Madison Experience

[teach'emhowtobucky]

Hello Husker fans! Welcome to the B1G!

This thread isn't about gloating, although I am very happy with the performance of my Badgers last night. I'm interested in hearing about your Madison experience. It is a great place for a game, but I know from experience that during night games there can be some rowdy Badger fans. Hopefully your experience was positive.

What'd you think about your first experience of college football in Madison? I wasn't able to get to town for the game, but from what I heard it was unreal! The energy in the stadium was unbelievable at the start of the game even through television. You have great fans.

On Wisconsin!

 

[Eric the Red]

Nice thread. I'm interested to hear as well

 

[dave]

Me, too. Hey - maybe this should be a weekly sticky for each away game for people to post that went to the games. I don't go to many, but it would be nice to know if there's a particular stadium to avoid. (ie, Colorado)

 

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

One of my friends said it was absolutely terrible, he honestly didn't know how people could be that classless.

 

[dave]

Perhaps threads like this should require first person perspectives if they're weekly pins.

 

[Drive1010]

One of my friends said it was absolutely terrible, he honestly didn't know how people could be that classless.

Right? :rolls eyes: A friend of a friend maybe? Some cousin you knew? Sounds like sour grapes to me. Whenever you lose, someone has to come on here and in their anger turn the attention to the fanbase of the team that just vanquished them...how terrible they were...how (insert winning fanbase) "they threw beer at us and spit at us and it was terrible." So typical.

Your post is false bud. And if it were true; your friend should stop going to CFB games. He obviously is more suited for a Teletubbies concert.

 

[FatalB]

One of my friends said it was absolutely terrible, he honestly didn't know how people could be that classless.

Right? :rolls eyes: A friend of a friend maybe? Some cousin you knew? Sounds like sour grapes to me. Whenever you lose, someone has to come on here and in their anger turn the attention to the fanbase of the team that just vanquished them...how terrible they were...how (insert winning fanbase) "they threw beer at us and spit at us and it was terrible." So typical.

Your post is false bud. And if it were true; your friend should stop going to CFB games. He obviously is more suited for a Teletubbies concert.

dude, his one sentence statement really must've struck a nerve for you to be defensive enough to register to this forum and respond in that manner with your first post.

 

[General Blackshirt]

Really? Sour grapes? That's because it's just downright impossible for Wisconsin to be classless?

a-hole. a-hole. a-hole.

Eat sh#t. f#*k you.

You have classless fans (students), and a good football team. The result of the game doesn't change the fact that your fans are piles of scum, we'd still be saying it even if we won.

 

[knapplc]

One of my friends said it was absolutely terrible, he honestly didn't know how people could be that classless.

Right? :rolls eyes: A friend of a friend maybe? Some cousin you knew? Sounds like sour grapes to me. Whenever you lose, someone has to come on here and in their anger turn the attention to the fanbase of the team that just vanquished them...how terrible they were...how (insert winning fanbase) "they threw beer at us and spit at us and it was terrible." So typical.

Your post is false bud. And if it were true; your friend should stop going to CFB games. He obviously is more suited for a Teletubbies concert.

I would accept your skepticism if this was the first time I'd heard something like this about Madison, but when fans of Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State and Purdue are all telling you that you're going to get harassed - badly - at Camp Randall, I think it carries a little more weight. Camp Randall is not well-respected as a game experience throughout the Big Ten. That's not sour grapes, that's an earned reputation.

Now, the caveat to that is that I saw a TON of folks really enjoying their stay in Madison on local news last night, folks who met and got along with Wisconsin fans very well. Plus we've had I think a 100% positive bunch of Wisconsin fans register here at HuskerBoard who were both welcoming and friendly to us as the Big Ten n00bs. So clearly there are some very good, quality people rooting for Wisconsin, and the bad experiences are not wholly indicative of your fan base.

Just be real. There are bad apples. Don't pretend there aren't, just like we won't pretend there aren't classless Husker fans out there.

 

[hopittome]

Really? Sour grapes? That's because it's just downright impossible for Wisconsin to be classless?

a-hole. a-hole. a-hole.

Eat sh#t. f#*k you.

You have classless fans (students), and a good football team. The result of the game doesn't change the fact that your fans are piles of scum, we'd still be saying it even if we won.

Wow. I think your generalizing is a bit absurd. Piles of scum? Really? Look, I'm sorry you guys lost, but grouping all Badgers fans together and calling us "scum" isn't exactly classy. How ironic.

