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Boy did the addition of Russell Wilson change expectations, especially after the rout of Nebraska in the first B1G game of the year. We looked unstoppable. As it would turn out, Nebraska wasn’t as good as advertised, especially on defense. Heck, some pundits thought they could with the conference in their first year. We all know how that story ends, with Nebraska getting killed in their bowl game. But I digress.

This year was supposed to be different than others. I’ve long lamented the fact that many Wisconsin fans regard the Rose Bowl as the pinnacle of college football. It’s a big game, but it’s not the biggest game. For the first time in the Alvarez era pundits and fans alike were talking about Wisconsin as a possible national title contender. It was not meant to be.

In all three losses we were within a score of tying or taking the lead as the clock reached zero. The Badgers’ average margin of defeat was a measly 5.6 points. An extra third down conversion here, one less turnover there, and things might have played out differently.

It begs the question, can the Wisconsin program ever make it to the big dance? Will the Rose Bowl forever be as good as it gets? Don’t get me wrong, two consecutive Rose Bowl appearances would be a mark of success for most programs in the country so I don’t mean to minimize the team’s accomplishments. But in a year with one of the best QB/RB combinations in the country, something Wisconsin has arguably never had before, it just seemed like this team was destined for more.

The recent shakeup on the coaching staff is a little scarey, but I’m going into it with a glass half ful approach by viewing this as a great opportunity to bring in some great new coaches. Plus Montee “Money” Ball will be back next season and who knows, maybe he’ll bring home the Heisman this time.

See you at Camp Randall in the fall!

Our season is more or less over unless you count a trip to the Capital One Bowl a giant success. You’d hope we’d be ok against Purdue, Minnesota, Illinois, and Penn State, but from what I’ve seen in the past two games it’s possible we drop another game. (Minnesota beat Iowa today so watch out). Our special teams are atrocious. I know Wisconsin wants to use Wilson as a pocket passer, but why not use a few more designed runs? 3.1 yards per rush compared to 4.6 for Ohio State. Our passing game was better, but the end result didn’t show it. Braxton Miller, a freshman, was largely limited in the passing game until it counted at the end as he pulled out a big 40 yard touchdown. Ah, it will feel good to drop to about 21 in the polls; familiar territory for Badger fans. On the release of the newest rankings we’ll be back to where we belong.

This will sound sappy, but I really believed the hype this year. I ran out (via the Internet) and bought a Russell Wilson jersey after clobbering Nebraska. This year was going to be different, I told myself. It was not like past years when we were clearly ranked too high early on only to get upset by some unassuming opponent. This year we seemed to have all the pieces to do something really special. (Sorry, I am not one of those Badger fans who pretends the Rose Bowl is the top of the mountain).

Then we went to MSU. I still remember in 2004 when we were undefeated and in the driver’s seat for the Rose Bowl when we lost to them. There was the 2008 debacle and then our only loss last year coming at their hands. Who would have thought MSU could provide so much heartbreak in recent years? I would honestly rather play OSU given the way we have matched up with them lately. On top of it all we had to lose the way we did. A blowout would have clearly told us that once again the Badgers were ranked way beyond their weight class, but the game was decided on a single play.

This one will sting for a while.

Boy that was fun! R-dub continues to dazzle us. You can get on the Heisman train here.
@RussellManiaXVI

Jump Around!

Buttercup (long)

Buttercup (Herbstreit/Musburger returning from commercial)

The cornnation.com perspective on Madtown.

I won’t pretend to provide in depth X and O analysis of the upcoming game as there are folks who do that far better than me. Wisconsin has generally looked more impressive than Nebraska, but with neither team really playing anyone of consequence in non-conference play I think it’s hard to know exactly how these two teams will match up. Both teams have dual threat quarterbacks (although Wilson is a much better pocket passer), both teams have solid defenses, both teams have the ability to score points, and both boast very good offensive lines. Nebraska might be a little speedier on special teams and Wisconsin has missed kicker Philip Welch so far this season. Wisconsin is also missing a true JJ Watt type of playmaker on the defensive side of the ball. One thing is for sure, only one of these teams belongs in the top ten and on Saturday night we’ll find out who it is. I’m counting on you to be loud Camp Randall.

Now, on to some fun facts that I mostly didn’t make up.

