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The Masters Tournament Begins Today

By Adam Roberts – 4/8/2021

The feeling of having two Masters in less than five months is a different kind of bizarre. I have always associated, as I’m sure many others have, with the teeing off of round one at Augusta as the true start of spring, so watching the world’s best do battle in November was more than a bit odd. But as with many other things this spring, a hint of normalcy is returning.

The Masters tees off today from Augusta National Golf Course in Georgia. One of the PGA Tour’s most prestigious tournaments returns to its regular April start after the pandemic pushed it to November last year. A limited number of fans will also be allowed back for this year’s event. Among the favorites to take home the Green Jacket are Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy. Johnson came away as the winner in 2020.

Five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods will be watching from home after being seriously injured during a February car crash.

Nate Reuvers Going Pro

By Adam Roberts – 4/8/2021

Yesterday we reported that Brad Davison was the only Badger senior who had not yet decided on whether or not he would return for the one-time only extra year being offered next season by the NCAA. In that report, I noted that Nate Reuvers had already declined to return to Wisconsin.

Today, he confirmed on Twitter that he will be in fact going pro. On the app today he said: “I will be hiring an agent and starting my professional basketball career. This is my dream and I love this game. Thank you to everyone that has helped me on my journey.”

This past season saw a notable scoring decline for Reuvers, who went from a 13.1 point per game average in 2019-20 to 8.3 per game this year. His shooting percentage has stayed above 40% consistently since his sophomore year, and his free throw shooting is also decent at 78%.

Caledonia BBB Advances to State Final

By Adam Roberts – 4/8/2021

Tell me if you’ve heard this before: a Caledonia sports team is a win away from a state title.

While it yearly refers to the football team, this time I’m speaking of the boy’s basketball team, which finds itself a victory from the championship after a 60-55 win over Minneapolis North yesterday in the semis. It was a win that early on looked like a Warrior blowout, then quickly became a close back-and-forth kind of game featuring some chippy moments late.

The Polars are likely looking back at the game today and wondering what could’ve been if they had been more accurate from three; the Warrior defense essentially eliminated those shots from the game with North shooting 1-18. The Warriors made five threes in the game with Jackson Koepke accounting for two of them. He finished with 13 for the game, one behind leading scorer Austin Klug.

All that remains in front of Caledonia now is top-ranked Waseca Saturday at the Target Center. The Blue Jays are 22-1 this year behind 22.7 a game from Andrew Morgan. They handled Fergus Falls in the semis yesterday evening to advance.

Tiger Woods Tweets on His Status As He Continues Recovering From Crash

By Adam Roberts – 4/7/2021

It’s Masters Week, with the tradition unlike any other set to begin tomorrow at Augusta National. One notable face that will be absent from the proceedings will be Tiger Woods as he continues to recover from his awful car crash in February.

Woods today tweeted his thanks to the Los Angeles County Sheriff and Fire Departments for getting him safely to the hospital. He ended the tweet saying he’s focusing on his recovery and family. The tweet comes just as the LA County Sheriff’s Office released its final report on the crash. That report said high, unsafe speed was to blame for Woods’ single car crash back in February in Southern California.

Woods is recovering in Florida from extensive injuries he suffered in the crash.

Tailgating to Return to American Family Field April 12th

By Adam Roberts – 4/7/2021

Many people have lamented the lack of tailgating at American Family Field this season as part of the Brewers’ COVID precautions. Enough people must have been frustrated that the team has made plans to return the long-time Milwaukee tradition.

The Brewers announced today that tailgating will once again be permitted in all lots starting Monday, April 12th. Here are some of the guidelines for fans who might be headed out:

Fans must remain in the vicinity of their vehicle, and each tailgating area must be made up of fans in the same seating pod
Tailgating must end 30 minutes after first pitch
One vehicle per space
The team reserves the right to end tailgating activities

You can find the full list of tailgating policies here.

Will Brad Davison Return To Wisconsin?

