ShayKenn Delivers Two Banger Mixes for the Weekend

For those unfamiliar, ShayKenn is our SnoTap DJ whether he likes it or not.  He put out an awesome mix a couple months ago, and put out not one, but two mixes in honor of Spring Awakening which goes down next weekend in Chicago. Both are about an hour long and perfect for your weekend. Sure, Memorial Day Weekend is over, but it is the first real weekend of the summer which is featuring gorgeous Wisconsin weather over the weekend. There is real no excuse to go the beach or find a porch/balcony to have some beers on in the mid-afternoon. I get done working at two on Saturday, and told my roommates I might stay in for a bit... Yeah not happening anymore. Have a good weekend, Tappers.

Charlie.

SnoTap Songs of the Week (5/26-5/30)

SnoTap Songs of the Week return for another edition. If you ever have a song you want featured or it is your own stuff, I would be more than happy to put you on here. Shoot me an email at snotap12@gmail.com and we will get it set up. 



Looking For You - Justin Bieber (feat. Migos)
Goddammit. I kinda like this song. I hate myself so damn much right now. This might be a late entry to the song of summer given the power of Biebs even today. Curious to see how his fans will react to a hip-hop influenced song.

Shades of Cool - Lana Del Rey 
We are awaiting the arrival of Ultraviolence to come out and in the meanwhile, Lana keeps bringing us hits. I really need to know why I like dark, haunting female voices, but I dig them.



Black Bruce Wayne (Snippet) - Kanye West 
OHHHHH LAWDDDDDDDD. Seriously, just bring back the G.O.O.D. Fridays and release this bad boy today, Yeezy. I need it and want it. Sounds like a hit even if it's just six seconds.

Jealou$y - The Neighbourhood (feat. Casey Veggies & 100s) 
We featured this song last night for those who haven't heard it yet. I think The Neighbourhood is becoming one of my favorite bands. I don't what that says about my own life, but yeah deal with it.



Flip On You - 50 Cent (feat. Schoolboy Q) 
Man Fiff, you shoulda just gave Q the hook and not verse. Cannot have young bucks murdering ya on your own song, you know that dude.

Spurs Shut Down Thunder in Another Blowout Win

It is hard to remember a series that has been so boring go at least six games. There are still great individual performances, and things worth talking about yet one of the five games the final score has been under 10 points with none of them being close in the fourth quarter. TNT is probably going to church each day praying for a close game.  San Antonio didn't answer those prayers on Thursday night blowing out Oklahoma City, 117-89 featuring a big night from the Spurs bench, Gregg Popovich making the necessary adjustments and what's really going on with Serge Ibaka?

One of the things we haven't seen from the Spurs in the last couple of games is their bench coming to play on Thursday night.   San Antonio got great contributions from their bench last night with the stalwart Manu Ginobili having another great game and Boris Diaw coming to play making it real difficult on the Oklahoma City big men. Diaw spread out the floor creating separation inside allowing the Spurs perimeter players to attack the lane much better than the past two games. Matt Bonner started for Tiago Splitter, but he only played 17 minutes. It seems like Diaw will probably be getting the start for Game 6.  It makes the most sense for the Spurs. When he's playing at his highest level, it is the best Spurs team facing the Thunder.

Even though games are won on the court, Popovich ran circles around Scott Brooks. He didn't stay the course with the lineup he put out there for the last two games, and it paid off. Tim Duncan had his best game of the series since their Game 1 victory with 22 points and 12 rebounds making eight field goals as well. Duncan had a lot more room to operate thanks to the decision to increase the minutes of both Diaw and Bonner, the newest buddy cop drama. Pop also gave big minutes to Patty Mills who contributed with nine points off the bench hitting three big 3-pointers.  In the last three games, Mills combined for a total of seven points. Will Brooks have an answer for the new look Spurs?  The only thing I can think of is going super small with the Thunder starting Westbrook-Jackson-Butler-Durant-Ibaka, but that might do more harm than good.

Speaking of Ibaka, he might be hurt again. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! reported last night Ibaka feels the same he did in the first two games of this series. What does that mean exactly?  His body feels like it did for the first two games of the series?  Or is he bummed out with what happened in Game 5 as it did compare to the first two games?  I am going to guess the former because that's all we care about right now is the health of Serge. If he is at 50 percent in Game 6, can Oklahoma City really start him out there? I guess they could for a little while, and then keep him on the bench the rest of the game. It is also possible Serge is toying with the media as they have done with him for the past couple of weeks. It has become a boy cried wolf scenario for Ibaka. I don't put much stock into what's out there until we see it in front of our faces.

I wish I had a handle on this series like I do with Indiana-Miami. I have no idea what to expect in Game 6, but please for the love of James Naismith can we have a close game?  Just one, that's all I am asking for out of this series. I expect some changes to Oklahoma City's lineup and I do think Pop will make slight adjustments as well.

Cubs-Brewers Preview (5/30-6/1)

Brewers previews to get you ready for the series where we have five things to watch, pitching matchups and prediction. We add a YouTube video in the mix, it could be really anything.   

Pitching Matchups
Friday:     Travis Wood (5-4 4.35) vs. Marco Estrada (4-2 3.98)    7:10 pm FSNWI
Saturday:  Jason Hammel (5-3 3.08) vs. Wily Peralta (4-4 2.12)      3:10 pm FSNWI
Sunday:    Jeff Samardzija (1-4 1.68) vs. Kyle Lohse (6-1 2.92)      1:10 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1.) Whose bat stays the hottest? - If you didn't hear the Brewers are have a 10-game streak going where
they have 10 hits or more hits and if they get 10 tonight, it ties the franchise record set in 2011. Carlos Gomez and Khris Davis both have hitting streaks going as well Jonathan Lucroy has a hit in nine of his last 10 games. At some point, the bottom has to fall out a little bit on the offense. Not all of these guys can remain hot, but who really knows with this team. My vote is definitely not Friday as Brewers bats have thrived off left-handed pitchers all year.

2.) Big time Braun series - I have a feeling this will be the series where Braun hits multiple home runs and we proclaim "HE'S BACK." It seemed like he had a different pep in his step on Wednesday night. He was stealing bases, running a little better and naturally making good contact. Braun is due for a big series to get in on all the fun the rest of the guys in the lineup are having right now. Currently, the Brewers slugger has a sneaky five-game hitting streak with multiple hits in three of them. It seems like this is the type of thing that happens before Braun goes completely off and he loves Cubs pitching.

3.) No easy pitchers this weekend - Two out of the three pitchers (Hammel and Wood) dazzled against the Brewers this season already, one with a shutout and the other with one mistake to Rickie Weeks. The other (Samardzija) is pitching like a Cy Young on a last place team. I will say this about Hammel and Wood though. Both of these pitchers faced the Brewers when they were terribly beaten up with injuries. I'm interested to see how they both handle the Brewers at near full strength. Both pitched well in their last outing so it could one of those things where something has to give and I am betting on the Brewers bats personally given what we saw this week already.

4.) 7th inning blues hopefully disappearing - For the season, the Brewers are averaging .5 runs in the seventh inning which ranks 19th in MLB, and obviously, the last six games haven't helped one bit. Good news, the Cubs are one of the worst teams at producing runs in the seventh inning at 26th. For reference, Baltimore is in the top ten at producing runs in the seventh. I might be grasping for straws here looking for answers, but I am starting to believe it is a little bit of an aberration of one series. I could also be totally wrong and it continues to be a problem this weekend.

5.) Marco Estrada home run watch - I realize this has been a personal conquest of mine this season, but Estrada has given up 16 home runs already this season which leads all of baseball. Roof should be open, but I don't know if the panels will be open as well meaning some balls might stay in the park. But the Cubs have a great deal of power with Anthony Rizzo, Junior Lake and Starlin Castro. Estrada needs one of those games where he dominates in all facets instead of 'Well Marco pitched great except for the two home runs he gave up."

Appropriate YouTube video


I wanted to go with some Kanye West after hearing some snippets of his first single, but let's ride with the best of Harry Carey done by Will Ferrell.

Prediction
A sweep would be awesome, but with the pitchers lined up for this one, it is reasonable for me to expect two out of three in some way.

Charlie.

SnoTap Song of the Day: Jealou$y - The Neighbourhood (Feat. Casey Veggies & 100s)

I don't know if enough is made about The Neighbourhood. I think they are one of the most unique bands out there. People know them for one song, and it's a good one yet they have a way darker nature about them. That might turn folks off, but regardless, they are a band who should be on your radar.  They are putting out a mixtape like in the hip-hop world which rare to see alternative music put out free music and call it a mixtape. I am hoping this is a new trend that continues because I like free music that I don't feel bad taking from the artists themselves. This song has some hip-hop influence with Casey Veggies and 100s on the track. I like what we have going here. The instrumentals are great on this one as well.  Good night Tappers.

