The summer that began with high hopes for the Milwaukee Brewers has ended with Wisconsin fans moving on to great dreams for the Green Bay Packers. The Observers will have plenty to say about both teams in the coming weeks, but they took some time as autumn arrived to grill up a few...

Sportsmanship took a shot in the face this month when a college football player slugged an opponent for taunting him after a game. It was an extreme, but hardly isolated, example of the frenzy that can grip players and fans far out of proportion to the importance of what we call “games."

It’s a key part of the Athletes’ Manual of Cliches, right up there with “We’re taking this one game at a time.” When asked if they’re the favorites to win this year’s championship, coaches and players often do a variation of “Who, us? No, we’re the scrappy underdogs. It’s those other guys...

Green Bay Packer fans had some reason to be optimistic after the Packers dominated Cleveland in their preseason opener, 17-0. Milwaukee Brewer fans also were energized by some bold personnel moves and a three-game winning streak, but the Brewers coughed up a lead Sunday...

A century ago there was a hit song called “I Love My Wife But Oh You Kid.” That sentiment applies to Wisconsin’s pro sports fans as football season nears: “I love my Brewers or Bucks, but oh you Packers.” With the Green and Gold’s training camp underway and the Brewers rocked by...

Economic recovery, health-care reform, national security—you’d think Congress has enough to keep it busy. But House and Senate committees recently found time to tackle the issue of whether big-time college football needs a playoff system. The hearings came to nothing, and the...

The Milwaukee Brewers hit the all-star break stumbling, if not staggering. A listless 3-7 stretch against Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles left the Brew Crew two-and-a-half games behind the Cardinals in their division and four behind San Francisco in the wild-card playoff race...

Milwaukee may be losing two of its sports fixtures. The Wave, the city’s indoor soccer franchise for 25 years, learned last week that its league has shut down, and the team needs to find new ownership quickly to stay alive in a different league. And the Milwaukee Mile, a home for auto racing since...

The Observers reconvened this week completely refreshed—Artie by a couple, three days of swatting insects in the Northwoods and Frank by 2,200 miles of driving...