Nothing came easy for the Brewers last season. And if their 5-4 Opening Day 10-inning win over Colorado is any indication, expect of lot of late-inning nervousness again in 2013. The Brewers led the league last year with 29 blow saves. Imagine if they were able to hang on to just 9 of those. That would’ve turned an 83-win season into 92 wins and a likely playoff spot. Because of that, only John Axford and Jim Henderson were kept from last year’s bullpen that was like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. You never knew what you were going to get. Axford didn’t inject any confidence in the Brewers faithful after giving up that two-out bomb to Dexter Fowler in the 9th to force extra innings. Unfortunately, I think that’s the way it’s going to be this year for the Brewers. Almost all of their offensive attack that led the majors in home runs last year is back. I think that will be the one constant this year. Any hitting slumps the team goes through will not last long. But the pitching, both starting and bullpen will be the question mark all season long and it’s the pitchers that hold the key to the teams success in 2013. This bloggers is predicting an 85 win season. Tell me what you think.

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Just back from my 5-day visit to the Resch Center in Green Bay after their first year hosting the WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament and I think the tourney has found a permanent home finally. The Resch rolled out the red carpet for teams, fans and the media all week and made a lasting impression. Crowds were up from the Kohl Center last year by almost 10,000 fans total. A remarkable jump, although the girls tournament had to deal with a lot spring break vacation conflicts last year. But that’s the point. With the Resch Center able to secure the dates the WIAA wants, more weekends like this past one are likely. Parking was much easier with the Lambeau Field lots open right across the street. The Resch seats roughly ten thousand and just provides a more cozy atmosphere for this event. At the Kohl Center, which seats roughly 17,000, the sound would get lost as it rose to the rafters. During the Saturday 3-game afternoon session, more than 9,000 tickets were sold, a near full house. Every section had fans in seats and even in the end zone seats there were people in the top rows. Plus, with the fans closer to the action, it was a much more intense atmosphere than at the Kohl Center. WIAA officials were beaming about the girls tournament and the Resch Center afterwords. They have a contract to return there next season. Don’t be surprised if the WIAA makes the Resch a long-term home for the girls tournament.

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We are on the verge of completing one of the best boys basketball regular seasons in recent memory in my opinion. I’ve been covering Coulee Region hoops since 1990 and I can’t remember where we’ve had everything from star power (Matt Thomas, Bronson Koenig, Tim Wagner) to highly ranked teams (Onalaska, Central, Aquinas) to teams that have simply grown in front of our eyes (G-E-T starting two freshman, Luther’s emergence, Royall and North Crawford waving the banner for local small schools). With that said, here are some thoughts heading into the playoffs, which start Tuesday, February 19th and conclude on WXOW 19 at the WIAA State Tournament March 7-9.

DIVISION 2:

Favorites: Onalaska, Central
Sleeper: Holmen

All signs point to an Onalaska vs. Central Sectional semifinal on Feb. 28th. But before Onalaska can get there they must first beat either River Falls or Holmen. Both teams gave the Hilltoppers a hard time in their meetings this season. Central will likely need to get by Rice Lake, which has been ranked in the top 10 in the state all season long. Holmen has shown they can play the top teams tough. If they can spring an upset it might be enough to carry them all the way to the Sectional Final.

DIVISION 3:

Favorite: Aquinas
Sleeper: G-E-T

Despite one-point losses to Onalaska and Central recently, I still have the Blugolds making it to state and winning it all. Their road to state will be easier than their conference schedule in the MVC. Beware of G-E-T though. The Red Hawks fell behind by 20 points quickly in their regular season meeting with Aquinas. Then rallied late to pull to within 3 before losing. The fact G-E-T almost pulled off a miracle comeback should give them confidence. Possible Aquinas vs. G-E-T re-match Thursday, Feb. 28th in Osseo.

DIVISION 4:
Favorite: Ona. Luther

Luther surprised everyone by making it to the Sectional final last year before losing.
This year it would be a surprise if they don’t make it back to the Sectional final. Waiting for them there will likely be Cuba City, one of the top teams in the state. Could be another intriguing showdown between those two. That match-up would be Saturday, March 2nd in Wisconsin Dells if both teams advance as expected.

DIVISION 5:

Favorite: Royall
Sleeper: North Crawford

Royall has been ranked in the top 10 in the state all season long and, with the exception of an upset loss to Bangor, have dominated the Scenic Bluffs. They were a cinderella story two years ago when they made it to State. I give them an excellent shot at getting back this year. North Crawford dominated the Ridge and Valley and has enough to spring an upset over Royall. Those two could meet in a Sectional semifinal Thursday, February 28th in Reedsburg.

