It’s a good time, if for nothing else than just to get into the spirit of the game and the team again.

Friday night will be their first practice – open to the public.  You’ll find a slam dunk and 3-point contest going on, as well as some other fun things.  It’s also nice to see the players actually work a little bit for the first time.  A week and half later will be the red/white scrimmage where a full "game" is played between two halves of the team.

Then the real fun starts… we’re young this year, which will keep it interesting.  I can’t wait!

It couldn’t have been the Wisconsin team that beat Texas, in Texas, without their point guard. It couldn’t have been the Wisconsin team who were picked to finish 4th or 5th in the Big Ten – and then went on to set a record number of wins while winning both the Big Ten regular season title and the Big Ten tournament title… all with no “star” player.

It obviously wasn’t the same people.

Somehow, some way, the same group of people who showed up to play UNLV in the second round of the tournament last year showed up. I have no idea who these people are, but I don’t want them stealing away Badger seasons anymore.

I don’t remember a time when we’ve ended a season fighting and scrapping till the end… only bitter losses where we’ve been picked apart by lesser teams. Only sitting and watching in horror as the beautiful structure that is Wisconsin basketball seems more like a house of cards trying to withstand a breeze.

I have no idea who these people are.

I’m done getting upset at the national media who always underestimates Wisconsin and always finds it easy to pick against them. I need to remember that THIS is the team they remember. The team that I have to try and forget every April to October. The team that makes me believe in something all year long, and then act like hypocrites on the floor of their final game.

Lose your last game. By all means, lose. 99% of teams lose their last game. But could you once, just once, go out with the same passion and determination that you lived with all season. Just once?

If I come across ridiculous, that’s fine. If I come across like a whiner, that’s fine too. If you think I should just be happy on an outstanding season – you’re right – I should be. And YOU should be pissed off that this is how Wisconsin ends their season every year.

But then again, I’m just bitching for nothing… cuz it wasn’t even them.

One could argue that the Badgers easily deserved a 2-seed, but we were given a closer-to-home path playing in Omaha and then hopefully Detroit on weekend number two. What upsets me is that we somehow seem to draw a very difficult path every year. We may have arguably the most difficult 2nd game for a 1, 2, 3 or 4 seed in the entire tournament having to play USC or Kansas State – both very good teams.

But, whatever. It’s another year and you’ve gotta beat good teams to move on, so let’s just do it. Depending on game-time on Thursday, I’ll have to get some time off of work… hopefully Derek can make it down to Dad’s earlier than expected so we can all watch together. But at least we’ll all be watching on Saturday (ok, ok, ASSUMING that we win Thursday – you never know).

Oh, by the way… F Hubert Davis. Idiot.

The Obvious
I finally got a new site design up… I’ve been working on it for a while. I’m addicted to Moleskine notebooks and decided to give the site a little bit of the same flavor.

Family
Derek and Angie got a cat, dog, and new car… and a house if I haven’t told you that yet. I think they might be changing their last name to Jones as well. ;)

Went up to Chippewa and saw my mom for the first time in a while. We took our yearly trip out through the apple orchards and even stopped by a (new?) winery there. Mandi and I brought home some good stuff – that’s almost gone.

Badgers
Badger basketball started. We went to their yearly scrimmage back in October. They’ve had 2 exhibition games and their first regular season game since then. The team looks good… but more exciting is the fact that their not really picked to do anything special this year, which makes watching each game all that more fun.

Speaking of watching games… I’ve got to figure out what to do about stupid Charter. Besides their completely unreliable internet service, they also won’t carry the Big Ten Network – which there are a ton of Badger basketball games on this year. I know a guy who does Dish/Direct satellite so I’ve gotta get off my butt and schedule him to come hook me up.

Wedding
I’m responsible for transportation and lodging and have slacked a little bit. Mandi wants to make sure everything is done as far as possible in advance so we don’t have to worry about it. I’m a little bit more lax I guess… but promise I’ll get ‘r done real soon.

The Rest
Work has been good – really busy. We’re almost done with a new guitar site we’ve been working on for what seems like years. And since Christmas time is upon us, the Musicnotes side of things has been busy creating some new features.

My Mac is still good. I’ve got the hang of everything, found tons of programs I like, some I’m testing out to see if I like… I’ll probably do a write-up sometime on everything I’ve ended up using on a regular basis.

Mandi has just been out of town for a couple days doing some training for work. I miss her. She’ll be back tomorrow and hopefully in time for the Badger’s game (they play Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week).

