Burrowing Badgers

Badger Volleyball. 9/23/2016 (dwm photo)

  The sports world provided one of the first "this is serious" moments in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic when the NBA shut down its season when a player tested positive last March.  

  The NHL and NCAA followed suit.  Baseball interrupted spring training and didn't get on the field until July in front of thousands of empty seats.

  The NFL played close to a normal season, although their season didn't look anything like normal.  College sports resumed slowly - Division 1 football played less than their usual number of games.  Basketball and hockey started late and women's volleyball opted for a winter/spring season instead of autumn.

Football, basketball, hockey, and volleyball are the revenue sports at Wisconsin.  Most big-time collegesrely on football and hope men's basketball puts a lot of fans in the seats.  Football brings home the bacon, but it certainly helps the Olympic sports (rowing, wrestling, swimming, etc.) field teams and award scholarships.

That was a factor (maybe the biggest) in major colleges getting back in the game.  When the NCAA basketball tournament was cancelled last spring - that meant the big check never showed up in the mail.

Badger women's hockey. 3/1/2013 (dwm photo)

It's been a weird year for Bucky.  Men's basketball came in with high expectations with six seniors in the regular rotation.  They've done well in a tough B1G conference, but the difficult games means they are just above .500 with a few games left to play.  If they make the big dance, I think they can make the second weekend.

Women's hockey is traditionally one of the best in the country and are on track for big finish.  Women's volleyball has been tanked #1 in the nation most of the season - it would be awesome to see them win it all.  Men's hockey is playing their best since the team won the title in 2006.

All those season come to a head over the next few weeks.  In a sports landscaped still scarred by the coronavirus, it's been fun to root for Bucky.