Seriously, how did it come to this, where I have to say goodbye to something that has been such an instrumental part of forming who I am and what I’ve become? I’m not sure if I can do it, but I’ll try.

Like anybody who had only known one place his whole life, a sudden change in environment and setting yielded a fighting response from me. Madison was new, its people different and something unique I had never experienced before. I remember the day my parents dropped me off at Slichter Hall: I was sweaty, nervous and scared. My mom gave me a hug while visibly crying (I was her first-born), my dad shook my hand and my youngest brother told me I would make friends if I stopped being so sweaty.

At that moment, Madison was the opposite of home to me. Now, five years later, it’s the only place I want to be.

So what changed? Well, living in one place for five years might just do that to you. Then again, so will having a wonderful group of friends to call your own. Or maybe it’s the fact that I got older, a little wiser and now can finally grow facial hair.

College is equal parts education and growing up. Growing up pertains to doing your own laundry, making your own meals, cleaning up after yourself, being in charge of finances and above all, succeeding at the highest levels with only yourself as a motivating force. College makes you take personal account for your life and lets you decide what to make of yourself.

You can be lazy, lethargic and apathetic. Or, you can be motivated, driven and successful. The choice is, ultimately, yours and yours alone. Sometimes it takes a while for that choice to become apparent, for black and white to clarify and the haziness to become sharpened. For me, that came my second semester of junior year. And I haven’t looked back since.

In a way, college is like a competition — a sport, if you will, which is why I ended up loving the University of Wisconsin. It offers every opportunity in the world, where all that’s left to do is seize it. You get what you give, as they say.

Whether that comes from studying, practicing, networking or becoming involved, Wisconsin offers such a diverse array of options that you can find what you need and discover things you didn’t even know existed along the way. It makes you want to be great. The only part that’s left is individual mandate. How far will you go to better yourself? How much will you dedicate yourself to what you are passionate about?

Now that I finally do have the chance to look around as my life as a student winds down, I can’t tell you how immensely lucky I have been to not only have been at Wisconsin, but a member of The Badger Herald. Being a reporter brought me the connection with athletics that I had been missing since high school. Even though I don’t plan on continuing a career in journalism, it taught me valuable writing and people skills that I will use for the rest of my life.

They used to tell me to leave it all on the floor or the field before every basketball or football game my senior year, meaning don’t have any regrets. Think every game is your last.

Do I have any regrets? Every day. I regret that my time here is limited and this column is contained by a word count.

Let me just leave you with this.

Never give up on anything you want to accomplish. If someone says you can’t do it, smile and keep going. No matter what the obstacle, don’t lose faith — always persevere  If things don’t go your way, focus on what you can do to change that. Look at what you can do to make you better and do it. That is what defines, in my mind, a champion.

It has been a pleasure, Wisconsin. Hopefully see you soon when I’m a law student. ON WISCONSIN!

Nick is a fith-year senior majoring in English and history. Email him at nkorger@badgerherald.com

Maybe it’s in those moments; if you listen hard enough, the roars from April 9, 1960, still echo. A day where the championship banners of the Wisconsin boxing program didn’t seem so out of place in a place affectionately called the “old barn.” A day where the fate of two legends would be decided in a matter of minutes.

Simply the best

There was never a program that came close to the clout of the Badgers in the arena of intercollegiate boxing. Boxing at Wisconsin started out in April of 1920 with something called an “all university” boxing tournament. It featured student-boxers — and prominently, student-boxers who had been trained and exposed to boxing during the training regimens in the army during World War II — in six weight divisions vying to be named champion and was housed in a building that still stands as iconic as ever on campus: the Red Gym.

The event became so popular that it eventually had to be moved from the Red Gym — where 1,800 spectators had been in attendance for the 1929 finals — to the UW Stock Pavilion in 1930. That same year the tournament drew 8,000 fans for the finals. Finally, in 1931, the Field House was completed. Soon after, UW publicity director George Downer secured the new building for the 1931 tourney.

Just a few short years after the move, Wisconsin took the leap from amateur/intramural to official intercollegiate boxing in April of 1933, when it welcomed St. Thomas College of St. Paul, Minn., to the Field House. The match ended in a 4-4 draw, but the most noticeable result of the match came from who was in attendance.