Thanks for reading. I’m tired… Good night.

Whether it’s more consistency, or just the fact that Alando Tucker takes over in every situation where it counts… there’s something about this team that gives me shivers. One loss away from being perfect this year (14-1), the Badgers have a swagger about them when they walk onto the floor. There’s an eerie calm confidence about how they walk onto the floor… they feel what others are seeing in them… they really are one of the top few teams in the nation. Something special is happening in Madison this year.

Honestly, I don’t think anyone can beat them. I know that’s a strong statement, but when you have Tucker scoring at will whenever it matters, how can a team beat them?

Shut him down. Sure, then Kam, Butch, or Landry steps up and scores. It’s got to be hard being on the other side of the court for these teams seeing this happen. Just when you think you’ve figured out how to stop us, we get stronger somewhere else… like some type of organically grown living organism.

How do you beat a team with no weakness? You don’t.

The hard part of this year’s schedule is towards the end of the year when we’ll have grown even stronger – with a little bit of luck to avoid injury.

Let me apologize to the rest of the Big Ten in advance for the relentless pounding they’ll receive.

Honestly, it’s depressing. This is a team that could’ve gone undefeated into Big 10 season if their cards would’ve fallen right. Now, they’ll play Auburn tomorrow afternoon, Florida State on Tuesday and have games against Pitt and at Marquette coming up in the weeks ahead. This loss puts them in a must-win position for these games (as well as winning all the games they’re supposed to win). I say “must-win” because this team should not be losing with the talent they have.

Kam Taylor will most likely be losing minutes due to his high turnover counts and lack of production – probably to Freshman Jason Bohannan who has come out this year executing very well. It’ll be exciting to see him progress over the next few years.

Anyway, 4-1 to start the year is fine for some teams, but not this one. They were exposed badly today, so let’s hope they can learn from it and not let it happen again.

Madison, Wis. National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern announced today that beginning with the 2006-2007 season, the University of Wisconsin will act as the official developmental team for the NBA.

It is a surprising move considering all of the recent money poured into the fledgling NBDL (National Basketball Developmental League).

However, Stern pointed to the success of Bo Ryan’s players in the NBA as the main reason the change was made. Statistics show that playing at UW for 3 years and getting drafted guarantees getting to play in the NBA Finals within 2 years.

“What other coach has 100% of his draft picks playing in the NBA Finals this year?” exclaimed Stern.

The answer to that would be none. Devin Harris is playing in the Finals with the Dallas Mavericks in just his second year in the league.

In fact, playing for Ryan also appears to guarantee getting drafted very early. Of the players that have been drafted under Ryan, none have been drafted lower than 5th. Harris was drafted the lowest by Washington as the 5th pick in 2004. He was then traded to Dallas.

“Well, you know, people will say that, and look; People are going to say what they’re going to say. So I just, look, Devin is a great player,” explained Ryan.

“If you want to say the reason he’s there is because of UW, then well, you know, that’s what you guys do. You say things and write things about basketball. That’s your job. My job is to coach it. And I just happen to be really good at it.”

Commissioner Stern was also excited about the type of players that Ryan develops.

“When you look at the players that Bo is turning out, you can’t help but realize that this is what the NBA needs,” said Stern.

“100% of Bo Ryan draft picks actually play defense,” said Stern. “Do you know how long its been since defense was played in the NBA? Not since short-shorts!”

“The University of Wisconsin will be where the future superstars will develop. It’s the only place possible. Where else would they come from, Maryland?” asked NBA Legend Bill Walton.

No, certainly not. In fact, Maryland actually leads the collegiate ranks in percentage of drafted players that actually die within 48 hours of being drafted. Len Bias died of a drug-overdose in 1986.

“Got a death wish, go to the ACC,” said Walton. “Want to star in the NBA in 2 years or less, go to Wisconsin.”

“It’s a breeding ground,” continued Walton. “When I think Wisconsin I now think 2 things: Cheese and NBA Basketball Superstars.”

Since Bo Ryan, 2-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, took over for Wisconsin at the beginning of the 2001 season, winning has become expected. And that success has made high-school recruits take notice

Tony Johnson, a highly touted recruit in the 2009 class, has been calling UW for the past several months to show his interest.

“I was getting calls from North Carolina every other day. But what percentage of players from North Carolina that got drafted last year are playing in the Finals? 0 percent” said Johnson.

“Plus, who wants to play for a douche bag like Roy Williams anyway?”

