Tom King's Blog

Seattle Seahawk coach Pete Carroll must know what he's doing right? Yesterday Carroll said all three of his quarterbacks will be competing for the starting job. Now I know Matt Flynn doesnt have a whole lot of NFL starts under his belt but it also seems to me that you don't go out and sign Flynn to a big free agent contract to have him hold the clipboard. Also, Seattle fans have seen enough of Tavaris Jackson as the starter and they don't want to see anymore. And I love Russell Wilson but I think it's asking alot for him to step right into a starters role in the NFL. I don't understand why Carroll would want a quarterback controversy right out of the chute. Flynn's the starter and the other guys will be fighting to be active on Sunday's. I think every Seattle fan would be on board with that.

Sign Zach Grienke now. The Brewers have alot of money coming off the books after this season and should be able to lock up Grienke, even if he gets Matt Cain money. Grienke has been nothing short of the stud that Doug Melvin expected when he traded for him. The Brewers already have big money invested in Yovanni Gallardo and he has been up & down. I think Grienke is a better bet even with his social anxiety issues. And whay not have a 1 & a 1A pitcher?

Congats to Cam Seidl of UWSP. He was named WIAC Pitcher of the Year. A number of Pointers were named first team all-conference. You can see the story elsewhere on this website. The D-3 regionals begin today. Whitewater is hosting one that includes the Warhawks, La Crosse, St Norbert, Aurora Ill, North Park Ill, St Scholastica, Concordia-Chicago & St. Thomas, Minn.

I met up with an old grade school friend yesterday. Chris Bangle and I grew up together on the northeast side of Wausau before he moved to the west side in junior high. Bangle was always drawing and creating cool cars, rockets and gadgets when we were seven years old and he developed his gifts in college and later went on to become the head car designer at BMW in Germany. He now runs his own design firm in Italy. He was in town to recieve an award from Wausau West and gave a very interesting talk at UWMC. He hasnt aged since the last time I saw him 15 years ago and is still the smartest guy I know. Just Google him and you'll see what I mean.

Songs of the Day   (from my I-pod)

It's What You Value-George Harrison(1976) a pure pop pleasure from the former Beatle from the 33 & 1/3 LP. Somewhat of a comeback album for George who had been battling the plagerism lawsuit through the mid-70's and also making movies with Monty Python

It's Your Thing-Isley Brothers (1969) a hit for the funky brothers after they left Motown for lack of promotion. They of course recorded some of the best funk of the 70's as well.

The NBA is a tough business. The players bodies suffer enormous wear and tear. The travel is brutal, the season is long and the way the game is played now and what is allowed means the normal players body gets hammered on a nightly basis. There are veteran players that survive to play at a high-level...Tim Duncan springs...to mind...but more and more it's becoming a young mans game...and this year two teams really personify this...the Oklahoma City Thunder and the LA Clippers. With two of the brightest young stars in Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin...the Thunder & the Clips have moved into the second round of the playoffs and a potential meeting is looming. The Thunder hammered the Lakers by 29 last night...the Clippers begin their series with the grizzled Spurs tonight. The Clips-Spurs series is a fascinating contrast...Chris Paul vs Tony Parker...Duncan vs Griffin...Popovich vs DelNegro(not really a fair fight). I'm lookng forward to either a Thunder-Spurs or Thunder -Clippers Western conference final. Either should be great.

The Badgers will face Virginia this year in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Former Merrill star Paul Jespersen will return home with the Cavaliers. The game is scheduled for Wednesday Nov 28th. The other matchups are Minnesota-Florida State, North Carolina-Indiana, NC State-Michigan, Maryland-Northwestern, Iowa-Virginia Tech, Nebraska-WakeForest, Purdue-Clemson, Ohio State-Duke, Georgia Tech-Illinois, Michigan State-Miami,  & Boston College-Penn State.

Long time Lakeland High School boys basketball coach Ted Voight is retiring after 38 years. He played at Wisconsin and was an assistant at UW and UW-Eau Claire before starting with the T-Birds.