Coaching and boxing for St. Thomas was a 21-year-old and Minnesota native by the name of John Walsh. Watching in the crowd, Downer saw a man he believed could lead Wisconsin boxing to the upper echelon. Originally planning to attend law school at St. Thomas, Walsh accepted the job upon learning St. Thomas was dropping its law program, opting to coach the Badgers and attend law school at UW.

The results speak for themselves as Walsh went from youngster to the greatest college boxing coach of all time. Wisconsin won five team championships under his guidance and went unbeaten and untied nine different seasons. In fact, Walsh was such a dominant coach that the unofficial champion trophy of college boxing was named after him in 1948, the year Wisconsin hosted the NCAA tournament.

The sport of violence

College boxing matches featured three two-minute rounds where the boxers would don headgear and larger gloves than the professional prizefighters. Still, critics saw boxing as a sport whose sole object was to hurt the opponent and that any risk of brain injury outweighed the benefits of the sport. Too barbaric, the critics said, for a prestigious school to be associated with, as reports of boxers suffering “punch-drunkenness” surfaced.

That criticism looked to have some measurable weight. According to author Martin Kane in an article entitled “You Can Blame it on the Moms” appearing in the March 30, 1959, issue of Sports Illustrated, in 1948 there were 55 colleges playing intercollegiate bouts. However, by 1952, just 29 teams remained with more on the verge of disintegrating.

“People have a visceral reaction against boxing,” author and Wisconsin State Journal columnist Doug Moe said. Moe wrote the definitive history of Wisconsin boxing in his book “Lords of the Ring: The Triumph and Tragedy of College Boxing’s Greatest Team.” “College professors maybe more than most for other reasons. There were discussions whether this was a good activity for prestigious universities to be engaged in. Certainly the boxing people here in Madison had a lot of support and belief among themselves that the sport built character to use a cliché, and was more than a worthwhile activity but they were losing ground because colleges were dropping it. Big boxing schools were getting out of it so the writing may have been on the wall.”

A study released by two doctors working for the New York State Athletic Commission in 1959, Harry Kaplan and Jefferson Browder, said there was no evidence in their study of 1,403 professional boxers using electroencephalograms that a blow to the head by a padded glove “rarely produces cerebral changes demonstrable by any test that we have at the present time.” They also went on to disagree with what they called a common medical opinion, saying there was no evidence to support the idea that a knockout in boxing caused multiple “pinpoint” hemorrhages in the brain.

Wisconsin continued on as signs that the sport was in decline swirled around them, even producing a champion in the NCAA meet the same year. That boxer was a 165-pound fighter named Charlie Mohr.

The boxing altar boy

Charlie Mohr was — by all accounts ever describing the young man — one of the University of Wisconsin’s finest specimens. Described as “the saint with boxing gloves,” Mohr first learned how to box when he was 10. Working a paper route, Mohr met a man doing roadwork named Dick McNally. McNally, who was a standout amateur boxer, ended up eventually introducing Mohr to a gym on Long Island that featured a boxing ring on the first floor.

One of the first descriptions of Mohr fighting came from a future Wisconsin teammate, Pete Spanakos. The fight occurred in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, when a neighborhood tough guy, Jackie Allen, picked then-ninth grade Mohr out of a crowd to fight. Surprising Spanakos — who had seen Mohr once before at the Madison Square Boys Club in Manhattan wearing thick glasses and sitting on a bench reading a book — the southpaw Mohr boxed circles around his opponent. Despite lacking what Spanakos called the “killer instinct,” Mohr would gracefully beat on his opponents like it was a duel. He looked not to finish his opponents violently but simply to beat them, telling Spanakos, according to an article by Jim Doherty in the Smithsonian, “he didn’t want to hurt anybody.”

That was just part of the gentle nature of Mohr. A devout Catholic who would serve as altar boy at multiple Sunday masses, Mohr was a quiet, shy and very polite by all accounts. But, no doubt about it, he could box with the best of them.

After successful amateur careers, both Spanakos and Mohr were given scholarships to box for the Badgers. Mohr quickly developed the same reputation that he had previously and became one of the most popular athletes on campus.