Challenge Power Rankings Week 7

Yes another season of The Challenge is upon us. Hard to believe this is their 25th season of it.  We are doing the rankings like we usually do starting from the worst making our way to the top.  We will rank them every Thursday. Preseason rankings will definitely change next week because we will know a lot more about the season.  

14.) Preston, Last Week: 16.) - Will this be the week where Preston leaves The Challenge? I think we are still one or two episodes away from it happening.  

13.) Jessica, LW 9.) - Big time regression for Jessica in the last couple weeks, but I feel like it's justified because she sort of disappeared in the storylines in the last couple weeks plus she isn't really winning out there. I also think she might be out this week.

12.)  Johnny, LW 15) - Johnny had a big performance in the rolling challenge putting him in the top three, and maybe, he is finally getting comfortable here.  I honestly think he will have a great second campaign.

11.) Aneesa, LW 12.) - I know I ranked Aneesa low to start the year because I have some disdain for her, but she performed well in the elimination. LOVED her coming to Bawse Lady Laurel like a dog with its tail between its legs.

10.)  Leroy, LW 14.) - Why did Roy Lee make the push?  Because he played the game so damn well making me think he knows what he's doing out there. He basically laid down in a game where he assumed if Laurel won, he's going in The Draw. But then convinces Jordan to go in and take on Bananas is perfectly done.

9.) Cohutta, LW 10.) - He is probably too high on this list, but I don't really have a stop for him right now. He could easily be in the elimination tonight, or he is an outside contender for the final mission. No real in-between.

8.) Deyvn, LW 11.) - She is still playing the game like bawse.  She might have struggled in the actual Challenge, but she figured out a way to ensure Laurel wouldn't send her in. Pretty much gained immunity from the best player of the game, pretty good.

7.)  Theresa, LW 8.) - Personally, I think it is neck-and-neck between Theresa and Nany for the final mission. Both are good enough to get there. I rank Theresa lower because of the Laurel factor.

6.) Nany, LW 6.) - It seems like this will be a Nany episode tonight. I don't know if a freakout will follow her with this one, but usually, these kind of episodes tend to deliver in a big way. Nany still competing pretty hard.

5.) CT, LW 2.) - Adam and I had a discussion over email after The Challenge. He thinks CT is mailing in the season and getting by as 'The Cool Guy.'  My personal opinion is he doesn't want to make many waves and is ready to make a run soon. It starts this week.

4.) Cara Maria, LW 3.) - Second best female and I don't think it is very close. I also don't think it is due to having Laurel as her BFF. I mean it helps in the grand scheme of things, but she took down three draws plus nearly won last week.

3.) Zach, LW 4.) - He has become the second-best male. I wouldn't be surprised if Zach moves to the second spot next week. He is a really good player and starting to build some momentum. Very impressive victory last week.

2.) Laurel, LW 1.) - After me running my mouth, I have to put Laurel at two at least for this week. What Johnny did impressed me in the major way, but it is really about how Laurel responds without having a male influence. Personally, she is BAWSE LADY LAUREL so probably it will not affect at all, but I just need to see it one time.

1.) Johnny Bananas, LW 5.) - There is a reason we call him 'The Michael Jordan of The Challenge' and he proved it at Elimination. How can we retire his jersey at the end of his run. What a legend. Jordan swung at the king and he missed... Big time.

Charlie. 

Paul George Pushes Pacers Past Heat to Avoid Elimination

Indiana Pacers' collective backs were up against the well. They faced elimination last night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse as Miami Heat could have ended the trilogy between the two teams with an emphatic whimper. But Pacers would not be deny as they won 93-90 with a strong second half from Paul George, propelling the team for a return to South Beach and try to force an inexplicable Game 7.  There was much to go over from this game ranging from the favorable whistle, Lance being Lance to the final non-shot by LeBron James.

Indiana needed its superstar to be great, and George did exactly that in the second half with 33 of his 37 points coming in the final two quarters. He made 15 field goal attempts with five of them coming from 3-point range. If you take out the nine missed threes from George's stat line, he made 15 of 20 baskets from the field making it a more impressive stat line. He looked in full control for the first time in the series. It showed the importance of LeBron James in foul trouble because George was able to take control of his basketball game with The King spending much of the time on the bench. It also nice to see a player back up his talk after George's bizarre Game 4 comments, it seemed like he had a purpose out on the basketball court. Curious to see how he carries it over to Game 6 on Friday night.

You never want to be 'that person' in the group whom blames everything on the officials, but man, it sure did look like the zebras did their best to help Indiana.  At one point, Grantland's Bill Simmons points out Miami had 19 fouls to Indiana's 10. What exactly happened?  LeBron is definitely not known for getting fouls called against him. Personally, I believe LeBron should average around four fouls a game leading to him fouling out more often, but the league is selective on when to call fouls on Bron. Maybe he put himself in consistently bad situations allowing for fouls to be called or maybe the officials listened to George's $25,000 complaints after Game 4. The whistle against James had much to do with him struggling last night going 2/10 from the field with seven points. LeBron never got into a rhythm affecting how he played last night.

Lance Stephenson continued to be the pest of the playoff after blowing in LeBron's ear and jumping into the huddle between a couple Heat players. He is baseball's version of Manny Ramirez.  There should be just Lance headlines because he is the only capable of pulling some of this shit. He picked up a 10,000 dollar fine for flopping last night in addition to the antics above. I do think wherever Lance goes this offseason because it will not be Indiana, we need to keep him in whatever conference LeBron is in so we can get at least three or four games of this plus a playoff series. Odds LeBron punches Lance next season are pretty high. Just needs to happen once.

Speaking of James, much criticism has come from James deciding not to take the layup at the rim. Those are the closest LeBron hate squad jumping on every mistake he makes in life. A couple things worth noting as to why James likely gave up the shot to Chris Bosh in the corner. One, LeBron had five fouls. They go to overtime and James fouls out, it is curtains for the Heat plus extra five minutes spent playing Game 5.  Two, Bosh has hit those shots all year. ESPN's Bomani Jones nicknamed him Big Shot Bosh because he found a way to hit late-game jumpers. Granted, Bosh's shot wasn't the greatest yet still, not a terrible decision. If you buy into the old adage, 'Play for overtime at home, win on the road', James tried to do exactly that on Wednesday night.

If anyone thinks this series is going the full seven, they are either a perpetual drunk or a Pacers homer because LeBron is ending this thing on Friday night. We are in store for an iconic James performance on Friday night and I hope Lance is ready for it along with his other Pacer teammates.

Charlie.

Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 90

Tapping The Keg set for another edition with your two lovely hosts, Charlie and Mitch. Kind of a slow week, but we find a way to get 45 minutes of pure listening joy out of this one. We begin the podcast talking about your Brewers drinking team and what guys would be the most fun to go out with. It continues with a discussion about the hot Brewer hitting in the last week with a little All-Star talk as well. We move on to talk NBA Playoffs looking at both Spurs-Thunder and Heat-Pacers which are both headed for at least six games. The discussion continues with talk about the Bucks as Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens will be hanging with the common folk tonight plus why Mitch wants new jerseys. It finishes with the ridiculousness of criticizing Johnny Manziel.

Charlie.

Highlights-Lowlights: Orioles-Brewers (5/26-5/28)

This is SnoTap's version of recap of the two, three or four game series Milwaukee Brewers will play this season. We focus on the positives and negatives with topics about the game and topics that were nowhere near close to part of the game.

Highlights
Khris Davis - What a week for this guy whose red hot in his last 10 games. Davis has moved his average from .215 to .251 in 10 days with hitting three straight home runs. Davis went 7 for 11 drawing three walks as well and scoring five runs as well. It shows you why teams do not give up on players and keep giving them chances. For the year, Davis' strikeout total is 49, but in his eight-game hitting streak, he only stuck out four times. Who knows if this is just a hot streak, but it is clear he figured something out at the plate in the last couple of games.

Carlos Gomez - Mr. Feel Sexy is doing the damn thing at the cleanup spot. It is like Gomez never wanted to leave the four spot. Gomez is hitting .476 from the cleanup spot with a nine-game hitting streak featuring a majority games with him at the cleanup position. Even the inning he got hit by the pitch by Bud Norris on Wednesday, he stole a base, took third on a sac fly and scored on another sac fly. He manufactures runs for this team, and him leading off any inning has a chance for the Brewers to score a run. I think he is right up there for the first two-month MVP and definitely in consideration for Player of the Month. Oh he also got hooked up with some kiwis.

