Well, damn. Another semester has passed by, except this time for so many other seniors and myself, it’s our last one. This is my final column for The Badger Herald, and as nostalgic and teary-eyed as I’d love to make you, I don’t think that’s what these spaces are for.… Read more »

For what now seems like an eternity, the New Orleans Saints have been rocked by scandal and suspensions for what can only be deemed as “Bountygate.” As an NFL investigation revealed, the New Orleans Saints implemented a bounty system under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams from 2009 to 2011 in which… Read more »

Back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances go a long way in building a nationally recognized football brand. But in 2012, the Wisconsin football program has the chance to take a final, long-awaited step forward. After spending years adjacent to the circle that surrounds college football’s “elite” programs, Wisconsin has the opportunity next… Read more »

It’s become clear to me that big-time sports and higher education just do not go together. The debate of paying college players is not at all a new issue. For a while, the dispute aged like vinegar, and the dialogue barely ever changed. But recently there has been a fresh… Read more »

While it’s a topic somewhat removed now, I can’t help but shake off the nagging thoughts that came immediately after the Washington Capital’s right-winger Joel Ward ended the Boston Bruins season. Fans, not only loyal to Boston, but other NHL teams as well, took to Twitter expressing their disappointment in… Read more »

I never knew Junior Seau, nor did I know much about him as a person prior to this week. I was well aware he was an All-Pro linebacker who spent several seasons (13, to be exact) with the San Diego Chargers. There, he forged an identity as a talented, relentless… Read more »

There are a few things every crazy sports fan of Wisconsin athletics should do before graduating. Witnessing in person a historic upset, waking up early for College Gameday even when you felt like Frankenstein’s monster from going out Friday night — these are just a few things every Badger fan… Read more »

Summer is generally a time for Wisconsin athletes to rest up and prepare for the challenges of the looming season. Football players put in long hours in front of the empty Camp Randall bleachers, envisioning the fall gamedays when it will be packed with more than 80,000 fans. Cross country… Read more »

If you’re an unorthodox sports fan, you may very well rue the day when Mr. Irrelevant is called and the NFL draft ends. It’s a fantastically underrated sporting event. For me, a football fan, all I need to consider is the fact that there hasn’t been any football on television… Read more »

On Saturday, I covered just my second Wisconsin football spring game since being on campus. And let me tell you, like every other year, it was much ado about nothing. As great as it is to touch base with the team and see how it’s starting to develop in the… Read more »

Everywhere we look, the National Football League seems to be expanding. Perhaps a lingering characteristic of this post-lockout era, last night’s opening round of the NFL Draft capped a weeklong media binge that tested the mettle of even the most football-savvy minds. Imagine being a mock draft expert this week.… Read more »

The NFL Draft is every sports fan’s favorite lottery. Or it should be, at least. Like a day in the life of Charlie Sheen, the NFL Draft is one of those things in life you’re never sure of until it actually happens. You can take all the advice and predictions… Read more »

Bo Ryan is the anti-John Calipari, a coach whose teams usually feature veteran, overachieving shooters instead of the rotating carousel of Kentucky’s freakishly athletic one-and-done crews. As part of their contrasting mentalities, it’s rare a freshman earns a starting spot or even serves as a major offensive weapon for the… Read more »

Whether you’ve realized yet or not, professional football has entered a new era. Where there was once the dawn of the league, the AFL-NFL merger, the beginning of the modern age, there is now the concussion era. It’s beginning — marked by the tumultuous first few weeks of the 2010-11… Read more »

There’s no denying it; the Stanley Cup playoffs have been one intense affair this year — and we’re only in the first round. Last week I laid out a few reasons why sports fans should watch the playoffs. One of those reasons was the fighting and just how ridiculous the… Read more »

Less than a week before the NFL Draft, we already know how the top two picks will shake out. League sources have confirmed two of the worst kept secrets in recent memory, that Andrew Luck will be heading to Indianapolis and Robert Griffin III will be Washington-bound at No. 2.… Read more »

How long has it been since a player on the Wisconsin men’s basketball team transferred out of the program? Seriously, can anyone tell me? These were the questions I methodically repeated to every die-hard Badger fan I knew Tuesday. Every time, I received the same puzzled look, as various men… Read more »

As incoming transfer quarterback Danny O’Brien begins his career as a Badger this fall, his career will be forever linked to that of an accomplished predecessor. But, no matter how much Wisconsin fans dream of O’Brien recreating the magic Russell Wilson brought to Bret Bielema’s team in 2011, those expecting… Read more »

Back in January, when the fallout of another Rose Bowl loss still echoed throughout the fanbase of the Wisconsin football team, Montee Ball’s decision to remain in Madison for his senior season certainly made some (if not most) of the pain go away. But in the months that have passed… Read more »

In the middle of April, with deliciously warm days and baseball finally getting in full swing, hockey simply is not on the radar. But much to the contrary, the NHL playoffs are upon us. And oh boy, what a post season it has been so far. Between unbelievable upsets, buzzer-beaters… Read more »

It may finally be the year for one of the most futile franchises in baseball. And I’m not talking about the Cubs (that one’s hopeless). Although I may be the only fan in the Midwest who cares, the Washington Nationals are off to a surprisingly strong start in their first… Read more »

It’s been a while since the Wisconsin softball team has been able to claim the spotlight. Since the program’s creation in 1996, the team has only reached the NCAA tournament three times, with its last berth coming in 2005 under former head coach Karen Gallagher. In fact, Gallagher took the… Read more »

Since taking over as commissioner of Major League Baseball in 1992, Bud Selig has overseen baseball’s infamous Steroid Era, led multiple expansion campaigns and taken the game to new economic and social heights. Prior to running the sport, 77-year-old Selig owned the Milwaukee Brewers and played an integral role in… Read more »

Let’s say I was presented with a cache of tickets to various places and events, all within the United States. Some would be plane tickets and reservations to resorts in warm climates, like Miami or San Diego. Some would be tickets to music festivals, like Coachella or Bonnaroo. Tickets to… Read more »

In the week prior to the 2012 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, concerns over whether Tiger Woods would finally notch his 18th major or not stormed through sports media. Well, after finishing five over par, the clear answer is no. But through all the questions following Woods like a… Read more »

Wisconsin just played the role of thief once again. In what could become known as the “Russell Wilson Effect,” the Badgers pulled their latest robbery from the rest of college football this past Wednesday when former Maryland quarterback Danny O’Brien announced he will transfer to play in Madison. The wait… Read more »

It’s hard to push away the initial frustration — to come to terms with a down-to-the wire, heartbreaking loss. It seems impossible to shake the visions of what could have been, with the Elite Eight or even Final Four glory possible if not for that disastrous three-point heave to close… Read more »

The Final Four gives us two rematches from the regular season on Saturday: Ohio State vs. Kansas and Kentucky vs. Louisville. Should the pieces fall just right on April 2, it’s distinctly possible we could have a Kentucky-Kansas clash in the NCAA Championship game. So what can these early-season encounters… Read more »

As general manager of the Green Bay Packers, Ted Thompson wields the awesome power of assembling and designing Wisconsin’s beloved professional football team. The architect of Green Bay’s 2010-11 Super Bowl-winning team, Thompson is basically the supreme football being in the Dairy State. He is The Creator. And what is… Read more »

Between the New Orleans Saints’ bounty program, all the fallout that came with it and Peyton Manning’s short bout of free agency, it’s undoubtedly been a raucous offseason for the NFL. But once again, Tim Tebow steals the show. John Elway unsurprisingly pursued Manning and gave the clear impression that… Read more »

When Roger Goodell decided to keep Sean Payton off the sidelines in 2012, he did more than leave his mark on NFL history as the first commissioner to suspend a coach for an entire year. By dumping Payton — and suspending Gregg Williams indefinitely — Goodell made it clear that… Read more »

No time to waste! Wisconsin Badgers, Syracuse Orange. Let’s break down the keys for a Badger victory. Beating the Syracuse 2-3 zone We’ve heard about it the entire college basketball season, how Syracuse’s hyped 2-3 zone defense is one of the hardest to beat in the nation. There’s plenty of… Read more »

Although the Wisconsin Badgers have played two of their most impressive games of the season in the NCAA tournament, they’ll face arguably the year’s toughest competition in the Sweet 16. Thursday night, the No. 4 seed Badgers face the top-seed Syracuse Orange in Boston, where Wisconsin will be looking to… Read more »

At this point most of us, probably all of us, can admit that the next Nostradamus does not walk among us. Of course in reference to everyone’s brackets that have been busted by now, if somebody has picked an entirely correct bracket to this point, a line is probably filing… Read more »

For the second year in a row, Bo Ryan’s Badgers are back in the Sweet 16. This year, more than any other, I’ve pressured myself into asking how this man continues to pull out such results. Following the Wisconsin men’s basketball team’s 60-57 win Saturday, I took a step back… Read more »

Friday night, millions of tiny voices screamed out in agony as brackets everywhere were torn asunder. Consistent and accountable No. 2-seeded Duke had lost to No. 15-seeded Lehigh 75-70. Up to that point, March was not quite so mad or chaotic like its nickname promises. But with the Missouri loss… Read more »

Looking strictly at seeding, Thursday transpired precisely according to plan for the Wisconsin Badgers. A 73-49 win over 13th-seeded Montana advanced fourth-seeded Wisconsin to the Round of 32, where the Badgers will meet the fifth-seeded Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday. The sizable difference between Wisconsin and Montana was just as present… Read more »

No time for idle talk today. March is here, and so is Wisconsin’s game against Montana. Let’s break down the key player matchups in the Badgers’ first tournament game. Jordan Taylor vs. Will Cherry Wisconsin and Montana’s best players both happen to be point guards. While Jordan Taylor was a… Read more »

It wasn’t until the third period that I realized I wasn’t ready for the hockey season to be over. Listening to WIBA’s Brian Posick’s call the final game of a best-of-three series Sunday night against Denver was one of the very few times in my reporting career I felt the onset… Read more »

The following sentence may catch a few Wisconsin football fans off guard, but it’s more or less true. Since Scott Tolzien left the program at the end of the 2010 season, the quarterback position at UW has been unstable. That is in no way a comment on the performance of… Read more »

INDIANAPOLIS — It was a nice run, but most Badgers fans knew it was headed for a premature close. After taking down a dangerous Indiana team in front of a Bankers Life Fieldhouse crowd full of Hoosiers fans, a sense of cautious optimism developed around Bo Ryan’s squad. Maybe this… Read more »

Under Bo Ryan, the Wisconsin Badgers have never lost on Senior Day. The program defined most commonly by its consistency is 11-0 in home regular-season finales under its head coach, but last Sunday’s 70-56 Senior Day win over Illinois seemed a little more picturesque than usual. Jordan Taylor had a… Read more »

When the Big Ten released the names of its first team honorees on Monday, one thing in particular stuck out. Of the five spots on the all-Big Ten first team, four were unanimous between the media and the coaches of the conference. However, at the last guard spot, there was… Read more »

March Madness is here! Finally, the most exciting time in college basketball has arrived, and in just four days the NCAA selection committee will narrow down the 338 teams in NCAA Division I basketball to the 68 best and most-deserving teams in the country. Let the bracket pools begin and… Read more »