Several stories have been reported and retold about Mohr’s kindness, but one of the better ones is when he invited a panhandler he met during the team’s travel to San Francisco to dine with him. Mohr was that guy, loved by all and revered as the best and successful at his craft.

In 1959, Mohr was the only Wisconsin boxer to capture an individual NCAA championship, doing so at 165-pounds. On top of the world and a champion, Mohr would find himself with the same opportunity just a year later.

The last fight

Mohr was not without his own personal ghosts, regardless of widely held public perception. An article written by Elliot Maraniss in The Capital Times the week after the 1960 NCAA tournament revealed that Mohr had been a patient in 1959 or early 1960 of the psychiatric department of the University Hospital and the psychiatric unit of St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison.

According to Doherty’s article, Mohr suffered from a nervous disorder that required electroshock therapy more than once. His teammates and friends said he was never right after the treatments.

Mohr also decided not to participate in the 1959 Pan-American Game trials in Madison, something he had once dreamed of doing. It was there that Madison was exposed to a young, brash boxer named Cassius Clay, who would lose in the finals of the trials — the last loss the legend would suffer until facing Joe Frazier. When asked why he didn’t participate by Spanakos, Mohr said that his heart wasn’t in it anymore.

Still, like a true fighter, Mohr pressed on, afraid to let his coaches and teammates down and still living a life of selflessness. According to Doherty’s article, all signs pointed to the NCAA finals being Mohr’s last boxing match of his career.

The date was April 9, 1960. The final match on the bill of the NCAA championship at the Field House in Madison. The team championship would be determined in a single match: Wisconsin’s Mohr versus San Jose State boxer Stu Bartell.

The two had fought twice during the season, splitting the pair of matches. But Mohr had won just a week earlier of Bartell and he was, after all, the reigning NCAA champion. According to Doug Moe’s book The Lords of the Ring, Bartell was a “tough Jewish-Italian kid from Brooklyn,” who had “gone to LSU on a football scholarship but when that hadn’t worked out … joined the navy and learned to box.”

With Wisconsin’s potential ninth national championship hanging in the balance, Mohr emerged from the locker room under the lights of the Field House with more than 10,000 fans eagerly waiting for the deciding match.

A deciding blow

As Bartell and Mohr battled into the second round, the San Jose State boxer connected on a right-handed blow. Mohr dropped to the canvas, but arose on just a two-count. Referee John O’Donnell looked at Mohr and thought he looked clear, but stopped the fight just seconds later when Bartell came back again toward Mohr, seeing what he described as Mohr “wobbly and unable to defend himself.”

Mohr left the ring dejected and apologizing to his teammates for costing Wisconsin the team title. Later in the locker room and not feeling well, Mohr stretched out and laid down on a mattress. With John H. Flinn, the director of student health at UW, arriving just in time, Mohr went into convulsions. Flinn thrust his hand into Mohr’s mouth to prevent him from swallowing his tongue.

As the ambulance took Mohr to University Hospital, the situation was dire. Neurosurgeon and associate professor of neurosurgery at UW, Dr. Manucher Javid found during the operation on Mohr a blood clot and a tear in a major vein of his brain.

Javid later told Moe in an interview decades later that the blow that caused the damage actually sheared off the vein from the sinus, causing a tear in the sinus itself. Javid told Moe it was an occurrence that is “extremely rare.”

Stopping the bleeding in the successful operation, Javid did all he could. But, sadly, the damage to Mohr had already been done. Mohr lay in a coma.

The “contrecoup” and the end

The next day, the Monday newspaper of Wisconsin State Journal ran a headline that publicly declared the grim news: Mohr was battling for his life.

The next day, the headline read “LITTLE CHANCE SEEN OF MOHR’S SURVIVAL.” The story also had a quote from Flinn, that said the operating doctors suspected that Mohr had a condition that made him “more than normally susceptible to injury.”

This condition, some would say, could have led to the injury if Mohr would have violently sneezed, was absolutely contradicted by the opinions of Javid.

