Good morning folks. Something I've been taking advantage of this summer is the archived sporting events on ESPN3.com. If you have access through your internet service provider to ESPN3, then you can watch every Wisconsin football and basketball game that was televised by ABC or any other ESPN network in 2010-11. All you have to do is type in "Wisconsin" in the search box and you get access to video of more sad Iowa fans than your heart could ever desire (I'm of course referencing UW-Iowa at Kinnick, 2010 edition). Both Badger football defeats are also available, if you're the sadistic type.
I tried to be like Aaron Henry and watch the Rose Bowl tape upwards of seventy times, but one time was sufficient for me. Clearly not a task for the faint of heart, but the Badgers had their moments in Pasadena. What caught my eye was how sharp the team looked in those red pants. Typically, the Badgers wear all white uniforms in road games. So what do you think, should the Badgers make it a habit of wearing the red pants for road games? Or should they only be saved for extremely special games such as the Rose Bowl? And before anyone gets any smart ideas, red pants at home games is off the table. Vote in the poll, then hit the jump for more Badger Bits.
Barry Alvarez is in line to receive a five-year contract extension as Wisconsin's athletic director, pending approval from the UW Board of Regents. Alvarez would earn $1 million a year under the new deal, putting him among the highest-paid athletic directors in the country. No qualms from me here- Wisconsin's athletic department is functioning at a high level under Alvarez's leadership.
You know it's not going to be a normal football season in Madison when the Badgers have no tight ends on the John Mackey Award watch list. Of course, Lance Kendricks was a finalist for that award last season, falling to Arkansas's D.J. Williams. Also, no Badgers on the Fred Biletnikoff Award (best wideout) watch list either. This news could be some extra summer motivation for players such as Nick Toon and Jacob Pedersen.
Of course J.J. Watt is chomping at the bit to play NFL football. I would not want to be the guy who would have to tell Watt that there won't be a NFL season this year, so the NFL better get their crap together and get a deal done. I'm sure if we locked Zombie J.J. Watt, Roger Goodell, NFL owners, and DeMaurice Smith in a room, they'd get a deal done fairly quickly.
Athlon Sports predicts how the 2011 Big Ten football season shakes out. They think the Badgers will go 11-2 but fall to the corn-toting newbies from the west.
And finally, badgers in the United Kingdom are in trouble. We're talking real life badgers here. Honey badger don't care, but he probably should.