Thx to everyone over at @ZESPRIkiwifruit for the Kiwi, remember ppl Kiwi is good 4 your health!! pic.twitter.com/Q91cuiccS6
— Carlos Gomez (@C_Gomez27) May 28, 2014

Yovani Gallardo - Pretty good series for Yo as he drove in the game-winning run on Tuesday night in one of the more inexplicable Brewer win this season, and then went out to pitch pretty strongly minus Nelson Cruz only allowing four hits, striking out five batters getting his first win since April. Gallardo looked better as the game went on Wednesday night. It showed he had a little bit of rust at the beginning of the game and bounced back nicely through the near seven innings.

Nelson Cruz - One of my five things to watch featured 'Avoid Nelson Cruz' and the Brewers clearly did not. He hit three home runs this series with two home runs on Wednesday and one Tuesday. He now has 19 homers for the season. The guy seems in a complete zone. Gallardo couldn't pitch him outside or inside as Cruz hit both of them far out. Good move by the Orioles to take a flier on him with a one-year eight million dollar deal. Me thinks he will get a lot more money this offseason.

Will Smith - It seemed like Ron Roenicke gave Smith a break during the road trip. He only pitched twice against Atlanta and once against Miami. But the Brewers needed him on both Tuesday and Wednesday night. He had two strong outings striking out all four batters he faced on Wednesday night, and stopping the bleeding on Tuesday night with the disastrous seventh. Usually, the All-Star Game doesn't send relief pitchers but I feel like Smith is deserving of an All-Star bid at this point of the season.

Lowlights
Khris Davis' Death Threat - It was reported on Tuesday, Davis received a death threat around the Cubs series via social media. Just complete stupid. Sometimes I wonder why athletes use Twitter because there is so much bullshit out there. Glad to see Davis didn't let it affect his play.

Matt Garza's Seventh - It appears this is becoming a theme when Garza pitches in a series. He has one blowup inning. I do think this one could have been prevented. Garza could have been pulled after the Jean Segura error knowing he has a tendency to lose his mental stability, but instead, Milwaukee kept him in leading to a three-run homer by Steve Pearce. Garza pitched well for six innings. He struck out nine batters and looked in control for the most part. Roenicke needs to do a better job of pulling Garza a little quicker before it mushroom clouds on him.

Seventh Inning in General - What the hell is going on with this inning? It is becoming downright scary when opposing teams step up to the plate in the seventh. In the last six games, Milwaukee pitchers have allowed 12 runs in the seventh inning. That's an obvious problem. I don't know if it is a bullpen issue or a Roenicke issue of keeping pitchers in for too long. This will start to become a storyline for a bit until something changes with this hexed inning.

Playing the Orioles - Jesus, I feel for opposing AL East teams. It sucked to play against the O's. No disrespect either, they are a pretty good team, but they just don't quit. Their pitching isn't top notch, but that offense can keep them in any game. It is nice to know the only time the Brewers can play the Orioles again this year is the World Series. Just glad I don't have to watch the Brewers play this team consistently because this series was exhausting.  

Francisco Rodriguez's Monday - I kind of hinting at this on Friday with our Brewers-Marlins preview about my concern with the lack of games Frankie had played in during this last 15 game span. He only has five appearances, and I think that had something to do with his unraveling on Monday. I did think he pitched well on Tuesday night, but the fact Rodriguez needed only one out is maddening.

Charlie.

STOD: Lance's Ear Blow & Doug Collins - Birdman Fan

Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals saw the Indiana Pacers stave off elimination by beating Miami Heat forcing a Game 6. We will have more on the game later this afternoon. But this morning, we are hear to talk about Lance Stephenson blowing into LeBron's ear, and Doug Collins needing to put out a rap album. I don't know why Lance thought it was funny or getting in LeBron's head by blowing in his ear, but here we are. Ears are a weird body part. Obviously, we need them for hearing, but a lot of pressure points around them as well.  ESPN's Doug Collins set out to prove he is not the old man in the booth. ESPN's Jalen Rose hits us with the birdcall then Collins asks 'What happened to that boy.'  Street cred on a 100 million trillion, Doug. (h/t Reddit NBA & SPR)  

Blazin' Blue Jays: Hottest Team in Baseball

Toronto Blue Jays have not made a postseason since 1993 winning their second straight World Series crown. Since 1993, their only second place finish in the American League East was 2006, but they did not come even close to making the Wild Card as Detroit won 95 games while Toronto only had 87. It appeared like in 2013, this team was ready for a revival.

They made a controversial mega-deal that brought in Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson from Miami and R.A. Dickey in free agency after a Cy Young award winning year.  It didn't happen with Toronto only winning 74 games and being one of the most disappointing teams of the year. Fast forward to 2014 where Toronto has won their last eight games with winning eleven out of their last 13 games and the hottest team in baseball with a three-game advantage over the New York Yankees.  How did the Blue Jays become one of the hottest teams in baseball?

One way is Edwin Encaranacion's red-hot May where he has hit 14 home runs with 10 homers in his last 10 days. He is trailing Baltimore Orioles outfielder Nelson Cruz by one dinger, but he will without question be the American League Player of the Month. Encarancion is having a great three year stretch with hitting 40+ home runs in 2012 and hitting .280 being near the top of all offensive categories. He followed up in 2013 with his first All-Star appearance, and it looks like Encarancion might be starting when it comes to Minnesota this summer. As ESPN's David Schoenfield pointed out, he pulls the ball pretty good, but the numbers show he is more than just a pull home run hitter.

Another major reason is Melky Cabrera is having another All-Star worthy-type season. Let's cut all the bullshit about the PED's because this is not the time for the conversation. He is hitting .322, 70 hits with eight home runs. He is only second to Houston's Jose Altuve in all of baseball when it comes to hits. Cabrera is doing it mostly by hitting singles with only 32 percent of Cabrera's hits were for extra bases. He adds a player on the basepath for Jose Bautista and Encarancion as he usually bats second in the order providing them with more opportunities.  It seems like Cabrera has returned to his 2 form and at his young age, 29, he might be just reaching his full potential. But the combination of his hitting with the power of  Bautista and Encarancion makes this team scary.

The crazy thing with Toronto is they really haven't got much from their pitching staff minus Buehrle whose having a solid season with a 2.33 ERA with a league-leading nine wins although let's not focus on that rather his ability to keep opponents at bay. Other than one bad start against Boston, Buehrle allowed 13 runs in his eleven starts this season. That's pretty impressive and even 19 runs (Six runs against the Red Sox included) in eleven starts is not shabby whatsoever. Buehrle is one of those guys whom sort of gets forgotten. He has been a steady, good pitcher for most of his career, but he never is one of the best in the big leagues. Good to see he is getting some credit for his strong year.

Also worth noting is the strong May Dickey has had for Toronto. He started the month with an ERA at 5.05, and he will likely finish the month with run lower right now at 3.95 barring his final start of the month against Kansas City on Thursday night. Dickey dealt against Oakland going eight strong innings giving up two runs. Some of Dickey's problems do not even start with him as his defense really hasn't helped him this season with a multitude of unearned runs. If Toronto can start building a solid one-two pitch with Buehrle-Dickey plus young pitcher Drew Hutchinson continues to develop, the Jays have enough there to be a contender all season.

Blue Jays have made it the Year of Toronto from the Raptors second round playoff appearance to Rob Ford to Drake. If the Jays keep winning, we will be seeing both Drake and Ford sitting in the front row. The North apparently doesn't stop in the summer.

Charlie.

KRS-OKC Evens Up The Series

People love to bring up Oklahoma City traded James Harden to the Houston Rockets. It is a fun topic to remember as Harden became one of the top 10 scoring guards in the NBA. Many people assumed there would be countless situations where we wondered as basketball 'What if the Thunder had Harden, would they won an NBA Finals or made another NBA Finals appearance.' It is time for those articles and the hypothetical situations to rest in peace. 

Serge Ibaka is proving to be a more vital cog to Oklahoma City as they have won the last two games in rousing fashion. Last night featured an all-time Russell Westbrook game with Kevin Durant playing a solid Robin to Russ's Batman in a 105-92 victory. Oklahoma City has turned the tide on San Antonio, how do the Spurs adjust?     

Vince Carter had the nickname of 'Half Man, Half Amazing' and it honestly fit him during his time with the Toronto Raptors yet we could reuse it for Oklahoma City's point guard. Westbrook played a complete game with a stellar performance with 40 points, 10 assists, five rebounds, five steals and a block for good measure. If anyone ever wondered if Oklahoma City could make without Westbrook probably stopped trying to make that argument with their buddies at the bar. Same goes for those whom think Westbrook is only a second banana. When Russ is playing at his 100 percent, there are not many better. Only three of Westbrook's baskets were outside 13 feet with many of them of him attacking the paint. He got to the free throw line 14 times. There was also this crazy statistic about Westbrook's night. 

