Attended Game: Wisconsin Fans were pretty cool

[wisbadger303]

My experience with Wisky fans was mixed. It seemed that the older fans were friendly, those who are wise enough to know that rivalries go in cycles and that Minnesota still leads the all-time series. The 25 and under crowd was petty and arrogant, and couldn't believe that I would even step foot in their stadium.

I thought Camp Randall was an absolute dump. Porta potties in the stadium???? You would think with all their success they could install a few bathrooms. Wisky needs a facilities upgrade much more than we do.

Yes, the bathroom facilities at CR definitely need an upgrade. Rumor has it that they decided against it after hearing what happened in a bathroom stall at one of the IA-Minn games!

I can't say that I've ever had to use a porta potty but I've stood in very long and slowly moving lines at halftime.

Glad to hear that most of you were treated well in Madison. I don't think there's any substantive differences in the B10 fan bases. Every team has a subset of fans that you are embarrassed to be wearing the same colors with (looking at Ruppie). Unfortunately often they are the most outspoken and loud. I always think when you go to an away game you need to have the right attitude: acknowledge the give and take which is usually in good fun.

Finally, congrats to the Gophers for the great game. It looks like Kill really has the program headed in the right direction and this rivalry will heat up again. Good for the conference.

 

[GophersInIowa]

For the most part, my experience was positive (other than the final score). About two minutes after getting to the stadium one drunk student called me every name in the book but she could barely walk and one of her friends apologized right away.

Had a few people heckle me outside the stadium but it was mostly in good fun. My experience with Badger fans have been that most of the jerks are the young ones who don't know anything pre-Alvarez. The older fans remember the days where Camp Randall could barely draw 40,000 a game and are a little more modest.

 

[MNBadgerGuy]

For the most part, my experience was positive (other than the final score). About two minutes after getting to the stadium one drunk student called me every name in the book but she could barely walk and one of her friends apologized right away.

Had a few people heckle me outside the stadium but it was mostly in good fun. My experience with Badger fans have been that most of the jerks are the young ones who don't know anything pre-Alvarez. The older fans remember the days where Camp Randall could barely draw 40,000 a game and are a little more modest.

I don't disagree with your take that the jerk Badger fans are the younger ones, but I was generally curious about the 40,000 attendance figure you threw out. I don't know much about the pre-Alvarez era because that predates my fandom, and don't know if published attendance records from those years are all that accurate, but the UW fact book released by Wisconsin listed this as average yearly attendance since 1972:

Year Avg. Attendance
1972 - 70,454
1973 - 60,400
1974 - 71,630
1975 - 73,962
1976 - 70,898
1977 - 72,682
1978 - 71,443
1979 - 73,979
1980 - 71,360
1981 - 71,640
1982 - 71,060
1983 - 69,787
1984 - 74,681
1985 - 71,613
1986 - 68,052
1987 - 59,256
1988 - 49,297
1989 - 41,734
1990 - 51,027
1991 - 49,676
1992 - 61,378
1993 - 75,507
1994 - 77,328
1995 - 78,222
1996 - 77,949
1997 - 77,880
1998 - 77,428
1999 - 78,081
2000 - 78,711
2001 - 78,333
2002 - 78,023
2003 - 78,486

It was a 2010 media guide so I don't have anything since 2009. Despite how bad Wisconsin was during those years the attendance records seem pretty good. The late 80s definitely bottomed out.

 

[FireDaveLee]

UW also said they lost the Slab of Bacon, yet when it was found, it has updated scores on it, so they're a trustworthy bunch!

 

[GophersInIowa]

I don't disagree with your take that the jerk Badger fans are the younger ones, but I was generally curious about the 40,000 attendance figure you threw out. I don't know much about the pre-Alvarez era because that predates my fandom, and don't know if published attendance records from those years are all that accurate, but the UW fact book released by Wisconsin listed this as average yearly attendance since 1972:

Year Avg. Attendance
1972 - 70,454
1973 - 60,400
1974 - 71,630
1975 - 73,962
1976 - 70,898
1977 - 72,682
1978 - 71,443
1979 - 73,979
1980 - 71,360
1981 - 71,640
1982 - 71,060
1983 - 69,787
1984 - 74,681
1985 - 71,613
1986 - 68,052
1987 - 59,256
1988 - 49,297
1989 - 41,734
1990 - 51,027
1991 - 49,676
1992 - 61,378
1993 - 75,507
1994 - 77,328
1995 - 78,222
1996 - 77,949
1997 - 77,880
1998 - 77,428
1999 - 78,081
2000 - 78,711
2001 - 78,333
2002 - 78,023
2003 - 78,486

It was a 2010 media guide so I don't have anything since 2009. Despite how bad Wisconsin was during those years the attendance records seem pretty good. The late 80s definitely bottomed out.

My point was that they had some years that were so bad even a big college town like Madison had a tough time drawing fans at certain times. I apologize though, I thought there was two years where they averaged close to 40,000, not just one.

In 1989, they drew 29,000 on senior day. They drew 38,000 on opening day against the #3 team in the country in Miami that same year. Older fans will remember those days, that is all. Young fans weren't around when those things happened.

 

[fej]

This year was my 4th trip to CR. The fans were 20 times better than any other time we had made the trip. In years past, we ran into dozens of people who cuss us out at the game for wearing our colors, throw things at us, etc- but this year, not only did we hardly not encounter a bad apple, plenty of people thanked us for coming and congratulated us on our year. Even when we had one unruly fan at the game, it was other Badger fans who put him in his place for us. By far and away our best experience in Madison.

Almost exactly my experience this time around. Much better than any previous trip. Granted my constant fear of Gopher doom--which then came true--may have endeared me to my red neighbors.