Daily Brew 8/8

I'm back from a much needed day off and I feel rejuvinated and better than ever. Apparently I missed the Orioles canning their manager, I was too busy hanging out in Waukesha watching the Crew, and season 1 of Entourage (alongside the O.C. as a must buy). The new White Stripes album is great, I just picked up the new Jason Mraz and will give that a shot today, but I digress...

The classiest anchorman of all time passed away yesterday. Peter Jennings lost his battle with lung cancer and passed away at his home in New York City yesterday. He was 67 years old. Jennings had been the anchor of World News tonight since 1983, and always made the telecast seem smooth and effortless. The man's career was truely remarkable, he covered the Berlin wall going up, and coming down, the Civil Rights movement, South Africa's struggle for equality and the Voting Rights Act. As a kid who always wanted to be on the air as an anchor or host of some sort, Jennings was one of the first I remember watching and wanting to be like.

The Packers held their family game scrimmage against the Bills on friday night. I take two things from this, first off I didn't think it would be possible, but I really do hate Sterling Sharpe even more than I used to. I like how Sterling was trying to tell us what is going on in Green Bay even though he has no idea. Though I've never met him, I've heard numerous stories from former colleagues and if all 1,026 stories are true, Sterling Sharpe is probably one of the top ten biggest jerks in the world. Which reminds me, nevermind I'll save that one for later. The second thing I came away with was yes, the O-line did look bad, but this was a SCRIMMAGE. A half speed scrimmage, stop telling us you have concerns or Brett Favre could be in trouble. Could this line be bad? Maybe, but this scrimmage where guys aren't going all out isn't an indicator for that.

Defensive Coordinator Jim Bates grew a porn mustache over the offseason. He must have been used to seeing it on Wanny all those years in Miami that he just broke down and grew one. Just like I tell Gaddis, the one thing that will make an average looking girl hot is your exposure to her. The longer you're around her, the more you start to believe she's hot. Well apparently the same thing goes for hideous looking mustaches. Bates officially moved rookie saftey Nick Collins onto the first team on the depth chart. Collins if you remember was a bit of a reach and a project, but he could pay off. My only gripe with him is he's wearing number 36. You don't give a saftey number 36. You don't give anyone 36!

The Brewers got to .500, then one game below it, and then .500 again over the weekend by taking four out of six from the Mets and Phillies. Toma Ohka pitched 8 scoreless and Turnbow came in to get the save in yesterdays game. Geoff Jenkins remains on fire, a friend of mine told me over the weekend that he saw a stat which said Jenkins has the second highest Post All Star game batting average in Leauge history. That is hugh, second highest in leauge history. He's almost batting .400 and is single handedly carrying this team while others struggle. Think of where they would be if he wasn't just raking the ball right now. I've already said this, but I gotta say it again, sorry Geoff, I didn't think you had it left in ya. The Brewers are now 55-55, one and a half games ahead of Gaddis and Nate's beloved Cubbies, and four and one half back of the Astros for the Wild Card. Do I think they can win the Wild Card? No, in fact if they would, they would be skipping level 2 on the rebuilding scale and would jump right to level 3, the playoffs. I don't think they'll do it, but it feels good to be in August and say "The Brewers are .500 and under five games out of the playoffs." Say it once, it feels awesome. The Cardinals come into town this week, and you gotta take 2 there. This series could make or break their season.

Freddie Jones announced his retirement from the NFL just four months after signing a long term free agent deal with the Carolina Panthers. The retirement will give Freddie more time to pursue his music career (c'mon I thought it was funny, you've never heard of the Freddie Jones Band?) Unfortunately Todd Stinkston ruptured his achillies tendon. I say unfortunately despite the fact that I hate the Eagles because it means T.O. now has leverage. I honestly thought this could be the year the teams and owners defeated Drew Rosenhaus, just like Cub fans say "Wait till next year." Ty Law has reached an agreement with the Jets. I think the Jets were the team willing to pay him the most money, and I have no problem with a guy like Ty Law going for more money. You've already won three Super Bowls and have some injury concerns, might as well go after the big pay day.

I want to touch on a few things the Twinsman said. Yes, now that Torii Hunter is done, so are your Twins. Will the Twins ever win anything? They're like the Susan Luchi (sp?) of baseball. They're always nominated (playoffs) but never do anything at the show. I also whole heartedly agree with your assertion that the Vikes will not be as good as they're hyped to be this year. Yes Duante lost Moss, yes I too believe that Troy Williamson will be a huge bust. You know the fact that they took him ahead of Mike Williams because he has a bit more speed is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. I'm not surprised it came from this franchise. They just did to themselves what the Titans did in 1998, which allowed the Vikes to get Randy Moss.

The Titans took a chance on a guy (Kevin Dyson) who was speedy, despite Randy Moss and all of his talent still on the board. The Vikes swooped in and took Moss, and the rest is history. After witnessing that, how could you do it to yourself this time? Good luck with Dyson 2K5, I mean Williamson. He'll fall into the Sam Bowie category when it's all said on done, you know the "how could you take Bowie when Jordan was there" that'll turn into "how could you take Williamson when Williams was still there?" It is possible they just spelled his name wrong, or got the two confused when they wrote it down on the card? This is the Vikings afterall.

The biggest reason why they'll be a dissapointment is...Mike Tice. Everytime I see him across the sidelines, I feel good about my chances. He joins a list that already includes Ron Zook, Dave Wannstadt, Dave Campo, Marty Mornenwig, Wayne Fonts, Ray Rhodes, Steve Spurrier (NFL version), June Jones, Butch Davis, and Dennis Erickson. Congratulations Mike, that's a pretty good looking crowd you're running with.

The NFL Hall of Fame game is tonight, the Bears will take on the Dolphins, and tomorrow is the launch of three straight huge tuesdays. Tomorrow Madden 2006 comes out, next Tuesday 8/16 the new 311 CD comes out, and tuesday 8/23 the O.C. Season 2 comes out. I might take the next three Wednesdays off to recover.