You can hear high school baseball today on Foxsports1390...its Wausau East at DC Everest starting at 4:20.

A former childhood friend of mine is giving a lunchtime speech at UWMC today. Chris Bangle is the former head designer at BMW and has had a lasting impact in the car design business. He went to UWMC after growing up in Wausau. He was designing cars from an early age.

Songs of The Day   (from my I-pod)

It's The End Of The World As We Know It-REM (1987) the boys from Athens, GA channel their inner Bob Dylan and free associate a hit,

It's Too Late-Carole King (1971) a collaboration from King & Toni Stern that was part of King's groundbreaking "Tapestry" cd. A number 1 smash from the scented gardens of Laurel Canyon

The Milwaukee Brewers continue to struggle with inconsistency. They did take two out of three from the Cubs over the weekend, but considering the current status of the north-enders we shouldnt read too much into that. And, the bullpen did not look good over the weekend. Edwin Maysonet looked good over the weekend as a fill-in for the injured Rickie Weeks but lets wait awhile before we start yelling for Manager Ron Roenicke too permantly replace Weeks. The biggest concern right now is the bullpen and until that gets figured out the up & down season of the Brew Crew will continue.

The LA Lakers are no stranger to playing deep into May & June...but the Clippers? The LA Clippers won a playoff series for just the 3rd time in their 42 year existance as they took Game 7 in Memphis on Sunday. They now run into San Antonio

The Stanley Cup race is down to 4 teams. Its a local affair out East as the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers will square off in what should be a good series. Out West two surprises...the LA Kings and Phoenix Coyotes play for the right to go to the Cup Finals...who woudda thunk it?

Congrats to UW-La Crosse as they come from near elimination of the entire program 4 years ago to a WIAC regular season and now Conference Tournament championship. Merrill native Adam Cordova had a home run in the title win over Whitewater. The Eagles get an automatic bid to the NCAA D-3 tournament. The Pointers await word today to see if they get in.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Wausau American Legion Baseball Mothers Day Pancake Breakfast on Sunday. And also to everyone who bought raffle tickets. All of the proceeds support Wausau Legion baseball. Chip Winter won the first prize of $1500 and Jeff Adams won the seond prize of $500. Our seaosn begins on June 7.

We also have moved the dates of our annual 2-person golf scramble to September 22nd. You can e-mail me at tom.king@mwcradio.com if you want info on that or call the legion clubhouse for info.

Songs of The Day   (from My I-pod)....It's David Byrne's 60th birthday today so how about a couple of Talking Heads clssics

Life During Wartime-Talking Heads (1979) from the LP "Fear of Music" but also from the great Live album "Stop Making Sense"

Psycho Killer-Talking Heads(1977) Byrne's ode to the bad guys..Here is a live version from the British music show "The Old Grey Whistle Test"...love that Tina Weymouth bass line

Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett has been struggling. It dates back to last year and the infamous "chicken & beer story", and has carried over to this  year. Last night Beckett got roasted for seven runs in 2 1/3 innings but it was his comments in the locker room that cemented his image as a thoughtless douchebag that has no clue. Last week manager Bobby Valentine skipped Beckett's turn in the rotation because he had tightness in his side. No problem...that's the way today's pitchers are pampered...the problem was that Beckett had no problem golfing the next day, which was an off day for the squad. Word leaked out this week about the supposed injured pitcher golfing and he was aske about it. "I spend my off days the way I want to spend them". He was asked if given that his turn in the rotation was skipped do people have the right to question why he was golfing...'not on my off day". "We get 18 off days per year and I think we deserve a little time to ourselves." Last year's Red Sox team was lambasted for not caring...for being a bunch of out-of-touch jerks...and you had to ask yourself, as a fan why would I want to follow these guys? We see more and more of that attitude invading pro sports every day. I feel sorry for guys like Dustin Pedroia who bust their ass every day and have to answer for why they have teammates that care so little. If I was GM of the Sox I would cut ties with Beckett right now...to send a message to the fans and to the other doofusses in the locker room that this crap will not be tolerated. If you can't find some other team to dump him on...cut his ass and take him to court for non-perfomance and void his contract. Just be aware that as a fan...you care more about your team than the players ever will. For most it's a job and a paycheck and very little more.

