B5Q Blogopean Union: All of the Lights

Good morning! This is going to be a daily(ish) post that discusses the goings on of the rest of the Big Ten Conference, and the country as needed. Much like the European Union, the Big Ten is a loosely confederated group of entities that sometimes have the same goals (like free movement of people between countries or not winning national titles in football or basketball) and sometimes accept new members that they later regret (Estonia or Rutgers).

We hope that you will use this post to comment on things happening around the conference and also as a sort of daily open thread to discuss breaking news or argue about Spotted Cow.

• Former Badgers walk-on and two-time Super Bowl Champion (once with the Philadelphia Eagles, in case you needed to be reminded) Chris Maragos announced his retirement on Tuesday.

It is rare for a Badger to be on my favorite team in the pros, so I’ve always had a soft spot for Maragos. You can really tell that he was a positive influence in the locker room due to the amount of players that tweeted their respects to him after his announcement. J.J. Watt, Richard Sherman, Jeremy Maclin and Danny Woodhead all took time out of their day to give Maragos a virtual fist bump. Pretty good career for him and I hope he recovers quickly and smoothly from his knee surgery.

• Our main man, Nigel Hayes, is headed back overseas.

Lithuania to be exact. He’s lucky he’s not going to Latvia because he doesn’t want any of Winston “Shrimp Forks” Bishop’s smoke. This also means that Hayes won’t be joining Kohl Blooded for The Basketball Tournament that starts on Friday.

But! Now we get to watch Khalil Iverson dunk all over a bunch of dudes, which is a good thing.

• The new ice at the Kohl Center looks ::channels Cousin Eddie:: really nice.

• Picture day for the football team looks like fun.

• Not to bury the lede, but the men’s basketball team is going to have names on the back of their jersey for the first time since 2000-2001!

I’m not 100% sure, because I’m 200% sure, but I think Kobe King could bench press me into outer space.

• The volleyball team had their turn in front of whatever that lighting thing is that the athletic department is going to get their money’s worth out of, dammit!

• Purdue snags a 3-star cornerback out of New Jersey for their 13th 2020 verbal commit.
• Ohio State is good at recruiting. They got another 4-star on Tuesday, this one is a safety from Arizona.
• Northwestern has a handful of positions that will require a decision to be made on who will start by the end of fall camp.
• The Badgers have a trio of players that are the toughest to play against on Michigan’s schedule.