The View From Wisconsin

All right, it's "the day".

The trading deadline is 3:00 PM ET today, and everyone's favorite blogger, Eklund, has already claimed that Washington D Brendan Witt is headed to the Predators today.

Since numerous trades were accomplished overnight (including Jose Theodore and David Aebischer trading spaces in net for the Habs and Avs), I half-expected to see the trade announced this morning.

I still have the feeling that the trade isn't going to happen, but the Predators are behind the eight-ball right now.

On to other things:

• Canada beats Team USA 8-6 at the World Baseball Classic. That is just wrong. They got to the fifth inning, and there was suddenly talk about the Mercy Rule in the preliminary rounds (10 run lead after seven innings). The game was an example of what I call the "Dog Chasing Tail" syndrome: You expend so much energy just to get back to a point where you can possibly win the game, and suddenly, once you get there - you don't have anything left to actually win the game. I saw it happen Sunday between the Admirals and the Wolves; I've seen it too many times with the Predators. Now, USA has to beat the "other" USA - the Union of South Africa - just to have a shot at moving on to the next round.
  
• UW-Milwaukee has punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament, beating Butler for the Horizon League title. Don't hold your breath for another sweet 16 appearance, though.
  Meanwhile, my Whitewater Warhawks got beat last weekend by Illinois Wesleyan - no surprise; they weren't world-beaters this year on the court - so UWM may be getting my support for the time being.