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Tony Lowry, Bud Keyes and Otis Flowers.

Bonus question answer: Don Morton

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On the surface, it looks like there is a lot of love for MVC football. Six of the 7 teams received playoff berths. But beneath it all only two got first round home games (Central and Holmen). It’s just one of the unusual items that caught my attention when the 2012 pairings were released Saturday. The same can be said for the Coulee, where only 2 of the five teams that made the playoffs will open at home (BRF and Arcadia). This was the first year that coaches seeded teams. In the past, the WIAA put together the field. Conference champs and second place teams usually occupied the top 4 seeds and then the rest were matched-up based on geography for the most part. My surprise: Aquinas received a #6 seed in division 5 and has to travel to Cuba City. This is a team that went 3-3 in the MVC playing against mostly division 2 and 3 schools. Look for the Blugolds to have a chip on their shoulder. With that said here are some predictions you don’t want to take to Las Vegas:
My sleepers: Aquinas (Div. 5)—-star senior quarterback and the reasons mentioned above.
Holmen (Div. 2)—lost their two games by a total of 4 points. They also played great at the end of the regular season.
West Salem (Div. 3)–just because Head Coach Wayne Sackett has a history of deep playoff runs and knows how to get it done in playoff time.

My favorites to make a deep run or even make it to Camp Randall:

Bangor (Div. 7)–undefeated and the best rushing attack in the area.
BRF (Div. 4)–What a turnaround from 1-8 last year. Can beat you running the ball or passing. Falling to division 4 also helps.

Enjoy the tournament.

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Below is the statement released by the NFL in regasrds to the final play of Monday night’s Packers loss at Seattle. Look for my translation in CAPITAL LETTERS:

“In Monday’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks, Seattle faced a 4th-and-10 from the Green Bay 24 with eight seconds remaining in the game.

“Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson threw a pass into the end zone. Several players, including Seattle wide receiver Golden Tate and Green Bay safety M.D. Jennings, jumped into the air in an attempt to catch the ball.

“While the ball is in the air, Tate can be seen shoving Green Bay cornerback Sam Shields to the ground. This should have been a penalty for offensive pass interference, which would have ended the game. It was not called and is not reviewable in instant replay. MY TRANSLATION: WE’RE SORRY PACKERS, BUT THE REFS REALLY BLEW THIS ONE.

“When the players hit the ground in the end zone, the officials determined that both Tate and Jennings had possession of the ball. MY TRANSLATION: NOT TRUE. ONE OFFICIAL INDICATED THAT TIME WAS OUT AND THE PLAY WAS OVER, MEANING A JENNINGS INTERCEPTION.
Under the rule for simultaneous catch, the ball belongs to Tate, the offensive player. The result of the play was a touchdown.

“Replay Official Howard Slavin stopped the game for an instant replay review. The aspects of the play that were reviewable included if the ball hit the ground and who had possession of the ball. In the end zone, a ruling of a simultaneous catch is reviewable. That is not the case in the field of play, only in the end zone.

“Referee Wayne Elliott determined that no indisputable visual evidence existed to overturn the call on the field, and as a result, the on-field ruling of touchdown stood. MY TRANSLATION: LOOK AGAIN WAYNE. NO COMPETENT OFFICIAL WOULD CALL THAT A SIMULTANEOUS CATCH. YOU’RE INSULTING OUR INTELLIGENCE.
The NFL Officiating Department reviewed the video today and supports the decision not to overturn the on-field ruling following the instant replay review. MY TRANSLATION: HEY, WE MAY NEED THESE GUYS FOR A WHILE. THE LAST THING WE’RE GOING TO DO IS THROW THESE REPLACEMENT REFS UNDER THE BUS COMPLETELY. WE’RE JUST PROTECTING OUR BUTTS.

“The result of the game is final.”
MY TRANSLATION: THE REFS SCREWED UP, BUT NOT IN THE WAY YOU THINK. WE’RE NOT CHANGING THE OUTCOME EVEN THOUGH IT’S OBVIOUS BECAUSE THAT WOULD OPEN UP A WHOLE NEW CAN OF WORMS AND CREATE MORE UGLY CONTROVERSY.

