The View From Wisconsin

I have done the research, made the inquiries, and it turns out my theory about the naming of Silvernail Road is all wet.

One of the most common reasons for the naming of a particular street or road or highway is for a very obvious reason - it is named for some particular person that either lived on the road, or was otherwise a notable person in the area's history (i.e., they were a former mayor or governor or some other such person).

Conrad and Sylvester Silvernail apparently fit that bill. Though their family originally settled down in Mukwonago, apparently they had a tract of land out between Delafield and Pewaukee/Waukesha that was notable enough that the road that went either to or through their land was known as... Silvernail Road.

And so we have a minor mystery solved: Silvernail Road is named for a person.

Gotta love my "welcome home" moment from Nashville: It started snowing as we hit Rockford on I-39. That was probably the worst part of the trip to Nashville.

Here's a bit of a summary of the weekend:

• The drive down was a little wet, and a little long (as usual).
• The room we got at the Franklin Days Inn was a handicapped room, with a huge bathroom. I mean HUGE. Bigger than our bedroom at home. It was big enough that you could have put a jacuzzi-sized tub in it and STILL have room left over to feel comfortable. Too bad the shower wasn't that big. The tub/shower had more bars in it than the front end of a Hummer.
• The fridge in the room didn't seem to want to work when we got settled in. It turns out the unit had a defrost timer on it, and the knob controlling the temp was broken. I had to play around with it a few times to get it to keep things cold.
• While looking around Franklin a bit, I had one overwhelming question: What is it with mall sprawl down here? There's the actual mall (Cool Springs Galleria), and then there's a bunch of mini-malls and strip malls and out buildings that are just all over the place around the mall itself.
• Two must-dos when in middle Tennessee: eat at the Waffle House and Cracker Barrel. We managed to do that on two separate days (lunch Saturday was at Waffle House, and dinner Sunday at Cracker Barrel). The one thing I was surprised about was the price of the steak and eggs platter at WH. Normally, that's one of the cheapest dinners out there - not here and not this time.
• The Preds/Kings game was great. I had a bit of sadness in realizing all the people who weren't there (I hate getting old). This is going to be a team that will struggle all year, but they've got the talent to be able to win hockey games.
  
• Pre-game, we were over at the Hilton Sportsgrille restaurant to meet a few friends; while heading into the place I ran into Raitis Ivanans as he was heading out and over to the SC.
• The funny part was after the game, we stopped at the Wendy's near Cool Springs Galleria – and there were about a dozen cars in the drive-thru wanting their free Frostys. The lady at the window said that we were about the 64th people coming in to redeem tickets for free Frostys.
• Sunday was family day, and we drove out to Lebanon to see Sarah's Aunt & Uncle. On our way over there, we swung around to the Opryland area, basically to check out a potential future lodging option over at the KOA. It was great to see Sarah's cousin's kids - though, again, when you see someone who you last saw in diapers asking her mom if she can go driving...
• It's always sad to put a place you love in your rear-view mirror. But really, did we have to get snowed on as we got back into Wisconsin?
  

Gonna be a long day tomorrow. Wife and I get to do that nice, long drive down to Nashville. The only thing I hate about visiting Middle Tennessee is the drive down there.

A few things before I go get a few things ready:

• I don't have a good feeling about the Phillies winning tonight. They generally don't do very well on October 23rd historically. (Just ask Mitch Williams and Joe Carter.)
• Ads are on a four game losing streak, which isn't a good thing this early in the season. Three points in the first five games doesn't help things.
  
• I am really getting annoyed by some of the ads on the World Series broadcast. I thought the Poltergeist DirecTV was funny - but the National Lampoon's Vacation one - not so funny. The only ads more annoying than that are the constant stream of Obama ads - but that's another subject.

SIX IMPONDERABLE QUESTIONS ABOUT WISCONSIN
(Edited October 20, 2008)

