Bogut Blocks Bulls from Win

Guess who's back, back again. Yes folks, Andrew Bogut was back in uniform tonight for your Milwaukee Bucks. After being out for six games, Bogut returned for a huge Central match up against the Bulls. There's no doubt about it, the Bucks really look a lot better with Andrew in the line-up.


However, even with Bogut out there, the Bucks put too much stock into the outside shooting game. Milwaukee finished the game 10-26 from downtown, and they only got to the free throw line 21 times making just 11 of them. This was enough tonight for the Bucks, but in the long run they really need to start working the ball down low. Especially with Bogut back in the starting five.

The game against Chicago was pretty back and forth during the first half. The Bucks held a four point lead at halftime, but just like the last time they played the Bulls, you had to figure the Bulls would come out firing in the second half. But Monday was a bit different, as the Bucks came out firing after halftime. At one point in time in the third quarter, Carlos Delfino had 11 straight points for the Bucks. He did that with three 3's and a tip in to give the Bucks a nice lead. Jennings also hit a huge 3 to give the Bucks a 15 point lead in the third quarter. But only the Milwaukee Bucks could find a way to blow that lead, and they did. Coincidentally, as this happened while Bogut was on the bench.


Thanks to the comeback, the Bulls took the lead again in the 4th quarter, their first since they had lead 3-2. With just over three minutes to play, it was the Bucks that found themselves down 89-87. After the past few games getting beat late, I thought this was going to be another late defeat. I thought for sure that would be the case after they even showed pregame interviews about how the Bucks needed to close out games, something I thought was nothing but a poorly timed jinx.


Milwaukee did try to blow it late by not getting a rebound and allowing John Salmons to hit a three towards the end of the game. Jennings was promptly fouled on the inbound, and thankfully he would make both his throws to give the Bucks a three point lead. Continuing the back and forth style of play we saw early in the game, Derrick Rose came back down and cut that lead to one. In response, Charlie Bell made only one of the free throws to give the Bulls a chance to tie it. Another crushing Bucks loss was bound to happen, right?


Chicago was given their one last chance to win it or tie it. If you're the Bulls, who would you give the final shot to? Well, the Bulls put it in the hands of Brad Miller, and he was wide open. Miraculously, he left it short. Lets take a look at some highlights from this 99-97 win for the Bucks.


* Andrew Bogut did some things Monday night at the Bradley Center in front a loud Squad Six. Bogut finished the game with 22 pts, 15 rebs, 4 blks, and 3 stls. This was an easy choice for the Bucks POTG Monday. One of his four blocks came late in the game against Luol Deng that kept the Bulls from tying the game.


* Ersan played well again tonight with 13 pts, 8 rebs, and a plus 21 +/-. His only downfall was he fouled out for the first time this year. He gets in foul trouble a lot so lets hope he can keep this number down. Going to Europe to play ball has paid off well for him.


* All 5 starters scored in double figures tonight.

Bogut- 22
Bell- 16
Delfino-15
Jennings-15
Illysova - 13

* Loul Deng, who killed the Bucks in the first match up, had a good game. He finished the game with 22 pts, 14 rebs, and 5 turnovers. He also made all eight of his free throws on the night. This will earn him what I think is his second Hunter of the Night. The only thing different about this one is we won the game this time.

Overall, it was a good win for the Bucks especially after dropping four straight games. The Bucks will travel on Tuesday for a Wednesday night game against Washington. The Wizards are coming off an embarrassing defeat to the Bobcats, as they only put up 76 points so the lets hope the Bucks can keep up the good work on the defensive end. After the win Monday night the Bucks will sit at a record of 9-7, which puts them at second in the central. Something I'm not sure would have happened without the return of Andrew Bogut.

Have you ever had shoes without shoe strings?

I'm Enjoying This Whole Hockey Thing

Marquette used to hold the title for the team that I represent on this blog but talk about the least, but that throne has quickly been taken over by the Buffalo Sabres. As most of you know, the Sabres were the team I selected when deciding to finally like hockey this season, and it's turned out to be a pretty lucky choice as Buffalo is surprising a lot of people by legitimately contending for the postseason. I haven't talked about them too much on the blog, but that doesn't mean I'm not following them.

It hasn't been easy though, mostly due to the fact that tonight's game on Versus against the Maple Leafs was really the first full game I actually could get to watch. For some reason, my cable provider doesn't have NHL Network available to us, or NHL Center Ice for that matter, so it's rare I can actually catch a game (although I do love my cable provider, just want/need to make that clear...). So watching the Sabres on Monday was quite a treat, especially because the result was a 3-0 victory over Toronto.

I'm not as knowledgeable about this team as I'd like to be - I'm still learning players names for the first time - but at least I finally have somewhat of a vested interest in hockey. One of the biggest knocks on me as a sports fan was that I not only didn't watch hockey, but I didn't like it either, something I regret now that I've decided to give it the time of day. Even though this was really the first time I've been able to watch the "Sabez", I've already been heavily using the royal "we" when referring to them, much to the chagrin of morethanjake I'm sure.

I guess that moral of the story is that I wish I would have had more of an open mind about hockey before, because it's actually really fun to watch. It does look great in HD, and fellow rookie Sabers fan and I, Bear, are already planning a trip to watch our first Sabres game in person (which I desperately want to actually be in Buffalo). I'm looking forward to try and catch some more hockey this season, and can't wait to actually get into playoff hockey this year, assuming the Sabres don't choke this season away of course.

Marquette Lets Tournament Slip Away

With a roster missing the three guards that gave Marquette a boost last season, many are speculative as to what kind of team the Golden Eagles will be this season. If their play in the Old Spice Classic is any indication, their fast-paced, perimeter attacking offense should be one that will help them win some games this season. But, as we also saw, they may lack the resolve to close out the tight games down the stretch. Nevertheless, their play in this tournament should turn some heads, and shows that this season could be one of great promise.

Marquette started the tournament Thanksgiving Day with a solid win over Xavier, and then followed that up with a very impressive double-digit win over Michigan. With the victories, Marquette earned themselves a final appearance against the Seminoles from Florida State.

Marquette actually dominated for most of the game against Florida State, but gave the lead away as soon as fellow Bucky Channel writer Gweeds decided to jinx them. The end result was a 57-56 loss, and Marquette would fall just short of being named champions. Lazar Hayward lead MU with 19 points, while Darius Johnson-Odom chipped in 17 as well. No points tonight from Youssoupha Mbao, my new favorite college basketball player. The 7'2'' freshman center from Senegal got a few seconds of playing time trying to defend an inbound pass at the end of the game, and while he didn't end up stealing the ball, he stole our hearts. We're rooting for you Mbao!

Hastily-written semi-reviews of basketball games and shoutouts to Youssoupha Mbao. That's the kind of Marquette coverage you should come to expect here at The Bucky Channel.

Bucks Can't Find Magic Saturday Night

So I guess the Magic won the NBA title Saturday night in the Bradley Center. I was told this morning that after the game Dwight Howard was going nuts as if he had just won the championship, I guess I didn't think it was this crazy. This is the second time this year the Bucks have gone down late in a game, with the other team acting like they have just won it all. I realize you work so hard all game that when its over you should be able to celebrate, but really?

The only negative part is that there is another team that played their ass off that didn't get the win. Celebrating the way the Magic did at home with your own fans in the crowd is totally awesome, as they paid good money and were willing to stay till the end of the game. But on the road you should show a little respect and dial it back a bit.

Sorry about that rant, but I had to get it off my chest. Now on to the game, it was yet another heart breaker for the Bucks Saturday night. I thought for sure without Bogut Milwaukee had no chance. However I was wrong, as they were in the game right down to the end. The Magic did have a 1o point lead with 5:27 left in the game, but the Bucks fought back. Ersan, who had an awesome game, (more on that later) missed a three late in the game that would have given the Bucks the 101-100 lead. Instead, Milwaukee was down by two with 27 seconds to go decided not to foul. Vince Carter missed a layup with about five seconds left, however Howard and about four other people decided to play what could only be described as some sort of volleyball. Matt Barnes ended up with the ball as time expired, and the Magic got the victory.

About the not fouling decision by the Bucks, I guess I've always felt that you should play it out but with 27 seconds left that is a lot of time. If they would have fouled Carter and he makes both of them you still have 20 some seconds and you're down four. The problem with not fouling is if you don't get the rebound, then you don't have a shot to win at all. It is so much easier after the game to second guess the choice, but Skiles made a decision and he stuck behind it. Lets take a look at some highlights from this 100-98 defeat to the Magic.

* Like I said before, Ersan had a huge game. He finished the game with 20 pts, 16 rebs. Seven of those rebounds came on the offensive end. This will earn Ersan the Bucks POTG award.

* Ridnour and Warrick had nice games off the bench. Combined they had 36 pts, 8 rebs, and 8 assists. This was a huge reason why the Bucks kept it so close.

* Jennings had 20 points, but didn't really have the assist numbers tonight. He did make 4 three pointers in the game, but overall not a good shooting night for him. He finished shooting 7-22 from the field.

