With all due respect to the many other college bowl games – lower-end entries such as the Poinsettia Bowl and the Little Caesars Bowl, and even the more marquee bowl names such as Sugar, Cotton and Orange – it is not for nothing that the Rose Bowl is called The Granddaddy of Them All.
The Rose Bowl remains a gift that keeps giving, even in the days after Christmas.
Mike, meet Mickey. That?s Mike Leckrone, director of the UW Marching Band, who got an introduction to the famous mouse on Wednesday at Disneyland. He led his band down Main Street, U.S.A., Disneyland to perform in front of a small, albeit adoring, crowd of Badgers fans.
The University of Wisconsin says that 58 companies have licensed trademarks to produce Rose Bowl memorabilia of everything from shirts to Christmas ornaments.
There are nearly 26,000 UW-Madison alumni living in California, more than any other state except Wisconsin and Illinois.
Bad weather and canceled flights are shredding some Badgers Rose Bowl dreams and discombobulating others, sending one 2009 UW-Madison alumna on a 26-hour travel odyssey from Hinsdale, Ill., to Pasadena in time to watch Wisconsin take on Texas Christian University.
The holiday shopping season isn?t over yet, thanks, in part, to the Badgers.
The Dane County Regional Airport said several flights arriving at and departing Madison have been delayed because of heavy fog.
A sun-drenched Santa Monica Pier welcomed thousands of Badgers faithful Thursday for a party that may be one for the record books.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. ? The fans gathered by the tens of thousands before a stage framed by the Santa Monica Pier, the sun setting into the Pacific Ocean.
They?re seeing red: and will be for the next couple days. The first charter flight left Tuesday from the Dane County Regional Airport, headed to Los Angeles for the Rose Bowl.
The Pasadena area is expected to get up to a half inch of rain today. A storm system came in from the Pacific late last night, making it a wet day in California. But that?s not stopping thousands of Badger fans from flying into the LA area, gearing up for Saturday?s Rose Bowl game.
A spokesperson from Lawry?s tells 27 News this morning that the Badgers have won the Beef Bowl.The tie-breaker was the number of players eating the beef, and TCU had more people.
The Badger football team is closing in fast for their Rose Bowl date against TCU on Saturday.
The famous Rose Parade is just days away. The UW Marching Band is in Pasadena practicing and preparing for miles of marching.
In 1960, the University of Wisconsin played and lost in their second-ever Rose Bowl. A member of that historic team is now a professor at UW. 71-year-old Jerry Kulcinski was a hard-hitting linebacker for the Badgers in the late 1950?s and early 1960?s. He?s one of only a few people to ever experience what it?s like to play in the granddaddy of them all.
The Badger spirit is taking off! Thousands of fans bound for the Rose Bowl — ready to paint the Golden State red! The first charter flight from Madison was scheduled to depart Tuesday afternoon for California.”We were looking for a trip. And when that came up, we said, well it?s a once in a lifetime opportunity… so we decided to go,” Cheryl and Rich Wittmann say.
Normally this time of year the refrigerator doors at Felly?s Flowers don?t open that often. But, thanks to the Badgers and their trip to the Rose Bowl, business is up as much as 20%.
With little fanfare earlier this month, the House passed a commending resolution recognizing the University of Wisconsin?s football team for making it to the Rose Bowl. But if the team wins, it?s likely to have to go without a pat on the back from the country?s 435 House members ? at least as far as official recognition goes.
Aaron Rodgers has Brett Favre. Drew Carey has Bob Barker. Steven Tyler will have Simon Cowell. And Bret Bielema has Barry Alvarez.
MADISON, Wis. — The Dane County Regional Airport will be filled with travelers wearing red for the next few days as Wisconsin fans flock to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
Everything?s coming up Roses this week for one Wisconsin woman: she?s a Manitowoc florist in Pasadena to help put the finishing touches on many of the floats entered in the Tournament of Roses parade on New Year?s Day.
Revenue from 2011 Rose Bowl merchandise is expected to bring a boost to not only UW athletics, but also student financial aid, according to a news release from the university Wednesday.
The Rose Bowl remains a gift that keeps giving, even in the days after Christmas. Local retailers and UW-Madison will get a boost from brisk sales of Rose Bowl items, with the potential for another little lift if the Badgers beat Texas Christian in Saturday?s football game in Pasadena, Calif.
Controversy, injuries and suspense have haunted (underdog) Big Ten teams lately. The most tumultuous postseason in Big Ten Conference football history is about to come to a merciful end. The question that begs: Is the worse still to come?
LOS ANGELES – A couple of times a semester, University of Wisconsin junior defensive end J.J. Watt returns to Pewaukee to visit the schools he used to attend. It?s not unusual for a college athlete to go back to his high school and visit his former coaches or speak to the athletes. But Watt goes beyond that.
