Sports of all sorts

Hockey, indoor football and basketball are sports common to the Resch Center and the rest of the Brown County Veterans Memorial Complex, but darts and volleyball are not! The WAMO state dart tournament made a stop at ShopKo Hall and is an extremely interesting spectacle. Several thousand dart throwers from around Wisconsin descend on Green Bay, toss darts at hundreds of electronic dart boards and enjoy a few adult beverages. It starts at 8am and runs until 2am some days. There are both individual and team competitions. The event was here 3 years ago and is scheduled to return next year. It really is a big boon for Green Bay area tourism. It's also very interesting to watch.

The other unique sporting event coming to the Resch Center is the World League volleyball event featuring Team USA vs. Japan on June 1 & 2. These are the best volleyball players in the world and they're coming here. Pretty cool. Green Bay is one of only three U.S. cities to host World League action this year. The players on Team USA are striving to make the Olympics in Beijing. I don't pretend to know a lot about how the Olympic process works, but not all countries will be represented. Needless to say, spiking will be taken to a level I have never witnessed with this level of volleyball. The teams will get here early in the week to practice and some of the USA players will be making a few appearances around town, one at The Bar for sure. Entertainment will also be part of the matches with dancers, thundersticks, t-shirt guns and so forth. We're encouraging fans to bring signs to encourage Team USA. It's a big enough deal that the Japanese Consulate General from Chicago is tentatively planning to attend the event. See you in the seats!

Arena roof work, upcoming concerts

Well, things are slowing down here a little as summer approaches. But work is heating up on the roof of the Brown County Arena. If you happen to drive by, you may have noticed a big crane next to the arena. It will be used to completely replace the roof - which has been leaking for some time even after it was repaired less than two years ago. Why fix it and not tear it down? Because the arena is still a very viable building for us and is needed for many shows that we do including the WBAY Boat Show, Home & Garden Show and RV & Camping Show. Many others like World of Wheels, the Shrine Circus and others depend on its availability every year.

PMI announced Godsmack will be playing at the Leach Amphitheater in Oshkosh on July 21. A neat side story with that.....we will have a contest called the Wisconsin Rock War to determine who will open for Godsmack. Local bands will be able to enter a competition and the winner opens for Godsmack. More details on that in this space next time. It was also announced that Nashville Star Tour will be at the Leach on August 24....that's the country music version of American Idol. More announcements for the Leach are coming.

At the Resch, Josh Groban is selling very well, Keith Urban is still on sale and Hinder is on tap next Tuesday, May 8. Other announcements are coming soon. Suddenly the usual slow summer at the Resch will be busier than usual. As I've mentioned before, Team USA will play Japan in Volleyball June 1 & 2 at the Resch. And the Green Bay Blizzard have been drawing very well in their first few home games. Until next time - see you in the seats!