The Illinois-Wisconsin basketball game Tuesday lived up to all its pre-game billing, but now nobody is talking about the game anymore. Instead, the conversation has turned to a brain-dead analyst and a gigantic sign.
If you were lucky enough to be at the game, then you missed ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb calling the Badgers the most overrated team in the Big Ten, then adding salt to the wound by calling freshmen center Brian Butch the Big Ten's most overrated player.
Badger fans are up in arms over the incident, but is Gottlieb really worth the fuss? The former Oklahoma State player is hardly one of ESPN's heavyweights. (I mean this in a literal sense. Usually guys like Rick Majerus, Mike Jarvis and Digger Phelps occupy the analyst's chair at halftime. I mean look at these guys---they're all one tusk short of a rhinoceros.) Size aside, these other analysts usually offer better commentary, not to mention the fact they can all tell you where to find the nearest Denny's.
The comment about the Badgers is so ignorant that it's hardly worth discussing. It's hard to believe the Big Ten's most overrated team is Wisconsin, especially considering what they've done after losing Devin Harris to the NBA.
As for Butch being overrated? Is that even possible? When was Butch ever rated?
So he doesn't have the greatest stats, but what Butch lacks in scoring and rebounding, he makes up for with a dazzling repertoire of fist pumps, elbow swings and determined screams.
Besides, if we're going to start rating the fourth guy off the bench, who's next? Pizza delivery guys? Custodians? How about ESPN college basketball experts?
I could have been spared Gottlieb's insight, but I didn't get basketball tickets this season. Instead I was sitting at a friend's watching and I dared not change the channel at halftime because ESPN is the only channel on TV where I can don't have to see those Jamster Ringtone ads.
The reason for this, of course, is the utter lack of student seats in the Kohl Center. Luckily for those of us who were left out, Associated Students of Madison is watching our back.
In a shocking display of defiance, ASM members held up a giant sign that said \ASM asks, 'Is this enough space for students?'"" Kohl Center security chose not to answer the question and took the sign away instead.
ASM has its undies all in a bundle over the confiscation, but I applaud the decision of the event staff. The thing was probably about 39 feet in size and, by my estimate, half the student section couldn't see the game because of the thing.
It was a nice idea, but there are already enough students who can't see the game in person. Does ASM really need add to this number?
Joe can be reached at jphasler@wisc.edu.