I thought, just maybe, that their piss-poor play over the previous 14 games might turn around for the NCAA tournament… maybe stir up a little passion – just a little – but no. Between sloppy passing, lazy defense, and shooting that made them look like an elderly pick-up team – Wisconsin never had a chance in hell of winning right from the tip (when Chappell won the tip by hitting it to a group of Arizona players). Maybe someone would want to get a rebound? Anyone? Oh, Joe – you want a rebound. Anyone else? No? Okay, great.

It’s embarrassing. I came back to work with my Badger jacket on and could feel the stares of people wondering why I had red on.

There’s so many disappointing things from the last 15 games of the season I’d like to rant about, but to be honest, I’ve looked forward to next years team for the past 2 or 3 years – so I’ll just focus on that. I just hope I’m not let down again.

As for the rest of this year’s tourney — I’m hoping Wisconsin-Milwaukee can get another win on Saturday. If they do, I might just adjust my wardrobe until next November.

So, on the way. I believe we hit about 6 tolls all together on the way down around Chicago and into Indiana. Armed with Sirius radio, we were able to keep the programming steady for all 4+ hours. The conversation was good as always… After feeling like we were going to be running late in the morning, even after losing an hour to the Easter Time Zone, we arrived to the hotel at 2pm – a full hour before check-in.

We were able to check-in early, change, relax… we then hit up a little deli around the corner. I had breakfast – which I’d have 3 times a day if I could – heather had soup and a Rueben. It was ok, but it was time to get ready for the game (the Badgers are playing at Purdue in case you’re behind… most of the reason of why we’re there in the first place).

We were able to get a ride from Anton, the hotel’s concierge – who, after conversation evidently wears a thousand hats at his job…. he’s going back to school too… oh, and there was recently a hostile take over of the hotel… just in case you wanted to know. ;)

Arrived at Mackey arena at 6:40 – 20 minutes before the doors opened. As we waited just inside the main entry, we took notice of the ticket taker’s “box.” Basically, the thing they put your ticket in after they rip the stub off… it was a tall, black, beat-up metal box about waist-high. We mentioned how it reminded us of being at a circus.

Finally, it’s time to go in… a hot pretzel and a coke later, we’re at our seats… 12th row, just about at center court. Perfect. But wait, we’re on bleacher seats… if they would’ve been wooden, this would’ve completely continued the circus ride… close enough. We noticed quite a few other Badger fans in the audience start to flow in, which lessened the staring at us just a little bit.

I’ll skip over most of the game, which consisted of a single Badger highlight with Tucker receiving an ally-oop pass from Taylor, but 35% shooting, once again, was not even close to enough to beat the worst team in the conference.

At the first media timeout, our circus atmosphere continued as a baton-twirler dressed in gold came out and put on a show. The only thing missing was flames and a tiger. Then… the highlight… the ringmaster came upon the loudspeaker hovering from the rotted wooden poll holding up the Big Top… and out came the flying cheerleaders! Two male cheerleaders held atop their heads a female, parellel to the ground, arms out like superman… err woman. I believe there was 3 of them, but don’t ask Heather because the amount of tears in her eyes from laughing so hard would’ve probably multiplied the actual number by 2. It was hilarious, and capped off the circus themed evening…

Back to the hotel after waiting 30 minutes for a cab (Anton was done for the night at 10pm)… we went to the 8th floor lounge for a martini. Remind me to stay away from vodka… it works as a truth serum and Heather took full advantage. Without revealing what she dragged out of me… it was awkward at first, but really seemed to bring us closer as the weekend went on.

Sunday was a relaxing hang-out day. We started by visiting a suprisingly excellent little restaurant called Scotty’s Brewhouse in West Lafayette. It’s like a really really nice Applebee’s as far as atmosphere… a long beer selection… and Scotty himself came out to say hi (either because we were first-timers, or because we were buying glasses – either way, it was nice). Heather and I decided that collecting glasses from restaurants we visit will be our little “thing.” I like it.

We also stopped a bar called Chumley’s, which has a beer list a mile long and offers an “Around the World” club for people who want to taste it all. We just had a drink then went back to the hotel to watch the Super Bowl… instead, we found ourselves asleep for about half the game… Grey’s Anatomy was a little more exciting afterwards, followed by some more talking and even more sleep.

Monday was the long drive back through tolls and traffic, and even more conversation. If there’s one thing I’m taking away from this long weekend, was the fact that it seems that Heather and I became even closer than we already were… it was nice… refreshing… and exciting.