August 2008 - Posts

• One more thing

  Posted Aug 28 2008, 01:23 PM by Ben Voelkel

  Checking out the bowl projections on SI.com, and they have the Badgers making the Rose Bowl and playing against Southern Cal.

  (Personally, I think that's a rather bold pick, considering all the question marks on the Wisconsin team.  Another Outback Bowl or Capital One Bowl is more reasonable, I believe. I wouldn't mind that one bit, considering the hospitality room at the Outback Bowl's media hotel was first-rate a year ago).

  But should the Badgers end up making the Grandaddy of Them All, I think at least some of the people complaining about the Badgers weak schedule would be placated.
  

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• Pattycake, pattycake

  Posted Aug 28 2008, 01:16 PM by Ben Voelkel

  Bret Bielema hates to hear it. He call you ignorant for questioning him about it. But as we approach the UW football team's first game of the season, the fact remains: the Badgers' non-conference schedule sucks.

  Do they have the easiest non-conference schedule in the country? I'm going to go out on a limb and say probably not. But I would guess it would definitely be in the top 20 cupcake schedules in Division I-A (By the way, after this mention, you won't see the initials FBS or FCS ever again. The NCAA isn't fooling anyone. It's still I-A and I-AA. Three initials aren't going to make the level of competition any more equal than it was before.).

  Outside of a tough game on the road against Fresno State, Wisconsin plays the murderers-row of Akron, Marshall and, drumroll, Cal Poly Tech. That would be the 114th and 115th best teams in I-A, according to Sports Illustrated, and a I-AA team. And it's not like college basketball, where there are more than 300 D-I teams. That is 114 and 115 out of 119.

  You know what happens when you Google "Cal Poly Tech football"? Most similar searches for, say UW-Whitewater, an official team site will pop up first. Not so CPT. First up is an article from the LaCrosse Tribune. Next is a gambling website. Then a link to footballvideos.com. I'm through seven pages of results, and still no official site. Those Mustangs take their football pretty seriously, I guess. 

  Now, it would be unfair to lay all the blame for this on Bielema and Athletics Director Barry Alvarez. Sure, I'd like to see an end to the scheduling of I-AA teams. But that's the way it is. A lot of programs make a habit of doing so, and for logical reasons: big payday, relatively easy win (I know, I know... Michigan-Appalachian State. But Cal Poly and The Citadel aren't two-time defending national champions, either.), 1/6th of the way closer to bowl eligibility. And when these games were scheduled some three years ago, there was no way to predict the two opening opponents would both fall in the bottom five percent of I-A competition.

  But that still doesn't change the fact that the Badgers have three wins more or less in their back pocket to start the year, which is about a third of the way to 10 wins and a January bowl game. That just means satisfied donors, more job security and a sustained level of pretty good-ness, all of which is good news for Bielema.

  So if you're holding your breath in anticipation of a possible Fresno State-Tennessee-Rutgers-Appalachian State non-conference gauntlet, I'd either start breating again or get going on writing a will. Because it's not happening.
  

  To sample 2Pac: That's just the way it is. 
  

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• Dark day

  Posted Aug 07 2008, 12:48 AM by Ben Voelkel
  I was going to write something completely enthralling about UW's kicking and punting situation tonight, but thanks to five words I never in 16 lives thought I would hear — Brett Favre is a Jet — I really don't feel like it. Matt Fisher and Brad Nortman can wait for now. They'll get their day tomorrow.
  
  I think it's appropriate to start the eulogy with some perspective. I am a month away from my 22nd birthday. I have been sports conscious damn near as long as I've been conscious. In nine months I'll be a college graduate, hopefully have a real job and be an "adult." And as hard as I wrack my brain, I simply cannot remember another quarterback besides Brett lining up under center for the Green Bay Packers to start a game.
  
