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Jeopardy! Ratings Soar With Rodgers

By Adam Roberts – 4/22/2021

Answer: This weekly quiz show saw a noted spike in its ratings when a sometimes mustachioed quarterback served as a guest host.

What is Jeopardy!?

Jeopardy! was apparently in good hands with Aaron Rodgers calling the signals (and that’s not an Allstate pun, we all now Rahdgahs is aligned with State Farm). The game show’s Nielsen ratings jumped up 14-percent in the Green Bay Packers’ quarterback first week as the guest host. Ratings for the show had been declining with guests hosts after the death of Alex Trebek. Rodgers changed that as Jeopardy moved back into the top slot among syndicated game shows.

Anderson Cooper is now at the podium, followed by Bill Whitaker, Mayim Bialik, and Savannah Guthrie.

NFL Releases Rule Changes; Gives Date for Schedule Release

By Adam Roberts – 4/21/2021

The NFL has unveiled its yearly changes that will be coming to the league for the 2021 season.

Among the new rules was a rejection for a full-time sky judge, while also expanding the influence of replay officials as more coaches are demanding game-day officials be subjected to more oversight. Per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, replay officials will be able to offer referees advice based on what they’ve seen on broadcast replays in matters of possession, completed or intercepted passes, ball location, and whether a player is down by contact.

Other changed include:

A relaxation of rules regarding what numbers a player wears. Single digit numbers are now available to running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, defensive backs, and linebackers.
A one-year experiment to try and change up the onside kick. The receiving team on kickoffs will only be allowed to have nine players within 25 yards of the bal.
Overtime in preseason games has been eliminated.
A loss of down is charged with two passes are completed behind the line of scrimmage

The NFL will also release its schedule for the upcoming season in just a few weeks. The league confirmed the schedule will come out on May 12th at 8 p.m. Eastern. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has previously said he’s expecting stadiums across the league to be full. Some teams did have fans in attendance last season, but the stadiums, such as Lambeau Field in the final few home games of the regular and postseason, were at reduced capacity.

Melrose-Mindoro GBB Coach Joey Arneson Stepping Down

By Adam Roberts – 4/21/2021

A 12 year career with the Mustangs of Melrose-Mindoro appears to be coming to an end for girl’s basketball head coach Joey Arneson.

Wissports.net’s Norbert Durst said on Twitter Arneson is stepping down as head coach, following a very impressive stretch for the Mustangs in both the Dairyland Conference and in the postseason. While contending with the dominance of Aquinas over the last few years in Division 4, Mel-Min still has been able to etch out a brand under Arneson, reaching the state title game three straight years from 2018 to 2020.

Mel-Min activities director Connie Craig has not yet confirmed the news, and we will update this story when that confirmation comes through.

Corbin Burnes Continues Hot Start; Brewers Beat Padres 6-0

By Adam Roberts – 4/21/2021

Six more innings, 10 more strikeouts, and still no walks. That was the night for Brewers’ pitcher Corbin Burnes against the Padres.

The 6-0 Milwaukee win will probably be remembered more for the acrobatic catch made by fill-in left fielder Billy McKinney in the fourth inning, but Burnes’ outing must also be remembered. We’ve already written one article this month about the incredible start to Burnes’ season, and so far, the plan to conserve Burnes’ production while reaping its benefits appears to be working perfectly for the team.

Since his loss to the Twins in game two of the regular season, Corbin hasn’t been pushed past the sixth inning when he easily could have been. While it’s tough to see this pace continue all year for Burnes, he could be in some historic company if it were to. The all-time single season strikeout record is a ludicrously high 511 from the arm of Matt Kilroy on the 1886 Baltimore Orioles team, but Burnes is on pace for 360, which would be the 16th most in a single season behind Randy Johnson’s 364 in 1999.

The Crew go for the series sweep this afternoon at Petco Park. Adrian Houser gets the start against San Diego righty Dinelson Lamet.

Wisconsin Women’s Volleyball Advances to Final Four

By Adam Roberts – 4/20/2021

The Wisconsin Badgers survived a five-set battle against the Florida Gators to advance to the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Final Four. T

he Badgers earned victories in the first, third and final set of yesterday’s match in Omaha, Nebraska. It’s the first five-set game of the season for the top-ranked women.

The Badgers will now face fourth-ranked Texas in one semi-final on Thursday. The other semi-final features number-two Kentucky against the number-six Washington Huskies.

Caledonia’s Eli King Commits to Iowa State

By Adam Roberts – 4/20/2021

Ames, Iowa seems to have a habit of attracting the best in Coulee Region talent within the last 10 years. Matt Thomas and Lexi Donarski both have played and are playing respectively for that program to great success, and now another area talent will hope to etch out his own story for the Cyclones.

Caledonia junior Eli King, according to the basketball team’s official Twitter, has committed to the program. He had offers from plenty of big schools such as Iowa, Marquette, and Stanford, but the #73 player in the Class of 2022 will take his talents to Ames. He’ll join fellow guard Tamin Lipsey at the school, and is the second King to commit to coach T.J. Otzelberger after Owen went to South Dakota State for a season.

A four-star recruit and the #2 ranked player in Minnesota behind Cretin Derham Hall’s Tre Holloman, King missed his entire junior year with a meniscus injury he suffered during the football season. He’s expected to return to the floor this summer for AAU ball.