It was a tough opening campaign for first-year head coach Bobbie Kelsey, but fans can rest assured the best is yet to come for the Wisconsin women’s basketball team. As the Badgers’ season came to a premature close in an 81-49 loss to Minnesota Thursday in the first round of… Read more »

Football, giant as it is, has become a fault line in the landscape of America’s popular culture. And this past Friday, another shiver sent waves through the growing uneasiness that pervades the relationship between football (more specifically, the NFL) and the rest of the country that calls itself fans and… Read more »

The kid can play. And no, I’m not talking about Justin Schultz. As head coach Mike Eaves’ go-to centerman, sophomore forward Mark Zengerle showed everyone why he should be considered not only one of the WCHA’s best forwards, but also a viable candidate for the Hobey Baker. The Rochester, N.Y.,… Read more »

Something about Senior Day just doesn’t feel right. The notion of honoring players who are indeed playing their last games in front of the home crowd is honorable and perhaps even necessary, but what about those conference tournaments and that shindig the NCAA puts on each March? Depending who you… Read more »

When the Badgers graduated the dynamic post scoring duo of Keaton Nankivil (make sure you YouTube his game-winner for his team in Germany) and Jon Leuer (YouTube him blowing by and dunking on Dwight Howard), it looked like opposing teams would find it easier to focus on preseason All-American Jordan… Read more »

When Wisconsin running backs coach Thomas Hammock announced he would return to the Camp Randall sidelines next season, Bret Bielema & Co. avoided more than simply the hassle of interviewing and selecting yet another new coach. Hammock — widely considered one of the Badgers’ top recruiters and one of the… Read more »

Let’s play some NCAA men’s basketball trivia. Which coach has the most Division I NCAA Final Four appearances of all time? That’s easy: John Wooden. At one point, Wooden led UCLA to nine consecutive Final Fours and championships from 1967-75 and ended his career with 12 total appearances. Second question:… Read more »

Just when you think you’ve figured out the pecking order in Big Ten men’s basketball, a peasant rises up and convincingly buries an elite. If you watched the Badgers’ last two games, you witnessed two perfect examples. Thursday, fourth-place Wisconsin got dispatched by eighth-place Iowa for the second time this… Read more »

After a 3-0 shutout against Denver on Feb. 17, junior forward Ryan Little joked about setting up his brother — sophomore forward Sean Little — for his first collegiate goal. At one point against the Pioneers, Sean Little was waiting right in the slot as Ryan Little fed him the… Read more »

In a word, Wednesday night’s trip to Iowa City was a fiasco for Wisconsin. Yes, the atmosphere in Carver-Hawkeye Arena last night was raucous and disruptive — it must’ve been, given how the free pizza and bobbleheads for fans prompted a court-rushing following Iowa’s second win of the season against… Read more »

In this state, like many others, the major high school athletics are football and basketball. These sports have their own storied programs at the University of Wisconsin, making it fitting that many high school players focus their varsity careers on one goal: getting to Madison for a chance at a… Read more »

If you haven’t already heard about the bizarre heckling accusations and eventual ejection of former North Carolina State star players Tom Gugliotta and Chris Corchiani courtesy of well-respected ACC official Karl Hess, it’s not too late to get caught up in the absurd series of events that made all three… Read more »

Something strange happened Sunday on the Kohl Center floor as Wisconsin brought down a pesky Penn State squad 52-46. The rare and recently absent occurrence was that the Badgers finally proved they hadn’t completely lost their stroke. They could still hit 15-footers from the floor and build a lasting rhythm… Read more »

It’s no secret to anyone who’s paid any attention to the Wisconsin men’s basketball team this season that the offense has had to undergo a somewhat bumpy transition in the frontcourt. Unsurprisingly, Ryan Evans, Mike Bruesewitz and Jared Berggren haven’t been able to replicate what Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil… Read more »

Friday night — as the Wisconsin men’s hockey team was blanked for the first time at home this season in a 3-0 decision against No. 10 Denver — I had the unsettling feeling I would soon have to eat my own words. Sitting next to former Heralder Ben Worgull in… Read more »

This year, the Badgers just haven’t fared well in the state of Michigan. Thanks to SportsCenter and whatnot, that Hail Marry Horror from Kirk Cousins to Keith Nichol is still fresh enough to allow us to forgo a reminder here. On the hardwood, anyway, is where most of Wisconsin’s tribulations… Read more »

Confidence isn’t hard to come after the three games that Florida State guard Michael Snaer helped put together over the course of a 10-day span in January. On Jan. 14, the Seminoles beat down then-No. 3 North Carolina in Tallahassee by 33 points, 90-57, in a game that had many… Read more »

Realignment has struck once again in the landscape of college athletics, with conferences losing and adding members like a grandmothers’ bridge club over the past few months. The winner of the past few months indisputably has been the Big 12. Like the Rocky of conferences, the Big 12 took knockout… Read more »

For loyal golf enthusiasts and even the casual observer, there are few things more exciting than a stellar, dominant round of golf from Tiger Woods. And as Woods entered Sunday’s final round at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, that excitement was once again apparent as ESPN’s Tiger Tracker (itself… Read more »

Come this Thursday, Wisconsin men’s basketball fans are going to witness a litmus test of sorts, with the results indicating whether or not UW is capable of a deep postseason run in either the NCAA or Big Ten tournaments. This year’s clan of Badgers are a rare breed — one… Read more »

In my short career as a sportswriter covering the Badgers, I’ve done some pretty amazing things that, to be honest, I’ve seriously taken for granted. As a junior I’ve already covered a national championship team — and spoke with a few Olympians who also called that team home. In the… Read more »

A large part of the issue appears to have been resolved, so why not think outside the box a little? The WIAA state high school boy’s basketball tournament, held annually in Madison for more than 90 years, had been jeopardized by the newly sanctioned Big Ten men’s hockey playoffs coming… Read more »

When it comes to picking a bracket come March Madness this year, many participants in office pools, school classrooms and social networks will probably be scratching their heads. Why? Once again, this season has not even remotely revealed a sure-fire pick to win it all. Usually when looking into the… Read more »

In one of the final scenes of “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,” Darth Vader’s spacecraft is shot by Han Solo and spins out of control into the bleakness of space. Ohio State football was largely in that same situation of an out-of-control ride this past year, quickly trying… Read more »

This weekend, I finally crossed off a glaring problem on my sports fan resume that I feel guilty for delaying so long. I attended a Wisconsin men’s hockey game. From the McClimon Complex to the Shell to the Kohl Center, I’ve covered quite a variety of sports in my time… Read more »

To a certain degree, opponents can count on the Wisconsin men’s basketball team to defeat itself this season. This past Saturday, Ohio State came to Madison and left it with wide smiles for the first time in 11 years. The Badgers catapulted three-pointer after three-pointer and watched 22 of 27… Read more »

I cannot deny that, currently, the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department irks me. I have no gripes about a particular sport; rather, I’m upset with the new renovations that recently started at Camp Randall. In Wisconsin athletics, a strong sense of tradition permeates every sport at every level. And, unfortunately,… Read more »

Consider it a symptom of Impending Graduationitis or whatever you want, but a stark reality faces University of Wisconsin seniors this weekend. With the men’s hockey team stuck in ninth place in the WCHA, the responsibility for those truly spectacular, intoxicating moments that power the Kohl Center falls to the… Read more »

For many sports fans in the Dairy State (happy cows come from Wisconsin, not California), this Super Bowl presents a vexing situation. Grumblings and moans have been echoing into space from the state, “This is the worst Super Bowl matchup ever.” Granted, there are some fair points to those grumblings.… Read more »

The comments rang out a week ago, and I still can’t quite get them out of my head. On Jan. 23, Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan sat down for his weekly press conference and fielded a question about the NCAA transfer rule for graduate student-athletes. The reporter sought Ryan’s… Read more »

Consistency is an idea that seems to have thwarted the Wisconsin men’s hockey team this season. Heading into this weekend’s series at North Dakota, the Badgers were on a 5-1 roll and could not have appeared more confident about their game. But as Wisconsin’s road woes continued, the team returned… Read more »

Rocky as Wisconsin’s offseason has been since its Rose Bowl loss less than a month ago, this weekend promises a solid pick-me-up for Badger fans. The annual Senior Bowl is slated to kick off Saturday afternoon, and five former Badgers will suit up for the North, most in the Big… Read more »

The Green Bay Packers have been lucky since September 20, 1992. When quarterback Don Majkowski went down with an ankle injury that same day against the Cincinnati Bengals, Green Bay entered a reign of quarterback continuity and security extremely rare in the NFL. Although the breakup was messy and many… Read more »

At Wisconsin, the five star recruits, big name coaches and national media usually aren’t lured to the bright lights of Camp Randall. So it’s no surprise that a hardworking, severely undervalued player like Badger wide receiver Jared Abbrederis somehow went two seasons without a full athletic scholarship. At Wisconsin, several… Read more »

The first time I ever sat down to interview Wisconsin women’s basketball head coach Bobbie Kelsey, one trait shined through our conversation. This woman is a winner and will accept nothing less than complete success on and off the court from her team. A quick glance at the record of… Read more »

Shortly after the Wisconsin football team lost its second consecutive Rose Bowl — this time to Oregon in a 45-38 blur of offensive prowess — one thing racked my patience more than anything else. It wasn’t that, for the second year in a row, I had driven more than 2,000… Read more »

Less than a month ago, the Wisconsin basketball team looked poised to make a run for a Big Ten title once again as it flirted with a top 10 ranking and turned heads with its stellar shooting. How quickly things can change. Ranked as high as No. 7 in the… Read more »

When considering college athletics, Wisconsin isn’t by any means immediately mentioned. But consider for a moment exactly what Wisconsin athletes have accomplished in the last several years: Football won the Big Ten title two years in a row, earned a Rose Bowl berth each year and produced two top-10 Heisman… Read more »

Two high-octane offenses, two Rose Bowl berths and two crushing losses. For the most part, the Wisconsin Badgers have triggered that trio of recent memories in the minds of college football pundits and fans throughout the nation. Within the friendly confines of Madison, the progress Bret Bielema & Co. have… Read more »

He’s making a list and he’s checking it twice, and he will find out if you have been naughty or nice. Well, readers, I hope most of you have been well behaved — as much as college students can possibly be — as the holidays quickly approach us. For myself,… Read more »

As the college football season comes to an end, Gridiron Nation finds itself in a position similar to the beginning of fall, when teams were in their final stages of preparation for four grinding months in hopes of winning conference titles and BCS bowl games. The 2011 season was supposed… Read more »

On a team with two top-10 Heisman Trophy finalists, who’s the leader? Montee Ball’s appearance in New York Saturday night for the presentation of college football’s greatest honor was Wisconsin’s first since Ron Dayne won it back in 1999. Ball finished fourth while Russell Wilson finished ninth, a nice inclusion… Read more »

If the opportunity presents itself, should an NFL team really gun for the sacred undefeated season? This is a cute little debate that seems to rear its head nearly every other year these days. In fact, it would be wonderful to know just how many hours ESPN has devoted to… Read more »

