ESPN La Crosse 105.5

NFL Week One Schedule Leaked This Morning

By Adam Roberts – 5/12/2021

Jordan Love was trending again on Twitter this morning, as the first week of the NFL regular season schedule was leaked by insiders this morning. The trend was due in part to that first week featuring the Packers and New Orleans Saints playing each other in FOX’s Game of the Week, with both trolls and others implying the first week match up will feature both Love and former Packer Taysom Hill under center.

There of course is no way on knowing just yet who will be the Packers’ Week One QB, with talks between the team and Rodgers still ongoing and two quarterbacks coming to town this weekend for tryouts. But the shield will certainly not turn away extra discussion and Twitter trends on schedule release day.

The NFL will officially release the league’s 2021 schedule later today. The 17-game schedule will air exclusively on the NFL Network at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The league has already announced the Week 17 games, which feature the A-F-C as the home team against all N-F-C opponents; those games feature Pittsburgh hosting Seattle, Baltimore hosting the LA Rams, and Kansas City hosting Green Bay.

As for Minnesota, they will take on Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals Week One.

American Family Field, Fiserv Forum To Expand To 50% Capacity

By Adam Roberts – 5/11/2021

More fans will soon be allowed through the turnstiles at American Family Field and Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, just in time for an influx Bucks interest as the playoffs near.

Both the Bucks and Brewers’ stadiums are preparing to increase to 50% capacity. American Family Field will expand starting this Saturday when Milwaukee hosts the Atlanta Braves, while Fiserv will expand once the NBA Playoffs begin later this month.

Today the Milwaukee County Health Department gave their blessing to the increases since both facilities have approved safety plans to help mitigate COVID spread.

Some rules that will apply:

Fans will be required to wear face coverings at all times when inside Fiserv Forum, except when actively eating or drinking
Tickets will continue to be sold in pods
Fans are not permitted to bring in bags. Items larger than 4”x6”x1” will not be permitted

Single game Brewers tickets are available for all games scheduled through Thursday, May 27th, while limited single-game Bucks playoff tickets go on sale this Friday.

Brewers P Jordan Zimmermann To Retire

By Adam Roberts – 5/11/2021

Brewers’ pitcher Jordan Zimmermann has announced his retirement today.

While undoubtedly his career highlight was the 1-0 no-hitter against the Marlins in 2014, Zimmermann always had a desire to someday play for his hometown team in Milwaukee. While his time in the Cream City was short and his statistics negligible, it seems a fitting way for the 13-year MLB career to end for the Stevens Point alum.

Zimmermann was drafted by Washington in 2007 and worked his way up to probably the best pitcher in the rotation for a while in the early 2010s. By 2015 though the team needed to invest in a big contract for either Zimmermann or Max Scherzer and chose to bet on Max. Despite his All-Star performances in recent seasons, Zimmermann agreed to a deal with the Detroit Tigers. There his career stalled out due to injury issues, ultimately wrapping up in a final few months with the Crew.

Zimmermann’s final career stats include a 21 WAR, 95-91 overall record, and 4.07 career ERA with 1,271 strikeouts over 1,614 innings of work.

WI Assembly Considering Bill Requiring Anthem At Publicly-Funded Sports Venues

By Adam Roberts – 5/11/2021

If you were to put together a top five list for the most divisive topics people have debated about over the past five years, I’d wager that the national anthem conversation would be on most lists. Colin Kaepernick’s stance, or lack thereof, on that subject helped to reignite often heated conversations on the issue which have come up at different times over the course of U.S. history. Over that time period, several legislative actions have been attempted at various levels of local and state government to manage how and when the national anthem is performed at events both sporting and non-sporting related.

