Three area American Legion Baseball teams punched their tickets to State Tournament play over the weekend. Wausau, Antigo and Marathon moved on by winning their respective regional tournaments. Wausau, back at the State Tournament for the first time since 2010, will begin AAA play on Tuesday vs Eau Claire in Marshfield…game time is 12:30. The other games on Day One are Neenah vs Beloit at 10am, De Pere vs Madison Impact at 4 and Sheboygan vs Marshfield at 8. Antigo will play in the AA tournament in River Falls…their first game is against Superior. And Marathon came back through the losers bracket after dropping their regional opener to head back to the A state tournament this year in Prairie du Chien.
The Brewers let one get away on Sunday with the Cubs scoring 5 in the 7th to comeback and win 6-5. Milwaukee starts a 4 game series with Arizona tonight. Who will still be in a Brewer uniform by the end of the week?
The current Dream Team is having no problems in the exhibition run up to the Olympics. Team USA pounded China on Sunday 106-57. Kevin Durant led the way with 19. They play the Chinese again Tuesday in Oakland.
I just don't get the idea that some sportswriters will not vote for a sure thing Hall-Of Famer because no one has ever received 100% of the vote before. Of course its ludicrous that Mays, Aaron and any number of others didn't get every vote but should that mean that current players get shortchanged as well? How can you not vote for Ken Griffey Jr. for the Hall Of Fame? He got 99% of the vote and was inducted with Mike Piazza yesterday.
How about Chris Sale showing his millennial sense of entitlement by having a locker room meltdown so serious he has been suspended for 5 games. What did the White Sox ace go nuts about? He didn't want to wear the teams throw back uniforms over the weekend. Now I grant you that the mid 70's White Sox uniforms were bad…but Sale cut them all up with a knife so nobody could wear them. Ummm….he had been on the trade block before…expect him to be gone by the end of the week…despite being one of the best pitchers in baseball.
The Packers begin training camp this week. Players report today and the first practice is tomorrow. I think both players and fans are expecting big things this season.
Songs Of The Day (from my I-pod)
Sleeps Dark & Silent Gate-Jackson Browne (1976) a great track from “The Pretender”. Only someone with as many heart-breaking relationships as he's had could write a line like “I don't know what love has got to do with happiness”.
Sleepwalker-Kinks (1977) one of their later hits with the trademark jangly guitar and high pitched vocals