That was one rambling-ass last post.

So, unfortunately for the Big Foot Chiefs, the dream season ended last night with a 20-0 loss to Wautoma/Faith Christian. The score kind of betrays how close the game really was. Both defenses were lights out, but WFC had the benefit of some suh-weet field position because of Big Foot's inability to get anything going on defense. Admittedly, Big Foot's ability to force turnovers gave them some pretty good field position, too, but they couldn't get anything going. I think Big Foot may have been a little shell-shocked; a team that probably averaged around 200 yards rushing from the first game of the year through the playoffs was completely stuffed.

The passing game couldn't get going (until the final drive, when Wautoma was playing off and keeping everything underneath) mostly because it seemed like as soon as the ball was snapped two to four defenders were in the backfield. On two occassions, Steve Dowden (Big Foot's quarterback) lost a ton of yardage on sacks, backpedalling with defenders right in his grill.

Speaking of that last drive, with just a few minutes left in the game, FSN Wisconsin put up a graphic showing that Big Foot had only gained, like, 37 total yards. The record for least yardage in a D4 game was 75. Thankfully, with Wautoma playing off, Big Foot was able to gain enough yardage to get up over that mark; I would have been pretty disappointed to see the Chiefs finally fight their way into a Championship game with only an answer to a trivia question to show for it. Now, Beloit Turner can hold on to that dubious distinction.

It's easy to play the "what if" game (and frankly, given the lack of success Big Foot could muster offensively no matter what they tried and where the ball was, it's probably a waste of time, but still...) but I look at two plays that could feasibly have changed the complexion of the game. Early in the second quarter, with the score tied 0-0 after a few short possessions and punts by both teams, Big Foot running back T.J. Schaid took the ball off tackle to the right. He had pretty good seal blocks and, after a gain of about five yards, looked like he was going to turn the corner and have a safety to beat for six. Before he got the chance, a Wautoma linebacker laid out and got him by the fackemask, twisting him off balance and tripping him up. Without that facemask, there's a good chance Schaid, with his speed and burst, is gone giving Big Foot the first points on the board. Maybe striking first gives a boost in confidence, maybe not....

The second play came shortly thereafter. Wautoma had a first and ten at the Big Foot 44 after a good scramble by quarterback Jacob Abbrederis. They lost five on a run attempt, then Abbrederis fumbled on a fake hand off, picked it up and was tackled bringing up a third and 18. A false start turned that into a third and 23 at Wautoma's 43. On the third down play, Abbrederis was getting a lot of pressure from his left; he was able to escape the pocket to his right and, while being dragged down, get off a dart to a receiver for a gain of 19. A punt on a fourth and four was downed at Big Foot's three yard line. A first down run was knocked back to the one, and a second down pass was picked at around the 20 setting up Wautoma's - and the game's - first score.

Now the rub is that a replay showed that Abbrederis's knee hit before he threw the ball. If Wautoma's punting from their own 35 instead of Big Foot's 48, there's little to no chance that ball is downed at the three. (Factor in that Wautoma's last punt was a fourteen yard shank, and there's no telling what Big Foot's field position is.) So in an alternate reality, either T.J. Schaid scores early in the second, or at the very least, Big Foot isn't forced to play with their backs on their own goalline, gifting Wautoma with the sort of field position that turns into points.

Of course, those two plays alone wouldn't change the fact that, in the second half, Big Foot was completely unable to move the ball, or that it seemed like the Chiefs' defense wore down and Wautoma's offense was able to gain some yards, but a two score swing turns a 20-0 game to a 13-7 game....

Maybe I'll start actually writing here again...

I'm at least a day ahead of my recent trend of spotty posting here.

Let's start with the Wisconsin game. For the second week in a row, halftime adjustments seemed to make all the difference in the world. This time, though, it was less about taking a lead and getting their shit together than it was about reclaiming a game and finishing. While I'd prefer the Badgers play full games the way they have the second halves against Indiana and Minnesota, I'll still take shaky first halves, strong seconds instead of games like the Michigan or Michigan State game without hesitation.

I was pretty frustrated with the sloppy play of the first half, and I'll admit to feeling guilty, after the fact, of my "Are you fucking kidding me?" reaction to Kyle Jefferson's fumble. I mean, if I'd known he was concussed, I certainly wouldn't have been as critical.... Again, though, the fact that Wisconsin came out of the half and played capital eff football was good to see. (And while there will never, ever, ever be a play in a Paul Bunyan's Axe game that surpasses The Blocked Punt, the Pontiac Game Changing safety comes as close as any play I can imagine will.)

