Former Packer GM Ted Thompson Dies at 68

By Adam Roberts – 1/21/2021

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein is reporting that former Green Bay Packer general manager Ted Thompson has died at age 68. Per a Silverstein tweet earlier this morning, Thompson passed away last night a few days after his 68th birthday on the 17th.

Thompson was hired to replace Bob Harlan on January 14th, 2005, and during his time at the position the Packers won a Super Bowl, made it to four NFC Championships. In addition to other management positions, Thompson was a 10-year NFL veteran with the Houston Oilers. Thompson resigned from the GM position in 2019 after the Packers went 6-9-1 the season before, citing an autonomic disorder as his reason for the decision.

Washington-Milwaukee NBA Game Postponed

By Adam Roberts – 1/21/2021

As the Milwaukee Bucks get another early-season test this evening when they host the West-leading Lakers at Fiserv Forum, their game against the Wizards tomorrow night will have to wait.

Washington has been struggling with COVID-19 within the organization for a week, with six players testing positive for the virus. It has resulted in six consecutive games postponed until later this year, including tomorrow’s scheduled game against the Bucks. It remains to be seen when the game will be made up later this season. The Wizards have not played since January 11th.

As for Milwaukee, they’ve been largely able to avoid any mass COVID problems this year (knock on wood). After LA tonight the Bucks will host Atlanta on Sunday.

#1 (D2) Onalaska to Face #3 (2A) Caledonia on Friday

By Adam Roberts – 1/20/2021

This Friday’s Holmen-Onalaska game has been cancelled, but in it’s place we’ll get a marquee Friday night boy’s basketball game.

The same week that the Hilltoppers earned the top spot in the Division 2 Coaches Poll, they’ll defend that title against one of the best Class 2A teams in Minnesota high school basketball when #3 Caledonia comes to town.

The match up is intriguing for a number of reasons, even if the Warriors will be without star Eli King who injured his leg on January 15th. Andrew Kunelius has emerged as a dynamic scorer for Caledonia when teamed up with Jason Koepke, while the Hilltoppers have build a three-headed monster in Gavin McGrath, Vic Desmond, and Sam Kick that grinded out a win over then-#3 (D1) Menomonee Falls on Saturday. It’s also intriguing due to the cross-border nature of the game in a year when competitions over state lines don’t normally happen for COVID reasons.

We’ll have pregame coverage from Onalaska starting at 6:45pm Friday evening!

Pro Football Writers Name Aaron Rodgers MVP

By Adam Roberts – 1/20/2021

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been named the Pro Football Writers of America’s Most Valuable Player for the 2020 season.

This is Rogers’ third PFWA MVP honor, and it comes a couple of weeks ahead of the official NFL MVP announcement on February 6th.

Rodgers started all 16 games this season, completing 372 of 526 passes (70.7%) for 4,299 yards and 48 touchdowns with five interceptions. Once again, Rodgers was extremely efficient, with a 121.5 passer rating behind only his 122.5 rating from 2011.

Former Brewer Hall Of Famer Don Sutton Dies

By Adam Roberts – 1/20/2021

Baseball Hall of Famer Don Sutton is dead. His son made the announcement yesterday on Twitter.

A longtime Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher who won more than 300 games, Sutton also pitched for the Brewers, Houston Astros, Oakland Athletics, and Los Angeles Angels. He won 324 games and was named to the All-Star team four times. He would later go on to be a television and radio analyst for the Atlanta Braves. He was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.

Sutton was 75 years old.

WIAC To Return To Winter Sports February 1st

By Adam Roberts – 1/19/2021

The Council of Chancellors for the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference have unanimously voted to begin their winter athletics season on February 1st, making them the final group of area schools to return to athletics after the pandemic began.

It’s been a long nearly year without sports for the WIAC, but the schools are ready to go albeit with some obvious stipulations. Spectators will not be allowed at WIAC events during the winter sports season. All contests will be conducted in accordance with National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III regulations, as well as institutional, state and local health and safety guidelines.

The men’s and women’s basketball season will be divided into two divisions; UWL will be in the West Division along with Eau Claire, RIver Falls, and Stout, and will play two games against each divisional opponent and two games against a crossover opponent from the East. Indoor track and field will compete in meets until March 6th with no WIAC Championships, while wrestling will compete in a dual-meet schedule until the 19th. UWL IS still scheduled to host the DIII Wrestling Championship March 12-13. Also Swimming and Diving will compete until March 6th with no championship and women’s gymnastics will dual meet until April 3rd with no championship.

