Hefty Lifting – Enjoy this while you can, Cheeseheads
Adam Hefty, of WE ARE Braham, will be contributing periodically in a feature called Hefty Lifting.
Enjoy This While You Can, Cheeseheads
Adam Hefty
As a Packer/Badger/Brewer fan for my entire life, I’ve been extremely spoiled by my teams, with exception to the Brewers. But now that even the Brewers are right in the middle of a wildcard race, and within shouting distance of winning the NL Central crown for the second year in a row, I feel it necessary to take stock of how lucky we are here in the Badger state.
It’s rare to have so many Wisconsin teams succeeding quite a bit. I mean, even the Bucks locked up a number one seed in the east before their early exit. Both the Packers and Badgers are 2-0 and I’m feeling, dare I say it, optimistic. Packers winning against two division foes and beating the defending NFC North champion on the road. The Green and Gold are a team in transition. We can see that with the inconsistency. But there have been some very good outputs at times. This team will be a much better squad come late October and November if the injury bug doesn’t bite them.
I’m almost more excited about Bucky. Outscoring their opponents 110-0 in their first two games. I will, however, caveat that with the fact that both teams are formidable. It is, though, difficult to shut out a D1 school, and almost unheard of to do it two games in a row, with one being on the road. Check all the other top teams and their defensive showings. The second-place scoring defense has allowed 21 points. This coming after a year that most would consider a down year. 8-5. Not what the Badgers are used to lately, but most teams would LOVE to have a record like that. See; Minnesota Gophers.
How they have won those games is just as incredible. The passing game threw for 400 yards against Central Michigan. FOUR-HUNDRED! It’s easy to disregard that because of the competition based on the opponent, but the Badgers have played many sub-par teams through the years, and that hasn’t happened since 1993. Doing some of those 400 yards going to the all-world RB Jonathan Taylor. He’s roped in 4 receptions turning them into 3 TDs. If he’s able to grab a linebacker to cover him, good luck. He’ll turn him into mush.
All this leads to the most surprising storyline from Wisconsin sports in September. A lot of us wrote the Brewers off as the fell 5-6 games behind the Cubs and Cardinals. Queue Yelich going down for the season with a broken kneecap. I sort of gave up on the 2019 Brewers season at that point. It wasn’t too heartbreaking for me being a Brewers fan and knowing how the Brewers-Brewer. Here we are now on September 18th. They have won 11 of their last 13. Six of those have been against the two teams they are chasing. They now find themselves tied for the last wildcard spot, and 3 games back of the Cardinals for the NL Central division lead. The Brewers remaining series’ go as follows, 1 more against the Padres, 3 against the Pirates, 3 in Cincinnati, and 3 in Colorado. None of those teams are above .500, so Milwaukee is in position to continue their rise.
I say all this in the early season, and maybe the last gasp in a long MLB season because I know this all could go sour quickly. I still don’t know how good Green Bay’s defense will be. And the inconsistency does worry me. If they get up 21-0, I want to be confident that they will coast the rest of the way. Wisconsin has a conference tilt against 11th ranked Michigan on Saturday. That could get ugly fast. And who knows how a group of 18-22-year olds will respond. I made light of the 8-5 season last year, but the reality is the Wisconsin football program has built up the prestige that 8-5 isn’t acceptable. Then there’s the pitcher-less Brewers. They could have a team ERA of 6.00 down the stretch going 5-6 through those bad teams.
My advice to all of you is, enjoy this! This isn’t normal. We are so lucky in the Wisconsin camp right now. We can’t forget that! Let’s not get entitled. It’s hard to really take it all in when we expect greatness. We need to be entertained by the success we’re seeing.