Madison Experience

[hopittome]

Using the students as a means to judge a fan base is completely unfair, imho. Unless those students take things to entirely new levels (like the Colorado students being thrown out in '05, or the rumors that our band got urine dumped on them in '07 at Missouri).

 

I'm actually really interested to see what the NU fans who attended the game thought. Forget the actual student section--the two biggest things we do are a very unique "wave" around the stadium multiple times, and then, of course, "Jump Around." I've been to other schools, too, and have gotten harassed by students--definitely something to be expected.

 

I will say this: at last night's game in the student section, instead of tossing around a beach ball, students were batting around a giant, blow-up penis. Was it immature? Absolutely, but I still thought it was hilarious. I don't think I've ever heard of us doing anything as bad as the urine--I know that we upset Michigan in the 90s and students pulled off a bleacher seat and threw it over the side of the stadium. That was pretty bad (and criminal).

 

Oh, and by the way, totally unrelated: I did my undergrad at Buffalo, so I just wanted to say I'm a huge Turner Gill fan. I hope he manages to turn things around at Kansas...they're in desperate need of some success.

[Atbone95]

I had a Badger fan walk up to me, pull the cigarette out of his mouth, and blow the smoke in my face...

[commando]

I had a Badger fan walk up to me, pull the cigarette out of his mouth, and blow the smoke in my face...

 

he was probably flirting with you.

[NUance]

MADISON, Wis. — Their last-minute plan was hatched, as so many brilliant plans are, inside a room at a fraternity house in Lincoln. Aron Wehr and four buddies sat in that room at the the Lambda Chi Alpha house, bored, on Friday night. We should have gone to Madison, one said. We still can, said another. The game doesn't start for 24 hours. They looked at each other. "Let's go,'' Aron Wehr said.

 

 

So on Saturday morning, Aron Wehr and four of his buddies found themselves tailgating eight blocks from Camp Randall Stadium — one of a veritable Black Sea of Husker fans who simply showed up in Wisconsin as if drawn by a force they didn't quite understand. Wehr and Co. lacked so many things essential for a college football road trip. They didn't have tickets or the hundreds of dollars needed to scalp any. They didn't have a hotel room. Some forgot toothbrushes. Some forgot everything. "I didn't even bring clean underwear!" Wehr said.

 

What the Lambda Chi Alpha brothers had was a simple bedrock belief. They would rather be here more than pretty much anywhere else in the world.

They had thrown, and completed, their own personal Hail Mary pass. LINK

 

Pretty good article in the Weird Harold about a bunch of frat boys road tripping to Madison. I guess that's one way to experience Mad-Town.

[VA Husker Fan]

I'd like to hear from Husker attendees too, with some detail. Some may really be offended by vulgarity, some will let it roll. I don't want someone stepping right in front of me and screaming it in my face. If it's just a rude chant, I'm not impressed but I can live with it. What I don't want is physical assaults, urine bombs, rock packed snowballs, stuff thrown from cars hitting fans, etc. I also want to hear about people being invited to tailgate parties, being welcomed by home fans, friendly banter, etc.

[Brood]

It's just an immature crowd, then - I'm sure like every fanbase though there were rotten eggs and bunches of saints. I feel Nebraska may have had a worse experience than they ever will in Madison mostly because of the game being our first Big 10 experience... hell, I sort of see this game as becoming a rivalry between Wiscy and Nebraska. So long the fans there keep to being mostly sane towards our fans, I think there won't be a problem even if we get some stories of a drunken asshat <insert stupidness here> towards a Nebraska fan.

 

One thing that caught me by surprise however - The chanting overall from the Wiscy fans. It was part entertaining and cool, yet part... annoying. Good fun it seemed nonetheless.

[Badger_HB]

The singing is cool, but there is simply no excuse for the vulgar chants. No excuse.

[BadgerFan1963]

Stumbled on the is site while reading about last nights game... Just to add a little perspective, the Eat Sh/F U chant has been going on since I went to the games in the early 80's. It is the student sections bashing on each other. It is childish yes... but it is in no way directed at the visiting fans, just one section calling out another section. Good luck with the rest of the season and please put a whooping on the suckeyes next week.

[Minnesota_husker]

Everything i have ever heard about Badger fans is negative.

