Senior end Jamal Cooper is gone, permanently.
Senior end Kurt Ware is coming off knee surgery and probably isn’t in peak football shape. Redshirt freshman end Kirk DeCremer was limited during camp because of a sore back.
The state of the University of Wisconsin defensive line, particularly at end, doesn’t appear robust as the No. 7 Badgers prepare for the opener Saturday against visiting Washington State.
University of Wisconsin hockey player Sara Bauer, who played on back-to-back national championship teams, was among 30 semifinalists named Monday for the NCAA’s annual Woman of the Year Award.
Kevin Gullikson, a junior forward on the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team, was cited for underage drinking last weekend.
University of Wisconsin men’s basketball player Kevin Gullikson received a citation early Saturday morning for underage drinking. According to the UW Police Department, he was picked up at 1:25 a.m. and had an alcohol level of .209, more than twice the legal limit.
Gullikson, 20, pleaded no contest in Sept. 2006 to an underage drinking charge.
The lightning strike death of a golfer on the Odana Hills golf course Monday morning should serve as a graphic reminder to all playing or working outside when a thunderstorm blows up: get out of bad weather and into a safe place.
Golf professionals and officials at courses contacted today say they use some type of warning method to make golfers aware of pending storms, with some courses requiring golfers to abandon their rounds and exit the course until after the storms go through and the weather improves.
(University Ridge is included in this story)
Jamal Cooper continues to find ways into University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema’s doghouse.
Bielema announced Friday that Cooper, a fifth-year senior defensive end, has been suspended indefinitely from the program for conduct detrimental to the team. According to a news release, Cooper “will have access to full academic support services, but will no longer be a part of the football program in any other way.”
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Big Ten Network officials say the new TV network won’t be available to Comcast Cable subscribers when it starts broadcasting Aug. 30.
The new network and the cable company have squabbled for months over where viewers would find BTN and how much it would cost them.
The network, co-owned by the Big Ten conference and Fox Cable Networks, wants to be a basic cable channel for Comcast subscribers, while Comcast wants BTN to be part of a sports-channels package that subscribers pay more to see. According to Comcast, the network also wants the cable company to pay it $1.10 per subscriber.
Story discusses the Badger receiving corps’ reactions to interim receivers coach DelVaughn Alexander.
UW on Friday lost starting defensive end Jamal Cooper indefinitely when he was suspended by coach Bret Bielema after the final session of camp.
Bielema was not available for comment but a university release noted that Cooper’s latest suspension was for conduct detrimental to the team.
When you’re close to something, you sometimes lose perspective on how you appear to the outside world.
What other explanation can there be for people wearing wedges of foam cheese on their heads at Green Bay Packers games?
That axiom is also true for the University of Wisconsin, something that wasn’t apparent until this month, when the football team was ranked seventh in both national preseason polls.
It sure didnâ??t take John Clay long to make a distinct impression on the University of Wisconsin football team.
The former Park High School standout running back, who missed more than a week of practice with the Badgers while awaiting word on his academic eligibility, raised eyebrows in his first full workout.
â??He made a couple of big-time cuts and had a couple of long runs,â? Badgers running backs coach John Settle said. â??I think he shocked a lot of his teammates with his ability to make people miss and get downfield.â?
UFA, Russia – With their boy 8,480 kilometres away from home, Kyle Turris’s parents will wake this morning with their New Westminster, B.C., house full of friends and family who slept over in anticipation of getting up at 6 a.m. to watch him play.
Badger football is just a week away and in four days watching Badger sports will either get easier or more difficult depending on your cable provider.
The Big Ten Network television station launches on Thursday – – they own the rights to at least one Badger football game and several Badger basketball games, but as of right now, Charter will not be carrying the network.
Former University of Wisconsin guard Kammron Taylor has agreed to play in a top professional basketball league in Spain.
Tyler Donovan believes he grew as a quarterback on Nov. 11 in front of more than 70,000 of his closest enemies in Kinnick Stadium.
Donovan led UW to a three-point victory over rival Iowa that day, in his first college start. His next start is set to come Sept. 1 against visiting Washington State, likely in front of more than 80,000 of his newest friends.
THE QUESTION before us today is why a man who had University of Wisconsin season football tickets for 35 years — 50 yard line seats, no less — would sign off a telephone conversation on Tuesday with this: “Have a great Cougar Tuesday.”
The Cougars, in this instance, are the Washington State Cougars, and as all members of Badger Nation know, those same Cougars are set to invade Camp Randall Sept. 1 for the college football season opener in Madison.
Why should we care? That was a rhetorical question asked by Scott Craven, professor of wildlife ecology at UW-Madison, in leading off the second CWD Stakeholder Advisory Committee meetings in Madison last Saturday.