The 50 home run seasons are down, the moonshots into the upper deck are less common, but if the allegations against Ryan Braun are true, Major League Baseball may not be as clean as once thought. When ESPN reported Saturday afternoon that the Brewers star — one of the most… Read more »

Home has always been a gracious and caring place for the Badgers, as Madison has been exceptionally cruel to top-ranked teams. If you somehow forgot, here are a few reminders: The Wisconsin football team was undefeated at home for the second straight season. Men’s basketball did not lose a single… Read more »

The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl and the Little Caesars Bowl are just a few of the un-prestigiously-named bowl games that combine to make up the 2011-12 college football bowl season. Offering 70 Division I-A football programs a postseason berth is enough to make anyone shake… Read more »

There is always talk about how Wisconsin basketball doesn’t get enough respect, and for good reason. It seems every season sports writers, analysts and talking heads pick the Badgers to finish somewhere in the middle or bottom half of the Big Ten. But somehow, Bo Ryan and his time-tested methods… Read more »

He has 1,759 rushing yards, an astounding 38 touchdowns and averages 6.4 yards per carry. He has carried the Badgers at times this season, and has firmly established himself as the top all-around back in the nation. Montee Ball clearly earned his spot in the Heisman Trophy presentation and has… Read more »

In a way, this will be sort of difficult to admit, but a large portion of my sports-watching career was spent struggling to consider that the idea of going to the Rose Bowl — or any BCS game that wasn’t the national championship — was as exciting of a thing… Read more »

INDIANAPOLIS — With his eyes misty and his battle-torn jersey yet to be removed, Montee Ball stood in the visitors’ locker room in the bellows of Lucas Oil Stadium, answering a third round of questions from a frenzy of reporters. Ball faced all the usual questions — about Wisconsin’s 42-39… Read more »

The Big Ten could not have asked for a better season under its new format with multiple upsets, primetime games and a budding rivalry between two revenge-minded teams who are set up for the rematch of the year. But before either Michigan State or Wisconsin even clinched their respective divisions,… Read more »

Few coaches in the history of the college football, even the legendary ones, have had the kind of success that Urban Meyer has had in his first year as head coach at all three of his previous coaching stops. Meyer’s early triumphs surprised media and fans alike as he was… Read more »

Play the western music. Come Saturday, it’s high noon in the Big Ten. Wisconsin has come back — like Clint Eastwood in “High Plains Drifter” — to paint the town red and settle the score with Michigan State once and for all. The Spartans will be looking to advance to… Read more »

You know you have a great game coming when 1) some sort of championship is on the line, 2) your opponent is the best possible team you could face and 3) there is no other team you would rather play against for that championship. Given all the on-field storylines this… Read more »

Remember those late-October nightmares, courtesy of Michigan State and Ohio State? For the Wisconsin Badgers, now Big Ten Leaders Division champions and one of the two participants in Saturday’s inaugural conference title game, the memories from that pair of last-minute losses never faded. As expected, they were the driving force… Read more »

In this world, there are few things as intricately and beautifully composed as a Thanksgiving meal. It gets down to the cornerstone of any real spread with the presence of meat and potatoes, which happen to be showered in yummy gravy. There is also a large, round and golden turkey,… Read more »

As much talent as the Wisconsin men’s hockey team has shown through 12 games, the Badgers have by no means won consistently. Last weekend, the Badgers gave their best performance to date, upsetting No. 1 Minnesota at home 3-1. Freshman goaltender Joel Rumpel turned away 24 shots on goal while… Read more »

They have not played a ranked team all season, and their 10 opponents have combined for a 1-15 record against top-25 teams. So why exactly do the Houston Cougars reside at No. 11 in the BCS Standings, ranked No. 13, 17, 13, 16, 19 and 12 by the six respective… Read more »

For years, the NFL has benefited from a Wisconsin program that cranks out terrific offensive linemen. We have all heard the stat thrown around by every announcer and sports commentator: The Badgers have the third largest starting offensive line of any team in college football or the NFL. Yes, the… Read more »

Young. Talented. Aggressive. Developing. These words have a single common denominator: Wisconsin men’s soccer. Despite missing the NCAA tournament (the bracket was released Monday night), the Badgers have a bright future to look forward to as the wounds of another season cut too short slowly begin to heal. A team… Read more »

If you had to ask me what my favorite position in the game of basketball is, I’d have to go outside the box a little and reply with the sixth man. Basketball’s sixth man is a patient and harmful weapon. He’s actually almost like a secret weapon, the way he’s… Read more »

By the time Wisconsin faces a ranked team — ironically enough, it will be No. 1 North Carolina — later this month, how much will we really know about the Badgers? The question is scary because the answer will almost assuredly be not much. UW heads to Chapel Hill Nov.… Read more »

It was a cold, rainy October morning. My expectations for the Badgers were high, and despite this being their first road game, Wisconsin boasted a perfect 4-0 record at home and was coming off a 38-30 win over Michigan State the week before. Of course, my naïve freshman self gloated… Read more »

Joe Paterno has been fired for obvious reasons, mere hours after saying he would finish out this season. It will not be spared much, but the full extent of the damage done to his reputation still remains undetermined. Would you have been one the people gathered on Joe Paterno’s front… Read more »

Tim Tebow. Does this column have your attention now? Chances are you are pulled in just by the headline. It is hard to utter the name without starting controversy and feelings of love and hate for the quarterback of the Denver Broncos. No matter what is said on television or… Read more »

In a matter of days, Joe Paterno went from being one of the most respected men in college football to one of the most criticized. As the most powerful figure in the Penn State football program, he is what the program stands for. He carries responsibility for everything that characterizes… Read more »

When the polls were released, I had to do a double take. Nope, I’m not talking about any injustice from the nefarious BCS system. Rather, I’m talking about the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team entering the 2011-12 season picked to finish second in the Big Ten by the media… Read more »

The sense of relief at Camp Randall Stadium Saturday afternoon was so blatantly obvious that it left many Wisconsin fans wondering, “Why can’t we play teams like Purdue on the road?” Scheduling gripes aside, the Badgers got back on track this weekend, cruising to a 62-17 win over the Purdue… Read more »

It’s a topic avoided like an ugly baby or awkward run-in with that one-night stand from a few weeks ago. I personally don’t like to talk about it because there are valid points to both sides and I can never make up my mind. But in this week’s issue of… Read more »

The average Wisconsin student sports fan is someone who loves football, basketball and hockey. He or she has been to Camp Randall and the Kohl Center. Two great venues, two great environments. There may be no college sports town as rowdy and rocking as Madison on any game day. Just… Read more »

An occasion has risen. For just the 25th time in regular season college football history, the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the Associated Press poll will collide when LSU and Alabama face each other Saturday night as true titans of the SEC and the rest of college… Read more »

While two straight losses have certainly quieted the hype about Wisconsin developing into a premier football program, it’s clear the Badgers are still establishing a national reputation that has them attracting some of the best players in the nation. Bret Bielema and co. are often known for picking up the… Read more »

Luck is a funny and fickle thing. It makes a person’s day or it can ruin it — kind of like how in sports, it can send a team to the moon or toss it down a well. I’m not writing this column to make any kind of excuses for… Read more »

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Wisconsin’s first trip to Ohio Stadium since 2009 was so cruel to the Badgers that you’d have to wonder if some sort of karmic revolt conspired to shatter the hearts of Bret Bielema & co. one more time. In the span of one week, the Badgers have… Read more »

Sometimes in sports, you find yourself on the wrong end of a play, cheated by chance or on the wrong end of amazing. Saturday night’s final play flashed me back to a similar scene I had witnessed years ago in my past, during my senior year of basketball in high… Read more »

The first eight weeks of the 2011 college football season had remained status quo for the most part. Teams that were supposed to win week after week were meeting expectations by dispatching opponents deemed weaker, according to media and coaches’ polls. The top 10 ranked teams in the country had… Read more »

A spotless locker room. It is just one change sophomore forward Cassie Rochel identified under new coach Bobbie Kelsey, but the lack of sweat-soaked practice jerseys on the locker room floor is indicative of the new attitude surrounding the Wisconsin women’s basketball program. Kelsey, hired last April after spending three… Read more »

Last year, in a column I wrote about how Ohio State had usurped Minnesota as Wisconsin’s biggest rival given the level of competition over the past few years; I mentioned how much it must annoy OSU that UW frequently gets in the way of its bigger and better plans. In… Read more »

It’s been said the Wisconsin men’s hockey team is young and inexperienced. So far this season the Badgers have won only one of their four games. The three losses were all a result of an overtime goal. So while we can sit here and say 1-3 is terrible, we have… Read more »

The Michigan State defense seems to be enjoying its new role as the “bad boys” of the Big Ten following last week’s smash mouth win against Michigan. Spartan defensive end William Gholston decided to take a few cheap shots on Michigan players. First it was an after-the-whistle sucker punch to… Read more »

In a true testament to Wisconsin’s dominance in the Big Ten over the past year and a half, only one conference foe in that span has beaten Bucky and sent him home huffing, shoulders sulking and his famously puffed-out chest deflated. On a lousy, cloudy afternoon last October, with a… Read more »

Each of the past three weekends, and probably much of the season, two Big Ten coaching icons have taken turns rolling over in their graves.Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes, once the proud patriarchs of the Big Ten Conference spanning the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, and two of the most… Read more »

As basketball season approaches, there’s one thing almost every fan in Madison can count on: Not much will be expected of Bo Ryan’s squad this season. Every year, it seems, the Badgers are expected to be outside the Big Ten title race. Yet somehow, Ryan’s magical swing offense continually guides… Read more »

This coming Saturday night is a big, big, big one for No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 16 Michigan State. And for the rest of the Big Ten, Saturday’s game in East Lansing might be just as big as well. The last shred of respect for the conference is hanging in… Read more »

Another Saturday, another Badgers blowout. What are we even supposed to say anymore? As expected, Wisconsin faced barely any challenge in dispatching Indiana. A once-again-efficient Russell Wilson (12-for-17, 166 yards, one touchdown) and a once-again-dominant rushing attack (332 yards, four touchdowns, 7.9 yards per carry) pushed the Badgers to 6-0… Read more »

“Keep it classy” is a phrase often used as a sincere hope that you have a good time. Wisconsin football fans are not, in the definitive sense of the phrase, keeping it classy. Thursday morning, football season ticket holders received an email on behalf of athletic director Barry Alvarez and… Read more »

Do you expect the Badgers to score every time they touch the ball? Do you expect Ohio State to always have suspended players? Do you expect Minnesota to lose the remainder of their schedule? The answer for all of these, most likely, is a resounding yes. But let’s examine the… Read more »

The savior of whichever NFL team is lucky enough to have the worst record: Andrew Luck. Everybody’s favorite Badger: Russell Wilson. The unforeseen force behind the Baylor Bear’s big-play offense: Robert Griffin III (RG3). And the electrifying and inefficient Michigan quarterback: Denard Robinson. The aforementioned stars of college football are… Read more »

Possibly the most criticized unit of recent Badgers teams, the Wisconsin secondary has been anything but spectacular in the past couple of seasons. However, despite facing injury issues, the 2011 unit finally looks like the shutdown secondary that Badger fans have dreamed about for years. Beginning the season with five… Read more »