“The surgeon was unequivocal to me,” Moe said about his interview with Javid. “He told me no, this was a boxing injury, a severe blow to the head. There’s a French term for it called a ‘contrecoup’ which, because he was struck on one side of his head, the actual worse injury was on the other side. He said it was [a classic example].”

That next Sunday, Mohr was pronounced dead on April 17 at 8:40 a.m. The death shook the campus and the sport to its very base. In a time where college boxing was under more fire and criticism than ever before, here was the straw that broke the camel’s back. A boxer, dying from injuries sustained in the ring, was evidence enough of the brutality of the sport.

A little more than a month later, May 19, 1960, varsity boxing at Wisconsin was ended. No public boxing matches were to ever be held again.

The end of Wisconsin boxing sent shock waves through the sport. Soon after, three more dynasty programs — including San Jose State — dropped boxing as well.

On Jan. 11, 1961, the NCAA board approved a vote to end boxing as a sanctioned sport.

Now, all that remains of the once dominant Wisconsin boxing program are its championship banners in the Field House, with the image of Bucky Badger wearing boxing gloves and the year plastered upon the fabric.

And as the years go by, fewer and fewer remember an athletic program that produced eight team championships and countless individual champions like Mohr, a program that existed for 27 years and produced 94 victories while only losing 11 times.

No golden statue of coach John Walsh stands by the Field House. Charlie Mohr’s name is not a common one known to the student body. The history of the program through the university is just a few short pages long online. And it makes no mention of Mohr.

Maybe Wisconsin is hesitant to embrace a sport it deemed too violent to continue more than fifty years ago. Perhaps it’s the fact that a student-athlete died from a result of participating. Whatever the case is, the history of Wisconsin boxing is an illustrious and intriguing one. And it’s time we give the past the recognition it deserves.

Because even if the legends are dead, it doesn’t mean we can’t honor them.

(Information and facts from Doug Moe’s book “Lords of the Ring” were used in this column.)

Best Worst Moment of the Year: Bret Bielema’s “Woo Pig Sooie”

Life has a funny way of coming full circle. But for a boy who was raised on a hog farm to coach a school whose mascot is a giant pig? That’s just perfect.

Born and raised on a hog farm in Prophetsville, Ill., life came full circle for former Wisconsin head coach when he bolted Dec. 4 for a new coaching job with the Arkansas Razorbacks.

“I grew up on a pig farm, about 2,500 pigs,” Bielema told arkansasrazorbacks.com. “We had way more pigs than people.”

The next day, Bielema was introduced at a press conference as the new Arkansas head coach. Several minutes into the press conference, the new head coach led a cheer of “Calling the Hogs,” the signature Arkansas cheer.

In what can only be described as one of the most awkwardly delightful occurrences/GIF worthy moments in the history of college sports, Bielema yelled out a “let’s call those hogs” in a voice still strained from coaching Wisconsin just days earlier in the Big Ten Championship game.

Then came the fireworks.

He held the first “woo” too long and in a tone that was not only flat, but octaves below an acceptable pitch. The “pig sooie” part didn’t make it any better, coming in a good second too slow with the crowd. Then, to make matters worse, the camera zoomed in on his face during the second “woo pig sooie” sequence, capturing a Bielema face that seemed to say a few things:

“This is NOT how we called in the hogs back home.” “What the hell is going on?” and “To think all I had to say a few days ago was ‘On Wisconsin.’”

The chant instantly became an internet sensation and solidified in Madison lore.

-Nick Korger

Worst Day of the Year: Wisconsin men’s basketball loses to Ole Miss in first round

The day was Friday, March 22, 2013—the fifth-seeded Badgers were expected to politely shove aside the Rebels of Ole Miss and perennial trash-talker Marshall Henderson en route to a seventh straight second round (“third round”) appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Wisconsin faithful was looking for a good excuse to enter spring break with alcoholic beverage in hand in celebratory fashion (not that we ever need an excuse for such refreshments).

However, not only were the Badgers outscored by 14 points in the second half on their way to shooting 25 percent for the game, but they allowed the unofficial garbage-person of the NCAA tournament to score 17 points in the second half to lead the Rebels to a 57-46 win. Closing the game on 1-for-14 shooting was certainly not the way the Grateful Red wanted to see the frontline seniors of Jared Berggren, Ryan Evans and Mike Bruesewitz end their prosperous Wisconsin basketball careers.

