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You can put it on your calendars folks as this week rivals almost any other in a calendar year as the best week ever. Think about it. Major League Baseball Opening Day on Sunday night, the NCAA Basketball Men’s Championship on Monday, and The Masters started on Thursday. There is also the end of the NBA and NHL seasons fast approaching. Combine all those and SportsCenter overload is in full effect!
Being a sports nut it is great to be able to turn on the TV at the end of the day and know there are great highlights to watch every day of the week. Also, as someone who has 4 fantasy baseball teams, was in multiple NCAA tournament pools and is pulling for Sergio Garcia to win The Masters so I can get a free Taylor Made Driver, it helps to know what is going on.
Sunday I watched intently as the Braves and the Phillies matched up in the 2009 MLB debut. In one of my draft’s, which is a keeper league, somehow I was able to take Brian McCann with the first available pick and he did not let me down. Blasting a 2-run bomb into the second deck in first inning, it justified taking a catcher high in the draft and let me know he will be a force to be reckoned with this season. (shout out to Schmeltzer and the NL East).
On Monday, the Twins officially opened their 2009 campaign at home against the Seattle Mariners. With a late Opening Day starter switch last week, Fransisco Lirano got the nod and took the hill. The Mariners, now with the veteran Ken Griffey Jr back in their lineup, proved to be too much for the Twins and we lost. However, Tuesday would be a different story. (More on that later).
Also on Monday night, I was able to experience my first-ever “Itch’s Annual Basketball Bash at Rookie’s.” Making the 35 minute drive out to Rookies was well worth it to share in the comrodarere of the rest of the Mallards staff and a lot of other Mallards fans over a few beers and the first Stoddard’s Brats of the year. Also due to a couple of good-natured gentlemen’s bets, a round or two of shots came from the bar, with the last being…..Orange Whips! Orange Whips have been a staple of any type of NWL gathering or Mallards outing since their debut in Rochester in the fall of 2006. As a concoctuion that changes with every establishment we order them at, Rookie’s did a great job and should share their mix with the rest of the world.
Tuesday I came into the office only to take a fair amount of gruff on the Twins Opening Day loss, however my spirits were not broken. I knew the Twins had the heart to win and they proved it on Tuesday night. After being down two runs, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Twins mounted a comeback for the ages. Carlos Gomez, who is not known for his plate dispiline drew a walk. Then so did pinch hitter Jason Kubel followed by another walk to another pinch hitter in Brian Buscher. With the bases loaded Denard Span squeaked out an infield single to bring the Twins within one and then Alexi Casilla sent a line drive back up the box to plate two runs and give the Twins the victory! WOW! Those types of games are what make me love the game of baseball. The Twins ended up splitting the series with the Mariners and now head to Chicago for a series with division rival White Sox.
Wednesday was another day of regular season baseball but one story really stands out. A young man named Nick Adenhart was making his first start of the 2009 season for the Anelgs. As 22-year old rookie, Adenhart showed masterful control of pitches as he tossed 6 shutout innings en route to his first major league victory. Sadly, it would also be his last. Nick Adenhart was killed late Wednesday night when a car he was riding in was hit by an alleged drunk driver. Tragic. Devisatating. Painful. To see someone with such great potential, someone who had worked hard to recover from Tommy John surgery to work his way into the starting rotation of a Major League team only to have everything taken away because of stupidity is hard to understand. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Adenhart family, the Angels organization and their fans and all of Major League Baseball.
Thursday, the start of The Masters and a great weekend of golf. My Sergio Garcia pick seems to be a little bit of a stretch as he ended the day tied for 47th with an opening round 73, a full eight strokes off the lead. I guess I may have to settle for buying a new driver now instead.
52 DAYS AND COUNTING TO THE MALLARDS HOME OPENER! WE’LL SEE YOU AT THE DUCK POND
In my last entry I had went ahead and made some predictions about the NCAA Tournament. After an almost nauseating weekend of watching basketball (by the way I did take Friday off), it looks like the four teams I predicted to still be alive at this point include: North Carolina, Villanova, Oklahoma and UConn.
I have enjoyed watching most of the games so far but it is a bit disappointing to not have a Cinderella in it, I mean you could consider Arizona a Cinderella team, but I think they will get knocked out by Louisville this week. As for the Badgers, they made a great run at, but it seems they found their match against Xavier. They played a game we all became used to this year, as they could not hit a shot down the stretch. Oh well maybe next year; I am excited to actually have a big man in the post with Ian Markoff.
Another reason this is my favorite time of year is that I get to golf, well at least when I have time during the summer. The past couple summers the Corporate Sales guys have been able to set up deals with Bridges and The Oaks golf courses. This is a nice opportunity to go out after work on a non-game day, drink a few beers and be absolutely frustrated as hell, yet still have a great time.