Today in Madison, legislation is being considered by Wisconsin legislators that would require the national anthem to be played before sporting events in any venue that has received public funding. This would include all of the state’s professional sports venues: Lambeau Field, Fiserv Forum, and American Family Field. The bill was authored in part by Wonewoc Representative Tony Kurtz, who said this week it is not intended to punish athletes who have used the anthem as a protest platform. Rather, he says, it is in part a response to the action Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks took earlier this year to stop playing the anthem before games until the NBA stepped in and required its teams to play it. Kurtz also said he was upset at the Packers when they made the decision in September to stay in the locker room before their opener against Minnesota.

While the bill has a path to Governor Evers’ desk, it’s unclear whether or not he would sign the bill. It also doesn’t include any enforcement language, leaving it unclear if venues that refuse to follow the bill would face any consequence.

QB’s Kurt Benkert and Chad Kelly Heading To Green Bay For Rookie Minicamp

By Adam Roberts – 5/10/2021

As Packers GM Brian Gutekunst continues to navigate the landmine-filled sea that is the Aaron Rodgers situation, one assertion he made after the NFL Draft last month is coming true: there will be an extra arm for the team in the QB room, and it could be one of two men headed to Titletown this weekend.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero tweeted today that quarterbacks Kurt Benkert and Chad Kelly will be attending this weekend’s rookie minicamp for tryout reps.

Benkert has been looking for a home since being waived by the Atlanta Falcons. He was a two-school QB for East Carolina and Virginia; with the Cavs he completed 57.5 percent of his passes for 5,759 yards, 46 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.

As for Kelly, he has had a tumultuous career since being drafted by the Broncos as “Mr. Irrelevant” in 2017. He played in just one game for Denver in 2018 after missing his rookie season with a wrist injury, recording no passing yards and rushing for -1. Kelly’s legal troubles included being released by the Broncos after is arrest for suspicion of trespassing and his subsequent guilty plea. He has since had a stint with the Colts on the practice squad in which he never saw the field and received a tryout from the Buffalo Bills but did not receive a callback. Many SEC fans remember his electric 2015 season at Ole Miss where the threw for over 4,000 yards and 31 TDs.

In any case, it seems the organization is trying to give themselves a little breathing room at the QB spot since there would only be two arms heading into minicamp otherwise between Rodgers and Jordan Love.

HS Baseball State Will Be Played at Two Venues

By Adam Roberts – 5/10/2021

Depending on your school, your alma matter’s baseball team may be either a couple games or as many as eight to ten contests in to their 2021 season at this point. But the end goal for all teams remains the same: raising the trophy at Neuroscience Group Field in Grand Chute next month. For some of our area’s D1 teams, that path will also include a stop in Fond du Lac.

The WIAA has determined locations for the baseball, softball, and golf state tournaments. Division One baseball and softball will have quarterfinal stops at Herr-Baker Stadium in Fond du Lac and Bay Port High School in Green Bay respectively. The baseball quarterfinals will be Friday, June 25th, while the softball quarters will be Monday, June 28th.

As for section group pairings, here’s what this year looks like for our area’s teams:

Baseball

D1 Section 3 Region A – Baraboo

Holmen, La Crosse Central, Onalaska, Tomah

D2 Section 1 Group C – Rice Lake

Arcadia, Black River Falls, G-E-T, La Crosse Logan, Sparta, West Salem

D3 Section 3 Group A – Viroqua

Aquinas, Luther, Mel-Min, Viroqua, Westby

D4 Section 1 Group D – Shell Lake

Blair-Taylor, C-FC

D4 Section 3 Group A – Pecatonica

Bangor, Cashton, De Soto

Softball

D1 Section 3 Group A – Middleton

Holmen, La Crosse Central, Onalaska, Tomah

D2 Section 1 Group B – Mosinee

Black River Falls, La Crosse Logan, Sparta, West Salem

D3 Section 1 Group B – Arcadia

Aquinas, Arcadia, GET, Westby

D3 Section 3 Group A – Prairie du Chien

Viroqua/Youth Initiative

D4 Section 3 Group A – Blair-Taylor

Blair-Taylor, C-FC

D4 Section 3 Group B – Blair-Taylor

Cashton, Luther, Mel-Min

D5 Section 3 Group A – Bangor

Bangor

D5 Section 3 Group B – Bangor

De Soto

Bucks Planning To Sign G Elijah Bryant

By Adam Roberts – 5/10/2021

We’ve officially entered the final week of the NBA regular season, with Milwaukee still see-sawing with Brooklyn over the two seed in the Eastern Conference. While not likely game changing, Milwaukee appears poised to welcome a new shooting threat to the roster as the playoffs loom around the corner.