And now on to Green Bay's dismantling of Chicago; a pure, grade A, USDA prime beat down. One of my oldest, dearest friends is a Bears fan and it took every fiber of my being to not cockily shoot him text messages every, say, ten minutes after the game started. That's right, I took the high road. Like I've mentioned before, without NFL Sunday Ticket or the desire to drop $40 at a sports bar, I'm relegated to following the Packers on most Sundays by the internet and scoring game breaks. By this method, close games really try my patience. (And cardiovascular health.) Thankfully, the outcome of this game was never in question.

So, recapping, first and foremost, thank Christ Green Bay beat Chicago. Raised in a fiercely Packers supporting home, I still cling to the stance that a 2-14 record is fine as long as those two wins were against the Bears. Lovely Smith's tenure as Bears coach has been a killer, let me tell you. (Although I love the guy for two reasons: first, he's been rightfully cited by GQ as one of the most dapper dudes in the NFL, and second, he said at his first fucking press conference that beating the Green Bay Packers was his number one goal; Respect. The. Rivalry.)

Mostly, I'm glad that Ryan Grant played worth a shit in this football game. I can't imagine I'm the only Packers fan that was pissed that he and his dipshit agent had him sit out camp. Accordingly, I'm sure I'm not the only football fan whose reaction to the ESPN NFL Gameday commercial about global warming ("It's hot," "Like the NFC North's run game," "In a pass happy league, with Adrian Peterson and Ryan Grant, why not" or whatever; seriously, Ryan Grant's been a chump-ass chump this year! Consider cutting two or three versions of your dumb commercials so you don't look like assholes! And along that line, consider stopping the Antiques Roadshow-like ad after Keyshawn says "It looks like a cat." That shit's hilarious. Going on to say "Or a Panther," "And speaking of the Panthers, who do you like in the NFC South this year?" Because having Mort say "Well, historically, the team that finishes last one year, finishes first the next," doesn't hold water when you're talking about a division that's existed for six fucking years. What's historic about that? Get back to me when the trend continues for a decade, dick bird.)

Anyway, the reason I'm really writing today is that I had one helluva Saturday watching/listening to football. First, of course, was the second half comeback by the University of Wisconsin. Second, though, was the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (of Wisconsin, if the url is to be any indicator...) level four victory* by The Big Foot Chiefs which puts them in the state final. Is it hypocritical to be a big "booster" from 1000 miles away especially because I not only didn't play, but made fun of the football players when I was in school? Well, perhaps, but I'd contend that there wasn't a culture of supporting the football team when I was in school and the two years of pine-riding basketball that comprised my high school athletic career serve to indicate that my "suiting up" wouldn't have done much to improve the on-field performance. No, if there's anything that leads me to believe that "now" is different from "then" it's that there's currently a middle school tackle football program that didn't exist when I was a kid. My only introduction to tackle football was the two weeks after the flag football season that the A-team (which *fingernail polishing on the shirt* I was on in seventh and eighth grades**) engaged in. I learned two things from that: first, I couldn't run through the gauntlet, and second, that I'd definitely pay the price by trying to tackle Jake Ries at the two yardline after, as a d-lineman, I'd run the entire field - bypassing him juking the other linemen, linebackers, and secondary).

Anyway, last year's level two win was a school's best, and this year's level four win blows that one out of the water. As a Directv "Sports Pack" subscriber, I'm almost positive I get the upcoming title game televised, which is about a million times weirder than hearing my high school's football games streamed on the internet. Assuming the game is on tv, I'll be watching. And at the very least (and even if it is televised) I'll see about streaming it online (in case the tv feed cops out too early).

Much like the way I've been a bigger Badgers fan since moving away (separation making the heart grow fonder, and all that), I've grown an bigger Chiefs fan (at least football-wise, thanks Friday Night Lights*****). Since I'm afforded the opportunity to head back to Walworth at least once a year (Merry Christmas!) and the fact that, since Big Foot's athletic teams have gotten better and they've started printing them, I was able to pick up a white on red "Big Foot" t-shirt. Of course, I'm summarily forced to explain to all onlookers that "Big Foot" refers to Chief Big Foot and not the monster on an almost weekly basis....

* I think Entourage is a horrible, horrible show. Like, Sex and the City for douchebags. But worse. But still, I saw Kevin Dillon on Conan once and they talked about how his character, *shudder* Johnny Drama played a Viking whose catch phrase was "Victoryyyy!" and it cracked me up.

