Brewers game

I would say that that was the most entertaining game I have watched this season. 4-2 win over the Mets with a walk-off, Goeff Jenkins HR in the bottom of the 13th. It seemed like from the 8th-13th, both teams got their leadoff man on base and then it was a mad scramble to not allow that guy to score.

Thank you for indulging in my excitement (no analysis here),
Swo

J.J. = S.S.?

It's appearing that James Jones has made the highlight reel of every Packer practice/scrimmage so far, or at least to me. From Tuesday's game (thanks to the always-great PackersNews Insider Blog):

Two great catches by rookie receiver James Jones. First, he elevated over Patrick Dendy for a ball from Aaron Rodgers in the front right corner of the end zone. Then, he fully extended to haul in a high Paul Thompson pass near the back of the end zone.

Bogut, II

Bogut, 1:20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4pZ0AhkCUU

Stupid Ref Scandal Thing

Great Article about how Donaghy was an idiot:

As a teen with an average academic record, Donaghy had a ringer take the SAT for him so he could gain admittance to prestigious Villanova University, which he attended for free because his mom worked there, according to a source at Donaghy's alma mater, Cardinal O'Hara HS in Springfield, Pa.

The ref puffed up his official NBA résumé with fibs - and was shunned by other league officials after punching out fellow whistleblower Joey Crawford three years ago, several sources said.

"When Tim didn't get his way, he'd act like an out-of-control child,"
...
But when it came to getting an elite job as an NBA official, Donaghy didn't have to resort to lying or cheating - he had help on his way up.
...
But the biggest local referee was Jake O'Donnell, a legendary NBA official who hails from nearby Clifton and helped others from the area break into the league - including current officials Crawford and two Cardinal O'Hara alums, Mike "Duke" Callahan and Ed Malloy.

That trio became a tight-knit group.

"You never met three better people," Coach Gardler said.

Soon joining their ranks was Donaghy, who worked just five years in the minor-league CBA before moving up, partly due to O'Donnell's help, to a league that paid him six figures, sources who know the group said.

Donaghy often joined the others to hang out after games or have beers together when they weren't working, the sources said.

There was a former ref on some ESPN show when this news broke who talked about the Good 'ol Boy system the league has for refs. This seems to confirm that contention...sounds like a problem to me.

Ted Thompson

Bob McGinn really goes after Ted Thompson in this jsonline.com interview:

Q.Favre has never come across as a shrewd judge of personnel, but in his mind he saw Moss doing damage in Green Bay with Donald Driver and Greg Jennings. He wanted Moss and said Moss would have done the same reduced deal that he took in New England. Given the circumstances, why didn't you obtain Moss?

A. Randy Moss is a member of the New England Patriots now. That's the way it is. It's inappropriate for me to be discussing a player that's on another team.

Q.Ron Wolf and Bob Harlan almost always explained themselves to fans when given the opportunity in similar forums. Don't fans in this state deserve an explanation from the general manager three months after the fact?

A. Right. I still think it's inappropriate to talk about a player that's on another team.

Q.I don't recall Ron Wolf getting in trouble with the league office when he talked about players on other teams. Why aren't you more forthcoming?

A. I just don't do that.

Q.You're well into the third year of a five-year contract. No matter what you inherited, the team is 12-20 during your watch. Do you worry that your tenure might be short-lived if the team doesn't start winning this season?

A. Well, we would like to win this season. I've said that publicly and privately, saying we expect to win. I don't worry about things like, "Am I going to be here after this year?" That never enters my mind.

More interesting, testy stuff in the link.

Investigative reporting through Secondary Source Material

As you know, the Brewers trade 3 pitching prospects (including SP Inman) for reliever Scott Linebrink.

We investigate:
Chris (Madison, WI): Did the Brewers make the right move in dealing Inman, etc. for Linebrink? Does this deal only make sense in the context of the forthcoming 1st rounder and sandwich pick from his type A free agent status?

Keith Law: (1:15 PM ET ) It's not a guarantee that Linebrink will be a Type A. We won't know until October, and if he pitches poorly down the stretch it becomes less likely. I don't think the Brewers gave up anything great - Inman's a 5th starter, maybe a 4th starter if his command improves, but his stuff is average at best with no projection - but I think they paid for last year's Linebrink, not this year's.

Well, I guess we shall see. They have a pretty bulbous bullpen now, filled with quality arms:
Cordero, Turnbow, Linebrink, Villanueva, Shouse and Wise (btw, I love Wise when he is a 6th inning guy, not when he is a 7th/8th). They actually may be in a position to deal one of those guys (like Wise or Turnbow), but it helps to remember that Cordero is a free agent and will get entirely too much money in the offseason (I'll guess 3 yrs/$33 mil).

