Wisconsin33
Banned
I think what contributed to the seemingly baseless poor treatment of Nebraska fans had to do with the hyped up "invasion" that had been talked about in the weeks prior to the game.
In the dark ages of WIsconsin Football (late 1980s) Camp Randall used to get invaded all of the time by opposing fans. That's embarrassing for any school. Once Alvarez turned things around, Camp Randall Stadium transformed from a place of sparsely populated bleachers with a few thousand intoxicated partiers and no home-field advantage, to a jam-packed electric stadium filled with that same party culture and a bunch of starved fans that managed to create an environment where the Badgers almost never lose. It was like finally reaching the oasis after spending years and years in the desert.
So you see, Wisconsin fans are fiercely protective of that reputation and Camp Randall's tough environment. At the same time, they're also still sensitive to opposing fans who for many years invaded the stadium and made it their own. I suppose it's a bit of lingering small man's complex. You have to remember that Wisconsin has only been on the national scene for about 20 years. Before that we were the conference doormat. We were Indiana. We were the sure win on the slate. We were glorified punching bags and the joke of the conference.
Wisconsin fans still remember that, and they don't want to go back to that. We may have a reputation for being poor hosts, but at least we don't have a reputation for being a doormat. Did you know that our Athletic Department has not allowed a visiting band to perform in the stadium since Illinois visited in 1995? It's true! Most Big Ten Bands won't even bother trying to come because of the way they've been treated by fans and in particular the student section. Your band coming last year was as close to a band visiting that I've seen in years. Is it a good thing? Not necessarily, but to many, it's tolerated and is seen as better than "the dark ages." And at this point, it's sort of morphed into our reputation. We may have long since evolved from needing to be nasty to opposing fans, but people come to expect it and it's almost part of a lore of visiting Madison. Something of a forbidden fruit or an open dare or something. You also can't admit that Madison is pretty sweet beyond the football aspect and it's probably the best college town in the country.
So you take the recipe of:
1 Part - Nebraska fan's claim to fame of sending hoards of traveling fans who like to "invade" stadiums, and in particular, the 40,000 that were being projected to fill Camp Randall.
1 Part - Wisconsin fans who are notoriously protective of Camp Randall and creating intimidation and difficulty for visiting teams and since there were supposedly going to be hoards and hoards of Nebraska fans attempting to take over the stadium, and the fact that there was probably a lot of over-compensation in the heckling department to make sure that didn't happen.
And you get about what happened to many that night. I can't say that I'm particularly happy that it meant that Nebraska fans got treated poorly, but I can't also say that I'm not at all surprised given those to factors and how talked up the invasion was supposed to be. It was an unfortunate butting of two opposite ideals. You also have to remember that we are used to Michigan, Iowa and Ohio State fans which are pretty terrible visitors in and of themselves and certainly not angels when they host. You'll find that out in time.
In the dark ages of WIsconsin Football (late 1980s) Camp Randall used to get invaded all of the time by opposing fans. That's embarrassing for any school. Once Alvarez turned things around, Camp Randall Stadium transformed from a place of sparsely populated bleachers with a few thousand intoxicated partiers and no home-field advantage, to a jam-packed electric stadium filled with that same party culture and a bunch of starved fans that managed to create an environment where the Badgers almost never lose. It was like finally reaching the oasis after spending years and years in the desert.
So you see, Wisconsin fans are fiercely protective of that reputation and Camp Randall's tough environment. At the same time, they're also still sensitive to opposing fans who for many years invaded the stadium and made it their own. I suppose it's a bit of lingering small man's complex. You have to remember that Wisconsin has only been on the national scene for about 20 years. Before that we were the conference doormat. We were Indiana. We were the sure win on the slate. We were glorified punching bags and the joke of the conference.
Wisconsin fans still remember that, and they don't want to go back to that. We may have a reputation for being poor hosts, but at least we don't have a reputation for being a doormat. Did you know that our Athletic Department has not allowed a visiting band to perform in the stadium since Illinois visited in 1995? It's true! Most Big Ten Bands won't even bother trying to come because of the way they've been treated by fans and in particular the student section. Your band coming last year was as close to a band visiting that I've seen in years. Is it a good thing? Not necessarily, but to many, it's tolerated and is seen as better than "the dark ages." And at this point, it's sort of morphed into our reputation. We may have long since evolved from needing to be nasty to opposing fans, but people come to expect it and it's almost part of a lore of visiting Madison. Something of a forbidden fruit or an open dare or something. You also can't admit that Madison is pretty sweet beyond the football aspect and it's probably the best college town in the country.
So you take the recipe of:
1 Part - Nebraska fan's claim to fame of sending hoards of traveling fans who like to "invade" stadiums, and in particular, the 40,000 that were being projected to fill Camp Randall.
1 Part - Wisconsin fans who are notoriously protective of Camp Randall and creating intimidation and difficulty for visiting teams and since there were supposedly going to be hoards and hoards of Nebraska fans attempting to take over the stadium, and the fact that there was probably a lot of over-compensation in the heckling department to make sure that didn't happen.
And you get about what happened to many that night. I can't say that I'm particularly happy that it meant that Nebraska fans got treated poorly, but I can't also say that I'm not at all surprised given those to factors and how talked up the invasion was supposed to be. It was an unfortunate butting of two opposite ideals. You also have to remember that we are used to Michigan, Iowa and Ohio State fans which are pretty terrible visitors in and of themselves and certainly not angels when they host. You'll find that out in time.