The meeting, held at Lowell Inn and Conference Center on the UW-Madison campus, drew a surprisingly small public attendance, less than 10 people. However, the reason for the meeting was for the 16-member committee to hear from experts about what is known about chronic wasting disease.
….”I obviously care for both personal and professional reasons, but this issue is just not on people’s radar screen like it was three years ago,” he (Craven) said. “One of the most important challenges that you face, as liaisons to groups of citizens and hunters, is to bring that back.”
(Also mentioned are Chad Johnson, an assistant scientist in the School of Veterinary Medicine, and Joel Pedersen, associate professor of Soil Science.)
Sunday ‘s wet weather did little to dampen the spirits of fans of the University of Wisconsin football team.
Dear Editor: I read a letter of welcome in the souvenir program for the 2007 State High School Tennis Tournament and wanted you to know we are not all made to feel welcome.
….The point I would like to address concerns myself, a senior citizen, as well as anyone who is handicapped. I cannot understand why the building has no accommodations for individuals with such needs — no ramps, elevators, nearby parking, bathroom facilities. What would the cost be if someone were injured as opposed to the cost of updating the facility?
There was nothing unusual about Kim Royston’s journey across the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River on the evening of Aug. 1.
It was a slow ride, but that wasn’t shocking considering the brutal combination of rush-hour traffic and closed lanes on the bridge due to construction. At least Royston had company; three of his buddies were along for the ride, helping him enjoy his final few days of freedom in his hometown of Minneapolis before he reported back to Madison for the start of the University of Wisconsin football team’s fall training camp.
Adam Mania went from smalltown Hickman, Neb., to swimming stardom at the University of Wisconsin to the pinnacle of his sport when he competed for Poland at the 2004 Olympic Games.
Far from satisfied, he wants to make it back to the Olympics in 2008, but this time as a member of the powerhouse U.S. team.
University of Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema was beaming when he met with reporters after practice Friday night.
The reason? His tailback corps grew by one as freshman John Clay, the touted prep All-American from Racine Park High School, practiced for the first time in camp.
Dear Editor: As a huge Badgers fan and UW alumnus, I’m excited by the prospect of a new TV network that will deliver all the Big Ten sports I love. It would especially be great if those with only expanded basic cable could catch Big Ten action without having to pay extra to see it on premium channels. So I hope the Big Ten Network is allowed to be part of expanded basic cable.
Mike Gomoll, Sun Prairie
Letter to the editor: “I’ve seen all the hoopla surrounding the Big Ten Network and don’t understand why it’s such an issue. Many people, including UW-Madison alumni like me, want to see Badger games on Wisconsin television stations as part of basic cable. It’s a no brainer.”
If you had to guess today, youd say the Big Ten Network will launch on Aug. 30 without gaining a presence on some of the major cable television carriers in the nation.
If you had to guess, youd say that the BTN and Time Warner Cable will not strike a deal by then, which means most viewers in the state of Wisconsin will not have access.
Charter Communications, which serves much of the Madison market, also has not reached agreement with the BTN.
Dear Editor: The Badgers are incredibly popular in Madison and throughout the entire state. Hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, regularly watch Badger games and keep up with their favorite local sports team.
Many of us loyal Badger fans are looking forward to the launch of the Big Ten Network on Aug. 30 and can’t wait to see the Badgers in action when they take on the Citadel on Sept. 15. I just hope that we’ll be able to watch this game on our television.
In one sense, the public stare-down between the soon-to-be-launched Big Ten Network and the nation’s cable television providers is reminiscent of the contract battles between the owners and players in professional sports.
It’s hard for the little guy to figure out which side to root for when billionaires are fighting millionaires over who gets a greater share of the pie.
Chris Pressley has undergone a few changes since you last saw him on the football field. The University of Wisconsin junior fullback is lighter, healthier and armed with a broader and deeper appreciation for cultural diversity.
NEW YORK (AP) — A member of the Rutgers women’s basketball team has sued Don Imus and CBS, claiming the radio personality’s sexist and racist comments about the team damaged her reputation.
Kia Vaughn filed the lawsuit alleging slander and defamation of character in state Supreme Court in the Bronx Tuesday, the same day Imus settled with CBS Radio in a deal that pre-empts his threatened $120 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS. The settlement allows him to make a comeback bid at a new station.
Dear Editor: Stop the presses! The Capital Times has discovered that sports leagues are greedy. What a shocking revelation.
….The Capital Times has sat silently by for the last two years as both the NFL and the Big Ten attempt to squeeze even more money out of cable subscribers by establishing their own cable networks. Apparently ever-rising ticket prices and special seating fees aren’t enough to satisfy their ever-growing appetites.
