starting quarterback. They're also trying to move their best wide receiver who suffered from a severe case of the dropsies, and they already moved a good tight end in Kellen Winslow.

Group II: Nowhere to Go but Up

Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs

I think I'm in the minority, but I really like what the Lions did in the NFL Draft with their first pick. I have a feeling that Matthew Stafford will be better than Mark Sanchez, and will eventually take over the starting job from Daunte Culpepper this season.

Cincinnati struggled mightily offensively, but a lot of that can be attributed to the loss of Carson Palmer to injury. Whenever a guy from Harvard's running your NFL offense, you've got trouble. Palmer will be back and Cincinnati will be better off that way.

Kansas City added Matt Cassell to throw to Dwayne Bowe and brought in some veteran linebackers in Mike Vrabel and Zach Thomas to help mentor some of the young players they have on the defensive line, such as Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson.

Group III: Trapped in Purgatory

Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars

All four of these teams have a different kind of purgatory that they're stuck with coming into this season, listed below

Oakland: They're stuck with an owner who has a "my way or the highway" attitude. The problem is that his way is like the freeway in Speed that isn't finished yet.

Except Oakland doesn't have anyone as beautiful as Sandra Bullock to jump the gap. They just have JaMarcus Russell.

Tampa Bay: They got rid of the quarterback schizophrenic, Jon Gruden. Problem is, they still don't have a quarterback. Why they aren't racing to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to talk to some one near there is a mystery to me.

Denver: Josh McDaniels just seems like he's not quite sure what he's doing yet. Obviously he has a great football mind, but he hasn't gotten the handle on the management aspect of the head coaching job.

He really botched the Jay Cutler situation. It's like he switched schools, told the hot girl at his new school how much better his girlfriend at his old school was than her, and then ended up with that one girl who looks alright, but has kind of a big nose and one of those smiles with a bad gum-to-tooth ratio.

Jacksonville: The problem with the Jaguars is that they have a bunch of guys that are dependable, but nobody at any position who's spectacular. With great receivers, David Garrard would be a good guy to have.

Problem is, their best receivers are an old Torry Holt and Cleveland outcast Dennis Northcutt.

Group IV: Day-time TV

Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins

What do you think of when you think "soap operas?" Because I think of ridiculous drama and not-very-good-acting.

Buffalo will see more newspaper reporters than ever before with the addition of Terrell Owens.

T.O.'s most recent old team, Dallas, is still run by Jerry Jones, and having him in the locker room or on the sideline always makes for interesting situations, especially with a spineless head coach like Wade Phillips.

Outspoken head coach Mike Singletary will (hopefully) come up with more gems like this.

With the Redskins, the peak of the drama might have passed during free agency, but with a continued desire to replace Jason Campbell, I can see it continuing through the season.

And while these teams will be fun to watch off the field, I don't think they'll be nearly as interesting on it.

Group V: Questions to Answer

Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, New York Jets, Seattle Seahawks, New Orleans Saints, Houston Texans, San Diego Chargers

The largest group of my rankings, we won't know much about these teams until the season is five or six games old. Here are the biggest questions for each team:

Green Bay: Will the first-round draft picks help make the defensive transition smoother?

Chicago: Is Jay Cutler the savior Bears fans are expecting him to be?

New York: Can Mark Sanchez live up to the cheering from Radio City Music Hall on draft day?

Seattle: Will a Hasselbeck-Houshmandzadeh connection bring the Seahawks back to prominence?

New Orleans: Can that defense stop enough opponents to allow the prolific offense to win games?

Houston: Will they find any consistency on offense and defense, and will the AFC South remain one of the more brutal divisions in the league?

San Diego: Is LDT still good? Can Norv Turner coach? Will the AFC West remain one of the more pitiful divisions in the league?

Group VI: Back to Earth

Tennessee Titans, Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins

All these teams had good, surprising runs last season, but I'm not sure if it will carry over to 2009. Tennessee still has Kerry Collins at quarterback and no spectacular wide receivers. They also lost Albert Haynesworth in free agency, who was in some early MVP discussion as a defensive tackle, which is means he was playing REALLY well.

Arizona's defense played way better in the playoffs than they had in the regular season and I don't know whether or not they can have that same intensity throughout the 2009 regular season.