The Brewers get back to work tonight as they host the Cubs. Randy Wolf against Matt Garza...pre game at 6:35 on WSAU.

The Pointer baseball team begins WIAC tournament play against Whitewater this afternoon at 1pm . La Crosse plays Oshkosh in the other game. You can hear my conversation with Pointer coach Pat Bloom under the sports  podcast section on this website.

I'll have East/West high school baseball as game 1 of our doubleheader on Foxsports1390 WRIG at 4:20...DC Everest/Spash is game 2.

Also, I invite you to join us on Sunday for the annual Wausau American Legion Baseball Mothers Day Pancake Breakfast at the Wausau Legion Clubhouse...6$ for all you can eat pancakes, sausage & beverage. It runs from 8-noon.

Songs of the Day   (from my I-pod)

It's Over-Boz Scaggs (1976) one of the sparkling cuts from "Silk Degrees"...one of the best albums of the seventies

It's So Easy-Linda Ronstadt (1977) from "Simple Dreams" comes this Buddy Holly cover...Linda and her crack band were at the height of their powers

Hitters are notorius for being impaient. For every player that works the count and hardly ever swings at a bad pitch...there are two that swing at everything or want to attack the first fastball they see regardless of the situation. There was no TV for the Brewer game yesterday so you maybe didnt see the bottom of the ninth inning. MLB network had it as bonus coverage so I watched as the Brewers tried to claw their way back after John Axford wasted a great Zach Greinke performance by giving up 2 runs in the top of the ninth. Ryan Braun hit a solo homer to cut the deficit to one. And after two outs Jon Lucroy had one of the best at bats you will ever see...working the count full and then fouling off 6 pitches in a row before drawing a walk...Nori Aoki pinch hit and also worked the count full before taking a terrible swing and blooping a hit to left..George Kotteras pinch hit against a new Reds pitcher and waked on four pitches to load the bases...tying run at 3rd and winning run at second for Travis Ishikawa...he of course swings at the first pitch and pops it up to left to end the game. Now if he gets a hit in that situation everyone goes home happy...but its still bad baseball. He will tell you he expected a meatball right down the middle on the first pitch after a walk (I know I've heard that before from the players I coach)...but the risk/reward is just not there. Swinging at the first pitch after a walk is bad baseball at any level and at the major league level it just should not happen.

Greinke by the way piched 8 scoreless innings giving up just two hits, striking out 11 and walking none. SIGN THE GUY ALREADY WILL YA!!

12/12/12 will be Aaron Rodgers Day in Wisconsin. Jennifer Brilowski of Stevens Point started the campaign on facebook and it became a reality. He of course will be working that day preparing for the Bears.

The Big Top Chatuaqua in Bayfield has some great music on tap for this summer. Emmy Lou Harris, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Burton Cummings, Steve Earle. Little River Band, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Greg Brown and John Hiatt are just some of the folks who will be there performing under the big blue tent. Plus the house band, The Blue Canvas Orchestra (bluegrass & roots music mostly although they do all kinds of stuff)  is a delight and does special shows throughout the summer as well If you havent seen a show there it is fabulous...and Bayfield in the summer is spectacular as well.

I'll have high school baseball today as Wausau East hosts Medford..pre game at 4:20 and the first pitch at 4:30.

Songs of The Day   (from My I-pod)

It's Not My Cross To Bear-Allman Brothers Band (1969) the original lineup from the first album gave the indication that this was a band to be reckoned with. Duane Allman was the best guitar player of his generation and yes I'm including Clapton

It's Only Rock & Roll-Rolling Stones(1974) the last album with Mick Taylor before Ronnie Wood joined the band and it's a good one

The Milwaukee Brewers extended the contracts of Doug Melvin and Ron Roenicke yesterday. Mark Attanasio recognizes that he has two good ones and now Melvin will remain GM and now Director of Baseball Operations thru 2015 and Roenicke is signed thru 1014 with a club option for 2015. Obvioulsy staying competitive and winning is still the most important part of job security in pro sports...but like the Packers with Ted Thompson & Mike McCarthy...when you get some good people running the show, its important to keep them...because it's not easy to find those people.

