Sports – Thursday, September 22nd, 2016

From Wednesday:

Boys Soccer: St. Lawrence Seminary 5, St. Anthony 5

The Packers are getting ready for the Detroit Lions in their Lambeau Field opener on Sunday. One of the big differences in facing Detroit is the absence of Wide Receiver Calvin Johnson, who retired in the off season. Coach Mike McCarthy says without Megatron, the Lions are spreading the ball around more. Coach McCarthy says his respect for Lions QB Matthew Stafford has grown because of how he’s played despite a number of coaching changes.

Meanwhile, Quarterback Aaron Rodgers says the loss against Minnesota is squarely on his shoulders. As a leader, he needs to take the blame when he doesn’t play well, and he didn’t last week. He says right now, timing is the biggest issue on offense.

The Detroit Lions have put running back Ameer Abdullah on the reserve-injured list with a foot injury. The move keeps him out of the lineup for at least eight weeks.

Abdullah hurt his left foot on a 24-yard run in the second quarter of a loss Sunday to the Tennessee Titans.

The Badgers open Big Ten play on Saturday at Michigan State. Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio says this game is always a physical, four-quarter battle. He says upon his arrival at Michigan State, he looked at Wisconsin as a program to emulate, in that they run the football well, take care of the football and play good defense.

Sean Rodriguez went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Brewers 4-1 at Miller Park on Wednesday night. Rodriguez belted a 2 RBI single in the first, to expand the Pirates lead to 3-0. He then added a solo home run in the 4th to make it 4-0 Pirates. Milwaukee scored its only run of the game in the 8th on a run-scoring single by Jonathan Villar. Jimmy Nelson took the loss, he drops to 8-15 on the year. The final game of the series is tonight at Miller Park, a 7:10 first pitch.

Milwaukee Bucks guard Khris Middleton suffered a hamstring injury in preseason workouts that will require surgery. Bucks GM John Hammond announced the news on Wednesday. MIddleton is expected to be out for around six months. Surgery is planned for next week. Middleton, 25, averaged a career-high 18.2 points, 4.2 assists and 1.7 steals last season along with 3.8 rebounds in 79 games