1. Why do the University of Wisconsin's athletic teams, known as the Badgers, wear Red and white?
There are two parts to this question of origins; one is relatively easy to answer, while the other isn't as easy. Let's start with the easy part: the nickname "Badger" wasn't adapted by the University formally until 1889. However, the nickname not only pre-dates the founding of the University in 1849, but it also pre-dates the state itself.
Back when the state was still a territory in the 1840's, a large mining community started with the discovery of lead in the southwestern part of what is now Wisconsin. Early miners in the area of what is now Mineral Point didn't have enough money and wherewithal to build houses for themselves, so they simply lived in dug-out holes in the earth near the mines. Because of the dirty work that came from mining lead, it was commented that they looked much like badgers, with streaks of black lead dust across their faces, emerging from the burrows with bad tempers – just like the animals for which they were named.
You would think, then, that the most natural colors for the University's sports teams would be the same as the badger: black, white and perhaps a brown color. So how does the color red (actually, Cardinal Red) come into the picture?
For this, you need to understand the basics of the history of education in the United States. Most institutions of higher learning in this country can trace their lineage or establishment to one of the many colleges of the Ivy League (Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth). The purposes of these schools, begun in the colonial days, was not only to equip preachers in study of the Bible, but also to make them teachers. These people migrated west with the rest of the fledgeling population of the United States, and as states were admitted to the union, these people were placed in charge of their state colleges and universities.
Though it's not easily provable, it is likely that whomever was in charge of the university's athletic department – or, for that matter, the school itself – was from Harvard, whose school colors have always been crimson. In fact, Harvard's newspaper has been known as the Crimson since it was established as the first school newspaper. It is no surprise, then, that Wisconsin's first school paper is known as the Daily Cardinal.
In a round-about way, then, it is because of this likely relationship that the UW Badgers wear cardinal red and white in competition.

2. Is the northern section of Door County actually an island and not a peninsula?
Sturgeon Bay cuts through the center part of Door County – and connects Green Bay with Lake Michigan. Why is Door County, then, known as a peninsula and not an island?
Take a close look at a map of Door County: the channel that connects Sturgeon Bay with Lake Michigan proper (instead of the larger Green Bay) is a shipping canal. Sturgeon Bay (the geological formation) originally ended just west of what is now downtown Sturgeon Bay (the city) before the channel was cut to aid in navigation between the main section of the lake and Green Bay.
The Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal was dredged out in 1872 by a group led by the president of the Chicago Northwestern Railway. The channel wasn't completely open to large-scale traffic until 1890. Three years later, in 1893, the company sold the canal to the US Government. The Army Corps of Engineers is now in charge of operating and maintaining the canal.
The definition of an island is a piece of land that is separated by water in two dimensions (width and depth) and isolated from other land masses. Considering the number of bridges across the canal, it's obvious that the sections separated by the canal are far from being isolated from the rest of the state. So even though you could take a boat trip all the way around Door County's northern section, it is still considered to be a peninsula.

3. Why is the western shoreline of Lake Winnebago more populated than the eastern shoreline?
Most of the early explorers that settled the state of Wisconsin came either from the southwest corner, by way of the Mississippi River, or from the east by way of Lake Michigan. Lake Winnebago is closer to Lake Michigan than it is the Mississippi; why is it that the eastern shoreline has practically no major population centers while the western shore has Fond du lac, Oshkosh, Neenah, Menasha, Appleton, and Kaukauna?
A map of the section of the state located between the two Lakes gives a hint at the answer. Notice how all of the major rivers in the land between the two lakes all flow to the east, away from Lake Winnebago and into Lake Michigan? Also, in Calumet County, almost all of the flowages out of the lake are short creeks not more than a few miles long.
This should tell you the most obvious part of the answer: all of the area on the east side of Lake Winnebago is higher than it is at the shoreline of Lake Michigan. This is proven when you notice on a drive along US 151 and Wisconsin Highway 55 in Calumet and Fond du Lac Counties that the lake is significantly lower than the land.
This is due to something known as the Niagara Escarpment, which helped keep what was once glacial Lake Oshkosh from flowing into Lake Michigan. All of the "soft" area that the lake could empty into were to the west and south. The Fox River itself connects Green Bay with the lake, and the escarpment creates what's known as the Fox Valley. With high cliffs and no place to "put in" to port, it's no wonder that Calumet County is the least populated county in the central part of the Lake Michigan side of the state.