Baltimore's rookie quarterback Joe Flacco was good, but he got a lot of help from a defense that's another year older and without superstar defensive coordinator Rex Ryan.

Miami used the so-called wildcat formation very effectively, but the defenses will probably catch up this season. The problem will come when Chad Pennington is asked to play the traditional quarterback role and throw the ball farther than 20 yards downfield to Davon Bess or Ted Ginn, Jr, which is problematic in itself.

Group VII: Old Reliables

New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts

Both had solid seasons last year, with the Colts running off nine straight wins to close out the regular season. The Patriots quirkily missed the playoffs with an 11-5 record with their backup quarterback.

This year, the Colts lost their head coach and a wide receiver whose name is synonymous with "Indianapolis Colts," and even though the nine-win streak was impressive, what came before that had to cause some concern.

The Patriots will have Tom Brady back after a torn ACL, but you have to wonder if he'll play up to the high standards he set for himself in recent years.

Bottom line, though: Whenever the Colts and Patriots have Manning and Brady, they are always contenders.

Group VIII: Something Missing

Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants

What's missing from each of these teams should be obvious. In Minneapolis, it's a quarterback (maybe not for long, though) and in East Rutherford, it's a receiver to replace Plaxico Burress.

If either team gets what they need, they would immediately jump into the next group...

Group IX: The Favorites

Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers

These teams have all the components you want in NFL favorites. Good quarterbacks, strong running games, and impenetrable defenses are all trademarks of these four squads, although some teams are better off than others—Jake Delhomme? Willie Parker?

Ultimately, Pittsburgh has the hardware that declares them the best at this moment, but that will most certainly change by October 1st.

Move Over Manning: The Quarterback Revolution

Tim Seeman — Sat, 02 May 2009 12:18:15 -0400

For the last 11 years or so, Peyton Manning has been the starting quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts. In that time, he's accumulated lots of touchdown passes, lots of yards, lots of consecutive starts, and lots of wins. Tom Brady has been right there next to him collecting Lombardi Trophies for the New England Patriots, and with the addition of Randy Moss, has recently put together an outstanding statistical season of his own. At the beginning of Bleacher Report time, sportswriters were climbing out of the primordial soup debating which of these two was the better quarterback. It's a practice that has continued to this more modern time, but it's a practice that will soon fall out of favor. I know it's hard to believe, but Manning and Brady are starting to get old. Brady will be 32 when the 2009 season starts, Manning 33. It won't be long before Ed Werder and Sal Paolantonio start asking when these guys are going to retire. But don't fret, master debaters of Bleacher Report; the NFL's next crop of great quarterbacks is already starting to spring forth, and a new decade of the "Which quarterback?" debate is about to start. These are the candidates, whose last names, interestingly, all start with R.

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Brett Favre to Minnesota? Bring It On

Tim Seeman — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:56:28 -0400

Brett Favre has famously said that he's "still retired at this time" recently, and the speculation has begun regarding potential future destinations. One of them is, of course, the Minnesota Vikings, a hated rival of one of Favre's former teams, Green Bay.

Let me say up front that I think Favre is hanging them up for good this time around. Having said that, if he does come back, I won't spend my time worrying about it the way I did last spring.

What caused so much anxiety for me personally (and I would guess Packer fans in general) was the fact that Green Bay was heading into uncharted territory with Aaron Rodgers, not the threat of Favre playing for the Vikings.

By and large, Favre would've been welcomed back to Green Bay by fans had the Packers went back on their word to Rodgers because of what Favre had meant to Green Bay for the previous 15 years and because of his reliability

The reason I won't be sweating another Favre fiasco is because my team will hold no stake in the final outcome. Green Bay learned that Aaron Rodgers is more than serviceable as a starting quarterback. If Favre does end up in Minnesota, it won't be any different than Chicago acquiring Jay Cutler.

It will just give those at Lambeau more reason to despise the visiting team and more reason to look forward to watching divisional games.

Favre would be an improvement over Sage Rosenfels, Tarvaris Jackson, and J.D. Booty (great porn star name, by the way), but it wouldn't make the Vikings the prohibitive favorites as many of their fans think it would.