I could never figure out why people continually go out and golf yet never really get better because they can not dedicate the time on the range and the course. Every once in a while you get in a zone and surprise yourself. I managed to shoot +1 on the front nine at the Bridges, sinking 3 birdie putts of over 30 ft., yet playing the back nine first I shot +10. How does someone manage to turn around their game in that short amount of time? It’s perplexing and I think it’s the challenge of trying to get better even though deep down you know you won’t get better.
I have actually only been golfing for 13 years. I was turned on to the game by my cousin. I rented a set of clubs and went out with him one summer day and was hooked from there. I proceeded to start to look for clubs. For all you avid golfers you know how expensive clubs can be. I skimmed the classifieds trying to find a decent set of used clubs. I finally came a across a set of clubs that included a cart, balls and tees for $50! I knew that they weren’t going to be anything fancy, but the “rents” and I decided to go look at them. It turned out to be an elderly couple selling them because they were getting too old to golf anymore. I thought this was perfect, all except for one thing... the set was actually a woman’s set! I was pretty short and had always heard that people who were shorter would actually fit better with a woman’s set. Well I did end up purchasing the set.
Going into my freshman year of high school I decided I wanted to go out for the golf team. I went to a pretty small school (Kewaskum, WI) and everyone made the team. I was just happy I got to golf for free and hang out with friends. Well in high school image is everything. I still had the women’s set of clubs and they distinctly said “Lady King” on the heads of all the clubs. I decided I would put black electrical tape on all the heads where it said “Lady King”. This worked for awhile until one day one of my friends said “What is the black tape for”? Well he decided to pull it off and saw the words “Lady King”. Well there went my image! My next birthday my parents bought me a brand new set of “Men’s” clubs. It was kind of embarrassing, but I managed to play golf all four years of high school.
During high school I was so infatuated with golf that I found jobs where I immersed myself into the sport. The summers of my freshman and sophomore years I actually worked at a golf course in the restaurant kitchen washing dishes. This was probably one of the worst jobs I had, but it had the perk of free golf. I can’t tell how many days I went out in the morning golfed 18 holes and came back in the afternoon and golfed another 18 holes…..Man those were the days!
The summer of my junior year I actually caddied at a swanky country club in West Bend, WI. Again I found any way to surround myself with golf. Most days at the club all the caddies ended up playing cards waiting to be called to go out. I learned a lot of new card games that summer! Since it was my first year I was on the bottom of the totem pole and only went out every 3 days or so. Overall it was a pretty decent summer. I made some great friends and decided that carrying someone else’s club was not for me.
So here we are years later I have moved past the women’s clubs and found a great set of Ping irons. I still can’t figure out why I love golf so much, I am probably one of the guys you would hate to play with because I get so upset with myself after bad shot, but I always find myself at the course on a day off trying to tinker with my swing or get over a case of the yips.
Only 68 Days until Opening Day!
Greetings, I hope everyone had a safe and fun St. Patrick’s Day. There really is nothing like a big plate of corned beef and cabbage followed by an ice cold pint of green drink. If I had it my way, we would have St. Patty’s Day once a week. It also didn’t hurt the weather was terrific and Spring is right around the corner! I don’t want to jump the gun too early but I would say it’s time to start packing away the jeans and boots with fur and break out the shorts and flip-flops. Summer is going to be here before you know it! My blog is going to be dedicated to the bunnies we have in our backyard. I’m going to hop around from topic to topic with no real set motive or purpose. Let’s begin…
NCAA TOURNAMENT
OK, so for those of you who have been living in a hole, today is the start of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. I have always been one for picking the upsets but this year I had a hard time trying to go out on a limb. I believe this year is extraordinary in that, there really is no clear cut favorite. Is this the year that a 16 seed takes out a one seed? I doubt it. The biggest upset I have in the tournament is Maryland over Memphis in the second round. It might be a stretch to even see Maryland beat Cal but to take out a red hot Memphis, I think that’s a stretch. As far as the home team, well, I have the Badgers one and done. They’ve let me down too often this year to give me any confidence in this team. My winner… I’ll take the Louisville Cardinals, although they have the overall top seed, they will be the underdogs in the final against UNC. I told you the creativity juices just weren’t flowing this year. I think everyone else and their mom probably has these two teams in their final four, but I just feel like they both have the easiest road to Detroit. No matter what, it’s just entertaining watching this tournament unravel.
SPRING TRAINING
Spring Training is officially in full-swing (no pun intended). I went down to Arizona last March and was able to catch my first ever Spring Training game. I thought the atmosphere was very dull compared to what you see at a Mallards game. The promotional giveaway was a plain white bandana. The margaritas were $10+ and the concessions were very limited. I’m telling you, there is nothing like the experience at a Mallards game. Although, I can say the weather was great and it was fun to see the A’s beat up on the Cubs. I love going to different sporting events. Not only because I enjoy just about every sport, but also because it’s a great opportunity to learn about what works and what doesn’t and then try to incorporate those things into what we do here. That’s just another great part of the sports business; it’s always evolving. One of our mottos around the office is, “we’ll try anything once”. Finally, the Atlanta Braves are 14-3 and in first place in the Grapefruit League. Too bad that doesn’t get you anything.
