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.