BTW...there are three current major league managers that have won at least 1000 games without winning a World Series Title...can you name them?...answer at the bottom.

How about Josh Hamilton? 4 Homers, 5-5 and 8 RBI's last night. He's in the final year of his contract and will be a free agent at the end of the season. He doesnt come without risk. He has been injured alot...and then there are the substance abuse demons that still haunt him. He had a small relapse in the off-season that may give teams pause about giving him a huge contract.

The Minnesota Senate approved new stadium funding for a Vikings Stadium but don't think its a finished deal yet. The Vikings have said that they would only kick in $427 million of the $975 million dollar cost. The state says not so fast...we need more to make this work. Now they are talking about user fees, naming rights and any other way they can squeeze a few more bucks to get the deal done. The state has lost 2 pro franchises before so I think this will eventuually get done but as Senator David Thompson, A Lakeville Republican put it.."I admire millionaires & billionaires, but my goodness, we shouldnt take money from other folks and redistribute it to them". Alot of people in Minnesota agree.

Watched Wausau West beat Merrill yesterday in baseball and am again struck by how bad the new bat rule is for the game. These re-engineered bats are terrible. Unless you hit it exactly on the sweet spot, the ball does nothing. It sounds like the bats are broken on most struck balls. The bats were changed for so-called safety reasons and I understand you dont want pitchers or 3rd baseman to be put in harms way...but they have taken it too far. Plus these bats are just as expensive as the good bats used to be. It's not good for the game unless you're a pitcher.

I'll have high school baseball today. It's a makeup game from yesterday as Marshfield plays at Wausau East...4:30 on Foxsports1390 WRIG.

Happy Birthday to Billy Joel who turns 63 today. Here are a couple of my favorite  Joel tunes as our songs of the day.

Summer Highland Falls-Billy Joel (1976) from the Turnstiles album and the first time he used his touring band in the studio. It 's a breakup song and his return to New York from California.

Miami 2017-Billy Joel (1976) Another "Turnstiles" song that also appeared on his first live album (good version). You'll remember the decay of New York City in the 70's and Gerald Ford's refusal to use federal money to help them...this is what Joel calls a "a Science-Fiction" look at the fall of New York" from the eyes of a retiree in Florida circa 2017. This clip is from a SNL appearnce in 1981 and no one hits the drums harder than Liberty DiVitto.

Trivia answer- Buck Showalter, Dusty Baker & Bobby Valentine

I would imagine many of you remember the start of the Northwoods League...although as few people who were in the seats for those games...maybe you don't. I remember going to games back in the 90's when you could count the people in the crowd on both hands. The Woodchucks were a shoestring operation until Clark Eckhoff bought the team 13 years ago. It became a more professionally run operation and money was spent to promote the team and improve the fan experience at Athletic Park. Now, I'm more of a purist baseball guy so some of the bells, whistles, between innings games and shenanigans detract from the game in my mind...but I understand that the marketing needs to be aimed at the casual fan...who is there, probably with the kids and is looking for more than just a baseball game. The announcment was made yesterday that Eckhoff is selling the team to Mark Macdonald, a West Bend native who has lived and worked in LA for the past 30 years. He and his family are moving to Wausau and he says the team is staying right where it is. Which makes sense...you don't move a team that is doing well. And the Woodchucks are usually competitive on the field and at the box office. Eckhoff should be commended for salvaging a team that was going nowhere 13 years ago and should enjoy the next pashe of his life. I look forward to returning to the Chucks radio booth for a limited amount of games this summer when my Legion coaching duties allow. The home opener is June 1st.

The Brewers troubles continue. A Ryan Braun home run was all the offense could muster last night in a 6-1 loss to the Reds. They also found out that Alex Gonzalez has a torn ACL and is done for the year. At least no one got hurt last night.