* Howard is just an animal some games, and one of those was Saturday night against the Bucks. He had a nice 20-20 game for the Magic. He finished with 25 pts, 20 rebs, and 4 blks. This is always an easy way to win you the Hunter of the Night.

* Vince Carter, who got hurt early in the game, and left to get four stitches came back to be a big help for the Magic. Seriously though, the guy is from UNC, why would he not man up come back and make a difference in the game? (for those who don't know me I love UNC) He scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half of the game.

Overall, it was another tough defeat for the Bucks Saturday night. I guess if there is a positive for the Bucks it's that they are not getting blown out of the water every night. Although I guess they were blown out Friday against the Thunder, but whatever. And after that, they did come back and not let that game really affect them like Thought they might have. This puts the Bucks at 8-7 on this young season, and next up for the Bucks are the Bulls Monday night at home. For a further look at the box score check out the next clue.

I've been waiting for this moment for all my life.

Random NFL Thoughts

I was pretty much in and out of consciousness all day on Sunday, but I did find some time to catch the day's Packer-less NFL action. Some thoughts:

* Not many people would have guessed the Titans would start 0-6, but fewer thought they'd win their next five games to improve to 5-6. Benching Kerry Collins was something that was six weeks overdue, and Vince Young is rewriting the history books about him this season. Before this year, "bust", "suicidal", and "mental stability" were words that were used to describe this guy, but now he's got the Titans one game out of the playoffs. It'd be improbable for this team to make the postseason after the start to the season they had, but I'm almost beginning to believe it's more improbable for them not to make it. This team is special behind Vince Young, and their last-second win over Arizona was proof of that.

* As much as I hate to admit it, maybe my friend Shep is right. We had a spirited discussion this weekend about if Favre should be the MVP or not, and I kept saying that he would be if not for Peyton Manning. Well, I'm starting to think that Favre's going to get it, even if the Colts go 10-0. The better Favre plays, the more angry I get, because he's either been tanking purposely the last few seasons or he's gotten superhuman powers from the V's this offseason. He's playing mistake-free football and he seems like a great teammate. I don't know who this version of Brett Favre is, it's certainly not the one we've been used to lately, but he's the front-runner for the MVP at this point. Lame.

* Michael Turner officially ruined my fantasy season. With a high ankle sprain that was expected to keep him out for weeks, Turner somehow decided he was healthy enough to play. I was actually hoping my new pick up Jason Snelling would have the opportunity to shred the Buccaneers defense, but instead Turner had to come back and ruin the party. Instead, Turner gets re-injured after 33 yards, Snelling ends up with just eight, and somehow Norwood sneaks in there and gets 22. With the mess in that backfield, and the injury to Matt Ryan, I'm putting a fork in the Falcons. Actually, now that I write that I realize that the Falcons actually did win today. Even though I saw the end of the game, and I saw them win, for some reason I thought they lost and their season was over. Oh wait, that would be my fantasy team...

* It seems more and more unlikely for the Houston Texans to ever make the playoffs. This is a team that looks to be an 8-8 squad for life, there's just no denying it. Even when they went up 17-0 against the Colts, you knew there was no way in hell they were going to hang on to that lead. They have a great offense, and their defense is solid too, but this team just can't get over the hump. As for the Colts, they are looking more and more like they are going to go undefeated, especially with Manning as the best player/coach in history. Although they'll face an unlikely test next weekend, and they take on VY and the Titans.

Bollinger Comes Up Short in UFL Title Game

Imagine if in this county football was like soccer. Pretend that there is no real strong history of football in America, but there is a small section of people that want to make it relevant in the sports landscape. After years of trying to find a footing, a league would finally be formed. That league would be the UFL.

I've had my eye on this little league throughout it's inception, and it's always nice to watch some sort of football even if it is played in atmospheres similar to Friday nights at a small-town high school. And even though there are only four teams in the league, and they all pretty much have the same jersey color scheme based on the league's logo, these games have given me a good opportunity to pass the time every now and again.

I thought that the league was just reaching it's halfway point, but all of a sudden it was time for the UFL championship already. Turns out, the season was only six weeks long, as every team would have already played each other twice. The team that I had "picked" to like at the beginning of the season, the Florida Tuskers, were 6-0, and they'd be taking on the 4-2 Las Vegas Locomotives for the title.

Blink though, and you missed this one, as it was played the day after Thanksgiving during the afternoon. Not a terrible slot, as a lot of people are football hungry and used to watching it during this weekend, but a nighttime slot might have brought in more viewers. Nevertheless, the game took place in front of a rousing crowd of 14,801 (although judging by what I saw on TV, the UFL might have the same statisticians that the Milwaukee Iron do when it come to counting attendance).

With that being said, it turned out to be a pretty decent game, especially in the fourth quarter. Former Badger quarterback Brooks Bollinger found his Tuskers down late, but led them on a comeback drive to force overtime. Bollinger's quest for an undefeated season fell up short though as Las Vegas won 20-17 in overtime. So instead of Brooks raising the UFL trophy, it was Locos quarterback J.P. Losman and coach Jim Fassell.

It'll be interesting to see what the future of this league holds, if any, in the coming years. Apparently more teams are going to be created, but league attendance and ratings were already struggling with just the four squads. Plus, the old USFL is looking to recreate a league, and there's the fact that football leagues not named the NFL never do well. The UFL's best chance is to team up with the NFL as a developmental league and go from there, in my opinion.

But hey, all the league has to do is play one game next year and it'll already have more of a lasting impact than the XFL.

NFL Coverage Maps: Week Twelve

I know most of you have been dying to see the NFL Coverage Maps, and for that I apologize. Even though I'm pretty sure that if you really care about them you've found them on one of the other 45 sites that post them, and I'm pretty sure that not that many people geek out over colored maps like I do. Nevertheless, here's what we're getting in Wisconsin during a Packer-less day.

CBS Single Game Coverage Map - Indianapolis Colts @ Houston Texans

Fox Early Game Coverage Map - Washington Redskins @ Philadelphia Eagles

Fox Late Game Coverage Map - Chicago Bears @ Minnesota Vikings

Bucks Embarrassed on ESPN

Russell Westbrook has all the reasons in the world to be excited about Friday night's game. The kid plain just did some work on the Milwaukee Bucks. The game was supposed to be a showcase of some real young talent in the NBA, but the only problem is the Bucks didn't showcase any. Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Mr. Westbrook showed why the Thunder can be a real dangerous team in the NBA, despite of their awful uniforms.

ESPN's decision to show the Thunder vs Bucks match up instead of the Suns vs T-Wolves turned out to be a good thing only if you a fan of Oklahoma City. It's disappointing too, because the Bucks played well in the first half before looking lost in the third quarter, which up until Friday's game was the quarter where Milwaukee has looked the best.

The first half was all about little runs be each team. The Bucks were lights out from downtown, which is the only reason they were in it at halftime. Delfino scored 13 of his 15 in the first quarter. If I remember right I think I saw they were 7-12 from deep at one point in time in the first half. That is awesome, but they only finished with 8 threes for the game. Even works, "Bucks Jesus" Brandon Jennings finished the half with only two points.

After halftime is when everything went south, especially when the Thunder started the second half on a 17-0 run. The worst part about this was that it led the guys announcing the game to start looking up what the lowest point total in a quarter was for a NBA game. The Bucks would not break that record, which is 2 points in a quarter if you were wondering. Milwaukee saved face by putting up a nice round number of 13 points for the quarter. Still, the terrible quarter put them in a huge hole they couldn't dig themselves out of.

Some people feel the Bucks made a little run early in the fourth, but this game was over after that 17-0 run by OKC. Skiles cleared the bench with 6:17 left in the game, and that shows that this team had no intent of coming back. Not a great showing for the Bucks on National TV Friday night, but we have to remember this is still a young team. Maybe this will help them bounce back like the when the Packers lost to the Tampa Bay Bucs. Since the highlights from Friday's game were next to none lets talk about Michael Redd.

Redd, who only played in 33 games last year, has already missed significant time this year. The guys on ESPN talked about this too last night. Maybe it really is time to part ways with the sharp shooting lefty from Ohio State. I have nothing against Redd and what he has done for this team and if I had to compare him to one person the first guy that comes to mind is Geoff Jenkins. Redd has played his heart out for Milwaukee since his rookie season. He never brings a negative attitude to the table, and I never hear anything about him being a bad teammate.

Redd needs his shots to get in a good rhythm, but we have to many other younger weapons that take that away from him. He also has lost a step and his one on one play is not what it used to be. I don't really know what we could get for a guy like Redd, but taking a chance on a few prospects wouldn't be a bad idea.

Once Bogut comes back from his injury I really think this team will play like it did when Redd was out with his injury. That's just what my take is on the situation, and the guys announcing last night I think have the same feeling as me. So don't be surprised if you hear rumors of Redd being shipped to a contending team that needs a 6th man, because I think because of his knees that's the best of what Redd can be.

If you really want to see the crappy box score from the game Friday night click on the next clue.

"You've got to be really sharp if you're going to have a chance to win. The way they took control in the third was embarrassing."