I'm a student and I was at the game. As usual, I wasn't particularly thrilled with how the student section behaved. I'm still disturbed by the "shoot him like a horse chant" for injured opposing players. I find it to be horrible. As a grad student, we usually take a back seat to the chants and are quite a bit more reserved. But to call us piles of scum? It's silly, and ridiculous.

I found most of the Nebraska fans to be great--we hung out with a lot of them prior to the game and invited them to drink/eat with us as they walked by. Tailgating is loads of fun, and we're more than happy to accommodate opposing fans. Once you get into Camp Randall, all bets are off. It's a very, very hostile atmosphere, and there's a reason we hardly ever lose at home. But you know what? It's part of the game. When I was walking over, some obnoxious Nebraska fans started yelling obscenities and screaming at us. Do you think I group all of you together as douchebags because of those fans? Of course not.

I'm guessing most of your fans had a great time before the game, and then were unhappy throughout the actual game--likely because of the way things went. The atmosphere was electric, it was a ton of fun, and these were the best waves and "Jump Around" I've ever taken part in. Just my two cents.

Oh, as a side note--Iowa fans deserve the hatred. Our rivalry with them is bad. I haven't found any of their fans to be gracious or respectful, so I have no problem dishing the crap right back in their face. I've found MSU fans to be pretty awful, too.

 

[knapplc]

Wow. I think your generalizing is a bit absurd. Piles of scum? Really? Look, I'm sorry you guys lost, but grouping all Badgers fans together and calling us "scum" isn't exactly classy. How ironic.

I'm a student and I was at the game. As usual, I wasn't particularly thrilled with how the student section behaved. I'm still disturbed by the "shoot him like a horse chant" for injured opposing players. I find it to be horrible. As a grad student, we usually take a back seat to the chants and are quite a bit more reserved. But to call us piles of scum? It's silly, and ridiculous.

I found most of the Nebraska fans to be great--we hung out with a lot of them prior to the game and invited them to drink/eat with us as they walked by. Tailgating is loads of fun, and we're more than happy to accommodate opposing fans. Once you get into Camp Randall, all bets are off. It's a very, very hostile atmosphere, and there's a reason we hardly ever lose at home. But you know what? It's part of the game. When I was walking over, some obnoxious Nebraska fans started yelling obscenities and screaming at us. Do you think I group all of you together as douchebags because of those fans? Of course not.

I'm guessing most of your fans had a great time before the game, and then were unhappy throughout the actual game--likely because of the way things went. The atmosphere was electric, it was a ton of fun, and these were the best waves and "Jump Around" I've ever taken part in. Just my two cents.

Welcome to the Board, hopittome. General is a bit of a passionate poster, and his analyses tend to reflect that. So take that with a grain of salt (apologies, General Blackshirt).

I think there are legit criticisms to be leveled at the Camp Randall crowd, mostly the students, but overall I think you're right that your folks treated our folks very well. I'm not hearing the horror stories that I had been told I would hear by fans of other Big Ten teams. Seems like it was a rocking good time, even though the game didn't reflect that.

 

[TAW]

One of my friends said it was absolutely terrible, he honestly didn't know how people could be that classless.

Right? :rolls eyes: A friend of a friend maybe? Some cousin you knew? Sounds like sour grapes to me. Whenever you lose, someone has to come on here and in their anger turn the attention to the fanbase of the team that just vanquished them...how terrible they were...how (insert winning fanbase) "they threw beer at us and spit at us and it was terrible." So typical.

Your post is false bud. And if it were true; your friend should stop going to CFB games. He obviously is more suited for a Teletubbies concert.

I would accept your skepticism if this was the first time I'd heard something like this about Madison, but when fans of Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State and Purdue are all telling you that you're going to get harassed - badly - at Camp Randall, I think it carries a little more weight. Camp Randall is not well-respected as a game experience throughout the Big Ten. That's not sour grapes, that's an earned reputation.

Now, the caveat to that is that I saw a TON of folks really enjoying their stay in Madison on local news last night, folks who met and got along with Wisconsin fans very well. Plus we've had I think a 100% positive bunch of Wisconsin fans register here at HuskerBoard who were both welcoming and friendly to us as the Big Ten n00bs. So clearly there are some very good, quality people rooting for Wisconsin, and the bad experiences are not wholly indicative of your fan base.

