Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Bucky Vs. A Dead Pope? Advantage Bucky!

This is the sort of story that makes me glad I slog through local news every day.

For those who are lazy or fingerless, it seems that the telecast of the UW-Madison vs. UW-Green Bay basketball game tomorrow trumps a made-for-TV biopic on the late Pope John Paul II. People are actually mad that they have to stay up until one in the morning to see Jon Voight play the late pope.

Read the damned story. I am not clever enough to make this up.

Bucky (who will most likely administer a thorough rogering to UW-GB), in a real sense, is of more concern than the pope. Well, not actually...

It is not REALLY the dead pope. If he were brought back to life, THEN I could see it trump a non-conference basketball game mid week. As it stands, however, it is just a made for TV movie with Jon Voight as the pope. Is this really the sort of programming that is so timely that one must stay up 'till all hours of the night to see the first time it is broadcast.

The pope is not going to be any less dead. Tivo it or tape it. I guarantee you that the ending will always be the same. Just like that movie Titanic. The boat sinks. Save yourself the trip.

We also are in an area of the country lousy with Scandie and German Lutherans who could not give a good god damn about a movie on the pope, or even Martin Luther for that matter. They want b-ball action from the Kohl Center and by jingo they'll get it. I cannot blame them. This is also the HOME OF THE UW-MADISON, where people care about all of the games, especially against other Wisconsin institutions. You should have seen the place when they played Marquette last weekend. Tickets were going for over $200.

You tell me that these people really care about a toss-off made for TV yawn festival on a story that interested parties already know well and uninterested don't care to learn about.

So, save your breath, set the recording device of your choice and go to bed. He'll still be dead in the morning.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This really surprises me. I mean, Wisconsin is not usually seen as a basketball state, not like Indiana, Kentucky, or North Carolina.

True, the Badgers have seen a resurgence under Dick Bennet and Bo Ryan, although the latter has the Billy Donovan I'm-too-polished-to-be-a-real-basketball-coach look to him. I like my basketball coaches a little less teflon-coated (although a nice layer of teflon would have helped my beloved Bob Knight in the latter years of intense media and Myles-Brand-inspired criticism).

Usually, one sees Wisconsin as a football-heavy state, and after that, polka dancing. In fact, on my list of basketball states, Wisconsin appears rather low (behind Vermont, even, who wholeheartedly threw their support behind, well, Taylor Coppenrath over the past four years). In my (admittedly jaded) eye, Wisconsin is all about the Pack, Barry Alvarez, and Paul Bunyan's Ax(e). Maybe it's the cheese and beer.
They just seem to go better with the whole football package.

But, it appears I'm wrong. It appears that the good folk of Madison are willing to turn a blind eye to years of being the Big Ten's basketball doormat (with the exception of Northwestern). Granted, it probably WAS difficult to be playing second-fiddle to Wisconsin-Green Bay for all those years until you wised up and stole Dick Bennett from them (the Fighting Fenix have never been the same). I guess a run to the final four and three consecutive Big Ten titles will do that to a team.

However, don't go around proclaiming yourselves a basketball school. Notre Dame tried that under (shudder) Matt Doherty and look where it got them: a brief stint in the NCAA tournament (as an 8-seed) and then relegated to the NIT (with one championship game run and then two rather early and disappointing ejections from said tournament). I do think you're making great strides. Helping the Big Ten by beating Maryland on a consistent basis in the Big Ten/ACC challenge would be nice, and the sort of thing that will give you better national appreciation. Buck up little Badgers, you still got some work to do.
But until they have a movie made about them featuring Jimmy Fucking Chitwood (*ahem*...Bobby Plump), I'll relegate them to the second-tier of basketballdom. Maybe getting a clever alliterative name to describe their roundball zeal would help. Something like Hoosier Hysteria or the Cameron Crazies (Dr. Egan would be so proud of me).

So, good job, Wisconsin. You've opened my eyes to your basketball talents. Just don't expect me to wear red-and-white on your behalf anytime soon (unless you're playing UNC or Duke).