Random Thoughts

Brewers -
1) Ryan Braun and Yovanni Gallardo are really, really good players. I think that the Brewers might be more formidable next year because guys like Prince and JJ Hardy (the first half was a career first half by the way, be happy with .300 and 15-20 HR's a season) will start to become veterans and the front of the rotation will feature two aces with Gallardo and Sheets.

2) I think Rickie Weeks will be a late bloomer at best. Remember, the success of good prospects is not a guarantee. Between Prince, Braun, Gallardo, Hardy, Weeks and Hart, you have the Brewers best prospects from the last few years. Generally speaking, if 4/6 of those prospects turn out to be major league average or above, you are doing pretty well. Right now, it looks like the Brewers are at 5/6 with the potential for all 6 to hit that point if Rickie can blossom. If he doesn't, Brewers fans should not fret - not all the best prospects turn out.

Badger Football
3) I think the Badgers are going to have a great defense again this year (with a SEC caliber LB core and a 1st round CB), but I think their offense will falter. I think they are going to wind up using both Donovan and Everidge at some point because I don't think either of them will have resounding success. Further, I think PJ Hill will have a down year. Finally, I think that both Beckum and Jack Ikegwuonu will be drafted by the middle of the second round in the NFL draft, with the potential to be well higher.

NBA
4) This ref scandal is totally crazy and worse for basketball than a comparable scandal in any other sport because of all the griping that already goes on about officiating in the league. I think the NBA should create strong financial incentives to referees who do a good job. Nothing causes people to improve their craft more than money.

5) Bogut looks ridiculous. The whole Bucks team looks ridiculous to me, actually. Michael Redd is a stud, but really a 1b as opposed to a superstar. The remaining cast includes an overpaid PG who plays shoddy D (not saying his re-signing was a bad move, but...), an oft injured, role player who makes too much money (Simmons) or a swing man who cannot shoot at all (Mason), a center who appears to not like anyone in the NBA (Bogut) and cannot play a lick of D other than taking repeated charges, a 3-4 who cannot play defense and hangs around the perimeter too much (Charlie V) and finally, a guy from China who doesn't even want to play for the Bucks and is raw as some sashimi grade Ahi tuna. That does not sound like a good team to me.

Bogut's new haircut

It's being called
"the worst haircut in the NBA."

Can you really argue with that?

Chen Haitao is the man with the answers...they just don't match

After yesterday causing many online "pundits" to declare that Bucks had no choice but to trade Yi, the manager of his Chinese team is now backing down from his earlier comments. This is from China Weekly:

When asked "What choice should Yi make if the Bucks insist on no trading?" Chen thought for a moment before answering, "the only way out is negotiation. As for final decision, I really have no answer."

However, Chen suggested the media should not oppose Yi's agent team against the Bucks and denied he's in bad relationship with the Bucks.

"The National Basketball Association is a sort of business where people negotiate on set platform with set rules," Chen said. "There's no opposition between us and we respect each other. "Now it's the phase in which everybody express opinions, not like what some people think."

People should stop jumping to conclusions on this. The Bucks hold ALL the bargaining chips here: Yi wants to play in the NBA, he needs to play next year to get ready for the Olympics, and if he does play in China they continue to hold his rights. The Bucks aren't rushing this.

The soap opera continues

Good thing Chris is on his honeymoon and won't see this for awhile. After a long stretch of good news, we get this new report:

The Milwaukee Bucks' campaign to secure the services of reluctant power forward Yi Jianlian has suffered a blow after the player's Chinese club said it would block his move to the United States.

Yi, taken by Milwaukee with the sixth selection in the NBA draft last month, would "definitely not" play for Milwaukee, Tuesday's Beijing News quoted Guangdong Tigers chief, Chen Haitao, as saying.

"This is not -- as media reports have said -- because Milwaukee, as a city with very few Chinese people, is not good for Yi's commercial development," Chen said.

"Rather we want to find a team suitable for Yi's growth. That's the root of the problem," he added.

I'm not really sure why exactly the Bucks wouldn't be suitable for his growth, and hopefully this is just more posturing. Larry Harris is planning to visit China soon, so stay tuned.

Mark Cuban is my hero

I've had nothing to do with baseball, and no interest at all, ever since the strike a decade ago completely screwed my fantasy league. I haven't been able to conceive of anything that would lead to changing this...until now.

