Evening State Sports Briefs: Rodgers makes SI cover for fourth time

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Green Bay Packers

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GREEN BAY - Aaron Rodgers has made the cover of Sports Illustrated for a fourth time. The edition that’s due out tomorrow has a photo of Rodgers and receiver Jordy Nelson in an action shot from Sunday’s Super Bowl win over Pittsburgh.

The magazine has three stories on the game. There’s one about Rodgers, another on the Packers’ ability to overcome injuries, and another story on tackles Chad Clifton and Bryan Bulaga – who were credited for protecting Rodgers so he could throw. The front cover headline reads, “Pack On Top – The Lombardi Trophy returns to Green Bay.”

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Today, the Packers are celebrating their Super Bowl title with a one-hour ceremony at Lambeau Field. Over 56,000 tickets were purchased for the event. Green Bay Packer fans quickly bought their opportunity to fire up their grills and drink their beers in three-degree weather at the final tailgate event of the NFL season. Five-dollar tickets for today’s event sold out in just a couple of hours yesterday. It’s called “Return to Titletown,” a celebration of the Packers 31-25 victory in Super Bowl 45. Those tickets became precious, quickly, selling for as much as 140 dollars earlier today. The team says a percentage of the proceeds will go to charity. Some fans showed up early this morning for the celebration which was scheduled to start at 4 p.m. The wind chill this morning was 14 degrees below zero. But, the Packers had won their fourth Super Bowl, the first since 1997, and that made it all worthwhile.

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Tony Mane and Dana Churchill, both of UW-La Crosse, have been named the WIAC men’s-and-women’s basketball players of the week. Mane, a senior guard, scored 35 points in a La Crosse victory over Whitewater – and he had 37 in his next game, a win over Superior. Mane averaged over 60-percent from the floor in those two contests, and 61-percent from three-point range. Churchill, a senior forward, averaged a double-double in a pair of La Crosse victories. She had 19 points against Whitewater. Two nights later, Churchill had 12 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, and one steal in a win over Superior.

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The WIAC also recognized Jason Yuel of UW-River Falls in hockey – Eddie Dominguez of Oshkosh and Kasey Madden of La Crosse in swimming – Andrew Janny of La Crosse and Sam Kniefel of River Falls in diving – James Zarate of Whitewater in wrestling – Josh Schwinn of Stevens Point and Camille Davis of Whitewater in indoor track – Daniel Drewek of Oshkosh and Liz Amici of Eau Claire in indoor field events – and Katie Thompson of Whitewater and Lissette LaFex at Hamline of Saint Paul in gymnastics. Hamline is a WIAC member in gymnastics only.

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Kent Faurote of Edgewood College in Madison is the Northern Athletics Conference men’s basketball player-of-the-week. And Alexis Becker of Marian is the top women’s player. Faurote, a junior guard, scored 26 points off the bench for Edgewood against Lakeland. And he had 17 points the next night against Aurora, to go along with career highs of 14 rebounds and eight assists. Becker, a junior forward, had 24 points, eight boards, and six assists against Maranatha Baptist. She followed that up with a career-high 33 points against Dominican. The NAC also recognized Jordan Werner of Milwaukee Engineering and Carrie Radel of Edgewood in indoor track-and-field – and Max Divelbiss of Edgewood in men’s tennis.

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