MADISON (WKOW) — If you listen to Badger games on the radio you will hear less beer commercials for the first time in years. The university has ended a long-standing sponsorship agreements with MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch InBev for Badgers sports broadcasts.
Many believe that late summer and early fall is the best time of the year to play golf. The big problem is fitting a round of golf into a weekend schedule that includes watching your favorite football team.
Nobody knows that better than the folks over at the University of Wisconsin athletic department. They have created a package deal called the Badger Football Foursome where, for a reduced price, you can play 18 holes at University Ridge before heading over to Camp Randall Stadium to watch the Badgers play a nonconference game.
Itâ??s all part of the UW athletic departmentâ??s creative efforts to sell the remaining tickets to its football games this season.
There will be no slinging back UW-Madison-themed Bud Light cans this fall, after university officials objected to Anheuser-Busch’s “Fan Cans” program.
UW-Madison is apparently one of several colleges and universities that complained about the promotion — which sells cans of Bud Light in school colors — causing Anheuser-Busch InBev to drop the campaign from communities around the country, according to the Associated Press.
The Big Ten Conferenceâ??s quest to put more womenâ??s basketball games on national TV this coming season has generated an interesting “sneak preview” experiment.
On Dec. 6, after the football season has concluded and before menâ??s basketball kicks into high gear, the University of Wisconsin will participate in a quadrupleheader of womenâ??s basketball games on the Big Ten Network, with the Badgers facing defending league champion Ohio State in Columbus.
Jay Valai and Chris Maragos experienced a metamorphosis before preseason camp was one week old.
“I think they go from being in the competitive modes in their jobs,” University of Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Doeren said, “to being the mentors all of a sudden.”Valai, a redshirt junior, entered camp as UWâ??s No. 1 strong safety, with 12 starts on his résumé. His backup was fifth-year senior Aubrey Pleasant, who had 13 starts in 2007 and one last season.
Maragos, a fifth-year senior and converted wide receiver, entered camp as the No. 1 free safety, with only six starts. His backup was fifth-year senior Shane Carter, who had 13 starts in 2007 and seven last season. When coach Bret Bielema announced on Aug. 15 that Pleasant and Carter had been suspended indefinitely and subsequently clarified they would not return before the end of camp, the depth chart got much younger.
The new Loganâ??s, an upscale sports bar in the former Angelic Brew Pub space, 322 W. Johnson St., is beginning to take shape.
….Restaurant owner Jack Bendetti said he was hoping to open late this fall, in time to woo some of the University of Wisconsin football fans who flock to Madison on game days.
There are conflicting emotions tugging at Bill Nagy as he deals with the physical and mental scars left from a moped accident that occurred more than a month ago.
Part of Nagy, a junior right guard for the University of Wisconsin football team who has been sidelined throughout the first two weeks of preseason camp because of injuries he suffered in the crash, feels unlucky that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The other part of Nagy feels fortunate his injuries werenâ??t more severe. Heâ??s out indefinitely with strained ligaments in the heel of his right foot and is wearing a cast to protect his injured right wrist, but those injuries will heal in time and Nagy eventually will begin his pursuit for a starting spot he so cherishes.
â??Iâ??m just lucky I didnâ??t hit my head,â? Nagy said.
Big-time college athletics programs are not going to let a few cases of the H1N1 influenza virus get in the way of their home football games this fall.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its most-detailed recommendations yet concerning the containment and prevention of the virus for institutions of higher education. Among the suggestions, the report advises that colleges find ways to “increase social distances.”
University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema is beginning his fourth season leading the Badgers and said heâ??s committed to using his growing experience to translate into victories on the field.After 12 wins in his first year, the win totals have slide to nine in 2007 and then to seven wins last season. Much of the pre-season talk has been whether Bielema is on the hot seat this year. Some have speculated that if he doesnâ??t win more, his job could be in jeopardy.
As Paul Chryst met with reporters to discuss the underwhelming performance of the University of Wisconsin quarterbacks during an extended scrimmage session Saturday, he noted the offense was hamstrung.
Wide receiver Nick Toon (quadriceps) was held out as a precaution, wide receiver Isaac Anderson (hip pointer) was limited and the staff used the opportunity to look at some younger tight ends. UWâ??s offensive coordinator didnâ??t need to mention that three starters on the No.â??1 offensive line are sidelined because of injury.