For anyone who’s ever watched the weekly videos produced by Herald Sports about the upcoming football games (which can be found on the Badger Herald YouTube channel, among plenty of other goodies), I think we can all say that being on camera really brings out the awkwardness in me quite… Read more »

Ahh, the bye week. Always a time for gentle — if your team is winning — reflection and introspection, a time to assess the season collectively to that given point. Bye weeks usually foster a sort of banal conversation if a week off is welcome, or if said team would… Read more »

If you were worried about the Wisconsin men’s hockey team last year, then prepare for another season of questions. Mainly, who will play in goal? And who will score goals? Not to be too pessimistic, but there are possibly more questions about this team right now than answers. All head… Read more »

What’s the highest the University of Wisconsin Badgers have ever been ranked in the Associated Press Top 25? The answer is No. 1, in 1952. After last week’s merciless beating of Nebraska, Wisconsin has a legitimate reason to believe that it will be ranked as the top team in the… Read more »

Being one of the fortunate few (just ask Sports Illustrated’s Peter King) to be part of the student section at Saturday’s Nebraska-Wisconsin football game, it really made me think how lucky we are, as students, to be attending such a successful university. Everybody knows about Jump Around between the third… Read more »

It wasn’t too long ago that Wisconsin was a top destination for efficient game-manager snap-it-and-get-rid-of-it type quarterbacks. While the running backs carry a storied history at Wisconsin — including Heisman winners Ron Dayne and Alan Ameche — UW has never exactly been a top quarterback destination. The Badgers have never… Read more »

Fittingly, “House of Pain” is slowly becoming a fashionable nickname for Camp Randall Stadium. But for anyone clad in cardinal and red, 1440 Monroe St. is nothing but a “House of Joy.” While last year’s takedown of No. 1 Ohio State had more thrills and was electrically radiant, I don’t… Read more »

Before Russell Wilson, there was Scott Tolzien. Tolzien, in many ways, was the perfect quarterback for a 2010 Wisconsin Badgers team that stunned the nation versus then-undefeated, No. 1 Ohio State, trounced Big Ten opponents down the stretch and very nearly won the Rose Bowl. He was accurate, decisive and… Read more »

The day has finally arrived. As the Wisconsin football team validated its stature among the Big Ten’s elite last season — and through the beginning of this season — Badger Nation has been anxiously awaiting this weekend. Inaugurating the Cornhuskers into the conference in one of the toughest atmospheres to… Read more »

When Big Ten Commissioner James Delany sat outside his office one day in 2008, a voice whispered to him. “If you expand it, they will come.” “Who, who will come?” “Cornhuskers…” That bodiless voice probably didn’t happen like it did for Kevin Costner in “Field of Dreams.” But come Saturday,… Read more »

Might Madison be growing into the spoiled child of college football? Two years, two proverbial Games Of The Year? Two visits from Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and the rest of ESPN’s College GameDay? Two chances to play Wisconsin Football on the biggest stage of the week, with the whole country… Read more »

While recent history may not indicate it, the Big Ten remains a superior conference to the Big 12 on multiple levels. Ohio State and Michigan State may not have helped the reputation of the oldest conference in Division I sports with disappointing losses this weekend, but the Big Ten remains… Read more »

Student athletes are expected to handle their responsibilities with grace and class. These are young adults who are supposed to decline a free meal, a ride across town or a new pair of sneakers. It may sound easy, but most of us would quickly accept any of those conveniences just… Read more »

In case you get lost in the mob and clutter Saturday, 1440 Monroe St. is what you’re looking for. That’s where one of the most anticipated games in Wisconsin football history will be kicking off, a perennial powerhouse in Nebraska being welcomed to the Big Ten by the ever-rising brand… Read more »

Sunday evening, shortly after yet another demolition of an inferior non-conference foe, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema sat in the McClain Center media room, talking about things like the Badgers’ strong week of practice, the brief — very brief — moment of “adversity” UW faced in the first quarter against… Read more »

Already boasting one of the strongest resumes a hockey coach could ask for, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team’s very own Mark Johnson can now add “Lester Patrick Award recipient” to his list of accolades. The award itself is one of hockey’s most distinguished. In 1966, it was presented to the… Read more »

Dear Freshmen, Another weekend approaches, and another Badger home game awaits you. As a senior at the University of Wisconsin, I have been fortunate enough to attend every home game and the Rose Bowl. I’ve seen the lows (when Wisconsin lost in 2008 at Camp Randall on national television, 48-7,… Read more »

As students awoke way too early Thursday to purchase their men’s basketball season ticket packages, they likely had visions of Jordan Taylor surprising critics and carrying the team through another great year. While a glance at the Badgers’ roster may leave skeptics questioning their NCAA Tournament chances again, they’re forgetting… Read more »

Maybe the Virginia earthquake re-aggravated it on August 23, or perhaps the rulebook on chivalry between conference members has been misplaced below the stack of improper benefit paperwork. No matter the real epicenter of chaos, the college football landscape is shifting quickly. Reports of schools either changing, thinking about changing… Read more »

I’ve been eating my words for the past three weeks now and my, my, my, I didn’t know they could be so delicious. The No. 6/7 Wisconsin football team is a bright and shiny 3-0. That’s “three-and-zero.” Three — for three blowout victories — and ‘O’, for oh-my-gosh-nobody’s-had-a-chance. I assumed… Read more »

CHICAGO — Russell Wilson threw his first interception Saturday afternoon at Soldier Field, and Badger Nation … was perfectly fine. This earth-shattering event occurred with 9:42 remaining in the fourth quarter of Wisconsin’s 49-7 dismantling of Northern Illinois, and it was noteworthy because it was Wilson’s first interception in 66… Read more »

Since about mid-June, Badger fans and media alike have been riding the Russell Wilson train and it’s certainly not about to slow down anytime soon. Through fall camp, it was rare if media sports outlets failed to mention Wilson at least once. Days before the Nevada-Las Vegas game, everyone was… Read more »

Badger Herald Gridiron Podcast: Northern Illinois by The Badger Herald If there was any doubt about whether the SEC was heading into the season with plans other than taking home another BCS Championship, the first two weeks of the season have erased that notion beyond a shadow of a… Read more »

When I wrote my open letter on conference expansion last week, I had no idea how widespread of a response I would receive. There were both positive and negative views on my assessment. My favorite comment in particular was, “It looks like a five-year-old wrote this.” But let’s pick up… Read more »

It may be early, but it looks like this could be the year the Wisconsin women’s basketball team is ready to return to the NCAA Tournament under new coach Bobbie Kelsey. While the Badgers lost their senior trio of Lin Zastrow, Alyssa Karel and Tara Steinbauer that powered last year’s… Read more »

With two games into the Wisconsin football season, there is hardly anything to gripe about. After defeating UNLV and Oregon State by a combined score of 86-17, Wisconsin arrived in 2011 as advertised, confidently looking like a team bound for a BCS bowl game. But that still won’t stop some… Read more »

35-0 sure looks pretty on the scoreboard, but who said it was easy? Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, the Wisconsin Badgers dispatched the Oregon State Beavers by that score, prolonging the frenzy that struck Madison in late June once a certain transfer quarterback announced his decision to play for UW.… Read more »

The Honey Badger may have been dubbed one of the fiercest animals on the planet, but its distant cousin, the Wisconsin Badger, has recently been getting some bad publicity. Earlier this week — Tuesday, to be exact — The Wall Street Journal ran an article titled “Why Beavers Are Braver… Read more »

Dear Big Ten Conference Council of Presidents and Chancellors, Come this time next year, Texas A&M will leave the Big 12, lawsuit or no lawsuit, and the SEC will add another team to its ranks on the march to become the first super-conference in college football. The Big 12 is… Read more »

Between the third and fourth quarters of Thursday night’s 51-17 butchery by Wisconsin unto Nevada-Las Vegas, when the obedient student section jumped around, turning the press box into a swing set, I sat there, enjoying the closest I’d ever come to an earthquake, thinking: “Tonight couldn’t get much better for… Read more »

Just as students across campus are breaking out their planners and organizers as the semester begins, Wisconsin athletic teams are circling their calendars with the biggest games of the fall. With as many successful programs as UW boasts, there are quite a large number of matchups that fans won’t want… Read more »

For a team that has won 12 (yes, you read that correctly) straight Big Ten titles, you would think that the Wisconsin men’s cross country team would carry a bigger name on campus. Football, basketball and hockey will undoubtedly remain the three staples of Wisconsin athletics, but it’s time to… Read more »

It’s never too early to talk hockey. After spending about a month-and-a-half in Canada this summer, I have never been more excited for the hockey season to start. From my personal observations, it is no exaggeration to say Canadians are obsessed with hockey. During my visit, their equivalent of ESPN… Read more »

The college football season, just under way, is probably a breath of fresh air to student athletes, coaches and fans all across the country. And it’s not just your everyday run-of-the-mill oxygen; it has the healing powers of the grade-A stuff found in hyperbaric chambers. The season will hopefully numb… Read more »

CHICAGO — Players and coaches sat at tables for one-on-one interviews in another eventful day at the Big Ten football media days. I caught up again with those representing Wisconsin. Let me fill you in on the good stuff from day two: Henry thankful for Bielema’s astuteness Aaron Henry, a… Read more »

CHICAGO — It may not be as popular of a nickname as “Windy City” or “Second City,” but Chicago is sometimes called the “City of the Big Shoulders.” And there are plenty of them walking around for the Big Ten football media days. After listening to the dozen of Big… Read more »

Right about now, new Badger quarterback Russell Wilson is pouring over playbooks, learning the language of UW’s offense and working out in anticipation of one of the most buzzed-about seasons in recent program history. One way or another, Wilson is making some sort of adjustment for this upcoming season. There’s… Read more »

On Monday, former North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson announced his decision to join the University of Wisconsin football team. Never before has the motion ‘W’ had more momentum behind it. Fans and critics alike praised the matrimony between Wilson, a quarterback with three years of starting experience, and the… Read more »

What a year it has been. Between toppling No. 1 Ohio State twice, a return trip to the Rose Bowl and a national championship, Wisconsin athletics has had a remarkable year. But for several sports, it’s not quite over. As the campus rejoices with the final hours of class while… Read more »

Let me tell you a story. It’s more or less true, based on what I remember — I might have filled in some spots with other memories, but that’s how life goes; everything kind of blurs together after a while.My first Badger football game as a student was a win over… Read more »

Hall of Fame columnist, Badger alum and occasional University of Wisconsin professor Len Shapiro utilizes a rolodex of maxims when teaching his sports journalism course, and in my final column for the Badger Herald, one in particular comes to mind. “You will be rewarded for showing up.” Now, Shapiro was… Read more »

Wisconsin has three sports teams that are a source of revenue for the school — football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey. Thus, they are in the spotlight and have the most fans. Every year, the expectations for all three teams are relatively high, despite not being a popular brand on… Read more »

As one of the greatest sports years Wisconsin has ever seen winds down, the NFL Draft provided the state with one more reason to celebrate. Five former Wisconsin Badgers were selected in this weekend’s draft, the most since 2006, when five were also taken. They have all entered promising situations,… Read more »

