Proceed with caution.
That is the motto University of Wisconsin senior offensive tackle Joe Thomas has embraced as he continues his comeback from the serious knee injury he suffered just seven months ago.
Meet Bret Bielema, stand-up comic.
The University of Wisconsin’s rookie head coach, armed with a microphone and his humor on the first day of the Big Ten Conference pre-season football meetings Tuesday, showed he can be refreshingly candid, edgy and plain hilarious.
When University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema was asked how he enjoyed his time off during the offseason, he responded, “What time off?”
The pace has not been as frantic as it was while wrapping up recruiting and hiring a staff in January, or going through his first spring practices as head coach in March and April, but he has been busy, nonetheless.
A special note for those of you who were planning to attend the Northeast Senior Coalition’s summer concert at Warner Park Monday night – the concert has been cancelled due to the heat.
The extreme weather is forcing the cancellation of Tuesday’s family night at Camp Randall.
Athletic officials said the heat index on the field could be as high as 117 degrees.
PROPHETSTOWN, Ill. – Take a walk with Bret Bielema, down the main street of his hometown and into his past.
Bielema, the first-year University of Wisconsin football coach, pulls his red Lincoln Navigator Ultimate, into one of the many open angle parking spots on a Tuesday morning on the town’s main drag. He’s been gone for 18 years, but not much has changed in the brick storefronts that line the downtown of the farming community, with a population of 2,023, 30 miles northeast of the Quad Cities.
Some moments, whether they wrought anguish because of life lost or brought joy because of opportunity gained, won’t ever fade from Bret Bielema’s memory:
Such as the day, during his senior year at tiny Prophetstown High School, Bielema was invited to join the University of Iowa football program as a walk-on.
Thursday’s intense rains came down so hard and so fast that the storm created “its own little climate” in downtown Madison with new fronts streaming out from the central city, a meteorologist said today.
The cold front that went to the south dumped up to 6 inches of rain on southern Dane County later in the afternoon, but didn’t cause nearly as much flooding as in Madison, said Brian Olson of Weather Central.
“It was a storm that was pretty humbling,” Olson said, describing the downpour that wouldn’t budge out of the downtown sky for nearly an hour.
The UW campus bore the brunt of the flooding, with 79 buildings out of 300 on campus reporting flooding or water coming in through roofs and windows.
University of Wisconsin hockey player Jeff Likens pleaded no contest to a charge of underage drinking on Tuesday and was ordered to pay a $249 fine, according to court records.
…maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by anything we learn about Bielema, the Badgers’ first-year coach, since everybody is learning on the fly about his likes and dislikes, his strengths and weaknesses, his tendencies and timetable.
That’s a function of starting with a fresh slate. We may think we know Bielema, especially since he has spent two seasons here as the defensive coordinator. But, in reality, we’re just getting to know him.
His contract signed and his bags packed, Milwaukee native Brian Calhoun’s next destination is the big time.
A week from today, Bielema will be attending his first Big Ten Conference preseason media bash, getting verbally bull-rushed by those eager to know how he intends to replace the legendary Barry Alvarez as UW coach. Bielema will also take a question or two about his team, one that generated a lot of diverse projections from the preview magazines.
Some see the Badgers hanging around the Big Ten cellar. Some mention UW as a title contender. Who you believe depends on how your psyche is wired.
The leak of veteran talent from the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team appears to be addressed now that right winger Jack Skille has decided to return for his sophomore season.
Less than three months ago, University of Wisconsin defensive end Joe Monty was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident that could have led to his death.
“He is very lucky to be alive,” an official with the Madison Police Department said at the time.
Yet despite suffering serious facial injuries that required surgery and his jaw to be wired shut, the fifth-year senior is expected to practice when UW opens pre-season camp Aug. 7.
Former Gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker’s campaign finance report includes no mention of the donation of prime tickets to a sold out, February Badger basketball game which were used as part of a fundraiser for Walker.
The reorganization of the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey office has brought in a familiar face.
Former Badgers forward Mike Cerniglia has been named the team’s director of hockey operations, a multi-faceted position that was created out of the splitting into two roles of the previous job of the same title.
The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will play eight non-conference games against teams that played in the post-season last season, including six that reached the NCAA tournament.
A jury found Booker Stanley, a former running back for the University of Wisconsin football team, guilty of three felonies and three misdemeanors Thursday in the sexual assault of his girlfriend during a Dec. 21 fight.
After five hours of deliberation the jury convicted Stanley of second-degree sexual assault, second-degree reckless endangerment, felony bail jumping and one count of misdemeanor battery. He was acquitted on three additional battery charges.
Booker Stanley is facing serious prison time.
After deliberating for more than five hours, a jury of 11 men and one woman found the former University of Wisconsin running back guilty Thursday night on four of the seven counts he faced after an incident with his former girlfriend late last year.
