Bucks Remain in Funk; Colts’ Fans Anger Warranted

I will start off with the Bucks game from last night.   I am very happy there was an interesting Monday night game between Chicago and Minnesota because the Buck game was mostly unwatchable.  I gave up when the Bucks went down 47-30.  I tuned in again at one point in the fourth as the Bucks were cutting into the lead, but the Bobcats quickly put the lead back to 12.

The Bucks are in a funk.  They have lost 14 of 18.  Why?  Who is to blame?  We are fans, we have to blame someone.  Skiles pulled starters last night after the disappointing start and here was a comment from Skiles:

"“I thought in the second half, we were much more like ourselves. We played very good defense. We moved the ball and at least gave ourselves a chance. It’s unlikely you’re going to come back and win that game against an NBA club, but we gave ourselves a chance. I was proud of the guys in the second half. It looked like we were trying win instead of just showing up to play.”"

Who do you think Skiles is mostly pointing out?  I think the biggest problem with the Bucks is Redd.  Bogut is not a great defender, but his size, rebounding and inside scoring are vital to the Bucks success.  Redd disrupts the offense, even if he is scoring, and his defense is putrid.  I cannot help but feel that Redd has thrown off the chemistry of this team.  In the early season the Bucks had great ball movement and very solid defense.  Neither is the case at this point.  Even though on paper Redd is the 2nd or 3rd best player on the Bucks, he hurts this team more than he helps it.  He would be much better off on a team with a star where he can fire off threes, and his defensive liabilities would be covered up.  CAVS!

The Bucks cannot afford to have Redd and Bogut on the floor at the same time.  There is too much defensive liability with both of them playing.

Colts Fans Angry

I have heard a lot of the angry calls from Colts fans into local Indy sports talk shows.  I completely understand their anger.

Colin Coward defended the Colts this morning, and since I have now heard about enough of anyone defending the Colts I had to give my two cents.

Here are my reasons the Colts should have played the starters:

• Chance at history.  Yes, the Super Bowl is the main goal, but an undefeated season is remembered forever.  Quick, name the last team to go undefeated.  Easy, Dolphins.  Now, name the Super Bowl winner from 1995?  Who Cares!  I think it is the Cowboys.  If they were undefeated, everybody would remember.
• I hate letting playoff competition into the playoffs.  The Colts could have eliminated the Jets, and should have.
• Fans get screwed.  The ticket prices are insane, along with parking and time commitments to actually go to a game.  The NFL is too spoiled due to fan loyalty and with ticket PSL’s and prices continuing to rape the fans something will finally give.  If I were a Colt season ticket holder, why renew?  Watch it on a big screen HDTV with friends at your house.  It is more fun and frees up your day to watch the other games. 
• The Colts have rested before and the results have not been good.  I really feel the Colts just threw away any chance at getting to the Super Bowl.  I strongly feel that teams cannot turn it on after shutting it down.  People mistakenly keep pointing to the Patriots as an example of a team that was hurt by playing out the season even though they had nothing to play for.  WRONG!!!  The Pats still made it to the Super Bowl, they just got beat.  The Colts will lose a playoff game before the Super Bowl, and it will be a game they look slow, soft and rested.

Back to the fan aspect of this.  Coward was poking fun at the fans today and he has some valid points.  Fans that say they are owed anything, or there is an implied contract between the team and the fans, these arguments are weak.  One strong argument, and something Coward mentions often is that the Colts sitting starters is bad business.  I would bet some fans will seriously give up their season tickets.  In a world of better than ever HDTV combined with the stadium experience getting worse and worse due to tv timeouts and constant dead time, combined with the exuberant cost, why should us fans go to games?

As a Packer season ticket holder I can say this with confidence, going to games in person is extremely overrated.  Two or three a year are great, but why go to games at the end when your team doesn’t care?