Brats & Beer

Sentinel Sagacity And Settling A Bet

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a fine newspaper that on most days does an adequate job of covering the Wisconsin sports scene. Yesterday, though, the city’s paper of record went above and beyond in the insight department discoursing on the Badgers loss to Ohio State:

In short, [coach Bret Bielema] believed the Badgers had to capitalize on every opportunity to make a play and avoid providing Ohio State with any extra scoring opportunities through turnovers.

UW failed in both areas and the result was a blown chance to stun the No. 1 team in the nation and remain in the Big Ten Conference title race.

Truer words …

Speaking of the game, seeing as how the Buckeyes decided to play all four quarters instead of the 45 minutes Wisconsin thought they’d have to play, it’s time for me to settle my bet with OSU blogger fan Rick. Per our wager, the enemy’s screed appears below; please direct all comments/criticism to him at Halftime Adjustments.

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I know you might expect me to blast the Badgers, or gush about Ohio State. Truth is I respect Wisconsin’s football team too much to mouth off and sound like an idiot. I can find other ways to do that. The Badgers supplied us with our toughest game to date. The stats don’t really tell the truth in this one. I felt your running game was much better than the final numbers indicated. I feel somewhat cheated that we didn’t get to see Hill carry the ball against us.

Let it be said that Wisconsin tried everything they could to get the win. That fake punt on the first drive was a great call. And it looked to me like the second fake was a punt/run option that was misread.

I would like to ask you, Wisconsin readers, where are your fan blogs? You have a team that has been a consistent winner. The Badgers are always in a bowl, always around the top 15 or 20 in the country. There is a tradition being built there, and I can’t find any fan blogs worth reading. Brats and Beers [sic] is obviously a collective blog about all Wisconsin sports, much like my blog Halftime Adjustments is a collective about Northern Ohio sports. But there are at least a dozen Ohio State only fan blogs that are must-reads every week for Buckeye fans. Yes, I’ve seen a few of your fan blogs, but they haven’t been updated since your first or second loss. What is that?

I know the Packers rule the sports landscape in Wisconsin. I get that. And I know hockey is huge there as well, but there should be someone out there who cares enough about Badger football to contribute a few articles a week. So come on Badger fans, get with the rest of the Big Ten and generate some excitement for your team.