It was Rowdy Roddy Piper's bithday, then Hell Froze Over!

Yes, that is who you think it is. The Hot Rod himself. Saturday was Rowdy Roddy Piper's birthday and he spent it at Waukesha County Expo Center as one of the headliners at Great Lakes Championship Wrestling's Hell Froze Over. If you've followed this blog since its inception, you know I'm a wrestling fan and that I have been to the last few GLCW shows and have nothing but good things to say about what Dave Herro, Perry the Mortgage Doctor and the rest of the crew puts on.

Saturday night was no different. Piper was pretty entertaining and he even let go in a little Piper's Pit that featured Dakota Darsow. Darsow is the son of Barry Darsow, or Demolition member Smash.
It was a pretty good shoot segment on Barry and helped set up the main event of the night which was a 4 on 3 handicap match that pitted Dakota and three friends against Road Warrior Animal and Demolition. Which gave the name of the event. It marked the first time ever RW Animal had teamed with Demolition.


The undercard matches were pretty good and despite not knowing any of them, the matches actually went pretty long and were able to build some pretty good heat. I know I've grown up in a Vince McMahon dictated wrestling landscape, so maybe that's where I get it from, but you don't see it all the time. That's a hat tip to Herro for letting them do their thing and to the wrestlers themselves for being skilled enough to get it done.


Before the main event of the night, the GLCW title was up for grabs in a triple threat match that featured Al Snow against Road Dogg BG James and "XPac" Sean Waltman. This was a rather entertaining match. Knowing all three of these guys, it was pretty easy to follow. Al Snow played the crowd great. As did the other two and all were in on a great finish.
In the triple sleeper hold shown below, everyone including the ref, was out. When the guys realized this, they all went for steel chairs. By that point the ref was coming to again. So all three realize this and smash their chairs on the mat and go down. The ref comes to and takes the chairs out of the ring. At this point, Road Dogg takes the GLCW title and hits XPac with it, but Al is waiting with Head to takes down BG. That allows him to get the pin and retain his title. Great stuff.


It was now time for the main event. This was Animal's first appearance inside a ring in three years. Obviously he's a bit older and doesn't move like he used to, but he's still got it. For those of you wondering, he did not bring the shoulder pads.


Demolition isn't much better, but they played off each other well and let the kids carry the movement of the match. The match ended with Smash chasing his son to the back and Ax and Animal finished it off. Decent as far as finishes go,  but nothing special. Again, might be because I've been conditioned by Vinny Mac.


All in all a good show that got a little build up from Blizzard Brawl. The next even was announced as Italian Rumble 2 which will be at the Italian Community Center in Downtown Milwaukee on Friday, June 11. Now the pictures I used here are just a sample of the ones that turned out for me. You can see the rest in my Facebook albums, here.

The Nussie Hunter has to have a say in what goes on the page and he saw the GLCW Ladies title match. Which was first won by Traci Brooks, but then by 1250 WSSP's Mike Wickett. Yes another man holds the Ladies title. And since we're not in the business of putting men on the page in that way, Traci Brooks is set to appear at Italian Rumble 2 and has been in the pages of Playboy. Take a look for yourself. Pretty good stuff!

Reuniting with my summer fam at Opening Week at Miller Park

There they are. Two tickets that to some are tickets to a big party that surrounds a baseball game. But to me, those were two tickets back to my summer home to meet up with my summer family. I know it's been just over a week since the games so I won't rehash the results, but I just wanted to give all of the people that made the last week, which saw me hit four games in six days, so much fun. Oh and the games were pretty good too!


I have to start with Opening Day. My hangout spot for the last two-plus seasons has been Slim McGinn's and that's where it started again this year. This time with AJ and Jackie and Matt. As I do almost every year, a new member of the group gets added and it was no different. That's what makes it so enjoyable. I joke that I spend the day with 45,000+ of my closest friends, but it seems like most seem to become part of my festivities anyway. So while I am a huge baseball nerd, it's as much about the people as it is the games.


That was Monday. Tuesday I got a call that the man who I get my tickets through was making his first regular season appearance at Cathedral and had two seats open for me. That's RJ. He's famous on these pages and damnit I can't not mention him here. Big hat tip to him. That was a blast, plus Lori is now part of the fam. She has done well in "The 223" and posed a question Sunday night that will surely become a topic for a future blog.


Wednesday was a chance to skip out of work for the second time in a week to get in a game and I wouldn't have picked another person to spend it with. As I write this Vaughan is in Montana as he is moving to Washington, but before he left he took in some games with Wednesday being his last. It started a little rocky, but Trevor helped send him off in style and he got his win to hold him over until he and his girl Amy return in August. It was good to see big brother happy.

I had to take a couple days off and didn't return to Cathedral until Sunday. As you can tell, I was a little excited to get my first bobble of the year to join my collection. Bernie Brewer fits right in at the office.