P.S. Hunter of the Night goes to Kevin Durant. Bucks POTG goes to Hakim Warrick he played hard when the game was over in the fourth.

Bucks Blow Halftime Lead to Hornets

The shot in the picture above killed what should have been a road win for the Bucks Wednesday night. Milwaukee had a 3 point lead after Jennings hit a pair of clutch free throws. That was short lived, as another rookie point guard decided he wanted to make an even bigger shot. Young Hornet point guard Darren Collison hit a huge tying three pointer with 7.5 second left in the game. Not only that, but he also knocked the ball out of Jennings hands as time expired to send the game into overtime.

In overtime both guards played there hearts out yet it was Collison that did more damage as he had a huge steal and late free throws that sealed the Buck's fate. So much for the talk about how after Blake Griffin, this was the worst draft ever. Not only have Jennings and fellow rookies Tyreke Evans, Stephon Curry and Ty Lawson, among others played well but a guy like Collison is playing very well and picking up slack in place of what most think is the best point guard in the game right now in Chris Paul.

The Bucks down fall was due to a slew of mistakes late in the game, all of which I didn't really see due to the fact that I was playing beer pong at the same time. Slingin' ping pong balls did not really give me a good feel for how the Bucks lost this game. It seemed every time I looked at the TV the Bucks were winning. Then after some late buckets by the Hornets they were only down 1. Overtime defeats are always hard to take. This one was harder just because it seemed like we were in control all game, only to let it slip away at the end.

Just going to do a few highlights from this one:

* Luke Ridnour had another awesome game for the Bucks off the bench. I really think we can start to say that some of the early season success is because of his play off the bench. Bench play is something the bucks have been lacking for some time now. Ridnour finished the game with 23 pts, 10 asts, and 7 rebs. Going with Luke for the Bucks POTG.

* Jennings continued to play strong as well. Brandon had 14 pts, 8 asts, and 7 rebs. He did however have the 5 turnovers, but made up for most of them with 4 stls.

* David West did some work with Bogut out. He finished the night with 27 pts, and 10 rebs. West earns himself the Hunter of the Night award.

Short recap for the heartbreaking 102-99 defeat in Overtime. The Bucks play Friday on ESPN against the Thunder. Should be fun to see what Jennings and the Bucks can do on National TV.

Have you heard the news? Bad things come in twos.

The Bucky Five: Thanksgiving Feast

1. Complete Domination - The Packers game against the Lions was one that, for whatever reason, many of us seemed to be worried out. Much of that might have to do with memories of Dre Bly old, but as soon as I saw that the Lions weren't in their Thanksgiving throwbacks, my confidence was restored. The Packers did struggle a bit early, especially with their red zone opportunities, but eventually found their rhythm and ripped off a 34-12 victory. The main reasons for the Packers' 7th victory this season was because of the defense and the air attack. Rodgers had another solid day, going 28/39 with 348 yards and three touchdowns. Pretty good performance overall on Thanksgiving by the Pack.

2. Having Said That... - Things did get a little dicey early, as Jordy Nelson fumbled the kickoff on the game's opening play. The Lions did capitalize after that, but the Packers recovered quickly. It took awhile to put some real points on the board because the Packers stalled out on a few of their drives, but eventually they turned it around and picked up the win. Rodgers fumbled later in the game as well, but that proved not to be harmful. Not a perfect game (they still had seven penalties) but like I said, a good performance overall.

3. Defensive Hardware - This was something that we had talked about before the game today, and it ended up coming out of Troy Aikman's mouth during the broadcast, and that is the Charles Woodson has to be the defensive player of the year. Hell, this guy might even garner MVP votes with the way he's been playing. Thursday was no exception, as Woodson had two interceptions (one for a touchdown), a fumble recovery and a sack. Not too mention that he basically shut down Calvin Johnson and made Matt Stafford have to look elsewhere in the passing game. All of this was especially needed in response to the Al Harris injury. Aikman also mentioned that while Woodson has always been good, his play during the last month has been especially dominant. Plus, the guy just threw down two million for a children's hospital in Ann Arbor! There's no need to wait, give this guy the defensive player of the year award right now.

Not only that, but give Clay Matthews the defensive rookie of the year award as well. Matthews has proved that Ted Thompson's move of trading up to draft him was a stroke of genius, and he continues to give us everything that A.J. Hawk hasn't been able to. The sack he had where he chased Stafford around in a circle was hilarious, hilarious because of how awesome it was. Great performance by him and the rest of the defense today. Also kudos to Tramon Williams and Nick Collins for coming up with interceptions.

4. The Crosby Woes - Last week I filled some space by giving Jeremy Kapinos some love, but this week I'm filling space by worrying a bit about Mason Crosby. He's a good kicker, and the field goal he missed was 40+ yards, but lately I haven't had the same confidence in him that I did last season. Nothing else to add there, just wanted to bring it up.

5. Galloping Gobbler - Donald Driver gets the player of the game award from the Fox crew, even though Joe Buck can't go two minutes without saying how stupid he thinks it is. Even still, Driver seemed excited to win the award and was a riot in the postgame interview. He deserved it too, as he snagged seven balls for 142 yards and a score. Great game by Driver, and congrats again on the Galloping Gobbler.

So with the win, Green Bay is now 7-4 and somehow in the driver's seat for the first NFC Wild Card spot. They have a good chunk of time off, and will next take the field next Monday night against the Ravens.

Badgers Have Plenty to be Thankful For

Before I go out and experience another Blackout Wednesday, I wanted to amend the previous post I made about the Wisconsin Badgers. I said that by beating Arizona during this Maui Invitational, the Badgers got a huge leg up as far as putting a quality tournament season together. Even though they did lose to the Zags, they still had plenty to be happy about even if they didn't play again today.

The Badgers loss to Gonzaga actually set them up for a matchup against #22 ranked Maryland, and despite trailing early Wisconsin ended up controlling most of the game as they won 78-69. Some people put a lot of stock into these tournaments, some don't, but personally I think that these were two huge wins the Badgers collected. As of right now, they'd be projected to be a bubble tournament team, or maybe last four in, but after this tournament things are looking good for Bucky this year.

Just wanted to pass that along before the festivities. Go out and enjoy yourself tonight, but ultimately, be safe. Make sure you end up back in your bed, or at least, a bed. You're probably not going to remember much of tonight, so make sure you do it right (and don't pass out in a Taco Johns parking lot, for your sake). We'll be here tomorrow with a Packers recap and maybe some other goodies.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Badgers Fail to Reach Maui Invite Finals

As I wrote last week in the latest edition of "Winks Thinks", college basketball isn't really my forte. But as I also made sure to write about twenty-five times in that edition, I do still get up for the Badgers when they take the floor. That's been no different this season, as I got my first taste of regular season Badgers action Monday night when they were up against Arizona.

The game didn't start until 11pm Bucky time, but thankfully Monday Night Raw was already over so I had no prior conflicts. I'm not really sure what I'm expecting out of the Badgers this season - I think they'll make the tournament, but I'm not sure just how strong they'll be - so I was pleased to see the fast start the Badgers got out to against the Wildcats.

This was one of those typical college basketball starts, where one team gets out to like a 15-2 lead and then it's tied up by halftime. But the Badgers were able to hold strong, and some huge play from my boy Keaton Nankivil and and Trevon Hughes down the stretch led Wisco to the 65-61 victory.

The win put the Badgers two victories away from a Maui Invitational Championship, but unfortunately Gonzaga got in the way. Wisconsin made some runs throughout the game, but they were never really close, and Gonzaga came away victorious 74-61. The Badgers still have a chance for third place, and they'll go for that against Maryland just a few hours from the publishing of this post. Gametime is set for 3:30pm on ESPN2.

So far, it's been a decent start to the season for Wisconsin, as they played well against Arizona but you can tell they're just not close yet to teams like Gonzaga. An interesting note is that the Badgers weren't predicted to be in the final 65 by Sports Illustrated a week ago, and both of the teams they've played in Hawaii definitely were. Maybe it's because of how tough the Big Ten looks to be this year, but by putting on a decent showing in Maui, the Badgers are on the right track to proving SI wrong.

Bucks Beat Grizzlies, Get Crushed by Spurs

After enjoying a nice two week stint in the confines of the Bradley Center, the Bucks got off to a slow start Saturday night in Memphis to begin their road trip. Milwaukee trailed 29-19 after the first quarter of the game. You could tell that the Bucks weren't used to being on the road. They did manage to cut the lead down to five at halftime but still didn't look very sharp.

After halftime though, Jennings did his typical third quarter scoring for the night. He scored 12 of his 26 in the third. Not really sure why he always scores points in bunches, but I guess we will take what we can get. Overall, it was a game the Bucks should have won and they did. They didn't really ever have the game in control but they did come out with the 103-98 victory. Lets look at some of the highlights from the game Saturday night:

* Luke Ridnour had an awesome game off the bench. Ridnour had 13 pts, 12 asts. Nice little double double for Luke. Lets give him the Bucks POTG for his efforts off the bench.