Remember, the Packers were a few feet away (on a missed field goal) from sweeping the division champions last season, and the "vaunted" Viking defense gave up 48 points to the...um...explosive Chicago offense at Soldier Field last season.

So a Favre to Minnesota scenario doesn't bother me, and I would implore Packer fans reading this to not allow it to bother them either.

Less Significant for the NBA: Defense or Milwaukee?

Tim Seeman — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:58:20 -0400

The NBA announced its first and second all-rookie teams for the 2008-2009 season, and a curious absence for those who know about this guy is that of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, a second-round pick who started games for the much-improved Milwaukee Bucks this season.

It's not even the fact that he didn't make either of the cuts that bothers me. Guys on the second team like Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez definitely deserved the honor. What bugs me is that Mbah a Moute didn't get one single vote.

His measurable stats weren't jaw-dropping by any stretch (7.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists), but what he brought to the Bucks can't be measured by any statistics. He played just a shade under 26 minutes per game under new head coach Scott Skiles because of his superior defensive abilities.

His job when he was in the game was to defend the opponents' best offensive player. He effectively defended a wide variety of offensive styles including those of Kobe Bryant, Andre Iguodala, Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade.

He did his job in all 82 games for the Bucks, starting in 52, and the improvement in Milwaukee's defense was evident. In 2007-2008, the Bucks were 23rd in scoring defense, allowing 103.9 points per game. This season, the Bucks were 16th, allowing 100.4 points per game.

Three and a half points may not seem like much, but it accounted for an eight-game difference in the standings and five more road wins for a team that only won seven away from Milwaukee last season. And these improvements came, for the most part, without the Bucks' best players, Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut.

I'm not attributing all this improvement to Mbah a Moute because Ramon Sessions, Luke Ridnour and Charlie Twitta-nueva all played important parts in this season, but when a second-round pick comes in and plays in all 82 games, that player must be doing something right.

Evidently not. And this all leads to the question posed in the headline. The Bucks are on a growing list of teams that are at risk of being relocated much like the Seattle Sonics a season ago. Rule changes have made "defense" and "NBA" oxymoronic terms.

That all added up to a second-round pick who started in more than half of his team's games and played in every game, played outstanding defense, and improved his team getting completely snubbed, while a injury-plagued guy, Greg Oden, who is technically in his second year of professional basketball and averaged four fouls in 21 minutes of playing time in only 61 games got a first-team vote. Come on.

I'd make a big deal about Robin Lopez earning a first-team vote as well, but it's highly likely that the voter mistook Robin for his twin brother Brook of the New Jersey Nets.

Ben Who? Yovani Gallardo Winning Milwaukee's Heart

Tim Seeman — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:36:00 -0400

After the September debacle last year and the quick exit from the playoffs, the Milwaukee Brewers knew that their two best pitchers from the 2008 campaign, Ben Sheets and CC Sabathia, would be leaving for somewhere else. Sabathia landed famously in the Bronx, and Sheets had elbow surgery and is currently rehabbing as a free agent.

With the entire offense back as constituted last year, fans across southern Wisconsin knew that the 2009 season hinged on a starting pitching staff without an established ace. Sure, Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra have talent, but both are young and Gallardo was coming off of a torn ACL.

Reliable veterans Dave Bush and Braden Looper would keep the offense in games, but they certainly wouldn't be the kind of stopper that teams need on the hill every fifth game. And Jeff Suppan...well, ask any Brewers fan about him, and you're guaranteed to get a candid response. Brewers fans were nervous.

So far this season, though, Gallardo has broken out to become the clear-cut ace of the Brewers pitching staff, and he appears determined to make Milwaukee forget about the Ben Sheets era and the three months of Sabathia-palooza.

For those who've yet to see Gallardo throw, let me run down his game. He's a control pitcher who likes to get ahead in counts with three different pitches. His fastball will top out at about 92 miles per hour, which isn't overpowering by any stretch, but Gallardo's bread is buttered by his off-speed stuff.

His curveball breaks similarly to that of Sheets, but it's thrown with less velocity and more control. What really differentiates Gallardo and Sheets is Yovani's third pitch, the changeup. Sheets toyed with that pitch during his career in Milwaukee, but it never became a reliable option for him. With Gallardo, it's a different story. He can throw it for strikes when he needs to and can notch strikeouts with it as well.