I kept telling you it was about friends coming to the games  and a new friend is Angela (her first shout out on The Way!). She's admitted to me she's not that big into sports, but she was there for three games last week. She had only been to one all of last year, so she somehow worked through them. I think she enjoyed herself. And heck, she went 3-0 in her visits to Cathedral and even got a Bernie Brewer bobble of her own to show off. And if you don't see your picture here, don't worry. I didn't forget about you. And yes, you matter. I just ran out of room. That just means we need to hit another game together!


So all-in-all, after the first week, I'd say it's great to have the Brewers back. If only they could straighten Doug Davis out and work through this Jeff Suppan nonsense this week, they could be off to an even better start. I'm not worried about Prince pulling through and getting into the swing of things, nor am I ready to call Trevor done after blowing two saves over the weekend.
All of you fans on the ledge, remember we are just seven games into a 162-game season. Some of the trends are worth noting, but not panicking just yet. So settle down!

I know this blog was all about the friends, but I can't not have a Nussie Hunter feature. So, why not feature May's Maxim cover girl. Arianny Celeste has been featured here before, but this Maxim shoot is ridiculous. Yeah, she looks great. I'll have some big MMA on these pages in the next couple of weeks as my boy Urijah Faber gets in the cage to try to take back his WEC Featherweight title April 24. Enough of me babbling, take a look for yourself. There's more photos here.

The day is finally here... OPENING DAY!

 The day has finally arrived! Yes, Opening Day is here! It has to be one of, if not the one day I look forward to the most of any of the 365 each year. I've gone in person to the last three and it's more than just baseball why I love this day.
It is the official start of spring to me and most of us here in Wisconsin. That's the first reason. I know the first day of spring was March 21, but without baseball and the boys of summer playing at 1 Miller Park Way, it's not official.
The second reason is baseball. I'm a sports nerd - you are reading my sports blog, after all - so when my hometown team arrives and starts the season, I'm going to get jacked.
Third, the people. Have you seen Fever Pitch where Ben Wrightman has a whole other family every summer? That's what is is like for me. I have an extension of friends that I've met going to games and see them throughout the summer. We talk baseball, life, and anything worth talking about over drinks and a brat. Yes baseball delivers conversation. That's why it is so great. It has built-in time to build up for a moment when a player could deliver the big home run or strikeout.


Now that I've told you why I love Opening Day itself, let's talk about the game I'm going to see tomorrow afternoon (And here's my proof!). Yovanni Gallardo has been handed the ball and will make is first MLB Opening Day start. Ken Macha kept it under wrap for a bit, but it was made official last week. He has shown he is the ace of the staff and deserved the nod.
There is another question mark not yet defined and that is the starting right fielder. Corey Hart's struggles in spring have been chronicled. So much so that in Friday night's exhibition game at Miller Park those in attendance who think they know what the team should do rained the boo birds down on the Beermakers' 6-foot-6 right fielder. What did he do to show the pundits? He went 4 for 6 and raised his batting average 49 points. I'd say that's hearing the whispers and showing them what's up.
There are some other big questions surrounding the team. Namely the pitching pieces added this winter making the team better and getting them back into the playoffs. Here's the story in today's Journal-Sentinel that breaks them all down.

While we're answering questions about the season, I need to go on record and make my season predictions for the team I invest most of my summer emotions into.
I've been doing some thinking about this, about how many wins I'm expecting out of this team. I love the addition of Rick Peterson to the coaching staff. He's going to help the pitchers exponentially.
I like Randy Wolf and Doug Davis to the pitching staff and the depth Manny Parra and Chris Narveson.
Moving J.J. Hardy allowed for Alcides Escobar to take over at shortstop and should add speed to the lineup and keep the same defense J.J. had.
Even the catchers on this year's team are an upgrade offensively. Gregg Zaun and George Katteras have played great this spring. I don't put all my eggs in the spring stats basket, but it shows potential and I like it.
With that said, the Cardinals are the team to beat again this year. And with everything I've read, I'm on board with that notion. I'm in disagreement about the rest of the Central. I'm thinking the Brewers have a shot to get the No. 2 spot in the standings.
Does that put them in the Wild Card hunt? I'm not sure. I really like what the Braves have. I'm thinking the West is down in the NL this year meaning the Central and the East should provide the Wild Card.
I'm not counting the Brewers out of the race, but I'm thinking it's going to be hard for them to get more than 85 wins this season with the youth in the batting order in Carlos Gomez and Escobar. Also, I'm expecting some hiccups from Casey McGehee this year. Not a lot, but some should be coming. He hit under .200 all spring. So maybe it's coming.
My prediction is 82-80 and falling just short of the playoffs. If Jim Edmonds is called upon to play right field and can turn on some of his Angels or Cardinals magic, that could get pushed.

While I'm on Opening Day talk, let's talk about a new opening that has just come up. It's with Kim Kardashian. Just found out she's newly single and is strutting her stuff. Take a look a the gallery here with some amazing photos of her in a bikini. Here's a great sample! Now it's time to rest for baseball!