Camp Randall Stadium and the Kohl Center — those were the two places I had to see during my first visit to Madison. The college sports town environment was something I wanted to experience. The massive tailgates on Saturdays, the band, the ridiculously long lines to get a front row… Read more »

Wisconsin women’s hockey head coach Mark Johnson is a legend on the ice and as a coach, but it seems things aren’t exactly going his way in the latter arena. Last fall Penn State received an $88 million private donation intended for a start-of-the-art hockey arena and to found a… Read more »

Today, on the most overrated day in all of sports, Gabe Carimi, Ryan Mallett and J.J. Watt will help us find out what character means in the NFL. The NFL draft is a circus. Something that should take place in a poorly-lit room full of cigar smoke and grumpy, disheveled… Read more »

Semester’s end is near, and while the living is easy in the summertime, there’s still no escaping the vacuum of sports that are the summer months. Sure, there’s still baseball and golf, but summer is without doubt a slower period in the world of sports than other times in the… Read more »

In a way, J.J. Watt is now everywhere and nowhere. He’s made appearances in Gatorade commercials, juggled private workouts and preparations for Thursday’s NFL Draft and still managed to make his way back to Wisconsin, manning the sidelines in Saturday’s spring game and spending the second half signing autographs. Typically… Read more »

By now, you’ve all probably heard. The Badger offense was painful to watch during Saturday’s spring game. In the one practice that fans get to see, UW failed to produce a touchdown. That’s unfortunate for everyone involved — except Chris Ash and his defense, which brought relentless pressure and recorded… Read more »

I’ve preached to you about women’s hockey. I’ve mentioned the 180 the softball team has taken. Now, it’s time to shed some light on a few of Wisconsin’s lesser-known athletes. If you like water, boats, oars and the ability to flex some insane muscle mass, rowing may very well be… Read more »

As one of the proud and shiny faces of Wisconsin athletics, football coach Bret Bielema needs to successfully juggle many roles. First and foremost, he is a football coach who seems to be maturing and improving, and has a Big Ten title under his belt. His recruiting classes have grown… Read more »

Before I get into anything, just keep one thing in mind you should already know: Don’t take the Wisconsin football team’s spring game on Saturday ultra-seriously — that is, if you plan on paying any attention to it. We are in the middle of April, and the 2011 college football… Read more »

As the doom and gloom clouds gather over the National Basketball Association — yes, it’s likely lockout-bound, as well — there still remains reason for optimism. In fact, there’s more than one. With free agency trending more and more toward superstar conglomeration — à la LeBron James and the Miami… Read more »

Quite often, NFL scouts are wrong. They have a challenging job. A job that requires them to predict the future success of collegiate athletes for teams prepared to spend millions. They attend everything from the scouting combine to pro days and private workout sessions, charting every move a prospect makes,… Read more »

Making new friends is always a great thing. New relationships are formed that could last forever — if the person is really that awesome. But trying to be friends with one of those people you just can’t stand — you know, that person that somehow has found a way to… Read more »

Turns out the kids are all right. Seven seniors and four underclassmen left the Wisconsin men’s hockey team in the 2010 offseason. Included in that group was UW’s first ever Hobey Baker Award winner in Blake Geoffrion and the team’s leading scorer, sophomore Derek Stepan. Three of those guys are… Read more »

This country of ours really, really likes NFL football. It’s got the biggest television contracts, ridiculously high ticket prices that still sell and sponsorships up the proverbial wazoo. When you call the Super Bowl an unofficial holiday, you almost begin to wander into the same territory of fanaticism as the… Read more »

New Jersey’s Bergen Record reporter Tara Sullivan covered the Masters this weekend. She was there because, well, it was her job. Sounds straightforward, doesn’t it? To the Augusta National Golf Club, it apparently didn’t. To Masters staffers, Sullivan must have been a woman out of place, following golfer Rory McIlroy… Read more »

There are a lot of reasons to be excited about the immediate future of the Wisconsin football program. You know the obvious ones: The dynamic running back duo of Montee Ball and James White. The return of linebacker Chris Borland and several talented members of the defense. Three returning starters… Read more »

Everybody loves a good comeback. The Philadelphia Eagles’ 28 unanswered points in seven-and-a-half minutes to beat the New York Giants in Week 15 was one of the best moments in the 2010 NFL season. Lance Armstrong was given a less than 50 percent chance to live after being diagnosed with… Read more »

Being a sports columnist is easy. We get to make predictions no one holds us accountable for. Throw in a couple of pop culture references and you are considered witty. And our soapboxes are so high, only Charlie Sheen rises above opinion scribes when it comes to a storming, principled… Read more »

The NCAA Tournament is always great, but you know it’s been especially great and full of Madness when you find yourself asking people if they managed to get any of their Final Four teams correct. Every tournament is filled with highlights and great stories. Here’s the best-of-the-best from the 2011… Read more »

When J.J. Watt left Madison for the lockout-sullied National Football League, he took with him more than just 62 tackles, 21 tackles for loss and seven sacks. Rather, as anyone with a Twitter account or access to Madison-area newspapers will tell you, Watt also took his remarkable leadership abilities. Everything… Read more »

For so many people, football is more than just a game. Madison teaches you that almost instantly. Around 90,000 people pour into Camp Randall Stadium on Saturdays to watch the team they love play a game they love. Drive anywhere in the state of Wisconsin, and you’ll see motion W’s… Read more »

What’s more exciting than watching baseball all day? Well, probably watching football, hockey or basketball all day. In today’s sports world filled with adrenaline pumping, full-contact, grinding-it-out-for-the-win excitement, baseball’s classy, leisurely style just doesn’t have quite the same effect on the general public. Sure, baseball is “America’s pastime,” but the… Read more »

Smell that? Of course you don’t, because it only remotely feels like spring, a trend that began yesterday and ends tonight as it begins to rain or snow, or both, according to the Weather Channel.But much like the girls going out on the weekend who dress according to what the… Read more »

It’s always interesting looking forward to next year when it comes to college sports. Change is almost certainly unavoidable, and when it happens on a minimal level, things are even more intriguing. For the Wisconsin men’s basketball team, last year the offseason question centered on UW’s backcourt since Trevon Hughes… Read more »

In the nature of the most extreme amusement park rides, the University of Wisconsin has had one of the more topsy-turvy athletic seasons in recent memory. There was football’s two-week binge of awesomeness with the stunning upset of previously No. 1, previously undefeated Ohio State, followed by a resounding, nail-biting,… Read more »

It was Badger fans’ greatest fear heading into the NCAA tournament. What if the Badgers go cold? What if the perimeter shots don’t fall? What if the open threes rim out and the mid-range jumpers clank off the iron? Well, like most teams, when that happens the Badgers almost assuredly… Read more »

Why? I find myself asking that on what seems like a daily basis. In the sports world, I have many whys: Scott Baker, why must you look so promising, but then put up less-than-impressive stats? (Probably the reason I’ve never been a big Baker fan.) Tiger Woods, why did you… Read more »

For the third straight year now at the Badger Herald, I have been fortunate enough to write a column for the Thursday that kicks off the Sweet 16. This means one of two things. One, I have had this column for three years? It is probably time to graduate. Two,… Read more »

If you’re like me, then whenever the prospect of dancing comes up, you envision yourself moving your body in such a way that your friends no longer want to be associated with you for the rest of the night and the opposite sex basically stands and watches in that middle… Read more »

Two weeks ago, the thought of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team playing their way to a Sweet 16 berth was widely perceived as beyond laughable. The Badgers — in case you had the memories erased Men in Black-style or something — ended their regular season in Columbus, Ohio with… Read more »

After carrying the Badgers — singlehandedly at times — throughout the season, Jordan Taylor struggled for almost the entire 40 minutes against Kansas State Saturday in the third round of the NCAA tournament. The junior point guard and first-team All Big Ten selection was a miserable 2-for-16 from the field.… Read more »

Occam’s Razor is the principle that the simplest theory is often the preferred one.In real world applications, that means Barry Bonds probably did steroids, and it’s more likely that guy in New Mexico had a bad dream instead of being abducted by aliens.And in the case of the Wisconsin men’s… Read more »

It may be known as “the second season” where everyone still adopts an attitude of starting over with renewed hopes, but everyone knows tournament play isn’t a separate species from the regular season. When it comes to the postseason, momentum is everything and the special thing about it is that… Read more »

On the heels of a 93-65 beat down at the hands of their rapidly budding rivals at Ohio State, the Wisconsin Badgers faced some serious questions regarding their defense. Like, what is a Bo Ryan-coached team doing giving up nearly 100 points in a game? How does Ohio State make… Read more »

Watching Ohio State beat down Wisconsin on Senior Night in Columbus was like watching two kids play an outdated hoops video game. It seemed like only a matter of time before there was a tail of flames coming off the ball as it left the Buckeyes’ hands. And in this game,… Read more »

Yup, you guessed it, women’s hockey again. Early Thursday morning, the USA Hockey Foundation released this season’s Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award finalists. While three Badgers — forwards Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker — were all under consideration, Duggan and Knight made it into the top 10. Noora Räty… Read more »

Before Kevin Garnett led a revolution of early entrants into the NBA draft, the key to success in college basketball was developing your players over a four year span. This meant typical “freshman mistakes” — whatever that phrase actually means — often would earn a young-stud a seat on the… Read more »

For the NFL, the country’s most popular and most lucrative sport, there’s only one thing certain right now. There will be a draft on the days of April 28-30, collective bargaining agreement or no collective bargaining agreement. The deadline for the NFL and its players to come to an agreement… Read more »

You’d figure 11 wins, a Big Ten championship and a Rose Bowl berth would fare well for the seven Wisconsin Badgers invited to the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine. But alas, the weeklong preview/investigation/interrogation of the draft’s top prospects is where football — the most team-centric of American sports — boils… Read more »

For the six Wisconsin men’s basketball seniors and their fellow classmates standing in the student section, last night’s home finale was one especially hard goodbye. It’s hard to say goodbye to a building that’s housed so much success and so many memories. From the time I stepped on campus in… Read more »

An undefeated season is the ultimate dream. But when you have a 30-plus game season, not losing a single game isn’t the easiest feat. Playing a total of 34 games and losing only a couple certainly isn’t something to take for granted, though. So, when’s the last time a hockey… Read more »

I have seen the end.It ends with the clanging of the ball off the rim. It ends with air balls and desperation heaves.I have seen the death of the Wisconsin men’s basketball team.Simply put, this team will not survive past the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. Maybe not even… Read more »

Nov. 14 was a long time ago. Back then, when it came to the Wisconsin men’s basketball team, nobody was talking about how underrated Jordan Taylor was or how improved Keaton Nankivil’s shooting percentage is. Nobody spoke about potentially beating No. 1 Ohio State at home, nor was anyone talking… Read more »

Home, sweet home. It sounds silly to debate the origins of that phrase, and it sounds even sillier attempting to explain it. In sports, that surely rings true, perhaps more so than anywhere else. Teams are strong in their home arenas and weaker on the road. That’s about as “sky… Read more »

In the world of sports, being hated is generally a good thing. It often means you’re winning, and when you win, competitors tend to become envious of that success. UW’s growing rivalry with Ohio State has been a point of discussion recently with the Badgers’ wins over the top-ranked Buckeyes… Read more »

