New Year

I first would like to wish everyone a happy new year. I have not blogged in a while so this post will be somewhat of a catch up.

Last week my good friends Josh and Jess got married. Their wedding was so much fun. One of the best weddings I have been too and part of. I know they will have a long and happy life together.

Last month we lost to dear people.

One was Evelyn Simono. She lived a long and happy life. I remember when I was young we would play cards together on cold winter days. She lived over 100 years. That is impressive.

The other was Kartik. He was one of the best software developers I ever got to work with. He really could solve the tough challenges we face. He was an even better person. I remember how much fun we all had at the brewer game, and I go a friend of mine who works fro the brewers to put a welcome message on the big score board for him. He will be missed.

In happier news, the Packers had a nice season and made the playoffs. I hope they can make a super bowl run but it will be tough.

The Badger football team finished the season strong by winning their bowl game against Miami. The expectations for next year will be high because they are returning lots of good players.

Well that is it for now. I will try to blog more regularly this year. I might even blog some tech stuff as well.

Badgers Schedule to Easy

For those who think the badgers schedule is to easy please see the quote from Coach B down below.

Brian (Lucas) pointed out, everybody wants to talk strength of schedule. Everybody wants, Coach B doesn’t play these teams … Well, we have the, we have by the NCAA, and I love that Web site, because it computes your strength of schedule as it’s real. It computes what teams have played, what their records are, and it moves forward, and I’ve been watching it all season. And now today we’re 14th in the country, and we have the toughest schedule in the Big Ten conference to date, and that, to me, says something about what we’ve been able to accomplish and hopefully move forward.

I think it is interesting that we are currently 14th. I realize as we play Michigan and Northwestern this number will probably go down, but still not to shabby.

Badgers and Packers

So the college and pro football seasons have been going on now for a few weeks. Here are my observations of the Badgers and Packers.

Badger Observations.

Going into their 5th game of the season they are 4 - 0. Their next game is at the new stadium in Minnesota. The two teams play each other for Paul Bunyan's Axe. The Badgers have won the last five meetings.

First the offense. The Badgers have found consistent play from the QB position. This is the biggest surprise for me. Tolzien has been able to deliver the ball to his tightends and receivers on time and in places where only they will catch the ball. John Clay seems to be coming around and rebounded nicely after the terrible game from two weeks ago. The O-line has been getting better every week but still has a lot of room for improvement.

On defense I think they have more depth at every position except safety than they did a year ago. The d-line is getting healthy and got good pressure against M. State. The linbackers are fast and seem to be making plays. The Badgers are currently rotating four guys at corner. I think eventually the staff will need to stick with the two best.

Special teams is where I think the Badgers have improved the most since last season. Already they have blocked a punt, scored a touchdown, and caused a fumble. There has only been a few break downs on coverage but nothing major. The return game still needs work but kickoff return has been better.

Now for the Packers

I think if Aaron Rodgers stays healthy all season he is one of the toughest guys in the league. As of now the O-Line has not been able to block on pass downs. Rodgers has been hit and hit hard. He has been forced to scramble. This has caused a disruption in timing and making the offense sputter. Still the packers are 2 - 1 and heading for a Monday night match up with the Minnesota Vikings.

On defense the Packers have been turning the ball over a lot. That is good. They are still soft against the run though. they have been able to generate pocket pressure and forced other qb's into bad throws. With B.J. Raji getting healthier he should help the depth at the D-Line.

I still think the Packers can be a 10 -6 team if they can tighten up on the offensive and defensive lines. If I was Ted Thompson I would be sending someone to Sun Prairie to work out Mark Tauscher. If he his knee is healthy he could add leadership and ability to the o-line.

phone blogging

a quick post today. I just learned how to post from my phone. now when I am out with buddies I will be able to post about our interesting nights.