Tiger Woods: First Billion Dollar Athlete

Forbe's magazine recently reported that Tiger Woods has become the first athlete to earn a billion dollars. He made his money not only by being the best on the course, but also through numerous endorsements: Nike, Gillette, General Motors, and numerous others. Tiger is the face of the most successful golf video game (the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series) and now has his own brand of Gatorade (Gatorade Tiger). Obviously he has put in his work on and off the course.

The closest follower is believed to be Michael Jordan, who made approximately 800 million during his career.

Things That Happened During the Detroit Losing Streak

The Detroit Lions finally won a game. After losing 19 in a row, which included a 0-16 season, the Lions beat the Redskins 19-14 on Sunday. Here's a list of a few things that have happened since they last won a game...

• Brett Favre has played for three different teams, retired twice, and unretired twice.
• Three different teams have won Super Bowls
• John Madden retired
• The Wildcat offense was invented
• The iPhone was released, and improved, and improved again
• Twitter was invented
• Dave Matthews Band released a studio album, 4 albums in the Live Trax series, and 4 albums in the DMB Live Series (my personal favorite fyi)

Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week

Sunday night Scott Tolzien was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after his performance in the Badgers' win over Michigan State. Tolzien threw a career-high four touchdown passes and went 19 of 31 for 243 yards. Tolzien became the fourth Badger quarterback in history to throw four touchdown passes. He currently sits at number 13 in the NCAA among quarterbacks in pass efficiency rating, and has thrown eight touchdown passes and only two interceptions in the first four games of the season. He has completed 66% of his passes.

The Badgers' win this weekend improves their record to 4-0 going into the border battle with the Gophers.

Packers - Rams Preview

The Packers will have to make some adjustments from last week's performance if they want to avoid a second straight upset. On offense, look for the Pack to mix up the play calling, and expect to see a lot of moving pocket pass plays. The Packers have not been able to protect Rodgers on 3 and 5 step drop passes, so look for McCarthey to call plays that take advantage of Rodgers' mobility. I would also like to see Green Bay bring back the screen pass that was so prevalent in the Packer offense in the 90's. Green Bay needs to get the ground game going in order to stop the constant barrage of pass blitzing seen last week. With left tackle Chad Clifton out for at least one more game the Pack will again need to mix up the offensive line. Hopefully this week Rodgers can stay off the ground, as he has already been sacked 10 times in the first 2 games.

On defense the Pack also needs to make adjustments. Last week Cedric Benson ran right through Dom Capers' 3-4 scheme. The St. Louis Rams are just itching to give Steven Jackson this same chance. So far he averages 85 yards a game, but you can bet he's looking to breakout this week. Green Bay's linebackers will need to step up big time this week, as a healthy dose of Jackson is certainly going to be thrown at them. Last week they got off to a slow start, which was obvious when safety Nick Collins had 5 solo tackles on the first two drives. I played safety in high school, so I know from experience that this is bad news for the linebackers.

The Packer defensive backfield also needs to perform better this week. With the exception of Charles Woodson, not many players came up big last week. Green Bay's secondary took a hit last week with Nick Collins' second quarter chest injury. Add that to the previous injury of safety Atari Bigby, along with the release of safety Aaron Rouse this week, and you get a huge shortage at the safety position. Collins may still be able to play; his status is currently probable. This week the Pack picked up free agent safety Matt Giordano, but expect to see more of safety Derrick Martin, who was aquired in a trade with the Baltimore Ravens 4 days before the season opener against Chicago. Martin, having played in the Ravens' 3-4 system, should be able to transition smoothly into the Packers' system. Martin has never started a game at safety, and has been playing special teams almost exclusively this season for the Packers.

If the Packers can give Rodgers time to make accurate throws, as well as establish the running game, they should have no problem putting lots of points on the board. The defense needs to control Steven Jackson and limit the big plays in the passing game. The way I see it the Packers are going to score a lot of points with Aaron Rodgers having his first multi-touchdown game, and the defense will prevent a shoot-out. Packers 31-Rams 17.

Packer Problems

The Cincinnnati Bengal defense had 17 total sacks all of last year. Antwan Odom alone had 5 Sunday and the Bengals as a team had 6. Obviously something is wrong here. The Packer offensive line just isn't getting the job done. Aaron Rodgers must also take some of the blame, as he failed to get rid of the ball to avoid sacks, but it is hard to find an open target when you get sacked on a 3 step drop.

