The newly fabricated rivalry to be looked at askance — we were informed on Friday, the day before the big game — was the Freedom Trophy, pictured at the link, presumably to be adjudged gauche (and don't read that fine print):
The trophy goes to "the winner of the newly annual Big Ten West matchup between Nebraska (8-1, 4-1 Big Ten) and Wisconsin (7-2, 4-1)," and:
Unlike those storied rivalries with the quirky trophies, the Cornhuskers and the Badgers have played only eight times (four times before Nebraska began Big Ten play in 2011).How many of our guys did they call to get a quote that fit the theme of the article (that these rivalries are bogus)? "You always play for something," they found one player to say, and that was in the context of distinguishing the new trophy from the rivalry with Minnesota. That rivalry is "in another level," he said, which is about as bland a truth as you can state about the difference between the trophies. The fight for the Paul Bunyan ax goes back to 1948.
“They just made some silly trophy,” said Dane Melby, 48, a server at Mickie’s Dairy Bar across the street from Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium. “This is, ‘Here, let’s make up a trophy until they remake the conference again.’ ”
Wisconsin’s players, several of whom said they learned about the trophy on Monday via Twitter, mustered little enthusiasm.
The Times also got some sports-book author to opine: "These new trophies, I presume, are a way to force-feed these rivalries to the fans, who are perhaps jaundiced by all this." Jaundiced, you say? Well, now, the game has taken place and:
Saturday, [Melvin] Gordon broke the major college single-game rushing record with 408 yards to thrust himself into the upper echelon of Heisman contenders and 22nd-ranked UW gave second-year coach Gary Andersen his first signature win with a 59-24 rout of 11th-ranked Nebraska....Is Nebraska really up for a rivalry with us?
Posts
99 comments:
I'm pleased to see that they dedicated the trophy (in part) to me. a Vet who fought in our nation's wars....
An award for football conference gerrymandering.
The Times wants the loser to get a trophy too.
Actually, they should stop keeping score altogether.
And they should be playing soccer instead. (It's more multicultural.)
I guess the trophy is nice, but the rivalry is a bit silly.
There are 4 football rivalries going back to the 1870's, and 13 to the 1880's. The Division 3 schools my wife and I attended have a great contest going back to 1890. But I spent a few years at UW, and I recall the difference between the game with Minnesota and and lesser events.
A nice trophy - OK, but I can't see the game attaining any special stature - except they both are about the best in the Western division now.
I was charmed when I heard about the trophy.
I'm going to go with The Times on this--rivalries grow up organically. Generally schools that play each other and recruit in the same regions, so players know each other already and they play for bragging rights--which one made the better choice.
You can't manufacture a rivalry, though one might grow if Wisconsin and Nebraska are both in the running for West title most years.
408 yards is an incredible, unbelievable feat. I do wonder about the wisdom of letting someone do that, though. Isn't it going to tire him out? Maybe not if the other teams's D is a sieve. Thankfully there are still more than a few teams in the SEC who value defense, the heart of football.
Rivalry trophies are silly. But with so much excellent football being played, to only have one number one - and no, I'm not saying that as a self-esteem junkie - is almost arbitrary. I say THAT from the state with many national championships.
I took a look at this new playoff scenario and see that it does not clarify anything.
There just may not be four best teams in the country. Many teams already have a playoff, and it's called the regular SEC conference schedule. The overcrowded SEC should just disconnect and have their own league and maybe invite NFL teams in on occasion like the Patriots and Packers to join them. I know, other teams have tough schedules too. It's true. Which is why it's curious that there are a grand total of four teams. That's unfair. I thought the playoffs were meant to CLARIFY. This is more unclear and subjective than the bowls. I watched a few college sports shows last night and everyone's all hyped up about Tuesday. Why? There's a lot of time left. There are at least two games remaining, and that includes the now-inappriately named Iron Bowl. The SEC - we eat our own.
Back to the drawing board I say.
The NYT gags on the word Freedom. An orderly world regulated according to the Manhattan elite's view of moral purity needs no Freedom.
Back to the drawing board indeed. This new college football "playoff" system is even more ridiculous than the now defunct BCS
"408 yards is an incredible, unbelievable feat. I do wonder about the wisdom of letting someone do that, though. Isn't it going to tire him out?"
