Sportsman of the Month - April

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Actually, I don't have a sportsman of the month. I don't have a sportswoman of the month, either.

I've got 18,541 of them.

Sportsmen and sportswomen of the Month:

The 18,541 Crazylegs Classic Record-Setters

I mean, if you looked outside and saw recurring downpours, in about 45-degree weather, just one day after enjoying a 75-degree day in late April, would you voluntarily lace up your running shoes, grab a towel and water bottle, and go run 8 kilometers or walk 2 miles?

A record-setting amount of Madisonians and out-of-town racers did just that on Apr. 25. Not once before in the 28-year history of the Crazylegs Classic - a run-and-walk event that starts at the Capitol building, winds around the University of Wisconsin campus and ends at the 50-yard-line at Camp Randall Stadium - had so many as 18,541 people participate. Considering the awful elements, that just made Crazylegs officials that much prouder.

“I think this is an exclamation point for Badger fans,” Terry Murawski told me during the closing ceremony under a tent's shelter on the soaked Camp Randall turf. Murawski is the Executive Director of the W Club and helps coordinate Crazylegs each year.

“You could not have scripted a worse day unless you had snow; it’s chilly, it’s raining, it’s rained hard through the race, and people are still coming over the finish line an hour after we started.”

Crazylegs features people from just about any background. You've got world-class racers including UW cross country and track superstars Katrina Rundhaug and Ann Detmer (whose recent graduation finally made them eligible to participate in the event); you've got local college students who go with friends as a fun end-of-the-semester outing; you've got casual runners who want to test their speed in a mini-marathon-type race, as well as people just looking to walk a little bit in late April as part of a large group.

But perhaps most impressively, you had large groups who coordinated to run or walk together, wearing matching shirts and racing for a common goal.

221 "Fun and Fitness" teams entered Crazylegs, including an eye-popping 4,000 individuals. The second-largest group, the Kevin Peyton Crazylegs Memorial Team, had 150 people in black shirts screaming "Running for Kevin". Kevin Peyton died last fall of autism at just 14 years old.

“This was one of his favorite things to do," Kevin's father, Steve, told me after the race. "We enjoyed it together as a father-and-son duo, and now to have 150 people here, it’s unbelievable. We’re just a bunch of friends and families; we’re not a corporation or business. It’s pretty neat, I’m very proud.”

It was an emotional day, too, for Elli Tarnutzer, whose 14-year-old son Lance was diagnosed with diabetes in September. Before long, his football and basketball teammates started spreading the word to create "Lance's Team", girls at Lance's high school were making and posting flyers, and 55 participants came out on a rainy day to help raise money for juvenile diabetes research.

When asked what it meant to have so many supporters for her son, who along with other Type 1 Diabetes combatants wore a red headband during Crazylegs, Elli teared up.

“He’s a real outgoing, personable kid,” said Elli Tarnutzer, Lance’s mother. “Everybody likes him. He’s just a good kid overall.”

On a lighter note, I, the Crazylegs newbie, had to ask Elli, a Crazylegs vet, just what does her group do if somebody has to stop and use the facilities during the race. Do they all stop? Do they go ahead and hope the individual catches up?

She shrugged and grinned. "Pretty much, you just grin and bear it."

More than 18-grand brave souls did just that on Apr. 25. And that made for a very proud day in the Madison community.

Past SOTM winners:
Team Japan – March
Rafael Nadal – February
Larry Fitzgerald – January

April honorable mentions:
North Carolina Tar Heels: No. 1 when they started, No. 1 when they finished. Just a couple bumps in the road, but overall a terrific season for clearly the best team in the land.
Albert Pujols: For singlehandedly carrying my fantasy team in Weeks 1 and 2. Not that I'm biased or anything.
Zach Greinke: For being the freaking man. He's now 6-0 with a 0.40 ERA? WHAT?!?! Too bad he'll be an overpaid Yankee by 2012.

April dishonorable mentions:
Al Davis: For being you. Darrius Heyward-Bey? I mean, seriously? Does Al enjoy making Mel Kiper Jr. tear his bizarro hair out?
Detroit Pistons: For deciding not to show up to these playoffs. Way to keep one foot on the basketball court and one foot on the yacht in Bermuda, boys.
Chien-Ming Wang: For singlehandedly destroying my fantasy team in Weeks 1 and 2. Not that I’m bitter or anything.
Alex Rodriguez: for forcing Hooters waitresses everywhere to put up dartboards with his mug on it. And doing non-sexual things with it.
Brett Favre: ... oh wait. All this has taken place in May. OK, Brett, we'll get to you next month. Don't think you're not immune to this infamous list.

Eben Britton Will End You and more Case of the Mondays

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Mile High Musings for a Monday morning after turning 22 years old and spending the day wondering – pondering, even – if I should follow in Chad Johnson’s footsteps and change my name to “Double Deuce”…

I think I learned this weekend the biggest reason the NFL Draft annoys me is because we just don’t know what the heck the teams are thinking. I still watch it because it is entertaining and there’s a hopeful aura that your team picks well-known names that fit your team’s needs.

But we won’t know how this draft class will pan out for a few seasons after Mr. Irrelevant’s name is called, and you usually just walk away wondering why your team didn’t follow what ESPN experts were saying they should have done.

You do have to love the seventh round of the NFL draft. Here were some of the names taken in the first eight picks of the Irrelevant round: Chris Ogbannaya, Paul Fanaika, Taufui Vakapuna, Edjuan Biggers, and – my personal favorite – Captain Munnerlyn. Yarrr, Captain!

