As Matt and Vince wrote about in their columns this week, college basketball reigns supreme at this juncture in the world of college sports—as it should. I've been to my fair share of NBA regular season and playoff games, but they do not even compare to the excitement and emotion of college basketball games.
For as long as I’ve followed college basketball, I can’t recall a single season during which I didn’t hear how little significance came with the sport’s regular season.
As I sat in my apartment Saturday afternoon, having just watched Ben Brust’s half-court prayer send the Wisconsin-Michigan game into overtime, I tried to remember the last time I was this excited by a sporting event—any sporting event. When was the last time that a play literally made me jump out of my seat and start jumping up and down while yelling myself horse?
This past weekend was, without a doubt, one of the wildest weekends for Wisconsin athletics in recent history. I will remember where I was and who I was with when junior guard Ben Brust hit his last-second, desperation shot from 40-plus feet to send the game into overtime.
With No. 3 Michigan coming to town Saturday, the most common question I am getting has nothing to do with Wisconsin’s ability to defend sophomore guard Trey Burke or with Michigan’s lack of interior depth. No, the question I am getting time after time is simply: “Will we rush the court if we win?”
With Baltimore’s Super Bowl win Sunday, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has officially earned the title, “Elite NFL quarterback.” The thing is, I’m not exactly sure what this means. As far as I know, the guy has to be included in every TV analyst, reporter and common fan’s discussion of the league’s top signal callers.
An old, old cliché in sports says that “it is better to be lucky than good.” As antiquated as that notion seems to be, perhaps no team embodied that idea more than the 2012 Baltimore Ravens.
The top players in the National Football League were honored Saturday night at the NFL awards ceremony. That night, the world found out whether Adrian Peterson or Peyton Manning would nab the Associated Press Most Valuable Player award and which rookie sensation quarterback would walk away with the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
Tiger Woods is back and, while the rise of young guns like Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley and Rory McIlroy certainly helped keep the game in the spotlight during his absence, golf continues to face off against the perception that it is a game for the elite, a perception that is golf’s greatest public relations challenge. Though Woods and his young successors have certainly made golf more “hip,” it is still considered a second-class citizen in the sports community.
When the Philadelphia Eagles announced Oregon head football coach Chip Kelly was taking his talents to the City of Brotherly Love, it did not come as a shock to me.
In the midst of the now-forgotten NHL lockout, much was made about what player were and were not taking advantage of the time off by playing in other leagues. Those who played in the American Hockey League or Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League were expected to come in and set the score sheet ablaze, while those who hibernated over the 119-day lockout would need some time to re-adjust to game speed.
In the world of professional sports, there will always be those stories that inspire and those stories that destroy a perception of who you thought someone was.
The last week has provided more than enough material for sports writers around here. With Bret Bielema deciding to leave the head coaching job at UW for the same position at the University of Arkansas, think about all of the potential angles to the story.
Saturday night in Indianapolis, Bret Bielema hoisted the Stagg Championship Trophy, his Badgers having just throttled Nebraska 70-31 to win their third-consecutive Big Ten title and claim their third-straight Rose Bowl appearance.
There are certain events in this world that make sports seem very insignificant. The actions taken by Jovan Belcher this past weekend fall into that category.
The Badgers have understandably received, and will continue to receive, jabs from college-football experts for “backing into” their current position: Despite a 4-4 Big Ten record, Wisconsin is just one win away from a third consecutive conference championship and Rose Bowl berth. The Badgers are in this situation, of course, because the Big Ten champion receives an automatic trip to Pasadena. Quite frankly, I don’t have an issue with the Bowl Championship Series’ rule that all six BCS “power conference” champions ensure themselves a spot in one of five BCS games. While a playoff setup would be preferable, I can respect a system that rewards teams in the postseason for winning their conference during the regular season.
Who the hell was William Shakespeare? It’s a pertinent question, one that has its own body of scholarship and devotees.
I want to take some time today and move away from the routine talk-about-something-that-happened-over-the-weekend column and discuss an issue on campus I believe is very important.This issue has the potential to affect everyone on campus, but for the most part has largely stayed out of discussing among students and faculty.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I imagine all of you fellow students out there are thankful for the break, even if Thanksgiving itself doesn’t jazz you. For instance, I’ve never been a huge fan of turkey, though this is the one time of year it’s actually good. Still, I’ll probably have the best Thanksgiving ever with just a plate of mashed potatoes and a tankard of cranberry sauce.
Read on Issuu
Solutions by The State News