Gallardo, unlike Sheets and more like Sabathia, can hit as well. So far this season, he's got two home runs, the latest coming Wednesday against Pittsburgh's Ian Snell. The first came off of future Hall-of-Famer Randy Johnson in a notoriously pitcher-friendly ballpark.

Both of his long balls were vital in the games in which he hit them. In San Francisco, his blast brought in three runs and Milwaukee won 4-2. Wednesday, his RBI was the only tally on the scoreboard for either team.

Ever since his 2006 season in the minor leagues in which he recorded 188 strikeouts in 155 innings (a Brewers minor league record), the legend of Yo had been growing. It continued in 2008 after he came back from that ACL tear mentioned above and pitched the first Brewers playoff game in 26 years. And this season, he became the first pitcher ever to hit a home run off of Randy Johnson.

I think it's safe to say that Yovani Gallardo has arrived, both on the mound and at the plate.

What Green Bay Packers Would Have Had If they Didn't Select Tony Mandarich

Tim Seeman — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:28:50 -0400

We've all heard how bad the Green Bay Packers screwed up the 1989 NFL Draft by taking steroid-inflated offensive tackle Tony Mandarich with the second overall pick.

Productive NFL players like Derrick Thomas, Deion Sanders, and Steve Atwater were drafted after him, all of whom would have improved the Packers defense at the time.

Perhaps the player that would've impacted Green Bay the most had they drafted him instead of Mandarich is Barry Sanders, who went third to the Detroit Lions.

This is a guy who went to the Pro Bowl in every year of his career. He amassed 15,269 yards in only ten years, meaning he averaged over 1,500 yards per season. He infamously retired from the Lions in 1998 because of their continued ineptitude, approximately 1,500 yards shy of the NFL career rushing record held at the time by Walter Payton.

So what if Green Bay had scooped him up in 1989? Immediately, the Packers would've had two of the greatest offensive players of the 1990's on their roster in Sterling Sharpe and Sanders. And in a few short years, the Packers would also be trading for a third great offensive player of the decade in Brett Favre.

Favre, Sharpe, and Sanders...a potential cornerstone for the most prolific offense of all-time. Alas, the Packers did take Mandarich and Sterling Sharpe had to cut his career short, but it can be fun to imagine what kinds of numbers these guys would've put up in say, 1995 or 1996, when all three would've been in their primes.

The New Green Bay Packer Defense

Tim Seeman — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:24:30 -0400

The Green Bay Packers took nose tackle BJ Raji with the ninth overall pick in this past weekend's NFL Draft. The idea is to improve the run defense, which ranked 26th in the league. With the addition of Raji to what the Packers already had, I can't see how the unit doesn't improve.

Let's start with the defensive line, which will consist of only three men instead of four this year. The starting three will probably be Raji, Justin Harrell, and Cullen Jenkins. Jenkins is a proven commodity as a hybrid defensive tackle and defensive end in the four-three defensive and seems to be a prototypical three-four defensive end.

Harrell is the infamous 16th overall pick of Ted Thompson in the 2007 NFL Draft. After recovering from a torn bicep, he'll have a shot to prove himself to coaches and fans.

But what makes the line even better will be the guys rotating in to spell the starters. Johnny Jolly and Ryan Pickett both have starting experience in the Packers defense as tackles, and both have huge bodies.

Offensive lines will have to commit a lot of blockers to the three down linemen that the Packers will have on the field at any one time, which is the goal of defensive linemen in the three-four.

The unavailability of blockers to block the linebackers is what will make the defense better. Inside guys Nick Barnett and AJ Hawk will be allowed to fly all over the field to ball carriers on running downs. The men on the outside, Aaron Kampman and (probably) rookie Clay Matthews, will also be free to make plays on the quarterback.

If Kampman and Matthews can create consistent pressure with a little help up the middle from Raji, then the pass defense will also benefit. They have good players in Charles Woodson, Al Harris, and Nick Collins, and a pressured quarterback will make their jobs much easier.

There is a lot of time between now and the next game, and there is a lot of learning to do, especially for Kampman, Hawk, Harrell, Raji, and Matthews. With an experienced coordinator like Dom Capers and a fiery position coach like Kevin Greene, I'm sure that the Packers will pick up something during the summer months.