Well known Madison golf professional Jim Thomas, head pro at the Bridges Golf Course on the east side, was found dead last night at his home in Middleton, authorities reported.
Thomas, 43, was a well liked and popular pro at the course and was also the golf coach at Madison Area Technical College, holding both jobs for the past several years.
After someone rattled off the four opponents the University of Wisconsin menâ??s basketball team must play on the road over its first six Big Ten Conference games this coming season, Bo Ryan paused before saying dryly, â??And the ones at home (in that stretch) arenâ??t exactly easy, either.â?
Just donâ??t think the Badgersâ?? coach is looking for any sympathy. Not after a non-conference schedule that includes the likes of Arizona and possibly Gonzaga among others at the Maui Invitational, and then returning home to play Duke and Marquette.
University of Wisconsin seniors Shane Carter and Aubrey Pleasant intend to fight their indefinite suspensions, which were announced Saturday by head football coach Bret Bielema. Neither player was available Sunday.
But Butch Carter, the older brother of Shane Carter, and Garner Pleasant, the father of Aubrey Pleasant, told the Journal Sentinel of their plans.
“Shane has called me, and we feel what was done was handled incorrectly,” said Butch Carter, who played six seasons in the National Basketball Association, served as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks from 1991-â??96 and lives in Florida. “Weâ??ve requested the university to allow Shane to have an expedited hearing, as he is allowed to in the student handbook.
Sometimes the only difference between a really dumb question and an intriguing one is when you ask it.
Case in point: Who had the more challenging introduction as University of Wisconsin football coach, Barry Alvarez or Bret Bielema?
Had you posed this question as recently as 12 months ago, it would have brought a roll of the eyes and dismissive, â??Duh. Of course, the answer is Alvarez.â??
Wisconsin has suspended safeties Aubrey Pleasant and Shane Carter.
Head coach Bret Bielema did not say in his statement on Saturday why the two seniors were being suspended. Both players have been an integral part of the Badgers’ defense.
The 6-foot-1 Pleasant has made 80 career tackles over 14 starts and was listed beside safety Jay Valai for a starting slot on the most recent depth chart.
University Ridge really caught a break when the Wisconsin Glacier halted thousands of years ago just southwest of Madison. Otherwise, Barneveld would be home to one very fine golf course.
In a word, the course is amazing. University Ridge has been ranked among the â??Top 100 courses you can playâ? by Golf magazine and received a 4 1/2-star rating by Golf Digest.
John Clay acknowledges he remains hungry.
First is his affinity for momâ??s cooking back home in Racine.His favorite dish? “Anything,” the University of Wisconsinâ??s third-year sophomore tailback said after practice earlier this week. “I donâ??t get too many home-cooked meals.”
Second is his desire to handle the bulk of the workload among UWâ??s tailbacks in 2009.
Both Chris Schwarz and Bill Hehli know theyâ??ve merely bought themselves a little time.
Sure, the UW-La Crosse baseball and menâ??s tennis programs have been granted a reprieve. Both programs, which UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow announced in June would be cut, have raised enough money to continue for the 2009-10 school year.
Beau Hoopman headlines a group of six former University of Wisconsin rowers who will compete for the United States at the World Rowing Championships from Aug. 23-30 in Poznan, Poland.
Among the Badgers contingent are three Intercollegiate Rowing Association national champions and a two-time Olympic medalist — Hoopman, a former UW captain who won Olympic gold in the men’s eight during the 2004 Games in Athens and captured bronze in the same event in 2008 in Beijing.
Q. Can you share with us the designer/artist of the glass art along the walkways in the Kohl Center? Do you have any other details about it?
A. The stunning, nearly 50-yard-long glass structure is called â??The Mendota Wall.â? It was installed, about 18 feet above the floor, just before the Kohl Center opened on Jan. 17, 1998.
With endowments shrinking, donations falling and operating budgets squeezed, colleges and universities face great pressure to cut costs. Athletic departments are an obvious target. But, troublingly, men’s sports are disproportionately bearing the brunt.
Students who get drunk and rowdy at a University of Minnesota football game may be asked to make a special stop â?? at a breath-test machine â?? before entering the next time.
The new policy is aimed at curtailing unruly behavior at the U’s new on-campus stadium, which opens next month.
