Bill's Blog | WOODTV.com

syndicated content powered by FeedBurner

FeedBurner makes it easy to receive content updates in My Yahoo!, Newsgator, Bloglines, and other news readers.

Learn more about syndication and FeedBurner...

Current Feed Content

Wolverines Blown to Smitherines

Posted:Sun, 22 Sep 2019 05:40:05 +0000

From the dictionary:

From the dictionary: Smitherines – “To be violently taken apart to a point it could never recognized or be put back together again. It would be like filling a football with nitroglycerin and setting it off, the microscopic pieces would be considered blown to smitherines.”

The pic. above was the scoreboard less than 20 minutes into the game. Wisconsin 35, Michigan 0. From 1902-31 – three decades – Wisconsin scored a TOTAL of 23 points against the Wolverines. From 1977-80, Michigan shut out Wisconsin four times in a row. In the 1970s, the AVERAGE score of the Michigan/Wisconsin game was 38-9. In the 1980s, the AVERAGE score of the Michigan/Wisconsin game was 32-10.

Game highlights: The Badgers won time of possession 41:07 to 18:53. Michigan had 4 turnovers, Wisconsin none…rushing yards: Wisconsin 359, Michigan only 40…Jack Coen, the Wisconsin quarterback, was 13 for 16 for 128 yards…the Badgers had 57 rushing plays compared to only 16 passing plays.

Our table at the W Club

My day began around 6 am (the middle of my night!). We got up, drove to a mall where we met my fraternity brother, Gene Lillge (on the right in the pic.). When Gene was a student, he wrote the article(s) on Wisconsin football for the Appleton Post Crescent Newspaper…so he was in the Press Box during games. We got on a city bus (just $1 for seniors) and headed downtown. On the way down, I chatted with a gentleman from Wales, who was on holiday (vacation). He went to the game and we happened to land on the same bus going back to the mall after the game.

On the left in the pic. above is fraternity brother and former Wisconsin football player, Mike Levenhagen. He got us into the “W Club” at Camp Randall…this is only for those who earned a letter playing a varsity sport for Wisconsin. There’s food, beverages and some excellent sports conversation.

Halftime – Wisconsin/Michigan game 2019

This is halftime of the game…over 80,000 in attendance…color coordinated sections in red and white (we wore red). The crowd did “the wave” forward, backward, in slow motion and in double time. We did “Jump Around” at the end of the third quarter and sang songs…even when the music stopped, the crowd kept singing. When the announcer said, “first down, Wisconsin” – the crowd repeated “first down, Wisconsin”.

Bill Steffen at the Wisconsin/Michigan game

Here’s a pic. of me at the game. It seemed odd to see the Wisconsin Band without Director, Michael Lackrone, who recently retired after 50 (that’s right, FIFTY) years as director of the Wisconsin Band. A Wisconsin tradition is the “5th Quarter”, when the band plays an extra 15 minutes after the game (then marches down University Avenue to play in front of the U.W. Hospital. They wheel patients to the windows to watch and listen to the show.

Other Saturday notables: Ohio State scored 42 points in just the 2nd quarter in a 76-5 route of Miami (OH). Notre Dame came “oh so close” in an away game with Georgia and SMU (my daughter went to law school there) is now 4-0 after beating top-25 ranked TCU on the road. Washington State and UCLA are 63-60 with over 5 minutes left in the game as I type this (defense?).

Tonight, we’re at a motel in Fond Du Lac – heading to Green Bay. It’s been a memorable day!
Road Trip to Wisconsin – Day 2

Posted:Sat, 21 Sep 2019 03:26:07 +0000

Today we (me, my wife and friend, Gene Lillge – who used to cover Wisconsin football games for the Appleton Post Crescent newspaper) had a private tour of Camp Randall Stadium. The pic. above shows us down on the field.

When I first got to Madison, the football team was at the bottom of the heap. The team had gone 0-10 in 1967 and then 0-10 in 1968. In 1968, they went 13 consecutive quarters without scoring a point and scored only 85 points all year. By contrast, Wisconsin scored 110 points in their first two games this year. In 1969, Wisconsin lost the first 3 games of the season, with their opponents scoring an average of over 40 points per game. Then – 4th game of the season – Wisconsin managed a comeback win against Iowa 23-17. I don’t think there was a brat, a cheese curd or a drop of beer left in that town after midnight. Up top, the history of the mascot, Bucky Badger.

There is an entire wall devoted to showing the history of Wisconsin football. You see some of the great players, the great games, the great traditions through the years. I was there in 1970. I met some of the players, cheerleaders and I was in the stands for all but two of the games in five years.