Well, look at it from another perspective. He's set the bar so high that coaches won't be tempted to leave the next guy in the game to challenge the record that's set so high. That will keep all those other guys from getting tired out. Because isn't that the true spirit of football — not getting tired out?
Because isn't that the true spirit of football — not getting tired out?
_____
I could see leaving him in when it's close. There's no i in team. Like I said, hopefully it was not too hard on him. I say that with an eye on the future schedule. When you're leading by so much, you have to start thinking about next week, and preserving your team.
"There's no i in team."
That's what I was just saying about the rocket man with the shirt.
Speaking of "incredible, unbelievable feat," my favorite thing in football — and Meade will vouch for me that I have said this and I'm not just making it up to take advantage of the opportunity for a pun — is when these big players running down the field are right up against the sideline and they manage to stay in for a long time.
Their feet seem strangely tiny and delicate. I think the shoes are made to maximize narrowness to get whatever extra yardage — footage.. inch-age — is possible. I love when they seem like they're about to go out and somehow they stay in.
By the way — and, again, Meade will vouch for me — my favorite thing in baseball is a hit that shoots out close to the foul line and gets by the third baseman. It could just as well have been out, but it's in.
It's some variation of the impulse to root for the underdog. It could just as well have been foul, but it stays in.
I told my high school coach - immediately before being ordered to run bleachers - that there was an "I" in the middle of "win".
As an alumnus of a Big Ten school, I still regard Penn State as merely an interloper in the Big Ten.
Nebraska, Rutgers, Maryland? Gimme a break.
The rivalry with Minnesota hasn't been a rivalry for many years, as the Gophers have been struggling most years. Maybe with several years under Coach Jerry Kill they will finally live up to the historic rivalry. We'll see on November 29.
"my favorite thing in baseball is a hit that shoots out close to the foul line and gets by the third baseman. It could just as well have been out, but it's in. "
If the baseball diamond is seen as a political metaphor -- the first-base line being the the division point between acceptable and unacceptable conservative beliefs, and the third base line being the same for progressives -- then Althouse wanting a ball hit to just the inside of Progressive acceptability makes sense.
The majority of people want a homerun somewhere in center field, Naturally.
"Isn't't it going to tire him out?"
You do know he did not play in the 4th quarter, right?
paminwi and I are probably the only two who watched the game evidently.
Growing up, I don't recall W being the powerhouse it is evolving into now. Back then, and probably still is, the huge rivalry up there was Ohio State Michigan. Classic, classic football. Bo and Woody. I also liked Michigan's fight song.
I think the sideline running seems more difficult from the perspective we are watching it at. But yeah, it's hard. However, the wide receivers are not really hulking, and they are better at it than many RBs who are far and away better at it than defensive players runnin back and interception. The RBs and receivers practice it a whole lot more too.
u do know he did not play in the 4th quarter, right?
_____
I did not! Whoa.
HT: "There's no i in team."
Althouse: "That's what I was just saying about the rocket man with the shirt."
There is an "i" in shirt. As long as the team doesn't require a uniform, you should be allowed to express some individual style there.
It seems every game in the BIG 14 or whatever the hell it is now, has a trophy. I've always thought it was silly. At most have one for your main rival and that is it. For example, "The Axe" between Cal and Stanford.
I want to know if Nebraska emergency rooms treated a large number of women for strange household "accidents" last night.
Y'know, 'cause they lost the Big Game.
I suspect that the Camp Randall field can be tilted so that which ever way the Badgers are going is always downhill. That's the only explanation here.
Bielema knew this tilt trick from his days in Madison, but it took him until yesterday to get it secretly installed at Arkansas.
I'd like to see the cheerleaders compete for a trophy. I bet the pelvic thrusts would be thrustier and the bouncy-bouncy be bouncier.
A real rivalry doesn't need a talisman. The outcome is enough.
I would gladly award the Laslo Trophy to the most spirited Cheerleader. Or the one who forgot her panties. It is a competition: no need to fight fair, girls.
A girl who is a 'seven' becomes at least an 'eight' when she wears a cheerleader outfit. Math.
Ohio State could go 4-7 and I would be mollified as long as they beat Michigan. Lamentations of the women, etc.