The Bucks are reportedly signing former BYU wing Elijah Bryant to multi-year deal. Bryant is expected to sign a two-year deal once the Bucks waive forward Rodions Kurucs. He previously played with Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Israel, averaging 13.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game in his last season.

This isn’t Bryant’s first stint with Milwaukee; he played with the club in their last Summer League appearance in Vegas, and scored 31 points in a game against Minnesota.

The Bucks have also reportedly negotiated a buyout with Bryant’s former club to the tune of between 500 and 600 thousand dollars.

Bryant was named to the All-Israeli League first team in his lone season with Hapoel Eilat and won the Israeli League with M.T.A. last season.

The Bucks look to earn sixth straight win as they take on the Spurs tonight in San Antonio in a key battle for playoff seedings. They are coming off a 141-133 win against the Rockets on Friday. The Bucks remain third in the Eastern Conference at 43-and-24, just a half-game behind Brooklyn.

Forbes: Cowboys Still World’s Most Valued Sports Team; Packers 31st, Vikings 34th

By Adam Roberts – 5/7/2021

Jerruh still owns the most valuable sports team in the world.

The Dallas Cowboys are still the world’s most valuable sports team per Forbes, who released their latest list Friday, valuing America’s Team at five-point-seven billion dollars. Dallas holds the top spot over the New York Yankees and New York Knicks. Soccer clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid round out the top five. The NBA’s Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers are also in the top ten, along with the NFL’s New England Patriots and New York Giants.

The Packers are listed at #31 with a value of 3.05 billion dollars. Their five-year change in value has been a 56% increase; the Vikings aren’t too far behind at 33rd overall with a value of 2.98 billion dollars.

NCAA Recommends Men’s Basketball Refs To Give Techs For Flopping

By Adam Roberts – 5/7/2021

Flopping. We all know it, we’ve all seen it, and I think it’s safe to say we all despise its presence in sports. While the art of the flop has been recently seen in the NFL at times, the two sports plagued with this issue most are basketball and futbol, the latter of which has seen so much of it it’s essentially an integral part of the game at this point. But there are those in power in basketball that believed the act can still be stamped out before it reaches soccer-like levels of occurrence.

And men’s college basketball is hoping to crack down on the act starting as soon as next season.

In a release today, the association’s rules committee recommended that referees give technical fouls to players who fake being fouled. Under the proposal, officials would no longer issue a warning for the first instance of flopping in a game. The rule change must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which is set to meet next month.

Harden-idolizers, beware!

Packers Update Some Offseason Workout Dates

By Adam Roberts – 5/7/2021

Did you forget that there’s anything else to keep track of with the Packers other than whether or not Aaron Rodgers will be back? I’ll admit I did a little bit.

Regardless of what happens after June 1st, the Packers still have to continue with their offseason calendar, and that includes rookie minicamp, OTAs, and the mandatory June minicamp. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported yesterday on the dates for each of these, but today the team has updated some of those dates.

Green Bay will run their mandatory team minicamp a little earlier than expected, with the dates June 8th, 9th, and 10th. There are a number of OTAs that will begin starting May 24th and 25th, and three more have been added to the docket for June 14th, 15th, and 17th.

Here’s the complete list as of this morning:

Rookie minicamp: May 14-15

OTA dates: May 24-25, May 27, June 1-2, June 4, June 7-8, June 10, June 14th, June 15th, June 17th

Mandatory Minicamp: June 8th, June 9th, June 10th