Where I Come From: How I Became a Badger

It was the 1993 season and 1994 Rose Bowl. I was in elementary school and just starting to get into football, and the excitement around the Rose Bowl run was unlike anything I had seen in my short life.

And I remember my dad and I going nuts in the living room when time ran out on that Rose Bowl, while my mom and sisters waited with supper in the next room. I was hooked.

….the first real vivid moment that I remember came in January of 1990. It was my first in person Wisconsin hockey game and they beat Northern Michigan 10-1. From then on they only lost one game and tied another en route to their 5th National Title.

Personally, I pull for Cal first and foremost, but I’ve always kept an eye on UW ever since meeting my now wife. Her mother’s side of her family all hail from the cheesy north, so it’s something she came up with.

I enjoy having a dog in the hunt when it comes time to pull against the Community College of Columbus. They just may have the only fanbase more annoying than either U$C or (insert random SEC school).

To that end, On Wisconsin!

But it was the game in Japan against Michigan State that got me. Add in the intense 94 Rose Bowl win and you’ve got a Badger for life.

I didn’t get into Badger hockey until my freshman year, though. Sure, I’d watch a game or two on FSN (when they were on – ARGH!) but after having Milwaukee Admirals season tickets the year before, I bought Badger student tickets before the 05-06 season because I couldn’t go without hockey. Best decision of my life.

There have been highs (such as getting skybox tickets to the 05 Michigan game – WOW) and lows (that hideous 08 losing streak), but you get that with any team.

With any luck, I will be able to attend my first Badger basketball game this coming season…

I started attending UW-Madison in the Fall of 2008. Before I arrived at Wisconsin, I was a Duke basketball fan and a Penn State football fan (I’m from Pennsylvania). My first vivid memory of Wisconsin is the 2006 game in Madison where Joe Paterno broke his leg. I remember Bielema pissing me (and JoePa) off because he was exploiting a clock loophole involving intentional offsides on the kickoff to run out the final seconds of the 1st half.

The games that really got me hooked as a Badger fan for life were the comeback victory in football over Minnesota in November ’08 and the win over Florida State in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament.