Dreams

In college, if either Burch (far right, goatee, funny hat) or I had a dream that we remembered into breakfast time the next morning, we made sure to tell each other so there was some kind of record of it. So it was with great pleasure that I read the following email from my good friend, recounting a Badger-related dream.

This will probably only be enjoyable to those of you who know the parties involved ... then again, that's like half my readership!

Hey dudes,

I had to get this dream down on paper and share it with you guys. In the dream, the 3 of us are watching the Badgers play in the NIT championship game. We're sitting in the front row, but the game is being played in a high school gym-like setting. Fast-forward to the final minute of the game: the Badgers are down by one (can't remember who they are playing) and we're seriously nervous. A Badger player is fouled and goes to the line. As the 3 of us discuss end of the game strategies, I glance over at the player on the line and it's Schwalbach. He's wearing his old Badger middle school uniform. So as we discuss strategy, the elder Schwalbach (sitting next to us) is critiquing the younger Schwalbach at the free throw line. Here's a vivid version of the exchange:

Tappa: "I'm nervous. Schwalbach has problems with his hands."
Schwalbach: "I have carpal tunnel syndrome, so free throws are not my strong suit."
[Young Schwalbach shoots free throw. Picture two clenched fists held together with a basketball balancing on them -- that's his form. He does this odd-looking push shot that makes it halfway to the basket and rolls out-of-bounds (similar to Koebel's pathetic free throw attempt captured on video during the St. John's tourney). The second shot is a line drive that hits the bottom of the rim and goes straight down, again landing out-of-bounds. Badger fans let out a collective groan.]

Burch: "Gosh I feel sorry for him".
Schwalbach: "Me too".
Tappa: (face buried in his hands, he's irate) "God! Come on Schwalbach!"

The Badgers eventually go on to win the game and we storm the court, moshing with the rest of the team as "Jump Around" blares over the PA system (strangely it's only us celebrating with the team -- no one else stormed the court).

Reflecting on the dream, in particular Schwalbach's shooting style/horrible FT attempts and Tappa's reaction to the mildly-handicapped younger Schwalbach, still have me laughing and it's almost 3 in the afternoon.

Hope all is well with you guys .... NIT champs baby!

B

Several thoughts:

-If you've never seen "Koebel's pathetic free throw attempt" referenced by Burch, please try to. We're in eighth grade playing in a tournament in a typical middle school gym, and John Koebel, aka Chez Whitey, shoots a free throw so horrible it goes about 5-6 feet right of the rim and out the door, into the hallway! Has to be seen to be believed.

-I've seen Schwalbach shoot free throws before, using a clenched-fist style might be an improvement.

-On the flag football field, Schwib's hands were his strong suit. Unfortunately, as a lineman, he was prohibited from using them aside from the sneak point-after attempt.

-Another way this dream was not grounded in reality -- the Badgers don't play in the NIT anymore.

When we were young and the Badgers stunk

When guys my age were young, in the 1980s, mainstream University of Wisconsin sports were horrible. Hockey was a powerhouse, but no one I knew played hockey. The football team was a joke, and the basketball team, while flirting with the NIT and delivering some big upsets, wasn't much better.

This drove some of us to root for other college teams that played in big games and postseason tournaments. In basketball, I liked Georgetown and Arizona. In football, I liked Oklahoma and Florida State. Thankfully, for the past 15 years we've had a home team playing important games and winning a good chunk of them.

Our good friend Scott Burch - he liked Penn State. As this picture indicates. Let's hear the cheer now:

"Penn State!" Clap, clap "Penn STATE!" Clap, clap. "Penn STATE!" Clap, clap.

Special thanks to Rob Jansen for sending me this Holy Angels football photo out of the blue this afternoon. The accompanying quote: "I think Burch was the 'get back' guy on the sideline."

Wisconsin-Minnesota: 2005 pictures

Snowed in one recent morning so I spent some time cleaning up my Hotmail Inbox. Found these pictures from Mr. Scott Burch, taken at the 2005 Wisconsin-Minnesota game. Most people will remember that game for Jonathan Casillas's blocked punt and Ben Strickland's recovery for the game-winning touchdown, but many of us will remember Toohey's similar second-half explosion. Others will remember the Toren-Tappa bipartisan Baggo dominance.

Vegas was fun

Before we get too far out from what actually happened, I wanted to post some photos taken by our good friend Molle Polzin from our group's trip to Vegas for the UW-UNLV game. Aside from the fact that we had to hold our breath for 58-1/2 minutes, and we now hold season football tickets from the school that knocked us out of the NCAA tournament in March, it was a great trip. Here's some of Molle's photos:

My lovely wife Jana and I before the game, the last time I smile for about 2 hours and 50 minutes. She and Molle waited in line for the entire second quarter to secure beverages - MVP! MVP!

Me with Will Bottinick and Scott Burch. Notice the guy behind Will making fun of us. We kicked the crap out of him later. The people next to us were from Fennimore, but none of them complimented me on my Luke Swan jersey.


After the game, we were arguably more spent than the players. Yep, fans have it tough. By this time my brother Andy (red hat) and Robby Jansen (to his left) had stopped their renditions of UW band tunes. Thankfully.

Jana and Molle outside O'Shea's, our dive casino/bar hangout ($2 Miller Lite!). The girls debated whether or not is was impolite to bend over to be closer to the leprechaun's height. What do you think?

Me, Jana, Molle, and Cap Times beat reporter Jim Polzin, who went 1-0 with his online coverage of the game for the TCT website. Later we saw The Producers at the Paris, starring Tony Danza (no, really). And no, there are no physics diplomas on our walls; otherwise we would have been hanging out at the Bellagio.

Jim, me, Burch, Jana and Tim Toohey enjoying a light moment, which were many.

Other dudes in attendance were my brother Butch (Mat) Falkowski (who somehow called Donovan's naked bootleg TD run three plays ahead) and Matt Schwalbach, who heroically shouldered the bulk of the organizational duties - thanks dude! Unfortunately, all the pictures of them were in appropriate for posting on a website I plan on showing my mother.