Hair of the Dog, Friday 8/29/08

The Brewers were off last night, but the Packers played. Some of them played anyway. They dropped their fourth preseason game to The Tennessee Thumbtacks 23-21. The Packers' starters played for just one series on each side of the ball. The offense scored on their first play from scrimmage on a Rodgers pass to Greg Jennings. So if you're keeping score at home, Ryan Grant played one play this preseason and didn't touch the ball.

After that, both rookie QBs had their chance. The Thumbtacks apparently kept their starters in for the entire first half, but that's no excuse for how bad Brohm and Flynn looked. I'm no expert, but neither of these guys looked anywhere close to being ready to run an NFL offense. As a Packer fan, it's odd to worry about what would happen if our starting QB went down, but with #4 leaving for the Jets, that's a real possibility. I wonder what Doug Pederson is up to these days?

In the only relevant baseball game, the Cubs beat the Phillies 6-4 to add another half game to their NL Central lead over the Crew. But that's probably a good thing. With 29 games left, it would be pretty tough to make up 6.5 games on the Cubs, so the most important thing is to stay ahead of the Cardinals and either the Mets or the Phillies. If the Cubs can help us do that, so be it.

One last word on the Villanueva/Pujols affair. The St. Louis beat writers and blogs are carrying on and on and on about how classless the Brewers are. St. Louis Dispatch writer Bernie Miklasz has this to say:

One more thing: I don’t understand the Brewers. I just don’t. Really, I admire that team and its talent. Doug Melvin is one of the best guys in the game and an excellent GM. There are so many good players on that roster. But why do the Brewers always have to pull stunts? Why do they have to go knucklehead on us so often? What’s up with yanking their shirts out of their pants on the field as soon as they win a game, which, despite what they claim, really is an insult to the other team? What’s up with some of the showboat HR trots? What’s up with a journeyman like Villanueva gesturing wildly and cursing in the direction of the STL dugout? I don’t understand why this talented team feels that it needs to act up like NBA bad boy Ron Artest, or something. I don’t understand why this Milwaukee team feels the need to be controversial. I don’t understand the arrogance, considering that the Brewers have won NOTHING since 1982. And I don’t understand how Yost continues to allow it to happen. The Brewers will probably make the playoffs. They are that good. But we must ask: can you fellas at least hold off on the showboating until you actually win something?

Knucklehead? Ron F-ing Artest? Villanueva a "journeyman"? Really Bernie? Here's what I find classless: Hypocrisy. Complaining about showboating when your team leader, and the central figure in this controversy, is Albert Pujols. Or complaining about shirts being untucked when you're known for spiking batting helmets on the ground. I also find it classless to intentionally throw at an injured player and aim right at where he's injured, because he watched a home run a month ago. (Or maybe it was because of this: Braun is 459/493/903 against the Cards this year). It's also classless to say your teammates weren't fired up until a relief pitcher got excited about getting an out. Most of all, I find it classless to be one of the dirtiest teams in baseball and think you have the right to be that way because you won a World Series in 2005.