One of my wife's favorite things about baseball is the relative length of the trouser. She prefers the pant leg touching the shoe tops. To oppose her opinion, I have come out in favor of ultra-high stirrup socks.
SC-UCLA is next week and that is enough for me.
SC is playing with limited scholarships the past three years because of a phony scandal that the NCAA used to try to kill of SC football. There is a huge lawsuit coming up soon that may kill off the NCAA instead.
(Judge) Shaller wrote that emails between an infractions committee member, an NCAA employee and an NCAA appeals coordinator "tend to show ill will or hatred." Shaller said in court that "the conduct that is shown by the persons involved in this investigation is over the top, it's malicious, and I think it was directed for an outcome."
In the meantime, the game goes on. The week after that comes Notre Dame.
The idea of the NFL joining the SEC is a good one. That would bring to pay scales up to even.
Why does Meade have to "vouch" for your opinion?
""How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,
When fond recollection presents them to view!
The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood,
And every loved spot which my infancy knew!
...And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well—
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well."
" I have come out in favor of ultra-high stirrup socks."
A great look on japanese schoolgirls, too.
Japanese Schoolgirl Cheerleaders: I might need a moment of 'alone' time.
"Fabricated rivalries" are much better than fabricated news stories.
My question is simple: why do you still read the NYT?That is a topic worthy of your excellent mind and blog. I read it in place of Torah every day from 1959 to 1986 when the Sunday paper got to be about 5 pounds. I still scanned in daily but read only the Saiurday paper. As a former reporter I knew editorss held favored stories they could not get into the M-F editions for Saturday which has no advertising and was the catchall for the PAPER OF RECORD and the best of the week. By the early 90s it became a mouthpiece for something labeled liberalism but is in fact something quite different but remains unnamed. Help us rename solace Liberalism before it slips into Fascism which is where it is headed.
All of Melvin Gordon's 408 yards in one clip.
Not bad Bucky:
Melvin Gordon: Most yards game
Ron Dayne: Most yards in career
Montee Ball: Most career TD
Althouse:
You really, really need to work on your "gracious in victory" skills.
You have shown yourself to be one of the worst winners I have ever seen.
"I think the shoes are made to maximize narrowness to get whatever extra yardage — footage.. inch-age — is possible. "
Football is all about fashion, too? ;-)
Cool video Garage.
"Help us rename solace Liberalism before it slips into Fascism which is where it is headed."
It slipped. Hillarycare was the last time it was stopped.
Is Nebraska really up for a rivalry with us?
money qoute of the evening.
"Is Nebraska really up for a rivalry with us?"
Nebraska's first Big Ten game was in Camp Randall on Oct 1, 2011. There were a lot of boisterous Cornhusker fans there, sure they were going to kick the Badgers up and down the field. A pair were in front of us, loud and obnoxious at the start of the game, but evermore quiet as it progressed. When the game ended Wis 48 Neb 17, I slapped one of them on the back, "Welcome to the Big Ten! He took it well.
Rivalries are at the core of what I enjoy about sports. They can not be manufactured. I have season tickets for UW football and hockey, and both sports are diminishing the experience so much with their trashing of tradition (Big Ten hockey? Really?) that each year I am less and less enthusiastic about re-upping.
"Is Nebraska really up for a rivalry with us?"
If they keep showing in Madison, enmass, thinking they own the place, then, hell yes.
"Their feet seem strangely tiny and delicate. "
I think what you're seeing is the contrast between bulked up guys in oversized pads vs. their feet (which are not enhanced).
"As an alumnus of a Big Ten school, I still regard Penn State as merely an interloper in the Big Ten.
Nebraska, Rutgers, Maryland? Gimme a break."
Ditto.
As a native of West Lafayette, I'm still miffed that Indiana and Iowa got in the Big 9.
A pair were in front of us, loud and obnoxious at the start of the game, but evermore quiet as it progressed.
We sat next to a table of Husker fans last night at the Essen Haus, they had a shocked, bewildered look to them. Like they still couldn't fathom what just hit them. Of course drunk Badger fan went up to their table to remind them. I almost felt for them. Almost.
"I also liked Michigan's fight song."
Jail to the Victors?
