An Experience

Living in Minnesota, Man Fun is often equated with killing things - headin' north to hunt or fish. Most guys I know learned the fine art of massacre from their fathers, who learned it from their fathers.

My father grew up in Elizabeth, NJ. Not a lot of huntin' going on there (although nowadays there are plenty of bullets to dodge), but Dad did fish and he passed that love on to me. However, we were always content to wet a line as an ancillary activity on vacations and never engaged in those destination fishing trips.

As an adult, my Man Fun in most cases involves visiting my alma mater - The University of Wisconsin. When I attended Madison from 1986-1990, the Badger football team won a total of around 10 games and Camp Randall stadium was half-empty. The only reason to go was the boisterous student section, which fed off the energy of the most creatively animated marching band around. (News flash - you can learn more about the band here.)

Things have turned around dramatically since those days - Camp Randall now boasts arguably the best home field advantage in college sports and is a frenzied scarlet sea of drunken fury. Wrap a day of picking your way through the Madison bar scene with a group of old friends around a Badger football game and you get pure Man Fun. (No need for girls on trampolines...)

I'm off to Madison again this weekend to watch the Badgers pound the Minnesota Gophers. The last time the Gophers visited Wisconsin in 2004, Star-Tribune sportswriter Jim Souhan described the experience in his column. Please pardon the long post, but as a professional he paints a picture of the atmosphere that I never could:

Setting just says college football

Jim Souhan
Star Tribune

MADISON, WIS. -- Saturday afternoon, a member of the Gophers football traveling party looked around Camp Randall Stadium and asked, "How do you compete with this?"

He wasn't talking about the Wisconsin football team, which proceeded to beat the Gophers 38-14.

He was talking about the Wisconsin football experience, which established a similar advantage over a college game at the Metrodome.

The Gophers and Badgers played at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, making this football afternoon a morning-to-midnight bash for what seemed like an entire town, making it the best party a visitor has attended in years.

Saturday morning, red-clad fans milled around Camp Randall, fire ants around a sand hill. Somehow, the smells of propane, hot dogs, damp leaves and beer blended into something more pleasing than perfume.

Fans threw footballs on blocked-off streets, an old-fashioned fire wagon carried cheerleaders, and band members carried their instruments through the crowds to the stadium.

Everywhere you looked there were grills and smoke plumes and mobile parties.

Then the game started, and the announced crowd of 83,069 filled every visible seat, with red sweatshirts outnumbering maroon-and-gold outfits about 80 to 1.

Wisconsin has renovated Camp Randall into an impressive structure. The lower bowl seats recall old Lambeau Field, and the luxury suites and offices piled on top of them recall Al Davis' monolithic structure at Oakland Coliseum.

The endzone seats holding the student section are where you want to be. All game the students stood, dancing to music provided by the marching band or the PA system, and the party really started at the end of the third quarter.

"Jump Around" -- the same song played during Anaheim Angels games when the Rally Monkey appears -- prompted these red-clad primates to do just that, and suddenly this massive stadium was shaking, the press box wavering as if it were made of papier mache.

At the end of the game, the Badgers sprinted across the field to take back Paul Bunyan's Axe, the symbol of this rivalry, then sprinted around the field, with Richfield native John Stocco, Wisconsin's quarterback, belying his quiet persona by dancing in front of 80,000 screaming fans.

Then came what Badgers fans call the Fifth Quarter -- another half-hour of fans staying in their seats, listening to the marching band. When a few Minnesotans left the stadium two hours later, the party had moved to the streets, and the band members were carrying their instruments from party to party.

Disregarding the game's result, it was a quintessential college football experience.

Full disclosure: My daughter attends the University of Minnesota, and I have no ties to Wisconsin, other than the payment of a few speeding tickets.

This is not a plea for a new stadium, because I have no more interest in beating that drum than you have in hearing it.

This is part celebration of what Wisconsin has, part lament that Minnesota can't compete in terms of football amenities and atmosphere.

Forget about winning and losing: College football is about atmosphere, and shared experiences, and perfect fall afternoons, and the Metrodome will never be able to compete with places like Camp Randall Stadium in a town like Madison on a pristine November Saturday.

There's room in the car if anyone wants to join us. Otherwise, see you Monday.

On Wisconsin!!!!


Global Warming Update - Twin Cities
10/12/06 Observed high temp - 39
10/12/05 Observed high temp - 62
10/12 Record high temp - 87 - 1975