Sports in Your Shorts

A few sporting items that have been banging around in the empty space in my melon.

The Badger women's hoops team has been on a surprising run of success lately. The face Penn State at the Kohl Center tonight in a battle for second place. The team is still coached by Lisa Stone and has mostly of the same players from last year (with the addition of Taylor Wurtz a key freshman), but they are coming from behind to win games and improving. Ok, consider them jinxed.

But really, the 8097 attendance for the game last Sunday - with no hype or special event - should remind the powers in the athletic department that women's basketball could be a fourth revenue sport if they can win consistently.

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The signing of Doug Davis by the Brewers evoked a groan over the prospect of looong games with his deliberate style with high pitch counts and lots of base-on-balls, but I also concede that he makes their rotation better than last year. The rotation will probably include:


Yovani Gallardo 3.73 ERA in 2009
Randy Wolf 3.30
Doug Davis 4.12

and then two starters from:
 
Dave Bush 6.38
Manny Parra 6.36
Jeff Suppan 5.29

My guess is Parra will be given every chance and then a few more chances to take the 4th spot and Bush will rebound (unless there's something unknown wrong with his arm) and take the 5th spot. Suppan will be delegated to long relief.

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The Badgers men's hoops team has persevered after Jon Leuer's injury so far - although it didn't look that way for most of the game last night. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the Badgers under Bo Ryan. One thought that stuck with me watching last night's comeback was that Trevon Hughes has the heart of a lion. If Leuer returns in time to play a game or two before the Big Ten tournament, then the experience gained by Rob Wilson and Ryan Evans could very well make them a better team.

Injuries to key players have probably held Ryan back from the one thing missing from his resume: a Final Four in Division 1. They lost Alando Tucker for all but four of the 2003-2004 season, which was also Devin Harris's last year. Then they lost Brian Butch very late in the 2006-2007 season. Both seasons ended after the second round the NCAA tourney.

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How was North Carolina still in the top 25 at 12-6? I know they are defending champs and they are North Carolina, but at some point their actual performance has to take precedence. Now at 12-7, one assumes they will drop out of the rankings - for a little while.

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Brett Favre is.....amazing. Ouch, that hurt. How many weeks will he drag out the soap opera this off season? (How's that for some nice sour grapes?).