Author: jnweaver

Dear Editor: I gaze at my newly arrived Badger football season tickets with mixed emotions. Although the games themselves continue to charm, what is getting very unnerving is the rapidly growing corporate-military intrusion on a recreational activity.

As a military veteran, I’ve seen far too much military hardware. Is the dangerous flyover of inherently unstable combat aircraft an essential part of any college athletic event? Or are these recurring displays of weapons another example of what political thinkers from Plato to Eisenhower have warned us about — the intrusion of the military-industrial complex into every aspect of our national life?

As Niles Brinkley prepared to leave his parents’ home in St. Louis earlier this month and return to the University of Wisconsin campus for the opening of preseason football camp, he understood this goodbye would be more painful and final than any other.

â??I knew she was going to pass away,â? Brinkley, a third-year sophomore cornerback, said softly Sunday at UWâ??s media day. â??I was telling her I had to go back up.â?

His sister â?? 35-year-old Lanita Renee Eddins â?? ignored the cancer that was ravaging her body and said: â??I understand it is important. Go back and Iâ??ll be OK.â?

Before Brinkley could leave, his sister was gone. She died on Aug. 1.

As he relaxed inside the McClain Center early Thursday evening after football practice, Matt Shaughnessy spoke optimistically about the health of his brother, Jamie, who nearly died last year after doctors found several blood clots in his stomach.

His older brother was in the hospital for a previously scheduled surgery that was part of his lengthy recovery and was on the mend, the University of Wisconsin senior defensive end said proudly.

â??Heâ??s doing good,â? Matt Shaughnessy said at the time.

Less than 24 hours later, Jamie Shaughnessy died.

When Stewart MacDonald started what has become a tradition, legacy and selling point 40 years ago, he remembers being something of an oddity.

Having completed his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin, he qualified for the 1968 U.S. Olympic rowing team as the coxswain in the pair boat. He came back to the UW rowing team as an Olympian who had never coxed a varsity race for the Badgers.

Four years later, he was back in the Olympics, joined by another UW rower. In 1976, two more men’s rowers added their names to the list, and the UW women’s program started a tally of its own with three Olympians.

….When Micah Boyd joins 2004 gold medalist and former UW teammate Beau Hoopman in the men’s eight in Beijing next week, he will become the 25th name on the list of rowers who competed for the Badgers and in the Olympics.

Allan Evridge looks in better shape than he did last August, when he finished second to Tyler Donovan in the race to be the University of Wisconsin’s No. 1 quarterback.

Evridge, a fifth-year senior who understands his days in college are dwindling, appears more comfortable and confident with his role on the team.

As Bret Bielema explained his reasons for dismissing troubled tailback Lance Smith from the University of Wisconsin football program, the coach was asked whether Smith’s case could be used as a cautionary tale for other players.

Bielema agreed that Smith’s wasted opportunity at UW should serve as a harsh lesson for the 105 players in camp.

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema has removed talented but troubled running back Lance Smith from the team.

Bielema made the announcement Monday night following the team’s first practice of the season. It appears Smith, who has two seasons of eligibility remaining, will transfer to a Football Championship Subdivision program (formerly called Division I-AA) so he can be eligible to play immediately.

Bielema suspended Smith last month after Smith was terminated from the first-offenders program.

Lance Smith likely has played his last football game in a University of Wisconsin uniform.

Smith, a reserve tailback who was suspended from the team last month after being removed from Dane Countyâ??s first-offender program, has been dismissed by coach Bret Bielema.

For Joe Tiller’s first 10 seasons as Purdue’s football coach, the Boilermakers’ practices were open to the media. Reporters would sit on a hill overlooking the practice field, where Tiller and his staff and players went about their business. Then one of Tiller’s assistants began noticing detailed practice reports showing up on the Internet.

“We come off the practice field,” Tiller said, “and there’s stuff already posted.”

Tiller considers himself media-friendly, but he also felt the need to draw a line in the sand in order to protect his program’s best interests.

Badger football coaches are looking at ways to slow down the spread offense.

The high school coach of University of Wisconsin men’s basketball recruit Robert Wilson kept it simple when he explained why he thinks the Badgers have been so successful.

He gave a great deal of the credit to the recruiting prowess of assistant coach Greg Gard.

“Greg Gard spotted talent before the other teams had an idea. That shows you why Wisconsin wins,” said Garfield Heights (Ohio) coach Sonny Johnson when Wilson made his initial commitment to play for Wisconsin.