Wow, way to spit on your fans, Denver Broncos. You honestly thought reaching for the best running back in the draft about ten spots too high was going to woo your fan base? We’re not stupid, Josh McDaniels.

It’s obvious the problem last year was defense, notably getting to the quarterback and stopping the run. So why, why, why in the world did you take your ten picks and use just four of them on defense – and only one pick (Robert Ayers) on the front seven???? WHY????

But hey, the ex-Patriot McDaniels did manage to select a sixth-round quarterback whose name starts with "Tom Bra...."

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

And at least the Broncos didn’t pick a wide receiver No. 7 when he was a questionable first-rounder…with Michael Crabtree perfectly available. Or a cornerback in the second round when Senor Hairpiece vehemently argued he could’ve been signed in free agency.

Could be a fun column sometime: What are the five worst franchises in sports? Al Davis' Raiders are right up there.

How about this story out of Jacksonville? Sounds like somebody took their cocky pills Saturday. Eben Britton, the Jags' second pick - and second offensive tackle, after Eugene Monroe - apparently got an A in self-confidence class. Have a look at some of his quotes, after sliding down out of the first round and into the 39th overall selection:

“I couldn’t be happier that to be picked by the Jacksonville Jaguars but I was (ticked) off. There isn’t a bigger organization that I could have asked for, but every team that passed on me will regret it for the rest of the history of that franchise.”

“I was always told I wasn’t big enough, fast enough to play. Well, the chip (on my shoulder) just got a little bigger and somebody’s going to pay.”

So what's your career plans, Eben?

“I want to lead the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Super Bowl and I want to become the greatest tackle in the history of the NFL.”

Oh. Okay. What do you think of Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay?

“You know what, if one of these draft guys lined up across from me, they’d be dead, so that’s not something I’m really concerned with. If you want to line up across from Eben Britton, you’re going to know what’s happening to you, I guarantee you that.”

Eben Britton sure knows what Eben Britton wants. Here's guessing we never hear from Eben Britton again.

The NBA has passed a new law. When the Celtics need a three-pointer in the final 30 seconds of a basketball game, the opposing coach must – MUST – double-team Ray Allen and tell his two guards, “I don’t care if they pick and roll, if they penetrate and kick, if they bring out the Patriots’ offensive line to block for Ray Allen or if Ray takes the shot from the popcorn stand in section 218. If you let Allen have any more than three and a half inches of open space during this next possession, you both will be on a bus heading to the D-League before the final horn.”

The next coach who fails to do this is breaking the law…and should be on a bus heading to coach D-League before the final horn.

Why? This. (32 second mark)

And this.

And this.

And this.

And, finally, this.

Get the picture, Bulls?

My roommate Justin’s take on the Cleveland-Detroit series, when ABC cut away from the scintillating Bulls-Celtics game to LeBron warming up for a Game 4 promo: “They’re gonna win by 70.”

And the sad thing is, my immediate response was, ‘well, not quite. But they’ll be close. The scrubs will whittle it down to a 50-point win.’

I think it’s safe to say Denver won the Chauncey-Iverson trade.

News: Despite legitimate speculation that the University of Wisconsin would not put a single prospect into the first three rounds of this weekend’s NFL Draft, four Badgers were taken in the third round after a UW-less Day 1. Matt Shaughnessy (Oakland), Kraig Urbik (Pittsburgh) and DeAndre Levy (Detroit) were taken eight spots apart in the 70s picks, and Travis Beckum (New York Giants) was the 100th overall pick and the final selection of the third round.

Views: I have to tip my cap to Wisconsin, which must be proud of being just one of seven schools to produce four draft picks in the first three rounds (or, if this was last year or any prior year, four first-day selections.) Granted, nobody was actually a first-day pick in 2009, but when nobody figures you to have anybody gone in the first three rounds, four Badgers bucking the scout’s take is a nice trend.

More views: That all being said, what does that tell you about the 2009 Badgers, having just lost four top-100 players from a 7-6 team? As Scooby-doo might say…Ruh roh.

The above clip shows Jacoby Ellsbury stealing home against the Yankees, helping the Red Sox earn a three-game sweep.

Apparently the results Boston-New York rivalry is something like 52-51 since the start of the 2004 season. Coulda fooled me. It seems like the Sox absolutely own the Yankees every time they play.

But back to Ellsbury’s domestic burglary: check out the 1:15 mark. So the bases are loaded. Andy Pettitte is a left-handed pitcher who takes forever to throw a pitch out of the full, and can’t see Ellsbury. The Yankee third baseman (don’t know who it is, too lazy to look it up, all I know is it’s not A-Roid) isn’t holding on Ellsbury, who is as sneaky as he is fast.

With there being a left-handed hitter at the plate facing a lefty pitcher, the chances are slim that a ball will be hit to the third-base area. And Ellsbury took a giant lead before he even took off…he had such a great jump that he stumbled the last two steps and still got in safely.

What did we learn from this little event? That maybe the Yankees should have kept some of that $423.5 million they gave to CC/Tex/Burnett and spent it on, you know, sensible coaching with common sense.

Later this week, I’ll have my annual birthday wishes column, along with a little piece on a beloved event held in Madison each year that according to a friend of mine, doubled as “the world’s largest wet t-shirt contest” in 2009.

Apparently, State of Play is “sooooooo damn good.” I’ll have to see if it’s as good as Taken.

Family Guy with an off week, after a hilarious episode last Sunday. Hopefully this doesn’t start a downward spiral. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Have a good one.

-AJ