Three Brief Thoughts
I'm going to try to do more of these, to get more broad with the content that I am writing about, and this is going to be a few thoughts on some of the bigger stories in the sports world while trying to stay local as well. My three today, the Buck-Aikman ban, the Chargers relocation and how good, really, are the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team?
First, with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, my thoughts are this. For one, the ban will never work, because Wisconsin is just a little state with no more than five million viewers per week, where the entire country is watching the duo. Fox won't care, as Fox has business elsewhere too. Second, the "bias" initiative is not right, I don't think these guys are bias, I think they are idiots. Sure, Troy Aikman has his concussion issues, but Joe Buck is just awful to listen to. You'd think Fox would have better announcers, but they instead chose the two most famous and put them on national TV. Hence why Erin Andrews is their side(line) chick. Third, I'm glad their broadcast abilities are coming into question on a national stage, and Fox really does need to reconsider their positions. All the media members, the Rich Eisen's and Skip Bayless's are of course going to defend them, because they are in close contact with them, and also because some of them work for, guess who, FOX! In other words, these guys are either defending their buddies or are in a contract with Fox to defend them, they are NOT regurgitating national or local opinions.
Next, I'm going to talk about the Chargers moving to Los Angeles. To start, I don't blame the Chargers owners because it sounds like they really tried hard to get a new stadium, and that half of the city of San Diego isn't really into them as much as the other half is. A lot of growing southwest cities, LA, Phoenix, Tucson, etc. are a bunch of mid-westerners who have moved out there and still have ties to their local teams, hence why the funding wasn't there.
I also still feel worse for St. Louis than I do for San Diego, because San Diego is not that far away from Los Angeles. The drive from Carson, California to downtown San Diego is one hour and 59 minutes, where the drive from Milwaukee to Green Bay is 11 minutes less, and Madison to Green Bay is 23 minutes more. In other words, the majority of Packer fans drive just as far to get to Lambeau as Charger fans would to LA if they choose. Just saying, it's not like the team moved 1600 miles away as it did in St. Louis.
Finally, why do you have to get rid of the bolt? That's the only thing that I feel the Chargers' organization did wrong here, especially if they don't want to completely alienate their remaining San Diego fanbase. If the Packers moved to Milwaukee, and changed the G to an M, I'm sure the people of Green Bay would feel the same way Chargers fans feel.
Moving past football to basketball, the 18th ranked Badgers take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Kohl Center in approximately two hours. Last year, this entire squad made it to the Sweet 16, and with only seven football games left until September, I'm starting to shift my focus to basketball. I really don't know how I feel about the Badgers this year, sometimes I feel like they will get a seven seed and get upset early, and other days I think three seed and final four potential. I really don't know.
CASE FOR FINAL FOUR: This is the craziest college basketball season in a while, as there is only one undefeated team left, the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Florida State has been the best team in the ACC so far, UCLA in the Pac-12, the SEC is garbage past the starting five of Kentucky. Same with the Big Ten. The Big 12 has a Baylor that I believe is overrated, and probably the best team in the country at this point, Kansas. In other words, I really don't know who is Final Four worthy yet. That's why I believe that if the Badgers get going at the right time, they can win the Big Ten and four more in the Big Dance. They have the depth, experience, and coaching to get there, so why can't they? And the only teams in the Big Ten who have a better record than the Badgers overall right now are Minnesota, Purdue and Maryland. Purdue roughed them up, but the Badgers played their worst game by far.
CASE AGAINST: 9-7 Nebraska is tied with 12-6 Michigan State in the loss column for first place in the Big Ten, where Indiana, the only team to beat (to-be) number one Kansas is 11-6 overall. Rutgers is the only team that truly does not have the capability to beat the Badgers in the conference, but anybody can on any night, and this year it's actually true. Not only that, but the rest of the NCAA has decent teams waiting in the wings in every conference that nobody even knows about, Kansas State (13-3), USC (15-2), Virginia Tech (13-3) that nobody is talking about. And, the Badgers have been known since Bo Ryan took over to go on colder streaks as far as shooting goes than a woman scorned by the Devil himself. In other words, we are a jump shooting team that can go cold in a heartbeat.
Realistically, I think the Badgers are most likely to win the Big Ten and make the Sweet 16, and that's what my expectation at this point is. Once the Packers' season ends, I'll turn my focus to the Badgers and Bucks and get a much better understanding of the field.