Wisconsin should have felt especially awful about bowing out to Ole Miss because the loss forced all of America to stand idly by and cringe at the sound of more jeweled words of wisdom from Henderson.

“I’m trying to get paid here soon because I’m tired of doing all this stuff for free,” Henderson modestly stated before the matchup with Wisconsin. “And this is where you make your money, the NCAA tournament.”

If Wisconsin is ever to lose to a team in its opening game of the NCAA tournament, many would hope it comes against a team with far more class and a player far less conceited about the finances of college basketball.

-Lee Gordon

Male Athlete of the Year: Montee Ball

There’s no longer room for controversy: Montee Ball is one of Wisconsin football’s all-time greats.

The career numbers look like something out of a fantasy football league: an NCAA record 77 rushing touchdowns and 5,140 yards gained in four seasons. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist as a junior and the Doak Walker Award winner as a senior, the running back who was buried on the depth chart midway through his sophomore campaign releasing pent-up frustration from games spent observing from the sideline with each stiff arm and tromp into the end zone.

While true that his senior numbers didn’t match those of a truly remarkable junior campaign that included 1,923 yards and 39 total touchdowns, it was a near-impossible act to follow. After struggling through the first month of the season in 2012, he unleashed his full fury in a 247-yard, three-touchdown trampling of Purdue that returned him to the previous season’s form.

Ball’s career was not without its struggles — he lost three straight Rose Bowls — but his consistent production may have been the single most important piece in reestablishing Wisconsin football among the Big Ten’s elite. With a style that invited contact, watching Ball run rekindled memories of the great Ron Dayne. He was a workhorse back who evaded injury for most of his career, carrying the ball 924 times in anchoring the Badgers’ run-heavy attack.

So the star tailback may be the easy, obvious pick for Male Athlete of the Year. But any Wisconsin fan would be hard pressed to find another Badger athlete who had a bigger and more lasting impact on his or her team through a four-year stretch than Ball.

-Ian McCue

Runner-up: Drew teDuits

Just barely getting edged out by Montee Ball who was breaking records on the football field, Drew teDuits was busy doing the same in the pool.

For the first time in 54 years, the University of Wisconsin can claim a National Champion in swimming thanks to the 6-foot-5 UW sophomore. To make his feat even more impressive teDuits won the 200-meter backstroke relatively comfortably, beating the second-place swimmer by over a second.

Winning in a time of 1 minute 38.27 seconds, teDuits now claims the third-fastest time in the 200-meter backstroke in NCAA history.

In addition to his NCAA title, teDuits also took home a first-team All-American Honor in the 200-meter backstroke for his performances in 2013.

-Nick Daniels

Co-Female Athlete of the Year: Brianna Decker

Leading her young team back from an inconsistent 3-3-2 start to the season to a second place finish in the WCHA, captain Brianna Decker of the Wisconsin women’s hockey team lit up the ice in her senior season at UW.

A fitting player to score the first Badger goal in the new LaBahn Arena, Decker created and finished headline-worthy goals all season long. From scoring UW’s only goal of the season against National Champion Minnesota — who averaged less than one goal per game allowed all season — to netting three short-handed goals and five power play goals on the season, Decker seemed to always find a way to finish plays at critical moments. And to cap off her record-breaking career for the Badgers, the feisty center buried the game-winning goal, her fifth of the season, against Minnesota-Duluth in the final regular-season home game to secure Wisconsin a No. 2 seed in the WCHA tournament.

Although UW just missed the mark for a place in the NCAA tournament after falling in the semifinal game of the WCHA tournament, Decker earned All-WCHA First Team honors with three goals and two assists in the tournament.

The Badger will walk away from her four years in cardinal and white with a national championship, the 2012 Patty Kazmaier Award, UW’s longest scoring streak record of 32 games and a community of fans who eagerly came to watch the magic from the girl in the No. 18 jersey.

-Caroline Sage

Co-Female Athlete of the Year: Mary Massei

If there is one thing players and coaches strive for across all sports, it is consistency. When it comes to Wisconsin softball, no one better emulates the pinnacle of consistency than junior right fielder Mary Massei.