When I read the headline that Mark Cuban wants to buy the Cubs an involuntary smile appeared on my face. I know he can be obnoxious, but isn't he also the most enthusiastic, fan-like owner in sports? Isn't he a model of a sports fan's dream: a geek who built a multi-billion $$$ fortune from nothing, then turned it into a sports empire? And hasn't he done everything right compared to Danny Schneider? The guy even keeps his own blog!

Don't worry though, Bud will never allow it to happen.

China loves the Bucks!

An Associated Press story says that the majority of Chinese basketball fans want Yi to sign with the Bucks quickly.

"Fegan will hamper Yi's future," former national team coach Qian Chenghai was quoted as saying in Tuesday's edition of the state-run China Daily newspaper. "I don't think Yi refused to join the Bucks, it is Fegan who doesn't want him to join.

"We don't want to see Yi destroy his reputation in the NBA and return to the Chinese Basketball Association. That's horrible," the coach said.

Results of an online poll published in China Daily showed 68 percent of 9,000 respondents want Yi to play for the Bucks.

"Yi, stand up and speak for yourself," China Daily said, citing an article in the Beijing Evening Post. "Don't hesitate anymore and don't let anybody control your life."

Battle of the Heads

My friend Steve Fiffer has created a bracketed competition on his blog among all the ESPN "heads" to crown the top personality on the network (we all know who the winner will be, don't we Satchmo?) You can find the competition here. Here are the bracketed matchups for the first round:

Keith Olbermann Bracket

1. Stephen A. Smith vs. 2.Neal Everett
3.Chris Berman vs. 4. Jay Crawford
5.Linda Cohn vs. 6. Mike Golic
7.Dick Vitale vs. 8.Stacey Dales

Melissa Stark Bracket

9.Suzy Kolber vs. 10.Jim Rome
11.Dan Patrick vs. 12.Joe Morgan
13.Erin Andrews vs. 14. Stuart Scott
15.Michelle Tafoya vs. 16.John Kruk

Craig Kilborn Bracket

17.Mel Kiper jr. vs, 18. John Saunders
19.Peter Gammons vs. 20.Tony Reali
21.Mike Greenberg vs. 22.Skip Bayless
23.Sage Steele vs. 24.Tony Kornheiser

Joe Theismann Bracket

25.Brent Musburger vs. 26.Chris McKendry
27. Kenny Mayne vs. 28.Mike Tirico
29.Michael Wilbon vs. 30.Pedro Gomez
31.Dana Jacobson vs. 32.Barry Melrose

The numbers are merely for identification. Not seeding.

You can email your votes to steve@ampolo.com

I'm not sure what the news of Dan Patrick's resignation does to his chances.

David Stern to the rescue?

According to Marty Burns of SI, David Stern may intervene to get the Yi situation resolved.

"The consensus among GMs seemed to be that Yi would end up in Milwaukee since both sides had too much at stake for any other outcome. The NBA has an obvious interest in protecting smaller-market teams from being shunned by draft picks. The Chinese government needs their young star in the NBA so that he's more ready to help his national team compete at the '08 Beijing Olympics."

Mo Williams

From ESPN.com:

Riley Courts Williams
Jul 8 - Heat coach Pat Riley made a late-night recruiting pitch Saturday -- wining and dining free agent Mo Williams -- in an attempt to land the most coveted point guard remaining on the market.

Williams' agent, Mark Bartelstein, confirmed Saturday night his client was in Miami and was "very interested" in an opportunity to play for a title contender.

Milwaukee, one of the few teams with cap space to offer a hefty contract, has reportedly floated Williams a five- or six-year deal worth about $40 million. Barring a sign-and-trade, the most the Heat could offer Williams is a five-year contract worth about $30 million. --

If Mo Williams leaves and goes to Miami, the Bucks would be pretty screwed for PG. In that case, I would offer up next years 1st and a small contract for Calderon (Tor), resign Charlie Bell and contact the agent of Brevin Knight ASAP.

If the Bucks' offer remains at $40 mil and Miami stays at $30, that is closer that it seems because Florida doesn't have a state personal income tax. If I were Mo, I might jump at the opportunity to play for a team with D Wade on it - and one that plays in the worst division in basketball in the worst conference.

Even more 'ee' news

From jsonline.com:

You don't need to talk to someone from the Milwaukee Bucks to discover there is confusion when it comes to their first-round draft pick, Yi Jianlian.

There's confusion about his intent to play for the Bucks. There's confusion about how to pronounce his name. There's even confusion about how old he is.

Some reports list his birth date as Oct. 27, 1987, which is said to be the date listed on his passport. That would make him 19.

