Sports, Thursday, 11/10/16

A number of area football players were given Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Individual Academic All-State honors on Wednesday. To qualify for the honors, players need to be a senior, varsity letterwinner with a 3.75 cumulative GPA or higher. Earning honors from Fond du Lac High School were Tanner Kattre and Mitchell Raube. From Lomira were Adam Kinyon and Chase Parr. From St. Mary’s Springs Jerard Stoegbauer and John Welsch. From Waupun, Garrit Levey and from Winnebago Lutheran Jacob Borgwardt, Tanner Haase and Ted Schmitz.

The Packers were back on the practice field Wednesday to prepare for their first of three road games on the schedule that starts this Sunday at Tennessee. Head Coach Mike McCarthy says he’s not concerned with the level of energy his team has this week. He says that his team will “bring it” this week and his team has been focusing on paying attention to detail and improvement.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was asked if Sunday’s game is a “must-win”. He said that he never liked that term. He said “World War Two was a ‘must win’, football is football”. Rodgers says they have to handle early-game adversity better.

The University of Wisconsin will prohibit nooses and ropes from home athletic events as part of revised standards being put in place after a fan wore an offensive costume to a football game. The school said Wednesday in a statement that nooses and ropes will be treated as weapons that “constitute a threat to safety.” The fan behavior, carry-in and ticket policies were revised to read, in part, that “Any person who engages in violent, threatening, abusive or otherwise disorderly conduct which tends to provoke a disturbance or incite violence will be ejected from our events.” A fan wore what appeared to be a President Barack Obama mask with a noose around its neck to the Badgers’ game on Oct. 29 against Nebraska. Security officers asked the man to remove the noose in the first but a photo taken later shows him wearing the noose again.

The changes will go into effect starting this weekend, including the seventh-ranked Badgers’ game on Saturday against Illinois.

Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez was voted the NL comeback player of the year by his peers in the annual Players Choice Awards of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Fernandez returned from Tommy John surgery to go 16-8 with a 2.86 ERA this year before he and two friends were killed in a boating accident in September. Baltimore slugger Mark Trumbo is the AL Comeback Player of the year after leading the majors with 47 home runs after slugging just 13 in 2015. Houston second baseman Jose Altuve was voted player of the year and the AL’s outstanding player. Second baseman Daniel Murphy was selected the NL’s outstanding player in his first season with Washington. Major league ERA leader Kyle Hendricks of the Cubs was the NL’s outstanding pitcher, and Rick Porcello won the AL award in his second season with the Red Sox. Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer was the AL’s top rookie, and Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager the top NL rookie

Sports on the air tonight, the Bucks host New Orleans at the Bradley Center. Pregame at 6:40, tip off just after 7pm on KFIZ.