4. Why is there a Minnesota state highway running through the state of Wisconsin?
As you are looking at a road map of Douglas County in the northwest part of the state, you may have noticed that there appears to be a state highway 23 in the northwestern section, just outside of the city of Duluth, Minnesota. Your first thought is that there's already a Wisconsin Highway 23 that runs through the southwest and east central part of the state; how'd another one get there? And then, looking closer, you see that the road is signed Highway 23 in Minnesota – one on the other side of the St. Louis River heading into Duluth, and on the other side of the Wisconsin-Minnesota border, heading to the southwest towards the Twin Cities.
So, why's a Minnesota state highway in Wisconsin? It might have something to do with the layout of the St. Louis River itself. The small town of Fond du Lac, Minnesota is located on the Minnesota side of the river, just north of most of the state of Wisconsin – except for a small mile by half-mile section that exists because of how the river flows. At one point, the river splits around a small island that allows for a bridge span. That's pretty much the only place for a bridge in the entire section at the extreme point of the Wisconsin/Minnesota border, due to the terrain.
The two state highway departments have an agreement that the state of Minnesota will agree to maintenance to the highway and the bridge crossing the St. Louis River. There are only three other roads in that section of the state, none of which have an outlet elsewhere. In addition, there's only about four homes in the area (and at least two are farms), so it's not like it's a huge issue that the area isn't noted as being in Wisconsin, not Minnesota. There are no markings on the highway noting the state lines, though there is a marking on the bridge crossing the river into Fond du Lac that indicates crossing into Minnesota's St. Louis County, and one westbound indicating crossing into Carlton County.

5. Why is Racine the only major county along the Wisconsin shores of Lake Michigan not named for a Native American word?
As you take a look at the map of the counties of Wisconsin, from Door County southward, you can see that most of them have an obviously Native American-derived name: Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Ozaukee, Milwaukee, Kenosha.
Interrupting this progression south of Milwaukee, however, is the county and city of Racine. For those of you whose French is rusty, "racine" is the French word for "roots" – particularly, twisted roots as you would see along a riverbank, like, say, the Root River that flows through the heart of the city and most of the county. The native American settlers had several names for the unique features of the river; the two most common were kipikawi (twisted roots), which was translated by the English settlers as Chippecotton, and Otcheebeek (which had the same meaning, but translated into a different tribal language).
So why wasn't the city (and summarily the county) named Chippecotton (or some semi-Anglicized version, like Chipikawee or Ochebek? Two major reasons: founder Gilbert Knapp refused to have the city/town named after himself (others seeking to incorporate the city wanted it named "Port Gilbert); and he wanted to attract people to the city by using a simpler name. The first European settlers to the area were the French fur traders, who set up a trading post at the mouth of the Root River because the area had a natural harbor, thanks to the area known as Wind Point. Because they named the area after the river's obvious feature ("Racine"), Knapp insisted on that as the name – and it stuck.

6. Why is the section of what used to be Old Highway 30 in Waukesha County known as Silvernail Road?
For most of its run through Waukesha, the former main route between Milwaukee and Madison was known as Bluemound Road – appropriate, considering that it led people to the gateway to the Blue Mounds area of central Wisconsin. For some reason, though, as what used to be Wisconsin Highway 30 split off from the former Yellowstone Highway (later US Highway 16), it turned west on a road that is now known as Silvernail Road between Pewaukee and Delafield.
This one doesn't seem to have a rational answer, because there doesn't seem to be any obvious reason why the road would be named as such; no natural feature, no historical reason for a particular sign or anything, or even a family name that would indicate why it was named as such.
There is, however, a clue as to a possible answer – and it's located just to the north of the stretch of Silvernail from Delafield to Waukesha. That would be Watertown Road (Waukesha County Highway M). The segment that connects Barker Road to downtown Pewaukee is part of the old Watertown Plank Road, the first major intercity highway in the state. Since the slightly more direct route from Waukesha to Madison would be the more desirable of the two routes, it would make sense that another person or company would try to build a second one that was a bit more direct (though it would still go in generally the same direction).
It is entirely possible that the stretch from County Highway JJ to County Highway E was, at one point, a plank road. And it is also possible that said plank road was named for the silver nails used in construction of the road. I have no evidence that this is the fact, however; further research will be needed to confirm or refute this theory.

Something happened after that long, 31-minute top half of the seventh inning last night in Boston. Somehow, the team that was supposedly the Tampa Bay Rays turned into the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of 1998.

The seven run lead should be considered a controlled substance by the FDA. Improper handling leads to the complete explosion that occurred two innings later.

I'm thinking that there were three mistakes made during those last two-and-a-half innings:

• Maddon should have brought in Wheeler to face Big Papi in the seventh. It doesn't matter that Ortiz hadn't gotten a hit in the LCS in whatever; this man could change the game (and maybe the series) with one swing of the bat. Which is exactly what he did.
  
• After Kotsay doubled in the eighth with two outs, he definitely should have brought in Howell to pitch to Crisp. I don't care if the one hit Howell gave up to Crisp was a homer; he's batting 1-for-7 against him. You have a one run lead after that short of a time, you need to do something drastic ASAP.
  