Besides, the Green Bay defense wasn't good last year; there's nowhere to go but up.

Green Bay Packers Close to Fulfilling Ted Thompson's Vision

Tim Seeman — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:18:04 -0400

On the first day of the NFL Draft, Green Bay's general manager Ted Thompson made a very uncharacteristic move concerning his second- and third-round draft choices. He traded them to New England to trade up into the first round. He also got another fifth round selection to be used later today.

In previous drafts, Thompson has notoriously traded high picks for more picks in the later rounds, and he's generally done a good job using the abundance of picks he has. People from Ashwaubenon to Superior and all the way back to Beloit have been wondering about this deviation, and I have a theory.

I think Thompson is finally putting the finishing touches on the team he's wanted to build since he took over in 2005.

At the beginning of his tenure, there was a lot of work to be done to revamp the Green Bay Packers, which had become an old team that couldn't win in the playoffs and that was over the salary cap. In his first draft, Thompson found, arguably, the two biggest jewels in his hunt for treasured players in quarterback Aaron Rodgers and safety Nick Collins.

The next year, he found a bona fide stud amongst the Broncos at Western Michigan in wide receiver Greg Jennings. It was also his busiest year in free agency, in which he signed former Heisman Trophy winner and fourth overall pick Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett, a player who will contribute heavily (pun intended, baby!) to Green Bay's defensive line.

All the while, he's been picking up and discarding offensive linemen, trying to find the right ones to fit Green Bay's zone blocking scheme in the running game.

More recent draft picks haven't had the kind of productivity that Rodgers, Collins, and Jennings have had, but this year some will get their shot. The player who comes to mind is Justin Harrell, a guy declared a bust after just two injury-filled seasons. He's a projected starting defensive end this year, and will have the chance to prove a lot of people wrong. As Packer fans, we should all hope that he does, regardless of our sentiments to the front office.

Also, we'll also see how a couple more Thompson acquisitions in the secondary play out a couple years down the line. Pat Lee and Tramon Williams are the apparent cornerbacks of the future as Al Harris and Woodson start to get a little older.

To summarize, just look at the defense: Seven of the 11 projected starters will be Thompson acquisitions, and many of the rotation players in the secondary and on the defensive line will be the same.

The offense will be similarly constructed, as only tackles Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton and wide receiver Donald Driver are hold-overs from the pre-Ted Thompson days.

For a long time, Ted Thompson defenders (apologists, some might say) have been saying "Just trust Teddy. He's got a plan."

Many Ted Thompson critics (haters, some might say) have been skeptical of that, thinking that he's only been looking out for his own gain or that he doesn't know the first thing about building a football team.

But with the first day of the 2009 draft and close inspection of Thompson's work so far, people should be able to see that plan and how it's starting to gel into something tangible. Something that Vikings and Bears fans will learn to respect and fear in the coming years.

So Far, So Good For Green Bay Packers 2009 Draft

Tim Seeman — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 19:42:47 -0400

Looks like Ted Thompson knows what he's doing so far.

I'm not looking anything up at this point, but it's the first time in a while that I remember Green Bay having two first round draft picks. Both picks look pretty good too.

B.J. Raji from Boston College will more than fill the "void" left by the "spectacular" Colin Cole, who the Seattle Seahawks vastly overpaid for in free agency.

Then, in a rare move by Thompson, Green Bay sent two third round picks and a second round pick to New England for the 26th pick overall and a fifth round pick.

At 26, Thompson addressed another defensive need and ruined everybody's Packer draft contest entries by taking Clay Matthews, and outside linebacker from Southern Cal.

Matthews has the NFL pedigree in his family and a great college background upon which to build his NFL career.

Barring any more trades, the Packers are done for the first day of the draft, but it's been productive. Look tomorrow for some picks along the offensive line.

Yovani Gallardo Hurls Gem; Milwaukee Brewers Win 5-2

Tim Seeman — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:46:24 -0400

Just a day after Dave Bush took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in front of family in Philadelphia, Yovani Gallardo had the ball in Houston with his friends and family in tow.

The results were much the same, which was expected with Gallardo facing the Astros.

