The View From Wisconsin

My mother would have been 66 today. So give me some room, I got a lot on my mind.

• The Milwaukee Brewers have been in an absolute nose dive since July 1. A promising season where they were a whole seven games above .500 at that time got swept away in a double-header at PNC Park. When the Pirates swept the four-game series at the Brewers' Little Shop of Horrors, they went into a nose dive that sees them at 10 games under .500 going into tonight's tilt against the Phillies. So much for having a turnaround season. It's sad when you pine for a team that simply finishes above .500.
• The Cheesehead Nation is starting to get panicky again. Everyone is up in arms because the Packers' second and third string squad got rocked by the Seahawks in pre-season game one. I guess I'm not as worried as that, but boy, following this team doesn't give you much rest at night.
• So what is the deal with this idiot who put up a billboard questioning the Packers defense? He's a Packer fan? Dear God, we have problems in Packer Country.
• Windows XP Service Pack 2 is available. Yay. (Yawn) My only question is, why are they making it so hard for current XP users to download the thing?
• Someone wanna tell me why LeBron James got only five minutes of playing time against Lithuania?
• Good News, Bad News department: Of the top 5 scorers in the Olympic tournament, three of them are in the NBA. The bad news is, none of them play for Team USA (Carlos Arroyo, PUR; Pau Gaol, ESP; Emmanuel Ginobili, ARG).
• Good, classy move by Michael Phelps to pull out of the 4x100 Medley Relay so teammate Ian Crocker could make up for his poor performance in an earlier Relay event (4x100 Freestyle). Of course, Phelps still gets a gold because he swam in the prelims... Hm, I wonder if someone pointed that out to him...
• I'm still waiting for an e-mail back from the Orioles, outlining what exactly they would like to see done with the Expos in 2005...
• The reason why I'm not going to vote for Kerry in November is simple: the next 9/11 is going to be bigger and more destructive, and I'd rather have someone in office who isn't going to run away and hide when the going gets tough. I don't care what Kerry or the Swift Boat vets claim: he only knows how to do one thing well, and that's straddle the fence.
• Would it help if hockey fans showed their contempt for the NHL/NHLPA (lack of) Bargaining process if we just completely ignore the World Cup of Hockey?
• Russ Darrow, please pick up the white courtesy phone. It's not the fact that you gave Feingold and Doyle money - it's that you had enough money to give politicians on both sides of the aisle money. Yeah, that'll say a lot for us in Wisconsin, having two big businessmen as our Senators. Russ, why don't you do something a bit more constructive, like buying the Brewers?
• I don't care one bit: Paul Hamm deserved the Gold Medal.
• Note to Prime Time: stay retired. It's for your own good.
• I'm starting to like Bowling For Soup a lot more for some reason. Of course, their new song, "1985", might have something to do with it. Can't wait for it to show up on iTunes.
• A gentle note to Mr. McCartney and Mr. Starr: settle with Apple Computer about the iTunes tiff, please?
• I'm really starting to get tired of seeing construction barrels when I'm trying to head East on Capitol or on Wisconsin. I'd like to be able to have a route other than I-94 to head into Waukesha and points East.
• Even money says Bonds doesn't get to 700 this year.

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"That should do it - for now, anyways..."