….and we hit the start of the NCAA tournament!  The first 2 days are arguably the longest, best stretch in all of sports!  This year college basketball seems to have as much parody as ever, making the tournament that much better!

Along with the NCAA tournament is NFL offseason (not that you care but I have Kansas, Oregon, Michigan St., and North Carolina in my Final Four with Kansas winning it all).  The Packers let Trevathan sign in Chicago along with Jerrell Freeman (another Inside Linebacker, from Indianapolis).  Of all the remaining free agents, the only one that makes sense is Jared Cook (Tight End from the (formerly known as) St. Louis Rams).  Ted Thompson brought Cook in for a visit but let him walk without an offer.

This is what sabre-metrics looks like when applied to the NFL.  Would Danny Trevathan be an improvement over Jake Ryan or Sam Barrington, but with the sabre-metric theory in play Trevathan at $6M/year would have to out-value Barrington and his contract of $550k/yr.  It’s possible that by signing Trevathan the Packers may not have enough room to resign Josh Sitton or TJ Lang next year…

My expectations are either winning a Super Bowl or the season was a waste – not popular by many – and now I’m at a crossroads.  The debacle of the NFC title game in Seattle (2014 season) was a combination of everyone failing.  Last season Rodgers looked human for multiple reasons, but I’m thoroughly convinced Rodgers cannot win a Super Bowl without a top 5 defense.

Hey!  I’ve appeared on a radio show a few times now and will likely make more appearances in the coming weeks.  Take a look on Facebook for What’s the Score!?  It’s a sports-related current events game show with fun topics and great personalities!

Until next time!  Go Badgers, beat Pitt (and Xavier)!

As it’s always been in the sports world (in the United States), the period following the Super Bowl until March Madness has been sssllllooowwwwwwwww.  Aside from continuously talking about draft prospects – how a couple weeks of workouts change their draft stock which had been built on years of actually playing – is pointless.

Instead let’s recap where each of our teams stand heading into the Madness of March and ultimately Opening Day!

Packers – The NFL Draft is the focal point of building this team (some may say the only method), and it is the best way to do so.  I wasn’t a fan of the Julius Peppers signing, at least to $10M per year, and I think the Packers overpaid for Mason Crosby as well.  However, because of the way Ted Thompson builds a team/roster there’s still Salary Cap space to be flexible, or at least to not be in trouble (i.e. having to restructure multiple players’ contract ala the Miami Dolphins).  There are still a couple decisions to be made on whether bringing Mike Neal or Nick Perry back, even if for depth, or to resign John Kuhn, but either way regardless of word in the media I’d be shocked if Green Bay brings in a high-priced free agent.  There’s an opportunity to improve this team by bringing in one or two free agents for depth purposes and continue to build through the draft.  There shouldn’t be much to cover/analyze until the draft takes place the last weekend of April, so we have some time yet.  Until then, if anything drastic happens I’ll cover it!

Bucks – the trade deadline came and went…and finally the Bucks stood pat.  It’s relieving to now watch this young team have a chance to play together and grow.  The playoffs are a pipe dream at this point and other than the #1 overall pick (assumed to be Ben Simmons – LSU) this isn’t a great draft.  The main goal should be to get Giannis and Jabari as many minutes as possible and have them handle the ball and shoot as often as they can.  Greg Monroe apparently has beef with Kris Middleton, considering the Bucks gave both of them quite a bit of $ this could be a problem.  If this is the case it’s paramount that team chemistry is strong as it’ll breed confidence and development.  The last couple of weeks both Giannis and Jabari have shown vast improvement and potential, hopefully this continues and bleeds to others!

Brewers – as David Stearns (new General Manager) continues to change the makeup of this team and get younger, he also is improving the team.  Which is quite funny considering Doug Melvin (previous GM) was trying to win the division and the team kept getting worse and in further trouble.  Some things to keep in mind for Spring Training and to watch come Opening Day: the Brewers farm system; Jonathan Lucroy’s rebound from injury; Ryan Braun’s rebound as well; Wily Peralta’s bounce-back from a disappointing season; Jimmy Nelson’s continuing his growth.  Just keep in mind, regardless of record at the deadline this team will NOT try to win now.  2019 is the plan for this team to contend, it’ll be much less frustrating for fans once they accept this…for me it’s exciting because the pressure is solely on building the team full of 18-22 year olds, this is fun!

I’ll try to keep it bi-weekly until Opening Day!  If you have questions don’t hesitate to reach me on Facebook: Nick Zurich or Twitter: @nickzurich