Five fucking years.
It's been a quintet of seasons for every team, strewn with disappointment, surprising moments, memorable players and those rare instances when everything just seemed to come together for the Badgers.
The experience of those five years has informed this column space, usually employed to display some kind of contrarian complaint or rant. But today it ends, and the hope is to leave by delivering one last piece of advice.
A lesson on perspective.
Columnist's note: Yes, this could easily be a standard farewell column in which I thank people you don't know, talk about experiences in an office you've never been to and generally focus on myself. But that sucks... because you, the readers, don't get much out of it and it seems pretty pointless for a column that lasted a mere two years to have a drawn-out personal goodbye.
Too often the attention of those who follow sports is splintered, expending energy toward the unquantifiable aspects and complaints. Real accomplishments and achievements are given scant notice, while illusory topics like national respect or how great a team will be next year will be debated and salivated over.
This is not to say there isn't something special about looking forward, as hope springs eternal and even Cubs fans have reason to be excited for next year. People just let it get the better of them.
Not every defeat needs to be met with howling rage and bitter blame fired off at the players or refs.
Think back to last spring when more than a few UW fans called recruit Vander Blue an ""asshole"" or worse after he decommitted from the school. And that's a 16 year old kid, who did nothing wrong beyond not becoming a Badger.
As fans prepare for football's September commencement, much will be made of the team's potential spot in the preseason top 25. Sure, the team failed to meet their high expectations in 2007 and 2008, but with all the returning offensive starters, it already makes sense to turn the impressive bounce-back season of 2009 into a mere footnote.
And next year they'll wonder why teams like football and basketball—which only recently turned from doormats into constant contenders—still haven't become forces on a national level.
We know these things, we know the history, we know it all and yet we ignore it to hold onto fantasy. It's a way to go through sports fandom perpetually disappointed and angry. This is why perspective is necessary.
The lesson here is to not let the lows get too low and to savor the highs. Years like the 2006 football season, or hockey campaigns ending in 2006 and 2010 are special. Moments like the Duke game in the Kohl Center or John Stocco's dramatic game-winning sneak against Michigan in 2005 were special.
UW fans are blessed—really, truly blessed—to know that every football season will end in a bowl game and every basketball season ends in the tournament. Few fanbases are so lucky.
It's almost disrespectful to take those as a given and always be hyping a future that rarely can meet its lofty expectations.
That's the perspective that hopefully can be passed on, the even-keeled viewpoint learned through five years of up-and-down Badger sports, a journey that has just about reached its end.
It was worth the trip.
See, now wasn't that much better than Ben ranting about himself for 700 words? If for some reason you'd like to know about his odyssey through Madison and this newspaper or just reminisce about the last five years, Ben can be reached at breiner@wisc.edu. He hopes you've had the Brein of your life.
