The Packers have been the dominant story on the local -- and national -- sports scene over the last few weeks. So as a public service to you, the reader, here's a recap of what you may have missed while you were basking in green and gold glory.
Making some noise: Even without the Packers in a Super Bowl, the Marquette women toil in relative anonymity with most of the headlines going to the Golden Eagles' men's squad.
Now might be a good time to pay attention to head coach Terri Mitchell's squad, though.
Marquette (19-4, 7-3 Big East) is ranked No. 21 in the country and brings a four-game winning streak into a confernce showdown tonight at No. 10 DePaul.
The Golden Eagles are off to their best Big East start since the 2006-07 season and a riding high after a buzzer-beating victory last weekend against then-No. 23 St. John's.
Leading the way is senior point guard Angel Robinson, whose 13.7 points per game ranks among the Big East leaders. In conference games, she's scoring 14.2 points -- the 10th-best figure in the league.
The Golden Eagles are much more than a one-woman show, however. Senior guard Tatiyiana McMorris (Bronx, N.Y./Kennedy) has come on strong this season and her 15.7 points per conference game is the third-best mark in the legaue. She leads the league with a .923 free-throw percentage and is second with 2.9 three-pointers per conference game.
McMorris was named to the Big East Honor Roll for the second straight week. Against St. John's, she led all scorers with 19 points and hit the game-winning three-pointer with 3.6 seconds to play in Marquette's 55-52 victory.
The game tonight against DePaul will be the Golden Eagles' seventh against a Top 25 opponent this season. They're 4-2 against ranked teams this year, having defeated No. 23 UW-Green Bay, No. 15 Georgetown, No. 6 West Virgina and now St. John's.
Marquette hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2007.
Crunch time: Bucks owner Sen. Herb Kohl visited the team's practice facility this week and passed along to his players a simple message: it's crunch time.
The Bucks are 20-31, and would be last in the Central Division were it not for a few extra losses by the Pistons and the downright terrible Cleveland Cavaliers.
A 22-8 run to close out the 2009-10 season, and a thrilling first-round playoff series against Atlanta, led to high expectations this season. The additions of big-name players like Drew Gooden and Corey Maggette did little to dampen those expectations.
But so far, it's been nothing but injuries, disappointment and a lot of losses.
If the Bucks hope to get back into the race and prevent the Bradley Center from being a mortuary for the next three months, now is the time to turn things around.
The clock is ticking.
More proof the BCS sucks: TCU was the media darling after beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl as a non-automatic qualifier. Now that the Horned Frogs don't have to worry about sucking up to voters as members of the Big East, looks like the tricks of their big-school brothers are rubbing off on the new comers.
According to the Mike Heller Show on 1070 AM in Madison, Bret Bielema was offered the opportunity to face TCU in a season-opening rematch next season.
"It was something that was going to be broadcast and made a big deal, it took me all of about point five seconds to say yes," the Wisconsin head coach told the show.
TCU declined the offer, reportedly because a loss would negatively impact them in the BCS standings.
The school's media relations director, Mark Cohen, told USA Today's Kelly Whiteside that the two schools were never in contact with each other.
"A third party was trying to set up game and it was a one-game only in Madison and we don't do that," Cohen said. "We want to do a home-and-home with people. It doesn't fit our scheduling philosophy so it never really got that far."
Welcome to the big boys club, TCU.
Making the rounds: Aaron Rodgers did Letterman. Greg Jennings talked with George Lopez. Clay Matthews double-dipped, visiting both Jay Leno and Ellen.
Other local teams are getting into the act this weekend, too.
Team CEO Mark Murphy, along with defensive players Charles Woodson and Charlie Peprah will be at the Bucks game Saturday night against Indiana. They'll be honored during a halftime ceremondy hosted by Bucks televesion analyst Jon McGlocklin.
On Sunday, offensive lineman Mark Tauscher will visit the Admirals' game against Rockford. That is also the team's annual charity game. All upper level seats are just $3, $2 of which goes to benefit Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.
Larry King Lounge: The Marquette women will hold their annual pink-out event Feb. 19 against Rutgers at the Al McGuire Center ... What would you rather have: a first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament or a deep NIT run ... The Packers had possession for 11 minutes and four seconds in he first half of Super Bowl XLV while the Black Eyed Peas' halftime show ran 12:33 ... MLB.com's Adam McCalvy, obviously much, much better at math than the folks here at Scorecard HQ, calculated that Shaun Marcum recieved a 364.7 percent raise from his 2010 salary ... Single-game tickets for 2011 Brewers games -- including a limited supply of tickets to the April 4 home opener -- will go on sale at the team's Arctic Tailgate on Feb. 26 ... Kudos, by the way, to the Brewers for adding German Heritage Night to their 2011 promotional schedule. A fine tribute to Milwaukee's rich culture. I'll be the first in line for a "Bierbrauer" jersey. Hell, I might even wear my lederhosen to the game.