The weird thing is Durant had a pretty damn solid night. If it is hard to have a quiet 31 points, five rebounds and five assists, that is exactly what happened with KD last night. Durant had a big second quarter which helped push Oklahoma Ctiy out to a 15 point lead at halftime which included a 58 point half from the Thunder. Durant and Westbrook combined for 71 out of 105 points for Oklahoma City. The dynamic duo had two-thirds of the team's buckets. Some might say this should be a cause for concern, but if Durant and Westbrook are playing at this elite level, I don't know what team is stopping them. 

Ibaka being back is helping in a major way though. The last time San Antonio beat Oklahoma City with Serge in the lineup was Monday, March 11th, 2013.  That's over a year ago. Ibaka had only nine points and eight rebounds with a PER of +11 last night, and in Game 3, he had 15 points and seven rebounds. But it is not the point total, it is the defensive presence inside. Tim Duncan had only nine points in Game 4, he only added 16 in Game 3. Ibaka keeps haunting nightmares and it's not just Duncan's as the Spurs seem afraid to visit Ibaka's lane. Their confidence against Ibaka seems to have disappeared therefore what can be done to rid themselves of this terror known as Serge? 

The simple answer is foul trouble.  The game plan should be taking it to Serge right away in the opening part of the game with Duncan getting some of the first touches trying to draw Ibaka in foul trouble early on. Same goes for attacking with him with Tony Parker whose been terrible in the last two games. If he gets his shot blocked, so what? If a foul is called and Ibaka is out of the game, it opens up the floodgates to attack the paint. The other one is they need a secondary big man scorer. Duncan can only do so much in the twilight of his career. If the Spurs can get a 15 to 20 point effort from Boris Diaw or Tiago Splitter, that will be huge for the Spurs.

Many people are saying this is history repeating itself from 2012. I am not ready to go there yet. This Spurs team showed a great deal of resilency this playoffs in the Dallas series, and their overall bounce back from the heartbreak in Miami last June. But I do know, this is a different Thunder team. One that's getting more terrifying by the moment. 

Charlie. 

Quick Tap Podcast Episode Nine

Quick Tap Episode Nine features a wide array of topics. Personally, I really enjoy doing this podcast and think it is pretty fun. Glad some of you like Adam, Bryan and Mike sent in questions this week. We talked about a lot of things in a short period of time. I explain what two teams I would like to see play if I had any venue, a Wisconsin and non-Wisconsin answer. We talk about if I would donate my UCL to baseball. Bat flip power rankings which is my favorite part of the podcast which makes me come to a realization. Tight end depth for the Packers based on this blog post. Why I need to watch Veep and I will never get out of TV purgatory.  We finish with a discussion on Elliot Rodger using Jeff Pearlman's blog post and wrap with quick takes on Mad Men and The Americans (Spoilers).

Charlie.

The Return of YOTTO?

Former Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley was an enigma on the Packers roster. People didn't like him for being brash and not a robot to the media while others loved him for the way he played enjoying his brashness. Everyone had an opinion on Finley. He suffered a neck injury against Cleveland in Week 6 of the season. Finley missed the year, and some wondered if he would never play football again. The tight end made great strides in the past seven months continuing to become the player he once was before the injury.

According to Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Finley will be in Green Bay on Wednesday with the Packers doctors taking a look at his neck.  This seems like it would be the final decision with how things go with Finley.  The assumption would be this is the last stand for Finley and the Packers organization. If things do not well, Green Bay will move on with the seven tight ends they have on their rosters. But if things end up looking up, he could be on the team before the end of the summer. 

Looking at things on social media is not always the best way to make conclusions as it can run you into trouble. I mean looking at a friend's Twitter account where you assume there is a subtweet and it obviously has to be about you in some way, but I digress. Finley has been using his Twitter account to make it sound like he wants to rejoin the Packers. From his picture last night with Aaron Rodgers talking about missing him when conveniently comes before he gets tests on his neck plus it happens to be the first day of OTA's when Rodgers will be in the building.  There are all sorts of pictures on his feed from him lifting a massive amount of weight on the dead lift bar which takes a ton of strength from your neck and back area to motivational pictures.

It is almost like Finley is trying to show the world including the Packers through social media he can play football game. Even if the doctors will say there is no chance, Finley believes in his heart of hearts that he can be on a football field in the coming months. This is not the acts of a delusional player rather someone whose been likely busting his ass harder than ever before. Doctors have found problems with neck injuries like this in the past, but given what is out there on Finley, it seems like he is attempting to make it impossible for the doctors not to clear him.

But here's the thing looming, Green Bay's doctors aren't really known for being ones to take risks. Doctor Pat McKenzie is one of the best in the NFL, but he is also one of the most cautious. Remember how delicately he handled the Rodgers situation. During his weekly visit with ESPN Wisconsin's Jason Wilde, it seemed like Rodgers was ready to comeback before the Atlanta game. Obviously, you could hear the frustration in Rodgers' voice, and it still took three weeks to come back from there. Finley might not get cleared today from the Packers' doctors despite what he has already heard from other doctors around the country. By the way, don't blame those people if Finley isn't cleared. They are only trying to protect these men.

If Finley does get cleared, it raises a whole new set of questions. Do the Packers signed Finley with their wealth of tight ends?  More than likely if the price is right because none of the seven players really have the experience that Finley brings to the team. Whom becomes the odd man out in this situation? We will save that question if this bridge ends up happening. The other question needed to be asked is, 'How much does Finley get paid?' My guess would be somewhere around five to seven million dollars for one-year. Finley getting a one-year deal will allow him to get a big pay day if he ends up being good again with his neck injury. I doubt Finley would be asking for the world, but you never really know with J-Mike.

We will see what happens in the coming days. ESPN's Rob Demovsky is now reporting Finley is in to chat with the team and it's nothing else. Who knows if that's smoke from the team officials, or if Finley's people thought there would be more to this conversation. The status of Finley will be a storyline to follow throughout the summer.

Charlie. 

SnoTap's Thing of the Day: Yovani's Double Should Be Looping on your Computer

I don't know if this will be a daily thing. The reason why I scaled back on SnoTap was due to the workload and so far, it worked out great for me. Adding something in the morning is not always something I will have on here, but when Yovani Gallardo hits a walk-off double, we need to post it. I will have in Highlights-Lowlights tomorrow too, but man oh man, this is awesome. Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter gave his best Tony La Russa impression and managed himself out of the baseball game. Such an awesome ending to what could have been a disappointing game. Gallardo pitches tonight against Bud Norris.

Charlie.

SnoTap's Song of the Day: Shades of Cool - Lana Del Rey

Wow this is way late. Sorry about that. I didn't really intend for it to happen, but occasionally, we get nights where I lose my focus. Probably had a lot to do with Yovani Gallardo hitting a walkoff hit today. Anyways, Lana Del Rey came out with another single off her new 'Ultraviolence' album. I think I have stated here before, but I am a big Lana fan. I apparently have a thing for female vocalists whom have haunting voices and deliver in a major way. I really belatedly enjoyed her first album and think she is on her way to having a big second album. Even if you don't like her, I think it's pretty cool how she didn't really falter after the Saturday Night Live debacle.

Charlie.

Top Pitching Talent Available in 2014 MLB Draft

Every now and again, we get some freelance work from writers. It has been awhile, but always if you want to write about something, email me snotap12@gmail.com. This is Sam Larston on the upcoming MLB Draft.   

The spring and summer is dominated by draft talk surrounding sports, but most of that seems focused on the NFL and NBA. Baseball has a draft each June as well, but the differences are it takes place during the season, and the players are usually a few years away from playing in the majors. Diehard fans know that this is the best and cheapest way to become contenders again, especially for small market teams.

There are a few projected top of the rotation guys in this loaded draft class, and those who play daily fantasy baseball could see them making an impact in just two or three seasons. Here is a look at three of the best.

Carlos Rodon

Finding high ceiling left-handed pitching in the draft is gold, so it comes as no surprise that many see him as the number one overall pick. Not only does he have a fastball that sits in the mid-90s, but he has some of the best offspeed stuff in the college ranks as well. A college pitcher usually is closer to the majors, therefore Houston could decide to take him first to help turn around their staff as quickly as possible.

Brady Aiken

The Californian high schooler has been dominant up to his point in his career, but of course he is going to need more seasoning before being ready for the majors. He is a guy with nice size (6’4”, 200 pounds) whom could add some additional bulk to throw even harder in a few years. Most high school pitchers do not have the advanced stuff he does as far as secondary pitches are concerned, but Aiken already locates a curveball and changeup well.

Tyler Kolek

Those who like speed will like what Kolek brings to the table. The Texas high schooler is a guy who can already throw triple-digits, and his 6’6” frame shows that he probably won’t be breaking down any time soon. He needs to develop other pitches before he is ready for the majors, but he might have the highest ceiling out of them all. Some still think he is in play for the number one overall pick, but a safer projection is top five without question. He could be an ace in daily fantasy baseball in just a few years with a better changeup and a hard slider.