@Meade (9:02). Thanks! I'm a real sucker for tradition. WCHA hockey played for the MacNaughton Cup, made in the UP in 1913. I got to touch it once. But Barry Alvarez threw that tradition away for TV money.
Ahh, The Essen Haus. I was a Stein Club member for years.
I was going to link that compilation video too, but I see garage did. My favorite part is Gordon leaping over the Nebraska safety on the way to a touchdown. You can't nudge people out of bounds if you don't touch them.
Total agreement with Original Mike about Big 10 Hockey. Ugh.
There is a huge lawsuit coming up soon that may kill off the NCAA instead.
There's the Pennsylvania Lawsuit as well about Penn State that the NCAA will lose.
Grab the popcorn.
Phil 3:14 said...
Why does Meade have to "vouch" for your opinion?
Because Meade is "Master of their Domain", that's why.
In this case I think the NYT is actually right, this is a made-up rivalry with no true fan buy-in. And it is the fans more than the teams that make a true rivalry game. The Minnesota game matters no matter how good or bad either team is. Beating Nebraska only matters in the W-L columns. After the season it's just a number.
Big Ten expansion is a joke. The conference should stick to the Midwest. Drop Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland and find a way to add Notre Dame, Pitt, and Missouri.
And I have to agree that giving up the WCHA for Big Ten hockey was the worst move Barry Alvarez has made as AD.
I saw two Badger fans leaving the Essen Haus last night so shitfaced that they literally had to be poured in their car. Maybe drinking all day and sharing a boot at the Haus afterward wasn't such a good idea?
"And I have to agree that giving up the WCHA for Big Ten hockey was the worst move Barry Alvarez has made as AD."
The reportage is that Alvarez was the prime mover of The move.
HTC said..."Thankfully there are still more than a few teams in the SEC who value defense, the heart of football....
Many teams already have a playoff, and it's called the regular SEC conference schedule."
Paul Finebaum reads Althouse. Who knew?
The official decree from the central planners is that is now an official rivalry! Fans, adjust your attitude accordingly.
I just watched Nick Saban discussing his team's victory and the 'philosophic' meaning of the win, or lack thereof. Followed by 10 minutes of commentary about the central planners deciding what it meant. Then 10 minutes discussing how wrong the central planners were- the central planners sent to solve all the problems the last central planners planned, but failed, to solve.
Central planning always fails. Who says they don't teach that in college?
Wisconsin, Packers, snowy weekend, what is better than that?
Melvin Gordon accomplished his feat in only 25 attempts. Previous one took 40!
Let's heat it for efficiency.
Wisconsin, Packers, snowy weekend, what is better than that?
A weekend with fishable ice.
That's efficiency? He could've run 408 yards in 5 attempts!
The LSU-Tulane series/rivalry is/was one of the nation's longest and a natural. Played every year since 1893 and ended in 2009 due to the expansion of the SEC (ironically Tulane, a charter member of the SEC, de-emphasized sports and left in 1966 to wander from conference to conference with decidedly mixed results since) The schools played for a silk flag trophy flag divided diagonally with the state seal of Louisiana in the center and the seal of each school in their respective section.
IIRC it was colored a Tulane blue and a very pale LSU true "gold" (NOT the "yellow" now seen on our football uniforms) and banded by a gold fringe. ) When I was an undergrad it sat for years in a display case in the Student Union as LSU dominated in those years, often winning by the "traditional score" of 62-0 in '58. '61 & '65, lol It was supposedly destroyed in a fire at the Tulane Student Union in 1982--after a rare Tulane win--but LSU cynics think it now sits in some Tulane alums home, lol
(FWIW I was present at the '65 LSU 62-00 win. When halfback Gwain DiBetta broke lose on a 70 run w. 2 min to go that would have pushed the then 62-0 score past the traditional tally, one could see him look up at the score-board, think better of it, and visibly slow down in order to be tackled short of the goal. LSU then ran four plays over center for no gain on the five-yd line to "preserve" the "traditional" score, lol. Wags said if Tulane had been smart everyone on the team should have fallen down on every play and forced LSU to score. lol)
PS: I forgot to mention the flag was known as "The Rag" by LSU (after the song The Tiger Rag) and as the "Victory Flag" by Tulane.
