Five weeks have passed since the Milwaukee Bucks ended their season, and in that time the NBA has managed to get through two rounds of playoffs, producing conference finals of Orlando vs. Cleveland and Denver vs. the L.A. Lakers. It’s another five weeks until the NBA draft, and...

Most would agree that surgery, auto repair and law enforcement are best left to professionals. Some might choose to add sports to this list, and for those who prefer to watch rather than do, Milwaukee serves up professional spectator sports year round. Enjoy a brat bedaubed in Secret Stadium Sauce along with a beer or two and cheer on the Major League Baseball Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park, one of the finest places to view a ballgame in the nation. Even if the weather outside is frightful, with Miller's retractable roof, every day's a great day for a ballgame...

Where will it end? Manny Ramirez has joined Alex Rodriguez on the list of baseball stars who have either tested positive for banned drugs or come under suspicion of using them. Not that the Observers are surprised. Artie: So Manny gets a 50-day suspension? Cripes, I wouldn’t mind...

At last the Miller Park roof was open for the Milwaukee Brewers' 13th home game of the season. Beaming down on a 4-3 victory over Arizona were the sun and 44,000 fans, including the Observers. After zipping back Downtown on the No. 90 bus, they continued to bask and confab. Artie: Wow! The first pitch was at 1:07...

The Observers split their forces for the first time in 2009, with Frank on a family visit to New York and Artie manning the central office in Milwaukee. They talked by phone after the first day of the NFL draft. Frank: The Big Apple media didn’t say much about the Packers’ top picks. How’d it go for the Green and Gold? Artie:...

Big-time sports isn’t recession-proof. Major League Baseball enters its season fearful that attendance will drop. The NBA recently took out a $200 million line of credit to help financially ailing teams. NASCAR sponsorships have disappeared and teams are shrinking. Milwaukee’s PGA tournament won’t have...

Predicting the results of Major League Baseball seasons is no easy task. One can’t rely on laws of science like the ones that bring lovely, snow-free weather to Wisconsin every April. Nor can one simply use common sense, like all those experts who foresaw so easily that greed, corruption and governmental apathy just...

The first week of the NCAA basketball tournament began well but ended sadly for local fans. Marquette beat Utah State, 58-57, but lost to Missouri, 83-79, despite a stirring second-half rally. Wisconsin upset Florida State in overtime, 61-59, but went cold against Xavier and lost, 60-49. Scanning the survivors in the...

And so it begins: three weekends of hysteria known as the NCAA basketball tournament, when players vie for glory and bracket scholars chase an economic stimulus package called the office pool. The Observers’ predictions, of course, are for entertainment purposes only. Artie: I think I filled out my bracket too quickly...