Clearly the Packers need to go back to the drawing board after this weekend's upset loss. The offensive line simply can't keep giving up this many sacks. Rodgers has proven to be decent under pressure, but who knows how long he will last when he gets rocked play after play.

The defense didn't fare much better Sunday. Cedric Benson ran right through the Packers' defense for 141 yards. Carson Palmer threw for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns, although Charles Woodson made him pay for 2 awful throws, including an interception returned for a touchdown.

Hopefully the Packers can take advantage of a less-than-stellar Rams team next weekend to gain some confidence going into their first matchup against Brett Favre and the Vikings.

Fielder Becomes Brewers' All-Time RBI Leader

In the eigth inning Saturday night against the Houston Astros, Prince Fielder hit a routine sacrifice fly ball to score a run. What is not so routine is the implications of this RBI: it gave Fielder 127 for the season, breaking Cecil Cooper's franchise record of 126 RBI's in a single season. Said Fielder, "It's a cool achievement, just to be lumped with a guy like 'Coop. He's a great player, and this organization has had a lot of great players." Fielder had been tied with Cooper for six days, over which the Brewers played five games. This five game stretch was the longest Prince went without an RBI all season, which now includes 150 games. "I've had so many opportunities, and I haven't been driving in runs with men in scoring position," Fielder said. "That was more frustrating than not getting the record. That's my job on the team."

As of today Prince has upped his RBI total to 129, and has also hit 41 home runs. Fielder is currently tied with Albert Pujols for the lead in NL RBI's, tied for 3rd with Ryan Howard for NL home runs, 8th in the NL in runs scored, 4th in the NL in walks, 2nd in NL slugging percentage, 5th in the NL in on-base percentage, and in the top 20 in NL batting average. Statistically Prince is having one of his best seasons ever, as he is now proving to be more than just a home run hitter (although he still does that very well!). Prince has shown versatility in the field this year as well, making numerous athletic stops at first base. He is truly coming into his own as one of the best all-around first basemen in the league. Fielder remains the only Brewer to start every single game this season, and is likely to continue this trend throughout the season. He has 11 games left to add to his record RBI total.

Packers Remain Near the Top In SI's Power Rankings

In the most recent power rankings released by Sports Illustrated's Don Banks, the Packers remain unchanged at number 3 after Sunday night's win against Chicago. The Bears dropped from number 10 to 17.

Wisconsin Sports: Weekend in Review

This past weekend was an excellent one for all true Wisconsin sport fans. The Brewers swept their weekend series against the Diamondbacks, the Badger football team won in a double overtime contest against Fresno State, and the Packers pulled out a fourth quarter victory against the Bears.

BREWERS

The Crew played excellent this weekend, beating the Diamonbacks three times by scores of 6-3 on Friday, 9-2 on Saturday, and 5-3 on Sunday. The weekend saw lots of production from the middle of the batting order, as Casey McGehee continues to dominate in road games. In Saturday's win McGehee hit two homers and drove in six RBI's, a career day for the third baseman. Not only was this his first multi-home run game, the six RBI's he had tied a Brewer record for single-game RBI's by a rookie. McGehee is now getting mentioned with Rookie of the Year candidates.

McGehee didn't have the only record performance of the weekend, however. On Sunday night Prince Fielder hit a solo home-run which upped his season RBI total to 126, tying the Brewers' franchise record previously owned by Cecil Cooper. After the game Fielder said, "I've never thought about [the record] until now. It's really an honor to be mentioned with a guy like Cecil. He was a great first baseman, so it really is something special. This organization has had a lot of great players, so it's really a big deal. It's pretty cool." Fielder looks to take sole possession of the record tonight when the Crew begins a series with the rival Cubs.


BADGERS

The Badgers won a double overtime thriller in the heat Saturday afternoon against the Fresno State Bulldogs. Scott Tolzein quarterbacked the Beadgers to a comeback win with the help of a grind-em-out style running attack. After going down 14 zip, Zach Brown scored on an 11 yard run. Later, down 21-7, David Gilreath ran in a touchdown from 8 yards out. Philip Welch added a 57 yard field goal just before the end of the first half to pull the Badgers within 4 points. The third and majority of the fourth quarter went scoreless until John Clay broke a 72 yard touchdown run, putting the Badgers up 24-21 with about 6 minutes remaining. The Bulldogs were able to score a field goal before the game ended to send it into overtime.

