The Golden Age of Wisconsin Sports

The Spoiled Years
In 1996, I was nine years old and just developing my love for all Wisconsin sports. I remember watching Brett Favre and idolizing him for every touchdown he threw and every comeback he led. I worshiped the Packers and Favre that year and when they won Super Bowl 31, I felt like I had won too. Every inch of my bedroom walls were covered by Brett Favre and Reggie White posters. (I even had green and yellow streamers draped across my ceiling... for effect, I guess.) Two years later the Badgers won back to back Rose Bowls and I was again on top of the sports fans world and spoiled. 

The Dark Years
A few years later it all came crashing down on my head. The Packers were good, but not great. The Badgers football team was solid but never made it to a bowl game worth remembering. I had become a big Brewers fan, but they were the Brewers, terrible. I was a huge fan of the Bucks, but even at their peak, I was left disappointed. The only thing positive I remember from that time was the Final Four run by the Badgers basketball team in 2000. I looked back at the Packers Super Bowl win and the Badgers Rose Bowls and wondered if the best Wisconsin sports fan era was over. I mean, some cities haven't had a championship team in forever. Could it be that Wisconsin was the next great sports drought capital?! (These are the questions a teenager thinks about in class.) Granted, it had only been 6 or 7 years of sports mediocrity, but it felt like much longer to me at the time. Soon I came to realize that I was spoiled as a ten year old. The Packers were my first distinct sports memory and everything after was a let down. In all honesty, compared to a lot of cities/states, even "the Dark Ages" probably were not as bad as I remember. Over the next few years, the Packers would get my hopes up of another championship and I would enjoy every minute of the season, but alas, I would be let down once again. I followed the Brewers and Bucks religiously, but at seasons end I would be trying to forget what had happened.

Changes are Brewing
But then things started to change: Aaron Rodgers gave me hope that the Packers would one day challenge for another championship; the Brewers young stars started to give me hope for the future; the Badgers started to build a strong winning foundation under Bret Bielema. The Bucks even drafted a few guys that weren't busts (RIP Tractor Traylor) and made it to the postseason. My optimism was growing, but I tried to diminish my excitement because being a pessimistic sports fan is easier to deal with losing then being overly optimistic.

The Beginning of the Golden Age
Last December I flew down to Charlotte, North Carolina to meet up with my college roommate Tim and spend a few days down there before driving up the east coast to Foxborough. The Packers were playing at New England and Tim is a huge Patriots fan, so we decided to go to the game and then drive up to Vermont to his parents house before I flew home and he drove back down south. I was not in the best of moods knowing that I spent all this money on plane tickets and gas and food to go out to Foxborough and see Matt Flynn take on the Pats. Aaron Rodgers had just gotten a concussion against Detroit the week prior and lost the game and now the Packers needed help to get into the playoffs. The afternoon before the game, Desean Jackson returned a punt against the Giants for a touchdown and gave the Packers the help they needed to get into the playoffs without having to beat the Patriots. To my surprise, the Packers almost pulled out a stunning victory in Foxborough against one of the best teams in the NFL, on the road, without Aaron Rodgers. Things were looking up.

The Golden Age
The Packers still needed to win their last two regular season games just to make the playoffs and we all know what happened. Those two final games catapulted them into one of the greatest playoff runs which ended in a Super Bowl 45 victory. At the same time, the Badgers football team was rolling through opponents and racking up outrageous numbers. The Badgers made it to the Rose Bowl and lost to TCU, but things were looking up in Madison. The Brewers followed not long after behind the one-two punch of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, and captured their first division title since 1982. The Badgers had Russell Wilson fall into their laps in the off season and now are legitimate national title contenders. The Packers are off to one of the hottest starts in team history at 5-0 and Aaron Rodgers looks like an early season runaway MVP. The Brewers won a thrilling 7 game series in the NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks and are now tied 2-2 against NL Central division rival St. Louis. Although I thought I had witnessed the Golden Age of Wisconsin sports at an early age, I now see that I am currently living in the Golden Age. The Bucks aren't losing so that can be counted as a win I suppose. Wisconsin has two quality college basketball programs as UW and Marquette both look to build off sweet sixteen appearances from last year. Fans of Wisconsin sports should do their best to enjoy every moment of what is going on right now because this truly is the Golden Age and I'm not sure if the stars will align like this ever again.