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A couple tv notes for tv9 and 34. Whenever the Packers play a Monday Night Football game, the Mike McCarthy Show airs on Wednesday following Newsline 9 at six rather than Tuesday. Also, the Badgers this Saturday are on the Big Ten Network.
The passing of Max McGee is a sad time for Packer fans everywhere and it touches home here in our area in more ways than one. Max is perhaps best known for his exploits the night before the first Super Bowl. It was then, only because of an injury to Boyd Dowler, that he was inserted into Super Bowl I and caught the game's first touchdown pass. That was part of a seven catch, two touchdown day. McGee was also a guy who could turn his teammates into a bundle of laughter. He could talk to Coach Lombardi in a way others couldn't. You hear so many of the stories that made him legendary. Like when Lombardi said in front of the team, "This is a football." And McGee said, "Not so fast, not so fast."
Back in 2004, it was my pleasure to introduce McGee as a guest on Pack Attack. He joined us, along with former teammates Ron Kramer, Dave Robinson and Bob Skoronski. We could've went on all night. The stories they shared were amazing. To hear McGee talk was like listening to the radio on a fall afternoon when I was young. I knew Max was also dedicated to diabetes research. In 1999 he founded the Max McGee National Reseach Center for Juvenile Diabetes. The project was near and dear to his heart because his son, Dallas, was diagnosed with type one diabetes at the age of two. Max's dedication is also near and dear to me because I've lived with type one diabetes the last 24 years. Doctors at the clinic are trying to zero in on what causes the disease and Max helped in his own way to make sure progress can be made. I wanted to thank him personally for that, not for my own good, but for the millions of young kids who can see a brighter future while dealing with all the shots, tests and finger pokes that I do.
We all take some kind of enjoyment when we watch a sporting event and feel a connection to an athlete. Take what you will from him. Max will always be the guy who scored the Super Bowl's first touchdown, that familiar radio voice, the five-time World Champion, Paul Hornung's best friend, the founder of Chi-Chi's and a diabetes research center. The list could go on and on. Add it all up, Max was one of a kind.
The 2007 WIAA high school football playoff pairings are expected out this afternoon. We'll let you know who's playing who as soon as we find out. Wausau West reached .500 in the conference with a win Thursday night over Wisconsin Rapids. We'll see if it's enough to earn a spot in the postseason field.
Also today, cross country runners begin their trek to state. A division 3 sectional will be held at Nine Mile Recreation Area. The state meet is a week from Saturday in Wisconsin Rapids.
Soccer teams play for regional championships Saturday. How crazy was this? DC Everest, Wausau East and Wausau West each lost 1-0 games to open up. East and West were at home, while Everest's was at Lakeland. Look out for those two Marshfield squads. TV9 followed Marshfield Columbus to state last year scored a 10-0 win yesterday. Marshfield High won 18-0 against an Antigo team that struggled this year. Still, those 1-0 games we talked about before show how tough the Wisconsin Valley was this year and the Tigers were right there playing for the league title.
With all the big high school games going on Saturday, we don't want to forget about the Pointers' football game against Whitewater at Goerke Field. Point is tied for Division III's 2nd longest current win streak, which is at ten dating to last year. Whitewater was the national runner-up each of the last two seasons. They're guided by a new coach, Lance Leipold, who UWSP coach John Miech knows very well. Leipold's dad was Miech's athletic director at Jefferson High School back in the early '80s. The Pointer have won a lot of close games during their current streak. Kicker Ryan Graboski stayed with that theme as he booted the game-winner last Saturday against Stout. That was Graboski's 4th field goal in the game, good enough to tie a school record and earn WIAC Special Teams athlete of the week honors.
Hello everbody. I was just looking at this week's ap prep football poll and it's amazing to see how many small schools from our area are ranked. Stevens Point leads the way in the large division, with DC Everest receiving votes. But in the small schools bracket, we see #1 Stratford, #2 Pacelli, #4 Edgar, #6 Owen-Withee, #10 Necedah and Iola-Scandinavia receiving votes. The last night of the regular season is Thursday and those playoff pairings are announced by the WIAA Friday.
So who do you think will advance to state this year? Stratford has won a state record four straight and are rolling through the regular season like past seasons. Last year, the Tigers and Edgar didn't play in the regular season so we thought maybe we'd see a postseason clash. But that never materialized. Will it happen this year? Pacelli won it all a couple years ago. Ben Porter is a load to bring down. Owen-Withee's ground game is simply amazing. Dustin Kroeplin and Zack Pomputis are two of the state's leading rushers. Iola-Scandinavia looked impressive in our game of the week last Friday night by rolling to a 49-0 win over Almond-Bancroft.
It's a great time of year and hopefully a few of these teams make it all the way to Madison. It'll be fun to watch it all unfold.
