As fierce as the UW men's basketball team looks on the court, it may be nothing when compared to the battle for the Christmas pickle at the Hanson house.
\We hide the pickle in the tree and the first sibling to find it gets the pickle prize for that year,"" senior guard Clayton Hanson said.
But after four years as champion, Hanson's time may be coming to an end this year when he faces his two-and-a-half-yearold cousin on Christmas.
""I think I'm getting too old,"" Hanson laughs. ""I don't know if it's okay to beat her.""
The Badgers have plenty to be happy about heading into the holiday season. At 4-1, UW pulled out an upset over Maryland last week and won its first road victory against Rutgers Saturday. This week marks a three-game series against in-state rivals UW-Green Bay Tuesday, at Marquette on Saturday and against UW-Milwaukee on Dec. 15. For associate head coach Rob Jeter, the match-up against the Golden Eagles is of added importance when he goes home to Milwaukee to spend Christmas with family.
""They're all big Marquette fans, so it's always better to go in there after a victory rather than a loss because they tease you,"" Jeter said.
While the short time off for the Badgers to spend time with their families does not compare to the month-long break other students get, for the players the time off from class and the short break during the holiday allows for some close family time. When he played at Penn State, senior guard Sharif Chambliss said the team only had some 20 hours to spend with family because of a game in California. While the team will practice on Christmas Day according to Jeter, there will be some family time and for Chambliss, that means lots of food.
""My mom will cook, my aunt will cook-everyone cooks a certain part of the meal and then we go over to my grandma's, spend time together and we relax.""
Spending time together ultimately allows the players time to reminisce about Christmas pasts such as junior forward Ray Nixon's favorite gift of a basketball court when he was four or senior forward Mike Wilkinson's memories of Christmas back in Blue Mound, Wis.
""Santa [would] come the night before Christmas because we couldn't wait through the night,"" Wilkinson said. ""Everybody had to go do chores and we'd come back and open presents before we went to bed. It would take all the tension away from Christmas morning, which was definitely a good thing for us, especially having four siblings.
While the team wishes Santa will bring them more victories and a Big Ten Championship, one of the team's younger members offers sage advice heading into the holiday season.
""Just get together as a family and enjoy that time,"" freshman center Brian Butch said. ""You never know what's going to happen next year, so when you have that time, take full advantage of it.\
