As the Brewers head toward spring training (less than a month away) they still haven’t made the big splash that fans have hoped for in this off-season. The thinking is that this team is only a move or two away from really being a contender. The rumor mill has them with offers out to various free agents and numerous trades being discussed. This week that talk has centered on pitcher Yu Darvish and Christian Yelich. The Miami Marlin outfielder is trying to force a trade as he doesn’t want to be part of a complete rebuild in South Florida. Yelich would certainly be a nice piece to the puzzle but I’m more intrigued by Darvish. Despite his playoff struggles, Darvish would be a huge upgrade to the Brewers rotation and in this winter of free agent frugality from many teams, may not be as expensive as first thought. The question might be how many years he will need to move his family to the Midwest. Will Darvish me enough to push Milwaukee toward the top of the Central. Maybe, maybe not but it would be huge sign that David Stearns, Mark Attanasio and company mean business.
There were some excellent high school hoops games around the area last night. Drew Blair poured in 44 as Spash grabbed the lead in the Valley with a 59-56 win over Marshfield. Rapids edged West 43-42 and Merrill battled back from a second half deficit to top Wausau East 74-73. Despite the Lumberjack struggles this season they put together their best effort in the near upset. Both teams played very well with back and forth action, 21 combined 3’s made and a whole bunch of assists. In most cases, if the assist totals are high for both teams, you’ve probably seen a good basketball game.
If you thought the NFL replay booth blew more calls than they got right this season, it’s not going to change much. According to reporter Adam Schefter, NFL Sr. VP of Officiating Alberto Riveron, who was responsible for some of the more egregious errors will be back with the full support of the commissioner and the league.
The New Orleans Jazz Festival is one of the top music festivals in the country but the name is a bit misleading. Yes they feature some of the best jazz acts around but also feature top name talent from all walks of the music world. Its sort of a Summerfest of the South which runs this year from April 27-May 6th. Some of the non-jazz type offererings include Sting, Sturgill Simpson, Aretha Franklin, Khalid, Bonnie Raitt, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Buffett, David Byrne, George Benson, John Mayall, Tab Benoit, Lionel Ritchie, Lyle Lovett, Old Crow Medicine Show, Neville Brothers, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Jason Isbell, Anita Baker,Delbert McClinton, Jack White, Steve Miller Band, Smokey Robinson, Trombone Shorty and Aerosmith! Plus every New Orleans jazz band worth it’s salt and most of the artists that have graced the Bull Falls Bluesfest stage here in Wausau for years. This seems like it should be on every music lovers bucket list at some point.
There is a ton of great music coming to stages all over Wisconsin this spring and summer. Besides the usual places like Summerfest, and the big venues in Madison and Green Bay. Search out the smaller places like the Thrasher Opera House in Green Lake or the Stoughton Opera House or Big Top Chatauqua in Bayfield or the Door County Auditorium in Fish Creek. There are hidden gems all over the state with national artists stopping in.
The latest I saw yesterday was Diana Krall coming back to Wisconsin with a show added June 13th at the Fox Cities PAC in Appleton, I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Krall perform at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee and she is really entertaining. The music is fabulous.
The NCAA is finally going to investigate the Larry Nassar scandal at Michigan State. Nassar is the doctor who abused dozens of US gymnasts in his role as team doctor. In one case, Michigan State is still billing a gymnast’s family for appointments where she was molested by Nassar. If Penn State was rightly sanctioned for the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Michigan State should be held accountable for this. The school President still has her job and recently received a vote of confidence.
If you do business with Bank Of America be aware of how they are celebrating the windfall they will receive from the “tax reform’ bill. If you have a checking account with BOA the only two ways to avoid having a hefty monthly fee tacked on is to have a direct deposit of $250 or more per statement or maintain a balance of $1500. Bank of America and other banks like them are nickel and diming their poorest customers while they amass cash levels that haven’t been seen since the financial world was heading to the brink of collapse in 2007-8.
The Washington Post is reporting that the reason the Hawaii governor didn’t correct the false missile alert sooner is he didn’t remember his Twitter password…..
Elections have consequences….Ron Johnson has joined the looney-tune brigade as he said yesterday that he has an informant who claims that the FBI does have “secret society” working to overthrow President Trump……………….Rush Limbaugh continued the Trump playbook of discrediting anyone who might have oversight of Trump’s transgressions with a suggestion yesterday that the ‘deep state’ forces might have faked the Saddam Hussein WMD evidence to damage George W. Bush……………………………..Donald Trump slapped a 30% tariff on imported solar panel equipment. This will cripple the US solar panel market who gets inexpensive solar panels from China. That is one reason why the US has seen a stunning increase in the use of solar power. The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that this decision will cost 88,000 jobs as solar energy becomes too expensive to pursue in the US. That’s more jobs than in the entire coal industry in the US……………………….Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new Pacific trade agreement this week that doesn’t include the US. Canada leads as Trump blusters…………….The NRA’s media outlet is criticizing people who are going to vote in the 2018 elections because of the Womens March and as Timothy Johnson reports they also called the March an “anti-American activity. This on the same day that another school shooting claimed more lives to gun violence…………………It’s day 125 in Puerto Rico where more than a million Americans are still without power and hundreds of thousands have no clean water. If this happened in an American City??…oh wait, Flint Michigan still doesn’t have drinkable water…………………….As many sources have reported Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke expanded hunting and gun-carrying on public lands after he and his top aides met with the lobbyist for Proof Research which is Montana gun company in which he owns shares. He of course, did not disclose his shares in the company that does business with the government………………..Lara Trump told Fox that women who marched earlier this week are “too dumb to know why they are anti-Trump. They just think it’s the thing to do”……………………………CIA Director Mike Pompeo was asked in a 60 Minutes interview what was being done to make sure Russian election interference doesn’t happen in 2018 and in the next presidential election in 2020. His response? “It’s a great question-a very important question. I can’t answer it”……………It seems the Trump campaign’s $130,000 payoff to porn actress Stormy Daniels to cover up her romp with Trump might have violated campaign finance laws. Common Cause has filed two complaints with the Justice Department and the FEC. John Edwards part 2 anyone?……………………
Quotes Of The Day
“Tom Cotton is doing a deed of Christian charity in attempting to lift the burden of being the most friendless dick in Congress from Tailgunner Ted Cruz”- Charles P. Pierce
“A 32 year old white supremacist now controls the federal budget negotiations. Think about that”-Seth Abramson
“If money is your only motive, then you shouldn’t launch the business at all”-Richard Branson
Songs Of The Day
The Mighty Quinn-Manfred Mann (1968) almost every band of the mid to late 60's tried their hand at doing a Dylan song. Some were very successful like this version of a tune that Dylan originally recorded with The Band as part of The Basement Tapes. This pop version went to #1 in England and broke into the Top 10 in America. It was released on this date in 1968.
A New Day Yesterday-Jethro Tull (1969) a track from their 2nd LP “Stand Back”, the first to feature Martin Barre on guitar. This is the anniversary in 1969 of Tull's first live show in the US opening for Led Zeppelin in New York.
