Tomorrow the film “Whip it” opens in theaters across the state and country. This indy film has received quite a buzz over the past couple weeks. Not so much because it is directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. Also not due to my favorite actress Ellen Page being the star of the film.

Maybe it is because it is about roller derby and coincides with a recent resurgence in the sport.

Maybe…

Around the state, derby girls are hosting premier parties for the film. Three of the cities I have called home – Beloit, Madison and Milwaukee – have derby girls at local theaters supporting the flick. Want to check it out with some real live derby girls? Well, here are the details.

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It was my first real story as a journalist. I was writing for a Badger sports magazine, and my editor had set up an interview with Sara Bauer. Bauer was a member of the Badger woman’s hockey team that had won a National Championship the year before and won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best woman’s player in college hockey.

I was nervous as I waited for Bauer to come off the ice after practice.  Before my prep I did not know a whole lot about women’s hockey other than we won our first championship the year before. All my research made me the huge fan that I still am today.

While I waited, I chatted with another reporter from the college newspaper. He was there to interview multiple players, and they shuffled over to him as they came off the ice. I struck up a casual conversation with one player as we both waited for our interviews. She was the back-up sophomore goalie that started sharing time with the incumbent this season.

Who would know that I would talk to two Kazmaier winners that day.

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year – March.  Along with nonsense like nice weather and St. Patrick’s Day, there is important stuff happening in our wonderful country.  Today is Selection Sunday – quite possibly my favorite holiday.   Here are my initial thoughts on the brackets.

The top seeds in the tournament are Louisville, Pittsburg, North Carolina and Connecticut.  Really can’t argue with the top teams.  No one apart from Louisville played like they wanted to be a top seed down the stretch.  A little surprised there are three Big East teams as one seeds, but it’s really hard to argue for anyone else.
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This was a story I first wrote June 11th of this year, once the news cited in this article broke.  At the time I was having serious issues with WordPress, so it ended up being saved and forgotten until now.  Decided I would throw it up now that everything is running correctly again.

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I remember the exact day I stopped caring about the NBA.

It was 2002. I was living in Milwaukee, and out in Walker’s Point with a friend. We stopped at a local pub to watch game 6 of the Lakers-Kings playoff series. After watching a second half where the Kings got screwed, I sat back in my chair and took a large sip of beer.

“The NBA is rigged,” I proclaimed to my friend. “The Kings got hosed because the league wants the Lakers in the finals.” Neither her or anyone in the bar disagreed with me.

I don’t think I’ve watched an NBA game in its entirety since that day. There was no point watching game 7, because I, like the league, already knew the outcome. To this day, I feel more honest watching professional wrestling then popping on an NBA game. At least wresting admits it is rigged.

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Those that read my blog on a regular basis know my thoughts on the NBA. Last year I stated that the draft was the equivalent of a funeral for the players I enjoyed watching in college. It was one last chance to see them before they faded into the nothingness of the NBA.

This year’s draft is like a funeral for a long-lost great aunt I haven’t seen in a decade and almost forgot was alive to start with. The passing requires my attention, but in the end I really don’t care that much. Maybe it’s because of the problems the NBA has had over the last year (which I will talk about in more detail later). Maybe it’s because very few of my favorite players from favorite will probably be drafted. Maybe the fact the draft is so pathetically weak except for the top two players.

Whatever the case may be, I’m about as excited about this as a fried liver sandwich. I guess I’ll just close my eyes and eat it. Here comes the first bite.

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I was surprised when I popped on the television early this morning and was surprised to find the draft already in process. Then I remembered they had an extra round to do on Sunday this year, and it made sense.

Interest in the draft is still minimal. My normal Sunday morning tradition inivolves sitting down with my multiple newspapers and trudging trhough them while listening to the classic country music station on cable. However, I decided to flip to the draft during and noticed the Packers were within three picks of their next selection.

The Packers address one of their needs, taking tight end Jermichael Finley from Texas. Finley is a pass-catching tight end that needs work on his blocking.

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The NFL Draft. In past years, draft weekend was a holiday for me. I would plan to watch the entire first three rounds from my couch, cheering and jeering my favorite and least favorite teams.

Over the last two years, my interest has faded significantly. When a friend asked if I planned to watch the draft this year, I told him no.

Then something happened. I was out running errands when the draft was about to start. The normal pompous ESPN crew was spieling crap about who would be the best player. Still no interest. Then I noticed another television. The Detroit / Colorado hockey game was about to start.

I knew it was time to race home.

Over the past two years, I have become more of a hockey fan. While I’m not a Detroit or Colorado fan per se, I’ve grown to dislike the Red Wings enough that the game is of interest.

But the ultimate question still lingered, which would I watch more of – the draft or the NHL?