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The lastest coaches polls are out for girls volleyball, boys soccer and football. If you believe what the coaches are saying, they simply don’t play sports in the La Crosse area. Or is it that the competition isn’t as good? Here’s what I mean. In the latest girls volleyball poll, only Arcadia shows up as an honorable mention in division 3. No West Salem. No Onalaska.
In boys soccer, only Aquinas shows up as an honorable mention in any of the 3 divisions. Most of the rest of the teams from the three divisions are from the Madison and Milwaukee area.
In football (here’s where it gets interesting) the only La Crosse area team ranked in 7 divisions is Bangor, ranked 5th in division 6. That’s it. Undefeated Central and undefeated Black River Falls left out. Of course the La Crosse area isn’t going to have many schools ranked compared to the Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay -Appleton areas simply based on the number of schools and population. On the other hand, using the Wausau area as a similar comparison as far as population and the amount of schools, they have 8 schools ranked in the latest football poll. But in three polls only one La Crosse area team ranked? You figure the La Crosse area might have a 3-4 teams in each poll just by accident. So I ask you, is the La Crosse area simply lacking love? Is the talent simply not as good? Or do the coaches who vote simply don’t know enough about La Crosse Area schools? Share your thoughts.

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UW-L’s 21-17 win over #6 North Central College says a couple of things about the Eagles football program. First, they are an ascending program again under 2nd year head coach Joel Dettwiler. Second, Dettwiler has already established a new attitude. Consider two of his 4 career wins at UW-L have come against ranked teams….on the road, no less. It starts with the defense. I watched one practice a while ago where Dettwiler was relentless with his defensive players. In other words, there was accountability. And when his standards were not met it was “everyone on the line, we’re doing some conditioning.” Message received. The Eagles defense forced 6 turnovers and returned two of them for scores against North Central.

Offensively, the Eagles remain a work in progress. They have a terrific running game with Ben Hertrampf and Jared Stan. But eventually they’ll need a more dynamic performance from QB Andy Sires, who won a training camp battle with Zach Mestelle.

These Eagles are not very big from a physical standpoint, at least not in the classic sense when compared to the championship teams from the ’80′s and ’90′s. But they’ve already shown they’re not afraid of the big stage.

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First impressions don’t necessarily have to be lasting impressions. Nonetheless, here are some things that stuck out to me from the first week of prep football.
-Top performance: Dave Hellerud, Logan RB. 14-246 yds. and 5 TD’s. Granted Eau Claire North wasn’t very good last year and they don’t look very good this year. But 246 yds. and 5 TD’s a huge against anyone.

-Top Performance (team): Holmen. The Vikings haven’t always faired well when traveling on the road to play a Big Rivers team. But they dominated Chippewa Falls. During our annual previews Coach Steve King said he needed to find some offensive lineman to compliment his excellent corps of skill players. Must’ve found them.

-Surprise team #1: Onalaska Luther. The Knights ended a 19-game losing streak with an emphatic 36-0 win against a team that made it to the playoffs last year. Is this the Knights breakthrough year?

-Surprise team #2: Black River Falls. They had an uncharacteristic down year last year. So to come out of the gates and blow the doors off Tomah, a team that went 6-0 in the MVC last season, says to me that BRF is going to be a player again in the Coulee.

Week one was just an appetizer. The Minnesota schools join the action this week. That means our first look at two-time defending state champ in Class 2A Caledonia. Can’t wait.

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The Loggers sure know how to throw a 10 year anniversary party. Last week’s NWL title was richly deserved for Loggers owner Dan Kapanke and the only GM he has ever had, Chris Goodell. Kapanke provided the financial backing to bring a Northwoods League team to La Crosse. He turned Copeland Park from an oversized softball diamond into a first-class minor league facility, not mention the place to be during summer nights in La Crosse. Goodell brought his experience from his year with the Waterloo Bucks and has made the Loggers one of the signature franchises in the NWL. I covered the old CBA in La Crosse during it’s final ten year run here. I can’t help but notice the parallels between the Catbirds of the early ’90′s that won two league titles and annually drew some of the best crowds in the league. The Catbirds had strong ownership back then with the Reinhart/Gillette families leading the way. They had a strong GM in Ron Mineagar, who by the way, is now in the front office of the Arizona Cardinals. They had terrific coaching too. Flip Saunders won two titles here and then went on to have some successful seasons in the NBA. His assistant Don Zierden remains an NBA assistant with the Washington Wizards. Similarly, Andy McKay is a coach on the rise. Look for his next gig to be in a major league organization somehwere. He told me he was in line to be a manager for a Miami Marlins minor league affiliate this summer before circumstances beyond his control ended that bid. Mckay’s tenure in La Crosse is over after 5 wonderful summers. Don’t bve surprised if the Loggers pluck a manager from the McKay coaching tree. His professional approach with these college players did not go unnoticed. Another similarity, the Catbirds ranked highly in the CBA in attendance and the community embraced them, much like they do the Loggers right now. Much like the Catbirds, with solid ownership, an experienced front office and the right field manager, this shouldn’t be the only NWL title the franchise celebrates.

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