-Sam Larston 

Why NFL's Breast Cancer Movement & Domestic Violence Problems Don't Mix

Every October, the National Football League has a program where the players all wear pink covering their gloves, cleats, towels and the refs wore pink hats. It is all for Breast Cancer. Many people have opinions on it ranging from the NFL goes over the top in an attempt to sell more stuff and monetize the whole situation from it is a really nice gesture from the NFL.  But let's remember a report came out last year stating only eight percent of the proceeds to go to the American Cancer Society. 

As I saw the quotes from Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, I realized he would probably be wearing pink at some point. The guy beating up his wife, someone whom could get diagnosed with breast cancer as anyone including Rice could get the cancer, will be showing his support for women. Is it time for the NFL to end the pink movement until they admit their players have a problem with women and domestic violence?  

Hopefully, no one forgets how bad Rice's press conference was from the player perspective and the team's prespective. They did intentionally on Memorial Day Friday so many people would completely forget about Rice and his transgressions. The fact he made his wife apologize for getting dragged through an Atlantic City casino is pathetic and sickening including a tone deaf response by Baltimore's social media team whom I assume are all out of jobs today.  Dan Patrick has "Best and Worst's" of the week every Monday and with this being the first day of the work week, not one person has mentioned Rice's terrible press conference. Sports On Earth Tomas Rios does point out why this is a problem for the NFL and the Ravens nailing it in every facet.  With how Rice handled this whole situation, he will probably be covered in pink supporting women when he is one of the worst humans in sports.  

Rice isn't the only one. He will probably only get a three-game suspension, but it would be great if the NFL suspended him for half the season admitting to their problem with women. Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy was accused for domestic violence in May where he apparently threw his girlfriend on a heavy array of 25-30 guns claiming he would kill her if she talked to the media. Now Hardy handed over his guns only to have 10 of them, but the 10 were stuff you would see in Call of Duty, not a normal home owner. Hardy will probably be covered in pink from head to toe. Now, Hardy could be innocent, but watching him being covered in pink-related gear seems tone deaf as well. 

What about Ka'Deem Carey?  He isn't in the league yet, but the Chicago Bears drafted him in the fourth round with a story about him beating up his pregnant girlfriend. Granted, the charges were dropped but he still carried around that reputation. Carey didn't get drafted higher because of his 40 time, not his attitude towards women. Now, the charges were dropped, but usually, they say with cases like these in falls somewhere in the middle of both of their stories. He will rock pink too probably and no one will really move a muscle. 

The NFL cannot ban a player from wearing pink, but it would be nice if they suggest to those players to maybe avoid it. But the NFL will not because they don't seem to care about women. If I were a woman football fan, I would be wondering why I support the shield with buying tickets, jerseys, etc when they don't seem to care about the opposite sex whom has way more fans than the dumb jock stereotype gives it credit for.  

Hopefully, one day in sports people like Rice's wife will get justice, but right now, the NFL continues its ignorance with its attitude towards women.

Charlie.  

NBA Playoffs Recap: LeBron Drops The Hammer on Pacers

"Don't throw stones if you live a glass house and if you got a glass jaw, you should watch your mouth cause I'll break your face."

The quote comes from the great poet 50 Cent in his song 'Patiently Waiting' off his first album. It is really a shame LeBron James didn't quote this line to Lance Stephenson given the Pacers guard's comments about James. LeBron and the Miami Heat's dominated Game 4 in a 102-90 victory where James delivered a top notch 'Best Player in the World' performance along with the revival of Chris Bosh plus why is Lance trying to become the next DeShawn Stevenson?

James had full control of this game. It lit a fire under his ass, and he played at his A+ level. James was not playing poorly through the first three games of this series, but he took it to another level on Monday. He scored 32 points with 10 rebounds and five assists missing only eight shots and only taking three 3-pointers delivering an efficient performance. Only three of LeBron's made 13 shots were outside the paint. The man was clearly on a mission.  LeBron shoved every single piece of Lance's comments right into his face on Monday night.

Why anyone would tempt LeBron these days is beyond me. No one needs to give LeBron any motivation these days. No one questions James ability to come through in the clutch anymore nor does anyone recycle any of the former narratives about The King. He earned the right to be called The King and no one really can even come close to his Iron Throne. Lance runs his mouth as he has been accustom to in the past only to get buried by James and company. There is another LeBron could have went with 'If you swing at the king, you better not miss.'

Chris Bosh didn't have one of the best playoffs thus far. He became the number two man for Miami this season as Dwyane Wade battled through injuries all season. Bosh became this player known for his big shots. But in this series, Bosh strung together three straight games of single digits getting frustrated by the Indiana big men. He started off fast which was different for both the Heat and Bosh with quick 10 points in the first quarter of the game. Bosh had control throughout the game with 25 points making seven shots including three 3-pointers. He spread the floor paving the way for opportunities for LeBron and others on the Miami roster. Wade had two big games and now Bosh added his own to the mix. This could be curtains for Indiana.

I am still trying to figure out why Lance Stephenson opened his mouth. He did the same thing two years ago making a choking gesture to LeBron on the bench which paved the motivation for the rest of the series. Remember DeShawn Stevenson?  Same last name, different spelling, same stupid trash talk. Stevenson did get redemption in the twilight of his career but during his prime, LeBron made DeShawn look like a complete jackass including a diss song written by Jay Z.  He might of had the last laugh against James, but he is known for his career as being the player whom shit talked LeBron and got destroyed because of it. The aforementioned Jigga Man once said, "Don't be the next contestant on that Summer Jam screen." And that basically describes Stephenson.  

But then again, maybe Indiana is delusional as an entire team. Paul George blamed the officials and said they would have won the game if the refs were better. That is complete and utter bullshit. Then again George got catfished on the Internet so I mean it is fair to wonder if his judgement is impaired a little bit. Maybe his Gatorade got tainted or he had a bad Papa John's pizza post-game because this is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. George wants to make the fans feel better even though they watched their Pacers team getting beat by 20 points in the second half. George also would like you to know that Thomas Dewey beat Harry Truman, it was just a technicality.  

Indiana is done. I felt good about predicting the Heat in five after the Game 2 victory. It does seem like the Pacers have no answer for this version of the Miami team. They could have had Game 2 and Game 3, and failed to capitalize in both games. Heat will put them to bed Wednesday night.

Charlie.

Johnny Vegas: The Biggest Social Media Superstar

How was your Memorial Day Weekend?  Mine personally delivered in a major way with two days of heavy drinking, chasing women and spending way too much money. I think the terrible Wisconsin winter made this Memorial Day weekend extra special. That's also a code for trying to justify how much money I spent over a span of two days. But no one seemed to have a better Memorial Day than Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel.

He took in Las Vegas like many young people in the United States do over Memorial Day Weekend as they bring the best DJ's and have these pool parties that you only see on Project X or movies like that.  When pictures began to circulate of Manziel hanging around the pools, ESPN ran right with the story talking about it as if it were breaking news that a 22 year old likes to go to Vegas and party his ass off.  This might be the time where we all have an intervention for the mothership and many other media outlets.

It is okay for Johnny Football to have fun. None of these pictures showed him doing a shot off a woman's breasts or him mooning the crowd. They look like normal pictures of a guy having a good time. It is bizarre we need to have this discussion about Manziel, but here we are in 2014 with the media having nothing better to do right now. It is also pretty clear he is the first social media superstar. Rob Gronkowski, a player he was pictured with it, had some of that as he had pictures of him with pornstar Bibi Jones, partying recklessly all over the country among other things. But Gronk doesn't play quarterback. Being the quarterback adds a whole new wrinkle to this thing.

This is going to become real tiresome. I am willing to bet most media outlets have one guy or girl assigned to Johnny Football Watch where they look at everything he is doing on a daily basis to see if they can find something to talk about. I mean Christ, the guy wore sandals for the team rookie photo and that somehow became a story. It seems like every day or so we get a new Manziel story. Cleveland made comments about trying to level him out a bit which is fine, but at the same time, it is Johnny's world and we are just living it. I don't know if there will be a step back from the Manziel coverage because everybody pushed their chips all in and now they are stuck with continuing the narrative. Not to mention, the dead period of sports in July after hockey and basketball ends will open up the flood gates for Manziel stories.

