Brewers Scapegoat Bullpen Coach for Bullpen Failures

From the Brewers' website beat writer, Adam McCalvy:


The Brewers’ struggling bullpen has produced another casualty. Longtime coach Stan Kyles was “relieved of his duties” today, according to the team.Lee Tunnell will replace Kyles on an interim basis and report to the team on Tuesday. Kyles had been in his current role since 2009 and coached in the Minor Leagues before that.“It is important

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Big Ten Football Poll Likely Not Far Off

Tuesday begins Big Ten football Media Days, as the league looks to get on with life following the historic hammer-dropping on Penn State's program Monday, both by the NCAA and B1G.

As we move into the last week of July and get ready for football camps to open, select members of the media put together a preseason Big Ten football poll.

The results? Well, I'll give them to you now, and tell you

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Penn State Sanctioned, JoePa Statue Gone, But It's Not Enough

That's what I keep thinking. It's not enough. It will never be enough.

What Jerry Sandusky did to those kids defies any kind of words that I can deliver. And nothing Penn State can do will ever serve as a make-good. You can't retroactively change what happened, or magically heal the human beings affected by Sandusky's inhumane behavior.

However, it's equally unreasonable to expect that nothing

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UMD Hockey Mock Depth Chart 2012-13

It's July, but UMD released its expected 2012-13 men's hockey roster this week. It comes complete with numbers and everything!

Since I'm 1) a nerd, and 2) starving to talk hockey in the middle of summer, it prompted me to start thinking. I got the clipboard and a sheet of scratch paper, and started trying to put a lineup together.

Obviously, it's all preliminary. As far as I know, none of it is

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Brewers Season Falls Under Axe

It's not been a good season for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Things got worse Monday night.

The Brewers have actually done a pretty admirable job of fighting off injuries -- Alex Gonzalez, Mat Gamel, Shaun Marcum headlining -- and underperforming players -- hello to Rickie Weeks, Corey Hart, Randy Wolf, John Axford, and probably Francisco Rodriguez here -- to stay at least somewhat alive in the

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Random Rabble: July 16

Former Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand penned this week's Monday Morning Quarterback at SI.com, filling in for the incomparable Peter King. LeGrand, who suffered a serious spinal cord injury on a kickoff play in 2010, was signed as a free agent by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this spring. The Bucs are now coached by LeGrand's college coach, Greg Schiano. LeGrand insists he will walk again, and

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Jeff Dubay Opens a Vein

Back in 2008, KFAN's radio lineup -- a lineup syndicated then and now on stations around the state, including Duluth -- was shaken up by the arrest of midday personality Jeff Dubay. With drug charges looming, the station eventually fired Dubay, and he hasn't really been heard from publicly since.

Co-host of the popular "PA and Dubay" show on The Fan, Jeff had become a household name among

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All-Star Game's Loss of Relevance

Tuesday night was baseball's All-Star Game. The 83rd edition of the midsummer classic was a thrashing, with the National League coasting to an 8-0 win. It was 5-0 by the middle of the first inning.

So, yeah, I can't imagine these ratings will be good.

It would be part of a trend. The 1988 game scored a 20 rating for ABC, but FOX hasn't seen a number in double digits since 2001. Last year's 6.9

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Packers Have Skill Position Logjam

One of the things I really enjoy about the summer is the immense amount of information and speculation out there ahead of football season.

With hockey on hiatus, I actually have time to consume a ton of the available information.

The Packers stunk defensively last season.

Such is probably an understatement, since Green Bay had the worst defense in the NFL, despite a 15-1 regular season.

The

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Zach Parise, Ryan Suter Change Wild Culture Just By Signing

What an amazing Fourth of July, eh?

For the first time since its run to the Western Conference Final in 2003, the Minnesota Wild are on the map.

I columnized the bit for SBNation yesterday. Here that is.

Michael Russo of the Star Tribune was on top of this story throughout. Here is his main story for the Thursday paper.

Strib columnist Jim Souhan talked to Wild owner Craig Leipold, who is

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Former UMD Players Cash In

A number of former UMD players signed new pro contracts over the weekend, as NHL free agency opened on Sunday.

One -- defenseman Jason Garrison (2005-2008) -- really cashed in on the league's annual spending spree. Garrison inked a six-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks, one that will pay him $27.6 million.

Garrison spoke with me Monday from Chicago about his new beginning.

He joins another

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