• After you walk Bay to face Drew, bring in either Bradford or Percival. You get that one out, you get the lead in the top of the 10th, then they come back in and slam the door in the Sox's face. Somehow, I suspect he didn't do this because neither pitcher has faced Drew before - which is managing by fear.
  

Of course, I won't say anything about Crisp's singling into the third out at second base, because he got away with it. I would hope that Terry Francona let him know that wasn't a great move in the long scheme of things, but I somehow doubt it.

Maddon's gotta learn to go for the jugular when he had them on the ropes. I suspect he won't let this happen again - but the damage may have already been done.

As it is, I'm suspecting the Phillies to win game one of the World Series, whether it's in Fenway or at the Trop. And though I wouldn't put the house on it (I know, bad choice of words in these times), I suspect the World Series will be over in four games.

Rafael Furcal is having a meltdown of Knoblauch-like proportions at Dodger Stadium right now. Methinks the Phillies will be heading to their first World Series since I got married. (Fox just put it up that he was only the second player to commit three errors in an inning - and the last person was a Dodger, too, in Willie Davis.)

Onto other train wrecks:

• The NFL is considering playing "spring games" instead of a full four/five-game pre-season slate. On the one hand, I think an 18-game season (with a short two-game exhibition season) is a good idea; however, as much as college teams have been on the leading edge of "spring games", I'm not sure it'd be a good thing for the pros. And the logistics of the playing rosters for those games would be nearly impossible to make it work.
  
• I'm not believing the latest "press release" out of Ufa that touts that Alex Radulov doesn't want to return to the NHL. Everything that's been put out there has been coming from the K(GB)HL. If they actually agree to arbitration, I doubt that the KHL would abide by the decision if it required Rads to return to Nashville. And don't get any ideas: Rads would only "return" to Nashville on paper. Poile would either send him immediately to Milwaukee or would trade him for six sticks and a bucket of pucks (or at least a new back brace for Steve Sullivan).
  
• If UW loses to Iowa, I think Bucky can forget about bowling this year. You have to wonder what Alvarez is thinking about Bielema's charges right now.
  
• So, when Oklahoma City's new basketball team finally won on Monday, did the headline writers start using the trite "Thunder Rolls To First Win"?
  
• Surprise: Pac-Man Jones is suspended after yet another off-the-field altercation. Game Over.
  

Larry Brooks is an idiot.

Okay, now that that is out of the way:

• This is definitely a rebuilding year for Bucky and Bielema's boys. Personally, I lay the blame for last week's loss to TOSU completely on the band. This week, though, was completely on the team. We're definitely not the third best team in the Big Ten right now. Heck, I'm starting to wonder if we're even in the top half of the Big Ten.
  
• I'm sorry, Harris, but I really have to say it: those powder-blue third sweaters are ugh-ly. It's not just that I've never cared for the RBK Edge jersey template, but it's just not a very good looking sweater. The skating skeleton is a good logo, don't get me wrong - it's just that it would look better as our primary logo.
  
• Sean Avery is beyond idiocy. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that he essentially "took out" Dan Hamhuis in the home opener at Nashville. I sincerely hope that Jordin Tootoo repays the favor when we next face the Stars on the 15th by taking out Philippe Boucher. Better yet, introduce the Turtle's head to the sideboard, like he did with Hartnell a few years back.
• I'm not sure, as the NLCS heads west to LA, that I want to see the Phillies sweep the Dodgers out of the playoffs. That doesn't say much for the level of play in the NL Central; if it was NCAA BCS football, it'd make us look suspiciously like the Big Ten. Oh, wait...
  

Why is it that all the big bills tend to come in bunches - and they all tend to drain your entire paycheck?

Good thing gas is dropping in price.

I finally decided to break down and set up a Facebook account. No particular reason why; just figured that I'm already on LiveJournal, here and on MySpace. Figured I'd go for the grand slam.

On to other things (it's raining in the first week of October - go figure):

• For some reason, I felt like I had to get my Ferrari out and start fooling around with it. Yes, I know, it's a bit expensive, but I think the whole set was worth it - even if it's just a Lego replica of the F1 car...
  
• Let's see: Dodgers, Phillies, Red Sox... and Rays. Why am I reminded of the old Sesame Street song, "One of theses Things is Not Like The Others"?
• No, I wasn't going crazy. I never got my individual game tickets for my Admirals 20-voucher pack for the 2008-09 season. Turns out my ticket rep had never sent them out. He's got an excuse, though: he got married over the off-season.
  