I don't always ask for pictures, but when I do, it's so I can do this. pic.twitter.com/kWZxv9G77V
— Elika Sadeghi (@steakNstiffarms) May 25, 2014

Tim Tebow had some of this stuff, but with him being a good nature Christian boy, the media never had discussion about his 'partying' habits. This will give us the first real look at 'What would it been like if we had Twitter/Instagram/Tinder when Joe Namath, Brett Favre or Michael Jordan played?'  Manziel will be the first test study of that hypothetical question. To that point, I could see Jameis Winston having some similar problems as college football media needs a Manziel replacement and who better than Winston? The social media superstar will only continue to get bigger and bigger as people get smarter on how to find the smallest details about a person.

It is too bad Johnny had to post a picture of him studying today because it shouldn't be needed. There are NFL players out there right now doing far worse things than having some beers in Las Vegas. Hopefully, Manziel keeps being his own person because it would be a shame to see him caged in.

Charlie.

SnoTap Thing of the Day: adidas Soccer Gives Us a Taste of New Kanye

If you didn't hear, Kanye West got married over the weekend and he had the first song off his new album perhaps get released to the public. Kanye inked up with adidas to do shoes, and one of the big things was he hoped to do more than just the Yeezys. Well he is involved with their World Cup campaign showing off 'God Level' which has an insane bassline to it. I am not going to judge the lyrics of a minute snippet of Kanye's song. No one knows when the album is coming out but I will be interested to see if he hits the Bonnaroo crowd with a couple new singles when he performs there in two weeks. Gotta be honest, it is a pretty dead time in sports so I might try to piece together one today.

Charlie.

Highlights-Lowlights: Brewers-Marlins (5/23-5/25)

This is SnoTap's version of recap of the two, three or four game series Milwaukee Brewers will play this season. We focus on the positives and negatives with topics about the game and topics that were nowhere near close to part of the game.

Highlights
Carlos Gomez - I guess Gomez's back is feeling alright because he had a tremendous series in Miami. Gomez had four doubles and drove in three runs. For the series, Gomez went 8 for 13. Currently, Gomez's average is .320 with 10 home runs. He is without question an MVP candidate, and I will be shocked if he is not one of the leading vote getters for the outfield spots when the All-Star balloting comes out. Also, he delivered the soundbite of the year after Friday's four hit game.

Offense explosion - One of the bigger questions through this road trip was the lack of offense from the Brewers. They were practically dead from Friday until Wednesday, but then Milwaukee started to get warm in the final two games in Atlanta then napalmed in Miami, a place not known for big offense. Brewers had nine runs on Friday and seven on Sunday. We just will not talk about Saturday. The one big thing is the runs didn't all come on home runs. Brewers had a lot of them on Friday, but all seven Sunday were driven in some form.

Jimmy Nelson - Even though he got a great deal of run support for his start, he pitched pretty well for a spot start. Nelson pitched nearly six innings only allowing five hits, walking only three and striking out six batters. It was a productive day for Nelson. Miami has a couple players where you can make some big time mistakes to, and Nelson avoided it. It's nice to know if the Brewers do see some injuries with their pitching staff that there are guys waiting in Nashville ready to pitch in the big leagues.

Ryan Braun - This was for his Sunday afternoon performance where he needed only a home run to hit for the cycle. Braun looked awesome at the plate on Sunday. Hopefully, this means the side injury is finally going away and Braun will be back to his normal self. Hitting in the two spot seems to be alright for Braun, and it's definitely a new school way to do things. Many advanced metrics folks say the two hitter should be your best hitter because there are more opportunities there especially in late-game situations.

Rob Wooten - One guy kind of flying under the radar lately has been Rob Wooten. He still has a 2.40 ERA because of a bad game in Pittsburgh where he allowed three runs. But did you know Wooten's last earned run was on April 19th against Pittsburgh? He has been great of late and deserving of a spot on this roster. I know Tom Gorzelanny will be ready soon, but Wooten deserves to be on this roster.

Lowlights
Baserunning Gaffe for Days - Saturday was not a good game for the Brewers. They really should have won the game, but probably the worst play featured a Mark Reynolds single with Braun and Gomez on-base where Gomez gets thrown at third and Braun dogged it home making the final out in the inning and the run not counting. Brewers ended up losing the game by a run naturally. Gomez took some issue with how Braun ran out that hit basically throwing all the blame on him. Roenicke tried to deflect it a little bit putting the blame on both players. I like it though. No one is being passive aggressive and just being honest. I think that's a sign of a good team personally.

Marco Estrada's home runs - I know I have been beating this drum a bit, but he gave up four more on Friday in what was a good start after giving up just one to Giancarlo Stanton, but he ended up giving up two to Garrett Jones plus another one to Stanton. He struck out seven batters without any walks so it's a real Catch-22 with Estrada. It is great he pitched well minus the home runs which are still a problem even though they're solo shots. Hopefully, Milwaukee's pitching coaches can try to do something different to avoid it slightly.

Randy Wolf - Usually, I don't speak ill of the opposing team but since there were not many things to bitch at for the Brewers this series, it is nice to see Wolf is back to his old ways. I said on Friday, we either would have Wolf at his finest or Wolf giving up runs all over the place. It was the latter. Glad Randy could help out his former team.

Missed opportunities Saturday - This is one of the Brewers worst defeats of the season. They had multiple chances to drive in runners and failed to do it. Granted, it is a long season, but you think about these ones at the end of the year when they may need one or two wins. All in all though, a good series for the Crew.

Charlie.

Orioles-Brewers Preview (5/26-5/28)

Brewers previews to get you ready for the series where we have five things to watch, pitching matchups and prediction. We add a YouTube video in the mix, it could be really anything.   

Pitching Matchups
Monday:      Chris Tillman (4-2 4.21) vs. Kyle Lohse (6-1 2.67)     1:10 pm FSNWI
Tuesday:      Wei-Yen Chen (5-2 4.08) vs. Matt Garza (2-4 4.92)       7:10 pm FSNWI
Wednesday: Bud Norris (3-4 3.83) vs. Yovani Gallardo (2-3 3.51) 7:10 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1.) Home Sweet Home - Brewers are back at Miller Park for the first time in two weeks. The road trip ended on a high note with the Crew taking two of three from Miami, but in reality, Milwaukee really should be on a five-game winning streak as they pissed away both Thursday and Saturday's game. Even though the Brewers are only four games above .500 at home, it is still nice to be playing in front of the fans and getting to sleep in their own bed each night. This week at home needs to be an efficient one, and hopefully the hot hitting continues this week.  .

2.) New World Order - Ron Roenicke has been criticized by me in the past for being very generic and robotic with some of the decisions he makes in all aspects of the game. Roenicke thought outside the box to put Ryan Braun hitting second and Carlos Gomez in the cleanup spot. The Brewers scored seven and nine runs in their two wins this weekend, their highest run total in a game since their eight-run output against Arizona on May, 3rd. Roenicke is sticking with the lineup today, and you wonder if Aramis Ramirez will be hitting fifth when he returns from injury or if Roenicke will revert back to the old lineup.

3.) Kyle Lohse's continued success - This could be the biggest jinx of the season given I am writing this about 40 minutes before he tows the rubber, but right now, he is the best pitcher on the Brewers staff. Everything is working for Lohse which is great to see as other pitchers have struggled slightly. One thing that might make you a little nervous about today is Lohse really has seen any of the bats for Baltimore. That can also work to a pitcher's advantage too. Lohse goes out there with another strong outing like he did against Atlanta, I think you can make a case he deserves to be in consideration for Pitcher of the Month in the National League.

4.) Avoiding Nelson Cruz - One of the hottest players in baseball right now with 16 home runs for the season and hitting .295. Orioles picked him up as a flyer before the season started and no one really thought much of it yet he is carrying the team right now leading them in almost every batting category. One advantage the Brewers do have with him though is he cannot play defense to save his soul meaning the Crew could get some added chances with balls hit to left field this week. Given Miller Park and the weather this week, you almost have to expect Cruz to hit one or two out, let's hope they are solo shots.

5.) Little pitching, big offense week? - It is humid as all hell today meaning the panels will be open today and likely tomorrow if the storms hold off which is good news if you like a lot of offense. I wouldn't be surprised to see several balls fly out of the stadium. Granted, Brewers pitching has been good and Orioles haven't been too bad so maybe I am wrong and we will see a bunch of pitcher's duels like we have grown accustomed to in the first two months of the baseball season.

Appropriate YouTube video


For all the troops out there, serving, served or lost in combat. THANK YOU. This day is about remembering the fallen whom fought for our freedom. Nothing better than montages of soldiers coming home to their families.

Prediction 
Brewers have done well against the AL East thus far going 5-1. I could see two out of three from the Crew. Feels like they are getting warm again.

Charlie.

SnoTap Songs of the Week for May 19th

Sorry, these got lost in the shuffle last Friday. I had a scheduling conflict making me pretty much useless after noon last week. For those wondering or for those who care I guess, we will have three posts hopefully on Memorial Day. Brewers preview, highlights-lowlights of the Brewers-Marlins series and a recap of the two NBA games this weekend. I cannot make any promises with how hungover I will probably be by Monday.