 

I have some friends that go to wisconsin and i think the problem is they get so drunk they can't control themselves.

 

I grew up rooting for the goofs and i always hated Wiscy fans.

[AK-47]

With the exception of the mid-40s man that I was inclined to make tear up using merely my words, everyone I met in Madison that was over college age was friendly and fun to talk to. The students were just kinda stupid. Their vulgar chants were just uncreative and pointless. If they would have been funnier about it, I would have left with a higher appreciation for the fanbase in general.

[Hercules]

Living in Minnesota, close to the Wisconsin border, I have realized that in general badger football takes a very big back seat to the Packers. Now I know some big badgers fans with a lot of class but in my experience I have come across many more badger fans that I would consider band wagon fans that treat college football more like just entertainment on a Saturday morning. If it doesn't work out Saturday they say "o well we still have the packers tomorrow" but if they win they like to rub it in. This culture is very different than Nebraska football because college football is a way of life in Nebraska. I am starting to believe that if you have another team to fall back on, you are more likely to trash talk and treat opposing fans disrespectfully and unfortunately this the the experience I have had most over the past week.

 

This is my personal experience. My roommate is from Wisconsin, big Packers fan, and a self-proclaimed Wisconsin fan. Thing is, he hasn't watched a Wisconsin game all year, including last night's game. Still gives me crap about it though.

[Bdgrfan]

I was there last night and I really enjoyed all the Huskers fans I talked to. I didn't see a single thing that I would consider a negative interaction between UW and Neb fans. A little trash-talking? Sure, but nothing that wasn't in the spirit of fun. And it was generally followed by respectful and serious talk about the game, the teams, the campuses, etc. And to be honest, I always asked them how they were enjoying the trip, and no one had a bad word to say. About Madison and the people hear anyway. About the Huskers is a different story.

 

Yes, UW students have vulgar chants. They've been a tradition for decades now. Those of us who go every week just kind of roll our eyes and ignore it. And as others already said, it's all internally directed and has nothing to do with opposing fans. It's a remnant of the days when the Badgers sucked and students had to entertain themselves during the game. It became tradition. There's been efforts to rein it in over the years, with the predictable effect of increasing it. And if you were there, the ES-FU, over-rated etc chants were entirely confined to the student section.

 

I've never gone to a road game in the Big Ten or a bowl and not run across some. I'm absolutely sure I'll run across some if I head down to Lincoln next year. But it's a little silly to judge an entire fan base of 80,000 on one or two anecdotes.

[hopittome]

Everything i have ever heard about Badger fans is negative.

 

I have some friends that go to wisconsin and i think the problem is they get so drunk they can't control themselves.

 

I grew up rooting for the goofs and i always hated Wiscy fans.

 

Of course you do, but then again, that's probably the Viking in you. Does it suck to root for an NFL team that's an embarrassment to the league and will never, ever win a Super Bowl?

 

As for the whole Packers/Badgers thing...it's true. Life revolves around football in Wisconsin, and as soon as a Badgers game is over, the whole state is looking forward to the Packers game the next day. The vast majority of people in Madison are diehard Badgers fans, but people here also love the Packers. Honestly, what do you expect?

[Badger_HB]

Everything i have ever heard about Badger fans is negative.

 

I have some friends that go to wisconsin and i think the problem is they get so drunk they can't control themselves.

 

I grew up rooting for the goofs and i always hated Wiscy fans.

Of course you do, but then again, that's probably the Viking in you. Does it suck to root for an NFL team that's an embarrassment to the league and will never, ever win a Super Bowl?

Dude, take it easy. These things tend to be cyclical. Just a few short years ago that "embarrassment" was in the NFCCG...

[hopittome]

Everything i have ever heard about Badger fans is negative.

 

I have some friends that go to wisconsin and i think the problem is they get so drunk they can't control themselves.

 

I grew up rooting for the goofs and i always hated Wiscy fans.

Of course you do, but then again, that's probably the Viking in you. Does it suck to root for an NFL team that's an embarrassment to the league and will never, ever win a Super Bowl?

Dude, take it easy. These things tend to be cyclical. Just a few short years ago that "embarrassment" was in the NFCCG...

 

Hehe, they also really learned what it's like to have Brett Favre as your QB...