Football is the most episodic of sports, and therefore it is one of easiest sports to follow. You only have to focus your attention for one game per week for most teams, and most teams play similar schedules year after year. Although not born there, I am a Cheesehead and follow the two most recognizable Cheesehead squads (the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers) closely. I also follow, from a distance, the exploits of my alma maters (Xavier High School and Beloit College). It's an odd assortment of teams and one that is not necessarily known for success. But lately things have been pretty good for most of these teams.
The Packers are down now, as Brett Favre slowly fades away. The team was unable to keep the talent level around Favre at a good enough level, and the current Packers look to be the least talented team they've fielded since the dismal 1970s. Those were the formative years of my Packer experience and there was a certain dread that accompanied Sundays in those days: the Packers would show up and someone (usually the Vikings) would mercilessly drub them. And once the game was over, we'd either go out and throw the Nerf football around or (if the weather was bad), we'd flip on the exciting AFC game, which in my memory usually involved Daryle Lamonica throwing bombs to Fred Biletnikoff, often against the Chiefs or Broncos, it would seem. Favre has, for over a decade, made football on Sunday enjoyable for the long-suffering Packer faithful. He even won a Super Bowl back in '96. But that era is ending.
The Badgers were Big 10 roadkill for most of their history. They reached the Rose Bowl a few times prior to the arrival of Barry Alvarez, but the last time was when my father was still an undergraduate. Then Barry arrived, and everything changed. The players would change - Brent Moss would become Ron Dayne would become Anthony Davis would become Brian Calhoun - but the success would continue. Three Rose Bowls in the 1990s, with three victories. Neither Woody Hayes nor Bo Schembechler accomplished that. And all this success in an era where another big bully (Penn State) joined the league. Barry is gone now, too, but the Badgers look well situated for the future.
Beloit College is many things - a fine liberal arts school, an active, lively campus and one of the better "safety" schools around for the kids who don't get into the Ivies. But it has never been a football powerhouse. Ed DeGeorge coached the program for 30 seasons before retiring last season and managed to finish with a record slightly better than .500. Considering the talent level Beloit usually has on hand, this was a remarkable performance. In the 1970s, Beloit would regularly lose games by scores of 87-0. Now, they are at least competitive. They've even won shares of the conference championship in recent years. And they've figured out a way to get at least one win each year, guaranteed - they've made Macalester their primary non-conference opponent.
Then there's XHS. When the school was founded in the late 1950s, they had immediate success in all sports, including football. One key was that the Hawks fielded a fleet, powerful running back named Bob Bleier, who later gained fame at Notre Dame and with the Pittsburgh Steelers under the name of Rocky Bleier. Bleier was an authentic American hero, who served time and was severly injured in Vietnam, but was able to overcome his injuries and become a key contributor to four Super Bowl championships. But the reflected glory Bleier brought back to XHS was long gone by the time my classmates entered the school. Xavier was highly consistent the four years I was there - 2-7 each season, generally crushed by the same schools each season and with occasional victories over some other conference weak sister. It's been astonishing to see that these days, Xavier is again a powerhouse. The Hawks no longer play only Catholic schools and instead compete against smaller high schools from neighboring towns. In the past few years, Xavier has won conference championships and made it to the state semi-finals in 2004. Amazing.
All fans have their stories to tell. I'll tell a few more over the coming months.
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