It's that season again - no, not politics, the "season" of which is now perennial. I'm referring to the college and professional football playoffs.
A lot of people get all exercised over this stuff, I more than some but less than others. After all, the fate of the world doesn't depend on sports outcomes. Maybe that's part of the appeal - we can shift our attention to something on which the fate of the world does not depend. Sports, especially American football, can be entertaining if we can tolerate three hours of commercial peddling for one hour of interrupted action.
That said, we cheeseheads care about the performance of the Green Bay Packers and the Wisconsin Badgers. According to folks who have data on this stuff, the Packers, whose stadium can accommodate 80 percent of their host city, have the largest national following of any NFL team - not bad for a city of around 100,000. Maybe it's the small-town mystique, or that the franchise is literally owned by its fans and can never be moved at the whim of profit-seeking owners. For whatever reason, that recognition is nice to have.
While the Packers enjoy national recognition, the Wisconsin Badgers, even during their best years, are perennially dissed by the national media - disparaged as an unexciting, boring team. Sure, they produce defensive stars like Chris Borland and J.J. Watt, and good offensive linemen. Ex-Badger star Russell Wilson, the Super Bowl quarterback, third-round draft choice deemed "too small to play in the NFL," is the exception that proves the rule.
Badger victories are dismissed as merely beating up on the patsies of the Big Ten. Without a doubt, the Big Ten is considered the weakest of the so-called "power conferences." We Midwesterners get as tired of hearing that as we are of the Midwest being dismissed as "flyover country," as if populated by uneducated hicks and know-nothings.
This Big Ten inferiority to other power conferences, especially the dominant Southeast Conference (SEC) is illustrated by University of Wisconsin's defensive coordinator, Dave Aranda, moving to Louisiana State (LSU) at triple the salary he was receiving at Madison.
During the 2014 season, the Badgers played LSU. Although leading for much of the game, they, predictably, lost to the SEC powerhouse. Nevertheless, the LSU coach concluded that the Badger defense was as well-coached and as difficult to move against as any he had faced that season. With LSU's recent opening for a defensive coordinator, it was Wisconsin's defensive coordinator who would be hired.
When I was teaching college, I always encouraged students to ask questions, reminding them that the only dumb questions were those asked by sports reporters who are paid to ask dumb questions. Okay, that was an exaggeration to make a point. Occasionally, a sports scribe comes up with a thought deeper than the Platte River in dry season. A recent example is a front-page piece by Tom Oates, sports scribe of one of our state's leading rags, the Wisconsin State Journal.
His thoughtful piece, titled "Don't fret, UW playing it right," lays out the issues clearly and correctly. He opens by stating that fans are operating under a false premise. He then cites the recent loss of a coveted in-state basketball All-American to rival Big Ten Maryland due to UW's Admissions Department waiting to see if there was an uptrend in his academics. Second, he cites Dave Aranda's move to LSU at triple his Wisconsin salary. Fans wonder why the well-heeled UW Athletic Department (tenth in the nation in revenues) couldn't match LSU's lucrative offer.
Oates explains the flawed premise that "fans think, or want to think, that college sports are conducted on an even playing field, that all schools are created equal." He asserts that they're not, never have been, never will be, and goes on to explain why.
As a Wisconsin farm boy and UW graduate who has made his living in academia, I see Oates as right on target. Universities do not operate in a vacuum, but within cultures that differ throughout the country. Athletic directors answer to school presidents who answer to boards of regents who answer to legislators and governors. Given their respective cultures, some schools will do almost anything to maintain a top athletic program, including seedy recruiting methods and lax admission standards.
UW's highly respected athletic director, Barry Alvarez, turned the Badger football program around from worst in the Big Ten to an excellent, though not elite, program, and carries a lot of influence. But even if he could have found the money to match LSU's $1.3 million (relative to Aranda's $522,000 at Wisconsin), it would not have set well. As UW's budget is being squeezed, a $1.3 million salary for a defensive coordinator would be considered obscene in this neck of the woods.
This is not to diminish the quest for excellence within the constraints one has to operate. Outgoing UW basketball coach Bo Ryan is admired not just for his winning record, but for his developing kids not destined for the NBA into players who could compete with University of Kentucky players who play a year or two in college as preparation for the NBA, with no intention of graduation.
Because of the larger pool of talent required, it's much tougher to build an elite football program at a world-class university. Tough, but we Badger fans urge continued effort, without compromising standards and the broader university mission.
Meanwhile, Oates is right to insist that the UW is playing it right.