Wisconsin began on offense in overtime and Scott Tolzein quickly found Nick Toon in the endzone for a 6 yard touchdown pass. Fresno added a touchdown of their own to even the score. The Badgers started on defense in the second overtime. On the first play the Bulldogs looked to the endzone, but Chris Maragos, a senior captain, came up with a huge interception. On the Badgers' ensuing possession Clay carried the ball five times to set up a 22 yard game-winning field goal for Philip Welch. The Badgers take on Wofford this Saturday at Camp Randall.

PACKERS

Aaron Rodgers finally showed all Packer fans what we have been waiting to see: a comeback win in the fourth quarter. In eight of the Packers' ten losses last season they were ahead or behind by less than one score in the fourth quarter. In those eight losses, the game was decided in the final two minutes. Sunday night was a different story.


The game started out much as everyone expected: two defensive oriented teams exchanging blows. The Packers appeared to have control over much of the game, especially after an injury to All-Pro middle linebacker Brian Urlacher (who later announced his wrist injury is a season ender). Unlike last year's team, penalties were not drive killers on Sunday. Allen Barbre was. The right guard was consistently beaten by Chicago defensive ends, and Rodgers saw all kinds of pressure throughout the night.

The Packer defense stepped up, however, and intercepted Jay Cutler three times in the first half, including a Tramon Williams interception that was returned to the 1 yard line, setting up a Ryan Grant touchdown run. The Packers went into the half up 10-2. The Bears took the lead in the third quarter, getting a touchdown and a field goal to go up 12-10. Both teams traded field goals to make the score 15-13 Chicago with just over two minutes remaining.

The Packers drove the ball to midfield where they faced a 3rd and 1 with under two minutes to play. Rodgers executed a perfect play-action fake and Greg Jennings burned Nathan Vasher for a 50 yard bomb. Chicago had the ball for one last drive with a minute left to play, but Al Harris sealed the game with an interception.

Many are confused about the attempted fake punt Chicago tried early in the fourth quarter. Apparently the center thought the Pack had 12 men on the field and tried to catch them on it. It ended up in disaster as the Packers were able to score a then go-ahead field goal.

We can only expect the Packers to improve from here. It will be exciting to see what Aaron Rodgers can do once he is graced with a little time in the pocket.

The Packers play the Cincinatti Bengals this Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Braun joins elite class

The Brewers picked up a much needed, confidence boosting win in a milestone game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the first inning two BrewCrew members each joined elite groups of MLB players. Felipe Lopez led off the game with a double, which was his 1,000th career hit (Lopez had no clue he had hit number 1,000, and and didn't keep the ball from this hit. However, he kept the ball from his 1,001st hit, saying it was a good story to relate later). Even more exciting was Ryan Braun's homerun later in the inning. This homer gave Braun 100 in his career. Braun hit number 100 in his 400th game, making him the second fastest player in MLB history to achieve this feat. Ryan Howard of the Phillies did it in 325 games. Braun currently sits at number six on a list of home run hitters who were able to pound out 100 homers in their first three years. The players ahead of him are Albert Pujols, Ralph Kiner, Eddie Mathews, Joe DiMaggio and Mark Teixeira. Looking at some of the players on the list ahead of Braun, one can only imagine the successes Braun may have in the future.

History's Best Takes His Rightful Place

6 Time NBA Champion. 6 Time Finals MVP. 5 Time Regular Season MVP. 14 Time All-Star. 3 Time All-Star MVP. 9 Time Defensive First-Team. 2 Time Olympic Gold Medalist. Rookie of the Year. 2 Time Slam Dunk Champion. Holds or shares NBA records in over 20 categories.

The list goes on and on for who most would call the NBA's greatest player, Michael Jordan. Tonight he joins the rest of basketball's greats as he is inducted into basketball's Hall of Fame. Obviously this comes as no surprise, it was only a matter of time (five years of retirement for players) before he found his way to the Hall. Jordan will be inducted along with a stellar 2009 class of players and coaches: C. Vivian Stringer, David Robinson, Jerry Sloan and John Stockton.

ESPN recently put together a video of Jordan's top 23 plays.

