Loving Ron Roenicke's take on his first year as manager

It's 50 degrees outside (well, I'll round up from 44 degrees, Haha.) and we were just days away from Brewers pitchers and catchers officially reporting to Maryvale Baseball Park for Spring Training. That's enough evidence for me to see spring on the horizon. The first official workout for the pitching staff will be Thursday and that will be the first official time Ron Roenicke will take on manger duties for the Crew.
Getting to know a little about him over the winter and actually meeting him at Brewers On Deck a couple weeks back, he should fit in quite well with the team. He said some pretty powerful things and while he has never managed at the MLB level before, he seems to always say the right things.
As was evident in a Saturday story by Tom Haudricourt in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story that was a pretty telling Q & A. It touched on a number of points to kind of wet the whistle of us fans giong into Spring Training.
I like that he has a pretty good feeling with the staff. I would guess baseball is one of the few sports that, even after a manager or coach change, has a number of hold over coaches. That may be one of the biggest keys into making a smooth transition going into the season. Guys like Ed Sedar and Dale Sveum know this team quite well and should have him up to speed in no time once everyone gets to camp.
He was asked about the defense of the team. Like him, I don't feel real bad about the defense. Of course, they could always get better in the field, but it's not an awful weakness. He did hit on a pretty good point, that with better pitching, less balls will get sent their way which should lessen the effect of defense on them and give them a better chance to succeed.
I also liked his comments on injuries to the pitching staff. I, like him, think the team could survive for a short time if one, and maybe even two guys go down with injuries. But only for a short time with Manny Parra and Mark Rogers available to start if needed. If things go for more than a couple weeks, then it could get dicey and Roenicke agrees. Like he said, any team that thinks it can win with the seventh or eighth guy in their system starting for an extended time, they have some screws loose.
The last question Tom asked was on the expectations of this team. Ron hit on this at the On Deck event a couple weeks back when he was on stage, and he echoed it again in the interview. Of course, with the new pitching arrivals, expectations have shot up, but he welcomes them and he has high expectations, too.
To that end, I saw a story on OnMilwaukee.com last week that said a Packers Super Bowl win put the expectations of the Brewers at ridiculous levels for fans around here. I can agree with that. People now are thinking the Crew must win the NL Pennant, which I would love to see, but have to see how things pan out first. Baseball is a weird game and sometimes odd things happen to pitchers and hitters. Obviously the pieces are in place and, on paper, this team can go far, but it has to perform on the field and not on paper.

Going to quickly jump into some pop culture talk now. The Grammys were last night and were pretty good. My fave performance, of the night was, of course, Eminem with Dr. Dre and Skylar Grey doing "I Need a Doctor." To me, this is pretty deep stuff. Enjoy it...


On to the Nussie Hunter portion of the broadcast today. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model will be unveiled tonight on David Letterman. The secret is guarded with secrecy and I'd expect Bar Rafaeli and Brooklyn Decker to be front runners for the spot. I also think Chrissy Teigen has a good shot. You can follow her on Twitter, here. And check her out in last year's Swimsuit Issue. Here's a sample below.

Super Bowl XLV a microcosm of Packers season

Rub your eyes and pinch yourself, I am going to speak the praises of the Green Bay Packers and for good reason. They started the season with one group of guys and essentially had to work with another group of guys to bring it all together and make a run when they needed to to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Think about it. They score two touchdowns in 24 seconds (Jack Bauer would be proud), making us all think they were going to roll to an easy win. And heck, even at 21-3 in the second quarter, I figured the rout was on.
They were doing everything right, getting pressure on Ben Roethlisberger and making him make throws that he didn't make. The interception return for a touchdown came on a play were Ben's arm was hit, leaving the ball to float like a punt.
Ben had another interception in the game and throughout just didn't look himself. Having led a game-winning drive against the Cardinals just two years ago in the Super Bowl, you almost figured he was going to deliver the same magic, again, but never came through. His three straight incompletions to end the game showed how erratic he was.
Then, things got interesting in the second half. Just like the Packers season when, in Week 6, that team was 3-3 and didn't look like they'd be able to live up to all the "Super" expectations put on the team at the start of the season.
Even as Aaron Rodgers looked pedestrian in the third quarter, the Packers defense came up and slowed things down enough to keep the Packers in the game. The offense needed it too, as James Jones and Jordy Nelson at times looked like they couldn't catch anything and had no business being on the field.
To me, they were the single biggest reason the Steelers were even in the game. There was easily one touchdown in there and a couple others, that, if caught, could lead to more points.
Either way, Rodgers had tons of time to throw all game, which is a tribute to his offensive line. I cannot remember Troy Polamalu even being a factory in the game really, which is a tribute to that front and to Rodgers for not making the silly throw with him in coverage.
Then, of course is the Packers defense. it gave up 398 yards, putting the Steelers on a short list of Super Bowl teams to outgain an opponent and lose. But Clay Matthews, who missed out on Defensive Player of the Year by two first-place votes, made the big play forcing a Rashard Mendenhal fumble on the Packers 33 yard line, the Steelers third turnover of the game, which slammed the door and got the Packers the momentum back. You have to think if they keep going with that drive, the Steelers kick the Packers even farther back on their heels, take the lead and seem to ride on to victory. Matthews knew it was his time to make a play and he did it. That's what a big-time player does.
I can do nothing more than bid the Packers congrats on the victory. Oh, and, if you read the blog Friday, you saw my score prediction of 33-28. Well, it was 31-25, so I was pretty close.