* Jennings had a goodnight at the free throw line. Brandon finished the night 9-10 from the line. He scored 26 pts. Jennings line did lack in the rebs, asts, and stls categories however.

* Ersan also had a double double for the Bucks. He finished the game with 18 pts, and 12 rebs. Ersan needs to keep up the party on the boards.

* Rudy Gay is awesome and I hope the Bucks make a push for him next year. Gay had a nice night scoring 24 pts, grabing 10 rebs, and 4 stls. He also made all 7 of his free throws. Hunter of the Night for sure. Hopefully some day he gets the Bucks POTG.

* The Bucks kept the turnovers down with only 13. This is going to be a key with Bogut out, they absolutely have to keep the turnovers down.

Overall a win is a win. This game was nothing special for the Bucks they did show that they have no quit. Milwaukee moves to 8-3 on the year. To check out the rest of the box score click the next clue. Now guess who's back with a brand new track.

After the big win, the Bucks traveled to San Antonio to face the Spurs on Monday night. Another slow start for the Bucks, even though they were welcoming back Redd from his injury. The only problem was that Redd was very rusty. He couldn't make a shot, or a free throw in the first half. Yet, somehow after an awful first quarter the Bucks had the lead at halftime. The only problem was that it was one point, and the Spurs have a guy named Tim Duncan.

This was really the first challenge the Bucks had with a big guy since Andrew has been out. Timmy went to work in the second half the Bucks just couldn't keep up with him. Also the Bucks couldn't stop Matt Bonner. I am sorry but not a huge Matt Bonner fan. The guy just shoots tray balls, and that is his job on the team. But because of him and Duncan, the Bucks took a beating in the 112-98 defeat Monday night. Digging deep tonight to find highlights but here we go:

* Jennings had an okay game, but did finish the game with 5 turnovers. He did however put up 12 pts, 7 asts, and 4 rebs. It was good to see him hand out some dimes tonight but the turnovers need to stay down. He also had a rough night shooting with a 6-21 performance.

* Ersan had a nice game scoring 20 pts, 4 rebs, and 4 stls. He is playing very consistent of late with Bogut out. It will be nice to see what this team can do when they have everyone dressed up. Going to give the Bucks POTG to Ersan.

* Warrick played well off the bench, but just didn't get many minutes. He had 15 pts, 4 rebs, and got to the line 5 times making all of them.

* Rebounding, well, the Bucks got crushed 46-29 on the boards. This will not lead to many wins.

* It was just Tim Duncan doing what Tim Duncan does on Monday. He had a nice 24 pts, 12 rebs in 32 mins. This will give him the Hunter of the Night award. I'd like to see the Bogut vs Duncan matchup, but I guess we will have to wait.

All in all, The Bucks just never got things going. They will travel to New Orleans Wednesday to take on the Hornets. The Hornets will be without Chris Paul which will be huge, but it would have been cool to see a Jennings/Paul match up. After that the Bucks go to OKC to face the Thunder on ESPN. Lets hope they can get it together for there big game on national TV. Here is the rest of the crappy box score from Monday nights game.

Shawty's like a melody in my head.

The Bucky Five: I Think We Might Be a Playoff Team

1. Wild Card Leaders - Two weeks ago, I wrote an article talking about how the 2009 Green Bay Packers season was for naught. A few days later, I tried to take a look at the rest of the schedule, and decided that even by dumb luck, the Packers could still wind up around 10-6. Now, after a 30-24 victory against the San Francisco 49ers, I'm feeling especially good about the Packers playoff chances.

Of course, that could all change if the Packers blow it on Thanksgiving this Thursday, but as of the conclusion of the afternoon games for week eleven, the Packers are the current Wild Card leaders and would be the 5th seed in the NFC. With teams like Seattle and Chicago still on the schedule though, I'm already bracing myself for not only a postseason run, but an inevitable rematch with Favre and the Vikings.

2. Perfect Rodgers - We members of "G-Force" (ha) have started to become a little critical of our beloved Aaron Rodgers lately, as some of the things he's been doing wrong have been put under the microscope. The problem isn't his stats - he's putting up great numbers and has only a handful of interceptions - but rather that a lot of these stats are coming in garbage time when the game has already gotten away from the Packers. That, and his holding onto the football problem, and we've started to wonder just what was going on with Rodgers mentally.

The last two games though, he's really stepped up his play. Against Dallas, he lead a spectacular drive to secure the victory, and today he was almost flawless. Rodgers went 32 for 45, throwing for 344 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 13 yards, and it seems like every time he decides to keep the ball himself he finds a way to get the first down. Rodgers is doing everything he needs to do and more lately, and is on his way towards a Pro Bowl season.

3. I Can't See Real Well, Is that a Running Game Over There? - Well that was unexpected. Not only did Ryan Grant run for 129 yards (a 6.1 per carry average), but Brandon Jackson is starting to provide an excellent change of pace and has become a great compliment to Grant. The Packers are so much better when they have a legitimate running game, and it showed against the 49ers, especially in the first half. I'm not sure why McCarthy got away from the running game a bit in the 2nd half, but thankfully they came back to the run and sealed the victory.

4. Let's Give Some Love to Jeremy Kapinos - Overall, this was a great game, and when all facets perform well then there's really little to complain about. The defense played well, the special teams was solid, and we've already talked about the offense. For those reasons, let's give a little props to Jeremy Kapinos today. He's not going to win a Ray Guy award anytime soon, but the fact that we don't have to worry week in and week out about our punting situation like we did last year is a welcome things. So there you go Jeremy, some Bucky Channel love.

5. And Now, The Bad News... - This was a solid performance by Green Bay, although I would have liked to see them close out the Niners sooner instead of allowing them to creep back into the game at the end there. Part of why that happened though was because of injuries to Aaron Kampman and Al Harris. It's already been confirmed that Al Harris is out for the season with an ACL tear, and it looks like the same may be true for Aaron Kampman. Two huge injuries in one game is really going to be difficult for this defense to overcome, but I'm confident that they can fight through this.

The Kampman injury might be the easier blow to take, if only for how well the defense was still able to play in his absence against the Cowboys. Brady Poppinga and Brad Jones should be able to take over and play well at the outside linebacker position, even though it did appear as if Kampman was becoming a little more comfortable in the 3-4 defense. For all intents and purposes though, Sunday very well could have been Kampman's last game as a Packer. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. As for Harris, that injury is absolutely going to kill us, and expect quarterbacks to target Tramon Williams week in and week out. If this team is going to make a playoff run, Tramon Williams absolutely has to bring his game to the next level. He's not a guy that's going to match the talent level of Harris, but if he can just do his job and limit the amount of Jarrett Bush appearances to a minimum, then I think this might be a storm the Packers can weather.

MLS Cup Takes Place Tonight

Just a quick programming note here for those of you wasting away your Sundays like I am. There's so much to watch on TV night that I'm afraid this might get lost in the shuffle, but the 2009 installment of the MLS Cup takes place tonight at 7:30CT on ESPN. After two years of David Beckham turmoil, the Los Angeles Galaxy will represent the Western Conference against Real Salt Lake, who will represent the Eastern Conference (even though they play in the West, crazy MLS). The Los Angeles Galaxy have hoisted the Cup before, and they'll be looking to do so again tonight against first time entry Salt Lake.

If this isn't your cup of tea, plenty of other great things going on as well on the boob tube. The Bears and Eagles will take part in another Cutler pickfest, you have the Seinfeld reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm, the Simpsons will churn out another crappy episode, and apparently there's some music awards show as well. There's something else going on tonight too, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I think it has something to do with wrestling, elimination style tag matches, and I may have already ordered it for $39.99. Not sure what it was, but when I think of it I'll let you know.

ESPN Coming Around on the Bucks

In all my years of watching the Bucks, I can honestly say that I've never seen anyone have as quick of an impact, and a positive one for that matter, than Brandon Jennings. All it took was a 55-point game and quick start to an 8-3 record, and suddenly people are talking about Brandon Jennings and Bucks basketball (Gweeds will have more on the Bucks 103-98 over the Grizzlies tomorrow night). I can't tell you how many Facebook profiles I've seen of people suddenly expressing interest in the Bucks, which is a definite good thing.

ESPN isn't playing around any longer either, and are jumping on the Bucks bandwagon as well. It's no secret that the Bucks have had very little national TV exposure since the days of the Big Three, and this year they weren't scheduled to make any such appearances outside of NBA TV. That's changed however, as the Bucks game against the Thunder this Friday night as been moved to an 8:30 CT start time to accommodate an ESPN telecast.

This game will mark the end of a very tough road stretch for the Bucks, as they also have San Antonio and New Orleans this week. Here's to hoping people find their way to the Bucks game on Friday night to check out Jennings and his teammates, and here's to hoping they put on a good show (also here's to hoping that when the Bucks do play on ESPN in the future it won't be such a big deal that I choose to make a post about it!).

A Word From The Bucky Channel

For those of you wondering if there was going to be any information about the Badgers football contest against the Northwestern Wildcats on this site, I regret to inform you that there will be no such thing. It is the official stance of us here at The Bucky Channel to never do anything that may put Northwestern in a positive light, for they are a joke of a university that does not deserve any such accolades. We hope you understand our stance in this matter, and apologize if this has cause any inconvenience. Thanks, as always, for choosing The Bucky Channel when doing your web browsing.