The victim in former University of Wisconsin running back Booker Stanley’s sexual assault trial testified Wednesday that the Dec. 21, 2005, incident wasn’t the first time he had attacked her, but she didn’t call police then because he seemed genuinely sorry.
Former Badgers running back Booker Stanley was found guilty Thursday in the Dec. 21, 2005, sexual assault of a former girlfriend.
Somehow they all stumbled into playing these sports in which they hit other women.
Maria Mouradian watched football games from the sidelines as a cheerleader in fifth grade and told her mother, “I want to play.”
Halie Fry saw her brother play for the under-19 Wisconsin men’s rugby team one summer and decided “it looked like fun.”
Former star Badgers running back Brian Calhoun was the leadoff witness for the prosecution today as the sexual assault trial of his former teammate Booker Stanley got under way in Dane County Circuit Court.
Calhoun, who gave up his senior year of eligibility to enter the National Football League draft this spring, testified about going to a party with Stanley in Whitewater the night before Stanley was arrested and charged with sexual assault, battery and endangering safety for a fight with his former girlfriend after returning to Madison.
Simply stated, Joe Pavelski thinks he is ready for pro hockey.
All that apparently stands between Joe Pavelski and a spot in the San Jose Sharks’ organization is a phone call.
The University of Wisconsin center has done everything else – received a contract offer, signed it and shipped it back to California – to make the jump to the pro ranks and forgo his final two seasons of college eligibility.
A framed and autographed newspaper article is University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan’s contribution to the Madison 150 Time Capsule.
Shortly after staging a “Junior Day” recruiting function on the University of Wisconsin campus in March of 2005, the Badgers received an early verbal commitment from Daven Jones, a junior wide receiver from Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio.
….In a prepared statement, Badgers football coach Bret Bielema announced Tuesday that Jones would not be enrolling at Wisconsin this fall. Reportedly, Jones did not qualify academically to be admitted to the UW.
….Bielema also announced that backup linebacker Jammar Crane, a sophomore from Garland, Texas, will not be on the 2006 training camp roster. Last September, the 20-year-old Crane was charged with a misdemeanor for the fraudulent use of a credit card.
….BRAD TAYLOR, author of a splendid book on UW rowing, “Wisconsin Where They Row,” sent along a note over the weekend saying Carl Holtz had died Saturday morning. He was 85 and had lived with his family on a large family farm near Mukwonago.
Holtz, who in 1999 was inducted into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame, was a member of some of UW-Madison’s top crew teams in the 1940s, serving as stroke on the team in 1946 when the Badgers won the very first Eastern Sprints, the championship of the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges….
Now that the $109.5 million renovation of Camp Randall Stadium is effectively complete, what are the chances of another major concert being staged there?
“I can’t say it’s out of the question,” said Doug Beard, a University of Wisconsin senior associate athletic director. “It’s not something we’re looking to do.”
University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez not only filled a hole on his administrative staff on Monday, he expanded that staff, too.
John Jentz was promoted from assistant athletic director to associate AD, with his primary duties continuing to focus on finance and the operation of the business office. He also will supervise video services, bowl and postseason travel and take over as administrator for men’s and women’s rowing.
If you’re surprised that the University of Wisconsin set a record for football ticket sales for the coming season, you’re not alone.
I’m right there with you. So, too, are officials throughout the UW Athletic Department.
If memory serves, things turned out pretty well the last time Mark Johnson worked on behalf of his country in the Winter Olympics.
Thanks mainly to all the books and movies generated by the moment, the Miracle on Ice story can be recited by even the most casual of hockey followers.
If memory serves, things turned out pretty well the last time Mark Johnson worked on behalf of his country in the Winter Olympics.
Last year, the official University of Wisconsin football stadium T-shirt was designed by a chemical engineering student.
If you’re surprised that the University of Wisconsin set a record for football ticket sales for the coming season, you’re not alone.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=457254
University of Wisconsin football remains a tough ticket.
The Badgers are on the verge of selling every ticket for their seven home games next season. The only game that has not sold out is the season finale against Buffalo on Nov. 18.
Buckingham U. Badger, best known as Bucky, clearly deserves to be in the Mascot Hall of Fame.
UW Spirit Squad director Josette Scheer joined “a couple of the Buckys” to put together an application that included video footage and newspaper clips on Bucky. It noted that he debuted in 1949 as a papier-mache headpiece made by an art student and worn by a cheerleader.
There were plenty of pats on the back two weeks ago when the University of Wisconsin puffed out its chest Bucky Badger-style and proudly proclaimed that its men’s basketball team had compiled a 3.2 grade-point average during the second semester.
If you received a sizable, unexpected windfall, chances are you would entertain a frivolous thought or two.Not so where the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department is concerned.
I had a little free time on my hands over the holiday weekend, so I made some calls, did some research, crunched some numbers and came up with a plan to bring baseball back to the University of Wisconsin.
Now, before the UW athletic director bails on me after one sentence, he should be advised that he will come out of this looking better than Eva Longoria poolside.