The stadium itself is dry, but there are bars nearby, and alcohol consumption is allowed in tailgating areas near the field.
The rule applies only to students and will target the most egregious behaviors, said Jerry Rinehart, vice provost of student affairs.
With the return of football to campus, the University of Minnesota is instituting a new policy to crack down on drunk and rowdy behavior at TCF Bank Stadium: breathalyzer tests for prior offenders. The policy is based on a similar program at the University of Wisconsin.
Guests: Ervin Cox: Director of student assistance and judicial affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Jeff Gard has been the University of Wisconsin-Plattevilleâ??s head menâ??s basketball coach for less than two months, and his first game is almost three months away.
But the rookie head coach has showed that, at the very least, he knows how to make a splash of a hire.
UW-Platteville on Friday announced Gardâ??s first staff, and it includes former Wisconsin basketball star Sharif Chambliss, a member of the Badgersâ?? 2005 Elite Eight team.
It’s one of the most common forms of cancer in women. Thursday night, the UW football Badgers and the Susan G. Komen Foundation teamed up to tackle the disease.
Breast cancer survivors, their families and supporters got a special behind the scenes look at the lives of UW football players.
It was all part of “Football 101” — a fundraising event for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
A woman had a quizzical look on her face as she passed through the McClain Center on a recent Friday morning.
She had stumbled upon one of the University of Wisconsin football team’s summer workouts. It easily could have been mistaken for some sort of extreme Olympics competition.
At the entrance to the facility were players using their hands and feet to move up and down a ramp in what is known as a “bear crawl.”
It’s a ladies’ only event at Camp Randall tonight. Football 101 is a breast cancer fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, hosted by Badger Football Coach Brett Bielema.
“We’ll go through a tour of the facility, see every aspect of our program, the weight room, the training room, academic seminar, everything that touches our players’ lives beyond Camp Randall,” says Bielema, who says he and his staff will also brief the women attending the $60 event on “basic football elements.”
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Maggie Meyer gave the University of Wisconsin its first title at the U.S. Open Swimming Championship, cruising to victory Wednesday in the 200-meter backstroke.
Meyer, who will be a junior this fall, posted a winning time of 2 minutes, 9.53 seconds, building a big lead early and then holding off runner-up Escarlata Bernard of Spain by 1.15 seconds.
Jim Leonhard chuckles each time he goes back home in the offseason and sees the huge, full-color sign that greets visitors.
Standing in a grassy field in tiny Tony, Wis. â?? a village with a population of 105 â?? is an homage to the New York Jets safety that proudly proclaims: â??Welcome to Tony. Hometown of Jimmy Leonhard. Walk-on to All-American.â?
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Ashley Wanlandâ??s stay in the record books was a short one, but the University of Wisconsin standout added another impressive line to her growing resume on the opening day of the U.S. Open Swimming Championships.
UW-Platteville men’s and women’s soccer coach Enzo Fuschino remains hospitalized in Dubuque after suffering a heart attack Saturday, the school announced Tuesday afternoon in a statement.
Fuschino formerly served as the boys prep soccer coach at Stoughton (1996-99) and Madison La Follette (2001-06), and coached at the club level with the Princeton Soccer Club and Madison 56ers.
Bill Carollo has already plunged head-first into his new assignment as the head of Big Ten football officiating. With the intent of educating officials, coaches and players on how the rules will be interpreted and called, he also plans on targeting the headhunters, who may be guilty of using their heads as “sledgehammers” in helmet-to-helmet collisions — a point of emphasis again this season.
“Being Bucky” is a tough ticket no more.
The documentary, which was named the Audience Winner last spring at the Wisconsin Film Festival, just came to DVD. It chronicles a year in the life of the seven students who put on the Bucky Badger suit and represent the University of Wisconsin-Madison at functions throughout the state.
(Producer John Fromstein and director Scott Smith are UW-Madison alumni)
Student tickets to University of Wisconsin men’s basketball games should be easier to get this season.
But getting tickets to all 19 home games will be challenging.
The UW Athletic Department rolled out its ticket sale and allocation process for the 2009-10 men’s basketball season this week, with students allowed to buy either the “white” or “red” half-season package, and not a full season of games.