NFL Opener A Defensive Battle

The NFL season began last night as the Tennessee Titans went to Pennsylvania for a rivalry game against the Steelers. It was a defensive struggle the entire time, with the only touchdowns scored in the last two minutes of the first half. Both rush defenses were stiffling, with neither offense reaching 100 yards on the ground. Tennessee held the Steelers to just 36 yards on 23 attempts. The passing game was a bit more open, however; combined the two teams threw for over 550 yards. Ben Roethlisberger was intercepted twice, Kerry Collins only once. Both teams lost a fumble. Troy Polamalu, the defensive star for the Steelers, had an incredible one-handed interception in the first half, the video is above.



With under a minute remaining and driving for the winning touchdown Hines Ward fumbled inside the five yard line. This forced the game into overtime, which Jeff Reed eventually ended with a 33 yard field goal for the Steelers.


Steelers 13, Titans 10


On a different note, Chris Collinsworth took over for the retired John Madden in the broadcast booth. He will be an excellent fit, as he neither brought attention to a Brett Favre man-crush nor talked about any type of sandwich.

Kevin and Pat Williams given permission to play week 1

According to a recent ESPN article, Kevin and Pat Williams, two of the Vikings' inside defensive linemen, have been given permission to play in week 1, despite an ongoing legal battle over use of banned substances. The two players were both given 4 game suspensions last year, but sued the NFL and have yet to serve the time. The suspensions came when a diuretic that is often used to mask steroids showed up in drug tests. Both players claim the diuretic was an ingredient in a weight loss supplement they had been using.

Fielder's walk-off ends defensive battle

In a game littered with top-ten plays from both defenses, the Brewers rose to the occasion after 12 innings. Prince Fielder's walk-off winner capped a long defensive struggle in which both the Crew and the Giants flashed some leather in the field. The Brewers had a rare occurrence, as Casey McGehee started a 5-4-3 triple play in the 6th inning, the first triple play for the Brewers since 1999 and only the 5th triple play in Brewers' history. Many other diving stabs and double plays made this low-scoring game exciting .

The Brewers begin a series with the Cardinals today.

Fielder and the batting stance guy go head-to-head

College football starts with a bang...wait...I mean...a punch?

Aaron Rodgers Makes SI Cover

Aaron Rodgers: Ralph Sheiner's 2009 MVP Prediction

Ralph Sheiner, host of Sirius Radio's "Sirius Blitz" gives his predictions for NFL post-season awards.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/10015932/The-Scheiners:-2009-NFL-award-predictions

Crew Avoids Sweep Thanks To McGehee's Hot Bat

The Brewers beat the Cardinals today 4-3 to avoid being swept in St. Louis. Casey McGehee was on fire throughout the series, driving in 9 of the 13 runs scored. His 2 run homer in the sixth inning today put the Crew up 2, a lead that proved to be insurmountable. This series has bolstered his stats, putting him near the top of all rookies in many batting categories.

Pink Lawn Flamingo named Madison's Official Bird

All you Badgers out there check out this link to the L.A. Times

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Flatimesblogs.latimes.com%2Funleashed%2F2009%2F09%2Fmadison-wisconsin-pink-flamingo-official-city-bird.html&h=6c2c4e36be3645bd730032ea9638c5ab

Brewers: Home Winning Streak Only Highlight

The Milwaukee Brewers recently swept the Pittsburg Pirates at home in a 3 game series. This gives the Crew the longest home winning streak against a single opponent since Cleveland beat Baltimore 27 times in a row from 1952-54. However, this small ray of hope comes at the end of a dismal month.

Since August 1st the Brewers have gone 13-16. In that span the Brewers were swept twice, once at home by the Reds and once at the Pirates. Both of these teams are far below .500.

The Brewers still have a chance to make the postseason, however slim. With 17 games left against division opponents the Brewers are 9.5 games behind in the Wild Card. It would take a comeback similar to the Colorado Rockies unbelievable finsish last season for the Crew to make it into the post-season. All we can hope is that the Brewers finish out the season strong with a winning record.

Quick Hits From The Ox

It is September 2nd, 2009, and it is the first day of school for all UW Madison students. This year I am taking a different route, as I have changed majors to hopefully pursue a career in sports writing. Sports have been a huge part of my life, from AYSO soccer to Friday night football, and I feel that through the experiences I have had I can effectively relate my personal stories to current events.
Through this blog I will give my own insights on current sports happenings, which, given my location (and fanatic ideals) will mostly be related to the Packers, Brewers, and Badgers.