By Adam Roberts – 4/7/2021

This year more than any year in the past conversation surrounding the NCAA’s transfer portal has amplified, particularly within the world of men’s basketball. But this year in particular has granted seniors the option to use an additional year of eligibility and return for another year to make up the end of the 2020 season they missed out on. There were seven seniors at Wisconsin that this rule could apply to, and already a few have made their plans known. D’Mitrick Trice quickly unveiled plans to move on after Wisconsin’s tournament loss to eventual-champion Baylor, followed by Walt McGrory, Aleem Ford, Nate Reuvers, Micah Potter, and Trevor Anderson.

That leaves Brad Davison as the last senior to make a decision. As of this morning, CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein reported that Davison has still not made his choice. Last season Davison had his lowest overall field goal percentage of his four seasons but was his best from three (38.9%) and the free throw line (86.8%). In the Baylor loss, he went 8-2-4 with 2-8 three point shooting.

We’ll continue following for any updates on Davison’s status for next year.

Brewers Trade SS Orlando Arcia to Atlanta

By Adam Roberts – 4/6/2021

In news that was quite unexpected, the Brewers are trading shortstop Orlando Arcia to the Atlanta Braves. Fansided’s Robert Murray first reported the story and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal also had the story.

In exchange, the Brewers will receive two relievers. Patrick Weigel is Atlanta’s #12 pitching prospect but had Tommy John surgery back in 2017, and Chad Sobotka who has a decent amount of major league pitching experience. Braves beat writer Mark Bowman first had the news.

In other baseball news, while some in the state had mildly speculated that Milwaukee would be a good fit to move the All-Star game after it was pulled from Atlanta over the state of Georgia’s new voter laws, today MLB announced that Coors Field in Denver will the new game host.

Barry Alvarez To Officially Retire June 30th

By Adam Roberts – 4/6/2021

At a presser today, Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez will confirm he indeed plans to retire from the position on June 30th.

We already knew coming into this week that Alvarez would be concluding his time at the university who’s football program he completely transformed. But now it appears the wheels are officially in motion to begin planning the next phase of UW athletics.

Additionally, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jeff Potrykus tweeted this morning: “I am on the road but received an email from #badgers officials regarding a meeting at 11am Wednesday to consider ’employment of new athletic director'”. Some have speculated that, much like the transition from Bo Ryan to Greg Gard with the men’s basketball team, that a hand-picked successor could be in the works. Nothing has been solidified at the time of this writing.

NBA Releases $3M More In Grant Money For Black Community Advancement

By Adam Roberts – 4/5/2021

The NBA is unveiling another set of grants intended for social organizations to help drive opportunities in the Black community.

The three-million dollars announced Monday is a part of the league’s 300-million-dollar commitment to aid underserved areas. The league says some of the organizations to receive money this round include New York-based New Heights Youth, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, and CodeCrew out of Memphis. NBA officials say the money would go to help create employment and help career advancement efforts among Black people.

The Bucks have been busy over the last year with their own grants. Two weeks ago eight Milwaukee-area female entrepreneurs received $10,000 grants to support their small businesses through Fiserv Inc.’s Back2Business program.

Brewers Assistant Trainer Hospitalized

By Adam Roberts – 4/5/2021

Brewers assistant trainer Dave Yeager was hospitalized after two lightheaded occurrences from this past weekend.

The first one was in the ninth inning on the field Saturday, while he was attending to an umpire. The second came in the clubhouse after the loss to the Twins. After being examined by doctors, he was sent to the hospital and kept over night for observation.

“You never want to see anybody go down” Brewers’ pitcher Brett Anderson said after the game. “And it was such a weird circumstance where CB gets hit and you’re thinking they’re going to change umpires, and then next thing you know Dave goes down. We wish him the best and hopefully it’s nothing too serious. I was telling someone yesterday, ‘You think you’ve seen it all in this game and then something like that happens in the ninth inning.’ It’s scary, but it doesn’t sound like it’s too, too serious. Hopefully he’s fine.”

Manager Craig Counsell said that Yeager likely suffered from extreme dehydration and is currently doing better but as of this writing hasn’t been released from the hospital. The Brewers begin a road series against the Cubs tonight.