Wisconsin Beats Michigan.

Michigan holds a sizable edge in the series. Michigan has won the game 51 times, Wisconsin just 15 (with one tie). The last five years, the series is tied at 5-5. From 1965-1990, Michigan beat Wisconsin 23 out of 24 times. The lone Wisconsin win came in 1981 (see above). In the previous four years combined (1977-80), Michigan had beaten Wisconsin by a combined score of 176-0. Last year (2018) Michigan beat Wisconsinn 38-13.

This is THE Heisman trophy won by Ron Dayne

This is THE Heisman trophy given to running back Ron Dayne in 1999. Wisconsin has had a tradition of a strong ground game in the Barry Alvarez era.

The difference in the facilities between when I was there in the early 70s and now is extraordinary. This is an indoor practice facility – used for multiple sports, not just football. The girls soccer team was there working out when we passed by.

This is “The Tunnel” – the players will walk through here tomorrow

This is me at “The Tunnel”. The players will come through here to reach the field. It’s equipped with special lightning and an awesome (loud) sound system.

This is the football field looking south. The old fieldhouse is straight ahead, where they used to play basketball. Almost all football fields run north and south. That’s because of the glare of the setting sun to the west. There are exceptions. A domed stadium doesn’t need to worry about the sun and some fields have high decks or press boxes that block the setting sun. The Carolina Panthers said they were pretty much compelled to put the field east-west due to the real estate. The Univ. of Washington is located in a very cloudy place…and they wanted to be able to see the setting setting sun over Lake Washington. Almost all high school fields (football and soccer) run north-south.

TV camera ready for the Wisconsin/Michigan game

The first televised football game was on Oct. 22, 1939. There were just two cameras. They broadcast the game to a potential 1,000 sets in New York City. It was a dark, cloudy day and as it got darker, the camera got grayer to the point that they had to send people back to radio. Up to 20 cameras are set up now for NFL games. The first use of “instant replay” was in the 1963 Army/Navy game and was used for just one play. The NFL added instant replay reviews permanently in 1999. Here’s an interesting article on the history of television in the NFL.

Michigan truck unloading equipment

I happened to catch a Michigan truck unloading at Camp Randall Stadium.

This is the view from the top – the 8th Floor of Camp Randall Stadium

The awards and trophies

This is where they keep the BIG trophies…bowl game trophies, several Heisman Trophies. It was here that Coach Chryst walked by – I said “hi”.

We rode cities buses (just a dollar for us seniors) and stopped at the Evans Scholars House. This is a brand new house. I believe 86 former caddy scholars live here. I was Homecoming Chairman in my junior and Chapter President my senior year. My super-senior year, I was houseboy of the Delta Gamma Sorority House, just down the block. I left Madison and started my television career in Nov. 1974. More later – I’ve got to try and get some sleep.
Road Trip – To Wisconsin

Posted:Fri, 20 Sep 2019 08:19:34 +0000

That’s me on the Lake Express Ferry coming into Milwaukee just before sunset. When the Ferry is zipping along at over 30 mph, there’s a very healthy wind on the top deck. Note my hair. This was my first time on the ferry. It saved me time and the hassle of going around the lake through Chicago.

This was the wake of the ferry – looking back toward the Muskegon shore.

This is looking back toward the Muskegon shore. The high temperature Thursday at G.R. and 82 in Milwaukee. At the Muskegon Beach, the high temp. was 72 (cooler at the lake) and at trehe Milwaukee Beach, the temperature dropped 8 degrees in 10 minutes when the wind flipped from west to east as the lake-breeze kicked in.

Sunset – driving west on I-94

We were treated to an awesome sunset as we drove west on I-94 toward Madison.

Storm Total Rainfall in SW Wisconsin and NE Iowa

Madison had some showers earlier Thu., but west of Madison, there was heavy rain and some flooding. YOu can see a couple spots at 6″ on this Storm Total Rainfall image. Some totals from SW Wisconsin: 5.7″ Mable, 4.6″ Nora Springs, 3.7′ Preston – the heaviest rain was in Lafayette and W. Sauk Counties.

Milwaukee Thu. evening from the Lake Express Ferry

Here’s Milwaukee from the Lake Express Ferry. It was a pretty smooth ride over with waves generally less than 2 feet. There were several sailboats out and we saw a bazillion gulls (and other birds) sitting on the breakwaters.

Traveling west on I-94 Thu. evening

We hit a slowdown in Milwaukee right by Miller Park, where the Brewers were losing to the Padres 5-1. We were patient and watched the sunset.