Jordan Watches Jennings Shine

Michael Jordan was in attendance at the Bradley Center watching his Bobcats play the Bucks. Going into the game I would guess Jordan was hoping to see his Bobcats take care of business, but instead he saw a young new up-and-coming star named Brandon Jennings.

Jennings got off to a hot start in the first quarter scoring 17 of his 29 points, and claimed after the game that he didn't know Jordan was in the stands till the fourth quarter. Apparently it wasn't until during a timeout when Jordan was on the Jumbotron in the fourth quarter that Jennings realized MJ was in the building. The crowd of 15,578 (which I find hard to believe) was giving a nice ovation during the timeout. Jennings couldn't figure out what was going on till he looked up and saw Jordan's mug on the Jumbo tron. I know for a fact that if I was playing in front of Michael Jordan I would be real nervous. Jennings on the other hand is the man and played good enough to help the Bucks beat the Bobcats 95-88.

This game was intense at first, as both teams came out firing in the first quarter. Even with Jennings scoring 17 in the first quarter, the Charlotte Bobcats put up 25 points in the quarter and had a high percentage shooting. I think the injury to Bogut may have been a good thing, but only for this game. Starting Dan Grabnreach made the Bucks a running team, which helped in the first half. This gave them a chance to get some wide open looks on the transition game. Because of this, the Bucks built a nice 12 point half time lead.

The Bobcats on the other hand never really got anything going on the offense side of the ball after the first quarter. They shot lights out right away only to go cold until the fourth quarter. They did make a late run, but a Jennings fade away jumper from the wing sealed the deal for the Bucks. Charlotte was without their starting center Tyson Chandler also, and that hurt their year long struggles as the Bobcats still have not won a game on the road yet this season. Stephen Jackson, who played his second game in less than a week at the Bradley Center, had an alright game finishing with 22 pts, 4 rebs, and 2 asts. Lets look at some other highlights from another Bucks victory:

* Can't talk enough about how good Brandon Jennings has been this year to this team. He had another solid performance finishing the game 29 pts, 7 asts, 4 rebs. That will earn him the Bucks POTG again. He also kept the turnovers down Friday night with only 2 for the game.

* The reserves playing center for Bogut played well. No one really stood out but combined they had a solid game. All together they finished with 6 pts, and 11 rebs. I know those are not huge numbers, but they played some good defense. They might need to pick up the scoring a little bit but the rebounding needs to stay where it is. They also finished the game with a +/- of +18, which showed they had an impact while on the court.

* Hey Hakim Warrick, thanks for playing like you did in preseason. The only bad thing is it took nine games before you did it. He is going to be seeing more minutes with Bogut out of the lineup for a few weeks. He had a nice game finishing with 16 pts, and 9 rebs. Lets keep it up Warrick.

* One thing that has been working well this year is the Jennings/Ridnour combo playing at the same time. I really like how these guys play together on the court. Sometimes when a younger guy comes in the veteran doesn't play well with the rookie, or the other way around. Both Ridnour and Jennings are keeping their heads high though and working together. This combo has been a key on a few of the third quarter runs the Bucks have made this year. Skiles might want to play these guys together a little more each game.

* Gerald Wallace was the only bright spot for Charlotte Friday night. He finished the game with 22 pts, 10 rebs, and 4 asts. Wallace always seems to play well against the Bucks every year. Gerald is kind of an underrated player who doesn't get much respect because who he plays for. With his Friday nights performance we are going to give him respect here at The Bucky Channel by giving him the Hunter of the Night.

With the win the Bucks move to 7-3, and are tied with the Cavs for the division lead. Overall, this game wasn't a real test for the hurting Bucks Friday night. They play Memphis Saturday night, which I hope is not a real test either. They should be able to take care of the business against Memphis Saturday night before some real tests come next week. To check out the rest of the Box scores from Friday nights win click on the next clue. By the way no one is guessing the clues so either no one cares about the Bucks or no one wants a Buckychannel T-shirt. A FREE T-SHIRT PEOPLE, COME ON TIMES ARE BAD.

(Winks Note: Free t-shirt promotion subject to change)

Sweat pants, hair tied, chillin' with no make-up on That's when you're the prettiest, I hope that you don't take it wrong.

Winks Thinks: The Basketball Party Edition

Winks Thinks got pushed back a little this week, but don't worry because having this come out on Friday instead means that it'll be good reading material as you count down the slow count until the weekend. In this week's edition of Winks Thinks, I figure out whether I'd rather watch college hoops or the NBA-version, look at the fluke goal that sent France to the World Cup, and of course, give my predictions for the WWE pay-per-view this weekend. Bon apetit, and enjoy the weekend.

NFL Coverage Maps: Week Eleven

You know what, it appears that I almost forgot to post the NFL Coverage Maps for the week. I'm sure you've already seen them by now anyways, since I'm one of the 3,000 websites that post them. Either way, not that bad of a football weekend this weekend as far as the games we get. However, those of you in the Green Bay market don't get the early game on CBS due to crazy NFL broadcast rules. I find it interesting that the league will allow people to get a channel like the RedZone channel but then they go to extremes to block games depending on the market. Oh well, here's some colorful drawings:

Fox Single Game Coverage Map - San Francisco 49ers @ Green Bay Packers

CBS Early Game Coverage Map - Indianapolis Colts @ Baltimore Ravens (game blacked out in Green Bay market)

CBS Late Game Coverage Map -New York Jets @ New England Patriots

Bogut Out a Couple of Weeks

I have to say that this guy really looks good in a white suit. The only problem is you will be seeing him in one for the next 2 to 4 weeks. Andrew Bogut suffered a left leg strain and contusion Wednesday night in the game against the Nets. This will be a huge blow to the Bucks, especially early in the season. Bogut, who started the season slow, has been playing awesome lately. They should be alright on the scoring end because Redd should be back as soon as Friday. But this will kill us on the defense of end down low. Just a few of the big guys that the Bucks face in the next few weeks include: Duncan, Okafor, Howard, and Noah. These will be tough matchups for the likes of Kurt Thomas and Dan Grab N' Reach.

The injury will certainly challenge the Bucks early in the season. They will have to play as a team to win a few of these games during Bogut's injury. Every team in the league has their fair share of injuries, but coming out and winning games makes some teams stronger than others. One big thing I feel that needs to be watched over this time is that hopefully Jennings doesn't try to do to much. He really needs to trust the people around him. This will be a tough stretch of games for the Bucks, and lets hope this doesn't put a damper on this young season that started off so well.

Fun With Brandon Jennings

How do we know that Brandon Jennings has "made it"? Well, not only was he the cover boy for awhile on ESPN.com today, but even The Onion is taking notice! God, I love this guy.

Farewell, Brian Brohm

Less than two months after he was drafted, I went out to an establishment in my old hometown of La Crosse, Wisconsin. To my amazement, I saw a pretty young woman rocking a Brian Brohm jersey. I would have talked to her, but I knew she had to be delusional. So far, with Brohm failing to not only beat Matt Flynn on the depth chart but also failing to make the 53-man roster, I was right in my assessment. But, lo and behold, Brohm's been given a second chance.

Like they did with Craig Nall so many years ago, the Bills are giving a former Packers quarterback another chance. Brohm has been scooped off the Packers practice squad and signed by the Bills, although I doubt I'll be betting my friend Shep that Brohm will be winning an NFL MVP anytime soon (yes, I actually lost $100 on Craig Nall that way). While I haven't seen anything from Brohm that makes me think he'll even be a start in this league, the Bills did pretty well with claiming Jamon Meredith off our practice squad, so you never know.

The Packers made a play to keep Ted Thompson's second round pick of a year ago, cutting Jake Allen to make a roster spot for him. But Brohm decided that if he was going to have any success in the NFL, it wasn't going to be in Green Bay, and he signed a two-year deal with Buffalo.

So with the Packers back down to two quarterbacks, they've plucked former Central Washington quarterback Mike Reilly from wherever the hell he was working and signed him to the practice. He did receive some buzz before the draft, but was ultimately cut by Pittsburgh before the start of this season. I don't expect anything out of this guy other than to keep the practice squad warm until we sign a backup veteran next offseason.

What the Hell is Happening to My Blog?

I really have no idea what's going on with this site lately. No, I'm not talking about how Gweeds has been carrying this site for the last few weeks, but rather the fact that the comments section is getting bombarded with what can only be spam or a really, really, bad virus.

