azzgunther

Bigdsrip explained it well. Culture shock combined with the embarrassment of traveling to support a team made to look worse than they usually are seems to bring out the inner whiner in OSU/MSU/Nebraska fans. A good example: OSU's fans were big on how awful Camp Randall was back when we used to be able to beat them. Now that they beat us at home every other year those complaints have promptly ceased. I think this Camp Randall brutishness stuff comes more from perception than from reality, as I too have been to many years of games and never seen a visiting fan physically assaulted or threatened but have seen a lot of a-hole chants.

I'd have thought that second .gif would have had everybody reassessing their initial stance since it shows a defenseless player getting hit helmet to helmet by another player who launched himself into the hit. Initiating Contact/Targeting an Oppenent 1. No player shall initiate contact and target an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet. When in question, it is a foul. 2. No player shall initiate contact and target a defenseless opponent above the shoulders. When in question, it is a foul. You can complain that it shouldn't be in the rule book but complaints about the officials' enforcement of the rule are like complaining that a cop enforces a law you don't agree with. Take it up with the people in charge of making the rules, not the ones enforcing them.

It's not your guys' fault because Fox didn't show this angle but helmet to helmet on a defenseless player is going to draw a flag every time: *deleted gif was here* edit: EbylHusker posted it already. Oops.

They haven't thrown a pass in the second half. I'd focus more ire on the defenders who gave up than on the team who runs it every single play.

Just a reminder that this 7-5 team was 19 points away from being 12-0 and has had to adjust to an entirely new coaching staff and three quarterback changes. Many people (including Wisconsin fans) severely underestimate the amount of talent this UW squad has and having a season to gel together has led to a pretty good offense. The defense was good all year. I'm just saying this to respond to the folks who are upset about losing to a 'marginal' team.

You're doing this wrong, I think. Usually people write off their good experiences and focus on their 10 cumulative seconds of interaction with idiots as their model for the entire UW fanbase. I'm being sarcastic, of course, and appreciate that someone in a thread about Badger fans is above circle jerking. I've been to over 30 games at Camp Randall and, while I would agree with many that, on the whole, it's not an inviting atmosphere for visitors, I've never seen any violence and I've never seen anything more aggressive than the a-hole chant that students like to do. One entire side of the stadium faces a row of student houses and visitors definitely face an unusual experience in entering on that side. The original post in this thread is a great example of confirmation bias: "It didn't take long to have the "gentleman" in front of us standing up and waving his arms in our faces as Wisconsin scored." To this person a fan cheering when his team scored was a.) a confirmation of a perception of an entire fan base and b.) an aggressive act. This tends to be how people perceive UW fans and I think it's very much based on preconceived notions, which I speculate come in part from sour OSU and Michigan fans canvassing the internet to warn people how awful all people in Wisconsin are. Two of my best friends went to Minnesota and returned to Madison for two games. Both times they were wearing bright yellow shirts (one of the games was a night game) and nothing more came of it than a few groups chanting at us. Frankly, I don't believe most of the stories. I'd again concede that it's not an inviting atmosphere but I don't see how people find it to be hostile. I'm referring to Camp Randall so much because stories from visitors were where this recent reputation of the angry Badger fan stems from. Ultimately I'm inviting everybody to make their own minds up about the fan base because I find it sad that, in one year, it's gone from major excitement from both schools' supporters to a much murkier atmosphere.

I don't feel that I rationalized the behavior much. I'd tone it down if I could. Since there seems to be a good deal of surprise about the environment I thought I would get into what it is, why it exists, and what it means. If that was your first trip to Madison, how would you know what these words meant? Why would you not take them at face value? Unfortunately it was inevitable that people would come into town and be surprised by a relatively innocent act that was easily perceived to be aggressive. The only way you could have known would have been inquiry to someone who had been to Camp Randall or a visit to an online forum, which most people wouldn't have done. Hopefully word spreads, so people can decide if they'll be comfortable. As various thick skinned Nebraska fans found out Saturday, the "ass-h**e" chant is perceived to be friendly ribbing and if you just laugh it off or dish it back the kids will not only stop the chanting, they'll also get you beers and brats. Except for those cases of in-your-face bravado (which I've never seen), it's mostly incumbent upon you to make of it what you will. If you choose to be offended and scared, you'll call the experience offensive and scary. If you choose to laugh with the kids you'll report some taunting received and some laughed off or dished back, and a great time.

