ESPN La Crosse 105.5

Giannis Records Third-Straight Triple-Double; Bucks Beat Wizards

By Adam Roberts – 3/16/2021

Recently, the Milwaukee Bucks have been on a tear, doing their best to silence doubters that they are still players at the top of the Eastern Conference right there with a stacked Brooklyn team and the current conference leaders in Philly. Recently, team leader Giannis Antetokounmpo has done his best to lead by example, racking up double digit points, rebounds, and assists for the past two games against New York and Washington coming into last night’s rematch against the Wizards. He would continue his triple-double streak with 31, 15, and 10 in the Bucks’ 133-122 victory.

While the triple-double has lost its aura of the past in recent years, it still isn’t every day that a player record three in a row if you exclude Russell Westbrook from a few years ago. The three-straight for Giannis is the first time it’s happened in Bucks history.

Milwaukee has won nine of its last 10 by an average of 12.5 points per game. They face the East-leading 76ers tomorrow night in Philly trailing them by two games for the top conference seed with plenty of season still left.

S Raven Greene To Become Unrestricted Free Agent

By Adam Roberts – 3/15/2021

It was an expected consequence of injury trouble over his time in Titletown, but today the Packers made official that safety Raven Greene would not be tendered.

This decision allows for Greene to become an unrestricted free agent and pursue other opportunities, while allowing the Packers to focus on developing Vernon Scott and Henry Black at the safety position.

This past season, Greene appeared in 10 games, recording 42 tackles, 1.5 sacks, a pick, a forced fumble, and also defending five passes thrown his way. He had agreed to a three-year, 1.71 million dollar contract back in May. However, the injury bug has bitten Greene since he joined Green Bay; he played in just eight games in 2018 and two in ’19.

Packers, RB Jones Agree to Four-Year Deal

By Adam Roberts – 3/15/2021

In a somewhat surprising move, the Green Bay Packers have elected to go against the grain when it comes to running backs due a new contract and pay their primary back Aaron Jones.

The two parties came to an agreement on a new deal over the weekend, with Jones now signed on to a four-year, 48 million dollar deal with a 13 million dollar signing bonus according to agent Drew Rosenhaus. This comes after Green Bay elected not to place a franchise tag on Jones prior to the deadline last week.

Last season was a banner year for Jones, thriving in a Matt LaFleur offense that has given him more flexibility in his play style. Jones finished fourth in the NFL in rush yards (1,104), and could have ran for more if not for a calf injury. He made the Pro Bowl for the first time as well.

Jones will continue to share touches next year with AJ Dillion, but may benefit production-wise from the possible loss of Jamaal Williams. Last year was Williams’ final year of his contract.

Badger MBB Gets 9-Seed; Will Face North Carolina Friday

By Adam Roberts – 3/15/2021

At 17-12, this Wisconsin Badger men’s basketball team may not have the teeth of team’s in the last 10-15 years or so. However, if anything is certain in this COVID-19 world, it’s that nothing’s certain, and even with a less-than-stellar seed in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, this is the month where magic happens.

After another close loss to Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, the Badgers were slated with a nine seed yesterday in the South Region, and their opponent for Round One will be the Roy Williams-coached North Carolina Tar Heels. Comparatively, the two teams match up well on paper: two blue-chip basketball programs playing very difficult schedules with fairly expected final records given their difficult roads (Wisconsin played the fifth most difficult schedule of Division One programs this year while North Carolina was 19th).

As for big wins, the Tar Heels had two late in their season, once against at the time 11th-ranked Florida State at home and then in the ACC Tournament against #22 Virginia Tech, who will face Florida Friday as a 10 seed. As for Wisconsin, their best wins according to ranking were over then-#23 Louisville and then-#12 Michigan State in the first half of the season, but their overall record against ranked teams is 3-9 including the Big Ten Tournament.

The key player Wisconsin will have to contend with on Friday is sophomore Armando Bacot. The Richmond, Virginia product is a 6’10” rim-rattler who shoots 62.1 percent from the field and averaged just over 12 and a half points per game. Wisconsin of course has history dealing with big men in the paint, think Luka Garza, but last Friday he was a thorn in the Badgers side all game finishing 10/15 for 24 points.

The winner faces either Baylor or 16-seed Hartford on March 21st.

Lambeau Field To Serve As Vaccination Site

By Adam Roberts – 3/12/2021

Following the example of other sports stadiums and arenas across the country, Lambeau Field will open as a community COVID-19 vaccine site.

The Packers, Brown County Public Health and Bellin Health are working to offer vaccines at Lambeau on March 17th. Vaccines will be given in the Lambeau Field Atrium and the site is only open to people eligible to receive the vaccine in Wisconsin. Eligibility is expanding in the state at the end of the month to include people 16 and older with certain medical conditions.

The Department of Health Services confirmed yesterday that people won’t have to show any documentation that they suffer from one of the 20 health conditions that are considered criteria to be eligible. This could be why Lambeau will serve as a site, due to the massive number of newly eligible individuals expected to apply for vaccines (some estimates are around 2 million new people in the state).