One thing that I've never done on this site is block you guys from commenting on whatever you want. If I have the forum to say my peace, then I feel anyone that comes here should be able to say what they want, whether you agree with me or hate my guts. But recently comments like this have started popping up:

[url=http://gallery.veafoorea.ru/russian-girls-in-grass.html]russian girls in grass[/url] [url=http://gallery.veafoorea.ru/index69.html]woman russian sniper[/url] [url=http://gallery.veafoorea.ru/russian-woman-in-nude-photos.html]russian woman in nude photos[/url] [url=http://gallery.veafoorea.ru/russian-women-sochi-recent-additions.html]russian women sochi recent additions[/url]

Now, I haven't gone to this site, and I hope that you don't either. If you are really looking for Russian girls in grass, there are a lot more safer ways to do that than by following a questionable link on The Bucky Channel. Anyway, I have no idea how these comments are popping up, and if any of you know how to get rid of them, I'd love to hear it. If the problem continues, I guess I'll just have to start reviewing comments and possibly not posting of yours until a day after you write it, and I don't want to do that. So I guess for the meantime, I'll try to fix this problem, and I'll delete the questionable links after they are posted.

Special Friday Winks Thinks

How about that for some spin? Instead of saying, I didn't get Winks Thinks done in time and that's why it wasn't posted today, I'm going to instead say that you're getting a special edition on Friday. What can I say, I'm good at what I do. But yeah, expect the column to be out tomorrow sometime in the morning on SportsBubbler, and then I'll throw it up here sometime in the mid-afternoon. As for why I didn't get it done in time, don't worry, that will definitely be covered in tomorrow's edition. Thanks for your continual love and support.

Bucks Fight Back to Beat Winless Nets

The Bucks are hosted the Nets Wednesday night at the Bradley Center, and I'm feeling like doing things a little different tonight. I will write each section after the quarter ends, putting my feelings towards the game after each quarter. Remember that once I type about a quarter anything can happened after that quarter. After the game if over I will pick a Bucks POTG and a Hunter of the Night. Lets take a look at the first quarter.

The Bucks came out a little flat shooting, but turned it around with a few Delfino tray balls. Bogut had a very nice quarter with 10 pts, 2 rebs, and 2 asts. The Nets are a very bad team, and so far they just don't look like a team working together at all. Wasn't a bad quarter for the Bucks till Jennings and Bell went to the bench, as they had a 20-13 point lead with 2:35 left in the quarter. Unfortunately though, Chris Douglas-Roberts hit a three at the buzzer to cut the lead to 20-19 after one. Not a good quarter for the Bucks at all. They really need to get a little run going and put this team away. Lets hope things change after the first quarter.

***

The second quarter was the Terrence Williams show as he scored all 16 of his points in the quarter. Winks' boy CDR also did some work getting to the hoop. The Bucks on the other hand looked like crap in the first part of the second quarter, and they were outscored 19-9 with 5:20 left in the quarter. Ridnour played well though, and he is starting to look like he is getting the feel for his backup role on this team. Hakim Warrick, who got benched tonight for Ersan, looks clueless out there. He can't make a shot, and his defense has been next to none. Not sure what happened to the Warrick from preaseason. After the rough second fram, the Bucks trail 48-41 at half. Milwuakee needs to get to the line more in the second half because they have only been to the free throw line 4 times, two of which have been because of defensive three in the key. Come on Bucks get your shit together, we cant lose to a team that is 0-11.

***

Thanks Bucks for listening to what I had to say! The Bucks came out hot with a 15-0 run to start the second half. It was a team effort with Jennings throwing in 8 points during that time. Jennings also had the play of the year during this run. When Bogut swatted a rebound back to the top of the key, Chris Douglas Roberts grabbed it. He tried to get it back to the point guard when Jennings came from behind to steal it, dribble between two Nets, and take it the distance for the dunk. This give the Bucks the momentum for the rest of night.

In addition, Bogut has been huge all year with this left hand, and that continued tonight in the third quarter. The Nets showed who they really are in the third quarter scoring only 12 points. Still, the Bucks are still having a hard time getting to the line in the third quarter, which is something we need to work on. It also makes it hard to make your throws late when you have a little lead late. Lets hope the defense can hold up and shut down the Nets again in the fourth quarter. Bucks lead 69-60 after three quarters in this game.

***

The fourth quarter was some more of the basketball that I like to see the Bucks play. They just came out with the same intensity that they had in the third quarter, starting the fourth playing good defense and finding the open guy. Delfino, who had a good first quarter, played well again in the fourth quarter. Carlos has 8 points in the fourth quarter giving him 21 for the game. New Jersey on the other hand never got things going. The Bucks played sloppy late by turning the ball over, and giving the Nets some free hoops. But in the end the Bucks held off the Nets who never got real close to win 99-85. Lets look at some individual highlights from the game tonight.

* Carlos Delfino got some extra minutes tonight because of Luc Richard being out with a day to day injury. Carlos played very well scoring 21 pts, 6 asts, 4 rebs, and 4 big shots from downtown. It was a hard decision tonight but we are going to give Delfino the Bucks POTG tonight.

* Andrew Bogut also had a huge game. He finished with 21 pts, and 11 rebs. He did leave late with a turned ankle lets hope that he is alright. He did walk to the locker room on his own. Good game tonight for Bogut, on most nights this would get you player of the game.

* Ridnour had a nice game off the bench tonight scoring 17 pts, 4 rebs, and 3 asts. He has been playing very well off the bench for the Bucks this year. It's something I hope he can keep doing long term he is a great NBA backup point guard. Just a very smart player on the court.

* Bucks played a very bad team tonight in the Nets so the 19 turnovers didn't hurt them. They need to get this number down a little bit. Jennings finished the game with 8 turnovers himself, something he needs to improve on. Jennings did however finish with 19 pts, 8 asts.

* Chris Douglas Roberts had a huge game for the Nets tonight. This guy can just get to the hoop it seems at any point in time. He finished the game with 31 pts, 10 rebs, 3 asts, and 3 steals. This is a bright spot for the Nets. CDR earns himself the Hunter of the Night tonight. The other bright spot for New Jersey is Terrence Williams, he has 20 pts, 10 rebs.

The Bucks improve their record to 6-3 on this young season. Next up for the Bucks are the Charlotte Bobcats Friday night in the Bradley Center. The Bucks will welcome Stephen Jackson to the Bradley Center for the second time in a week. He was with the Warriors Saturday night when Jennings went off for his 55. Click the next clue for a free Bucky Channel t-shirt for the rest of the box scores, if anyone cares.

I get so tired of working so hard for our survival.

Dirk Sinks Bucks With Buzzer Beater

Why the hell did we trade this guy away? Dirk Nowitzki came back to haunt the Bucks, and hit a heart-breaking game winner Monday night in the Bradley Center. Not cool.

The Bucks came out a little flat on both sides of the ball in the first half. They were down by 12 at halftime, and they just couldn't stop the Mavs high power offense. Both teams shot lights out from downtown in the game, combining to make 24 three's in the game.

Despite the strong play from Dallas, the Bucks had a few chances to win the game in both regulation and overtime. Two big plays that hurt the Bucks late were offensive tip-ins by Drew Gooden, who only played because Dampier was in the hospital because of an illness, although he was healthy enough to fly to Milwaukee late to join the team. Both tip-ins tied the game in regulation and overtime. If we could have just got either of those rebounds things might have been different.

Even though they lost, Milwaukee showed a lot of fight again tonight. One of the great things about this team is how they fight to the very end. A huge reason for the second half run, and a great example of the fight this team has, was from the play of the bench. About 3 minutes into the second half Skiles pulled all the starters and subbed in 5 guys off the bench. The stragety worked, as Ersan and Ridnour hit some big trey balls in the 3rd quarter to bring the Bucks back.

Skiles did give Jennings a second chance in the third quarter though, and that paid off as well. Jennings hit a big 3 in the final seconds of the third frame to bring the Bucks within three.

In the game's final quarter, the game went back and forth. Both teams made big shot after big shot. Jennings had a chance to win the game late but couldn't hit a running three, and after the game he said he had Ersan open on the wing but he didnt see him until he watched the film. Like he said the season is young, and his vision is something that he has to work on.

As for the game's hero, Dirk Nowitzki, he scored 7 points in overtime including his only deep ball of the night. He also made the last second shot that hit the back of the rim, the front of the rim, and the top of the back board only to go in. Luc Rich was all over him all you can do is tip your hat to Dirk. Lets take a look at some highlights from the game Monday night, a 115-113 defeat.

* Ersan has been a bright spot for the Bucks this year. If Jennings wasn't putting up huge numbers people would be talking about Ilyasova. He finished the game with 19 pts, 12 rebs, and 4 three's. He is going to get the Bucks POTG award, because he also had a +/- of +18. Keep up the good work "baby Dirk."

* Brandon had another solid game, but he did have a rough night shooting. He shot 8-22 from the field, finishing with 25 pts, 7 rebs, and 8 asts. We might need Redd back to take some pressure off of Jennings. He is all this team seems to be relying on to score when they need a big bucket.

* Ridnour had a nice game off the bench for the Bucks too. He finished the night with 17 pts, 6 asts, 4 steals, and no turnovers. The no turnover thing is huge for Luke. After this game, Skiles might keep giving him more minutes.

* Free throws hurt the Bucks on Monday. They only got to the line 17 times. making just 11 of them. Dallas on the other hand made 17 free throws. Warrick seems to be the only guy on this team that can get to the line on a consistent basis. He didn't play a lot because his defense has struggled. The Bucks need to find a way to get the the line more.