For anyone who's ever worked in the media, you know how important sports information directors are. The WIAC has some of the best. When I was an anchor/reporter in La Crosse I worked with Dave Johnson at UW-La Crosse. Before that, Paul Erickson at UW-Platteville was the man with the info when I was in Dubuque. Jim Thies at River Falls has worked with us on the WIAA State Girls Hockey Tournament telecasts. These gentlemen do so much work behind the scenes that doesn't get noticed. They produce all those little tidbits of information and stats that reporters use all the time. All this leads to Jim Strick at UW-Stevens Point. He just got hired as the SID for Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey. Congratulations to Jim. What a gig and it's well deserved. Jim was honored recently by the college information directors of America with the Rising Star award. In addition to covering every aspect of Pointer athletics, Jim also has that booming voice you hear over the public address system at Pointer events. He also worked the mic at WIAA State Basketball games. So we here at tv9 decided to run a story on Jim and we thought Jana would be the perfect person to do it. She played hockey at UWSP and I think we have some video somewhere of Jim announcing a Jurkovich trip to the penalty box. That story should run this Thursday. Once again, Jim thanks for all your hard work and I know the Minnesota hockey program will appreciate you as much as the Pointers do.
Here's the story we ran on Jim at 6pm Thursday the 11th. Download jim_strick_pkg.wmv
Well, I think everyone knew this one was coming. Wisconsin drops its first game of the year 31-26 to Illinois on the road in Champaign. Granted, Illinois is a solid football team; a team that has started 3-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1990. But this is a pret
ty telling loss for Wisconsin. It just shows a touted defense is full of holes and is in need of some instant repair or there's another loss waiting just around the corner in Happy Valley next weekend.
The Badgers are a good football team, not a pretty good football team, not a great football team by any means. But with as much parity as there is in the conference this year, the Badgers can rebound and still have a chance to capture the Big Ten crown. But coming into a season where fans and players alike were thinking BCS title game, this is a major setback today. To think this team could compete with the LSU's and USC's of the world is absolutely ridiculous. But there is still hope in the Big Ten...until Ohio State anyway. It's time to go back to basics for the Badgers. Wisconsin needs to find a defense or you'll see many more opponents putting up 30 plus.
We head in to week 7 of this year's football season... I can't believe it's flown by so fast! This week pits Wausau East against Wausau West in the annual log game. As Wausau folk know this game is much more than a football game. It's about city bragging rights and bringing that coveted log trophy back to your school for the entire year. Wausau East dominated the log contest as of late, winning six of the last seven. However, Wausau West leads the series 23-14. This Friday's game could be interesting. It's the first time in two years the teams have met this late in the season. Both last year and in 2005 they met before school even began. So, they've had a chance to watch a little more tape and measure the competition. Both of these teams are at a much different place though then a year ago. The Warriors failed to win a conference game in 2006, but are 2-3 in the Wisconsin Valley so far this season and that record keeps them in the playoff hunt. The Lumberjacks, on the other hand, won just one WVC game last season and this year own a 3-2 record. Those two losses were close games against two of the tougher teams in the Valley, Stevens Point and DC Everest who sit one and two respectively. East loss to SPASH by 7 points and DC Everest by just 4 points. That being said though, you can throw those records right out the window for a game like this, it's just going to be a battle.
I had the privledge of covering this game last year as well, and if you don't think it's important to these players...watch this... it might be my favorite moment in High School Football. It's former Wausau East player Joe Gallion after a close win in the log game last year. Download JoeGallion.wmv
Here's also a picture Buth McCartney from the Wausau Daily Herald took. I'm not sure if I'm happy or scared :) but it's a cool pic 
Since we get a lot of phone calls throughout the week, I figure this is a good place to let everyone know the Badgers football game is televised on ESPN this Saturday at 11am. It should be a good matchup. Both teams can score. The Illini have an athletic quarterback in Juice Williams. We'll see if the Badgers defense can lock him down.
We just had another great turnout for Pack Attack. Charlie Peprah and Jarrett Bush may not be the highest profile Packers, but I think people enjoy getting their perspective on the team. Those are the kind of players Ted Thompson was looking for as he strengthened the bottom half of his roster. Next week should be fun. Mason Crosby is expected to join us. He had that game-winning field goal in his first NFL game. As always, check our website for our guest list and any changes we may have. Johnny Jolly is coming over the week after Crosby. He was pretty active last week. The defensive line is so strong this year and that rotation wears down the other team's o-line. Once again, thanks for tuning in to Pack Attack and a big thanks to everyone who comes out to Dale's Weston Lanes. There's always so much more going on there than just the show and I want to thank Dave Kallaway for all the work he's done on our show throughout the years. It's especially fun to see him after a Packers victory so we hear his trademark, "How about those Packers?"
Bryon Graff
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