Sean Taylor: A victim of the NFL lifestyle

Ever since his days at THE U, Sean Taylor has been known for his trouble with the law and utter disregard for societal norms. On the field, he was known as one of the best safetys ever to grace the secondary of the Hurricanes. As a top 5 pick for the Washington Redskins he became known as one of the, if not the hardest hitter in all the NFL.
After multiple gun charges, and the rule that no NFL players are allowed to carry guns with them outside of their home, Sean Taylor was not allowed to have a gun in safety of his home. Although, personally I am completely against guns and everything that they have to do with, the fact remains that if Sean Taylor had a gun in his house, rather than a long knife that had no realistic chance of protecting him and his family, he might still be alive today. A man like Taylor that is constantly targeted for robberies and burglaries needed to have a way to protect himself and ultimately was a main cause in his death.
Now the Redskins are left without the heart and soul of their team, the strength of their defense and the cornerstone of their future secondary. Not that that matters. But now the Redskins must try and find a way to play 2 games in a span of 10 days after hearing the most shocking news these players have ever heard. The NFL needs to step in and provide safety for all of their players and put into place help for the Redskins to cope with their tragedy.

Big Ten Network

A few months ago, a new channel known as the Big Ten Network debuted after months of advertising and the promise of more televised Big Ten Sports than ever. However, what it actually accomplished for most fans, is less sports being available to watch. Because of contractual disputes regarding whether or not Charter could include the Big Ten network on basic expanded cable on have it relegated to the sports tier, allowed for the Big Ten network to only be available on satellite such as Dish Network or DirecTV. It is unbelievable that in cities like Madison that revolve around its college sports, that the fans cannot watch the games in the comfort of their own home.

It is humorous however, and somewhat alarming that the Wisconsin state legislature set their budget for their next year several months late, however when it was announced that the Wisconsin Ohio State football game would not be shown on Charter cable, a bipartisan emergency bill was passed forcing Charter and the Big Ten Network to negotiate.

Last night was the first Wisconsin basketball game of the year and was unable to be watched on cable tv. Many future basketball games are going to be televised on Big Ten Network and fans are definitely going to become more upset as the season goes along. Furthermore, next week's Badger football game vs Minnesota will be televised on BTN forcing fans wanting to watch the game to go to a restaurant or bar. This needs to end.

Ultimate Sports Weekend in Madison

This past weekend in Madison was one of the best weekends for sports in recent memory. Starting on friday with the hockey series against # 3 North Dakota was great as the badgers skated to a 4-0 shutout over the Fighting Sioux. Shane Connolly made over 40 saves to preserve the shutout and give the Badgers a great win.
Saturday morning was a real early start, as parents weekend tailgates combined with the 11 am starting time of the football game made it a tough start to the day after Friday night. However, it was easy to get up for the game as the Michigan fans were trash talking a lot in the bars the previous night and everyone wanted to really kick their asses. Anyways, the game was great as the badgers played possibly their best game of the year and extended their home win streak to 14 games.
Although the hockey team lost saturday night, the bars were all packed with lots of great trash talking to the wolverine fans. Sunday, the Badger basketball team got off to a good start with a 30 point victory to kick off the season. All in all , a great badger sports weekend

Badgers/Buckeyes

For a few brief minutes, last Saturday, Madison, Wisconsin was the center of the sports universe. Halfway into the third quarter, the lowly Badgers, already coming into Columbus, Ohio with two unexpected losses, were leading the number one ranked Buckeyes, in their home stadium known as the Horseshoe. It was a surreal scene in Madison that Saturday morning. The game was televised on the Big Ten Network, a station that is not carried by the Charter cable company, allowing only those viewers who had subscribed to DirecTV to be allowed to watch the game in the comfort of their own home.
In response to this change, thousands of people flocked to sports bars at 11 in the morning in order to watch the game. Never have I seen State Street Brats so crowded. It was impossible to find a seat upstairs in order to watch the game on the two big screens, so I headed outside, although it was a little cold at first. Nonetheless, the patio outside was still crowded and whenever the Badgers were driving and in scoring position, an even larger crowd would begin to gather outside the gates of Brats in order to look in on the TVs.
However, the glory of beating the top ranked team faded fast, as the Buckeyes finally found their groove and scored 28 straight points on their way to what ended up being a convincing victory. The Badgers are now left with three conference losses, an extreme disapointment, and yet another tough matchup this weekend with the Wolverines of Ann Arbor coming into Camp Randall. Hopefully, the Red Sea will be enough to help the badgers beat Michigan at home, just like it did in an upset two years ago.