* Double double's killed the Bucks on Monday. Three Mavs finished with double double's - Dirk, Kidd, and Gooden. These three guys alone did enough damage to the Bucks. Their stats looked something like this:

Kidd: 9 pts, 10 rebs, and 17 asts.

Gooden: 22 pts, and 14 rebs (4 offensively)

Dirk: 32 pts, 11 rebs , and 7-8 from the free throw line. He also made the final shot of the game that earns him the Hunter of the Night.

The Bucks play against the winless Nets on Wednesday at the Bradley Center. This is a game the Bucks should win. Lets hope they don't over look this Nets team, a team which has some good players but just can't seem to win a game.

When you try your best but you don't succeed.

Also I guess Redd might be back Friday. Read about his new target date on the Bucks blog over at JSonline.com.

McGehee Gets Some ROY Love

Last year around this time, the Brewers picked a guy off of waivers that barely saw the field in the few weeks he was up with the Chicago Cubs organization. This year around this time, that guy earned himself mention in the National Rookie of the Year honors, coming in fifth place. Not too shabby for a guy we essentially stole from the Cubs.

As for the Rookie of the Year honors, that actually goes to Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan, even though there's no doubt Andrew McCutchen is probably the better player. But Coghlan played great in the second half, and he gets the award. McGehee actually did get a first place vote though somehow, so that's something.

Oakland's Andrew Bailey won the award for the American League.

As for McGehee, the guy who allowed Milwaukee to cut Mike Lamb - remember him? - should be entering the 2010 season as the Brewers starting third basemen. But the stay could be short lived, as prospect Mat Gamel is sitting right behind him. I'm not sure if McGehee should be a sell high sort of player or if his production last year will turn out to be the norm, but I can't see both of these guys being on the roster past the trading deadline of next year. With all the help Milwaukee needs with pitching - both in the majors and minors - one of these guys could bring in some nice pull.

No matter what happens though, the story of Casey McGehee has been a pretty impressive one and I'm excited to see what happens here on out.

The Bucky Five: I'm Confused

1. What the Hell is Going On Around Here? - All week I've been saying that if the Packers somehow beat the Dallas Cowboys, we are all going to jump right back on the bandwagon and start thinking playoffs, and that is exactly what is happening. Is this team the Super Bowl contender that we thought they were at the beginning of the year? No, and far from it. Might we might have a legitimate playoff team on our hands if the Packers can keep winning games like this, something that seems a little more likely based on how unimpressive their schedule is the rest of the season.

This win wasn't exactly one that we'll remember for years based on the execution, because the Packers didn't really play that well overall. They are still a team lacking discipline with the penalties, and Rodgers still gets sacked way too much for whatever reason. But they made the plays when they needed too, especially on third down, and their defense was spectacular. I still don't think this team played much differently against Dallas than they did in any of their losses, but what matters is that they way they played was good enough to beat the Cowboys on this given day. It wasn't pretty, but believe it or not the Packers are right back in the playoff hunt, and that's something we can all get behind.

2. Oh, Those Penalties! - Mike McCarthy may or may not have "lost" this team, I don't know, but one thing that he can't do is get this team to become more discipline. Twelve penalties for 100 yards is not acceptable, especially with the kind of fouls we are racking up. False start after false start, too many acts of unsportsmanlike conduct, and every decent Ryan Grant run brought back by a holding. McCarthy's teams have been some of the most penalized in the league throughout his entire tenure, and he's gotta do something about that. Even if the Packers do claw their way back into a playoff race, there are a lot of quality coaches out there and could probably do a much better job of keeping this team in check, and keeping the penalties down. I'd rather see McCarthy improve and keep his job, but we can't keep being penalized like this. I guess it does help when the Cowboys try to match us, as they had ten fouls for 67 yards themselves. By the way, McCarthy vs. Wade Phillips won't go down in history as one of the greatest coaching matchups of all time, I can guarantee that.

3. Rodgers Silences the Critics - Okay, so he still did hold on to the ball a little too long at times, although he was much improved in that category. And he needs to do a better job at picking up blitzes and realizing when there is the possibility of him being blindsided. But he played exactly the way we need him to play, and he stepped up and won the big game. Rodgers outplayed the hell out of Tony Romo, finishing with 189 yards in the air including yet another touchdown to Spencer Havner. He was also five for 15 on the ground, including a short run for a score. The biggest thing though that Rodgers did was make the plays on third down, and that ultimately kept the Cowboys off the field and led the Packers to a victory.

4. I Need More Out of Ryan Grant - This has nothing to do with any kind of fantasy implications - although I did need more out of him that way, and yes my apologies for bringing up my own fantasy team in a post - we just need more out of Ryan Grant. He's not terrible, but he's not quite the guy I thought he would be after his breakout rookie campaign. I just don't really trust the guy to make the big play, or even the small one for that matter. There was a point in the game when the Packers had the ball four yards away from the end zone, and you knew that Grant wasn't going to get those four yards if his life depended on it. I'm not saying it's time to look elsewhere, but Grant needs to improve if he's going to be the back of the next three to five years.

5. Good Luck Chuck - We've been talking lately about how the Packers have wasted the opportunity of having Charles Woodson, because he has been incredible the last few years and the Packers, well, they haven't been. Who knows where we'd be without the guy, and he definitely made his presence felt again on Sunday. Two forced fumbles, a sack, and a game clinching interception makes him the for sure player of the game, and most likely the NFC, if not NFL, Defensive Player of the Week. Each of those turnovers was instrumental in the Packers victory Sunday, and we might not win that game without him. Guys like Woodson are why you build part of your team through free agency Ted, let's stop sitting on that salary cap room and bring in some more of these guys.

So a big 17-7 win for the Packers, and next up is a matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. After today, I'm feeling a little better about our odds in that game, and maybe for the rest of the season. What a difference one game can make.

Nice Weekend for the Badgers

I haven't really given fair coverage to the Badgers lately, but it was a solid weekend for the University of Wisconsin in terms of athletics. The Badgers football team continued to stay hot and won another game they were supposed to win, as they beat Michigan 45-24 at Camp Randall. The man pictured above, John Clay, had another solid performance with 151 yards and a touchdown, and it's a shame he's not getting more national recognition. But the real star of this game was quarterback Scott Tolzien, who had five total touchdowns, four via the air and one on the ground.

With this win, the Badgers are now at 8-2 on the season. They only teams that they have lost to are Ohio State and Iowa, and those two teams just contended for the Big Ten title this weekend, so that's pretty good. I don't know how close this Badgers team is to becoming a national championship contender, but with a lot of these guys set to return next season I'm feeling pretty confident they can put together a solid run at a Big Ten title. But I don't want to get to ahead of myself, the Badgers still have Northwestern and Hawaii before they out what bowl they are headed to this year.

Not to be ignored is the Wisconsin basketball team, which started their regular season on Sunday with a 75-46 win over IPFW, which is apparently a college somewhere. Nice win for the Badgers in front of the home crowd, but nothing to get too particular about. Leading scorers in this one were Jon Leuer with 19 points and Jason Bohannon with 12. The Badgers have another one of these should be tune-up games against Oakland on Wednesday, and then they are headed to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.

So overall, good weekend for the Badgers, and I'm looking forward to what the future might bring for both of these teams.

Drunk Off My Love For Jennings

(Winks note: I've really appreciated Gweeds coming over to The Bucky Channel and helping me out with Bucks posts this season, and this one is no exception. However, Gweeds might have had a little too much fun last night, and this post is the result. PS OMG JENNINGS!)

Hello Brandon Jennings, welcome to Milwaukee. For those who were not smart and decided to take a cab from their apartment to a bar in the third quarter of Saturday night's game raise your hand. Well my hand is up, and for that Wisconsin fans I can say I missed the greatest thing that happened to this state since Wade took Marquette to the final four. Today the post will be a little different as I will go through my night, as much as I can remember anyway, with highlights from the game thrown in.

7:30 Bear tells me to save the progress in Smackdown vs Raw 2010 and turn on the Bucks. I start to get a little worried because everyone is talking about how the Warriors have such a great offense. Not sure how the Bucks will shut them down.

7:35 Lets make a Captian and Coke Zero for the game. The game starts and we can't make a shot for the life of us.

8:00 First quarter is done, Bucks are down 30-21. Starting to think that the Denver game was a dick tease. The drinks are just adding up and this is going to be a long night for this Bucks defense.

8:30 Called a cab and the Bucks are getting rocked with a few minutes to go in the half. Bear says to me, "Why are you making a drink the cab is coming soon?" The Bucks are sucking so I have to drink away the pain.

8:37 The Bucks make a little run right before half, only to give up a late three. The Bucks are down by 8 at halftime.

8:45 The cab picks us up and takes us downtown. This was the biggest mistake of the night. At this point I had a good buzz going so we forgot about the game.

9:30 Me and Bear decide to ask the bartenders to turn the game on. Lets see how they are doing. WTF the Bucks are winning? What happened to this team, they couldn't make a shot in the first half. Bear finds out that Jennings has about 42 at this time, with 9 minutes left in the game.