  Now, in a strange, sad way, it feels like a piece of my childhood has been shipped out. Pathetic and melodramatic? Probably. I really don't care, because that's the way it feels. Did Favre make some mistakes that led to this end game? Absolutely. He did himself no favors by vacillating when he initially thought about coming out of retirement in late March. Or essentially calling Ted Thompson a liar in the national media (regardless of whether it was true or not). Or, for that matter, turning this entire last month and a half into a three-ring circus even P.T. Barnum would envy by making his first public remarks on Fox News.
  
  At the same time, how much sense does it really make to take a team that won 13 games during last year's regular season and turn it over to a quarterback with zero career starts when you have a top-5 quarterback of all-time — last season's MVP runner-up — wanting to play for your team? You have to take your shot when you have it. The Packers are banking on Aaron Rodgers doing something he hasn't been able to do, stay healthy for an extended period of playing time, and their betting the house on it.
  
  I'm not sure if it's a case of ego or downright conviction Green Bay is better off with Rodgers, but if it's the former that's regrettable. If it's the latter, I'd have to disagree based on the limited amount I've seen. I guess the thing that bothers me most about the situation is this: Where would the Packers be if Ron Wolf had never traded for Favre? Without Favre, Reggie White likely doesn't sign with the Packers. Without Reggie and Favre together, the Pack likely doesn't win a Super Bowl and appear in another on their way to becoming the most dominant franchise in the late Nineties. Merchandise sales likely aren't as robust as they are, and there is a real possibility the Packers don't get Brown County voters to approve Extreme Makeover: Lambeau Edition.
  
  Without all of that, where does that leave the Packers? Possibly not in Green Bay. Most assuredly in a heap of debt. I realize the previous paragraph is about as conjecture and hypothetical riddled as seven sentences can get. It really doesn't accomplish anything, and there's no way to know if that's how it would play out. But I don't think that scenario is that implausible. Shouldn't a guy that has made that big of an impact on an organization, whether it be a professional sports franchise or a grocery store chain, have some sort of "Get out of retirement free" card? It's now nearly 1 a.m. I'm going to get six hours of sleep. My room is hot and uncomfortable. If that wasn't enough to make rest uneasy, for the first time since before I was in kindergarten, when I wake up, Brett Favre will not be a Packer.
  
  Sweet dreams? Doubt it.
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• Fun with Chinese

  Posted Aug 05 2008, 12:25 PM by Ben Voelkel

  The Summer Olympics are just a few short, smoggy Beijing days away. Ever wonder what Joe Krabbenhoft's name might be in Mandarin? Me either, until I came across this website. For the rest of this post, I am no longer blogging as Ben; please refer to me as Fang Bining (that's jade serenity for you Chinese flunkies out there).

  Get your own name and play along as we see what UW luminaries would be called in Beijing.

  Bo Ryan -- Men's basketball coach

  Ryan's given name is William, so that's what we'll plug in to the magic translation machine. An author of several books and star of his own coaching tapes (both of which he's been known to hawk to reporters during press conferences), his teams are known for their cerebral, eliminate mistakes style of play. Makes sense then to choose intelligence as the attribute to help describe Bo, or should I say Ran Wangli.

  Loosely translated, Ran Wangli means "looking forward manager," which is just about as perfect a name as you could hope for to get us started. Ryan's motto is "Next," "as in next player in," "focus on the next game" and "next dance fad". When he redesigned his office, he even put the word on his wall.

  So, yeah. So far I'd say we're one-for-one with accurate names.

  P.J. Hill -- Football

  Hill enters Wisconsin's fall camp (which started yesterday) in the best shape of his collegiate career, according to teammates. Still, he is still the bruising load of a runner who earned the nickname Wisconsin Winnebago for the way he bowls over defenders in his path.

  Once head coach Bret Bielema and offensive coordinator Paul Chryst settle on a starting quarterback, it's likely he'll be handing off to Hong Bozhen in the season opener against Akron.

  Translated, Hong Bozhen means "wide excite." Between his size and ability to rack up yards on the ground -- Hill is one of three UW runners (Ron Dayne and Anthony Davis) to gain at least 1,000 yards in both of his first two seasons -- score another for fitting names.