But other reports have called that date into question.

A reader last week sent an e-mail to some Journal Sentinel staffers saying Yi's "true age" could be verified by checking the listing for him at the Guangdong Social Insurance Administration. The reader provided the Web link to the site.

Guangdong is the province where the city of Shenzhen is located, where Yi was born.

According to the data for Yi that appears to be provided by that site, Yi was born Oct. 27, 1984.

If that's accurate, he is 22.

But this doesn't end the debate about Yi's age.

It only means this government site appears to list the age for a Yi Jianlian as Oct. 27, 1984. It appears to be the Bucks' Yi and not some other Yi.

What does it mean that Yi was dominating little kids? Who knows? I just want to see this cat play. My guess is that he is going to show flashes next year, but be far more inconsistent than even the average rookie. It would be a good thing for the Bucks if he had solid rotation time, but had a competent backup for when things aren't going well for Yi. I think the frontcourt rotation of Bogut, Gadzuric, Yi and Villanueva seems to cover that goal.

Watch ee tonight online

NBA.com is webcasting the games (not sure if some are dependant on your location) for FREE here: http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007/scoreboard.jsp Yi is playing later tonight.

SWO UPDATE: Tonight (Saturday) at 6:30, team China vs. the Kings. Last night, ee had 23 points and apparently looked quite good (other than the 7 fouls in the first half (yes 7 fouls)).

Also, if you get a chance, goto espn.com and click on the video stuff on the right. Goto basketball and watch the highlights of the Trailblazers v. Celtics game. Even though the espn anchor makes a terrible call of it, watch as Allen Ray? takes a 20 footer that Oden blocks - at the basket. It's the funniest damn thing. Almost like he was unaware that there is a rule called 'goaltending'.

EE mini-update

Mini non-news update in Yi Jianlian from jsonline.com:

Yi meets with Harris, Krystkowiak

Las Vegas - Chinese power forward Yi Jianlian had his first direct meeting with Milwaukee Bucks officials yesterday when he spoke with Bucks general manager Larry Harris and coach Larry Krystkowiak at the team's hotel.

The Bucks' first-round draft choice is playing in the NBA Summer League with Team China, which opens its schedule tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Sources indicated today that Yi spent about an hour meeting with Harris and Krystkowiak. The only other people present were Yi's interpreter and an interpreter used by the Bucks officials. The meeting was characterized as positive.

According to sources, Harris told Yi the Bucks have no intent to trade him and will give him a major opportunity to fit into the team's young frontcourt, which includes Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva.

Harris hand-delivered a letter written by Bucks owner and Sen. Herb Kohl, asking the Guangdong Tigers player to visit Milwaukee. No date has yet been established for such a visit.

The Bucks picked Yi with the sixth overall selection in the June 28 draft, but Yi's representatives have sought a trade to a larger NBA market and one with a larger Asian-American population.

Yi and the Chinese national team will compete against NBA teams in the expanded summer league, which includes 21 league clubs. No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden of the Portland Trail Blazers and No. 2 selection Kevin Durant of the Seattle SuperSonics also will be playing in the summer league. Seven of the top eight lottery picks are participating.

Bucks officials have made plans to watch Yi in three games this weekend in Las Vegas. The Bucks summer league entry, including point guard Lynn Greer and forward David Noel, will open play on Sunday against a Los Angeles Lakers squad.

Is that promising? I don't know.

Yi catching flak in China?

I'm not really familiar with the Chinese sports blogs, but this is a report from a reader of Woelfel's column named Xiao Chen:

Yi will play in Milwaukee. He will create a national outrage in China if he does not. The Chinese media has launched an offensive targeting Yi's agent Dan Fegan as a selfish greedy man and sort of sparing Yi at this moment. But based on fan opinions on sports forums in China, they are all on Milwaukee's side and many
fans have officially announced their resignation as a Yi fan because they think Yi is being an embarrassment for the Chinese people.

Could there be a backlash from the mainland?

Ryan Braun - 1 month later

Ryan Braun has been up to the bigs playing 1st base for a little over a month now. He quickly settled into the 3rd spot in the lineup and has preformed quite well. Let's take a look at his numbers and compare them to other notables:

Braun:
36 games
.347 avg/.385 OBP/.626 SLG/1.011 OPS for a .279 Isolated Power.
He is 8/9 on SB attempts.

Hunter Pence:
Probably the NL rookie of the year right now, Pence is pretty much in the exact boat as Braun, except he has done it for 25 more games.
60 games
.356/.374/.598/.972 for a .252 ISO Power
7/11 on SB attempts.