In two previous starts against Houston, Gallardo had allowed no runs in 15 innings. After tonight, he's thrown 24 innings and allowed only two runs on a pop-fly-turned-home-run by the short porch in left for former Brewer Carlos Lee.

Other than that, Gallardo only allowed scattered hits and made quick work of the Astros.

Offensively, the Brewers plated four runs in the fourth innings on six singles with a sacrifice bunt from Gallardo sprinkled in. Rickie Weeks also jacked his third homer of the year, bouncing the ball off the wall below the Minute Maid train in left field.

After a slow start, I think it's safe to say that the Brewers have turned the corner, getting great pitching out of Braden Looper, Bush, and Gallardo. Jeff Suppan also had a better start in his last outing. The only question left is if Manny Parra can shake whatever is holding him back so far this year.

The Milwaukee defense also continued to sparkle, especially in the infield. Weeks, Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy, and Bill Hall have all displayed spectacular glove work so far. It's something that Brewer fans aren't quite accustomed to, but hopefully it'll be something we get used to.

The only regret heading into tomorrow's game is that it's not in San Francisco for Parra to be able to pitch in front of his friends and family. It certainly seemed to help Gallardo and Bush.

They Want To Have the Super Bowl Where?!

Tim Seeman — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:35:59 -0400

I made the same face Peyton up there is making when I heard this news: The National Football League is seriously considering holding a Super Bowl in London, England.

Let me say it again.

The National Football League, the most important sports league in the United States, wants to hold its championship game, the most important sporting event in the United States, in LONDON, ENGLAND.

Does this bother anyone else?

There are so many things wrong with this possibility. Many American fans, the ones who love the game the way the Brits love their football, will be unable to attend a game like this. It's already bad enough that they take away home games from NFL teams to play in London.

And what's to be gained from holding the Super Bowl in London? They've already had the opportunity to embrace the game and they haven't risen to the occasion once, cheering only on punts and blowing whistles from the seats during the games.

Adjusting to the time difference will be difficult for both fans and players. Traveling abroad is no easy task, and that's for average people who go on sight-seeing tours. None of us can imagine what it's like to have to adjust our bodies to do something as physically grueling as professional football.

Also, to play the game in prime-time in the United States would be to play the game in the wee hours of the morning in the United Kingdom.

The most obvious reason, of course, is that the NFL is America's league. There's no place for American football across the pond; they don't want it. And the United States, by and large, wants to keep it to itself.

If the Super Bowl goes to London, why not bring the UEFA championship match to Foxboro or Columbus?

Yeah, it's that ridiculous. Please, NFL, keep the Super Bowl where it belongs: in the United States.

Tim Seeman's Packer Draft Contest Predictions

Tim Seeman — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:50:01 -0400

The first player selected by the Green Bay Packers in the 2009 NFL draft will be: Brian Orakpo, DE, Texas.

Reasons and explanation: He's fast, he's strong, and he earned all the national awards for defensive ends during his senior season. Maybe not prototypical for a linebacker in the 3-4 (he's similar in size to Aaron Kampman), but to operate under the assumption that he won't learn under the tutelage of Dom Capers and Kevin Greene is something that no one should do. Also, his position is one in which he can have an immediate impact on the Packer defense, provided he shows he can play throughout training camps and the preseason.

The second player selected by the Packers in the 2009 NFL draft will be: Jamon Meredith, OT, South Carolina.

Reasons and explanation: Meredith could fill a couple needs for the Packers if Green Bay takes him with the 41st overall pick. In his rookie season, he'd provide depth as a tackle and can also move inside and play guard. Later on, with hard work in the weight room, he could be the replacement down the line for Mark Tauscher or Chad Clifton. Also, he's a smart guy who graduated with a 3.7 GPA at South Carolina, meaning that he'll be able to catch on quick to the NFL game.

Tie-breaker questions:

Will the Packers make a draft-day trade involving their first-round No. 9 pick? No.
Will the Packers' third selection in the draft be an offensive player or a defensive player? Defensive.
Will the Packers use any of their draft choices, day one or two, to take a punter? No. (At least, I hope not. Drafting a punter, in my opinion, is a waste of a draft pick. There are always adequate punters sitting around during the preseason waiting for a call.)

