Pinch yourself, Greinke really is a Brewer!

I woke up Sunday morning like it was Christmas, hoping what I had seen Saturday night was true. Many sources confirmed it. So Monday, when I saw Zack Greinke had caught an early-morning flight to come to town and meet the media, there was no way it couldn't be true. The way it all went down Saturday night gave me reason to wonder and just hope everything was true. But as I wrote earlier today on Examiner.com, multiple reports confirmed what was originally reported by Jim Breen, writer of Bernie's Crew, a Brewers fan blog. Here's the video of that trip to the Brewers clubhouse this morning.
Yes, the Brewers have acquired the 2009 Cy Young Award winner to lead the staff into the 2011 season as one of the contenders. (Wow, I can't believe I just wrote that.)
The words that ring the best to me from what he said this morning was that he is "the happiest he's been since he was drafted" in 2002. Those are some strong words and considering he had to waive his no-trade clause to make the deal stick, says it was partly his choice to come here. Well, Zack , welcome to Brew Town.
I've had a lot of conversations with friends over the move in the last two days and he immediately does make this team a contender. Before you jump on the "The Brewers have no offense" wagon, remember the Giants had the worst offense in baseball last year, but got hot at the plate and had the pitching all year and ended up winning the World Series.
There is one question mark that I do see that does need to be addressed and that is defense. Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain provide great defense up the middle for this team and would have likely been the Opening Day starters here. Now Yuniesky Betancourt at short and the prospect of giving Carlos Gomez the reigns back in center makes me a bit nervous. While the Giants may have had bad offense, they game through when needed because of potential. I'm not so sure those two guys have that potential. Yes, the Brewers resigned Craig Counsell today, but you can't expect him to start or play significant time before his age is evident.
The moves to solidify those positions will not be big ones, but they'll need to be ones for role players that can step in and contribute mostly in the field, but occasionally at the plate. Just as I don't really know who would be on the block to trade away for Greinke, I do not know where this player or players will come from. Just as Melvin has done in the past two weeks, I'm sure he'll find someone to step in if they are out there.

The move for the Brewers to get Greinke was big news (Rightfully so). And all the Cubs fans were jacked to get Kerry Wood back. Well, one of my go-to blogs is Miller Park Drunk and he has a shirt that says it better than I could.  You can buy the shirt, here!


A totally non Brewers item to post now, but it was just too cool to not post. Plus, it's Christmas week. One of my favorite times of the year! Enjoy! Oh, and be sure to bust out your lighter app and take part.


Time to get right into the Nussie Hunter portion of the program. Since we're meeting and getting to know Zack Greinke, why not get to know his wife, Emily, as well. She has been ranked among baseball's hottest WAGs over the past couple years. And well, can you blame them after seeing her here and below?

Marcum 'Just the start' could mean good things for Brewers

When news dropped Sunday the Brewers had dealt Brett Lawrie to Toronto for Shaun Marcum, I was immediately excited. I had to double check the stats, to be honest, but knew Doug Melvin would get a guy that could make an immediate impact if he could.
That's exactly what he did. Last year Marcum went 13-8 with a 3.64 ERA (FULL STATS) in the brutal AL East. Yes he did miss all of 2009 after having Tommy John Surgery, but he bounced back and threw 195 innings. That makes me a little less worried about him being a so-called "injury risk" and more excited he will contribute for most of 2011. He was the ace of the Toronto staff after Doc Haladay left town and will fit right between Randy Wolf and the ace of the Brewers, Yovanni Gallardo. The new man at the helm, Ron Roenicke, has already gone on record and said he's "very excited" about the arrival of Marcum to the staff having watched him from the opposing dugout.
Of course, the quote from Melvin still rings out that his is "just the start" of what he wants to do this winter. I'm hoping they can put together something for one more arm - not sure on Carl Pavano, but I saw he talked to his agent - to round out the rotation that already includes Yo, Marcum, Wolf and Chris Narveson. What that move is, I don't know yet, but I'm sure it has to be something of importance. Yes, they would like to deal Carlos Gomez, but you can't just ship your trash out the door and get something great for him. You can't get too much into the rumors you read during the day on Twitter - There's a lot of them - you just have to wait and see what gets finalized.
Let's just hope Marcum is nothing like the douche it has been revealed that Brett Lawrie was. A blog I've mentioned on these pages before, Miller Park Drunk, has posted pictures from Lawrie's Facebook page and let's just say the guy is a bit of a tool. Here's the link. What is up with CLEAN Eminem lyrics? I know you are a bit of a public figure, but what the hell?


