Brewers Unveil All 2021 Start Times

By Adam Roberts – 2/11/2021

No Sunday Night Baseball this year for the Milwaukee Brewers.

The team unveiled all 162 start times this year, with the season beginning at 1:10 local time Thursday, April 1st at the newly-dubbed American Family Field against Minnesota and wrapping up Sunday afternoon in LA against the defending-World Series champion Dodgers.

While we now know when and where the Brewers will play their 2021 regular season games, it still remains to be seen whether or not fans will be at AFF to see them. The most current info we have is team president of business operations Rick Schlesinger saying at the AmFam sign unveiling that the “goal [is] to have fans in the stands this season”.

Vikings Restructure OL Reiff’s Contract To Give Him $1 Million

By Adam Roberts – 2/11/2021

Vikings left tackle Riley Reiff was unable to play the team’s season finale against Detroit due to being placed on the COVID-19 reserve list, and because of that missed out on a one million dollar playtime incentive.

To make up for the unfortunate situation for Reiff, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf has decided to pay him the money in the form of a signing bonus. A very nice gesture first reported this morning by Tom Pelissero.

This probably couldn’t have happened to a more deserving player than Reiff, who notably took a sizable pay cut so the team could sign Yannick Ngakoue last season. It remains to be seen whether Reiff’s long-term future is in the Twin Cities, however; according to Vikings’ reporter Courtney Cronin, Reiff is owed a five million dollar roster bonus three days after the start of the new league year on March 19th. The Vikings also will want to lower his cap hit for this year at just under 14 million dollars, and Reiff could realistically earn more money by electing to enter free agency after this upcoming season.

Either way, thanks to a generous move by the team, Reiff won’t have to miss out on a cool million due to factors largely out of his control.

2023 U.S. Senior Open Championship To Be Played In Stevens Point, WI

By Adam Roberts – 2/10/2021

While not officially a Coulee Region story, the Badger state will be getting another big-time golf tournament coming to one of it’s golf courses.

Yesterday, the USGA announced the 2023 Senior Open Championship will take place at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, a public course that has previously hosted the 1986 Women’s Amateur Public Links final and the 2019 US Girls Junior Championship.

The USGA, with this tournament, will have now held 17 championships in the state of Wisconsin.

UWL Men’s Basketball Ranked 14th in D3 Poll

By Adam Roberts – 2/10/2021

The newest edition of the D3hoops.com Top 15 poll was released today, and includes the UWL men.

UW La Crosse was ranked 14th today after opening their 2021 season with two wins over UW Eau Claire last week. Next up for the Eagles is a two-game series against River Falls with tonight’s game on the road and Friday’s at Mitchell Hall. Elsewhere in the WIAC, Platteville was ranked 11th and UW-Oshkosh was ranked 12th. The Eagles and Pioneers play each other February 24th and 26th.

The complete Top 15 looks like this:

  1. Randolph-Macon
  2. Mount Union
  3. Illinois Wesleyan
  4. St. John’s
  5. Trine
  6. St. Thomas
  7. Wheaton (Ill.)
  8. Whitworth
  9. Dubuque
  10. Mary Hardin-Baylor
  11. UW-Platteville
  12. UW-Oshkosh
  13. DePauw
  14. UW-La Crosse
  15. N.C. Wesleyan

 

Brewers Pitchers and Catchers To Report February 18th; Twins On The 19th

By Adam Roberts – 2/10/2021

With sub-zero temperatures and a relatively recent fresh coat of snow, many in the Coulee Region might be suffering from the yearly tradition of struggling to see light at the end of the winter tunnel.

That’s when the arrival of spring training comes to turn those frowns upside down.

Today, Major League Baseball announced teams’ dates to have their pitchers and catchers report to their spring training sites, and the Brewers’ specialists will head down to Arizona one week from tomorrow on February 18th. Meanwhile, Twins’ pitchers and catchers report on February 19th.