A full slate of high school games today including a doubleheader of baseball on Foxsports1390. First up is DC Everest at Rhinelander at 4:30 followed by Marshfield at Wausau East.

Songs of The Day   (from my I-pod)

It's My Life-Animals (1965) A song written by the guys in the Brill Building which provided alot of songs for groups in the 50's and 60's .

It's My Party-Lesley Gore(1963) recorded at the age of 16 and went right to #1. Produced by Quincy Jones. Alot of teenage boys fell in love with Lesley Gore (who can forget her classic performance as the Catwoman's assistant  who beguiles Robin on the Batman tv show). It had to come as quite a shock later when she came out as a lesbian.

I've never bought the old sports cliche that "injuries are not an excuse for losing" Obviously the other teams you are competing with don't care about injuries to your team because they face the same chance every time they step on the field. But for fans and managers or coaches it seems to me, that injuries can certainly be a legitimate reason a team is struggling so why not admit it. We all know if Aaron Rodgers goes down, the Packers season is pretty much over. The Yankees are certainly not the same team without Mariano Rivera to slam the door in the 9th...the Bucks were a much worse team without Andrew Bogut in the middle...and if players keep falling for the Brewers you know it will be reflected in their record. It would be refreshing for a coach to come out and say..."you know, without our "superstar name here" we are not as good...we will keep fighting and do our best to replace that players production but don't be surprised if our record starts to reflect the loss" . You'll never hear that but as a coach myself I know that's what they are thinking.

Lunchbox called it...our rock guru on Rock94.7 and I were sitting at the Wisconsin Broadcasters Award Dinner on Saturday night and I was checking my phone and saw that Albert Pujols was benched on Saturday night. Greg immediatly said...'good...that means he will hit his first homer tomorrow". Sure enough, Pujols went deep in Sunday's game. He had gone 139 at-bats without a homer dating back to last year.

Was channel surfing all day yesterday. The Heat-Knicks game was pretty entertaining. Carmelo and Amare came up big as the Knicks stayed alive. The NASCAR folks at Talladega had a good one....the Brewers battled back but came up short in the 11th. Tim Dillard=trouble. The LA Kings continue their surprising dominance. They are the first NHL team to kock out a #1 & #2 seed in the same year.

Weather permitting I will have high school baseball today on Foxsports1390. Wausau East at Mosinee at 4:30.

Songs Of The Day   (from my I-pod)

It's Money That Matters-Randy Newman (1988) the titles of his songs don't always tell the story. The lyrics always seem to have a twist

It's My Job-Jimmy Buffett (1980) Don't feel sorry for yourself no matter what your circumstances...carry on

I don't do politics in this blog. I leave that to others who seem to have an endless supply of talking points to hammer home about what's wrong with one side of the political discusson. But on this anniversery of the day when an over-zealous National Guard commander followed the orders of the Governor of Ohio to fire live rounds on protesting college students on the campus of Kent State University, killing four...it's worth the vitriol I will recieve from the lunatic fringe who post on this website, to remember and realize that it could happen again. From the pepper spraying of non-resisting students at Berkeley to the rubber bullets that injured any number of folks, the idea that protest against government policy or the excesses of a few, should be met with violent force is an idea that is shared and agreed with by many. It's shameful.  You may disagree with positions on the issues, may even think they are misguided and ignorant, but the idea that law enforcement, or the National Guard needs to use violent means to control these protests is an idea that needs to stop. We are asked to remember the names of our fallen soldiers and rightly so. They have paid the ultimate sacrifice, many times in pursuit of dubious ends decided by their commanders and the politicians that control them. But there have been other victims too.  Just ask the families and friends of Allison Krause, Sandra Lee Scheuer, Jeffrey Glenn Miller and William Schroeder.

Injuries continue to ravage the sports world. Mariano Rivera tore an ACL last night shagging fly balls during batting practice and Terrell Suggs of the Baltimore Ravens tore his achilles tendon. This may be a career ender for Rivera who was contemplating retirement anyway.