Moving on now to my Bears, who had to get a ripping from the usually lax Coach Lovie at halftime in Detroit to move to 9-3. They still aren't getting any respect and the skeptics stood up and pointed when things got dicey at Ford Field, but this Bears team is for real. Make no mistake, they have come along since the beginning of the season, but they are for real.
I watched some video on ESPN.com today that featured Trent Dilfer telling me why the Bears were not Super Bowl contenders and he said because they are built around defense and don't ask the offense to do most of the heavy lifting, they are not even being considered, or shouldn't be.
Hey Trent, what were you on that Tampa Bay team that won the Super Bowl? The defense did everything and you were asked to just not mess it up.
Now, I'm not saying the Bears are going to win the Super Bowl, but being in a spot to earn a bye in the NFC playoffs has to put them in the discussion and he's being asinine for dismissing them so quickly. They surely have the defense that will make noise in December and we'll get to see it get tested in the final four weeks of the season. With games against the Patriots, Vikings, Jets and Packers, that defense will need to step up if they want to hold on to the NFC North lead and earn that bye. Yes, the team is built around defense, but since the bye week (Week 9), the Bears have the second highest third down conversion percentage at just over 52 percent and Jay Cutler is not making the stupid plays. The biggest key has been the emergence of BOTH Matt Forte and Chester Taylor. That means the offensive line has figured it out, having played the same five guys since then.

Alright, I don't get into college football much here on the blog, but that "Teach me how to Bucky" was quite ridiculously awesome. So, when the same folks to another video, you have to take notice. This time "We're Smelling Roses."


It is now time for the Nussie Hunter portion of the broadcast. Today, I introduce you to a woman you probably don't know. Her name is Daphne Joy and she's downright amazing. I found her on Twitter and you can too, here.

Revamping the Brewers' pitching staff got its first guy...

The revamping and rebuilding of the Brewers pitching staff started today when Doug Melvin finally announced he had not only talked to Rick Peterson, but he hired him to be the new pitching coach. Yeah, last week was a bit of weird situation where the J-S's Tom Haudricourt talked to Peterson and while not being able to say he had interviewed, said he'd be a "great fit" for the organization.
He did the media roundabout today in the Milwaukee area and Tom H. got him on the hopper. Not much of any substance in that (must be saving it for the morning paper), but I did find this on ESPN.com that had some better takes from Rick. Brewers.com does have a better story from Adam McCalvy, which Peterson was pretty good with. Take a look.
I must say, I love his enthusiasm for the job. The fact that he knows both Ken Macha and Willie Randolph sits well with me too. As I'm thinking if a shakeup needs to be made at the start of the season, Macha will be out and Willie will take over and he can keep the spot.
But aside from that, the line he said in the ESPN story about being a student of the guys on the pitching staff, speaks for the type of guy he can be for that team. He knows it's going to be a long road back and to just get the guys to middle of the pack should translate well and put the Brewers in a good spot for another playoff push.
Now to go after two key pitchers that Haudricourt talked with him about in the blog post. To hell with all those Zac Grienke rumors, it's not happening. It would be nice if it would, but I'm not going to start anything to save myself from looking stupid. I do, afterall, know what it takes to make a real news post and whatever that guy from Bleacher Report had over the weekend, wasn't it.
I did find this, on MLBTradeRumors.com, which is a credible site that is educated in what goes in around MLB. It's an off-season outlook on the team. Take a look. I'm on board with most of what they say there. Not sure where McCalvy got the line that the Brewers were going to extend Looper, but I'd let him got and use the money elsewhere.

Staying on a Brewers trip, I noted two-thirds of the writers that cover the Brewers on an everyday basis in Tom Haudricourt and Adam McCalvy there. Well, Miller Park Drunk, which is becoming one of my favorite Brewers blogs, has this amazing finale to his series of "Witrado's Quest" featuring the awesomeness of Tom H.'s sidekick Anthony Witrado. This is so good. If you missed one of the first three installments, there are links to go back.



Now for some non sports items, that bring the funny. As you know, I'm a big fan of the CBS sit-com "How I Met Your Mother" and last night the big topic was Robin getting her American citizenship. Being from Canada it led to a great exchange between her and Barney (played by Neil Patrick Harris). He wrote on his blog today about the Canadian citizenship test, which pales in comparison to the US test, eh! Take a look and see for yourself, eh! Could you pass?