Alright, now to the other big part of yesterday: the commercials. They were not as good as in past years, but a couple stuck with me.
My man, Eminem, was in two of them, which were pretty good. This Brisk one:


This Chrysler one was my fave though. Here's the extended cut...


My fave of the day, though, had to be the Volkswagon Passat commercial. This is why I like VW.


Oh, and how can I forget this one, from the NFL itself.


Now for the Nussie Hunter portion of the broadcast on the Super Bowl Sunday recap edition of the blog. One inparticular stood out to me, featuring Kim Kardashian.


But, she is not our Nussie Hunter feature of the day. For that, we go to Jaime Edmondson. We have to pay tribute to the Super Bowl Champs, no? To be fair, she pays tribute to every NFL team, here, but hey.

Are guys in sports always this clueless?

Welcome back to the Way boys and girls. Had to take a day off to focus on my high school sports writing gig yesterday. Got you a midday edition today.

This week has been one of sports figures acting like the rest of the world is stupid and knows nothing. The first instance is Rick Pitino who is being extorted by a woman that he had an affair with then paid for her abortion.
That point I'm not calling him out on. What I am upset with is his calling out of the media for telling lies which have destroyed his family.
The woman did come to Pitino to get money from the coach, but the FBI is looking into her lying about what she alleges as sexual assault.
Take a look at the story. My problem with it is that the media has to cover it. And the only thing Pitino is yelling about is the medias playing of her disposition tapes. Rick, that's the only thing they have to go with. Well, until you just blasted everyone in your press conference.
They can't just ignore this story. It has to be covered. Maybe if he hadn't slept with this woman, he wouldn't be in this position. (No pun intended, but picture her on the table. Haha)



The other guy that does not have a clue is Milton Bradley, who signed with the Cubs for a ridiculous amount of money this offseason. Let's just say his numbers haven't come close to earning those millions.
He's been hearing from the Cubs faithful more and more lately and he finally fired back in the media, saying Cubs fans are racist.
Someone want to tell this bafoon that passionate fans know when a guy gets big money, he's supposed to come through. When he doesn't, boos follow. Just ask Bill Hall in Milwaukee.
Does he not know what the hell is going on with his season? He's missing it. He says he's never been comfortable at Wrigley Field, which isn't an excuse and he obviously going to get more comfortable when the boo birds rain down on him from all over the stadium.
Well, Bradley now has the Cubs in a spot where they are going to make a decision. One writer at the Tribune says, to let him go.
My take is that while some fans might be racist (that would happen regardless of which team they root for), that's not an excuse to fall back on for playing like crap. Be a man, and own up to it. Excuses from professional athletes to blue collar sports fans is not a good idea. No fan, regardless of where they are, will not sit for that.

Off my soapbox for now and on to some good stuff. First Shaq was on Jimmy Kimmel and played some Scrabble. As you might have guessed some goodness ensues.



I haven't really pushed music on here before, but when I heard this track, it jumped out at me. It's Drake featuring Eminem, Lil Wayne and Kanye West and it' called "Forever." Get on it!



Now to today's Nussie Hunter. I know your girl friend knows who Brody Jenner is. Well, you should know his girl friend, Jayde Nicole. The 2008 Playboy Playmate of the Year is amazing (and yes I follow her on Twitter!). Well, this story I found says she was beat down by Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis after she stepped in and threw a drink on him for getting pushy with one of her girl friends. Here's the story. Now take a look at Jayde. I'm not linking to any naked pics, but if you know how to use Google, you can find them.