Just be real. There are bad apples. Don't pretend there aren't, just like we won't pretend there aren't classless Husker fans out there.

I really think the difference is in how you define "classless," a word that is probably my least favorite of any on sports message boards, as it seems to mean anything an opposing fan/team does that the poster does not like, but that's another thread. The chanting of "a$$hole" is juvenile, but is not mean-spirited. It has been a traditional way of the students to point out opposing fans. If the word "a$$hole" offends you, you will be offended by this. Other fans smile and toast the chanters. The ES-FU chant is also juvenile and was clever when introduced (take off on "tastes great-less filling), but this chant is directed at one student section by another students section, not at visiting fans or even non-student sections. When my kids were little and we went to a game, I would tell them that the students were saying "Eat Fish, Beef Stew." Admittedly, I have a pretty wide tolerance for human behavior, which may be why I have had only positive experiences in the many college stadiums I have visited, but I would categorize the student chants as "vulgar," not classless. Classless to me is "shoot him like a horse," one sporting chant I have never been able to abide.

You will also find fans at many of the schools you mentioned who have had a great time in Madison and can't wait until they come back again.

 

[Enhance]

Students being classless and disrespectful? Isn't this generally a given, at ANY college football venue? I'm surrounded by other students at all the Husker games, and they can be downright vicious.

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).

 

[Shaunk2007]

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.

Too bad this isn't true for Iowa fans, I guess they just have a chip on their shoulder cause they have to live in Iowa.

 

[Excel]

One of my friends said it was absolutely terrible, he honestly didn't know how people could be that classless.

Right? :rolls eyes: A friend of a friend maybe? Some cousin you knew? Sounds like sour grapes to me. Whenever you lose, someone has to come on here and in their anger turn the attention to the fanbase of the team that just vanquished them...how terrible they were...how (insert winning fanbase) "they threw beer at us and spit at us and it was terrible." So typical.

Your post is false bud. And if it were true; your friend should stop going to CFB games. He obviously is more suited for a Teletubbies concert.

I would accept your skepticism if this was the first time I'd heard something like this about Madison, but when fans of Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State and Purdue are all telling you that you're going to get harassed - badly - at Camp Randall, I think it carries a little more weight. Camp Randall is not well-respected as a game experience throughout the Big Ten. That's not sour grapes, that's an earned reputation.

Now, the caveat to that is that I saw a TON of folks really enjoying their stay in Madison on local news last night, folks who met and got along with Wisconsin fans very well. Plus we've had I think a 100% positive bunch of Wisconsin fans register here at HuskerBoard who were both welcoming and friendly to us as the Big Ten n00bs. So clearly there are some very good, quality people rooting for Wisconsin, and the bad experiences are not wholly indicative of your fan base.

Just be real. There are bad apples. Don't pretend there aren't, just like we won't pretend there aren't classless Husker fans out there.

Longtime lurker first time poster,

Let me start off by saying good game last night. I've always respected the Huskers and used to root for them in Big XII play so its great to now have you in the conference. You guys came out playing well and while it fell apart as the game wore on I wouldn't take it as the end of the world. We had a similar feeling after the Badgers changed up play for the Rose Bowl (passing like crazy) and we lost it, if the Huskers get back to what works for them they'll be fine.

That said I just wanted to chime in on Madison Gamedays....

Yes, we, like every fan base, have some classless fans, unfortunately for us its a very large population and is for the most part students. The students are a mixed bag, they're loud and bring a lot of energy to the game but they're also vulgar and rude at times...yea we know that, we're sorry, we've tried to stop the Eat poo, F you chants...it doesn't work, they still do it (btw that chant isn't directed at visitors but at other students). Those fans aside I promise you we're not all so inhospitable.

As far as the gameday experience not being well respected I don't think this could be further off base. Madison gamedays are nationally recognized as being some of the best around, maybe not toward visiting fans but look at it from our perspective...we're not used to being invaded by 20-30k opposing fans who think they're about to teach us something so yes, you're going to get some hostility. Be big boys and suck it up. You're not going to an out of town church service you're going to Camp Randall. What do you honestly expect, hugs and kisses all around? It's Wisconsin, we have nothing to do but drink and watch football, its going to get nasty.

That's pretty much it. In closing I really do hope you have a great season. Now go beat the Gophers and Hawkeyes and we'll see you in Indianapolis.