Earlier this week, my fellow associate editor here at the Herald, Elliot Hughes, made a very compelling argument for the growing intensity of the rivalry between Ohio State and Wisconsin. That was in place of the latter’s rivalry with Minnesota. Elliot’s argument was spot-on, but also a little eye-opening considering… Read more »

Well, this is just cute. After Wisconsin point guard Jordan Taylor was snubbed — no wait, that’s not strong enough. After the national media spat in the face of Jordan Taylor and exposed their crazy-extreme ignorance by selecting Demetri McCamey ahead of Taylor for the Bob Cousy Award Finalists list,… Read more »

For all of you passionate Badger fans of the men’s basketball and football teams, when was the last time you seriously said to yourself, “(expletive) I (expletive) hate those (expletive(s)) Gophers” out of sheer anger and long-term frustration? I know you haven’t said it in reference to the football team… Read more »

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Wisconsin Badgers finally got some love this week. Of course, it was all a result of their own doing, as the Badgers upended the formerly No. 1, undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes Saturday at the Kohl Center. Jordan Taylor entered beast mode when UW… Read more »

Jordan Taylor has had to wait for his time in the spotlight. Despite currently producing one of the best individual seasons in Wisconsin basketball history, Taylor and his teammates hadn’t created much buzz in Madison before Saturday. The student section has been half-empty for games against Big Ten foes, and… Read more »

When Hilary Knight requests something from you, you listen. When a silver medal winner, a 100-goal scorer challenges you to attend her game, you rise up to that challenge whole-heartedly. “I know there’s a lot of stuff going on on campus everyday,” Knight said. “This is a chance to have… Read more »

If you’re an athlete at Wisconsin, it’s all right to be underrated, fly under the radar and to be under appreciated on a national scale. It comes with the Motion W you wear.But at a certain point, it’s nice to get recognition. And even if it doesn’t always come in… Read more »

If you’re a fan of sports teams in the state of Wisconsin, days like Sunday are about as rare as ­­­­­­­­­­ice storms in Texas. It’s not awful to be a fan of Wisconsin-based sports teams. It’s not a relationship rife with despair. Cleveland fans have it much worse, as do… Read more »

Bucky fans, load up. Recapture that Super Bowl rowdiness, break out your Sharpies and poster board and hit the streets. Get outraged, because this is, well, outrageous. Jordan Taylor is not one of the 10 finalists for the 2011 Bob Cousy Award, given annually to college basketball’s top point guard.… Read more »

Florida. After all the delayed announcements and head-spinning reports out of West Palm Beach, Fla., prep All-American quarterback Jacoby Brissett — who narrowed his list to Florida, Miami, Wisconsin and Washington — chose UF. We were told he had the strongest connection with the Wisconsin coaches who recruited him for… Read more »

The last time the Packers were in the Super Bowl, I was 7 years old. I could not have told you who John Elway was before that game, but my 7-year-old self would not forget that game, or grasp the idea that the Packers could lose a Super Bowl. Seriously,… Read more »

A few months ago, UW head football coach Bret Bielema sat in front of reporters and partook in a typical post-game procedure. The Badgers had just beaten Arizona State, and Bielema answered questions about his team’s character and mental toughness after beating the Sun Devils by a single point. But… Read more »

For Packer fans, chances are favorable that Super Sunday offers a more pleasurable thought than any lecture you might be listening to this week. Whenever my thoughts drift to the Super Bowl over this last week, they frequently centered on past Super Bowls that featured the Packers. And all I… Read more »

Here at the Herald office, we have a rite of passage for sports editors past and present to bang their heads repeatedly against our sky-blue-stained walls as they contemplate the simple futility of it all. As the ritual goes, we do this 600 or 700 times and, eventually, a rehashed,… Read more »

Heading into Saturday afternoon’s matchup with Penn State, Wisconsin was rolling. The Badgers were on a three-game winning streak and alone in third place in the Big Ten, rapidly approaching the top of the conference. Point guard Jordan Taylor was garnering consideration as a top-five player in the nation and… Read more »

Fact 1: It’s the weekend. Fact 2: Men’s hockey and both basketball teams are out of town. So what are you going to do for entertainment this weekend besides hiking across campus in the freezing cold only to attend some crowded sauna of a party? Well if a good sports… Read more »

If there’s one immutable truth in hockey, it’s that you can ride a hot goaltender all the way to the Cup. Or, in this case, a national championship.That’s of course, a lofty and unlikely goal for the Wisconsin men’s hockey team. The Badgers are in the midst of a pretty… Read more »

So I have this thought that I’ve been repeating to myself lately. It goes: “The Packers are going to the Super Bowl.” Every time I say that, it feels so weird, but so cool. I’ve never been able to say a sentence that contains those words in that particular order… Read more »

With Sunday’s win over Northwestern, the Wisconsin Badgers — now No. 15 in the coaches poll and No. 17 in the AP Top 25 — got something they hadn’t had all season long: an extended Big Ten winning streak. Trouncing the Wildcats gave the Badgers their third consecutive victory, and… Read more »

Leading up to Sunday’s NFC Championship game, there was one buzzword surrounding the Packers-Bears rivalry. Toughness. We saw clip after clip of Vince Lombardi and George Halas. Highlights of Mike Singletary and Bart Starr. The vicious battles in the trenches. We were told this rivalry was war and that players… Read more »

Dubbed as Super Bowl favorites, the Green Bay Packers struggled after being plagued with injuries through the first half of the season. After an embarrassing loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 14, it is highly probable no one saw the Packers making it to the NFC Championship. With their… Read more »

Cliché as the words may read, Montee Ball’s response after the Rose Bowl loss rang with the authenticity of someone who already had a goal burned into his mind: “Today, tomorrow, the next day and every day. I am ready for next year, I am ready for it now,” Ball… Read more »

Be honest, the thought of defeat never crossed your mind. The Rose Bowl tickets were booked. The apparel purchased in hoards. The excitement mounting after an astounding 201 points were scored in the final three weeks of the regular season. The running game executing like a flat out machine. Pasadena… Read more »

Player X averages 19.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. He is fourth in the Big Ten in scoring and seventh in rebounding. Player X is a 6-foot-10, 228-pound forward who also has the ball skills of a 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard. He leads his team in three-point shots… Read more »

Coming into the season, I decided anything around a .500 record would be about par for the men’s hockey team. The Badgers lost four 50-point scorers, seven seniors and four very talented underclassmen who bolted for the pros. After watching a high-flying offense rip off four goals per game in… Read more »

As we enter the heart of the conference season for men’s basketball, one thing has already been made quite clear: The 2011 Big Ten season is not going to follow any kind of script. For a conference that is very much involved in the debate of being the best in… Read more »

Jan. 20, 2008, was the end of an era. It was bitter cold, with about a negative 21-degree wind chill. Everything was on the line. One drive away from a trip to the Super Bowl, Brett Favre intended to throw a pass to Donald Driver. In some cruel twist of… Read more »

There’s not a whole lot left to be said about this game. The prestige of the Rose Bowl has been examined, the matchups have been analyzed, and we’ve given Texas Christian its due respect. We’ve established in the past two weeks that Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema looks to have… Read more »

Questions, questions, questions. That’s what everyone is dealing with right now. Wrists are sore from blue books and eyes are seeing double after so many scantron bubbles. Cheatsheets, flashcards and stress are the most abundant elements in the universe right now. Finals (for some classes) have already begun, and they’ll… Read more »

Badger fans, Bo Ryan has a secret. It’s so classified that the Wisconsin men’s hoops coach is willing to silence anyone about to let the cat out of the bag. That’s what happened Saturday afternoon in the Bradley Center, after UW’s riveting 69-64 defeat of in-state rival Marquette. Bo was… Read more »

Small non-automatic qualifier vs. big BCS power. A dominant defense vs. an offensive juggernaut. David vs. Goliath. It’s bowl season, and that means the over-simplified clichés are back. And it’s the 2011 Rose Bowl that provides a mouth-watering matchup for media folk and fans alike. The belittled, overshadowed, yet unbeaten… Read more »

Inception, the most wonderful movie in all of 2010, came out on DVD Tuesday, which can mean only one thing… It is gimmick column time. For those of you who have not seen it yet — and my heart breaks for you — Inception is based on the idea that… Read more »

Raise your hand if you thought in August the Badgers would go to the Rose Bowl. Seriously. Do it. I don’t care who’s watching. Keep your hand up if you still thought that after the Arizona State game. One or two hands might have gone down there, I imagine. Now,… Read more »

The 2010 football season has been nothing short of amazing I was looking forward to this season as of Jan. 7, 2010. It did not disappoint. It started out with a tough matchup between Boise State and Virginia Tech where Heisman hopeful Kellen Moore had minutes to move the Boise… Read more »

I’ll try to keep this food analogy short, what with Thanksgiving having just ended and a Christmas meal on the horizon. Meat and potatoes. That’s the proverbial course of any bountiful holiday feast. It’s delicious and filling. It’s the go-to source of sustenance. All the rest is just gravy. With… Read more »

Wake up, Badger fans. It’s real. After a decade of Outback, Capital One and Champs Sports Bowls, UW is headed back to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. The Granddaddy of Them All. The coolest, most awesomest, most kickass bowl of them all. Whichever name you like most (many prefer the… Read more »

Four years ago, I didn’t know much about Wisconsin football. As an out-of-state kid coming to UW with an obsession for all things sports, I wanted to change that. But if I knew one thing about Big Ten football it was the significance of the Rose Bowl. You’ll notice an… Read more »

Here is the conundrum: How is a guy whose success in the general public’s mind is defined by being invisible during games supposed to get any substantial love from the general public when he is, in fact, invisible? Was that rhetorical mouthful more convoluted than a defense of the BCS?… Read more »

The BCS still sucks. It’s been a common theme for several years now. But another trend seems to be on the rise in college football: Players cannot seem to resist staying out of trouble. This season has endured a couple of scandals so far this season. I would say one… Read more »

I waited a long time for this. Or rather, we waited a long time for this. We as in any other seniors here at Wisconsin. I started college at UW in the fall of 2007. The Badgers had just finished a 12-1 season, setting a school record for wins and… Read more »

For the enduring fans of the Wisconsin football team – and the team itself – nobody phrased the feeling any better than J.J. Watt did following the Badgers’ 70-23 exercise of supremacy over Northwestern Saturday. “When you have a chance to win a Big Ten championship, that doesn’t come every… Read more »

With age comes … Rose Bowls? Maybe that’s not exactly what all the wise men and women responsible for coining all those old-people phrases had in mind. But for the 2010 Wisconsin Badgers, nothing could be truer. On head coach Bret Bielema’s roster — one that has just tied for… Read more »

They’ve made it look easy. With tremendous pressure to win out and keep BCS hopes alive, the Wisconsin Badgers have steamrolled their final four opponents and scored at will. They’ve looked unstoppable and unflappable. The 70-23 victory over Northwestern Saturday clinched a share of the Big Ten title and put… Read more »

Imagine you’re America’s next great entrepreneur. You have this kickass product, this powerhouse new idea that’s going to change everything. You’re Mark Zuckerberg before “The Social Network” butchered your reputation, when facebook was still The Facebook. Imagine all that, except imagine that nobody knows it. Imagine all that, except you… Read more »

