The city of Madison, Wisconsin is truly an underrated one. If you're outside of the state, you've probably never even heard of it, which was the case for myself as I came to Wisconsin from California. Living in San Diego my whole life, I like to think that I know great cities and everything I've experienced so far in Madison has led me to put it up there with San Diego. Whether you're going to the farmer's market at Capitol Square, playing hockey out on Lake Mendota, or hitting up the Nitty Gritty during power hour with friends, you realize Madison has a lot to offer. But my personal favorite thing about Madison would easily be Badger Saturdays.
Now if you're unfamiliar; Badger Saturdays take place during home Badger Football games. The entire city is a sea of red and you can definitely count on nearly everyone being drunk. Whether you have a ticket to the game or not, the entire day is still a blast. Luckily, I have been able to experience quite a few Badger Saturdays despite going to school in Milwaukee, thanks to my girlfriend for living right behind Camp Randall.
The typical Badger Saturday starts out with you waking up around 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. in the morning and getting on it. If you're smart, you'll eat first but I always skip eating because you know, eating is cheating. Mimosas are nice, but Keystone Ice or Fleischmann's at 8 a.m. in the morning never hurt anyone. Next you'll probably find yourself partaking in a little flip cup action or my specialty; beer pong.
I'll never forget the Badger Saturday of Sept. 12, 2015, as I had the best day of beer pong one can only dream of. Playing in my fourth consecutive game and looking to win my fifth in a row, I saw myself seven cups down as I was playing with a liability for a partner. But I did what a champ would and put the team on my back and sank shot after shot to pull out the victory. That game was the perfect start to a Badger Saturday. It was filled with excitement, cockiness, good sportsmanship, and most important, we got that dub.
By this point during your Saturday a few hours have passed and if you're lucky enough to have a ticket, you'll most likely be congregating towards the stadium. Now I'm not exactly sure how much truth is behind this, but the word on the (state) street is that the University of Wisconsin officials and Madison police decided that having no night games would help to fix the issue of fans being so drunk at the game. It's unfortunate that night games are not a common thing in Madison as I've heard they're one of the best experiences. The Badgers had their first night game in three years this past season when Hawaii came to town.
Something I noticed about Madison during my first Badger Saturday was that cops here are really, really cool. I remember shouting, "Hey officer, catch!" to a cop while holding a beer in one hand and throwing him a football with the other and the cop stayed and played catch for a few minutes. The police officers definitely deserve some recognition for Badger Saturdays. With the amount of alcohol flowing around, drinking in front yards, and even the occasional three story beer bong, the cops are dealing with a lot, but they let us all have our fun and are not looking to ruin anyone's time.
As we all know, Badger Saturdays are no fun without your friends there with you, so a special shout out to my boys Scott and Colton for making the trip from Milwaukee plenty of times with me, and also to the guys and gals on Lathrop for treating me to my first Badger Saturday experience a couple of years ago.
I will forever be jealous of those who attend school in the greatest college town in America, Madison, Wisconsin.
