Introducing the Mid-Season Forum...

Let it be said that when it comes to talking sports, I always feel like I am in mid season form...

But with so many of my friends moving away from our beloved state of Wisconsin, the opportunity to talk about our favorite sports teams--the Brewers, the Packers, the Bucks, the Badgers, and for some, the Warriors (I refuse to use that bird-brained nickname of recent years)--seems to be decreasing annualy. Don't get me wrong; I still find time to criticize Ted Thompson or praise Doug Melvin with friends via email on ocassion, but if I don't get my fix in daily, I begin to visibly shake and stutter...

Let it also be said that I never would have imagined that I would someday create my own blog...

But during last year's Fantasy Football Season in our "No Sally" League (a wonderfully sexist term that dates back to our high school days in Mayville when the first one to go home or opt out of a night with the guys in order to spend time with his squeeze was immediately labeled "King Sally") I started a weekly feature on the website called "10 Random Thoughts From Your Commish." It started mainly as a joke, but I noticed almost immediately an increase of smack talk and general chatter from owners in the league. By the third week, some guys were actually asking me when the 10 Random Thoughts were coming, and suddenly I felt like I was back in the high school cafeteria talking 'Sconsin sports and making my infamous predictions like "J.D. closser might be Doug Melvin's biggest find this off season" (JD was traded a couple weeks ago) and I was in heaven...The only thing missing was our friend Metke yelling "Aardvark" at the top of his lungs and smushing apple sauce down his pants...but that's another day's blog....Anyhow, with the fantasy football season still months away, I felt like I needed a place to stay fresh for my 10 Random thoughts...enter the Mid-Season Forum.

As I've mentioned, my goal is to make this a place where my friends and I can share our thoughts on recent sports news and hopefully celebrate the continued success of the current Brewers season. Just in case I get any random visits to the blog, however, let me share a little bit about myself:

• This blog will only cover the big three of sports--baseball, football and basketball. If you're looking for information on hockey, golf, boxing, Nascar or God forbid--soccer...please look elsewhere...
• Although I share a couple of Packers season tickets with my long-time friend Eric, my first love is definitely the Brewers. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried when they lost game 7 of the '82 series, and got goose bumps when my hero, Robin Yount, arrived at the post series celebration on a motorcycle. At that point, Robin Yount officially became cooler than Batman.
• I strayed from the Bucks as a child and cheered for the Pistons. Before you assume that I was a fair-weather fan, let me explain. The first NCAA championship game I ever saw was Isiah's win in '81. I was three weeks from my 8th birthday, and Isiah Thomas instantly became my favorite basketball player. My brother will tell you that it was because his last name is the same as my first. I think it was because I was always the shortest guy at school, and Isiah was one of the greatest little men to ever play the game. Regardless, just note that when I became a Piston fan, the Bucks were in the midst of an impressive run as the dominant team in the Central Division. When Dumars retired and I moved to Milwaukee, I decided I wanted to cheer for the home team again, and the Grant Hill-lead Pistons held a better record than the Bucks. So although I was a traitor, it was never about jumping ship to the better team. Now I'm an avid Bucks fan, still believe in the Villanueva trade, and am in therapy for the damage Isiah has done since retiring from the game, both to the league and my psyche...but again, that's another blog topic.
• I'm a Brett Favre apologist and make no excuses for it. If Brett throws an interception, I always believe I can find a way to blame Bubba Franks, even if he was on the sideline during that play...

And here are 10 mottos that I strongly follow as a sports fantatic...

10. With all due respect to basketball players who can dunk from the free-throw line, the greatest athletes in professional sports are linebackers...

9. All situational left handed pitchers should be taught to play another position, perhaps first base. Then in crunch time, when the other team's line-up goes lefty-righty-lefty, they can face the first lefty, play first base, and be eligible to pitch to the second lefty...

8. There is nothing sweeter in sports than a well turned double play.

7. Unless their name is Walter Stanley, all punt returners should be immediately benched if their first step upon receiving the kick is any direction but forward.

6. It's a fact: although there is certainly something honorable to the "acting like you have been there before" attitude, touchdowns are more entertaining when a dance, a flip or a prop are involved.

5. Anyone who boos the opposing pitcher for throwing over to first to keep the base runner in check, really doesn't understand (or at least appreciate) the cat and mouse element to the game...

4. The pass can open up the running game just as effectively as the run can open up the passing game.

3. Soccer is a sport. And I know the majority of the world has embraced it. But there's nothing wrong with the United states having different preferences to the rest of the world. Take, for instance, women with hairy armpits.; I prefer they stay in Europe as well.

2. You can never breathe easily if you bet on the under.

1. Home run hitters from the steroids era belong in the Hall of Fame. They didn't really cheat the game because they were hitting home runs off pitchers who were also taking steroids. If you want to keep them out of the Hall of Fame, then do it on the basis of smaller ballparks, watered down pitching, or juiced balls. But not on the drugs they put in their body to stay healthy. No one can convince me that steroids help you hit a baseball. And even if it adds distance to your home run ball, go back and check how many of McGwire's taters barely cleared the fence. Instead of traveling 500 feet, maybe they only travel 475...And remember as good as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, etc were--they only played against the best white players in the game...Today's players go against the best players in the world....

So that's a little bit of me. Hope to see lots of people checking in and sharing their thoughts. Feel free to disagree with me, argue with me, even call me names...

Just know that you have to bring your "A" game if you want to participate in Mid-Season Forum....