By Adam Roberts – 5/3/2021

Anyone still holding out from Amazon Prime because they can watch football ever Thursday night on FOX might want to plan on change sooner rather than later.

Amazon Prime Video will soon be the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football. The NFL says that will start in the 2022 season, which is a year earlier than expected. Due to that, the upcoming season will mark the final one that the featured Thursday night game will be on FOX.

Importantly, fans of the teams playing on Thursday night will be able to watch the game on over-the-air television. Still, the move marks a big step forward for the league’s streaming capabilities and an acknowledgement of the changing viewership habits of fans.

By Adam Roberts – 5/3/2021

Philadelphia 76er fans were all Bucks fans this weekend.

It would appear, looking at the schedules for Philly, Brooklyn, and Milwaukee, that the Bucks won’t be able to take back the top spot in the East before the playoffs begin, but a two-seed is still in play after a 117-114 win yesterday. Giannis Antetokounmpo showcased why he is still one of the most important weapons in the NBA as he went off for a game-high 49 points. Khris Middleton donated 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucks, who have won five of their last seven, while Kevin Durant poured in 42 points to lead Brooklyn.

The atmosphere at Fiserv felt like a playoff game according to many who were there yesterday, so it’s only fitting the game came down to the final seconds. Both teams missed threes late, including Durant who had a difficult look to tie the game on the final play. Notably absent from the proceedings was James Harden, who missed his 14th straight game with a hamstring injury.

The rematch is tomorrow at Fiserv. As of right now, Milwaukee is three and a half back of Philly for the one seed and trails the Nets by two and a half for the two seed.

By Adam Roberts – 4/29/2021

I want to start this off with a word of caution. It IS Draft Day, rumors swirl around Twitter CONSTANTLY. Everything should be taken with a grain of salt, and you should never ever retweet something as fast as possible.

That being said, if any of the Adam Schefter reports are true, there truly is trouble in Titletown.

According to Schefty: Reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers is so disgruntled with the Packers hat he has told some within the organization that he does not want to return to the team, league and team sources told ESPN on Thursday.

Schefter went on to say: “The Packers are aware of his feelings, concerned about them and have had team president Mark Murphy, general manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur each fly out on separate trips to meet with Rodgers at various points this offseason”

We’ll continue following this closely.

By Adam Roberts – 4/28/2021

Having to have a reaction to every draft selection is one of the most difficult parts about hosting a draft show. Last year, when the Packers selected quarterback Jordan Love after trading up, I’m happy that I had both Mitch Speltz and John Pappadopoulos to react in real time to the pick with a concise breakdown of the “whys”, “hows” and “whats”, because I was borderline speechless.

Going into the 2021 draft, I’ve honestly been so focused on lining everything up as a producer that I haven’t been able to give 100% of my time to researching what avenue GM Brian Gutekunst and the Packers’ front office will take this year. The fan in me believes they might go the route of grabbing a wide receiver to appease Aaron Rodgers and turn the tide of that nonverbal war in their favor. The sports reporter in me believes they could instead bolster a secondary that was gassed in the NFC Championship Game. And the wildcard in me believes the team could take the approach Steve Fifer has hinted at this week on the Wendy’s Big Show and go edge rusher with the hope of lessening their cap hit.

The Green Bay Packers have 10 total picks across seven rounds, and it stands to reason somewhere in that pack of picks each of these positions will be selected. But what do the Packers do at pick 29? My game notes include names like Rashod Bateman from Minnesota as a possible wideout that could fall to 29th and Florida’s Kadarius Toney who would I think gel well with Matt LaFleur’s offense. But don’t forget, despite the offensive line mostly returning in tact this year, Green Bay is without a full-time center with the departure of Corey Linsley and despite how much I like the guy David Bakhtiari has some notable injury concerns. Lane Taylor is also gone, so maybe Green Bay pursues a name like Teven Jenkins from Oklahoma State or Alijah Vera-Tucker from USC if he falls that far.