The University of Minnesota has a plan to deal with intoxicated troublemakers at the school’s new 50,000 seat stadium when it opens this fall.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison put a similar program in place two years ago.
Ervin Cox is director of student assistance and judicial affairs at UW-Madison. Cox said the school was looking for a way to deal with drunken students at its 80,000 seat Camp Randall stadium.
“This process gives students a second chance, and it sends a message, and hopefully over time it will start to decrease the amount of problems we have to deal with,” Cox said.
Former University of Wisconsin-Madison goalie Jessie Vetter, the all-time NCAA division 1 leader in victories and shutouts in women’s hockey, is a finalist for the Women’s Sports Foundation sportswoman of the year award.
The foundation’s finalists for the award are on an online public voting ballot.
The term “season tickets” is changing to “half-season tickets” for University of Wisconsin-Madison students wanting to jam the Kohl Center for men’s basketball games.
The UW-Madison Athletic Department rolled out its ticket sale and allocation process for the 2009-10 men’s basketball season on Thursday, with students allowed to buy either the “white” or “red” half-season package, and not a full season of games.
The term “season tickets” is changing to “half-season tickets” for University of Wisconsin-Madison students wanting to jam the Kohl Center for men’s basketball games.
The UW-Madison Athletic Department rolled out its ticket sale and allocation process for the 2009-10 men’s basketball season on Thursday, with students allowed to buy either the “white” or “red” half-season package, and not a full season of games.
Some University of Wisconsin-Madison band parents are fuming over the UW Athletic Department’s decision to move their seats and increase tickets prices for the 2009-2010 Badger football season.
MADISON, Wis. — Some University of Wisconsin-Madison band parents are fuming over the UW Athletic Department’s decision to move their seats and increase tickets prices for the 2009-2010 Badger football season.
In a letter to band parents, the UW-Madison Band Department explained that seats for parents will be moved from the north end zone — directly behind the band — to the south end zone. In addition, ticket prices increased to $273 per season ticket, which is what the general public pays. That’s up from $133 per ticket.
Bret Bielema and his University of Wisconsin offensive assistants have known for months the offensive line will feature three new full-time starters in 2009.
During the Big Ten Conference preseason meetings in Chicago, Bielema acknowledged publicly for the first time freshman Travis Frederick might win one of those spots.
Few universities have dealt with the sustainability of their sports programs or have long-term plans to do so, says a new report.
Only 10 percent of institutions at the NCAA’s Division I-A level have developed a strategic plan for sustainability in their athletics programs, and fewer than half report that sustainability is a high priority.
University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema hasn’t given up hopes of his “dream” non-conference schedule.
It should be noted, Bielema offered up his ideal schedule under the parameters of having to play seven home games, which the UW athletic department has mandated for budgetary reasons.
“What I would love to have is a mixture (of opponents),” Bielema said on Tuesday at the Big Ten Conference football media days. “We’re always going to have a (former) I-AA opponent, so you’re going to have three (other non-conference) teams you’re going to play.
In order to fill an unusual coaching void on the University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team, a familiar family legacy has been tapped.
Peter Johnson will serve as a full-time assistant under acting coach Tracey (Cornell) DeKeyser during the 2009-10 season, according to multiple sources.
A formal announcement for the hiring is expected later this week.
Johnson is the younger brother of Mark, the UW coach since 2002 who’s taking a one-year sabbatical to oversee the U.S. women’s team in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Wisconsin’s Garrett Graham is considered one of the Big Ten’s top tight ends, a well-built, 6-foot-4, 252-pounder who is a threat as a blocker and a receiver. Graham has 70 catches for 868 yards and nine touchdowns over the last two seasons. With a solid senior season he could push his way into the first two rounds of the 2010 National Football League draft.
Ben Herbert’s weight room is more than a construction site, more than just a hard-hat area to build and nurture bigger, stronger and faster players for the University of Wisconsin football program. That’s especially true during the summer phase of conditioning — the final step before the opening of fall camp — when every precaution is taken to ensure success.
“There’s a million different things you can do from a program design standpoint,” said Herbert, the first-year UW strength and conditioning coordinator. “But the biggest thing you have to remember is that you want to put the guys in situations where you’re not only helping them get better, but you’re keeping them healthy.