Fantasy wise, you can hardly go wrong with either of these two guys on your team - especially because you probably picked them up for free, depending upon your league format.

Predicting the future performance:
Neither of these two are going to finish with numbers like what they have now. For example, Braun's BABIP which is the batting average for balls in play is .394. That suggests that to this point, he has been a bit lucky when he hits the ball. Expect his average to drop when that drops when, for example, the spray charts tell opposing teams where exactly to position their defense.

Regardless, Braun has a very strong pedigree when it comes to hitting and any potential slumps he may go through likely won't be prolonged. For fantasy, I would not sell high unless you have another top 7 3B or unless you are selling him for a very good player. As a Brewer fan, I would endorse a jersey purchase for the man because there are 5 more years of hitting at similar levels.

Del Harris Interview

In an interview on 1220 WSSP in Milwaukee, Del Harris discusses the Yi situation. Audio Link.

Yi can't re-enter the draft next year

Thanks to Henry Abbott for foraging out this bit of info about the Collective Bargaining Agreement: since Yi is currently under contract to a non-NBA team (the Guangdong Tigers), he's already ineligible to go back into next year's draft. He'd have to spend a year without the Tigers contract first, and it's too late to do that for next year.

So, if he doesn't want to play in Milwaukee they can hold out until the 2009 draft. Would he be willing to do the same?

A Few Bucks Notes

From various sources (incl Woelful):

Several NBA officials and agents believe the Bucks have offered Williams a contract for about $40 million over five years.
Several other teams are believed to be interested in Williams, including Indiana, Miami and the Los Angeles Lakers. However, those teams can only offer Williams the mid-level exception of $5.8 million per year. The aforementioned teams could also try to acquire Williams in a sign-and-trade deal, but none of those teams has a point guard the Bucks certainly would want in return.

I cannot believe Mo would not sign for that. He cannot get an offer for more without a sign and trade and I don't see why the Bucks would facilitate that.

However, Roger Montgomery, the agent for former Bucks forward Desmond Mason who played last two seasons for the New Orleans Hornets, confirmed Harris had called him Sunday morning. While Williams is unquestionably Harris’ priority signing in free agency, he has a keen interest in bringing Mason back to the Bucks.

Isn't he an older DeShaun Stevenson, but who can't shoot? I think Stevenson is about to get 3 years, 10 million. I would be fine with brining in Mason if we aren't paying him much, but still.

The Associated Press also reported the Bucks had contacted forward Gerald Wallace of the Charlotte Hornets. The Bucks are reportedly one of eight teams pursuing Wallace.

I love Gerald Wallace. I am starting to wonder how all of these players would fit?

Rotoworld:

Yi Jianlian had 15 points and eight rebounds in China's 91-75 loss to the United States' 19-and-under national team Sunday.
Yi scored 11 points in the fourth quarter after the U.S. team had stretched its lead to 20 points. He played 23 minutes, going 3-of-8 from the field and 8-of-12 on free throws. When asked if he'd had any contact with the Bucks, Yi said, "I don't want to talk about that." It's possible that these 15 points are more than he will ever score for the Bucks. In case you've been out of the loop, Yi was drafted by Milwaukee on Thursday, but doesn't appear to have any interest in playing in Wisconsin.

Not looking good. But then:
jsonline.com

Milwaukee Bucks owner Herb Kohl has written a letter to the team's first-round draft pick, Yi Jianlian, requesting a meeting with the 7-foot power forward.

Good thing the senator is not dating himself with this 'letter sending.'
Hopefully the telegram he is going to send reaches Yi in time.

"Our agent team had meetings to study this case immediately after the draft," Yi's Chinese agent, Zhao Gang, told SportsTicker. "Yi's selection at six has proved his capabilities and his value.

"However, we feel that the Bucks are not the best fit for Yi Jianlian. Our team will make contact with other teams who have watched Yi's training and games to see if there is any possibility of a trade."

Harris is definitely doing the right thing by not wavering on his stance. I think this will get resolved pretty soon - in either direction. One thing I was wondering: Can other teams talk to Yi and his representation to work out a trade without our permission? I know they can't in the NFL, but I don't know here.

Leverage

From Rotoworld:

"Though the final result of the negotiations and communications are uncertain, I can guarantee that whatever the outcome is, it could not be so bad that Yi will be back to play in the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association)," said Liu HongJiang, deputy general manager of the Guangdong Hongyuan Basketball Club.

Update: Liu HongJiang has been relieved of his duties as PR director for the Guangdong Hongyuan Basketball Club.