MLB/MALLARDS ALUMNI GAME
If you didn’t read Jerrad’s press release back on March 9th, you probably have no clue that former Milwaukee Brewer great Paul Molitor has agreed to headline and participate in the Fourth-Annual Mallards/MLB 2009 Alumni Game to be held on August 21 at the “Duck Pond.” For me, this is pretty exciting stuff. Even though I am not a die-hard Brewer fan, I would be crazy to say that I grew up in Madison and DIDN'T enjoy watching him play. I would have to say his number one fan is probably my mom. I still don’t get what the attraction is with Paul, but it seems that all the ladies love him. Anyway, get your tickets for this game people! They go on sale, along with single game tickets on Saturday, May 2nd.
That’s all I have for this blog. We now have less than 75 days until Opening Day here at the Duck Pond! Make sure to get Saturday, May 2nd on your calendar as single game tickets will go on sale. Mr. Staehler and Mr. Caloia are going to fight over who blogs next, so enjoy the good read. Until next time, keep your passion bucket full and red marks off the brackets.
So just to retouch on my last blog entry my prediction that the Steelers would win came right, but it was a lot closer game than I anticipated. What a way to finish the game!
So we are still working at a feverish pace in the Mallards office securing sponsorship deals, selling tickets, ordering merchandise and other such goods that will be utilized during the summer. With all these activities going it makes it really hard and almost depressing to realize the season is still over 3 months away, but before you know it will be May 28th and Mallards Baseball will be back in full swing. Coach usually provides some comedic relief to make the days go by as well (You have to see his imitation of an official at a hockey game dropping the puck in a face-off).
So it’s about that time of year again...no NOT tax season, but time for March Madness! I think this is my favorite time of year, next to the start of our season. I miss the good ol’ days of being in college and skipping classes on the Thursday and Friday of the opening round and doing nothing but sitting around in sweats, throwing back some beers and then hitting up the KFC dinner buffet during the 5:00 news break to re-energize for the night cap. Vern runs a tight ship around here so I don’t think I could justify taking off two days of work.
Another favorite part of watching the tournament is CBS broadcaster Gus Johnson. I mean I have never heard a routine call in the game called so emphatically or with so much energy. Listen to my favorite Gus Johnson call by clicking Here
I am obviously a huge Badger fan and this year has not been such a great year as we have been spoiled with such great teams the past few years. I am glad to see that Bo rallied the troops after the six game loosing streak to put together a five game winning streak. I really thought we had Michigan State on Sunday. They played our type of game the first half, but in the second half we played their game and couldn’t get a good look at the basket while they weaved through screen after screen and got good looks at the basket. I really would have liked to see Tom Izzo whine and complain after the game. I can’t decide if I hate him or Ohio State head coach Thad Matta (aka Gonzo, pictured) more.
I think we have a chance to make the tournament but we need to win out to even have that chance. The trip to Minnesota worries me a little bit, as the “Barn” is always a tough place to win and you have to deal with the whole elevated floor thing. Tubby Smith has turned that program around and they will be a force to reckon with in the coming years. I think we should be able to take care of business in the friendly confines of the Kohl Center against Michigan and Indiana. I mean Indiana….I think they have a few guys from intramural teams playing for them. I think if they can make a push and win two games in the Big Ten tournament they should pretty much secure a spot in the “Big Dance”.
I am going to say the Badgers secure an 11 seed in the tournament and make it to the Sweet 16.
Here are a few teams that I like heading into tournament season:
Marquette Golden Eagles- I like in-state rival Marquette to do some damage. They probably have played one of the toughest schedules in the country and with the depth and experience of having these four guys, Dominic James, Lazar Haywood, Jerel McNeal and Madison native Wesley Matthews, watch out for them to make some noise in tournament.
North Carolina- I think the ACC is a bit watered down from previous years, but as expected Carolina should have a good run in the tournament. With Player of the Year from last season Tyler Hansbrough and a bench of young stars they should have no problem pushing their way into the Final Four.
Oklahoma- Two words. Blake Griffin. He is a freakin' man-child. I think this will be your 2009 National Champ.
Here is my Final Four: North Carolina, Oklahoma, Villanova, and UConn
Well I can’t wait for a few weekends from now when I can spend my whole weekend in a recliner laying in my own filth (I plan on not showering all weekend!), drinking beer and listening to the mellow sounds of Gus Johnson watching NCAA March Madness coverage……nothing better…OK, except for Mallards Opening Day!