Watt likes to visit former teachers and quietly slip into the back of classrooms, to see how long he goes unnoticed, although it?s not as easy lately with his rocketing fame.
Tayne Murphy and several other La Crosse area college students will leave today for Christmas break at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. They won?t just watch the Badgers play TCU in a BCS game. They will be part of the action.
Wisconsin?s latest big man up front is Gabe Carimi, who might be its best after joining Thomas, whom he succeeded at left tackle in 2007, as Outland Trophy winners.His talents will be on display Saturday at 2 p.m. when Wisconsin faces Texas Christian in the 97th Rose Bowl Game.
Freshman James White, sophomore Montee Ball and fourth-year junior John Clay, who has recovered from a late-season knee injury, all ran for more than 800 yards during the regular season.
Several of the Wisconsin and Texas Christian players who will be competing Saturday in the Rose Bowl can expect to play on Sundays, in the NFL, next season.
It?s so important that the University of Wisconsin band be in Pasadena for nearly a week before the Rose Bowl that there will not be a band playing at the Kohl Center Tuesday night for the men?s basketball team?s Big Ten Conference opener against Minnesota.
It seems strange to me that the band couldn?t spare a dozen students to stay home and play for Tuesday night?s game and then fly to Pasadena.
It?s not often that Pat Richter shows emotion, but when UCLA quarterback Wayne Cook decided to scramble with no timeouts left and the clock running down on the 1994 Rose Bowl, the University of Wisconsin football legend let out a whoop.
Charlie Partridge was a 28-year-old director of football operations at Iowa State when, following the 2001 season, he decided he wanted to get back onto the field as an assistant coach.
If TCU vs. Wisconsin doesn?t have that old “Granddaddy of them All” ring of, say, Southern California vs. Ohio State, it?s a statistically compelling Rose Bowl matchup. On paper, here?s how it will end up: TCU 43.3, Wisconsin 43.3.
The Rose Bowl ring is kept in a jewelry case in University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema?s house and never gets worn.
“It?s nothing I would wear around because that Rose Bowl (emblem) on the side wasn?t a winning performance,” Bielema said.
Bielema was a sophomore reserve defensive lineman playing for Iowa in the Hawkeyes? 46-34 loss to Washington in 1991, the highest-scoring game in Rose Bowl history.
If there is some dirty work to be done for the University of Wisconsin football team?s offense, senior wide receiver Isaac Anderson is a leading candidate to do it.Need someone to throw a block downfield to spring a running back for a long gain? Anderson will do it.
University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema doesn?t expect any academic issues prior to the Rose Bowl, although it?s always an issue in the back of a coach?s mind this time of year. The players finished finals on Thursday and also had their last practice early in the afternoon before flying out on Christmas Day for Pasadena, Calif. The players were given the rest of Thursday off, as well as Christmas Eve. They are scheduled to report back for conditioning Saturday morning, prior to a 1 p.m. departure.
A sitting president visits the UW-Madison campus for the first time in 60 years, Chancellor Biddy Martin proposes a new business model to help sustain Wisconsin?s flagship institution during a period of dwindling state support, and the football Badgers are heading to the Rose Bowl for the first time in more than a decade.Before ringing in the New Year, Campus Connection takes a look back at some 2010 highlights.
When your primary task is to back up J.J. Watt, you are certain of two things:
First, you aren?t going to get a significant amount of playing time because the fourth-year junior defensive end is too dynamic and too valuable to spend too much time on the sideline.
Second, your contributions are going to be overshadowed because of Watt?s impressive numbers – seven sacks, 21 tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hurries, eight passes broken up, three forced fumbles and one interception.
If Wisconsin fans want to participate in the “Jump Around” which has become tradition at Camp Randall Stadium between the third and fourth quarters, they?ll have to sing the song in their heads and jump on their own.
Badger Quarterback Scott Tolzien has a special connection with some younger Badger fans. The kids are showing their support for the Badgers by writing a song in their honor.
As Badger fans gear up for this year?s Rose Bowl concerns about phony tickets are growing. College football bowl season is the ideal time for scammers to take advantage of fans.
Badger fans unable to make it to Pasadena can instead fire up their PCs or hand-held devices to keep tabs on the 2011 Rose Bowl. A team of UW-Madison developers have launched an interactive website that aims to connect Badger fans from all over the world for the game.
Expect to see a flood of college football fans dressed in red and white if you?re in Downtown Santa Monica on Dec. 30 ? the date when the Big Ten co-champion Wisconsin Badgers will hold a pep rally at the Santa Monica Pier ahead of their Rose Bowl appearance opposite Texas Christian University on New Year?s Day.