"... the flag was known as "The Rag" ..."
Misogyny!
Well, look at it from another perspective. He's set the bar so high that coaches won't be tempted to leave the next guy in the game to challenge the record that's set so high. That will keep all those other guys from getting tired out. Because isn't that the true spirit of football — not getting tired out?
He broke it by 2 yards. There will be others.
Too bad Wisky can't win a national championship.
Hey if it happens west of the Hudson River, the New York Times doesn't know crab apples from road apples--or maybe the Times is just full of road apples.
And in its way this New York Times article is a form of penis envy. When your big game is Columbia versus Fordham then you don't have much to talk about.
OTOH I was listening to the Minnesota Golden Gophers versus somebody matchup played yesterday. It was on Sirius Radio, and I was listening in Southern California. I say "somebody" because the Golden Gopher announcing team was so excited I feared they'd suffer a brain aneurysm before the game was over. One thing they rarely got out was the name of the other team. I do know that it was snowing at the game, and a football player from Los Angeles dropped an opposing team pass because he "just wasn't used to the cold".
But you know--it's nice that there are things people can get passionate about. It makes for a better day for all of us.
I have a few friends who are huge Nebraska fans, and after the whippings that Wisconsin has given them since joining the B10 they don't talk to me. Don't fret, humiliating a proud team and fan base is exactly the way to nurture a convivial dislike into full hatred-based rivalry. Now as to the NYT, if the feeble-minded cultural inferiors out in Flyover had instead called the trophy the "Slavery Statue" there would have been applause. Freedom as a concept is of course reprehensible.
He broke it by 2 yards. There will be others
Gordon reached 408 on a 26 yard run and then he was pulled for the entire 4th quarter. I thought it was a classy decision to respect the record and your opponent. I honestly think Gordon could have reached 500, Nebraska was a thoroughly whipped team at that point. But enough about Wisconsin.
"Too bad Wisky can't win a national championship."
Nebraska fan?
I think the shoes are made to maximize narrowness to get whatever extra yardage …
On the question of the shoes: Ill fitting shoes cause problems. On one small, poor school team I was on did not have shoes to fit me(12 1/2w) and I had to play in shoes too small. Both big toe nails turned brown and came off. My feet were sore all the time and getting traction was painful. I doubt if any NFL coach would purposefully allow a player to wear too small shoes.
Ode to legs
His wide bulk made Campbell's
crafty lope seem slow,
just a Houston bus cruising down I10.
For lack of exact change
he left would-be riders at stops,
a mouthful of Astroturf their only token.
It was the legs.
I watched Bellino from the sidelines,
a runner fitted with pile drivers
where legs should have been.
The Great Bellino's sleight-of-body
over ground proved quicker
than a cornerback could see,
made linebackers empty-armed angry.
O the legs.
Csonka,
a comic strip sound for helmets crushing ribs
(if ever a name fitted a fullback),
Csonka, reckless booster of off-guard wrecks
packed tacklers down the playbooks' narrow trails,
shivering from head-ons.
Csonka needed a spear at the knee,
was never stopped by grabs
anywhere above the belt
and launched shoulder tacklers
like dolls flung by a petulant child.
The gods had given him
legs.
kind like the little brown jug or floyd the pig...
Fuck the NYT
You little sisters of the poor schools go ahead and flaunt your cheesy trophies - 9 meetings over 113 years hardly qualifies as a 'rivalry game'...
While Michigan has been on the down side of late, everyone knows historically the only Big 10 rivalry of any real consequence is THE GAME: Michigan vs Ohio State
...and pre-BCS, more often than not the only 'trophy' ever associated with Michigan vs Ohio State football games was the Big 10 Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl.