** The seventh grade ending in a one-tied-game tie for first place, the eighth an undefeated season and sole possesion of first place - which culminated in a school year ending presentation of an autographed football to our coach*** and a tearful speech, following.

*** Who, actually, is the father of one of the stars of Big Foot's squad, and whose presence in this post is both a testament to my unusually thourough memory as well as the fact that youth athleics coaches (and, in his case, history teachers) make impacts on young minds. (I'm not even going to get into the fact that the kid was born when I was his student or that his wife was also my high school PE teacher.... Well, not much, anyway.)

**** Although I will cop to going to a BFHS hoops game, when I was in college, with my old man and my granddad (RIP); the varsity squad was on the cusp of the state playoffs which didn't happen in my entire time in high school.

Very nearly this weekend without a post from last weekend.

Wow. This blog has gotten to the point in all blogs' lives where the updates are few and far between. (I think it's hardly coincidental that my enthusiasm for the blog has pretty much followed the success of the Badgers and Packers. Now, that doesn't make me a fair weather fan - I still follow the teams the same as ever - but most assuredly does make me a fair weather blogger....)

Pretty soon all I'll be doing is dumping a YouTube video here every three weeks and that will be that.

Still, until then, here's this:

Last Saturday, I had some folks over to watch the UNC/Georgia Tech game. It's very tech snobby, I guess, but I'd rather watch a game I'm marginally interested in in high definition than one I'm actually interested in in standard def. Oh well. Still, I periodically (commercial breaks, halftime) checked in on Wisconsin, and can say that I was pretty disheartened by at the half. 24-21 over Indiana? Yikes.

Still, I was progressively more "heartened" throughout scoring updates in the second half. Thirty one unanswered points? That's more like it. From what I read, Wisconsin's defense got their heads on straight, and the offense was able to run all over Indiana. I'm hoping that those trends flow over to tomorrow's match up against Minnesota. But more on that in a minute.

On Sunday, I kept tabs with the Packers through game updates and infrequent trips to the computer. Of course, following the game, primarily, by score alone didn't give me the immediate indication of exactly how poor they played. By all accounts, based on the play of the offense and defense, Green Bay should have lost by about five touchdowns. Certainly not the play you'd hope for from a team that's still only a few games out midway through the season; a team that I'd hoped was reloading and not rebuilding....

Sunday, with the Bears in town, will hopefully show what the Packers are made of and what to expect from them down the stretch. They've split the season with the Vikings, still have two against Chicago (2-0 would be spectacular, but I could settle for 1-1), and have one more against Detroit (which, so help me if they lose...). The remaining schedule's not easy, but with New Orleans and Jacksonville not playing up to expectations and Carolina capable of games like the one against Oakland, the Packers still have a shot at the playoffs. (Although with the look of the NFC East and South, winning the division will probably be what it takes.)

As far as Wisconsin's concerned, the fact that Eric Decker's out is a huge, huge plus. I don't know who they'd have had on him, but I suspect he'd have had a big day. As it stands, Wisconsin does look like they've started to remember how to play football, and the Golden Gophers have slowed after a hot start, so Wisconsin's being picked by most analysts. I just hope they come out strong and decide not to let Minnesota back into the game (ala Michigan and Michigan State).

With the Paul Bunyan Axe on the line, high def or no, this game is going to be my primary.

Yet Another Monday Update

It's hard for me to put into words my disappointment from Wisconsin's loss to Michigan State. I'm frustrated at the continued mental errors. And the penalties, oh the penalties... Niles Brinkley was called for what seemed like fifteen pass interference penalties and got away with what seemed like another fifteen.

Mostly, though, I was disgusted with the "sideline warning/unsportsmanlike conduct on the coaching staff" two-fer. Through the rest of the telecast, I don't think the commentators mentioned that penalty once, but that seemed to me the turning point for the whole game. I just don't know how Bielema expects the team to play a smart, disciplined game if they can't behave in a smart, disciplined manner on the sideline. "I learned it from watching you" indeed.

As far as Green Bay's concerned, without Sunday Ticket or the compulsion to spend $40 at a sports bar, I was unable to watch the game. Since I took the afternoon to go to the Durham Art Walk with my wife (and saw, maaaybe, two or three pieces worthwhile), I wasn't able to keep up with in-game scoring breaks or internet Game Centers. And finally, since I've used up all my Media minutes, I didn't check the score on my phone. So it was with nervous optimism that I turned on Football Night in America when we got home.

Basically, it looks like Tennessee's ability to run did the Packers in.

Still, at with the Bears at 5-3 with a banged up Orton, I still like Green Bay's chances in the division.