  Chris Pressley -- Football

  The UW fullback spent part of last summer on a UW Business School trip to China, where he saw the Great Wall, saw the countryside and hiked a bit.

  Pressley, hereafter Pan Shenghong, will clear the way for Hong Bozhen and the other Wisconsin running backs this fall. I could try to spin some way to make his translated name, Great Prosperous, fit, but instead I'd rather just link to this video.

  If I didn't know Pressley was such a nice guy, I would probably be frightened after seeing that video. As it stands, I'm still intimidated.

  Rae Lin D'Alie -- Women's basketball

  Lisa Stone's sprakplug point guard came out of nowhere in the 2006 WIAA Girls state basketball tournament to take Waterford High School to the championship and earn the attention of the Wisconsin coaching staff.

  In two years on campus, she has started every game at point guard for the Badgers and has ranked in the Big Ten's top five for assists both years.

  According to her official UW Athletics bio, one word that could be used to describe her is "energetic." According to the Chinese translator, one name to call her is Tong Ruile, or "sharp happiness." The guess here is she sticks with Rae Lin.

  Mark Johnson -- Women's hockey coach

  The 2007-2008 season was a down year for the UW women's skaters, which is a fairly ridiculous thing to say when you consider they made the National Championship game. But when you're working off back-to-back national titles, second place is just first loser.

  OK, so maybe that's a bit extreme. A season after losing Sara Bauer, the most accomplished hockey player to ever throw on a Wisconsin sweater, the fact that the Badgers were able to advance to yet another Frozen Four was fairly remarkable. That's a testament to the program Johnson, a member of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, has built.

  Speaking of that magical Miracle on Ice team, Johnson's Mandarin name, Zhan Mengrui, can be translated to mean sharp dream. Sounds fairly fitting, considering that team's victory over the Soviet Union is one of the most memorable athletic moments of the 20th Century.

  Alright, enough of the crazy bending of common sense to make these Chinese names sound reasonable. Here's just a few more athletes and names to take you home.

  Dan Woltman -- Men's golf (Wu Diannuan, meaning "genial law")

  Tom Gorowsky -- Men's hockey (Guo Tiaomu, meaning "look at admiringly")

  LaQuita Brazil -- Women's track (Bei Lingkuo, meaning "expand virtue")

  There you have it. More to come from Day 2 of Badgers' fall camp later tonight, likely around 8.

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• Smith to leave program

  Posted Aug 04 2008, 09:12 PM by Ben Voelkel
  Junior running back Lance Smith will leave the Wisconsin football program, Bret Bielema said Monday. Smith, who was suspended indefinitely by the team July 24 after violating conditions of his First Offenders program, had a rocky two years in the program. A physically-gifted, speedy back, Smith drew Bielema's ire on several occasions by failing to prepare mentally the way coaches expected him to. That often resulted in missed assignments and silly mistakes that kept him in Bielema's dog house. "We've had discussions with Lance and his high school coach and basically made the decision that he's going to move on and extend his playing career somewhere else," Bielema said following the team's first practice of fall camp. According to Bielema, Smith will likely attempt to transfer to a D-IAA program in hopes of still playing this season. Bielema said Smith is fully eligible through the NCAA, and by transferring "down" a level, he wouldn't have to sit out a year as he would if he transferred to a D-IA team. “I know in the last 96 hours, I’ve probably placed as many phone calls as I’ve ever had in my life," Bielema said. "There’s a lot of people who would like to have him on their football team.” With Smith out of the mix, the Badgers are left with three running backs likely to compete for the majority of carries. Zach Brown and P.J. Hill are listed as co-No. 1 backs, and redshirt freshman John Clay is listed as a backup. Hill is a very accomplished back, having ran for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons. The coaching staff love Brown as a complete player enough that he could eventually surpass Hill as the offense's top back this season. Clay, while he hasn't played a down yet, is a physical specimen with tremendous speed and power.
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  Filed under: Lance Smith, UW football, John Clay, P.J. Hill, Zach Brown

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