Who knew that \the light of the moon"" still shines halfway across the country?
Upon a return to New York City this past weekend, I had a familiar urge Saturday morning to walk down University Avenue and make a left on Randall. Instead, I headed across the Brooklyn Bridge to the Upper-East Side of Manhattan. I had heard of the Mad River Bar and Grill as popular Badger fan spot from friends who had graduated Wisconsin and moved on to NYC .
Sitting down at the bar, I took a look around. Lee Evans and Erasmus James jerseys surrounded me. Music of the band I had grown to love over the past three years played over the speakers. This was not one of the typical sports bars that lined the sidewalks of New York, with blue and white Yankees banners hanging above a Phil Simms head-shot. Below the skyscrapers and above the 6 train, I had found Madison again on 82nd street.
Kyle Martin graduated from Wisconsin in spring 2004 and moved to New York to pursue a radio dream that he started as a WSCM sports show host in Madison. Instead, he moved into a manager role at Mad River. Having attended football games at Camp Randall for five years, he missed the same vibe that I had come to Mad River in search of. After talking to the Alumni Association in New York and given free reign by his owners, Martin brought his passion to life.
""The Madison vibe of football Saturdays, you know waking up and hearing the band play outside your window, I missed that,"" Martin said. ""I had a venue where I could improve and put a lot more smiles on people's faces.""
As my dad sipped his scotch on the rocks, my friend and I drank Wisconsin beer.?? The man next to me, wearing an Anthony Davis jersey, poured light beer from a Memorial Union Terrace pitcher into his glass.
We ordered fried cheese curds from the bar??-not your typical ""coastie"" finger food. The menu also included brats, seemingly the most popular item in the room.
The actual watching of the game was pleasantly accompanied with the crowd erupting in hysterics after every Brandon Williams touchdown. After each score, the music would play and the entire bar, in unison, would erupt, ""When you say Wisconsin, you've said it all.""
When I thought I had seen it all, I began to hear Steve Miller Band's ""Swing Town"" played over the bar's speakers. People in the room put their hands up in ""O"" formation, and then followed with the appropriate student section profanities back and forth.
Between the third and fourth quarter, those in attendance packed it up and in to House of Pain as the bar rumbled with the jumping of recently graduated Badgers. When the game was over and Wisconsin had defeated the Hoosiers, hands went over shoulders as the alumni joined in singing the time-honored tradition of ""Varsity.""
Martin emcees the weekly event, not only using songs that the band plays, but also using songs that Wisconsin fans hear over the PA sytem at Camp Randall. Martin's choice of ""Build Me Up, Buttercup"" truly shows that he is what he says he is, ""a fan first."" His response to me telling him that I had sat in the third row of P at the Michigan game?
""You're killing me.""
Not to mention he also mutes the right parts of ""Sweet Caroline,"" allowing fans to scream in unison, ""So good! So good! So good!""
Going for a KK or State Street Brats feel, it looks as though Martin has created what he set out to find. He has carved out a place for Badgers-turned-New Yorkers to do the same.
""If you want to come out and experience the craziness of Madison, all the atmosphere and festivities that go on on State Street,"" Martin said, ""come to Mad River because it's going to be just like State Street for those three hours.""
When I stepped out onto the cab-laced streets, I became confused for a bit. For a second, I had this crazy idea in my mind that I had been at Brats watching Wisconsin dominate the Hoosiers along with my Badger faithful.
As I walked down Lexington Avenue, I could still taste the mix of barley, hops and cheese that I had grown so fond of. I would be boarding a plane back to Dane County Airport the following day, leaving New York and heading back to my home on Langdon Street in Madison.
In some way, though, I had never left.
Sam Pepper is a junior majoring in Politcal Science and can be reached for comment at sepepper@wisc.edu.