Bucks Fall to Suns On Controversial Call

By Adam Roberts – 4/20/2021

With 23 seconds to go in overtime, Khris Middleton pulled up from the top of the key and drained a three over Suns superstar Devin Booker. For a brief moment, the Bucks had regained the momentum in a game that wouldn’t have even been in the extra frame if they don’t blow a seven point lead with four minutes left in the fourth quarter.

But the Buck social media was buzzing about afterwards wasn’t Khris Middleton. No, it was P.J. Tucker, and not for anything good or bad he did, but rather what he “apparently” did.

On the final possession of the night, Booker threw up one last shot over Tucker after shaking off Jrue Holiday. As Tucker rolled in to assist on defense, he came dangerously close to hurling himself into the shooting Booker, but appeared to pull away and allow the shot to get off at the last second. But not in the eyes of referees, who determined Tucker made it contact with Booker as the clock read 0.3 seconds. Devin would hit the first free throw and give the Suns the 128-127 road win.

I’ve gone over the shot a number of times this morning, and while keeping an objective mindset I still can’t see how this call was made. Tucker appears to pull away, and while the Suns television crew seemed to think Holiday slapped at Bookers hand and on first glance this may have been possible, Holiday’s hand comes up short of Booker’s arm as he dove forward.

The loss is Milwaukee’s second straight, and they’ll have to put this one out of their minds pretty quick with the East-leading 76ers coming to town Thursday.

WI Assembly Speaker Supports Transgender Ban in Girls’ and Women’s Sports

By Adam Roberts – 4/19/2021

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos expressed his hope yesterday on WISN-TV’s “Up Front” program that legislation which would bar transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports in Wisconsin will move forward.

“They very idea that you are going to have people who are physically a different sex competing in sports really hurts the idea of having female athletics be premier across our county” Vos said on the show. “We’re going to have a hearing on it, we’re going to move that legislation forward. I think it’s something that’s broadly supported by the public, that we want to ensure that folks have a right to compete, but they don’t have an unfair advantage just because of a choice that they’re making.”

As we have already seen, a number of similar bills have been introduced in numerous states such as Iowa and South Dakota. The NCAA vehemently opposes the legislation in any state, and has threatened to pull championships and events from states that pass the bills. Governor Tony Evers has already said he will veto any legislation that makes it to his desk.

GET’s Luke Vance Turning Heads This Alternate Football Season

By Adam Roberts – 4/19/2021

To whoever coined the phrase “The times, they are a-changin'”, you clearly haven’t paid the G-E-T area a visit.

When the Redhawks take the field, it’s no secret what head coach Jon Steffenhagen’s plan is: run the ball down your throat, and we dare you to stop up. Over the years, their Coulee/South Central Conference foes have had the same lesson drilled into their heads over and over, and yet the yards just keep piling up. This year’s primary numbers guy for GET is senior Luke Vance, who as the title mentioned is turning heads with his production. The 265 yards he accumulated against Black River Falls were a part of his second 200+ yard performance this season, and not even the highest of his career; remember he ran for 290 yards and three scores against Aquinas in the 2019 postseason.

At that time, Vance was competing with senior Bryce Burns for touches, and still ran for over 130 a game and 1,431 yards on the year. This year he’s sharing reps with Brady Seiling and still putting up comparable numbers to Burns. Ultimately, assuming he doesn’t go for 328 against Arcadia this week, Luke won’t hit the 1,000 yard mark this season, but given that GET only plays five games the fact we’re even mentioning it as a possibility speaks volumes about what he’s accomplished. In basically one and a half seasons of varsity football, Vance is already over 2,000 yards for his career, and let’s also not forget: football is his secondary sport. Vance is a runner first and foremost, and would be running the 200 and 100 meter dashes and long jumping for GET right now in a normal year.

GET and Arcadia entered last week both ranked in the medium and small school divisions respectfully on Wissports.net, and will get a rare second chance to face each other this week. Make sure to keep your eye out for #24 in the red and blue.

Viterbo, Wisconsin Volleyball Move Closer to National Titles

By Adam Roberts – 4/19/2021

It’s no secret to area sports fans that Viterbo women’s volleyball has built an excellent program in the last 10 years, with numerous deep runs in the NAIA Tournament most recently falling in the semifinals to Westmont in 2019. It’s also no secret to knowledgeable fans that the path to a volleyball championship at any collegiate level is very difficult, and couple it with the uncertainty of a COVID season, and the whole thing becomes even more challenging.

Nevertheless, both Viterbo and Wisconsin are making deep runs this year, with the V-Hawks defeating a very respectable Madonna University of Michigan in straight sets and the undefeated Badgers taking out BYU in their fourth straight sets win over a row. Viterbo was paced in set three by a trio of kills from Winona freshman Grace Rohde, while Caledonia junior Adrianna Reinhart led the team in total digs and Omalaska freshman Cailie Kowal had three services aces on the day. Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s Molly Haggerty had a season-high 14 kills against the Cougars while Dana Rettke stuffed six BYU shots.

Wisconsin can punch their ticket to the Final Four with a win over Florida today, while Viterbo is off until April 27th when they’ll begin pool play in Sioux City, Iowa.