The Milwaukee Brewers have now lost five straight road games in the playoffs. The Crew is now 3-8 in playoff games outside of Milwaukee. If they want to advance to the NLCS, they'll have to break that streak - after sweeping the Phils this weekend at Miller Park.

Yep, that time of year again.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
CA - Joe Mauer, MIN (146 gp, 96.3 SR, 11.06 OFIB)
1B - Mark Teixeira, LAA (157 gp, 125.8 SR*, 17.08 OFIB*)
2B - Dustin Pedroia, BOS (157 gp, 120.3 SR, 14.01 OFIB)
SS - Mike Aviles, KAN (102 gp, 69.5 SR, 7.79 OFIB)
3B - Alex Rodriguez, NYY (138 gp, 113.5 SR, 14.23 OFIB)
LF - Carlos Quentin, CHW (130 gp, 104.8 SR, 13.05 OFIB)
CF - Grady Sizemore, CLE (157 gp, 121.3 SR, 14.88 OFIB)
RF - Nick Markakis, BAL (157 gp, 114.9 SR, 12.71 OFIB)
DH - Aubrey Huff, BAL (154 gp, 115.3 SR, 12.35 OFIB)

LF - Jason Bay, PIT/BOS (155 gp, 110.2 SR, 13.97 OFIB)
CF - Josh Hamilton, TEX (156 gp, 119.8 SR, 10.08 OFIB)

ST - Cliff Lee, CLE (31 gp, 1.264 PER, 54.4 CYP**)
ST - Daisuke Matsuzaka, BOS (29 gp, 1.469 PER, 33.8 CYP)
ST - Roy Halladay, TOR (34 gp, 1.412 PER, 25.8 CYP)
ST - Mike Mussina, NYY (34 gp, 1.648 PER, 23.8 CYP)
ST - Jon Lester, BOS (33 gp, 1.601 PER, 22.4 CYP)
RP - Joey Devine, OAK (42 gp, 0.522 PER, 22.4 CYP)
RP - Mariano Rivera, NYY (64 gp, 0.850 PER, 22.2 CYP)

NATIONAL LEAGUE
CA - Brian McCann, ATL (145 gp, 96.7 SR, 11.65 OFIB)
1B - Albert Pujols, STL (148 gp, 153.2 SR*, OFIB*)
2B - Chase Utley, PHI (159 gp, 121.3 SR, 16.25 OFIB)
SS - Hanley Ramierz, FLA (153 gp, 127.4 SR, 16.34 OFIB)
3B - David Wright, NYM ( gp, SR, OFIB)
LF - Matt Holliday, COL (139 gp, 120.0 SR, 15.17 OFIB)
CF - Carlos Beltram, NYM (161 gp, 114.1 SR, 14.25 OFIB)
RF - Ryan Ludwick, STL (152 gp, 114.9 SR, 14.96 OFIB)

1B - Lance Berkman, HOU (159 gp, 130.1 SR, 17.60 OFIB)
LF - Manny Ramirez, BOS/LOS (153 gp, 138.2 SR, 19.35 OFIB**)
RF - Andre Ethier, LOS (141 gp, 97.4 SR, 14.69 OFIB)

ST - Tim Lincecum, SFG (34 gp, 1.344 PER, 34.5 CYP*)
ST - Brandon Webb, ARI (34 gp, 1.595 PER, 33.8 CYP)
ST - Ryan Dempster, CHC (33 gp, 1.489 PER, 26.1 CYP)
ST - Johan Santana, NYM (34 gp, 1.335 PER, 25.4 CYP)
ST - Rich Harden, OAK/CHC (25 gp, 1.105 PER, 24.3 CYP)
RP - Brad Lidge, PHI (72 gp, 1.063 PER, 16.6 CYP)
RP - Jose Valverde, HOU (74 gp, 1.639 PER, 13.4 CYP)

* - Led league. ** - Led majors.

This year, I figured the "replacement level" for each position, mostly by taking the top 15 players on each team (and top 10 pitchers) and figuring the highest OFIB at each position beyond that. The "replacement levels" for each position:

CA: 0.10
1B: 0.25
2B: 0.24
3B: 0.07
SS: -0.04
LF: -0.07
CF: -0.04
RF: -0.31
DH: -0.28

The highest-ranked CYP total outside the top 10 pitchers on each team was 3.1; the lowest CYP total among the top-10 pitchers on each team was -0.6. I would likely place the -0.6 as "replacement level" for pitchers.