I'll mention two rivalries that make sense. One is a relatively new one: Arkansas-LSU. Although they never played much prior to Ark joining the SEC (except for a 14-7 LSU win in the 1966 Cotton Bowl) both schools recruit heavily in the NW part of Louisiana, so there is natural animosity there, so the new "tradition" makes sense and the 24 Karat trophy (an outline of Ark-La "The Boot") makes a helluva trophy. Another that makes historical AND traditional sense is Texas A&M/LSU. Both have a long tradition of playing each other even before A&M joined the SEC and BOTH have strong military traditions and ROTC programs. A &M still has a cadet corps (LSU lost its mandatory corp in the 70s) while the first President of LSU was Gen. W.T. Sherman and the school's nickname is "The Old War Skule." Further the baseball stadium--Alex Box-- is named after a former LSU football & baseball star who was a WW II KIA decorated hero, while the campus Campanile is .a monument to WW I's dead grads. When I attended LSU our President was Lt. Gen Troy H. Middleton, one of Patton's best generals, continuing a tradition of General Presidents. The two schools, if they were smart, should commission an "ROTC" trophy for their game, reflecting the long martial tradition of these two schools.
I pine for the days when the Big Ten played real football. Woody hayes, and 3-yards a cloud of dust. Michigan St. and Ohio St. playing for the Big 10 Championship - when nobody cared about Wisconsin. That real guts football.
Those were the days.
The liberal elite have always hated College football primarily because they hate college football coaches. All those nasty, macho, mostly white men, making lots of $$$ while left-wing Poly-sci professor Sol Steinberg makes 1/10 as much.
Oh the injustice.
The Professor wrote, "How many of our guys did they call to get a quote that fit the theme of the article (that these rivalries are bogus)?"
Decades ago, when I was an undergraduate, a New York Times reporter spent about fifteen to twenty minutes interviewing me for a story about life at a top university. I was flattered by the attention, and I answered all of her questions honestly and accurately.
When the article appeared in print, I was mortified to see that the article used some sentences that I actually did say, but it put them in a context that made it seem like I was advocating the exact opposite of the position I spent the entire interview describing. In retrospect, it was obvious that the article was intended to be a hit piece from the beginning, and the reporter was looking for quotes to support a certain editorial viewpoint.
Unfortunately, that article ended up damaging a wonderful person's career, and I share some of the blame. I have never looked at reporters or the NYT the same since then.
Fashion victims: Packers throwback uniforms = offensive to eyeballs.
Oh, are they doing the Acme things again? Blue and -- Orange? Something like that?
You know, they do that so people who have a closet full of Green/Gold paraphernalia will then go buy Blue/Yellow (or is it orange) stuff.
I do kinda like the coach's Acme cap, though.
Zeb Quinn said...
"Actually, Nebraska had several lengthy rivalries of note which they left behind to join the Big 10, Missouri (1892-2010), Colorado (1898-2010), Kansas (1906-2010), and Oklahoma (1912-2010)."
Also, to a certain extent, Texas.
Personally, I kinda miss the old Southwest Conference.
Penn State stopped playing Pitt when the Big 10 called. That was and is regrettable. Penn State/Syracuse, Penn State/Temple, those didn't mean much. But the Pitt game was always a highlight.
Wisconsin and Nebraska should play for something more consequential than a trophy. How about in their next meeting the winner has the right to wear red, and the loser has to wear pink.
garage mahal said...
"they literally had to be poured"
ha ha ha. I literally LOLed.
"Fashion victims: Packers throwback uniforms = offensive to eyeballs."
Flesh-tone pants. Sexy!
The Civil War in Oregon, OU vs. OSU. Don't know how many decades it has gone on.
Nebraska fan?
Not. So. Much. A. Nebraska. Cornhuskers. Fan.
I like the Acme Packers get-up. Looks tough.
OSU/Michigan is still the rivalry in college football, despite the fact that Michigan has been doing their best to destroy it the past decade.
As far as I'm concerned, Army-Navy is the best rivalry in American sports, let alone college football. It's a natural, historic rivalry with a culture all its own. The pageantry is fantastic. Army-Navy games are also unique in that at the end of the game, everyone involved on both teams understands that they are all on the same team. Our team.
Having played college football; it has nothing to do with a University education. Collegiate sports needs to be done away with. The corruption cannot be ended as long as the billion$ continue to flow.
"Having played college football; it has nothing to do with a University education. Collegiate sports needs to be done away with. The corruption cannot be ended as long as the billion$ continue to flow."
Interesting. Top 200 colleges x 50 football players =10,000 football players. So, your opinion represents 1 out of 10,000.
@rcocean
Rockne is dead. The four horsemen are dead. College football is corruption writ large.
It looked like the days of organic, fun trophy games were dead.
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