Nothing But Iron: The I Has It by Steven R. Lagman, M.D., C.A.S.W. October 24, 2008 "It must be humiliating to be a Wisconsin fan," said a 15-year-old voice from behind me as we walked out of Kinnick Stadium. A black jacket covered my red shirt, so the kid could not have known I was a Badger. He tried to hide his embarrassment when I turned to acknowledge his comment. I nodded. Yes, it was humiliating to watch my team get pummeled, but I told him that part of being a fan is cheering for your team, even when it is down. I smiled and told him that his team played well. Not long before he was likely immersed, as was the rest of his state, in the small-minded debate over whether Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz should be fired now or at the end of what would inevitably be a dismal season. I was glad to give him another perspective on losing. It is clear now, in the way that toilet water is clear after an effective flush, that Wisconsin is not the team that people with an incomplete understanding of football labeled it to be in the weeks before the tangible football season began. As of Saturday, it is a team that has yet to distinguish itself from any of the worst teams in the Big Ten Conference. It isn’t much, but that is still something to play for. It is not the team that we hoped it would be, or the team that we wished it to be, but perhaps we should not forget, it is still our team. We should ask ourselves tomorrow, when the booing reaches its peak, if the Rose Bowl wins and conference titles and thousand-yard rushers and a Heisman Trophy winner is worth the disloyalty we now-spoiled fans show our team and its coaches. In an effort to be fair, I should point out that it would have taken our best Wisconsin team of the Alvarez era to have beaten these Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa teams in consecutive games. Iowa, according to Brent Feller, whose understanding of football surpasses that of almost everyone I know, was perplexed by his Hawkeyes’ slow start. He saw too much talent and depth on this team to be giving away games to the likes of Northwestern and Michigan State. Yeah, MSU is highly touted, but Feller was not so impressed even in Iowa’s losing effort. There was nothing I saw last Saturday to suggest that Iowa was not a team whose stock is rising, and its November 8th home game against Penn State could be most entertaining. Even if I squinted, I could not see a single area in which Wisconsin outperformed the Hawks. There were hints of adequacy, like three unanswered field goals to open the second half, but three-pointers in football don’t have quite the momentum boost that they do in basketball. In the flash of a Shon Greene touchdown, the pendulum swung decisively, intractably in the other direction. Greene would be the total package, if only he had a W in his first name. I am partial to the W. I had the pleasure of sitting with my Iowa friends, who have tickets in row 27, on the 49 ½ yard line. Feller told me that the guy who holds the seats on the other side of the aisle splitting the field gave $5 million to the university. I once bought a Diet Coke there, so I am not sure how I rated, except that we all know opportunity has more to do with who you know than who you are. Needless to say, I was surrounded by Hawkeyes fans. They cheered early and often, but none taunted, perhaps because many of them had been to East Lansing or Evanston and still felt the sting of those losses. Maybe they felt sorry for Brett Bielema, who was once one of their own. Or maybe they were just too busy being happy. My friends were as quick to offer their condolences as they have been to offer congratulations after many games when Wisconsin has emerged victorious. You would be lucky to have friends like that. We reminisced and laughed and shared stories about our kids and realized that without sports as a catalyst we might delay such gatherings until a time when all that remains is regret. As I drove home that evening, I asked this question to air molecules in my car: Where do we go from here? Lambeau Field, that’s where. Within 24 hours, I learned the value of diversification. Not that I would have necessarily predicted the Packers hosting the Colts to be the vehicle of my redemption, but what the hell, it worked. What struck me most in Green Bay’s lopsided win, besides how young my wife looked on the day before her 43rd birthday, was the performance of Aaron Rodgers. I am not talking so much about Rodgers’s numbers, which were solid, as I am about how comfortable he looked running the offense. He played as I imagined Peyton Manning might have played, had Manning played like himself or his brother. It was almost as if Ted Thompson knew something about running a football team. There were many Colts fans in the stadium. None of them looked happy. I was glad they got a chance to see their team lose at Lambeau, but I didn’t taunt them because I had been to Iowa. Next is the bye week, otherwise known as the time of great healing. A week later, the Packers play the undefeated Titans in Tennessee. Could it be that football season is getting interesting again? The World series is in progress and soon I will start watching it maybe. I am sure–as sure as I am that I am too busy to watch–that it is great, especially for baseball fans. _______________ Nothing But Iron is an amateur sports column. This issue is dedicated to birthday wife Kelly for whom the Packers won on Sunday, and for step dad Ken "Desert Hawk" Creswick, who can’t seem to wipe that grin off his face. The author greatly appreciates the hospitality of Brent and El Feller, who provided room and board, game transportation and tickets for the author’s adventure to Iowa. ©2008 DrTM Enterprises. 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