I was shocked that the line wasn't -14 or more. I'm surprised that it hasn't gone that far yet (it's -11 at this point). Ohio State's offense is, without exaggeration, largely inept and pathetic. Them putting more than 10 points on the board in their inaugural visit to Lincoln under the lights is basically impossible. Add to that Beck won't call for a pass 14 times in a row and this is free money. Nebraska has a solid offense when they're poised and playing to their strengths. I don't know what forum etiquette is regarding sports betting so I'll just say that I'm backing my stance up with more than words.

Your Oline looked to be athletic and powerful. I think Nebraska has a deadly rushing attack at this point and will be able to get a lot of mileage out of Playaction as long as Martinez is healthy. He, like the team, are better than people would say they are right now and I think he'll end the season closer to 60% completions than 50%. You're going to blow Ohio State out in the first conference home game and that will be fun to dangle over them in the future.

It's great having you guys in the same conference and your fans are some of the most knowledgeable that I've come across. The day that it was announced that Nebraska was joining the conference I fist pumped in real life. I only wish that the teams shared a division, because I could imagine a friendly rivalry developing (the vitriol is generally saved for Iowa, O$U, and Michigan. I didn't forget Minnesota, they're just irrelevant at this point). I've read the thread and one thing I wanted to put out there for thought is that there seems to be a cultural incongruence. I suspect that the atmosphere in Madison is more heavily influenced by the students than at most other campuses. This is due to the enormous student section, enormous student body, predilection towards the fire water, a good number of coasties living a transient phase of their life, and a very strong history of political protests which leads to something subtly like scorn for the rules and social conventions. I won't pretend that night games are a welcoming atmosphere for visitors, but I have walked past and alongside thousands of visiting fans near the stadium and I've never seen anybody in somebody's face, much less physically violent. It surely happens, but it's rare. The swearing is common. Anybody surprised by it did not do their homework. Anybody offended by it will need thicker skin at away games. I'll give you that Camp Randall is probably the worst in the B1G for language and I'll admit that I wish it was a bit toned down. It is reality, though, and it's not personal. I think the under 30s just tend to swear a lot here in general. When I was 12 I freaked my babysitter from Maryland out with my language and so I've paid attention to my words more around people from Not-Madison. I'm not endorsing it but I have to ask this: If the people saying the words don't mean them in the way that you think they mean them, should you be frightened by or angry about their words? I sincerely wish the incidents reported here hadn't occurred. I loathe the idea of new rules and laws generally but I would welcome an initiative here that would put undercover policemen out on the streets with the intent to hand citations to anybody seen verbally or physically assaulting another. That stuff has to stop. I'll defend the language but if people are feeling physically threatened here it's a damned tragedy and needs to be addressed.

I grew up watching my team slowly gain national respect after starting from almost nothing. I always kind of held Nebraska as the benchmark that we should measure ourselves by. Meanwhile, Nebraska was out pounding the hell out of everybody. I hoped that the Badgers would one day get the Huskers in a home game to see how we stack up against you. When UW went to an option-heavy offense from 1996-2001 I was really tantalized by the similarities between the programs. Obviously Nebraska has, of late, gotten away from the 'ram it down your throat' style of offense but the two programs resemble one-another in so many ways, from the enthusiasm on a Saturday to the understanding that they do things honestly to the uniforms and stadiums. Welcome to the B1G! Welcome to the message board communities. Your fanbase has a reputation that will fit well. You'll find that the arguments are just as passionate, but perhaps with better grammar than you're used to. Unless you're on Ohio State's boards. I'm genuinely excited that this day has come.