….Although the Big Ten has a 10-9 bowl record against the SEC since the 2002 season, it doesnâ??t have the national titles or the BCS bowl victories to show for it like the SEC does. That has caused many experts to conclude the conference has fallen behind the SEC, Big 12 and Pac-10.
And despite what Illinois coach Ron Zook said when asked if the Big Ten had an inferiority complex regarding the SEC â?? â??I think itâ??s more just the mediaâ? â?? the problem is very real. A number of coaches admitted as much Monday by revealing they have discussed the reasons for the Big Tenâ??s fading image.
Asked to share his vision of the linebacker corps in 2009, University of Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Doeren offered a succinct response that could double as a vision of the entire roster:
Smart, tough and dependable.
Bret Bielema’s 2008 UW team, his third as head coach, too often failed to exhibit those traits.
If you’re buying what Barry Alvarez is selling, then the University of Wisconsin athletic director is trying to upgrade future non-conference football schedules.
He’s trying to let Badgers fans know he’s received the not-so-subtle message that they want more bang for their entertainment buck.
He’s trying to address the unflattering reality that UW has brought a lot of suspect competition to Camp Randall Stadium in recent years.
No sooner was his fifth year as University of Wisconsin athletic director in the books did Barry Alvarez get a reminder of his somewhat volatile business.
A friend brought up the fact that he had recently seen a picture of Alvarezâ??s original senior staff from the fall of 2004. Only one of the seven will soon remain.
When a Monona Grove High School football standout graduated and went on to the University of Wisconsin to play tackle for the Badgers, a proud Monona sports bar framed his high school jersey and planned to hang it on one of its walls along with the jerseys of other outstanding athletes.
Because his name was embroidered on the jersey, that, under the puzzling and autocratic rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, would have been a no-no. So the proprietor flipped the jersey so that only the number 71 on the front is visible. The guy who wore it presumably will remain anonymous until his college eligibility expires.
If you think this is silly, you’re not alone. But the bigger-than-life organization that controls big-time college sports, and rakes in tens of millions of dollars in the process, has never risen above silliness.
Bo Ryan had a pretty good idea of what to expect when he coached the United States menâ??s basketball team at the World University Games in Belgrade.
He expected the Serbian fans to express their dissatisfaction with Americans. They did. He expected the officiating to be inconsistent and frustrating. It was. He hoped the food would be OK. It wasnâ??t.
â??But other than that, it was OK,â? joked the University of Wisconsin menâ??s basketball coach after the U.S. team came home with bronze medals.
Mario Goins, who started six games at cornerback for Wisconsin last season but was held out of spring practice so he could focus on academics, has been released from his scholarship and has left the UW program.
Maggie Hippman and Dan Stevens headline the list of 41 University of Wisconsin athletes who received the inaugural Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award.
Each carried a 4.0 grade-point average during the 2008-09 academic year.
Hippman, a cross country and track athlete who attended Madison Memorial, is a junior majoring in psychology. Stevens, a rower and former Sun Prairie athlete, is a senior majoring in medical microbiology and immunology.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison official can be held liable for the 2003 death of a television cameraman who fell off an unguarded platform, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday.
In a 4-3 decision, justices said a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of the late ABC Sports cameraman Richard Umansky can move to trial.
Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu has been acquitted of burglary charges in Illinois.
A DeKalb County judge acquitted Ikegwuonu on Friday of residential burglary and criminal trespassing.
Ikegwuonu and his twin brother, Bill, were arrested on Nov. 25, 2006. They were accused of trying to steal a video game system from an apartment in the city of DeKalb.
Here’s a stupid question: Does incoming University of Wisconsin football recruit Shelby Harris have unlimited text messages on his cell-phone plan?
Harris gave the questioner one of those “duh” expressions, reserved mostly for out-of-touch old people.
“Of course, of course,” he said. “It would be terrible if I didn’t.”
The Wisconsin Supreme Court says an official at Camp Randall Stadium can be held liable for the 2003 death of a television cameraman.
The senior staff management team of the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department will make several changes in responsibilities, athletic director Barry Alvarez announced Wednesday.
Noted: Within a single state university system, health coverage can vary widely. At the University of Wisconsinâ??s Division I Madison campus, all varsity athletes fall under secondary sports coverage. By contrast, the Division III campuses of the University of Wisconsin have training rooms to treat minor athletic injuries; anything beyond that is the responsibility of athletes and their families.