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March.  The days begin to get nice in Wisconsin.  Spring training is in full swing.  St. Patrick’s day pops in to say hi.

Most importantly, the Madness begins!

I am a college basketball addict, and plan to spend the next four days watching basketball.  It’s a mini vacation for me in my otherwise busy life.  There have been some great articles this year about college hoops, and here are links to a couple of them.

ESPN on former UWM coach Bruce Pearl

SI’s Mad about March

Some guy on Dane101 babbling about the Badgers

Enjoy the madness!

Yesterday was a day to remember the career of the greatest athlete of my time. Personally, I had a glass of wine and watched a DVD of highlights. Today, Brett Favre is still retired, and the team and Packer fans needs to move forward.

The Packers went 13-3 this past season, and have a young and talented team. However, they currently have only one unproven quarterback on the roster.

Aaron Rodgers looked good in limited playing time last season, going 20 for 28, 218 yards and 1touchdown. However, The packers need to acquire two more legitimate quarterbacks to contend before the season starts in case Rodgers fails.

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Originally appeared on Dane101:

It appears the reports that surfaced on the Packer’s web site last week were true. FOX Sports is reporting that Brett Favre has retired and will not play in 2008.

Favre is the NFL’s all-time leader in several major categories, including touchdowns, passing yards, consecutive games started, and interceptions. Favre is coming off an MVP-type year where he threw for 4,155 yards and 28 touchdowns.

The reaction in the coffee shop where I am currently writing this seems to be unified – without Favre, why watch the Packers?

While the Packers are a good young team, I have to admit I initially agree.

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For football fans in New York, it is a familiar story.

In Super Bowl III, the Jets were double-digit underdogs to the Baltimore Colt.  Quarterback Joe Namath made a public guarantee that his team would win the game and become world champions.  The Jets would win the game.

Nearly forty years later, Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress predicted the New York Giants would beat the double-digit favorite New England Patriots and win Super Bowl XLII.  Burress would catch the game-wining touchdown Sunday night, and propel his Giants to a 17-14 victory, and a world championship.

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I just watched one of the best football games and was driving home from my friends house; the excitement still flowing through me. As great as the Giants 17-14 victory over the Patriots was, there just felt like there was something missing. I tried to figure it out, but I just couldn’t put my finger on what could be missing from such a perfect game. As I arrived home and poured myself a glass of champaign, I finally realized what was missing…

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No matter what choice the NCAA and BCS make today, it will be the wrong one.

With West Virginia losing to Pittsburg, it opened the door for 11-1 Ohio State to play in a national championship game. With Missouri’s loss to Oklahoma, it added chaos to the national title picture.

This is a worst-case scenario for the BCS. No matter which team faces Ohio State, there will be a great deal of controversy surrounding the pick. While Sports networks and journalists love this spirited debate, it only hurts college football.

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The Detroit Free Press has an article on how the Big Ten Network is failing by limiting exposure to games. This explains how teams such as Indiana and Purdue have evaded national rankings despite only losing one game each.

It’s primarily because voters don’t have as much access to those games as previously under the conference’s old cable arrangement with ESPN. The Big Ten had the exclusive national window noon-3 p.m. Eastern on ESPN or ESPN2. … That’s valuable exposure that the Big Ten willingly — and foolishly — sacrificed for the sake of exerting more control over product distribution.

I’ve been opposed to the Big ten network from the beginning, as it limits the number of available to those without cable. Many Big Ten games were available on network television before the advent of the network. This will be even more obvious when the college basketball season starts. During the season last year, it was easy to find about five games during the Big 10 regular season. Most of these will now only be aired on cable. Anything that reduces my choice and limits my options, I strongly appose.

The Big 10 made its choice, and now it needs to live with the consequences.

Read the Article via Detroit Free Press

It’s less then a half hour before the NBA Draft is about to start. I’ve made my way to the living room with my laptop to watch Sportscenter, and I am chatting online with my friend Angie online.

Angie: So I didn’t know you were that excited about the NBA draft

Me: Oh yea! It’s the last time I get to see my favorite college players before they fizzle off into the obscurity that is the NBA.

Angie: So it’s more like a funeral; or a ‘celebration of life?’

Me: Remembering the good times we had…

In my mind, the NBA is second tier basketball. There are 80+ games in the regular season that decide which 14 teams out of 30 will not make the playoffs. Once a majority of the teams in the league make the playoffs, they face immediate elimination after losing four games in a series. A player can “take a night off” and not have to worry much about the consequences.

Give me a one-and-out playoff, at least in the early rounds and I might be interested.

That being said, I am a college hoops fanatic and love determining what teams need. It has been nice to see most of the players that are being talked about in the draft play in college thanks to the new rules.
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