- Metro Milwaukee has as many people as the entire state of Nebraska.
- Nebraska has five national titles and only one losing season since 1961: impressive.
- The difference in seating capacity between Memorial Stadium and Camp Randall is only 746. (Memorial is bigger).
- Nebraska is the only Big Ten school that is not a member of the Association of American Universities, which is comprised of the best research universities in the country. Yep, we’re smarter.
- Nebraska does have very passionate fans that travel well, but there are no professional sports in Nebraska. No playoff baseball, no Super Bowl champs. It’s Huskers or nothing.
- Nebraska is the only state with a unicameral Legislature. That means they only have one legislative body as opposed to a traditional House and Senate.
- Before adopting the “Cornhusker” name at the turn of the twentieth century they were referred to as the “Bugeaters”.
- Nebraska has two official mascots, both with overly exaggerated “murder you in your sleep” smiles. (Lil Red is in the Mascot Hall of Fame. There’s a Mascot Hall of Fame?)

This isn’t supposed to happen. We have our own network. Yet somehow the Badger game this Saturday will be missing from the satellites, airwaves, and cable feeds. It will only be watchable via an online stream. For an IT geek like me that’s not an issue, really; it’s why I have a computer in my living room that’s hooked up to my HDTV. But for a lot of people this will be an issue. Sure, most people have Internet, but most people don’t know how to hook up their computer to their TV. (Someday we’ll get there, but not quite yet). It also poses a real challenge for our alumni chapter of which I’m a board member, or anyone who wants to watch the game at a bar/restaurant. If we want to watch the game at our sponsor bar I will have to haul in one of my computers that can output to component video because that’s what the AV feed in their bar connects to. (Most computers do not output to component video natively and unless a bar has a really recent AV installation they probably do not have HDMI driving their system). It’s all doable, but really kind of a pain in the neck. I’ve been told that the BTN doesn’t cover games outside of Big Ten venues. (If that’s true they won’t be anywhere near the Big Ten championship game later this year). I’ve also been told that since we’re visiting a MAC opponent they have control over the TV coverage and have declined any for this game. This doesn’t make sense to me. Why go to the effort to schedule a game at Soldier Field if you don’t want anyone to see it? To drive ticket sales? That’s all well and good except that there are an awful lot of people who’d like to see this game that don’t live close enough to buy tickets.

If you’d like to contact the powers that be regarding this, here you go:
http://btn.com/about/contact-us/
http://www.mac-sports.com/MAC/StaffDirectory.aspx
http://www.uwbadgers.com/athletic-dept/contact.html

*EDIT* – ESPN has the TV rights for this game. Let them know how you feel about it only being available online.

Tomatoes are about to pop!

Through complete fault of my own I managed to more or less destroy my iPhone two weeks ago. It got wet, dirty, smashed, and otherwise ruined. I assumed I would have to buy a new phone. I just upgraded to the 3GS at the beginning of the year (yes, I’m behind) for $50 and couldn’t see myself spending $250 to replace it given its impending obsolescence. I had a Best Buy gift card burning a hole in my wallet and had already picked out an unlocked GSM phone to tide me over for a year until I was upgrade eligible again. I figured it couldn’t hurt to make an appointment at the Apple store, though. Maybe a $99 screen replacement would be all I needed? When it was time for my appointment I explained what was wrong and that it was completely my fault. My attending Genius (also Patrick) went into the back to see if a new screen would do the trick. He came out after a few minutes to tell me that a new screen didn’t fix things completely. To my utter disbelief he said, “But how about we just give you a new phone?” I felt a bit like I was stealing, but sure enough he handed me a brand new phone, no questions asked. To be clear, I’ve never submitted for warranty service in my three years of owning an iPhone. They didn’t say as much, but I’m assuming this is my mulligan. I’d be shocked if I went back next week with another broken phone to be handed a brand new one. All I can say is what a company; Apple really knows how to mold loyal customers. Now if only I could get my hands on an iPhone 5…

Running through fire. Running through electrified wires. Scaling twelve foot walls. Oh, and let’s not forget the mud. A LOT of mud.

This past weekend some friends and I set out to conquer the first Tough Mudder held in Wisconsin.