OK, now for the Nussie Hunter feature of today's blog. I have to thank my dudebro Josh G. for this. He was telling me about how awesome the upcoming movie "The Men Who Stare At Goats" looked. So I watched the trailer and it does look damn good. Then, on my usual blog prep trip to Maxim.com, I discovered George Clooney's date he took to the premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Her name is Elisabetta Canalis and she has a hit TV show in Italy and was a host on MTV Italy's Total Request Live. Take a look at her Maxim gallery. As a side note, I Google imaged searched her to find some pics and honestly, it was a damn tough choice. Take a look for yourself, then check the one I picked.

Yes Yes (Or CC!) Yanks ready to roll!

Yesterday I made my NLCS prediction (Didn't fare so well tonight, but a great game no less) so now it's time for the ALCS.

As a huge Brewers fan who soaked up the playoff run in 2008, I can't root against CC (In English that's YES YES) Sabathia. Dude is a folk hero in Brew Town. Even though he now pitches for the Yankees, I can't see any reason why he should lose. OK, it helps that my best dudebro, Vaughan, has brought me over to the Dark Side for the Playoffs.
That said, I'm impartial on these picking the winners things since my team is not in the running. I really like both teams. Like the NLCS, the two best teams are playing each other, which doesn't always happen. That means we should be treated to some great baseball starting tomorrow night at NEW Yankees Stadium.
I'll make this short and sweet, because I'm not going to tell you anything you don't already know. Both teams are deep offensively, but I think the Yankees can bring the arms and have one thing the Angels do not and that's a closer. They might just have the best in the business when it comes to shutting down games in the playoffs in Mariano Rivera. That could be the difference.
The pick: Yankees in 6.

Staying on the baseball trip, I'll introduce you to a blog that I find rather entertaining and on my wavelength, Miller Park Drunk. Today's post was rather awesome, busting on the one Brewers beat reporter that evokes any emotion at all. And a negative one Anthony Witrado. Being a prep sports reporter myself, I've ran into the guy on occasion before he got the second Brewers reporter gig and the guy is a tool. Take a look at this. Just because it's not Brewers season doesn't mean we have to stop busting on "Retardo."

Now to some pop culture bits. I'm sure you were watching "Balloon Boy" fly over Colorado today in awe. Well, so we thought. Turns out the little high flyer, aptly named Falcon, was in the attic the whole time. Eesh! The family is no stranger to TV as they've appear on the Fox show "Wife Swap." Take a look at this awesomely bad music video the boys shot. Don't know whether it's good or bad.



OK, now time for the Nussie Hunter portion of my little dog and pony show. Continuing what I started yesterday, I'm picking the hottest WAG on the two teams. While I'd probably say Minka Kelly takes that cake, I've already used her in this space, so I had to go to my 1B option and that would have to be Kate Hudson, who is having A-Rod's baby. Yeah, she's smoking. Enjoy it!

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Hey all. Welcome back. Got a little bit of a different look for you today with the blog, as I'm going to promote another blog. One which I follow on Twitter, Miller Park Drunk.
Mainly, I'm doing this because the Brewers got swept out of Steel City yesterday and I'm getting sick of talking about the failures.
Just take a look, it's well put over there on MPD. It's a rather funny exchange between the players of the 1983 team that had high expectations following 1982 run at the World Series.
Within said blog is a shout out to everyone's favorite Milwaukee Brewers beat writer, Anthony Witrado. Then I found these links, in which J-S editors stand behind the jabroni that covers the Crew. While I was reading, MPD, I missed yesterday's blog which recounts his most read blogs in history. This was some funny stuff.
It's become so bad between myself and my man, R.J. that whenever we sit down at a game, one of the first things I look for is who is covering the game for the J-S. When it's a "Retardo" game as R.J. usually replies, "Good thing I'm here and not at home reading his in-game blog!"
I'm becoming a fan. You should, too.

Ok, now for some more uplifting and funny stuff. Had some time on the Web today as I was doing my daily reading.

First, a little to wet your whistle. I'm a big fan of Rob Dyrdek. The Fantasy Factory is back for Season 2. Should be fun. Take a look. Only thing missing is a lot of Chanel!



Now for some sports bits. This streaker in Baltimore during the game. Got this from SI.com's Hot Clicks today.




And now for Part 1 of what is becoming a phenomenon on Covino and Rich, RAAAAAAAANDY! This is part one of his documentary. Be sure to take a look at Part 2 and Part 3 for the rest of it. Good stuff!



OK boys and girls (mainly boys) it's time for the Nussie Hunter. Now I'm sure many of you probably watched the Erin Andrews peephole video that was out there. This blogger did not watch that. Just didn't seem right. Well, our fave girl, EA, is out in the newest issue of GQ in a photoshoot she shot before the video came out with some pretty good photos. Here's the story that comes along with that.