Rise and Shine! It's a Brand New Day at B5Q

You can smell it in the air, right? The start of another football season is knocking at the door and change is afoot. The same is true on this site.

As if riding into the sunset seen in our site's logo, Adam Hoge now leaves behind his baby, Bucky's 5th Quarter, to continue growing under the watchful eyes of a new managerial team. The four of us are enthusiastic about some great ideas to take what B5Q does best, add to it, and improve on it. Part of that is engaging you, the readers, even more and building a more vibrant community.

In addition to the leadership team, you'll see a few other new faces alongside some old, familiar names as well. But rather than continuing to speak for the team, I'll let your new editors introduce themselves.

Andrew Rosin (@thegnc)

It's not often that someone looks upon the Don Morton era with anything but scorn. But September 3rd, 1988 was the day I became a Badger fan. Sure, they lost to Western Michigan. But the fact of the matter is that the fans still had fun despite something that should have shamed them. The seven-year-old me thought that was awesome.

I'm Andrew Rosin. I love sports, even when they're bad. We're going to make this great.

Andy Johnson (@AndyJohnsonB5Q)

Growing up the son of two hardcore Wisconsin sports fans, I didn't have much of a choice but to bleed cardinal and white. I attended my first game at Camp Randall as a youngster in the early 90's against Eastern Michigan, and I was hooked. I'll admit to having a soft spot in my heart for Notre Dame football, as my late grandfather is from South Bend and the Irish were our special bond. That said, when your dad passing on his 'Ohio State Sucks' t-shirt to you to wear the UW-OSU homecoming game when you're in high school is something that you'll never forget, you're a Badger fan.

Most of you don't know me as Andy, but as my pen name Chuck Schwartz. I've covered hockey for Bucky's 5th Quarter for just over a year now. Previous to that, I covered the Badger hockey program for the Sixty Minutes, No Alibis, No Regrets blog, as well as the Hockey In Wisconsin blog. When Adam Hoge recruited me to Bucky's 5th Quarter, I initially turned him down as I was happy with where I was at. A year later he made another pitch, and I could see that this website was trending upwards exponentially and was loaded with potential. I couldn't turn him down twice. The site has continued to get better, and with the new transition at Bucky's 5th Quarter, I felt that it was important to use my real name going forward.

Adam has done an excellent job laying the foundation at Bucky's 5th Quarter, and I'm excited to see what Mike and Andrew can bring to the table as we move into a new era here at the website. I look forward to providing you something to read while you put off doing real work at your job. On Wisconsin.

Mike Fiammetta (@mikefiammetta)

After graduating from UW in May, I'm thrilled to get back to writing on the Badgers. Right now, I'm in Washington, D.C., interning with MLB.com and covering the how-the-heck-did-this-happen Nationals. At UW, I covered football and men's basketball for The Badger Herald, and also served as sports editor one semester my senior year. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been in Madison for the past four years, perhaps the finest stretch for Badgers athletics in school history. Even more so, I'm incredibly excited to see where Barry, Bret and Bo take those two programs -- my personal strengths -- in the coming years. I have a feeling they'll be pretty successful. You can follow me on Twitter @mikefiammetta, where admittedly, I'll be tweeting mostly Nationals until their season ends. But come Sept. 1 first, you can bet my heart will be all Bucky. Andrew, Phil, Andy and I are thrilled to be taking the reins of B5Q from Adam Hoge, and while we're just getting going, I hope you'll stick us -- we have some great stuff planned.

Phil Mitten (@hoopsmarinara)

My love for all things Bucky built slowly as a child as I witnessed several of Steve Yoder's very few high points leading the basketball team: a home sweep over Final Four contestants Michigan and my dad's beloved Flyin' Illini in 1989 and another upset of the Fab Five two years later as, sadly, I sat wearing a Michigan sweatshirt. Jones, Jackson, Webster, Finley ... they got me hooked on Wisconsin hoops. But then came the magical '93 football season. Beach Boys parodies on the radio celebrating the Rose Bowl? Yeah, that happened. That Michigan sweatshirt? Secretly I wore it underneath my layers of clothing when the Badgers upset the Wolverines in the infamous 13-10 "student section crush" game. My lucky charm.

Now I am a UW grad still working in the Madison area. Back in college, I was a sports reporter and columnist for The Daily Cardinal. I picked up writing again when I launched the Hoops Marinara blog in 2007 to work out my sick obsession with Badger hoops and recruiting. Personally I want to thank Adam for leading the site so well and extending me an offer to join him here two years ago.

So as you can see folks, you are in good hands. Y'all come back now, ya' hear?