If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me "Who are you going to cheer for in the Hall of Fame Bowl?", well, let's just say Ed McMahon could call someone else's number later this month and I wouldn't be too disappointed. Being a Duke student and a Wisconsin native made me somewhat of a curiosity piece for weeks.
I am, after all, a cheesehead. This term started out as a derogatory epithet for people from my state. Instead, the people embraced it. I don't think the population was too drunk on Miller products (made in Milwaukee, thank you) to realize that it was being made fun of. They just chose not to be offended by it.
At the game in Tampa, the number of orange hats with holes in them numbered close to triple digits. People wore cow suits to the game -- plastic udders and all. "America's Dairyland" is the slogan my state government trumpets to anyone who will listen. Other fans had inflatable beer mugs on their heads.
Such garb reminded me of another state motto one of my dad's intellectual buddies once told me while we were golfing and while he was on the outside of a few Bloody Marys. Edited to receive a PG rating, he said something like "Wisconsin -- land of cow manure and beer flatulence."
And boy do those Badger fans like their fermented beverages. Anyone who spent time in Tampa for the bowl had to be impressed (or disgusted D take your pick) by the number of Badger fans in every bar.
Why did so many of them make the trek? To escape the could weather is one reason. As their cows take every opportunity to find greener pastures, so do Wisconsinites search for warm weather. Another reason is money. Milk futures did well last year, I think.
As for the football game itself, I told everyone who asked for my appraisal of the two teams that Duke could win, but the Badgers probably would. Duke would move the ball through the air some, but Wisconsin would gain more yards on the ground, I said. The Badgers were just too big up front and would wear down the undersized Duke defense late in the game.
I hoped I was wrong. I wanted Duke to win, figuring the Badgers didn't need this victory to give their program a boost. From the large list of commitments Duke head coach Fred Goldsmith has for next year, perhaps the Blue Devils didn't either.
Most of the Wisconsin fans I met before the game talked about Duke with condescending words. They told me the Badger running game couldn't be stopped. Then they tried to ease my pain, saying that Duke did have a great season no matter what happened in the bowl, and that I still had basketball to look forward to.
With the recent slump suffered by the men's basketball team, I am left to wonder if those same people would now try to tell me that I had next year's football team to look forward to?
I'm sure the game was anticlimactic for some. The masses of people eating bratwurst and draining beers in the parking lot at 10 a.m. looked pretty excited to be doing just that. Some probably missed one or more of Duke quarterback Spence Fischer's interceptions.
But Fischer bounced back remarkably well and got the Blue Devils back into the game. Early in the third quarter, thoughts of gloating to my UW friends entered my head. Two late Wisconsin touchdown marches crushed those dreams, but I was impressed and proud that Duke continued to fight to the end. With even just one more good break on a defensive stop, the Blue Devils might have had the ball with a chance to win.
I watched the Wisconsin band take the field for the Fifth Quarter with some disappointment. It quickly faded. The Wisconsin fans call themselves the Bleacher Creatures, and they do know how to act like animals. They sang and danced and acted foolish. That was cool.
Then they all tried to beat me home. That wasn't so cool. Before leaving Wisconsin, I had tried to book a flight back on the evening after the game. Instead, I had to wait until Jan. 5 for the first available flight.
But my stay in Tampa turned out to be quite enjoyable due to the hospitality of my hosts (case in point: despite never before meeting my friends' parents before, her dad gave me the keys to his Mercedes the second day I was there) and one bit of chilling news I heard on the evening news the day after the game.
Earlier in the year, the success of the Duke football team produced a solid "wave" by the crowd in a packed Wallace Wade and a standing ovation for Goldsmith when he entered Cameron Indoor Stadium for a preseason basketball game.
Now, Duke football had pulled me away from Wisconsin, where the temperature had dipped into the single digits, the Tampa weatherperson told me.
Thank God for Duke football.
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