According to the Big Ten schedule released Tuesday, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will face conference rivals Michigan State and Ohio State just once each.
The Badgers open the conference season on Jan. 2 at Michigan and then play five of their next seven games at home. The Big Ten home opener is Jan. 5 against Iowa.
Unless Charter Communications and the Big Ten Network come to terms on a deal for the cable company to carry the new network, most University of Wisconsin men’s basketball fans in the Madison area won’t get to see many of the Badgers’ conference games on television this season.
At least 11 of UW’s 18 Big Ten Conference games will be shown on the Big Ten Network, according to the 2007-08 league schedule released Tuesday.
University of Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema couldn’t resist the punch line. Or rather the “paunch” line. Speaking in Chicago to a gathering of Big Ten sportswriters, who should know paunch from punch, Bielema related how one of his football players had reshaped his body through a weight loss program. Which one? Jenny Craig? Nutrisystem? Weight Watchers? Atkins Diet? LA Weight Loss? South Beach Diet? None of the above. “Our weight loss program? ” posed Bielema. “We send kids to China. ”
They have to know how this looks, don’t they?
Shortly before the University of Wisconsin football team opened preseason camp Monday, suspended sophomore tailback Lance Smith was reinstated to active duty.
Followers of the program â?? cynics and season ticket holders alike â?? saw it coming. They pointed and laughed in a way that suggested some poor schlub’s fly was open.
As the media horde made its way toward Jack Ikegwuonu on Wednesday afternoon at Camp Randall Stadium, the star cornerback for the University of Wisconsin football team sat back in his chair and flashed his trademark smile.
As promised, Bret Bielema made sure University of Wisconsin cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu was given a starring role in the highlight video shown to the players this week at the start of pre-season camp.
The highlight in question, of course, showed Ikegwuonu tracking Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden from behind and dragging him to the ground at the UW 9 on the Razorbacks’ third offensive play of the Capital One Bowl.
No one who knows anything about collegiate athletics would ever consider the Big Ten a niche conference. But in a way, that’s the argument being used by major cable providers to keep a new network devoted to Big Ten sporting events from being able to reach more viewers when it goes on the air later this month.
MADISON, Wis. — Madison cable customers might not get access to the new Big Ten Network.
It is set to debut in about three weeks, but so far there is no deal in place for Charter Cable.
University of Wisconsin-Madison officials said they are confident that a deal will happen eventually.
“We’d like it all to be settled in advance of the network launch on Aug. 30,” said Vince Sweeney, associate athletic director at UW-Madison. “If it’s not settled and deals aren’t done with Charter by that time, we’re hopeful it would happen shortly thereafter.”
The University of Wisconsin football team welcomed back one running back Monday but was still waiting to hear about the status of another as preseason camp opened.
Sophomore tailback Lance Smith saw his suspension lifted less than an hour before pre-season camp opened and joined his teammates for practice; coach Bret Bielema revealed that senior defensive end Kurt Ware is expected to miss two weeks of camp while recovering from surgery on his left knee; freshman wide receiver Daven Jones, whose academic status had been uncertain as late as last week, practiced after a long bus ride from his home in Cleveland; and Bielema continues to wait for word on the academic status of tailback John Clay.
It’s possible the University of Wisconsin could lose two of its elite coaches and, coincidentally, the two men could wind up having the same new address.
Eric Hansen, the UW men’s and women’s swimming coach since 1999, and Jerry Schumacher, the men’s cross country coach since 1998, have been approached for openings at California.
Hansen, 41, is a highly regarded coach who has turned the once-downtrodden UW men’s and women’s programs into perennial top-20 teams.
Bucky Badger is lending a paw to the push for greater competition in Wisconsin’s cable television market.
If the Big Ten Network can’t reach an agreement to run its programming on Charter Communications soon, a slew of fans in south-central Wisconsin won’t be able to tune in a bunch of Badger games.
That’s because many games will not appear on network TV for free. And some will not even appear on ESPN or ESPN2.
The University of Wisconsin football team will basically get a chance to pick up where it left off last season.
Expect to see more technology in action this season at Camp Randall Stadium and the Kohl Center.
The University of Wisconsin’s two main sporting venues are set to receive digital sign upgrades costing approximately $750,000, bringing more opportunities to reach fans with information and advertising.
The architects of the Big Ten Network believe that men’s hockey and baseball provide significant programming opportunities, but pledge that will not affect the status of either sport at the University of Wisconsin.
That is, the Badgers will continue to skate in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for the foreseeable future, and baseball will remain defunct.
(Article contains information on other sports as well.)
