Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 57

Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler dive into the sports topics of the week, the now and anything else under the sun. It starts out with some non-sports talk regarding male tanning and Eric Decker being undefeated at life. The sports portion begins at the five-minute mark when they recap the Reds-Pirates game, talk about tonight's Rays-Indians game and look ahead to the rest of the MLB Playoffs. Packer talk begins around the 18 minute mark and the discussion focuses on Jermichael Finley's comments about what his son said to him as well as looking at what the Packers will have at running back and how scary are the Lions. We finish talking about Lane Kiffin, the power of the Pac-12 and why Charlie is not convinced the SEC is as good as advertised.

Charlie.

SnoTap NBA Preview: Golden State Warriors

For the month of October, Mitch Pratt, Andrew Kasmarek and Charlie Tritschler will be previewing the NBA teams for the exciting 2013-2014 season. 

Golden State Warriors had their best season since 1993-94 after winning 47 games and going to the Western Conference Semifinals. They also made the playoffs in 2006-07, but let's be honest, two games over .500 is not a great season (Looking at you, Milwaukee Bucks). The Warriors have probably become one of the fan favorites in all over the country with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, better known as the Splash Bros. These two guys had  massive years and played out of their minds at different parts of the NBA Playoffs. As we have seen in all of professional sports, a young team cannot translate over to a second straight year of success and usually there is some regression with the team.

X-Factor: The health of the Warriors - If there is one team to worry about getting consistently injured, it is the Warriors. Andrew Bogut is always a concern as he has played 44 games in the last two years although he looked strong in the playoffs last season.  David Lee got hurt right around the playoffs and was able to play in the series against San Antonio yet nowhere near 100 percent. While Steph Curry remained healthy for the most part, it always seems like he has a lingering injury typically his ankles. If Curry or Lee goes down for significant time, this will greatly hurt the team.

The Big Question: How will Iggy fit? - Golden State went with Stan Van Gundy's gameplan last year in the playoffs by splitting out four guys on the perimeter with one big guy in the middle. They cannot do that with Andre Igoudala. He is a strong player, but Iggy is not someone who can shoot threes consistently. It is not a part of his game whatsoever. People do call him a great leader, and it might be a year where it is easier for Igoudala to get to the paint with the focus on Curry and Thompson at the 3-point line.      

Key Additions: SF Andre Igoudala,  SF Marreese Speights, PF Jermaine O'Neal, PG Toney Douglas - First, good to see Jermaine is still playing the league, I had no idea. Going from Jarrett Jack to Toney Douglas is like eating filet mignon to Taco Bell ground beef every day. I would not have paid Jack all that money but no way does Golden State get the same production out of Douglas as they did with Jack.

Key Subtractions: PG Jarrett Jack, SF Richard Jefferson, PF Carl Landry

Warriors Draft: SG Nemanja Nedovic - I do not follow the international game but our friends at Draft Express do who have some great stuff on the Warriors draft pick. It appears he will see some pine but could be featured on DOY this year.

Prediction: 2nd in the Pacific, makes the playoffs - The Warriors have the looks of a playoff team again versus any sort of regression.  It is betting on this team staying healthy and their bench does enough to replace Jack and Carl Landry.

Charlie.

Jolly Roger Good in Pittsburgh

PNC Park has never been more alive than it was last night in the one-game Wildcard. It looked like a college football crowd with an organized blackout with every fan wearing black in the stands. The baseball team from Pittsburgh did not look bad either. Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati, 6-2 with a strong pitching performance from Francisco Liriano and two home runs from Russell Martin.  With Pittsburgh's newfound crowd and a team that believes, how far can this team go in October?  

There might not be a more underrated comeback story than Liriano in the last couple of years. If Liriano pitched for a Los Angeles or New York team, he would have grabbed headlines all summer with his pitching performance. Because he played for Pittsburgh, he received some fanfare for his season, but there definitely is not as much hype as it needed to be for Liriano. Left-handed batters cannot face Liriano. He is downright terrifying against them as lefties are going .133 against them for the season. Liriano's devastating slider is like a finisher in professional wrestling. Many are not getting up after he throws the slider. He hit rock bottom in 2012 to bounce back for a huge year in 2013, it is amazing.  

Clint Hurdle has brought a team to the World Series, the 2007 Colorado Rockies. That team went on an unbelievable run, and if they did not have a week off before playing Boston, they might have won the World Series. Hurdle can bring this Pittsburgh team to the pinnacle, but it is going to be tough. Going through St. Louis and then either Los Angeles or Atlanta, will be extremely difficult especially with an inexperienced team. Martin has been there before, same with Justin Morneau, but the rest of the team is pretty fresh to the playoff experience. The real moment for Pittsburgh will come when they get hit in the mouth and how they respond to it. The latter is huge when it comes to the playoffs. 

The Pirates will have a crowd behind them. Last night, many people on Twitter noted Pittsburgh's fans had not been there for the entire year. They were right as Pittsburgh came in 19th out of 30 teams in terms of attendance.  People called them bandwagon fans instead of marveling in how they showed up in a major way on Tuesday night. There needs to be a realization that the Pirates are third in terms of professional sports in Pittsburgh. The Steelers and Penguins are two premier franchises in their respective sport with a dedicated fanbase. Pittsburgh families spend their money on these two teams and the Pirates get left in the dirt.  I do not blame the average Pittsburgh Joe for doing that. The Steelers and Penguins have won championships in the last ten years and the Pirates have not made the playoffs in 20+ years, it is understandable. 