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Change starts at the top. But change isn’t easy. Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema knows firsthand how difficult it can be. He’s felt the kind of pressure to change the direction of his program that few people can relate to. And while beating ranked teams and… Read more »

Saturday, in Ann Arbor, will be a wonderful clash of contrasts. Good vs. Evil. Power vs. Speed. Stud vs. Whore. But most importantly, we have the polar-opposite battle of the minds that is Bret Bielema versus Rich Rodriguez. Not to use too much hyperbole, but as the Badgers and Wolverines… Read more »

Let’s play a game of “what if.” I’ve already done it once today; I saw that Eva Longoria Parker is soon to be just Eva Longoria again. That got the old imagination running wild, and next thing you know I’m sipping on a maitai with a Desperate Housewife on a… Read more »

A little piece of advice: if you ever make a deal with someone, get it in writing. On Jan. 1, 2010, I was sitting in my living room watching the Rose Parade with my mother. As Ohio State’s cheerleaders walked by, I asked my mother if Wisconsin ever made it… Read more »

It’s pretty easy to overlook non-revenue collegiate sports, even though several such programs here at Wisconsin are at least decent, if not great ones. For all of the soccer fans out there, come next fall you’re going to want to keep an eye the women’s soccer team. Just last Sunday,… Read more »

Ahh, mid-November. Nothing quite like the fresh scent of midterms, exams and ridiculous amounts of work to cultivate that nail-biting, teeth-grinding sense of stress in your life. It’s cold now, but you know once Turkey Day passes, it only gets colder. It rained a bit Sunday night, but before you… Read more »

When the Badgers took down Iowa and headed into the bye week, we all saw four games left on the schedule, four games UW needed to win to make a run at a BCS bowl. But there was one game that stood out above the rest. Michigan. After wins over… Read more »

I am going to try something here. It probably won’t convince the partisan haters. And I am almost certain it is unprecedented in the world of BCS sports writing. Still, someone needs to attempt this: I am going to try my hand at using pure logic — Socrates Style —… Read more »

After sitting in a small car for four hours Sunday, all I was concerned about besides getting a long nap sometime soon were the new BCS rankings. It didn’t matter that the Vikings totally lucked out and somehow won their game or that my shockingly unpredictable fantasy team was kicking… Read more »

Back in October, the UW football team got a chance to bounce back from its suck-at-everything loss in East Lansing. The scenario was clearly laid out: Win both games in a brutal two-week stretch and the Badgers prove they really are a BCS-worthy team. Obviously they succeeded. Wins over Ohio… Read more »

Have you ever been minding your own business, just you and your thoughts, when all of a sudden a song plays — on the radio or just randomly from a computer — that totally captures your thoughts? At one point Monday night, when I was sitting in The Badger Herald… Read more »

At halftime of Saturday’s 34-13 win over Purdue, what were you thinking? Remember, the Badgers — now fortunate to have moved up to No. 7 in the BCS rankings — were down 10-6 at the time. Personally, I was thinking that I really need to start picking better away games… Read more »

Cornerback is one of, if not the hardest position on the football field. The route of the receiver lined up across from you dictates your every move and while he’s acting, you’re relegated to reacting. You need to be quick and agile to cover lightning-fast wideouts, but you must also… Read more »

If Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema were into things like holding a Lebron-like grudge list or screaming ‘I told you so’ from the top of Bascom Hill, the recent bye week gave the face of UW football plenty of time — and cause — to do so. While Bielema would… Read more »

Election day has come and gone. Now is the start of another two years of more unfulfilled promises. No offense government, but since you aren’t going to do what I want anyways, I care more about what bowl game the Badgers may end up in, whether the Packers are going… Read more »

Did you find yourself waiting for the BCS standings to come out Sunday night? Are you scavenging through the interwebs trying to find every scenario that ends with you drinking in sunny California on New Years Day? Are you already weighing which other BCS bowl would be most appealing if… Read more »

When the first coaches’ poll for the 2010-11 men’s basketball season came out, a good amount of people were surprised to see Wisconsin at No. 24 — Badger fans included. Even Bo Ryan was a little impressed when he heard. Not because he thinks his team is overrated or anything… Read more »

My, my. What you can learn in a month. At the beginning of October, I wrote the Wisconsin Badgers — the now 7-1, No. 9 Wisconsin Badgers — were facing an identity crisis. After going to East Lansing and watching them fall apart against Michigan State firsthand, it seemed quite… Read more »

Wisconsin didn’t take the field this week, but the Badgers still got one of the biggest wins of their season. Iowa demolished the fifth-ranked, undefeated Michigan State Spartans 37-6 at Kinnick Stadium, therefore creating a four-way tie atop the Big Ten standings. Michigan State’s loss was huge for Wisconsin since… Read more »

Anyone who has ever played a Madden football game — so any male under 30-years-old — knows the feeling. A running back falls one yard short of moving the sticks on third down, bringing up the make-or-break call of fourth-and-one. Before the coach has even thought about what he wants… Read more »

It’s been a good two weeks for Badger fans. There was that epic defeat of No. 1 Ohio State at home, where the fans flooded the field and among other things, destroyed a $500,000 3-D camera that ESPN owned. There was also last week’s can-you-believe-it win in Iowa City, Bret… Read more »

There’s no better storyline than David beating Goliath. David is this little scrawny underdog that becomes a hero, and how can you not feel all warm and fuzzy inside afterward? But does anyone ever think about Goliath? I mean he’s probably not feeling all that confident at the time and… Read more »

Some things in life will remain constant, much like the world spinning in circles, waves crashing on the shore, leaves falling in October and Brett Favre being under national scrutiny. And just like bees will always swarm the beehive for its tasty honey, sports agents are always going to swarm… Read more »

For much of the last decade, the Wisconsin Badgers have been good. Good, but not great. They were the guys who you knew had the talent, but just couldn’t put it all together; the ones you didn’t mind playing with in a pickup game, but not the ones you would… Read more »

IOWA CITY, Iowa — It took five years for Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema to notch his first signature conference win. Now he has two in eight days. My, how quickly things have changed in Madison. No. 1 Ohio State was physically dominated by the Badgers in Madison last week… Read more »

The Wisconsin football team needs to avoid a South Carolina-like let down this Saturday. They will need the same intensity and focus they brought against Ohio State to beat Iowa. One more loss and the Badgers are out of the Rose Bowl hunt. Blah blah blah. I have nothing to… Read more »

I’ve been to some pretty amazing football games. I sat through a blizzard to watch Brett Favre and the Packers beat the Seahawks in overtime (again). Snowballs were thrown, there were plenty of plays I couldn’t actually see, but it was a game I will never forget. Only a week… Read more »

When I was in ninth grade science class, one of our projects was to build a bottle rocket. Each group got a two-liter bottle, and the goal was to build the rocket that would fly the furthest. It was just one of those deals where you used an air compressor… Read more »

Luckily, the Wisconsin Badgers’ season isn’t made of glass quite like we might have initially thought. The hopes of a Rose Bowl bid and/or Big Ten title appeared to be shattered in the wake of Michigan State slapping a nice, big “L” on Wisconsin’s forehead in the Big Ten… Read more »

Crazy. Pandemonius. Ridonkulous. Real or made-up, it seems like there should be a multitude of words to describe Wisconsin’s Saturday night triumph over Ohio State. Yet, maybe there isn’t because people seem to be struggling to pinpoint a specific one. At least I am. After all, what the Badgers did… Read more »

There are some moments that bring a smile to a Badger fan’s face each and every time they are mentioned. Lee Evans’ 79-yard touchdown catch to beat No. 3 Ohio State in 2003. Scott Starks’ 40-yard fumble return to knock off the fifth ranked Boilermakers in 2004. John Stocco’s quarterback… Read more »

The hype began just minutes after Wisconsin defeated FCS opponent Minnesota for the seventh straight time. Questions about Ohio State, Terrelle Pryor, the loss at the Horseshoe last season, all trumped silly queries about Paul Bunyan’s Axe. Been there, chopped that. The hype grew exponentially the next day when it… Read more »

It’s that time of year again. I sadly hang up my Joe Mauer jersey for the year as the Twins fail yet again to make if out of the AL Division series. Instead of letting that pathetic playoff run get me down I can look at the first half of… Read more »

“Sports fans, by and large, are idiots.” — Michael Bleach, “Bleach angry; very, very angry,” The Badger Herald, Sept. 10, 2010. Yes, Bleach, yes we are. We leave stupid, baseless comments on every message board, from CBS Sports to Madison.com. We avoid punctuation like it’s leprosy, and we consider spelling… Read more »

These days, it seems like there’s only one kind of scandalous off-field sports story — the kind that generally involves drug abuse, sexual assault or sexting. In other words, the kind that you really get tired of hearing about almost as quickly as you get tired of listening to the… Read more »

Remember those summer days? Way back when, in the dog days of July and August, the Wisconsin Badgers were one of the nation’s trendy, upstart teams of choice. Madison held expectations of extreme proportions for its beloved Badgers because, after all, this team was different from the letdowns of the… Read more »

As soon as the Badgers set down Paul Bunyan’s Axe in their locker room and faced the media, the questions came. And no, most of us weren’t all that interested in the win over Minnesota. Is this team ready for Ohio State? What does this group need to do… Read more »

Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema is no stranger to motivational ploys. Under his tutelage, Bielema has ensured the players eat a 1-0 breakfast, go 1-0 on all academic undertakings and drive their mopeds at a 1-0 pace Right after his one week, one day, one hour, one rep, one breath… Read more »

A lot of things in life are overrated. Homework, for instance, is entirely overrated. I go to class, I pay attention, I take notes, but giving me busy work on top of class just doesn’t help anyone. Speaking of homework, Facebook is another overrated fact of life. I’ll admit I’m… Read more »

I wouldn’t say I’m a detached person. But there isn’t a better word to describe my relationship with the Minnesota Golden Gophers during a childhood growing up in the Minneapolis suburbs. Detached; yeah, that about sums it up. I lived about 25 minutes from the Minnesota campus, so it wasn’t… Read more »

When colorful leaves begin to fall and temperatures cool, it indicates the arrival of baseball in October. The postseason. The hallowed ring of sports battle for survival. With the MLB postseason beginning tomorrow and the jockeying for BCS entitlement heating up with every passing week, I began to consider the… Read more »

Poof! Whoosh! Boom! Bam! Unless you were watching old “Batman” reruns all weekend, those sounds you heard Saturday afternoon were the Wisconsin Badgers’ Big Ten title and Rose Bowl hopes suddenly and spontaneously combusting against Michigan State. If you were unfortunate enough to actually watch the game, it happened literally… Read more »

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Another ranked team, another road loss and another reminder that Wisconsin fans should always temper their optimism heading into the Big Ten season. Spartans 34, Badgers, 24. Welcome to Big Ten play, where UW is now 1-8 against ranked teams under Bret Bielema. But this year… Read more »

Ten touchdowns against Austin Peay last Saturday and Badger fans were once again reminded of the immutable truth that 330-pound athletes can bully 250-pound athletes up and down the field all day long. Lucky us. But this isn’t another diatribe about the cupcake-scheduling culture. I’ll leave that to the mainstream… Read more »