What is it?
It’s essentially a ten mile obstacle course. You register like you would for any other race; they give you a bib and there’s a bag check. The primary benefactor is the Wounded Warrior Project, so that’s cool.

How is it different than other “racing”?
By definition it’s not a race, so that’s a start. You wear a bib, but there’s no chip timing of any kind. It’s more about completing the obstacles and having fun rather than putting your blinders on to grind it out against the clock. It’s much more social than other types of racing.

What should I wear?
Clothes that you don’t have a problem throwing away. I opted to wear swim trunks since I knew we’d be wet the whole time. We made tek shirts that survived for the most part, but my trunks ripped in half. Most of our team wore Five Fingers; wearing wet, muddy, heavy shoes would not have been fun. Also, mohawks and costumes are highly encouraged.

How hard is it?
As with anything, it’s all relative, right? Everyone on our team was in pretty good shape. Four out of the five of us have run marathons. This definitely was nowhere near as difficult as running a marathon, but then again it’s not supposed to be. I didn’t consider any of the obstacles all that difficult. Scaling the walls requires some effort if you have girls on your team since they don’t have as much upper body strength to get themselves over. The monkey bars and balance beam are challenging, but if you fall you land in water and just swim to the other side. There’s no referee to kick you off the course for not successfully completing the challenge.

What could be improved?
- A tek shirt instead of cotton. Cotton shirts are $25 in the online store and tek are only $5 more.
- Better food at the end. There were bananas and your normal ski hill fare inside the lodge and that was it.
- Better shower setup. The garden hose setup didn’t really cut it.

Would you do it again?
I will definitely do it again. It’s a blast.

For complete pictures head over to the Gallery or go to marathonfoto.com to check out my official race pictures.

I ran Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN on June 18.  It was a great experience and I lost about 15 pounds while training for it.  (Some of it muscle that I want to get back, but most of it was fat).  Before I started training I don’t think I had ever run more than five miles consecutively in my life.  I trained for three months, primarily in my Bikila LS Five Fingers .

My race statisics are below.  I had hoped to break four hours, but narrowly missed that goal.  Getting zero sleep the night before probably didn’t help me out at all (more on that in a bit).

Rob and I decided to camp over the marathon weekend.  Initially he planned on booking a car site, but due to my loathing of car camping I insisted we get the backpacking site, failing to consider the logistical challenges such a situation would pose while preparing to run a marathon.  It turns out there are a few reasons why camping and marathoning might not be such a great idea (although I would probably do it again in the future).

Reason #1: You rack up a lot of extra miles hiking on terrain with gear going back and forth.  Since you’re running a marathon and doing things in town you’re not spending a lot of time at the campsite, which means a lot of round trips in and out.  We probably added 12-14 miles of trail hiking in the 24 hours surrounding the marathon.

Reason #2: You might have bad weather.  We did.  After picking up our race packets the night before the marathon it started to rain.  We made dinner at our campsite in the rain.  We didn’t really sleep because there was frequent thunder and it ended up pouring all night.  Staying at a backpacking site also meant we needed more time to get to where we needed to be the day of the marathon.  We woke up (er, got out of our tents) at 4am.  I fell asleep on the bus on the way to the starting line.

Overall the marathon went really well.  It was cold even for Duluth (40s) before the race and they had the white flag out at the start (hypothermia risk).  Luckily the rain stopped right before we started so the running conditions were actually pretty good.  Cindy said my lips were purple at the finish, but I didn’t feel cold.  Brad, Rob, and I basically stuck together the entire time so it was nice having someone to talk with during the race.  Around mile 17 I was feeling ambitious and really wanted to finish under four hours so I ramped up my pace and separated from Brad and Rob until they caught back up at about mile 22 or 23.  When I hit mile 20 I was at around 3:10 and knew I would really have to keep moving to get in at under four hours.  By mile 24 my ankles were really starting to bother me and I knew there was no way I would make the four hour mark.  Since everything was so wet and muddy we decided to bail on camping even though we had planned to stay until Monday.  As we proceeded to hike the two miles back to our campsite to break everything down and haul it back out another two miles I couldn’t help but wonder how many other marathon finishers were crazy enough to be out hiking around in the woods.  Something tells me we were probably the only two.  I can’t wait for the next marathon!  I think I will do another one late this summer; stay tuned.