Among a batting lineup that has excelled for Wisconsin all season, Massei shines the brightest as the leadoff hitter can almost always be counted on to kick start the offense for the Badgers – a sentiment that was highlighted last weekend in UW’s second-to-last regular season game last Sunday when Massei launched a leadoff home run and then hit her second homer of the game in the fifth inning in a 3-0 win against Michigan State.

Massei’s batting statistics speak for themselves as the California native has 74 hits, 47 runs and 121 total bases – all Wisconsin single-season records. Not to mention her .433 batting average that is 32 points higher than the record set by Julie Borchard in 1998.

On Tuesday, the Big Ten recognized Massei’s accomplishments this season awarding her with an unanimous first team all-Big Ten selection to go along with her selection to the Capital One Academic All-District Softball Team.

Massei will continue her record-setting campaign with Wisconsin Friday in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals as the Badgers will see their first postseason action since 2008.

-Spencer Smith

Coach of the Year: Mike Eaves

His team started the season in the worst way possible. Between suspensions, injuries, a coaching change and only one win in its first 10 games Mike Eaves didn’t let his skaters call it a year, not once.

As he continued to chant something about turning a ship, the ship indeed turned. Soon, that horrendous start felt like some distant nightmare as the Badgers went on an 11-game unbeaten streak and an 11-game unbeaten conference streak.

After a quick, exhilarating win outside at Soldier Field, the Badgers continued to push for the playoffs. As they often noted, they played playoff hockey since mid-season, pushing to keep their season alive. As they kept rolling — Eaves’ second mantra of the season — Wisconsin entered the WCHA playoffs with their sights set on an NCAA bid.

Roll, they did. Eaves coached his team to three consecutive wins in the WCHA Playoff tournament at the Xcel Energy Center — a building he hasn’t seen much success in — to win the final Broadmoor Trophy and an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

Eaves took a talented team that couldn’t put it all together in the beginning, and majorly suffered the consequences, and turned it into an NCAA Tournament contender. He and the Badgers transformed a rather forgettable season to one of their greatest in recent years.

-Kelly Erickson

Play of the Year: Brust’s Miracle Heave against Michigan

The time is 12:44 p.m. on Feb. 9, and as many UW students awake to a hangover, Wisconsin is deep into a bout with No. 2 Michigan. Only moments earlier, Tim Hardaway Jr. drained a three-pointer from the top of the arc with senior forward Mike Bruesewitz draped all over him, putting the Wolverines up 60-57.

It appears the game is all but finished, and a silence and feeling of impending doom falls upon the Kohl Center. But, head coach Bo Ryan elects to call one timeout with 2.4 seconds remaining to set up one final play.

Enter Ben Brust stage left, the 6-foot-1 junior point guard from Hawthorn Woods, Ill. As play resumes, Bruesewitz toes the inbound line almost falling over it trying to get the ball in to someone, anyone. Then, Brust comes curling from the left sideline to just behind the ‘W’ logo in the backcourt, and Bruesewitz hits his man in stride.

Four steps later, with his weight anchored in his left foot, Brust propels himself into the air and the ball leaves his hand. Everyone, including Brust, stops momentarily, and all eyes watch the orange ball spinning through the air toward the basket.

The ball hits nothing but net on the way down, and the Kohl Center erupts into a frenzy. Brust arms rise into the air above his head, the “Bench Mob” races out to well, mob the hero and even Ryan can be seen celebrating on the sideline. It’s "Space Jam" meets "Rudy" meets "Miracle," and the moment of the year.

-Dan Corcoran

Rookie of the Year: Sam Dekker

Sam Dekker became just the fourth true freshman to start under head coach Bo Ryan (Devin Harris, Alando Tucker and Josh Gasser being the other three), but the Sheboygan native’s main role during the 2012-13 season was that of a sixth man.

Dekker earned Big Ten All-Freshman team recognition to go along with an honorable mention for All-Big Ten. He was Big Ten Freshman of the Week (Jan. 14) and Co-Freshman of the Week (March 4).