Its a good pitching matchup in San Francisco tonight. Zach Greinke for Milwaukee against a struggling Tim Lincecum. Hopefully the Brewers can keep Lincecum struggling. You can hear the game on WSAU at 8:40.

Congrats to Wausau West grad Amanda Fischer. The freshman softball player at UW-Eau Claire was named the Louiville Slugger D-3 Player of The Week. Its a national award as she had a monster week helping the Blu-Golds clinch the WIAC championship.

The BBC's latest version of Sherlock Holmes...which plants the sociopathic detective in present day London will return this Sunday night on PBS for it's second season. Unfortunatly they don't do very many episodes but what they do is excellent.

Songs of The day   (from my I-pod)

It's Gonna Take Some Time-Carole King(1971) The Carpenters had a hit with this one a year later but Carole's original from the "Music" Lp gave us a taste of what was to come a year later for her.

It's Good To Be King-Tom Petty(1994) from the second solo album.

I sort of zoned out yesterday afternoon. Got caught up on some Tv on the DVR. Watched this week's episode of Mad Men and the 2 hour season finale of "Alcratraz" (didnt like the cliffhanger...we all know they are not going to kill off the lead character so why bother ). My point is I didnt pay attention to the sports world until last night and holy cow...it was one of those days you couldnt afford to blink or you would miss soemthing newsworthy....Junior Seau dead at 43...New Packer Anthony Hargrove suspended for eight games for the Saints bounty program...Jon Vilma of the Saints gone for the entire season...Mat Gamel gone with torn ACL....and then last night...Suppan returns from the minors to shut down the Brewers...Braun leaves the game with sore achilles tendon....Jered Weaver throws a no-hitter for the Angels....Marion Gaborik scores game winner in 3rd overtime to lift the Rangers over the Caps...maybe today will give us a bit of a respite.

The Brewers are off to lick their wounds and limp up the coast to San Francisco. Brooks Conrad, who was hitting well in the minors and had a good spring comes up to replace Gamel. You wouldnt think it, but Milwaukee still leads the league in Home Runs.

The NFL players union is going to fight the bounty suspensions but what can they fight and why would they want to. Public opinion is never going to agree with what the Saints were doing...most fans , I would think agree that harsh penalties are needed to send the message that this will not be tolerated.

The Packers could cut Hargrove without to much ramification if they dont want to deal with the hassle. There was no signing bonus or guaranteed money and if he was cut there would be nothing counted under the salary cap.

Havent read alot about the Seau case. Hopefully its not another case of a former football player suffering from head trauma and dementia who decided to end it. There have been too many of those cases over the last few years.

I'll have high school baseball for you today on Foxsports1390. Wausau East travels to Antigo for a non-confernce game. It will be the second half of our doubleheader following the DC Everest game at Wisconsin Rapids which begins at 430...my game will probably air around 6:45. And all of our games are available as podcasts on Foxsports1390.com or wsau.com

Songs of The day  (from my I-pod)

It's Easy-JJ Cale & Eric Clapton (2006) from one of my favorite albums 'The Road To Escondido" comes this laid back shuffle from two old pros. This album also featured a host of big name guests including the final recorded work of Billy Preston.

It's Getting Dark In Here-Elton John (2004) from an underated album "Peachtree Road" that featured his old band back together and lyrics by Bernie Taupin. You have to admit, when John & Taupin get together, it's pretty darn good

I can't remember a year where so many superstar baseball players have struggled so much to start a season. The list is long and includes Albert Pujols, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Jose Bautista, Jose Reyes and Kevin Youklis. On the other hand there have been some other-worldly performances led by Matt Kemp who statiscally may have had the best month of April in major league history. Other hot starters include Derek Jeter, Josh Hamilton, David Ortiz and 5'5" Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros. Now the number crunchers tell us that the hot guys will "regress to the mean" and the cold guys will regroup and start hitting but every year there are "outliers" and I'm wondering if one or two of those cold guys may be seeing the beginning of the statistical slide that age brings to every player eventually.