Twins To Open Target Field at 10,000 Fan Capacity

By Adam Roberts – 3/12/2021

We already knew going into this week that Mill…erm, excuse me, American Family Field will be opening at 25% capacity to start the 2021 Brewers season, translating to around 11,000 to 12,000 people). Up until today, it was uncertain how Target Field in the Twin Cities would work with having fans in the stands this year, but now we have a better idea.

Today, Governor Tim Walz pulled back on certain COVID restrictions, namely in public and religious buildings. Along with that, public venues can operate at 50% capacity, with outdoor venues limited to 10,000 patrons. This will be the number the Twins work with to start their season on April 8th.

Along with this news today, Major League Baseball is announcing its very low COVID positivity rate. In a release today with the MLB Players Association, the league announced there were just two positive tests last week from the near 15-thousand tests conducted. Both positives were from players. Since intake testing began at the start of Spring Training, there have been 27 total positives — 21 players and six staff members — comprising 17 clubs, out of more than 49-thousand tests.

Bucks Will Allow More Fans For Home Games Next Week

By Adam Roberts – 3/12/2021

Last night in Milwaukee, the Bucks entertained a small number of fans at Fiserv Forum to a 134-103 win over the New York Knicks. By this time next week, the number will be nearly doubled.

The Milwaukee Health Department and the Bucks have reached an agreement to increase the maximum attendance from 1,800 fans to about 3,300, all part of a slow-but-steady climb in fan numbers which should from a player perspective help to build up a better game atmosphere than playing in an empty arena.

Any plans to go past the planned 18% capacity are to be determined by both the team and the county health department, but with vaccines continuing to ramp up (especially with yesterday’s Wisconsin DHS announcement that 16-64 year olds with underlying health conditions can receive vaccines March 29th and President Biden’s speech yesterday hoping all Americans can be vaccinated by May 1st) that number likely will go up again.

OTD: The NBA Suspended the Season

By Adam Roberts – 3/11/2021

Tonight at the Fiserv Forum, the Milwaukee Bucks will take the floor against the New York Knicks to begin the second half of their season. Exactly one year ago this evening, the sports world, and in a much larger context American life, came to a screeching halt.

Over 20 teams are hitting the court today on the one-year anniversary of the NBA shutdown. It was on this day last year that the league stopped playing due to multiple players, namely Rudy Gobert, testing positive for COVID-19 outbreak. ESPN Radio and a lot of other media outlets are reflecting today on the magnitude of the day league commissioner Adam Silver suspended the season. Prior to that point, the pandemic, which had only been officially ruled a pandemic by the CDC one day prior, still seemed in many Americans’ minds to be sensationalism, something that would take the form of the SARS pandemic from a decade and a half before, or bird flu, ebola, or the Zika virus. One year later, sports and nearly every element of our day-to-day life has been remolded to fight against the virus, and there will likely be things that never truly go back to pre-pandemic ways.

Still, with one of the largest vaccine rollouts in history continuing along and states slowly starting to resume some semblance of normalcy, there are at least signs that the elusive light at the end of a seemingly never-ending tunnel may be approaching. It certainly seems like it anyways with 22 teams playing in eleven games as the NBA begins the second half of the season.

Vikings Release T Riley Reiff

By Adam Roberts – 3/11/2021

In order for many NFL teams to make eliminate their cap deficits this offseason, tough decisions will have to be made, as I mentioned earlier this week. One of those tough decisions was made by the Minnesota Vikings yesterday, releasing a veteran of the team’s offensive line that has started 62 games in four seasons.

Riley Reiff was cut by the team yesterday, after it had previously been hoped that he could be extended to lower his expected nearly 14 million dollar cap hit. Both tackles Cam Robinson and Taylor Moton were each given the franchise tag this week.

Who will fill the left spot is uncertain. It’s believed by many that Boise State draft pick Ezra Cleveland could move to the spot, after starting nine games at right guard for the Vikings last year. Brian O’Neill could also be moved from right to left tackle; he is also due to start extension talks later this year.

Minnesota finished 18th in pass block win rate last season.

Athletes Demand NCAA Pull Events From States With Anti-LGBT Sports Bills

By Adam Roberts – 3/10/2021

The debate over barring transgender athletes from participating in sports under their identified gender continues, with several athletes making their stance very clear.

More than 500 college athletes are demanding the NCAA pull its championships from states that have passed or are considering anti-transgender sports measures. They sent a letter to the association saying events should not be held in states that have or are looking to ban transgender-identifying individuals from participating in sports that align with their gender identity. The letter was created by runners from Washington University in St. Louis.

Athletes from 85 different schools, including Duke, Michigan, and Villanova have signed on to the letter. The letter comes after Mississippi and South Dakota have approved bans on transgender girls and women competing, and at least half of other states, including both Wisconsin and Minnesota, have brought up similar measures just this year.