9:45 The Bucks are starting to get a lead, and I am just running around like we won a title or something. Jennings just keeps scoring and he can't be stopped.

10:00 The game was almost getting done. I was giving Bear high fives like we were getting paid to do it. He keep spilling his drink and was getting pissed at me but Jennings would make everything good.

10:02 The game is over Bucks win 129-125. Me and Bear are just loving life. Jennings finishes with 55 points. A new rookie record for the Bucks. This guy is for real people, start watching him. We have something special here ladies and Gentleman.

10:03 My boy Pat O is texting me that Brandon Jennings is the best. He is also saying lets get season tickets and go to all the games. Jennings pulled the biggest Y2J ever. He is saving us. We need to respect this team and fill the stands.

10:05 Time to take shots and blackout for the night... If anyone saw me and knows what happened please let me know.

(Winks note: That is pretty much what happened Gweeds, and it didn't get prettier from there. Although he did perform much better than the girl he brought over, who ended up passing out on the kitchen floor.)

So missing the third quarter of the game could be the worst part of the night but thanks to the Internet we can watch replay video. Click here to see the great night Jennings had. His final number weres: 21-34 from the field. 7-8 from deep range. 55 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists. This guy is for real.

Oh yeah I guess some other guys played too so check them out with help from the next clue. Also CC you won already so you can't play anymore. Cause when the roof caved in and the truth came out.

Injuries Piling Up For Packers

The Packers are 4-4, coming off one of the most embarrassing losses in franchise history. They need a win in the worst way to even think about contending for the playoffs, and they have to get one against one of the best teams in the NFC this weekend. As if I wasn't already worried enough about the prospects of this game, now comes the news that the Packers will be starting a rookie seventh-round pick at outside linebacker.

Look, I like Brad Jones as much as the next guy, but having him get his first start against the Dallas Cowboys is a pretty tall order. Although the way Aaron Kampman has been playing, anything is an improvement I guess. Jones will get the start as Kampman is already listed as out with an injury, along with Jermichael Finley, Mark Tauscher, and Brady Poppinga.

The injury that might actually hurt us the most out of these four is Finley, because without him the Packers seem to have no passing game between the 5 to 30 yard variety. It's either been all screens or bombs downfield since he's been out. Maybe if someone could find just where the hell Donald Lee has been the last few weeks...

And if that wasn't bad enough, the Packers are also without former maintenance employee Mike Wood. Apparently Wood may or may not have hurt McCarthy's feelings a couple of weeks ago, and he was shown the great. Great time to be a Packers fan right now I tell ya.

Addressing the Lackey Rumors

Why is it that when a big name pitcher either becomes a free agent or gets put on the trade market, Brewers fans automatically think that he's going to be headed to Milwaukee? Did the Sabathia trade really spoil us that much? Since then, we've been planning to welcome guys like Jake Peavy and Roy Halladay, only to come up disappointed. Well, it seems as if we never learn, because now John Lackey has become the object of our off-season affection.

It's not as though Doug Melvin isn't adding fuel to the fire, though. Melvin did actually sit down with Lackey's agent this work to gauge interest about the Angels pitcher. Lackey's a stud, and would look great in a Brewers uniform of course, but he's not going to come cheap. The Brewers are doing a little bit of house cleaning though clearing up some contracts (Weathers, and likely Cameron and Kendall), but I'm still not sure they're going to have enough room to fit Lackey into the payroll. That'd be great though, obviously.

If Melvin doesn't succeed in pulling off Lackey, there are some other, lesser, options. Melvin also talked with representatives for both Randy Wolf and Doug Davis, and then there's the assumption that we're going to get Jarrod Washburn just because he's from Wisconsin. I'd expect one of those four guys to be in a Brewers uniform next season, unfortunately I just don't think it's going to be Lackey.

Brian Butch, Pitchman

The Polar Bear seemed to be one of the most polarizing players that have been with the Wisconsin Basketball program throughout it's history, mainly because of how much of a tool he was when he played for Appleton West. Being from Fondy myself, I was never really a fan of the kid, but his strong work ethic, hard play, and clutch three-point bank shots while at Wisconsin eventually won me over.

Butch's career since his college days have taken him all around the globe (which is a nice way of saying he couldn't make the NBA). Currently, he's playing in Greece, although he has found some time to become the pitchman for Pep's Pizza. Kudos to Doctors of Za for the discovery. Enjoy.

Winks Thinks: The Back to Basics Edition

If Travis thinks I phoned in last week's column, then I don't think he's going to like this one too much. Nah, it's not that bad, but we get back to basics a little bit this week with the old format of Winks Thinks. Since everything that's going on in Wisconsin right now has pretty much already been covered, I bring back the old style of the randomness. Check it out in this week's edition of Winks Thinks.

Rookie Shines on Veteran's Day

Yes folks this title is why Winks runs the blog, and I just write for it (Winks edit: You're damn right, Gweeds). The Bucks gave up 100 points Tuesday, but they get a huge win in the Bradley Center against the Nuggets. I know the Nuggets were on their last game of this 6 game road trip, but the Bucks look good. BJ3 especially looked real good Wednesday night.

For those people that would say, "I hate the NBA, they don't show any hustle" or "I hate the NBA, they dont play hard defense", you people need to watch this Bucks team. Hakim Warrick and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute go after every loose ball, and usually come up with the rebound. These guys are all over the court and they make little plays that in the end turn out to be huge. I think this team has a good swagger right now, and if you watched this whole game you would feel the same why I do about this team. I can't remember the last time I watched the Bucks play a game where I felt that the team had some chemistry. I guess I can stop talking about how great this team is right now and simply talk about Wednesday nights game.

Just one more thing, your Central-leading Bucks held off a late run by the Nuggets and won 108-102. The Bucks lost the turnover battle Tuesday night, which is one of the things I said if they lose they can't win. Well pobodys nerfect, but they did win the battle on the boards. The bench played well tonight for the Bucks, although Jodie Meeks had a rough one after his good game Saturday, only scoring two points which came off of his first shot attempt. He finished the game 0-6 from downtown, not the greatest of nights. Ersan aka "Baby Dirk" as we call him had a nice game with 17 points and 8 rebounds. I already talked about how Luc Rich was all over the court, but he was one rebound shy of a double double. He finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds.

Denver made a late run on some three's from Chauncey Billups and J.R./Earl Smith. Call him whatever you want but Smith can knock down some huge shots. I kind of lost some respect for Melo tonight. He is a great player, don't get me wrong, but he kind of cries a lot. Anthony got to the line 14 times and made all of his attempts. But there was one play where he got an offensive rebound and Bogut caught him kind of hard, so Melo got real mad and threw some elbows. After that he was all over the refs throughout the rest of the game.

You know, I have always had a love/hate relationship for the guy, starting with the time in 2006 when he punched Mardy Collins then ran away. Later that year Melo played in Milwaukee, and right before the game started he went to the restroom. I happened to be at the game and I was sitting right by the tunnel where he walked through. I yelled out "Hey Melo, who you going to sucker punch tonight?" Let's just say he didn't like this very much. The guy has an attitude that hurts his rep with the fans I think. The guy plays hard, but needs to just play the game and stop crying about calls. Sorry for my Melo rant, but i had to get it out.

As for the Denver's future, even though they lost to Milwaukee it still looks real bright. This team is going to do some damage in the West this year, but the Bucks just had their number tonight. Lets look at some bullet points from the game Wednesday night:

* Brandon Jennings had a monster game. He finished with 32 points, 9 dimes, and 4 rebounds. He made all of the eight free throws he took. BJ3 also made two huge three's in the fourth quarter. My buddy Pat O said that Jennings should just win Bucks POTG for the rest of year. It was a good suggestion, but lets just give it to him tonight and go from there.

* Andrew Bogut had another good game with a double double. He put up a nice 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 blocks. He also made all three of his free throws. He has been making his throws a little better this year. This is the only Buck on the All-Star Voting Ballot that I think has a chance to make it. He will have to keep up with the double doubles.

* The Bucks had a nice game again rebounding again on Wednesday. They outboarded the Nugs 46 to 37. The Bucks have shown a lot of hustle this year which is giving the Bucks the edge in rebounding.

* Back to Carmelo Anthony. He had a huge game at the line as I said before, and he finished the game with 32 points, 1o rebounds. He earned himself the Hunter of the Night based on those stats. Still, I like Melo best on Team USA, and not the punk he can sometimes be with Denver.

* The Bucks have given up an average of 88.0 points a per game. That is second in the league only to the Boston Celtics, proving that this team is a sleeper on the defensive end. Lets hope they can keep this up for awhile.

Overall a huge statement game for the Bucks. They beat a really good Denver team Wednesday night, and they are leading the Central for now with a 4-2 record. They play again Saturday night at home against the run and gun Warriors.

Moving on, our boy CC won the Box Score Contest for the Brewers season, and I'm sure Winks will get you a shirt at some point in time (Winks edit: .....). But until then, I am going to start up another contest for the Bucks season. So here is the first clue for the season. Good luck people.

When I think that I can't, I envision Obama.