Wisconsin vs. Bama in Madison - a visitor report

Sep 16, 2024, 9:57 AM

So as I posted a little while ago, I ventured up to Madison, WI, upon a friend's invite to see the Badgers host Bama. Wisconsin has always been a bucket list for the Jump Around tradition, and I've also never been to the state, which I heard drank a lot of beer. I also drink a lot of beer, so I figured it would work out.

Anyway, a report:
-Sorry, no tid pics. I never feel like I'm that sneaky with a camera.

-The people, on the whole, were fantastic and friendly. They also appeared to get along well with Bama fans. Bama fans also were well-behaved on the trip. From bartenders to people on the street to people in the bars to wherever the hell we went, people were friendly and energetic, and they didn't seem overly shocked that a Clemson and a #### fan had made the trek with their Badger buddy to the game.

-Madison gives off Columbia vibes for a college football environment. Except, imagine Columbia a lot cleaner and the people a lot friendlier. Like, you know, people being cool instead of vandalizing cars or starting fights or waving inflatable penises around. What Columbia and UofSC could be if they cleaned up their act and pretended like they had been there before. Also surrounded by two beautiful lakes.

-Wisconsin wimmens aren't bad but easily paled to the visiting Bama girls. In fact, before you saw team affiliation, you could pick out a Bama girl vs. a Wisconsin girl pretty easily. Bama girls dressed kinda slutty but were comfortable with it and made it work. Wisconsin girls seemed to at times be trying to copy them and seemed uneasy about it.

-That being said, there were way more women there trying to dress the cowgirl part than I expected; tons of Wisconsin girls in skirts and cowboy boots. And I heard a lot more country music than I thought I would.

-Went to Wando's Bar and Grill, the birthplace of the Jump Around tradition. There bartenders were smoking hot so I guess that's where most of the hot ones go. Go to watch a group of Bama sorority girls there do a relay race over chugging a pitcher of something fruity and grainy alcoholy. We met the owner and chatted with him a bit but I got the impression he was getting bored with us quickly. He is still salty that ESPN didn't include him in the GameDay clip despite a lengthy interview.

-They have a beer up there called Spotted Cow which is a superb light alternative to what you might usually drink.

-A guy warned us in Wando's that the game would be hot; it'll be about 82 degrees! And we laughed.

-Camp Randall is a cool stadium with one exception which I'll get to in a minute. It's clearly not as intimidating as Death Valley, but it was a beautiful layout and really cool when packed and they're doing a "stripe out" (sections alternating wearing red and white).

-The concession/concourse area is where the stadium fails. It gives off strong Georgia Tech vibes. A lot of traffic jams and tight quarters to move around.

-They're new to serving beer at the stadium and it showed. I missed most of the 2nd quarter waiting in an absurd beer line, and they only occasionally showed the actual live game on the TVs outside.

-Inside the game, they definitely don't take it as seriously as we do. If we were hosting Bama and it was the opening drive where they're on offense, our stadium would be going nuts--on our feet, screaming each play, etc. I had encourage a few people around me to get loud on 3rd down; most were content just sitting and watching. And this was early on before Bama started to run away with it.

-Tailgating was more about parking lots at bars. It was fun and people were well-behaved, but I guess that's just what you get with a city college. There were some houses near the stadiums that students rented and they had some fun stuff going on, but it just didn't have that Clemson feel that I love.

-Not sure Wisconsin had a chance to win, but would have been nice if their starting QB didn't go down on the first drive.

-Jump Around was awesome but not as energetic as I would have liked given that Bama was in the process of boat racing them. The students stuck around for Jump Around and then they, along with a lot of the rest of the stadium, started clearing out at the start of the 4th quarter.

-Afterwards, their fans didn't seem bummed about the loss. Kinda just shrugged it off and set out on their beer drinking missions.

-The food is outstanding but are you surprised?

-Ran into an SC family at the Wisconsin book store. They were from Rock Hill. One girl with them was a senior at Clemson. Most of the rest were Cawks. Later would encounter a Citadel grad lurking around and an Auburn fan who grew up in Columbia.

-The only ### hole we encountered, and it wasn't football related: On Friday, our buddy took us to a pretty nice upstairs bar at the top of a hotel. It was packed, and the hostess told us to take some chairs by one of the windows. This was near a large table group. When we took our seats, their waitress told us that this was a private party and we couldn't sit there, which seemed silly as there were other parties sitting just as close to them. Alright, whatever, we went back to the hostess. I overheard one woman say to the waitress, "You said it nicer than I would have," so we mocked her as we passed by them. The hostess tells us there is no private seating and that we can sit wherever we like and to go back to the same spot. Uh, alright, so we did.

Now this old dude with a ponytail hops up--he reminded me of an older version of the "do you like apples" ###### bag in the bar scene in Good Will Hunting. He comes over and explains this is a private party for a wedding rehearsal and he's just ####### fed up with this bar staff. We tell him they told us to sit over here. The hostess comes over and he starts blessing her out, so she gets the manager. As we wait, the guy asks us to go stand somewhere else and we tell him no, which pisses him off more. We get to watch him and the manager get into it a bit before the hostess finally comes over and ushers us to a similar seating area that just freed up--and is just as close to the wedding party but on the other side. So we leave ponytail ###### (seriously, grown men, W T F... don't grow ponytails) to yell at the management and we order beers at our new location. Suddenly, an older woman from the wedding party is grasping my arm. She explains that she is the ex-wife of ponytail man, that he is a piece of garbage, and she would like to buy our first round as an apology. We tell her that's not necessary, but she insists.

So I cancel my beer and order a Buffalo Trace Old Fashioned.

-Places we hit for those familiar with the area:

Wando's
Jay's (next door to Wando's and named after the owner of both bars)
The Great Dane Pub and Brewing, which was superb for beer, food, and games
Dotty Dumpling's Dowry
Sconnie Bar
State Street Brats, and yeah, their brats are incredible
Young Blood Beer Company
The Nitty Gritty
That upstairs bar that I can't remember the name

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Wisconsin vs. Bama in Madison - a visitor report

Did you get to sample any cheese ?***

I ate a lot of curds!***

That FSU fan should have eaten those

Re: Did you get to sample any cheese ?***

Dang, didn't know about that.***

Re: Dang, didn't know about that.***

Thats an excellent description.

Crash has had a lot of Spotted Cow in Wisky***

It's a long read, but

Especially if you read it in a horrible accent.***

I should have popped the top on a Schlitz so I had more

Been to Madison about a half dozen times CBB on business. Always fun!***

RE: Wisky wimmins . . .

All that way for a beer I could have told you about.

Awesome pull with ponytail dude from GWH.***

Wisconsin people are awesome

Great recap - thanks! Always fun to read about other college environments!

Hard to say

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