A few of the Eagle schedules can be found here:

NFL Draft Combine To Be Decentralized This Season

By Adam Roberts – 1/19/2021

The NFL Draft combine will not take place in Indianapolis this year, another byproduct of a pandemic-altered sports calendar.

The league informed teams Monday the pre-draft player evaluation will be decentralized for the first time since 1987. Instead, this year, the entire process will be done remotely. All workouts will be done on individual pro days on college campuses where the league will work to ensure uniformity of the workouts. The NFL will also work to determine if team reps can attend the workouts as well.

As for the 2021 NFL Draft, things are still scheduled for April 29th through May 1st in Cleveland, Ohio. The Vikings will pick 14th in the first round while the Packers are still determining their first round spot, which will be between 28th and 32nd.

Onalaska BB New #1 Team in D2 Coaches Poll

By Adam Roberts – 1/19/2021

I think it was 247Sports’s Evan Flood that said on Twitter Onalaska center Gavin McGrath was throwing a block party with the entire Menomonee Falls team invited to play. Coaches across the state must’ve taken notice, not just of McGrath’s exploits at the Midwest Players Classic but also of the play of the Hilltoppers in general.

This week in the newest Wissports.net Coaches Poll, Onalaska is the new top dog in Division Two, even with all of the shuffling caused by division realignment this week. The D2 Top 10 is a loaded list, as well; the Hilltoppers are ranked above the previous #1 in Division 1 Wisconsin Lutheran, who’ve moved down to Division 2 as a result of the mixup. The division also includes a 12-3 Peawaukee team, 13-1 Whitefish Bay, 13-1 Medford, 11-1 Plymouth, and undefeated Wisconsin Dells.

The only other area team ranked after the shuffle is Blair-Taylor, #6 in Division 4 after spending last week at #2 in D5.

Bucks Fall To New-Look Nets 125-123

By Adam Roberts – 1/18/2021

There may or may not have been some extra time the Bucks lost out on late in their loss last night to the Brooklyn Nets, but that didn’t change the fact that the defense gave up too many points to a Nets team that despite Kyrie Irving’s continued absence seems up to the task of living up to lofty expectations.

Kevin Durant and James Harden combined for 64 points, and Joe Harris added 20 including five threes in the 125-123 Nets’ win. Khris Middleton made the go-ahead three with 55 seconds left for the Bucks but missed two in-a-row as Milwaukee fell behind. Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped a double-double in the loss with 34 points and 12 rebounds.

As for that clock situation, there should have been about two additional seconds granted to Milwaukee at the end of the game when Middleton called timeout with 5.8 seconds remaining. Somehow, the officials said the technology available indicated that only 3.8 seconds were left. “The dialogue between the officials and our staff [was] something along the lines of ‘that was the best that they could do’ or something to do with technology” coach Mike Budenholzer commented afterwards. “We’ve looked at it…and it was pretty clear that there was significantly more time.” With less time available, Middleton had to force up a three against a double team that nearly fell at the buzzer, but caromed out and was rebounded by Harden to end the game.

The Bucks dip to 9-and-5 and host the Lakers on Thursday.

Winona State MBB Sweeps Upper Iowa With 92-90 Win; Women Fall to Sioux Falls

By Adam Roberts – 1/18/2021

Head coach Todd Eisner and the Winona State men’s basketball team have had to work hard for every game they’ve been able to play this year, both with trying to duck around COVID trying to cancel so many contests and also by virtue of their games being nail-biting affairs.

On Sunday, after an 81-79 win over the Peacocks of Upper Iowa the night before, it would take a 22 point performance from senior Kevion Taylor for a 92-90 that pushes the Warriors to 2-1 on the abridged season. Also popping off was Caledonia’s Owen King, who went 4-of-5 from three.

The Warrior men are scheduled to face Augustana on the road this Friday evening.

The Warrior women meanwhile were dealt a 73-67 loss by Sioux Falls despite a career-best 30 point from Emma Fee. Fee’s outing ties the best single-game outing in the NSIC, matching St. Cloud State’s Lydia Haack’s 30-point game against Upper Iowa on January 2nd according to the WSU website. The Winona State women get Augustana at home Friday night.

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