The Pirates had a crowd brought back memories of the 2008 Milwaukee Brewers or an old school New York Yankees atmosphere  After Johnny Cueto gave up a home run in the second inning, fans started chanting CUUUE-TOO, CUUUE-TOO like he played goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers. The last time I can remember something remotely close to what the Pirates fans did last night was when New York's crowd chanted 'Who's Your Daddy?' to Pedro Martinez after he made a comment that 'The Yankees are my daddy.'  They complete shook Cueto and he did not pitch well with the rowdy fan atmosphere. Even if the bandwagon showed up late, this will be a tough place to play in October.   

Pittsburgh is the golden child on Major League Baseball. Everyone is pulling for them in the postseason. The bandwagon is overfilling with fans. The biggest hope for Pittsburgh is these fans whom joined the party late come back next season too. Hopefully, the flag is raised many times this postseason.

Charlie. 

Wisconsin References in Major Motion Pictures

God bless YouTube. One of my Facebook friends posted this to his wall as someone created a mashup of all the different movies that used Wisconsin or a city in Wisconsin in a major motion picture.  I like how the cities are all done sort of in a row; who knew Sheboygan would be so popular? Jack Dawson mentions Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin which was something I did not know about until rewatching Titanic a couple years ago. If you do not think Titanic is rewatchable, you are mistaken. This is a pretty cool thing to do and deserves a lot more attention from the Internet world.

Charlie.

First Taste: Elastic Heart - Sia (Feat. The Weeknd, Diplo)

This took a couple times before I really enjoyed the song. Sia burst onto the mainstream scene as she sang vocals on David Guetta's hit, 'Titanium' and she will probably continue her run with the mainstream as this will be featured on the new Hunger Games soundtrack. The Weeknd joins her on the vocals in a song which does not seem up his alley. I cannot remember a song where he has done something so upbeat. If that was not enough star power, Diplo produced the track. I really like this one and I believe this will be very popular in the coming months.

Charlie.

Closing Time: It's Not Right But It's Okay (Cover) - CHVRCHES

Have you listened to CHVRCHES' new album yet?  You haven't?!  Why not?  Seriously, this is my jam rightnow and I owe it to Dougy, our music and pop culture writer, as he introduced me to their album last week when it streamed on NPR. I bought it on iTunes last Tuesday and have been enjoying it ever since. Night Sky is probably one of my favorites but the whole album is worth your time. They were on Zane Lowe's show in London and covered one of Whitney Houston's classics. CHVRCHES did a great job with it.  Good night Tappers.


Charlie.

SnoTap's American League Playoff Team Rooting Scale

With the Milwaukee Brewers out of the playoff hunt, we as Wisconsinites and Tappers need to find a team to get behind. This is where I come to help and pick out who is worth rooting for in October.  

5.) Detroit Tigers - There is no real problems with the Tigers. I have zero beef with them. It is more like I have seen them play competitive baseball deep into October for the last five seasons and I like some variety. Seeing Detroit play in another World Series would be like eating chicken as your only meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner for two weeks. I hope people do not hold a grudge against Prince Fielder in Milwaukee. I would like to see him win a ring at some point of his career and I do not blame him one bit for leaving the Brewers. Sure, Miguel Cabrera is exciting too, same goes for Max Scherzer, but this team has been around too much.  

4.) Tampa Bay Rays - Hear me out on this one. I really do not want to watch games from Tropicana Field all of October. There is something about seeing this monstrosity that truly bums me out. In my opinion, October baseball should feature at least a couple players seeing their breath with camera shots of the fans bundled up. I realize the irony of this seeing as I cheer for the Milwaukee Brewers whom have a roof and it would probably closed for most of the playoffs. As for the Rays team, they are very root-worthy. David Price is a stud and pitched strong against Texas meaning he could be poised for a huge October. Evan Longoria is healthy which is great to see and they always present a chance to see a Delmon Young walkoff. 

3.) Boston Red Sox - I am a frequent reader of Barstool Sports and when their 'Blood Sweat Beards' t-shirt started showing up around the Sox's clubhouse, I almost had to buy in with this team. Barstool was the cherry on top because the beards had already pulled me in. As a man who as of today has not fully shaved since April 1st, I can truly respect all the beard growing. I also love this team's attitude and it would be a great bounce back for a team looking like they were heading for a couple rebuilding years. Since the early 2000's, I feel like there are not many better playoff venues in all of sports than Fenway Park. 

2.) Cleveland Indians - Do you know the Indians have not won the World Series since 1945? They have only been back once when they inexplicably lost to a Florida Marlins team when they had Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez to name a few.  The Indians might be a year out, but Terry Francona has this team believing again. Ubaldo Jimenez looks like the stud Cleveland wanted when they traded for him in July 2011, Nick Swisher has added an element, the play of Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley has been excellent. Although Chris Perez giving up a walkoff homer in Game 5 of the ALDS would be the most Cleveland thing ever.

1.) Oakland's A - If you are not on Oakland's bandwagon, what's wrong with you? The A's are back from last year, a year older and year stronger as a team. Josh Donaldson could win AL MVP. Coco Crisp somehow hit over 20 home runs this season along with 20 stolen bases. The A's as a whole have went from the team with all the pitching to the team who can hit the living shit out of the baseball. Although their pitching staff is nice with the likes of Bartolo Colon, Sonny Gray and A.J. Griffin.  Oakland has not been to a World Series since 1990 and for once, Moneyball should win.  

Charlie.