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Milwaukee Brewers shortstop/second baseman/outfielder Bill Hall gave his mother a Mother’s Day gift neither one will forget. It was the bottom of the 10th inning with the score tied at 5 with the New York Mets. Taking part in Major League Baseball’s breast cancer awareness campaign Hall came to the plate with a pink Louisville Slugger. In his four previous at-bats he struck out three times. This time with two outs he launched a Chad Bradford pitch into right field to win the game 6-5.
Rumor has it the Milwaukee Bucks will be getting new uniforms next season and going retro. I liked the purple but don’t mind the colors from the days when Sidney Moncrief and company dominated the Central Division. I hope they keep the fierce-looking buck in the team logo. Even as a kid I wasn’t fond of the cartoon Bango mascot.
[Cross-posted to The American Mind.]
Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports gives the Packers an A in the draft:
Green Bay Packers
High marks – The mass of the class is fantastic – 13 total picks, including five in the top 75. Linebackers A.J. Hawk and Abdul Hodge should be a great tandem for years to come. Tackle Daryn Colledge and center Jason Spitz should eventually develop into starters. Greg Jennings and Cory Rodgers add depth to the receiving crew and should provide what Terrence Murphy would have if he hadn’t been injured. Cornerback/wide receiver Will Blackmon offers flexibility and can also be a return specialist. Defensive tackle Johnny Jolly was a great value selection in the sixth round.
Low marks – The Packers started strong, but dropped off with some reaching in Rounds 5 through 7. Two big ones came in the fifth round: Quarterback Ingle Martin was a seventh-round choice on many boards, and tackle Tony Moll was expected to be an undrafted free agent.
Final grade: A
The linebacker tandem should really improve defensive speed. With it being a down year for wide receivers I don’t know what to think of Jennings and Rodgers.
North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams already signed with the Houston Texans before today’s NFL Draft. He will be the number one pick instead of USC running back phenom Reggie Bush. Now, does New Orleans trade down since they have a quarterback in Drew Brees and a running back in Deuce McAllister? If they swapped picks with the Oakland Raiders they could have a good shot at getting a good defensive player along with additional picks or players. Oakland could be sure they drafted Vince Young. All that stands between Reggie Bush becoming a Green Bay Packer is Tennessee and the New York Jets. Since both teams could use a running back I doubt he’ll fall to number five. Much depends on New Orleans.
ESPN.com’s Len Pasquarelli is shredding the Texans:
Bad enough the loyal fans of Houston have had to suffer through the stigma of four straight losing campaigns, an average of just 4½ victories per year and a team that managed just half as many wins in its fourth season as it did in its expansion year of 2002. Now the fans are saddled with a team suffering from astigmatism.
There’s a reason that only one expansion team that has entered the league since 1976, the Bucs, won fewer games in its first four seasons than the Texans have earned, and we saw why on Friday night when Houston bypassed tailback Reggie Bush with the top pick in the draft and opted for defensive end Mario Williams instead.
Some teams try to exercise foresight with such threshold football decisions. Houston, on the other hand, apparently makes them blindfolded.
There’s now talk of the Packers taking Maryland tight end Vernon Davis. This isn’t from Wisconsin sources. The talk in Packerland is the team taking Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk. Although there have been sports talk radio callers suggesting sending disgruntled wide out Javon Walker along with the number five pick to the Saints for receiver Dante Stallworth and the number two pick. Many think Walker will be traded sometime during the draft.
The Houston Texans are in negotiations with both running back Reggie Bush and defensive end Mario Williams. Conventional wisdom has had Bush being the number one pick. Suppose the Texans get a better deal with Williams and draft him. Does New Orleans take Bush even though they have Deuce McAllister at running back? Maybe with Williams gone they get the next-best defensive player out there by taking A.J. Hawk. Tennessee needs a quarterback since they’ve locked out Steve McNair, but they could use a magical back like Bush. The New York Jets have the ageless Curtis Martin, but he’ll be turning 32 in a few days. As much as I’d like to hope I can’t see Reggie Bush available at the Green Bay Packers’ spot even if Williams was picked number one. The only scenerios I can see of the Packers getting Bush is if New Orleans reaches for Hawk at number two of if they trade picks with Oakland who would draft Vince Young, and the Jets grab D’Brickashaw Ferguson. It’s not likely to happen, but anything can happen in the NFL Draft. Heck, a few years ago the Minnesota Vikings ran out of time in the first round and had other teams quickly draft ahead of them.
[Cross-posted to The American Mind.]
The Green Bay Packers finally got a big-name free agent signed. Cornerback Charles Woodson becomes the sixth Heisman Trophy winner to don the green and gold. Brett Favre’s decision to not retire played a role, but coach Mike McCarthy telling Woodson he’d get some playing time on offense sealed the deal. With Javon Walker wanting to be traded the Packers only have Donald Driver as a real threat in their wide receiver corps.
ESPN reports Brett Favre finally decided to play in 2006.
Less than one week before the NFL Draft Reggie Bush is under a cloud of controversy. Yahoo Sports (of all media organizations) dug into who owned the Southern California house his family lived in:
In this sprawling hilltop community with a breathtaking view of Sweetwater Lake, it was no secret who lived in the 3,000-square-foot house at the corner of Apple Street and Luther Avenue.
That home, residents would tell you, was where Reggie Bush’s family lived.
That is, until this weekend, when the family abruptly packed up and vacated the residence – less than 24 hours after Yahoo! Sports approached Bush’s mother about information linking the property to Michael Michaels, a man who is alleged to have tried to play a role in steering Bush toward an agent and who also has ties to a sports marketing company.
Days before Bush is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, unanswered questions about the residence and how his mother, stepfather and brother came to live in it within the last year have prompted the University of Southern California to refer the matter to the Pacific-10 Conference for an investigation.
NCAA statutes prohibit student-athletes or their families from receiving extra benefits from professional sports agents, marketing companies or their representatives. A breach of these statutes could result in an athlete being ruled ineligible, and games in which they played could be forfeited.
USC finished 12-1 last season, its 35-game winning streak and national championship bid both ending with a loss in the Rose Bowl to Texas. Bush, a junior running back, won the Heisman Trophy and elected to skip his senior season and turn pro in January.
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