How about the hot teams...Washington, the Dodgers, Cleveland & Baltimore have all been surprising. I think the Nationals are for real. I'm not convinced about the others yet. Strentgh of schedule plays an early part in a good start. Some of these teams should come back to the pack. BTW The Brewers schedule is pretty favorable the next few weeks.

Injuries are playing a part as well. TAmpa will lose Evan Longoria for up to 8 weeks with a torn hamstring. Josh Hamilton has tweaked his back and the Mariners lost their catcher Miguel Olivo this week. The Brewers have stayed away from the injury bug so far this season. With the exception of Chris Narveson whose surgery was done yesterday and apparantly was a success.

Milwaukee was tasered by an old friend last night. MArk Kotsay, who played so well off the Brewer bench last season hit a pinch hit two run homer off K-Rod to beat the Brewers 2-0 last night. The Crew will get a chance to recover tonight against another old friend. Could it be that Jeff Suppan is still pitching in the majors? He will get the start for San Diego tonight. He looked done when Milwaukee let him go a couple of years ago.

Music news...Carlos Santana will begin another two-year La Vegas engagement at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. The first 16 performances will be this month and early June. Santana is also playing a few combo concerts with the Allman Brothers Band this summer. That sounds like a great show but you're going to have to travel East to see it. all of the dates are in upstate New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland.

Songs of The Day   (from my I-pod)

It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding-Bob Dylan (1964) One of his masterpieces and a song where the scorn and bitterness at the cheap commercialism and hypocrisy of this countrys leaders and people at the time. Some of his best word play and images..."Money doesnt talk, it swears" and my favorite "Sometimes even the president has to stand naked" One the clssic "Bringing It Back Home" album. here is a live version from 1964.

It's Different For Girls-Joe Jackson (1979) from the underated "I'm The Man" album comes this take on relationships featuring Jacksons original band. These guys were called 'new wave" but to me it's crystal clear pop music. Good stuff.

Baseball players know failure more than any other athlete. I think it's a given at this point that the hardest athletic skill to master is hitting a baseball. Even the best fail 7 out of ten times to get a base hit. Tha's why a night like Ryan Braun had last night is so special and should be savored like a gourmet meal. Braun had three home runs in San Diego's Petco Park, the league's hardest place to hit homers, in a Brewer win. He also added a triple, six RBi's and three runs scored. His 15 total bases were a team record. Braun of course, has been under scrutiny this season and his slow start had raised some eyebrows. He had been warming up recently and maybe a night like this will relax him to the point where he can finally put the the last off-season in the rear view mirror...because let's face it...without Braun putting up the numbers...the Brewers have no chance.

If you have never embraced the game of hockey but are interested to learn...the time is now. Playoff hockey is incredible and with the great announcers and analysts employed by NBC and the NBC Sports Network you can learn the game quickly. If you want to see intensity personified, watch the New Jersey-Philly series going on right now. Game 2 is tonight. Hard nosed, gritty hockey. Stanley Cup playoff hockey...the old cliche holds..."it doesnt get nuch better than this".

A double header of high school baseball today on Foxsports1390. First up Wausau West at DC Everest followed by Merrill at Wausau East...it all starts at 4:20 pm.

Roger Waters is bringing the "Pink Floyd-The Wall" tour back to America this summer. The closest to us will be the Exel Energy Center in St Paul on June 3rd and Wrigley Field in Chicago on June 8th

A couple of Rock & Roll autobiographys are out this week. Gregg Allman's book "My Cross To Bear" will deal with his substance abuse and health problems, the death of his brother, his many marriages and of course the fabulous music he has made over the decades.

Also Johnny Ramone's book "Commando" is out. The late guitarist should give us a look inside the early punk days.

Songs of The Day   (from my I-pod)

It's All Right-Impressions (1963) Curtis Mayfield with a soul classic

It's Alright-Trisha Yearwood (2005) her first album since getting together romantically with Garth Brooks. This also features Sam Bush on mandolin and old pro Dan Dugmore on steel guitar.