When Mike Stassi, the longtime football coach at Monona Grove High School, decided to relocate the hot tub at his house one day last summer, he put in a call to Gabe Carimi, a former player of his who is now a standout left tackle at the University of Wisconsin. Carimi showed up with two of his fellow Badgers linemen, John Moffitt and Peter Konz, and the three proceeded to move the tub the same way they shove around their gridiron opponents. No sweat. They then wolfed down three extra-large pizzas in minutes.
?These guys are like a different breed of humans,? Stassi marvels. ?They?re just giant beings.?
The University of Wisconsin has set up a new website designed specifically for fans who want to experience going to the Rose Bowl without ever leaving the comforts of home.
Wisconsin center Peter Konz is finding bowl preparation more grueling, physically and mentally, the second time around.
The redshirt sophomore from Neenah savors every ache and pain that comes with getting ready to face No. 3 Texas Christian (12-0) in the Rose Bowl.
When UW was preparing last season to face No. 14 Miami in the Champs Sports Bowl, Konz was a spectator. His season had ended hours before UW?s regular-season finale at Hawaii when doctors discovered blood clots in his lungs.
A new website run by UW-Madison — rosebowl.wisc.edu — will track the Rose Bowl experiences of Badger faithful.
Badgers backers heading to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl should be thankful the game isn?t this week. Southern California is being soaked with record rains, which are frustrating tourists, causing headaches for holiday shoppers and even triggering fears of mudslides.
….Thanks to local musician and performer Anthony Lamarr, the Badgers? run for the Rose Bowl has an unofficial anthem. “We?re Smelling Roses” debuted on YouTube earlier this month and has already scored more than 200,000 hits. J. Dante is on the track ? his rap is the best part, when the song really picks up ? and the video features cameos by members of the marching band, Chancellor Biddy Martin and Heisman Trophy winner and former Badger Ron Dayne.
As the profile of many college football assistant coaches rises, so does their pay. Led by the cash-rich, football-crazed Southeastern Conference, the number of high-dollar coordinators and other assistants is growing.
Thousands of Badgers fans will get pumped up for the Rose Bowl at the Santa Monica Pier. That?s the location of the pre-game Rose Bowl pep rally on Thursday, Dec. 30, the UW Athletic Department announced today. The free event will begin at 3 p.m., pacific time. It will feature the football team, coach Bret Bielema, the UW Marching Band, spirit squad, and more.
As he prepares for his final game at Wisconsin, defensive coordinator Dave Doeren isn?t about to tip his hand regarding his replacement.”He has got a tough decision on who is calling the plays,” Doeren said, referring to UW coach Bret Bielema.
Bielema, who prefers to promote from within, has two solid choices on the staff in defensive line coach Charlie Partridge and secondary coach Chris Ash.
Taking hard shots at the world of academia is nothing new for conservative Charlie Sykes, who wrote a scathing book about university professors back in the 1980s.
Sykes, the longtime WTMJ-AM (620) talk radio host, was at it again recently when he riffed on the University of Wisconsin Badgers and the team?s upcoming trip to the Rose Bowl, the team?s first to the Pasadena, Calif., event since 2000. His target: UW?s plan to pay trip costs for outgoing Gov. Jim Doyle, UW Chancellor Carolyn “Biddy” Martin, members of the UW Board of Regents and other university officials as part of the official Rose Bowl traveling party.
With a showdown against unbeaten Texas Christian in the 2011 Rose Bowl less than two weeks away, Wisconsin?s tailback rotation looks just as it did in the regular-season finale against Northwestern: Sophomore Montee Ball, freshman James White and fourth-year junior John Clay.
This week?s edition of ESPN The Magazine (Dec. 27) carries a six-page feature about the Rose Bowl-bound Wisconsin football team, complete with real big photos of many of the Badgers? key players.The piece refers to the Badgers as perhaps ?the best FBS team in the land this season.?
Big Ten Conference commissioner Jim Delany is apparently having second thoughts about naming the new football divisions Legends and Leaders after the names have been almost universally scorned by fans and the media. Delany did a radio interview on WGN AM-720 in Chicago on Thursday and revealed he could be open to changing the names.
I see where Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany is going to reconsider the conference?s incredibly lame decision to name its new football divisions “Legends” and “Leaders.” Congratulations to sports fans and media types who panned those meaningless names so universally that it caused Delany to back off one of his decisions. That doesn?t happen often with this commish.
If you haven?t heard, players and coaches were recently ushered into a suite stocked with 27 tony gifts and allowed to select up to $500 worth of leather recliners, digital cameras, headphones, camcorders, mountain bikes and the like ? all on Rose Bowl sponsors? dime. It came as a surprise to me to learn that this is standard practice in NCAA Division I college football, whose 69 other bowl-bound teams are getting a similar perk.
After the 1994 Rose Bowl, Al Fish remembers, two people said Uncle Charlie wanted his ashes spread on the field.