Mark Sanchez Rumors and The NFC North

Tim Seeman — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:18:10 -0400

Sal Paolantonio of ESPN is reporting that four teams are jockeying for position to draft Southern Cal quarterback Mark Sanchez. The four are Seattle, Washington, Cleveland, and the New York Jets.

What's interesting about this to me is Washington's plan. The Redskins want to trade picks with Seattle to jump from 13 to four and use that pick to draft Sanchez. If that happens, Jason Campbell, the quarterback that Washington offered up for Jay Cutler, will become expendable again. Paolantonio said that if this happens, the Minnesota Vikings might be one of the teams interested in Campbell.

How hyped would the quarterback situation in the NFC North be if that happened? Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers got drafted one pick before Campbell in 2005, so the direct comparison between the two will immediately commence.

Cutler in Chicago is already a big deal, and if Detroit drafts Matthew Stafford as many expect, the NFC North will suddenly have the best stable of young NFL quarterbacks that will, presumably, compete head to head for years to come.

This would also allow the NFC North to drop it's "black and blue" stereotype and join the rest of the football world in becoming pass-wacky. And it should excite fans of all four teams because, ultimately, it's the fans who will benefit from all the improvements.

The NFL Draft: Who's Ready?

Tim Seeman — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:16:54 -0400

As soon as the Super Bowl is over (and for fans of certain nameless teams based in cities that look south to see Canada, MUCH earlier than that), football fans immediately turn their attention to the NFL Draft.

They learn the draft order. They learn the top prospects' names. They hear about 40 times, pro days, and wonderlic tests. They debate on sites like Bleacher Report who their favorite teams should take.

And now, the 2009 edition of the draft is only three days away. The focus of the draft, of course, is to select new players, but there's so much about the event that makes it as anticipated as the NFL's opening weekend.

The draft means something different for each of the NFL's 32 franchises. For Detroit, this draft represents the beginning of a new, hopefully more successful era after the most putrid season in NFL history.

For New England and Pittsburgh, it's another chance to bolster an already stellar roster. Other teams like Green Bay and Houston are looking for the last few parts to make themselves championship contenders.

Something else that happens just about every year is that one of the top projected picks in the draft doesn't get picked up as early as expected. Guys like Brady Quinn and Aaron Rodgers get passed on early, and they're stuck waiting for the commissioner to call their name.

It's moments like these, when a player is first faced with NFL adversity, in which fans can get a first glimpse of how a player handles it.

All of that is only three days away, the true beginning of the next NFL season. A weekend for fans to applaud or criticize their team's decision makers. One step closer to the first regular season game of 2009.

It can't get here fast enough.

Brewers-Mets: Kicking It Old School—Milwaukee Wins 4-2

Tim Seeman — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:31:09 -0400

Brewers Manager Ken Macha made some gutsy calls with his bullpen this afternoon on getaway day at Citi Field in New York.

Todd Coffey, by far the Brewers best bullpen pitcher so far this season, came in with one out in the seventh inning with the bases loaded. He got Carlos Delgado to roll it back to him for the 1-2-3 double-play to end the inning.

The Brewers broadcast team speculated that Coffey might leave the game after that, but he came back for the bottom of the eighth and found himself in another jam with runners on first and second and only one out.

A sharp liner to Bill Hall and a tag on Carlos Beltran between second and third ended that threat with Milwaukee lucky to escape with a one-run lead intact.

In the top of the ninth inning, Jason Kendall got on base in front of the pitcher's spot in the order, and surely a pinch hitter was coming to the plate, right? Wrong. Coffey, who hadn't had a plate appearance since 2005, was called on to bunt Kendall over. Which he laid down perfectly.

Rickie Weeks singled to left to drive in the all-important insurance run. Coffey came back out for the bottom of the ninth to complete the 2.2-inning save. If I had it my way, I'd put three saves down for Coffey in this game—one in each inning he appeared in. He was that good.

At the plate, Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks both had good days, each with an RBI. Mike Cameron also hit his fourth home run of the season, driving one over the 18-foot fence in the left-center field alley.

Jeff Suppan, Milwaukee's starting pitcher, also redeemed himself somewhat for terrible outings his last two times on the mound. He allowed only two runs and the majority of his outs were on ground balls, which is exactly the kind of pitcher Suppan is.