To make this interesting, I’ll throw out the name Terrace Marshall Jr from LSU. The 6’2″ receiver might fly under the radar a bit considering he played alongside both Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. He had a career year as a senior despite opting out a number of games. And I do truly believe, somewhere in the back of his mind, Gutey doesn’t want this draft to be yet another talking point when he’s going to have to be answering Rodgers questions for the “foreseeable future”. (See what I did there?)

Prediction: Terrace Marshall Jr., WR, LSU

By Adam Roberts – 4/28/2021

As the alternate spring football season wraps up this week and baseball and softball games begin, we need to recognize an important issue in high school sports that has been exacerbated by the pandemic: a shortage of high school sports officials.

The problem is not just limited to Wisconsin; it is occurring in every state in the country. And because part of the problem involves unruly behavior by parents at sporting events, I feel it’s imperative to share an op-ed that came across my desk today. The following piece was co-written by executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations Karissa Niehoff and Dave Anderson, executive director of the WIAA:

“After months of working with state government, education and health leaders, schools in all 50 states have been given the go-ahead to resume high school sports at some level of competition. Schools in the District of Columbia were the last to receive the green light on April 1. This is great news and signals that a return to normalcy may be on the horizon by the time schools begin sports and activities this fall.

Unfortunately, there is an ever-increasing issue that could put a kink in the return-to-play plans in Wisconsin and across the country – a shortage of officials, as in referees and umpires, that borders on catastrophic in some sports and in some parts of the nation.    

The shortage of officials in high school – and middle school – sports has been a growing concern for several years; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has moved the issue to heightened levels. 

In some cases, schools that have waited months and months to “play ball” have had to cancel games or reschedule games. There are so many contests occurring, with some states currently playing football and other sports they were unable to offer last fall, coupled with regular spring sports now underway, there simply are not enough people to officiate all scheduled games.

According to the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO), registration of officials across the country is down about 30 percent this year. In Oregon, the number of football referees has dropped 34 percent compared to last year, and volleyball is down 45 percent. In a football officials association in California, nearly two-thirds of its members opted out of officiating this year. Tennessee and Georgia have reported declines in baseball umpires. In one county in Georgia, one middle school had to cancel its baseball season due to a lack of umpires.

In some cases, the number of available officials has declined due to health-related reasons – people opting out this year because of the pandemic. As vaccinations increase and the optics improve, many of these individuals hopefully will return.  

For other officials, however, the pandemic was a secondary concern compared to the verbal abuse they receive from fans – mostly parents. It is particularly hard for rookie officials to overcome the verbal shots they hear from parents. In an article in the Salt Lake City Deseret News, Jeff Cluff, assistant director in charge of officials for the UHSAA, had the following to say about unruly fans in his state: 

“Parents are out of control . . . Because of the club and super-league culture, they think these games mean everything; we don’t look at it that way in high school. Kids are learning, the officials are learning, the coaches are learning. We have lots of people who are interested in officiating. If we could keep these officials, we’d be fine.”

Schools in Wisconsin need two things: 1) more individuals to consider officiating high school sports and 2) an improvement in fan behavior so that officials don’t have to deal with verbal abuse and can feel good about continuing to officiate. Despite the fun and rewards that come with officiating high school sports, no one wants to continue if they are continually berated by fans.

The NFHS has been actively recruiting officials for four years through its #BecomeAnOfficial campaign. More than 50,000 individuals have expressed interest in officiating during this time. However, more individuals are desperately needed to keep the games going for the millions of students in middle school and high school sports. Anyone can sign up today to become a WIAA-licensed official at www.wiaawi.org/Officials/Become-an-Official.

More importantly, let’s do all we can to keep the men and women who are currently giving of their time to officiate middle school and high school sports. The next time you think about yelling at the referee during a high school contest, DON’T!

There is hope on the horizon that the pandemic will not keep kids off the playing fields and courts much longer. Let’s make sure boorish behavior doesn’t keep officials off the same fields and courts.”

UPDATE: Legislation has been proposed in Madison that would make it a Class A misdemeanor to harass or intimidate in official; it’s expected to be voted on in May.