Sports Nut

Word leaked out last week, and quite a fine word it was. The Bucks and Larry Sanders would soon agree on a contract extension, news of which prompted an exceedingly rare summer sight: the smiling Milwaukee sports fan. Because let’s face facts. If you’re a fan of the local sports endeavors, you know how Milwaukee’s summer has felt like Siberia’s winter. The Milwaukee Brewers? Couldn’t win. Ryan Braun? So, so lost. Aaron Rodgers? Disappointed. And probably not just in Braun. Because Greg Jennings, after bolting the Packers for the Vikings, forgot the whole “if you can’t say something nice” thing.…

Photo by Ben Smidt Inside the Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse, you could still picture the champagne stains, still remember how it stung the eyes, still recall the celebratory cacophony. Ryan Braun was at the center of it all back in 2008 and 2011, spraying and hugging and whooping with those teams that brought so much joy to Brewers fans. You don’t get such episodes of jubilation without him, the onetime Rookie of the Year, the onetime National League MVP, the onetime universally beloved Brewer. So yes, on Monday night, the contrast was striking. In the wake of Braun’s seasonlong suspension (and…

The All-Star Break left a little time for a lot of musing. And so, a short time ago in an alternate universe far, far away… No, I couldn’t resist tuning in for the MLB All-Star Game Tuesday night. It’s always fun when there’s a reason to watch baseball again, which is a rare occurrence in Milwaukee these days. Outside of the really big events, like the All-Star Game, Opening Day and the playoffs, the sport’s really faded into the background of the local sporting landscape. Sure, once upon a time, Milwaukee fans cheered on their Brewers, often with a passion…

Photo by Dan Zaitz Alexander Fleming had no idea what he’d created with that whole penicillin thing. Apparently, neither did Michael Dillon with the Racing Sausages. Yes, the Milwaukee Brewers had been doing their Sausage Races via scoreboard animation scenes since the early 1990s. But it took a eureka moment from Dillon, president of the McDill Design firm, to bring the sausages to life. And the Brewers are the celebrating results at this afternoon’s game against the Cubs, throwing something of a 20th birthday party. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has details on the backstory, too – how Dillon was watching…

You’d give more than a penny for his Friday-night thoughts. Because on the one hand, Anthony “Showtime” Pettis gets to watch younger brother Sergio fight at the Rave/Eagles Club for the inaugural Resurrection Fighting Alliance flyweight championship. It’s the night’s headliner bout, broadcast live nationwide on AXS TV, and it’s 19-year-old Sergio’s next step on his path to joining big brother in the UFC. So it was all shaping up to be a fun night for the Pettis brothers. But now, Anthony will watch knowing that his own UFC path is blocked yet again. Because mere weeks before his long-awaited…

Photo by Ben Smidt The hardest thing about the Brewers question is that there’s absolutely no easy answer. Why is Milwaukee suddenly performing so poorly, to the tune of a 5-20 record in May? Pick your poison: Bad starting pitching, inconsistent offense, silly baserunning mistakes, inopportune defensive failings, inopportune bullpen failings, injuries, roster construction, roster management, game management, season-long slumps, dumb luck… No, it’s no one thing. And at any point during their May of Malaise, you can point to any combination of any and all of the above. And in a results-based business, here are the results: They’re staring…

Photo by Ben Smidt Maybe it’s the smooth, slow-paced delivery of Ron Roenicke’s press conference answers or his generally relaxed dugout demeanor. Maybe it’s just that the 56-year-old has been in the big leagues so long – 1981-88 as a player, since 2000 as a coach or manager – that so little surprises him. But whether you’re seeing the Milwaukee Brewers manager in person or through the magic of television, watching Roenicke work is usually a lesson in even-keeled calm. Do so without the benefit of sound, and it’s often hard to tell whether he’s talking about a win or…

Photo by Adam Ryan Morris They came, of course, to see Aaron Rodgers. And why not? The Packers QB headlined Tuesday’s MACC Fund event at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee. His name was right there in the title – An Evening with Aaron Rodgers. It was the fourth time he’d set aside a night to raise money for the charity’s fight against childhood cancer and blood disorders. Combine this latest edition with three previous ones, and lifetime donations stemming from the effort were expected to pass the $1 million mark. People came to see other sports stars, too. Not only John…

The Milwaukee Bucks postmortem is confirming what most folks believed while the whole mortem was in progress. The team took some chemistry lessons from Dr. Bunson and Beaker. Place the blame for such internal combustion at your feet of choice. Former coach Scott Skiles for checking out early. Former interim coach Jim Boylan for being unable to check in enough. The players for being unable to check their egos for the good of the team, or for not winning enough to reach the point of “winning cures all.” GM John Hammond for putting all of those player in the locker…