The good news: Wisconsin receivers Nick Toon and David Gilreath should be back on the field when the Badgers go to Michigan State Saturday. The better news: The list of seven guys that hold the key to Wisconsin’s success in Big Ten play does not include either of those returning… Read more »

Ever since I was a little kid I have celebrated four major holidays: My birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving and the football season opener. Football is that beautiful time between summer and my birthday where — in the days of my youth — Brett Favre shouted “Blue 58” every down like his… Read more »

You gotta love speculation when you’re just three games into the season. Nevertheless, there are several things worth noting about the four teams of the NFC North thus far. The oft-titled “Black & Blue” division has already established itself as one of the more intriguing division races in the… Read more »

Oh, Bucky. I don’t know how you do it. After Saturday’s offensive…explosion? Eruption? Smackdown? Beatdown? I left my thesaurus at home, so I’ll just get on by saying that after the Wisconsin Badgers scored a lot of points — 70, to be exact — against FCS squad Austin Peay, the… Read more »

One of the best plays from UW’s blowout win over Austin Peay Saturday is buried on the stat sheet. It goes down as just an ordinary incomplete pass in the books. But Aaron Henry’s bone-jarring hit on Ashlon Adams in the second quarter of Saturday’s game is much more than… Read more »

Nearly a week removed from Wisconsin’s 20-19 victory over Arizona State, it still remains supremely ironic that in a contest full of special teams miscues, two of the biggest plays the Badgers will witness this season came in the kicking game. You know the plays: With the second half drawing… Read more »

Out on the other side of the Midwest, Penn State alum Terry Pegula donated $88 million — according to the Times-Tribune, the largest private gift in PSU history — to the PSU to fund and create a Division I men’s hockey program. Back in Madison, Badger Bob Johnson is rolling… Read more »

It’s a pretty common fact the BCS ranking system isn’t exactly ideal. But over the past couple of weeks I’ve been attempting to make sense of it and accept it for the imperfect system that it is. Since the working relationship has only lasted three weeks, I haven’t quite reached… Read more »

Mmm, breathe it in, breathe it in. You smell it? That’s fall weather, folks. Look around, the trees are already styling themselves with new colors. That’s right kids. We’re about three weeks into the school year and into the full swing of things. The ease of summertime is over, and… Read more »

Three games into the 2010 season, and the Wisconsin Badgers are already being served their first course of adversity. Linebacker Chris Borland is the entrée of choice here, and his cranky surgically repaired left shoulder is the dinner guest causing a scene. Against Arizona State Saturday, the reigning Big Ten… Read more »

They found a way. In one of the most bizarre, unpredictable games you’ll ever see, the 11th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers made enough plays to escape with a one-point victory over Arizona State. When Omar Bolden streaked by the Badgers’ coverage unit on his way to a 97-yard touchdown return, you wondered… Read more »

Remember the tale of Samkon Gado. It is a heart-warming narrative; The American Dream, really. Gado played running back for Division 1-AA Liberty University — the true American Dream school if there ever was one — before getting his chance to cut it in the NFL. He was a pre-med… Read more »

Let’s talk about sportsmanship. If you’re a fan, there are not a lot of things you can’t do. Throwing bottles at athletes, death threats and anything involving bodily fluids is generally taboo. Otherwise you are free to express yourself through whatever colorful language you prefer, whether it is screamed as… Read more »

What sucks more: Just flat out not winning the Heisman Trophy or having to give it back five years later? It’s like giving a kid a puppy and letting him name it and everything then two weeks later taking it away. It’s just better to never make that puppy your… Read more »

If you’re an athlete, it’s going to take a little extra for you to win over my highest level of admiration and respect. I’m not just going to dish out my loving because you’ve been on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the week a few times. I have standards. I’m… Read more »

No matter how saucy you were Saturday morning and afternoon, chances are you saw pretty much the same thing everyone else saw — the Wisconsin Badgers are kicking off the 2010 season with sloppy football. Not necessarily sloppy in the sense that repeated mistakes have kept games closer than they… Read more »

Infuriatingly sloppy. That’s the only way to describe the Badgers’ 27-14 win over lowly San Jose State Saturday. UW continues to leave points out on the field — points that would make its first two wins look like blowouts — and inexcusable mistakes on both sides of the ball are… Read more »

Sports fans, by and large, are idiots. This shouldn’t be a shocking statement. The word “fanatic” infers close-minded irrational behavior. And if you hear the phrase close-minded and irrational, how quickly does your mind jump to Yankees fans? My guess is 1.2 seconds, with only Glenn Beck coming to your… Read more »

Ah, September. The air is a little crisper, the days are a little shorter and it is again socially acceptable to drink at nine in the morning, provided it’s a Saturday. Fall is here. If you’re a baseball fan, this means one of two things: Either you’re watching the out-of-town… Read more »

So who’s ready for next season? Ok, let’s get through 2010 first, but with the realignment of conferences and the recently released divisions for the Big Ten, it’s difficult not to get overly excited for next fall. Only a week ago on Sept. 1, the Big Ten announced the conference… Read more »

Last week, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced its decision to reinstate Bob Bradley as head coach of the U.S. men’s national team. My reaction: indifference that borders on two thumbs pointing skyward. Not that I’m yawning about this. Contrary to popular belief, many sports fans in the U.S. care about… Read more »

Say it with me now: college football is back. Feels good, doesn’t it? It sure did before this past weekend kick-started the 2010 season, and it definitely does now after a rousing spate of games. At first glance, there was late-game suspense in the form of ECU’s incredible Hail Mary… Read more »

Welcome home, friends. That’s directed at everyone, not just returning Badgers. And for you freshmen and transfer students, it will sound right soon enough. Hopefully you’re reading this because you’ve got a love for Wisconsin sports. And hopefully you will continue to pick up this paper because we here at… Read more »

After a sports summer dominated by “‘The Decision”’ and some more age-old indecision by a certain age-old quarterback, I’ll take the liberty of assuming you’re thinking the same thing I am at this point — it’s good to be back. As Madison continues to return to form, Bret Bielema’s squad… Read more »

It doesn’t take too long to figure out the key stretch in Wisconsin’s 2010 schedule. Week seven marks a showdown with the Buckeyes in Madison, and a week later the Badgers travel to Iowa City for a matchup the Hawkeyes. Everyone knows those two weeks will go a long way… Read more »

Much like one of Prince Fielder’s towering 400-foot blasts into Miller Park’s opposing bullpen, the Brewers’ face of the franchise and MVP caliber slugger is soon to be lonnnnnng gone from the Midwestern metropolis known as Milwaukee. Bernie doesn’t slide down from his creepily pre-pubescent tree fort to wave his… Read more »

For most people, it’s difficult to swallow when a sports team says they’re “building a team for the future.” And really, you can’t blame those who hold that sentiment. Anyone can say that things will come together in a couple years, but fulfilling that plan is never assured, and some… Read more »

Don’t you hate waiting? If you’re like me, and working a soul-crushing summer job with hours only a fascist would love, then you can’t wait for fall semester to begin. And once school begins, it’s a three-month wait-a-thon until said semester is finally over. All you young’uns are either mentally… Read more »

To the readers and editors of The Badger Herald, past and present: Thank you all for giving me such an incredible opportunity as a sports writer and editor over the last three-plus years. Without you, all of you, I wouldn’t be where I am today. More importantly, I wouldn’t be… Read more »

Bret Bielema had his smug smirk firmly in place once again. Bo Ryan did his Bo Ryan thing. Mike Eaves went retro 2006 until the final game of the season. Yes, it was a strong year for Badger sports. There may be little hardware to show for all the regular… Read more »

As future University of Wisconsin women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson took to the ice against the Soviet Union on Feb. 22, 1980, he did so as a starter, proven goal scorer and on-ice leader for an eventual gold medal-winning team. Somewhere behind him on that opening face-off was defenseman Mike… Read more »

Sneaky move, NCAA. You realize nobody cares about football anymore; the time vampire of the NFL draft was the last time any socially normal person is going to even think about the gridiron until August rolls around. The college football pages on ESPN and Sports Illustrated are getting fewer hits… Read more »

Clearly, the NCAA likes what I have to say. Back around March Madness, talk of expanding the men’s basketball tournament picked up, just as it has in recent years. The tournament brings in so much money, NCAA execs astutely realized, why not play more games and make even more? While… Read more »

The Washington Capitals played some entertaining hockey this season. It was creative, it was high-flying, it featured one of the game’s best players in Alexander Ovechkin and it produced a ton of goals. In the regular season that is. Last night the Montreal Canadiens, the worst playoff team in the… Read more »

It is often said athletes, celebrities and politicians live in a fishbowl. What they do and what they say is thoroughly scrutinized and debated. That’s becoming ever more true as popular culture continues its TMZ-ification. Tap on the glass, get the fish to turn around and snap a pic on… Read more »

As we know, Wisconsin is the only Big Ten school without a varsity baseball program. Given the state of the current economy, however, the probability that one will re-emerge any time soon is bleak, at best. But there is no reason not to bring baseball back. If done correctly, I… Read more »

The NFL Draft represents one of the most compelling paradoxes in sports. It is widely acknowledged that for any professional football team to succeed, finding pieces both big and small fresh from the collegiate ranks is the No. 1 way to keep your record titled toward the left-hand column. Just… Read more »

And then there was one. With now former assistant coach Mark Osiecki gone, only head coach Mike Eaves remains from the men’s hockey team coaching staff. Well, volunteer goaltending coach Jeff Sanger is still here, but if you want to measure his impact, just look back to the play of… Read more »

Heading into last night’s opening round of the NFL Draft, there was a general consensus among sports writers, draftniks and fans alike; this was going to be a draft for the ages, with talent abound and surprises looming throughout every round. Whaddya know, they were right. Although the top seven… Read more »

I love the NFL draft. It’s long and generally anticlimactic, but I can watch almost every second of it (well at least the first four rounds anyway). Tonight, for the first time, it airs in primetime with shorter amounts of time in between selections. So what makes the draft so… Read more »

I’ll admit it — I am a Chicago Cubs fan. But I’m also a Milwaukee Brewers fan. What… what? How is that possible? You’re probably thinking to yourself “Is this bitch crazy?” Let me assure you — I’m not (that) crazy. It is very possible. It’s just that not everyone… Read more »

Well, I guess it’s that time again. The Badger Herald sports department is pleased to bring you its obligatory “bash the UW softball team column,” courtesy of yours truly. Two years ago, the Badgers limped to a program-record for losses, with a 15-40 mark. That stunning .231 winning percentage is… Read more »

Less than a week after the 24-hour Tiger Watch subsided — for the most part — with the conclusion of the Masters, another big name sports figure has given us another off-the-field incident to discuss ad nauseam. Surprise, surprise. Sure, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been in the news… Read more »

What do you know, another Badger hockey column from a depressed beat writer at The Badger Herald. Thing is, my partner in overwhelming sadness, Adam Holt, covered all the anguish Tuesday. We were certain our experience covering the 2009-10 team was going to end with a kick-ass Wisconsin national championship,… Read more »