Milwaukee begins their spring training game schedule on the 27th against Oakland while Minnesota opens in Florida against Tampa Bay.

Brewers Sign Former Tigers RHP Jordan Zimmerman To Minor League Deal

By Adam Roberts – 2/9/2021

The Brewers are taking a chance on a former Tigers pitcher who led the league in wins back in 2013.

Today the team announced the signing of Auburdale, Wisconsin-native Jordan Zimmermann to a minor league deal. The move will give the Brewers’ farm system a veteran presence in what is largely an undeveloped area of the team.

Zimmermann was drafted in 2007 by the Washington Nationals, where he had his most success in his third and second-to-last seasons with the team. In 2013, Zimmermann went 19-9 with a 3.25 ERA, 161 strikeouts, and earned the first of two-straight All Star Game appearances. He finished seventh in Cy Young voting that year and fifth in 2014. After being traded to Detroit in 2016, his production dipped, from allowing a league-high 108 earned runs in 2017 to a dismal 1-13 record in 2019. Zimmermann started just twice in 2020.

Big Ten Tournament To Move To Indianapolis

By Adam Roberts – 2/9/2021

We’re approximately a month away from the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament, which up until today was scheduled to take place at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

However, change came today from the conference, which is now lining up their tournament with the start of the full men’s basketball tournament in Indianapolis. The Big Ten Tournament will now start at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy on March 10th and run through the 14th.

According to the conference, this decision was made based on a number of factors, including “the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches, officials and conference constituents”. They add: “Hosting both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in the same city allows for cohesive testing and medical protocols for both events, as well as centralized accommodations surrounding the competition venues.”

The tournament will return to Chicago in 2023.

MLB To Adjust Baseballs For 2021 Season

By Adam Roberts – 2/9/2021

Those of you wondering over the last few years why it might have seemed that so many baseballs were flying over ballpark fences must feel some vindication this morning.

Essentially admitting that baseballs have been juiced to drive up dinger totals, Major League Baseball is making changes to its baseballs in an effort to reduce the soaring home run totals. The Athletic obtained a memo sent to front offices last week outlining the changes which are intended to “deaden” the ball. The report also says five more teams will begin using a humidor to store balls at their home parks.

Some major league pitchers, most notably Justin Verlander and David Price, have blamed juiced baseballs for the uptick in home runs recently. Verlander has perhaps been the most vocal on the issue.

Klint Kubiak To Replace Dad Gary as Vikings’ OC

By Adam Roberts – 2/8/2021

The Minnesota Vikings appear to have pretty much all of their coaching openings filled with news today first reported by the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that Klint Kubiak will be the team’s new offensive coordinator.

Klint takes over for his father Gary, who retired from coaching after the past season. Pelissero says that head coach Mike Zimmer wanted from the beginning of the search for Gary’s replacement to keep his offense in place. That should definitely be the case now that the Vikings will keep thins in the family.

Last season, the Vikings scored the second most touchdowns in franchise history with 55, only behind the 1998 NFC Championship Game team who had 58, and were fourth in the league with an average of 393.3 yards per game. Under Gary, they were also Top 10 in red zone scoring percentage (6th with 71.19%).

Former Packer/Raider CB Charles Woodson Will Join HOF in ’21

By Adam Roberts – 2/8/2021

While Leroy Butler’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame will have to unjustly wait a little longer, one former Packer IS on his way to Canton.

Former Packers and Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson was among the likes of Peyton Manning and Calvin Johnson to be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame on Saturday. Woodson was a nine-time Pro Bowler and a member of the Hall of Fame’s All 2000’s Team at defensive back. He won a Super Bowl with the Packers in 2011, and was an integral part of the early 2000’s success of the then-Oakland Raiders.

For his career, Woodson recorded 65 interceptions, forced 33 fumbles, scored 11 touchdowns, and racked up just south of 1,000 yards on picks (966).

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