Wasted (R3Hab Remix) - Tiesto (feat. Matthew Koma)
This is the perfect song for the weekend. There is so much here for you to work it. The chorus is really all you need this weekend. This song is a flat out banger without R3Hab, but his spin to the song makes it our top pick for the week.

Lost You - Zeds Dead & Twin Shadow (feat. D'Angelo Lacy)
Love this one too. I think if we didn't get the Wasted remix this week, this would have took the top spot. Although this isn't the time to worry about exes with it being a brand new summer. Still a fun song and yes I would recommend it to your weekend playlist.



About The Money - T.I. (feat. Young Thug) 
It has been awhile since we have heard something great from T.I., but this could be a big song for this summer. There is the old school T.I. flow to it with a pretty awesome verse/hook from Young Thug, one of the risers in the game.

Drowning - BANKS
I am officially on BANKS bandwagon. I have been talking her up in the last couple weeks. I think her album will be big this Fall. This is her newest one and it's probably the most depressing song you will hear for Memorial Day weekend.



You & Me - Bassnectar (feat. W. Darling)
This isn't the protoypical Bassnectar song with crazy dubstep beats, but it is still a good one with a nice change of pace that could result in some Top 40 airplay.

Stigmata - Ab-Soul (feat. Action Bronson & Assad
This is one I am going to have to listen to again. I am putting it here because I know we probably have some Ab-Soul fans as well as some Action fans. Way too slow beat-wise for my liking. It could be due to the fact, it's Friday and beautiful outside which in turn is not the time to listen to a song like this.

Have a good weekend and thank you to all the troops!

Charlie.

Brewers-Marlins Preview (5/22-5/24)

Brewers previews to get you ready for the series where we have five things to watch, pitching matchups and prediction. We add a YouTube video in the mix, it could be really anything.   

Pitching Matchups
Friday:     Marco Estrada (3-2 3.64) vs. Tom Koehler (4-3 2.25)   6:10 pm FSNWI
Saturday: Wily Peralta (4-3 2.18) vs. Jacob Turner (0-2 6.59)        3:10 pm FSNWI
Sunday:   Yovani Gallardo (2-3 3.51) vs. Randy Wolf (0-0 1.80)  12:10 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1.) Will Yo go on Sunday? - There is a great deal unknown whether Gallardo will start on Sunday with a bum ankle. Brewers and Red Sox are the only two teams who have only started five starters this season so far. ming back. Due to Wei-Chung Wang, the Brewers really don't have a long reliever ready to go therefore it would probably have to be Tyler Thornburg which would screw the bullpen. I really need to see Wang go or Milwaukee work out a trade to Pittsburgh allowing him to be at Brevard County paving the way for Jimmy Nelson or Mike Fiers. I realize this is a pure pipe dream, and they will probably send down Rob Wooten which is supremely disappointing.

2.) Maybe Gomez and Braun aren't at full strength - I wrote in the Brewers-Braves preview that Ryan Braun and Carlos Gomez were finally healthy leading to the Brewers to get hot again. Welp that didn't happen as Braun left Thursday's game with his oblique bothering him. Gomez didn't start on Thursday plus he really cannot do the 'Gomez' type things like stealing bases yet, or push a double into a triple. Braun is probably not playing tonight. I think Gomez will be starting, but it is clear playing 16 straight games is taking a toll on a injury ridden team. Hopefully, the Brewers find a way to manage through it.

3.) Y'all know Miami has been really good at home? - I have no idea how this happened, but the Marlins somehow have built a homefield advantage. They are really good at home with a 19-6 record, and they are 6-17 on the road hence why the Marlins are near .500. Looking at the teams they played at home so far, four out of the seven are above .500 with Seattle at .500 and three being under .500 so they aren't beating the slums of the baseball world. Additionally, five of those games were Jose Fernandez starts whom will be missing for the rest of the year, Miami won four of his five starts. Basically, there is not many flukes in there, and there is not a Fernandez factor either. I will say their home/road splits have to come down a little bit though, right?  

4.) Concern about a Frankie save opportunity - The last time Francisco Rodriguez had a save opportunity was last Friday. He came into the game on Wednesday night, gave up a hit, but pretty much went unscathed. I am legitimately terrified what might happened if Rodriguez has to nail down a save this weekend. He is the type of guy that needs to be in a rhythm. I wouldn't be surprised if the Brewers ended up losing a game on a blown save by K-Rod. Maybe I am down in the dumps right now and just not thinking positive right now.

5.) MY OLD FRIEND RANDY - Milwaukee will be facing off against Randy Wolf on Sunday afternoon. Now, both teams will likely be hungover and look forward to a couple players missing the game with flu-like symptoms because c'mon Miami on Memorial Day weekend will be absolutely on fire. My guess is at least one player per person. Old Brewers always scare me. I don't care how old Randy Wolf is, he could easily throw seven innings and dominate their asses on Sunday afternoon.

Appropriate YouTube video


In honor of this great tweet by Brewers reliever Will Smith,

So I will be there first one to say it let's go ahead and get all the Will Smith jokes out while I'm in Miami. #welcometomiami #Brewers
— Will Smith (@White_Willy31) May 23, 2014

Prediction 
Ah dammit, this feels like the Brewers losing two out of three which means they will go 3-7 in the longest road trip of the season. Maybe I am just in a bad place.

Recapping The Challenge: Johnny Bananas v. Jordan - Greatest Sports Rivalry in May

Adam Hatlak, one of our writers here is as big of a Challenge fans as I am. We want to expand our coverage a bit so we are doing a recap blog post on Friday. He will basically have three to five takeaways each week talking about things that happened on The Challenge.

Mario Kart: I know it's not a common analogy, and it may not make sense to some of you, but growing up I played a lot of Mario Kart, sometimes with my friends, but then when I got older, I'd play it with younger family members to entertain them at family gatherings. There were two specific younger family members who were not great at the game, so in the four player mode, the two older players would finish very early, and the two last players would have to keep racing. Mario Kart had a great feature that if everyone but the last place person had finished the race, the race would be over, but it didn't work in these scenarios, because there were two people still racing. It would take what seemed like years for the game to be over, as it got so bad. I was really, really, really worried that we were in for that scenario with this week's challenge. Luckily, the divide was clear enough that the people whom were bad were eliminated, but I thought we were in for hours of watching not great people try to finish that course (Ed. note: While I enjoyed this Challenge more so than the typical ones, I really wanted to see them eat gross shit instead - CT) .

The Draw: I think it's one of the greatest additions to the modern challenge, but the loopholes are starting to show. Leroy is generally one of my favorites, but he figured out that Laurel would likely to vote him in either way, so he threw the mission going into the draw to lower his chances of going in. I don't know if this is good strategy, or a potential imminent loophole. I think this concept should stay for future shows, but expect some tweaks to try to keep the players from manipulating the game.

Jordan/Bananas: There is so much to say on this, so I'll try to keep it brief. First off, neither guy is coming off great in this rivalry, but it is very entertaining to watch. Bananas has got to lay off the hand jokes, it's below the belt, and too easy, and there is more than enough material for Johnny to hate on Jordan with. Jordan severely underestimated Bananas, and should have tossed a bit more respect out there as well. For a change of pace, CT provided the best perspective of the whole feud, Jordan's biggest issue in the challenge isn't his hand, it's his pride/ego. I respect Jordan for living up to his word and going at Johnny in a challenge, and even though it didn't work out, you got to go down swinging. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but any chance you think production heard Jordan's plan to flip all of the cards and wanted to throw the wall climbing challenge to make him think twice, so they could get more run out of the rivalry? This rivalry has been great, and both guys will definitely be back to rehash it, maybe even a Rivals 3, but I think this is an important crossroads, 'Bananas used to be the top villain on these shows, and if Jordan hangs around late in challenges, he'll take that spot. Bananas will become the respect vet. Jordan looks to be taking the place we assumed Frank would before the show humanized him. (Ed. Note: Exactly what's going to happen, and I said it last week too, I would have loved to see this season with full Frank. Best rivalry The Challenge has produced in a long time - CT)  

Elimination Rounds: For anybody complaining about Jordan throwing himself in, or the randomness of the elimination as a whole, please stop. The biggest issue with this show in previous years was the predictability of the elimination rounds. The first two or three would be rookies, followed by a few low potential vets, then a few key competitors. Season after season until they had to change it to add the drama. Jordan's right, you want to beat someone, you have to send them home yourself, you're going to have to do it sooner or later.

Charlie.  

Highlights-Lowlights: Brewers-Braves (5/19-5/22)

This is SnoTap's version of recap of the two, three or four game series Milwaukee Brewers will play this season. We focus on the positives and negatives with topics about the game and topics that were nowhere near close to part of the game.

