My first post!

Hello all,
My name is Daniel Ricci and I have a mad love for sports especially my home grown teams here in Wisconsin. This blog will consist of anything that I want to get off on my chest wether it be professional sports, college, or high school. Right now we are about to start the month of July and a lot of stuff is happening in the sports world. We're almost at the All star break in baseball, the Packers start training camp at the end of the month, the Bucks are about to puruse in free agency, and the United States national soccer team is participating in Copa America, while the U-20 team battles for the World Cup in Canada. And yes...high school football practices begin in a little more than a month.
Friday was not a fun day to watch a Brewers game. If a baseball game was only decided on one inning, the Brewers would have dominated the Cubs. Unfortunately, there are eight other innings to play and that is whats so great about this sport. My Brewers tore up the Cubbies lefty Rich Hill for five runs in the first inning including a Kevin Mench home run. But despite a great outing by Brewer rookie Yovani Gallardo, where he went 6 strong innings with 7 strikeouts and only 2 runs allowed, the Brewers failed to score another run the rest of the game, and it would come back to bite them. After Gallardo left the game, the Brewers put in the nearly untouchable Carlos Villanueva, who, despite the stellar season of Cordero, has been the MVP of the bullpen. But Villanueva was slightly roughed for a run in a third of an inning, but luckily Matt Wise was there to clean up the mess. Turnbow pitched a scoreless eight, and now the job was Cocos. But Cordero gave up a lead off walk and eventually runners were on the corners with only one out. But Coco got Derek Lee to fly out and only had to get Aramis Ramirez out to win the first game of the series. But Coco threw one down the middle and those darn Cubs stole one from us. Usually I will not talk about a game so indepthly, but this was a tough one to swallow after the great start. I was happy the next day how my Brewers rebounded. They had a four run first inning, and me and all the other Brewers fans out there were thinking,"Here we go again." But after the Cubs cut the lead in half after 1, this game was all Milwaukees. Thanks to a solid pitching perdormance by Ben Sheets (8 inn. 11Ks) and a huge day at the plate from my boy, rookie of the year canidate Ryan Braun (4-5 HR, 4 RBIs), the Brewers did not look back this time and defeated the Cubs 13-4. But the offense did not carry over to Sunday, where the only production was a solo shot from Corey Hart. Dave Bush didn't pitch awful, but 4 ER are going to hurt when your offense is getting you anything. So those Scrubs took 2 out of 3 from my Brewers, but are still 6.5 games back in the NL Central. Next up, we got the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 4 game series, starting Monday night at 6:05. Jeff Suppan takes the mound vs. John Van Benschoten. Tueday Chris Capuano returns from his DL stint and will go against recently called up Shan Youman. On the 4th of July we get to see Claudio Vargas match up with Ian Snell. And the dandy will be the battle between the two aces, both of whom are all stars, Ben Sheets vs. Tom Gorzellany.
Also, congrats to my four Brewers, Ben Sheets, Prince Fielder, J.J. Hardy, and Francisco Cordero, for making the all star team and no doubt, all are very well deserved. Sheets has been unstoppable as of late, winning ever decision in the month of June except for the game vs. the Texas Rangers, which ended up being Cordero's first blown save. Despite all the good national league first basemen like Pujols, Berkman, Gonzalez, and Lee, Fielder has put up huge numbers and is arguably the NL MVP for the first half of the season. If you think I'm crazy look at the stats, 1st in home runs and 3rd in RBIs. I was worried Hardy wasn't going to make it with all the great years other shortstops in the National League are also getting like Rollins, Renteria, and Hanley Ramirez, but I guess with that great start there was no denying him. And Cordero, even though he hasnt look like himself as of late, was pretty much a lock after the first month of the season. Anyway, I hope we can beat the American League for once and get home field advantage in our league, because all I'm saying is this year, it could influence the Brewers...
Thursday night was not a fun night to be a Bucks fan. Ive been following Corey Brewer since the beginning of his sophomore season and thought he would be a great pro someday. He impressed me even more after his Final Four performance, eventually being named the tournaments Most Outstanding Player. And my Bucks are sitting there at number 6 with him there for the taking and I'm thinking to myself, "Take the safe pick Larry, take Brewer." But Harris decides to take Yi Jianlian, who declined to work out for the Bucks and obviously made it clear through his Chinese representatives that he didn't want to be here. But no. Stern steps to the podium and I drop my cell phone and start yelling at me TV when we take him. Sure, hes only 19. Sure hes got all the potential in the world. Its just that I'm really not a big fan of lanky 7 footers who are known more for their shooting than their inside game. As much as I hate to say it, he reminds me of a Chinese version of Keith Van Horn.Well, I hope Harris knew what he was doing but theres going to be a sick feeling in my stomach in 15 years when Corey Brewer becomes a shut down defender in this league and Yi turns out to be a bust. I really hope Im wrong.
Anyway right now we are contacting Gerald Wallace who I feel would be a huge boost to this team but I believe we dont much of a chance with him being a top 5 free agent. Obviously I feel are number one priority is to resign Mo Williams after failing to get Conley in the draft. If we don't resign Mo Williams than Larry Harris better have a deal for Chauncey Billups in the work or I will not be a happy Bucks fan.
And another congratulations to my Wisconsin Badger Alando Tucker for being slected with 29th pick in the 1st round of the NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns. I always have had respect for the Suns and their classy organization, and I think it will be a great fit for Tucker, with Steve Nash penetrating and dishing in the up tempo style. This way Tucker does not have to depend on his jump shot as much as defenses will be focusing on Steve Nash. With the guarenteed money, Tucker can now go back to Lockport, IL and buy his mother a new house and build a Boys and Girls Club to help kids stay off the streets as he stated in an article in SI back in about late December, early January. I highly recomend you to get your hands on it if you havent read it because it really shows the kind of person Tucker is. Good job Tuck and good luck!
Those are my comments for the day. More to be coming soon! Feel free to express your opinions cleanly.