University of Wisconsin women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson will be the head coach of the U.S. team that will compete in the Women’s World Championship in April 2007 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, USA Hockey announced Wednesday.
My tongue-in-cheek column about the Big Ten Conference developing sitcoms and dramas for its new TV channel apparently created some confusion on high. The league office called. So did University of Wisconsin chancellor John Wiley. And it all seemed so far-fetched. …
There were plenty of pats on the back two weeks ago when the University of Wisconsin puffed out its chest Bucky Badger-style and proudly proclaimed that its men’s basketball team had compiled a 3.2 grade-point average during the second semester.
In the wake of the mass academic ineligibilities that hit the program in January and wrecked the second half of the season, that was welcome news for all concerned. Athletes, coaches, athletic department administrators, Bascom Hill academic types and UW fans can rest easy knowing the Badgers likely will be playing with a full deck at the start of next season.
Quoted” UW athletic director Barry Alvarez and football coach Bret Bielema.
If you received a sizable, unexpected windfall, chances are you would entertain a frivolous thought or two.
Not so where the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department is concerned.
Last month it was announced UW could expect $13 million annually from two new Big Ten Conference television deals with Fox and ABC/ESPN. The arrangement with Fox is particularly noteworthy because it involves the creation of the Big Ten Channel, which will debut in 2007.
Dear Editor: I too am affected by UW’s latest plan for handling its disabled patrons. I do believe that UW has turned out its disabled patrons in favor of the well-heeled.
I was reminded once again these past few days of the idiocy of that bureaucratic puzzle palace known as the NCAA.
How can an organization that is supposedly run by the top minds of American academia be so inept?
There’s more criticism of a new Camp Randall disabled parking policy which requires a $1700 donation to UW Athletics to retain a stall with the best access to the stadium.
The criticism comes from a stadium, parking partner.
Dear Editor: How dumb does UW Associate Athletic Director Vince Sweeney think we are?
He was quoted as saying the UW was not charging higher fees for Lot 17 parking this year to raise money but to replace lost parking spaces. What kind of double talk is that? They are charging it to raise money, period.
Jeff Likens, a senior on the University of Wisconsin hockey team, was arrested last weekend in Chippewa County, where he was cited for underage drinking and charged with disorderly conduct, police said.
The numbers don’t add up to Bo Ryan, who advocates for expansion of the NCAA men’s basketball tourney. It’s a topic under consideration as coaches meet in Florida this week.
Senior-to-be Jeff Likens is expected to be sanctioned by University of Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Mike Eaves after being cited for disorderly conduct and underage drinking over the weekend.
“It’s still about young people making good decisions, and obviously this wasn’t a good one for Jeff,” Eaves said Monday.
MADISON, Wis. — Former University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers football coach Barry Alvarez could be on his way to the broadcast booth.
Disabled Badger football fans will have to shell out, big bucks, if they want to keep access to disabled parking, right near Camp Randall.
When it comes to supporting University of Wisconsin athletics, one would be hard-pressed to find a more loyal fan than George Kapke.
….Kapke learned he would have to make an additional donation of $1,700 annually to retain a disabled parking space in Lot 17, which is located directly north of the stadium.
….So for the first time since the early 1950s, Kapke will not be a UW football season ticket-holder.
The Big Ten’s entry into the television business is, as conference officials proclaim, a win-win proposition.
When the Big Ten Channel starts in 2007, the conference will receive guaranteed national exposure, each school will get a projected $7 million a year and the athletes in non-revenue sports will have a chance to perform on TV.
On second thought, that makes it a win-win-win proposition.
Nevertheless, the creation of the Big Ten Channel, a joint venture with Fox Cable Networks, and the conference’s new contracts with ABC and the ESPN family have come at a cost.
And who will bear the brunt of that cost?
Who else?
You.
Police say a Badger hockey player who’s about two-months shy of his 21st birthday was busted this weekend at Country Fest.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=439822
Final item in Bob Wolfley’s column discusses how Fox Sports needs three or four game analysts and play-by-play announcers for the Bowl Championship Series games it is to televise at the end of the this season. University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez has auditioned for one of the game analyst jobs.
An office reorganization has prompted the reassignment of two of the longest-tenured people with the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey program.
Director of hockey operations Rob Malnory and program assistant Nancy Olson have been assigned to different jobs in the UW athletic department as Badgers coach Mike Eaves split Malnory’s position into two.
The move leaves the Badgers without two ties to the Bob Johnson and Jeff Sauer coaching eras and, in Olson, without the main hockey office contact for team alumni.
….Must-Carry Station? Must See TV?
We’ll see, because there is some question about whether or not people locally will be able to watch the Big Ten Channel — unless you’re a subscriber to DirecTV’s “Total Choice” package, which numbers roughly 15.4 million homes nationally.
DirecTV is already on board; representing a good start for the Big Ten, which has signed a 20-year contract with Fox Cable Networks to launch the Big Ten Channel, a bold 24/7 proposition and enterprise.