Highlights
Kyle Lohse - Brewers really don't have an ace to their staff, but they do have a number one pitcher, right now that's Lohse. No one is pitching better than him on this roster. He continued to dazzle against Atlanta going for eight innings giving up four hits and striking out eight batters with only walked one. Lohse looked in complete control for the full eight innings. He didn't really deal with any sort of problems, and won his six start of the season. Nine out of Lohse's ten starts have seen him go at least six innings.

Jonathan Lucroy - This man is on a complete tear. I know Buster Posey and Yadier Molina hang out in the National League, but Lucroy is playing like an All-Star starter. He is currently eighth in the league in batting average and on-base percentage. Lucroy reached base safely in 11 out of 17 at-bats against Atlanta, and hit over .500 for the season against the Braves. Lucroy is having the best May by far of any Brewers batter, and I do think you seriously have to consider Johnny Luc for the cleanup position even when Aramis Ramirez comes back.

Mark Reynolds - He was the main benefactor as to why Milwaukee won on Wednesday night with his grand slam. Reynolds is not going to give you the base-hits you want all the time, but he will bring the home run power. It is why Reynolds should stay in the lineup because now and again, he will hit a big home run for the team. Yes, he will also strikeout too, but you just roll with the punches there with Reynolds. But keeping him on the bench and starting Jeff Bianchi is not something that will win you baseball games. Simple as that.

Khris Davis - Decent series for him, and it would be great if he got hot at some point. I still believe he is figuring out Major League Baseball pitching even after two months. Davis hit a two-run homer on Monday night to pull the Brewers within two runs of Atlanta before shit hit the fan, and Davis drove in two runs on Thursday. He can hit against left-handers without question, but the struggle comes against the righties. Hopefully, Davis can find his groove in Miami and carry over to the homestand against Baltimore and Chicago.

Ryan Doumit -Known. Brewer. Killer. He always seems to do something against the Brewers, doesn't he? Doumit hit the home run that opened the Wang floodgates on Monday night, and then drove in two runs including the go-ahead on Thursday night. Doumit needs to stay far away from the National League Central.

Lowlights
Ron Roenicke's Decision Making - Not the best week for Ronald. He has been sort of above criticism for the season given how good the Brewers have been, but he is not helping things with all the injuries. There was the Wang decision on Monday which we already discussed, here and here. And then last night was a complete trainwreck with not having someone warm in the bullpen. Will Smith did give up two runs, but ended up getting an out as well. So help me God if he gets hurt in the coming days. Roenicke needs a full deck because he doesn't know how to handle one when it's limited.

Yovani Gallardo's ankle - To make matters worse on Tuesday night, Yovani Gallardo sprained his ankle meaning he could be out for Sunday's game against Miami. He will probably not see any Disabled List time for this one, but it is always disappointing to see a starting pitcher go down. Thankfully, it is just a sprained ankle, and not anything more serious to his legs. I wouldn't push Gallardo starting on Sunday, but the fact, Mike Fiers or Jimmy Nelson isn't up therefore the Brewers don't have a backup plan putting them at odds.

Ryan Braun's side - I feel like Michael Scott seeing Toby again... NOOOO GOD NOOO. Braun looked like he was struggling at the plate, and he pulled himself out of the game on Thursday night. It becomes a waiting game to see if Braun plays tonight. He is a former Miami guy so this series has some meaning to Braun and probably wants to be in the order. My guess is he will play tonight, sit out Saturday and play Sunday. Hopefully, he doesn't have to miss the whole series.

Wily Peralta - I don't think there is a reason to push a panic button on Peralta rather he just had a bad start against a good team. Peralta gave up a home run as well as walked four batters in five innings. Peralta still hasn't given up more than three earned runs in a game so far this season. Just a bad start from Wily, he will be fine.

Charlie.

SnoTap Song of the Day: Lost You - Zeds Dead & Twin Shadow (Feat. D'Angelo Lacy)

My bad for not getting this up sooner. I know you all care so much about what the song of the day will be day in and day out. It also must be electronic week at the Tap which I don't care about one bit. It figures with Memorial Day weekend on the horizon; the best jams coming through are from the dance music side of things. This one comes from Zeds Dead whom incorporates the lyricism of Twin Shadow to go along with the music. Let me tell you this works really well. D'Angelo Lacy adds some background lyrics as well.  Twin Shadow is known for more of his 80's new wave type feel so putting with a song that will be featured promentinaly at clubs is interesting and adventurous.  I like it. Another great day at the Tap. I don't know what this means, but I am going to enjoy it.

Charlie.

Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 89

Tapping The Keg brings you another edition this week with episode 89 featuring the usual stalwarts, Charlie and Mitch.  We talk about the song of the summer, and pick our selection which will most definitely be wrong. We move on to discuss the NBA Lottery night with Milwaukee Bucks, Mallory Edens and much more. It moves to baseball where we talk about the lack of media attention towards Ryan Braun, talk about Carlos Gomez's worth as well as what to do about Wei-Chung Wang. We discuss Colt Lyerla with the Packers, and why some journalists need to take a little step back before calling it a 'gutter' move. A wee bit of NBA Playoff talk to wrap it up. Really fun 50 minutes

Challenge Power Rankings Week 6

Yes another season of The Challenge is upon us. Hard to believe this is their 25th season of it.  We are doing the rankings like we usually do starting from the worst making our way to the top.  We will rank them every Thursday. Preseason rankings will definitely change next week because we will know a lot more about the season.  

16.) Preston, Last Week: 18.) - He might be there until the final eight which makes me sick. 

15.) Johnny, LW 14) - He continues to do absolutely nothing. I think he is on the outs this week unless they really, really want to get rid of Jordan. 

14.) Leroy, LW 12.) - The way he spelled 'disguise' might have been the worst thing ever in a Challenge. That was Brad bad. I think it was the worst one so far.  

13.) Jonna, LW 13.) - I couldn't believe what she said about Russia. No one cares about them? Have you seen what happened in Ukraine or nah?  

12.)  Aneesa, LW 15.) - Nice jump for her because she seems to be forgotten again due to the new Theresa-Laurel-Devyn feud which could keep her in the house longer than expected.

11.) Deyvn, LW 16.) - Biggest run for her in the last couple weeks. She made a slight move last week and then this week, she continues with Laurel plus winning the Spelling Challenge. Deyvn played this game so damn right.

10.)  Cohutta, LW 9.) - Not much from him this week. We talked about the last couple weeks, but Cohutta is lying the weeds for making the final. He might not make it, but I wouldn't be shocked if he is there.

9.) Jessica, LW 8.) - She disappeared sort of in the past couple weeks after becoming one of the stars of the show. Is it because Jessica realized how close to the sun she was after trying to get involved in

8.) Theresa, LW 10.) - Honestly, she is probably has a better shot at making the final more so than Nany, but it's quite a season thus far for Theresa. She really doesn't take advantage like this, but BAWSE LADY LAUREL has her on the kill list so... Might be in trouble. 

7.) Jordan, LW 2.) - What gives for the big fall?  I think he's running out of options and friends. It seems like he will be heading to elimination unless he wins the competition. The only saving grace might be Johnny from Portland still here without doing anything.

6.) Nany, LW 7.) - I am pretty sure it is in Nany's contract she needs to make out with one women before it's all said and done. I'm also pretty sure this isn't the first time Aneesa and her made out. I don't hate it.

5.)  Johnny Bananas, LW 5.) - I wanted to throw Bananas into the top four, but right now, Zach has a little more momentum than JB. But doesn't feel like he's controlling the game making everyone turn on Jordan?

4.) Zach, LW 6.) - He made a slight push by dominating the trivia challenge, and he sent Jordan into elimination. Zach will end up being there at the end because I don't know if anyone is beating him in elimination. Calling his brain a part of his muscle group was such a hardo thing to say though.

3.) Cara Maria, LW 4.) - I did think this was a strong year for women of The Challenge, but I didn't think the second strongest women would be Cara Maria. She's been great this year and a true contender for the final group. Although the fact she didn't know what a continent was is pretty bad as well as thinking Ghandi is a boxer.

2.)  CT, LW 3.) -  He moves back to the two spot after the classic line to Jordan where he says, 'You should sign a release, Jordan so CT can punch your head in.' Perfect line from CT, needed it, wanted it. Hopefully, we see a big push.

1.) -Laurel, LW 1.) - Big week for us here in the Challenge Power Rankings game as Laurel follows me on Twitter now. BAWSE LADY LAUREL obviously gets it. Also you cannot rank her lower than one when she's following the Tap on Twitter. Facts are facts. Also when you pull some Game of Thrones-type shit with a kill list, you're a clear number one.

Charlie.