So now that Prince Fielder is finally and officially gone as a Milwaukee Brewer, the Mat Gamel era begins. And what exactly has Mr. Gamel done to earn the job as the firstbaseman for the defending NL Central Champs? In 85 games over three seasons, Gamel has hit 5HR's and batted a robust .222. In 171 AB's Gamel has struck out 67 times. That's one strike-out every 2.5 times at-bat.  Gamel was sooo bad and apparently developed such an attitude, the pennant-chasing Brewers decided they didn't need a power-hitting lefty off the bench down the stretch. Put it this way, they thought Craig Counsell-fresh off an 0h-for-44 streak- would be more useful. So when Gamel flames out...what's Plan B? Corey Hart to first when he has already indicated he would prefer not to? Even if you talk Hart into that, then who plays right? Carlos Gomez? I don't think so! Maybe Taylor Green will blossom, but he is more unproven than Gamel. Really, how much would it have cost the Brewers to keep Jerry Hairston? No, he's not your typical firstbaseman and probably shouldn't be an everyday player, but at least he's a proven commodity and a patient, smart hitter. The Brewers will miss that now that Prince is gone.

I gotta admit...watching a third string running back and an unknown runningback and a quarterback who was teaching high school less than a month ago carve up the Packers defense while the game still mattered Christmas night was dispiriting. No..the Packers cannot defend their Super Bowl title if the defense plays that poorly. Head Coach Mike McCarthy says the run defense graded out worse than it ever has in his coaching career. If that doesn't improve in the playoffs the Packers will be hard pressed to even make it to Indy. When teams run successfully against the Packers it means the Packers offense is not on the field as much. Both Kansas City and Chicago ran well and dominated time of possession. That means the Packers offense has limited time and opportunities to do their thing. A couple three and outs and the Packers could find themselves down and out. Ryan Pickett missed both the Chiefs and Bears games. He is due back for the playoffs. He will be a big help when it comes to stuffing the run. But he can't do it alone. The Packers must do a better job of taking away the run in the post-season or it will be a short run for them.

The positive performance enhancing drug test for newly minted MVP Ryan Braun is saddening, disheartening and frustrating. Sure, it will hurt the Brewers not to have Braun in the 3^rd spot in the lineup for the first two months of the season.  But that’s not why its so painful to me. I was actually starting to believe that baseball had pretty much cleaned up its act. Testing in the minors has been in place for years. The major league testing program has been going on for some time as well and players have been busted. Sure, there will always be that next thing that will take a few years to detect and test for, but I believed that players appetites to look for that next thing had been severely diminished. But now, the poster boy for the new era of baseball gets busted.  Braun was the NL’s leading All-Star vote getter last year. I don’t care if it was accidental or inadvertent.  Not  knowing is not a defense.  It’s not devastating to the game of baseball..but it just adds  to the stains on the game and this one hurts alittle more not just because it’s a Brewer  but because he’s one of the guys from the post-steroid era…a post steroid era that may not actually exist.

Looks like I have a new coach to hate, not that I was much of a fan of his before,  but he certainly was successfull. This coach built a couple solid programs in the non-BCS world and then dashed off at a chance to spread his magic at a BCS school.  And once he arrived, crystal footballs followed. His team was crowned national champs by the BCS twice. But along the way, there were a few red flags. Red flags that were ignored because his teams were winning. At one point about three dozen players had had some sort of run-in with the law either while in college or prior to college. He did very little to address that. At one point after a tough loss, he was taken to a hospital with apparent heart problems. Again. This time, he got the message. Maybe guys in their 40's shouldn't be having all these physical issues. so he said he would step aside for the off-season but coach again in the fall. That never really happened. Then he realizes his kids are growing up without him. So he decides to step aside and spend time getting healthy and getting to know his wife and kids. Except for spending a few days a week in Bristol Conn and the weekends on the road talking about college football on TV. and, sure enough, he's cured.. he knows his kids names. Time to get back to coaching. Urban Meyer, and alot of other coaches like him, quit being such a stinkin' hypocrite. The only reason he left Florida was because Tebow graduated, the recruiting train of criminals was being looked at more closely and his teams were going to stink there for awhile. Course, you can't come out and say that, but you shouldn't come out and say I'm leaving to be with my family and then see them Sunday through Tuesday.  Actually I'm glad Meyer is going to the Buckeyes, because I already hated Ohio State anyway.

Finally somebody at Penn State had the guts to tell Joe Pa he doesn't get to call it quits when he wants to. Especially not after what he let happen over the last several years. But its not just him! Joe Pa became the center of the controversy because of his stature and his stubbornness, but his firing should only be the tip of the iceberg. I dare say every assistant coach who has been with the program since Sandusky was a coach there should go. Every administrator who banned Sandusky from bringing young boys on campus should be fired. Basically, they were saying, "Jerry, you can do your sick demented thing..just don't do it here. Oh, and, by the way, you can keep your keys and parking spot, too." This needs to be a thorough house-cleaning. I dare say some of those brave men and women on the Board of Trustees might have to step down because of their lack of action too. I don't know all the facts. I do know a good number of people in that insulated Penn State community knew Jerry Sandusky was raping little boys and not one of them call authorities. It doesn't look like a single one of them tried to make Sandusky get help. They just said you can't coach here anymore and three years later ..they told him to kepp  his deviant behavior off campus. That is almost as despicable as the crimes themselves. So its not just about Joe Paterno. More must be done before this gruesome event  can start to feel better.

The University of Wisconsin's dream football season came to a crashing end at the same place it did last year...East Lansing, Michigan. All because their head coach got too greedy. First off, there is no telling who would have won had the game gone into overtime. But that said, Brett Bielema should have realized his Badgers had a better chance of winning in OT than they had of winning without the ball in the final minute. Sure, the Badgers got a first down sack. But it was only for a loss of a couple yards. Michigan State only needed to go about 40 years to set up a potential game winning field goal. And Bielema gave them that chance and more...He used the Badgers two timeouts and then the defense gave up a third and 8 and suddenly, Michigan State has plenty of  time  and their own time-outs, to move into scoring range. Granted, they didn't get close enough to try a field goal, but they did have TIME to try the Hail Mary. Time Bielema gave them. The best case scenario for Wisconsin in that situation was to use your two time-outs..force a 3 and out and a punt and get the ball back at about the 20-25 yard line with no time-outs and less than 30 seconds on the clock...That probably isn't gonna get it done. 

In the scheme of things, the loss isn't too devasting. It knocks Wisconsin out of the National Championship picture, but judging from what I have seen out of LSU and Alabama this year, that's probably best. Wisconsin still has a chance at the first ever Big 10 championship, the Rose Bowl spot and a date with either Oregon or Stanford in Pasadena. The problem is, this year isn't coming around again anytime soon. Russell Wilson won't be at Camp Randall next year. It's a shame an overanxious coach ended a potentially dream season.