This Never Gets Old

Wisconsin sports fans seem to have an inferiority complex when it comes to their stars or coaches leaving their teams for greener pastures somewhere else.  Even Packers Legend Brett Favre was Public Enemy Number One in the state after demanding the trade to the New York Jets and eventually going to Minnesota following his second retirement (or was it his third retirement?).  Greg Jennings got the same treatment when he went to the Vikings as well.  The favorite targets for derision now are former Badgers Football Coaches Bret Bielema and Gary Andersen.

Twitter was once again on fire Saturday night as the Bielema-led Arkansas Razorbacks blew a late lead and lost to Texas A&M at home.  That would be the Hogs' third consecutive loss since Bielema took a shot at Ohio State by criticizing the weakness of the Buckeyes' schedule--and how that gives them an easy path to the playoffs.  Many of the tweets also featured the "#Karma" tag as well--a continuing "tribute" to Bielema's wife, Jen, and her own tweet after the Badgers lost on a blown call by Pac-12 officials at Arizona State in 2013.  As any Badgers' fan can tell you, Arkansas did not win a single game the rest of the year after the "#Karma" tweet--which both Bielemas were reminded of after every single loss.

Once the anti-Bielema venom subsided Saturday night, the anti-Andersen vile started flowing.  Andersen left Madison for Oregon State before last year's Outback Bowl, saying that Wisconsin's academic standards made it too hard to recruit quality athletes.  That was a point brought up several thousands times by the Twitterverse as Stanford--which has even more difficult academic standards than Madison--rolled over Andersen and the Beavers at home, 42-24. 

While Wisconsin fans might feel better because Bielema and Andersen can't win away from us--we should all keep in mind that they weren't that much different in their coaching abilities here.  Let's not forget that Bielema had Russell Wilson, JJ Watt, Montee Ball and five NFL offensive lineman--and did not win a Rose Bowl with them.  Andersen lost 58-0 to Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game last year.  You could say that we fans should be thanking--not deriding--those two for getting out of Dodge on their own--instead of acting like they have wasted the greatest opportunities of their lives because they rejected Wisconsin.

So yes, the #Karma and the #AcademicStandards tweets every Saturday in the fall are petty and make us all look rather immature.  But you have to admit, it really never gets old.