We get a special tour of Camp Randall Stadium, which is 100+ years old. The Badgers recruited a couple of great athletes from E. Kentwood High School (Logan Brown and Stephan Bracey). Meeting up with a couple of my old fraternity brothers tomorrow and Saturday…should be fun.
Ice and Snow Update

Posted:Fri, 20 Sep 2019 07:07:31 +0000

The map above is centered on Asia and shows the Arctic icecap (right at about the seasonal minimum) and snow cover. You can see some snow in the Himalaya Mountains and you can see some snow starting to accumulate in Siberia (eastern Russia). I watch the buildup of snow in Siberia in early fall as there is often (not always) a correlation (without causation?) between early snowcover in Siberia (end of October) and the severity of the coming winter in both eastern Asia and North America.

Here’s Arctic Ice Extent

At the moment, Arctic ice extent is near the 10-year average. YOu can see in late summer it dipped below the recent low extent record set in 2012. Back in early July, it was higher than the 10-year average, so it does wobble back and forth.

Sunset in Wales, Alaska 9 19 19

This was sunset in Wales, Alaska on the northwest coast. Daylight shrinks at a rapid rate in Arctic in September. At Wales, they are currently losing 6 minutes and 51 seconds of daylight each day.
Average First Snow

Posted:Wed, 18 Sep 2019 06:52:50 +0000

Here’s the average first measurable (1/10th inch) of snow for Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Lansing. We usually see the first few flakes in October. Last winter, the first measurable snow in Grand Rapids was Nov. 9 with 1.3″. We had another 3.8″ the next day. It was unusually cold in mid-November last year. High temperatures were in the 30s from Nov. 9 through Nov. 21. Then on the 22nd, we had a high temperature of 28. November last year was an unusually cloudy month…only 8.9% of possible sunshine. 21 of the 30 days of November had 0% sunshine. We had only 3 days with more than 25% sunshine. Here’s the first measurable snowfall graphic for N. Lower Mi and S. Ste. Marie.

Last year Grand Rapids had 81.3″ of snow with the last trace of snow on April 29th. We had scattered frost on April 28, but the flowers/plants/blossoms weren’t far enough along to cause any significant damage.
Tropical Depression Imelda (and Tropical Storms Kiko, Lorena, Mario and Hurricane Jerry)

Posted:Wed, 18 Sep 2019 02:30:03 +0000

Hurricane Jerry is moving WNW at around 16 mph as of Fri. AM. It has winds of 105 mph. The worst of Jerry should miss the Virgin Islands, but they should get a period of rain and gusty winds. A Tropical Storm Watch is up there. The snow should stay pretty much north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and east of the Bahamas and the U.S. However, this could be another strong storm for the island of Bermuda. Humberto clobbered Bermuda with wind gusts as high as 109 mph. 80% of the island lost power. Here’s the current forecast track of the storm:

Forecast Track of Tropical Storm (and then hurricane) Imelda

The center or eye of the storm is expected to pass just barely north of the Virgin Islands, where there will be a period of gusty winds and perhaps heavy rain…and far enough north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic to prevent any significant damage. The eye of the storm may pass just northeast of the Bahama Island. We’ll be tracking the storm into early next week.

Tropical Storm Imelda has brought extreme rainfall of up to 43″ and severe flooding to SE Texas. There was virtually no wind damage from this storm, just relentless rain for days:

Storm Total Rainfall from Imelda – Large Area of over 25″

Here’s storm total rainfall from Imelda. There’s a large area that received over 25″ of rain with a few spots up to 43″ over several days. .

There are three tropical storms in the Eastern Pacific (as I write this early Fri. AM). Lorena will stay close enough to the coast to produce some wind and rain up into the California Peninsula and could even pump enough moisture northward to give some showers to S. California. Kiko and Mario will stay well out to sea.
Fog Over Lake Michigan

Posted:Tue, 17 Sep 2019 05:03:59 +0000

Here’s the Monday PM satellite picture of Lake Michigan. Note the fog over Lake Michigan. There is also some fog over the northern part of Lake Winnebago in eastern Wisconsin. There are cumulus clouds over land areas of Lower Michigan and a line of cumulus clouds in NE Wisconsin where the west lake breeze off Green Bay meets and easterly lake breeze coming off Lake Michigan.

In West Michigan, the prevailing wind was NNE. Right at Lake Michigan, a NW lake breeze had benetrated about 8 miles inland and that 8 mile stretch was clear. However, the NW lake breeze allowed the fog over the lake to come onshore for a while.

