Sports Nut

So unless you were a cockeyed optimist, perhaps in the mold of “Seinfeld’s” Billy Mumphrey, this is about what you expected from the Milwaukee Bucks’ playoff trip to Miami, right? Blown out in the second half of Game 1. Blown out in the fourth quarter of Game 2. Returning to Milwaukee having lost both games by a combined 35 points. They haven’t held a second-half lead. They’ve won exactly one of the eight quarters – Tuesday’s third – and even that was by exactly one point. Well, at least Miami’s star player can’t get his own technical fouls reversed. Whoops.…

Photo by Adam Ryan Morris Would you believe that no World Series champion in the last 10 years started with a perfect 8-0 record? Would you also believe that nobody who raised the Commissioner’s Trophy over the past decade started a perfectly pitiful 0-8? Nor 7-1. Nor 1-7. Actually, the most common eight-game record for those World Series champs was a mediocre 4-4. Five teams came out of the gates with that mark, including the 2012 San Francisco Giants. Glance back through the past 10 years of World Series history, and you’ll also see a couple 6-2 clubs (2010 Giants,…

6:55 p.m. Perhaps no story epitomizes what Opening Day means to so many people better than Lou Mongtomery’s. The 91-year-old has spent more than a quarter-century working for the Brewers, and he’s a familiar sight for media members. He’s a fixture in the press box, guarding doors and such, but as I’ve mentioned before, I think his most important job is reminding us whippersnappers of baseball’s timelessness. One of my favorite aspects of Opening Day is catching up with the people you see at the ballpark, and at the top of that list is Lou. Turns out he had a…

Photo by Adam Ryan Morris Buzz Williams loves to talk about “edge.” His own edge. His players’ edge. Playing games on the edge. Recruiting more players with an edge. Keeping the edge. Edgecetera, edgecetra. But just in case any Marquette fans were worried that unprecedented success might dull things a bit, fear not and sleep well, kind citizens. Because right after his team’s Sweet 16 win over Miami, mere minutes after his most successful moment at Marquette and the school’s first Elite Eight berth since 2003, that edge was sharpened to Ginsu-like perfection. At the Sweet 16 postgame press conference,…

Editor’s note: Regular Sports Nut columnist Howie Magner is on assignment (watching the CBI tournament), so Milwaukee Magazine interns Logan Macomber and James Carlton will serve as temporary guest writers. Buzz Williams Photo by Adam Ryan Morris Turn on sports radio and listen. Pull up a blog or news site and glance down at the comments section. Casually mention the name to a fan sitting at the bar with his eyes glued to an oversized television screen. It’s become clear: Marquette basketball fans really don’t like Tom Crean. Crean is the former Golden Eagles head coach who left the school in 2008…

Drew Diener at the rally Wednesday Night Editor’s note: Regular Sports Nut columnist Howie Magner is on assignment (leprechaun training), so Milwaukee Magazine interns Logan Macomber and James Carlton will serve as temporary guest writers. Around here, there are some prominent family names that are synonymous with a specific type of success. You’ve got the Zucker brothers of airborne comedy fame. The Bartolotta restaurant family with Italian fine dining. The Schiltz, Pabst and Blatz broods that made Milwaukee famous way back when. And in the sports world, there’s no lineage more associated with triumph than the far-reaching Diener basketball dynasty. The multiple-generation…

Editor’s note: Regular Sports Nut columnist Howie Magner is on assignment (seeking a stick low enough to be a worthy limbo challenge), so Milwaukee Magazine interns Logan Macomber and James Carlton will serve as temporary guest writers. The Golden Eagles have made the NCAA Tournament in the first four years of coach Buzz Williams’ tenure. Photo by Adam Ryan Morris Often, especially when describing the attitude of his team’s relentless defense, Buzz Williams will talk about the importance of not getting complacent, of keeping the pressure on and never being satisfied. “The hungriest dog eats first,” Marquette’s inexhaustible men’s basketball…

Editor’s note: Regular Sports Nut columnist Howie Magner is on assignment (rumored to be practicing his slam dunks), so Milwaukee Magazine interns Logan Macomber and James Carlton will serve as temporary guest writers. Photo by Anna Maund It’s easy to find flaws in an NBA arena when the home team isn’t winning championships. And when the arena feels vacant, as the BMO Harris Bradley Center can, it’s even easier. With the undersized Bradley Center reaching 25 years of age, Bucks owner Herb Kohl has talked of fronting a significant portion of the cost of building a new stadium – a…

Buzz Williams photo by Adam Ryan Morris It’s been such a strange season of eccentricity for Marquette’s men’s basketball team, but perhaps we should’ve seen it coming. It was, after all, supposed to start with a game on an aircraft carrier. A game that coach Buzz Williams, who’s transformed eccentric into electric throughout his career, showed up to in combat boots. And that game, a celebration of the mightiest Navy on earth, was promptly canceled by water. It’s a season that saw Marquette beat Wisconsin in a mid-December game where both teams looked destined for the NIT. And it’s a…