Daily Brew 8/23

I am trying to hurry up and write this so I can go pick up season 2 of the OC on my lunch break, but anyway...

The Packers locked Mike Sherman up to a two year extension. WHY? What has he done, and don't throw his record at me, over the last two years that makes you say "Yeah, we really need to keep this guy around."

Sure he has a good regular season record (I believe it is like second or third best since he's entered the league and it may be best in team history) but all that tells you is he wins meaningless games.

OK so he's 55-31 and has won 3 consecutive NFC North Division crowns. They were clearly the best team in the division in 2003, and faded out. All 2004 and 2005 did was speak volumes to how much the Vikings underachieved and how poorly they are coached too. There was no reason for the Packers to take the crown those two years.

In the playoffs, Sherman is 2-4. 2-2 at home and 0-2 on the road. 2-2 at home. Before Sherman arrived they had never lost a home game. Yes, I realize it was bound to happen sooner or later, but the guy has turned in a .500 home record in playoff games.

His in game coaching is just horrible. Do I need to bring up the Playoff loss to the Eagles? HE cost them that game. Go back and look at the tape. Calling a sweep where you pull the guards on third and goal from the one, not going for it on forth and one in the forth quarter, calling off Ed Donatell's called blitz on fourth and 26 for a base defense that Freddie Mitchell burned, calling a passing play in overtime when you had run the ball all over the Eagles the entire game (I still don't blame Favre for that bad pass because they shouldn't have been passing in the first place).

How about the Lions game they lost that year? They ran the ball 12 times with Ahman Green and 18 total. Green rushed for over 1800 yards that year, and Najeh and Tony Fisher weren't exactly busters themselves.

I could keep going, like the loss to the Vikings at the "Re-dedication of Lambeau", the Cheifs loss where he got conservative.

You can say it's not his fault because he doesn't call the plays, actually he does. He and Tom Rossley will call plays (speaking of which, how does he still have a job and Ed Donatell got fired?) and even still, can't the head coach overrule a coordinators call?

This has turned into a Sherman column, so I'll stop. I'm just saying what's the rush? Why not wait and make him earn that extension. He hasn't done it yet. I've gotta believe Jim Bates came here because of the chance of a head coaching job with the team next season, and now that's gone. I just don't get it, same thing with the Yost extension.

The Brewers return to action tonight when they host the Marlins. Twinsman nailed it when he said the Brewers will find out this week they're not a wild card contender when the Braves and Marlins come to town.

More importantly, why are Hardy and Hart both going to the fall league? Let's see here Ned, you say you want to get those guys AB's right? Here's an idea, PLAY THEM IN GAMES NOW! What is he doing sitting them on the bench in favor of Chris Magruder, Wes Helms and Bill Hall? Sit those guys on the bench, play Hart and Hardy, and take Victor Santos out of the rotation. Put Dana Eveland or de la Rosa in his spot. You don't make a pitcher a bullpen pitcher, he does that to himself. You make every pitcher a starter and if he can't handle it then he becomes a bullpen guy.

SportsCenter's 50 states in 50 days will be in my hometown of Waukesha on Labor Day for it's final installment in the series. They are going to be covering the Highland Games. It was reported earlier that they would be in West Allis, but that is false. Fellow Wisconsonite John Anderson will be at the event.

DeMarcus Ware looks like a player, doesn't he. I like Parcells response of "Let's not go putting him in the Hall of Fame just yet!"

We're still taking Isiah Thomas questions.

Daily Brew 8/22

I was going to do a lengthy Daily Brew today, recaping the weekend in sports and Summer Slam, but instead I won't. As you probably heard, 49er offensive lineman Thomas Herrion collapsed and died in the locker room yesterday. Herrion was 23 years old, and was in relatively good health for a man his size. A graduate of the University of Utah, Herrion had aspirations to go back to school and recieve his masters degree and work with underprivilaged youths when his football days were over. Herrion was beloved by all of his teammates and fellow 49er employees, which tells you exactly what kind of a person he was considering he had only been with the team for eight months. He was a man who on the surface lived life the right way, was a good person, and one who had his entire life ahead of him, and a good one at that. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and teammates at this time of mourning.











Last night was the pay-per-view event Summer Slam. For the majority of my adolescent years, I was a pretty big wrestling fanatic. A group of friends and I would order every monthly event and throw a party for it.

We would go to grocery stores and meet wrestlers, and we even made our way to a few events. Then came college and for whatever reason, I retired from the sport.

What brought me back you ask? A closet case of Hulkamania. What could top Hogan versus Michaels? The Hulster versus the Heartbreak Kid, the Legend versus the Icon, the showstopper versus the Red and Yellow. Nothing. So I gave in and ordered the event.

Was it a good show? I honestly don't know, I don't even know who half of the guys on the card were or what stories they were trying to work. The angles were the same outrageous plotlines I remember (a love triangle and a battle for the custody of a child) and yet I found myself once again liking it.

I was virtually lost for two and a half hours until the main event. At 9:35 when "Real American" played and the Hulkster hit the isle wearing the yellow and red boots, tights, glasses and bowas (and to the backdrop of the largest American flag I've ever seen) I got goose bumps. What is it about that song and that image that just screams Americana?

No words could ever describe the feeling you get seeing the Hulkster hit the ring, or do the finger waggle, rip his shirt, Hulk Up, hit the big boot and atomic legdrop, or see him pose in the center of the ring.

You know he's going to win every match he's in, and how he's going to win and yet I still have to see it happen.

So why do I enjoy wrestling? Thats why. It's definitely up there on list of greatest feelings or sights you can get from sports.