This is a pic. of the S. Haven Channel at 5:33 pm Monday 9 16 19

This is the South Haven Channel at 5:33 pm on Monday (9/19/19). The visibility are pretty good at this time. Now look at a pic. from 1/2 hour later:

South Haven Channel at 6:03 pm 9 16 19

There was a considerable difference in visibility. Image you’re on a boat, you head onto the lake at 5:30 and start down the coast. All of a sudden you’re in the fog. Good thing we have radar, GPS and other navigation tools these days.

By the way, much cooler at Lake Michigan on Monday. The high temperature was 80° at both Grand Rapids and Muskegon Monday PM, while the high was just 68.2° at the Muskegon Channel. The South Haven beach had a high temperature of 71.4° at 10 am. The wind at 10 am was northeast – off the land. At 11 pm, the temperature had fallen to 67.8 and the wind was northwest coming off the water. At the Muskegon Beach, the lowest the relative humidity was on Monday was 86.3% and the highest (in the fog) was 99.9% at both 8 and 9 pm.
Green and Black Water at Lake Michigan

Posted:Tue, 17 Sep 2019 03:50:14 +0000

Here’s an interesting picture. This is the South Haven Channel Monday afternoon. Look at the different colors of the water. The water coming out of the Channel is dark-colored. The water of Lake Michigan is a lighter greenish color. Several factors come into play here. Pure water is clear. The water of a lake will usually reflect the color of the sky…blue when it is clear in the daytime and gray when it is cloudy. When the sky is black at night, the water is also black.

The Black River empties out through the South Haven Channel. It was called the Black River because the sediment and organic material in the river gave it a dark-color.

The Great Lakes can get algae that can give the water a greenish hue (it’s safe, you can swim in it). Also the angle of the light hitting the water, the angle of the camera, the type of camera can enhance the color difference.

Anytime of the year, you can click on the GLERL cameras (from NOAA Coastwatch) and see what it looks like at Muskegon, S. Haven, Michigan City, Chicago, Alpena and nearby Thunder Bay Island. BTW, I wrote about this before on the blog.

Also: Lake Michigan’s water is “cleaner” than it was 20 years ago.
Heck of a Weekend for Chicago.

Posted:Mon, 16 Sep 2019 06:33:22 +0000

First, did you see what the Cubs did…they scored 17 runs on Friday, 14 runs on Saturday and then 16 runs on Sunday – 47 runs in 3 games against the Pirates. That’s only the 5th time in Major League History (going back to 1900) that a team has scored 14 or more runs in 3 consecutive games. The last team to do it was the Detroit Tigers (hard to believe) in 1993. It’s also the most runs the Cubs have scored in 3 consecutive games – beating the old record of 44 runs set in 1930. Kris Bryant hit home runs #137 and #138 for his first 5 years with the Cubs, eclipsing the previous record of 135 in first five years held by Ernie Banks (asterisk* – we play more games now – Ernie hit a home run for every 17.3 at bats in his first five years – Bryant has hit a home run in once in every 19.2 at bats). The Cubs are now just 2 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central.

DENVER, COLORADO – SEPTEMBER 15: Eddy Pineiro #15 of the Chicago Bears celebrates a 53 yard field goal in the final second of the fourth quarter to defeat the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High on September 15, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) – from WMBD

Did you see the finish of the Broncos-Bears game? The Bears have only scored one touchdown in the first 8 quarters of 2019 – but it sure helps when your kicker can kick 50+ yard field goals.

Chicago Sat. AM 9 14 19

This pic. from the Chicago Water Intake Saturday AM – I was in the Chicago Area and it was an awesome day. Sunny, 80° – I was at the Wilmette Beach (my home town) Saturday PM. You get in free after Labor Day…but the regular admission to the beach for non-residents is $13 for adults and another $22 to park your car. For my wife and I it would have been $48 to spend the afternoon at the beach (makes you appreciate the $10 sticker that you can get for admission to the state parks here in Michigan). There were hundreds of people on the beach – everyone seemed happy…so many colorful sailboats, people in kayaks, on paddleboards. There was a dog as excited as to be to fetch a tennis ball from the water. Awesome weekend.
Sunday Showers

Posted:Sun, 15 Sep 2019 10:14:28 +0000

The map above is the Severe Weather Outlook Map for this Sunday. Lower Michigan is in the General (not severe) Thunderstorm Outlook. Most of the precipitation across the S. Great Lakes will be showers/just plain rain – there may be an embedded thundershower. Dry weather and relatively warm weather is expected for much of the coming week. Here’s G.R. radar:

And Regional Radar: