A Bloy and his Blog

Yesterday I took the day off to take in a Brewers game at Miller Park.

read the rest of: Take me out to the ballgame

A day off for me, and a last minute idea sent Dad and I to Miller Park yesterday afternoon, where the Brewers beat the San Francisco Giants, 7 to 5. It was a fun game. Some of the highlights included:

• Bill Hall’s grand slam home run for the Brewers in the first inning. He ended the game with a career high of five runs batted in.
• After thinking the game would be a cake walk for Milwaukee, we got a little nervous when the Giants hit their own grand slam home run in the sixth inning.
• Barry Bonds being booed by the fans when he was put in as a pinch hitter (his only at-bat, he hit a double on a error by Rickie Weeks). I was disappointed he didn’t stay in the game, so we could heckle him some more.
• A great play at home plate by pitcher Brian Shouse (and apparently a Brewer fan) to prevent the Giants from tying the game.
• Rickie Weeks making up for his error by hitting an RBI double.
• A revolving door of 11 pitchers playing for both teams, including a save from Milwaukee’s hot reliever, Francisco “Coco” Cordero.
• An attendance of over 35,000 people (we were very suprised at the size of the crowd).

Box Score: Brewers vs. Giants, June 20, 2007.

I was fortunate enough to be in the Kohl Center yesterday when the Wisconsin Badgers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, 71-68. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… There is nothing like college basketball. The atmosphere, the excitement, the intensity of the players — it really can be an awesome experience.

It was a late start last night when the nationally ranked Badgers (3rd) met the nationally ranked Ohio State team (5th). A good ten or twelve minutes before the game was scheduled to begin, the Kohl Center looked to me to be full to capacity (usually all of the empty seats don’t fill in until after the game starts). Because of the strength of these two teams, this game had been highly anticipated (and overly hyped in the local media) from the beginning of the season. The atmosphere in the building was truly electric as the anxious crowd waited for the game to begin.

read the rest of: There is nothing like college basketball

I was one of the 81,704 people at Camp Randall Stadium today, watching the Wisconsin Badgers literally run over the Northwestern Wildcats, winning the game 41-9.

After running back P.J. Hill scored a 60-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage, I thought we might be witnessing the start of a big blowout. But the score at halftime was actually fairly close (17-9), because of a three Wisconsin turnovers, and the solid play of Northwestern’s redshirt freshman quarterback, Andrew Brewer.

read the rest of: Badgers run over Wildcats

I just got home from a basketball game where the Wisconsin Badger’s lost to North Dakota State. The Badgers had one of the flattest performances I’ve ever seen, with a shooting percentage of 22%. They only made 16 of 72 attempted shots.

The North Dakota State Bison, who are playing their first year as a division one team, made 50% of their field goal attempts, in a well-played upset of the nationally ranked Badgers. Wisconsin only made 16 of 72.

read the rest of: They only made 16 of 72

Yesterday, Dad and I went to the UW Volleyball match and watched the Badgers defeat Minnesota in an exciting contest. It was the first time I’ve seen Badger Volleyball in person. Those games are played in the UW Field House and it was great to be back in the old barn. Some of my favorite sports memories took place in the Field House — watching the men’s basketball games. When that place is packed, the band is playing, and the crowd is cheering along, you can feel the building vibrating along with the excitement.

read the rest of: Volleyball in the old barn

So it was about time for the evening news and I turned on the television. The first thing I saw was the Superbowl pregame show. Not a regular pregame show, but a hyped-up, rock and roll pregame show. At halftime there was another hyped-up, rock and roll show (and with the exposed breast incident, the hype continued long after the show was over).

read the rest of: Sports, rock and roll