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Sports Musings for week of June 1

By: 
Andrew Hanlon
  • This isn’t the “correct” analysis because it’s not a hot take, but I honestly can’t say I learned much from the Milwaukee Bucks’ first game against the Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference Semifinals Saturday. We’ll have to see what happened in game two Monday, but there were so many uncommon occurrences in game one that it almost needs to be thrown out the window. One of the Nets’ “Big Three” James Harden exited the game 43 seconds in with a hamstring injury. (He also won’t play in game two). Milwaukee was terrible on offense – the Bucks made just six 3-pointers (they made more than 20 eight times during the regular season). Khris Middleton shot 6 for 23 and didn’t make a single shot from deep. Brooklyn’s gameplan, and likely the Bucks’ defensive gameplan, changed without Harden and Milwaukee isn’t going to shoot as disgustingly as they did in game one. So I learned nothing about what may or may not happen in the series. 
  • Like Indiana Jones found the Holy Grail, the Milwaukee Brewers have found offense! The Brewers have surged into a tie for first place with the Cubs (after Sunday’s win) behind a barrage of home runs and a lineup that is finally supporting maybe the best pitching staff in all of baseball. Sorting through the stats on MLB.com, Milwaukee totaled 17 home runs in a span of seven days heading into Monday. Tyrone Taylor, recalled from the minor leagues, has three homers in four games. Shortstop Willy Adames, whom the Crew acquired in a trade because they hadn’t seen production from the position in years (five years? a decade?) has two. Luis Urias, the shortstop who wasn’t producing which necessitated the trade for Adames, has two. Christian Yelich has started to find his stroke. If you score runs and prevent runs you win games. Who knew?
  • Packers’ President Mark Murphy admitted last week that he’s gotten “letters and emails” (what year is this?) from fans and he’s seen that the Aaron Rodgers situation has “divided the fan base.” First of all, obviously. Second of all, this scenario continues to sound more and more familiar. I see the differences – Brett Favre had retired and unretired 15 times and, logically, it was time to move on. Rodgers had sat for three seasons. He was in the conversation for the No. 1 overall pick the year he was drafted. None of those things are true now about Rodgers or about Jordan Love. But, like Favre, Rodgers loves to be at the center of the drama and attention. Maybe he has a true gripe, I’m not sure. All he said was something on Sportscenter about the Packers’ philosophy and culture and character. I don’t know what that means. But it’s not surprising that, among fans, this is becoming an “Aaron Rodger versus the Packers” scenario. 
  • Sunday night, the United States Men’s National Team played against Mexico in the inaugural CONCACAF Nation’s League final. In a game that lasted almost three hours and gave me like five heart attacks, the Americans won actual hardware. Realistically, is a Nation’s League Championship a big deal to most countries? No. To this team? Absolutely. After the past few years, failing to qualify for the World Cup and failing to qualify for the Olympics, any kind of trophy is a good trophy. And beating Mexico for the first time in eight years makes it sweet, too. Especially after the U.S. allowed an opening goal in the first 70 seconds; after it took a VAR review and a Christian Pulisic penalty to move ahead 3-2; and after backup keeper Ethan Horvath saved Mexico penalty just minutes later that would have tied the match in the second period of extra time and would have forced the U.S. to rally from down a goal for a third time. These are the games the U.S. has lost the last few years. But a team full of potential and young players who have begun to win trophies individually with club teams across Europe finally came together, faced adversity and beat a rival to win a championship. It was a huge win for the USMNT.