The University of Wisconsin football team is ranked No. 7 in the USA Today preseason coaches’ poll, which was released today.
Southern Cal is the preseason No. 1 pick, followed by LSU, Florida, Texas and Michigan, which at No. 5 received two first-place votes.
Two other Big Ten Conference schools are ranked: Ohio State at No. 10, and Penn State at No. 18.
The Big Ten Network’s programming over the next year will include:
About 50 percent of Big Ten football games, including 40 percent of conference matchups. That will include three to five Wisconsin games, with one guaranteed to be a conference game. The only Badgers game scheduled so far is against The Citadel on Sept. 15.
Once the conference season starts, ABC will get the first pick each week, ESPN will get the second and third picks 75 percent of the time, the Big Ten Network the second and third picks 25 percent of the time and the Big Ten Network the remaining games each week.
The Big Ten Network is offering an olive branch to Charter Communications and the other cable companies it’s negotiating with as its Aug. 30 launch nears. And Charter appears eager to sit down for peace talks.
Executives of the network and the conference are touring Big Ten markets, joining with representatives of member schools to put out a clear message to the cable companies: Agree to place us on a regular service like Charter’s Expanded Basic and we’ll work with you on other issues — even price.
The Big Ten Network, set to debut on Aug. 30 with a full slate of programming, has a broad appeal well beyond sports and deserves to be carried on basic cable, proponents said Thursday.
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and Mark Silverman, president of the network, told members of the Journal Sentinel editorial board and reporters that the network would not only offer hundreds of hours of Big Ten sports, but programming specific to each university that focuses on the values the Big Ten members universities stand by.
Chicago – The face of the recent visitor to the University of Wisconsin football offices was familiar. The smile, the laughter and the subtle needling. Business as usual.
Marquette University, along with several dozen other universities across the country, is under investigation to determine if the school received illegal kickbacks from a student loan company.
The New York state attorney’s general office issued the subpoenas on Wednesday. Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said he was investigating whether athletic departments at the schools agreed to promote loans to students in exchange for kickbacks.
Andrew M. Cuomo, New York State’s attorney general, announced on Wednesday that he planned to investigate more than three dozen college athletics departments, including some of the country’s most prominent programs, about whether they arranged loans for athletes in exchange for financial kickbacks.
“Outrageous” Jim Delany gave way to “reasoned” Jim Delany at Big Ten media day.
And that, college football fans, means Big Ten expansion is not on the horizon, so conferences such as the Big East do not have to stuff their teams in a room and lock the door.
It also means a plus-one playoff system is not coming to a television screen near you.
After creating a buzz last week by saying the Big Ten would revisit the issue of expansion, Commissioner Jim Delany wanted to make one thing clear Tuesday: The league has no impending plan to add another school.
Bret Bielema sometimes enjoys quizzing recruits who are contemplating signing with the University of Wisconsin.
His favorite question:
Which football team leads the Big Ten Conference in overall victories over the last three seasons?
The typical responses: Ohio State or Michigan.
“A lot of kids will say something that’s not right,” Bielema said Monday during the first day of the Big Ten pre-season meetings at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. “It’s a good little shock and awe factor that we use.”
The No. 1 team is UW, with 31 overall victories from 2004-’06.
CHICAGO — Bret Bielema is planning on keeping his day job. (That’s Terb Ameleib spelled backwards.) Nonetheless, the University of Wisconsin football coach made a favorable impression here Monday night during his national singing debut at Wrigley Field. After instructing the Cub fans to “stand up and the Phillie fans to sit down” for the seventh inning stretch, Bielema breezed through a strong rendition of Take Me Out To the Ball Game.
The University of Wisconsin football team is predicted to finish second behind Michigan in the Big Ten Conference this season, according to a vote of media members released today in Chicago at the league’s kick-off meeting.
University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan was making the rounds during last week’s AAU tournament in Orlando, Fla. — a Super Showcase for some of the most highly-recruited high school players in the nation — when he ran into his former director of basketball operations at the UW. That would be his oldest son, Will Ryan, 29, who was recently hired as an assistant coach at North Dakota State.
Feeling satisfied? Think it won’t hurt if you slack off just a bit during training to reflect upon the many highlights the 2006 college football season provided?
Figure that 12-1 finish, followed this summer by the predictable predictions of greater success in 2007, will impress Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State?
If so, you aren’t welcome this fall in the University of Wisconsin locker room.
During his 16-year run as the University of Wisconsin’s football coach, Barry Alvarez was not a proponent of a playoff game to determine the Big Ten Conference champion. Recent events have changed that stance, however, and Alvarez now sees merits in holding a Big Ten title game, particularly if the league adds a 12th school.