- John Waelti of Monroe can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
His column appears Fridays in
The Monroe Times.
A lot of people get all exercised over this stuff, I more than some but less than others. After all, the fate of the world doesn't depend on sports outcomes. Maybe that's part of the appeal - we can shift our attention to something on which the fate of the world does not depend. Sports, especially American football, can be entertaining if we can tolerate three hours of commercial peddling for one hour of interrupted action.
That said, we cheeseheads care about the performance of the Green Bay Packers and the Wisconsin Badgers. According to folks who have data on this stuff, the Packers, whose stadium can accommodate 80 percent of their host city, have the largest national following of any NFL team - not bad for a city of around 100,000. Maybe it's the small-town mystique, or that the franchise is literally owned by its fans and can never be moved at the whim of profit-seeking owners. For whatever reason, that recognition is nice to have.
While the Packers enjoy national recognition, the Wisconsin Badgers, even during their best years, are perennially dissed by the national media - disparaged as an unexciting, boring team. Sure, they produce defensive stars like Chris Borland and J.J. Watt, and good offensive linemen. Ex-Badger star Russell Wilson, the Super Bowl quarterback, third-round draft choice deemed "too small to play in the NFL," is the exception that proves the rule.
Badger victories are dismissed as merely beating up on the patsies of the Big Ten. Without a doubt, the Big Ten is considered the weakest of the so-called "power conferences." We Midwesterners get as tired of hearing that as we are of the Midwest being dismissed as "flyover country," as if populated by uneducated hicks and know-nothings.
This Big Ten inferiority to other power conferences, especially the dominant Southeast Conference (SEC) is illustrated by University of Wisconsin's defensive coordinator, Dave Aranda, moving to Louisiana State (LSU) at triple the salary he was receiving at Madison.
During the 2014 season, the Badgers played LSU. Although leading for much of the game, they, predictably, lost to the SEC powerhouse. Nevertheless, the LSU coach concluded that the Badger defense was as well-coached and as difficult to move against as any he had faced that season. With LSU's recent opening for a defensive coordinator, it was Wisconsin's defensive coordinator who would be hired.
When I was teaching college, I always encouraged students to ask questions, reminding them that the only dumb questions were those asked by sports reporters who are paid to ask dumb questions. Okay, that was an exaggeration to make a point. Occasionally, a sports scribe comes up with a thought deeper than the Platte River in dry season. A recent example is a front-page piece by Tom Oates, sports scribe of one of our state's leading rags, the Wisconsin State Journal.
His thoughtful piece, titled "Don't fret, UW playing it right," lays out the issues clearly and correctly. He opens by stating that fans are operating under a false premise. He then cites the recent loss of a coveted in-state basketball All-American to rival Big Ten Maryland due to UW's Admissions Department waiting to see if there was an uptrend in his academics. Second, he cites Dave Aranda's move to LSU at triple his Wisconsin salary. Fans wonder why the well-heeled UW Athletic Department (tenth in the nation in revenues) couldn't match LSU's lucrative offer.
Oates explains the flawed premise that "fans think, or want to think, that college sports are conducted on an even playing field, that all schools are created equal." He asserts that they're not, never have been, never will be, and goes on to explain why.
As a Wisconsin farm boy and UW graduate who has made his living in academia, I see Oates as right on target. Universities do not operate in a vacuum, but within cultures that differ throughout the country. Athletic directors answer to school presidents who answer to boards of regents who answer to legislators and governors. Given their respective cultures, some schools will do almost anything to maintain a top athletic program, including seedy recruiting methods and lax admission standards.
UW's highly respected athletic director, Barry Alvarez, turned the Badger football program around from worst in the Big Ten to an excellent, though not elite, program, and carries a lot of influence. But even if he could have found the money to match LSU's $1.3 million (relative to Aranda's $522,000 at Wisconsin), it would not have set well. As UW's budget is being squeezed, a $1.3 million salary for a defensive coordinator would be considered obscene in this neck of the woods.
This is not to diminish the quest for excellence within the constraints one has to operate. Outgoing UW basketball coach Bo Ryan is admired not just for his winning record, but for his developing kids not destined for the NBA into players who could compete with University of Kentucky players who play a year or two in college as preparation for the NBA, with no intention of graduation.
Because of the larger pool of talent required, it's much tougher to build an elite football program at a world-class university. Tough, but we Badger fans urge continued effort, without compromising standards and the broader university mission.
Meanwhile, Oates is right to insist that the UW is playing it right.
- John Waelti of Monroe can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
His column appears Fridays in
The Monroe Times.