Scoring was Dekker’s forte this past season as he ranked fourth on the team in scoring over the course of the entire season (9.6 points per game) and was the leading scorer in conference play among Big Ten reserves (9.4ppg). The 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward was 14th in the conference, fourth among freshman, in field goal percentage (.478) and ranked seventh in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (.391). Dekker hit from deep at least once in 17 of the last 21 games for the Badgers.

Dekker reached his career high in scoring when he scored 19 points against Arkansas on November 24, and again when he scored the same amount versus Nebraska on Feb. 26.

In the Badgers’ semifinal victory over Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament, Dekker recorded 11 points off of 5-8 shooting in 20 minutes. Nine of Dekker’s 11 points came in the first half, including an impressive personal 7-0 run.

In his NCAA tournament debut, Dekker recorded 14 points to go along with three rebounds in the Badgers’ disappointing 57-46 loss to Ole Miss.

-Zack Miller 

Runner-up: Nic Kerdiles

Were it not for his ban from competition for the first ten games of the season, freshman forward Nic Kerdiles could have helped lead the Badgers to an even greater regular season this year.

Before Kerdiles joined the team Nov. 30, Wisconsin had limped out of the gates — managing a measly 1-7-2 record. After he joined the team, and moving forward throughout the rest of the season, the Badgers went on to a 21-6-5 record for the rest of the season — eventually stunning their WCHA opponents on the way to a surprise WCHA Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.

On the year, Kerdiles finished second in scoring on the team, despite his early season hiatus, with 33 points in 32 games and truly hit his stride in the last 12 games — scoring six goals and earning 13 assists in that span.

In recognition of his efforts over the final two months of the season, Kerdiles was awarded the National Division I Rookie of the Month award for both March and April.

-Nick Daniels

Game of the Year: Nebraska v. Wisconsin in Big Ten Championship

With head coach Bret Bielema still at the helm and a number of ineligibility issues preventing Penn State and Ohio State from participating in the Big Ten Championship, the Badgers represented the Leaders division instead and what ensued at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis became The Badger Herald Game of the Year.

Revenge was on the line for the Badgers following their early season debacle in Lincoln, Neb. and a spot in the Rose Bowl awaited the victor. It all started out quite flaccidly with two senior running back Montee Ball carries and a senior quarterback Curt Phillips first down conversion. Then sophomore running back Melvin Gordon took an end around carry for 56 yards and a touchdown. All hell was about to break loose.

Nebraska’s answer was a first down Taylor Martinez pass that ended in the hands of Marcus Cromartie as No. 14 comfortably darted into the end zone. A pair of ensuing Nebraska scores made the game interesting. In the first quarter, that is.

Wisconsin would score the next 35 points of the game and run up an astounding total of 70 on their way to a 39-point victory and their third consecutive Rose Bowl appearance (and loss).

Although the season would take a different direction following the championship game, it was not one to be forgotten. Senior running back James White ran for the third most yards that day — 109 behind Gordon’s 216 and Ball’s 202 — but added four touchdowns. He even threw for a score.

For one night, anything and everything went the way of the cardinal and white.

-Sean Zak

They are just letters and syllables threaded together, their message shaped entirely by the person behind them. They can convey our deepest sympathies in the face of tragedy, our biting scorn in response to perceived injustice, our laughter when we are most in need of comic relief. Deployed carelessly, they can cut lasting wounds. When molded with precision, they allow people to connect to a certain situation or another individual in a way unmatched by any other form of communication.

It is that exceptional ability for words to provoke feeling and thought that has always drawn me to writing. Never the gifted orator, from an early age words became my outlet, my corner for expression. This is not to say what I wrote was always profound — in fact, quite the opposite — but a blank space was where I felt I could most vividly and honestly illustrate my thoughts.

What is equally challenging and addicting about writing is that it forces me to organize my thoughts in a way palatable for any reader. Words thrown onto the paper are nothing more than stray body parts if there is no central skeleton holding them together. I have spent countless hours staring into my computer screen, arms crossed and lips pursed, my mind set on a singular goal: shaping words into sentences, then into paragraphs and eventually into the exact story I hope to create.

During the nearly four years I have spent writing for The Badger Herald, the words I used to fill these inches on the back page have become a source of intense pride. It was where I got to be my own wordsmith, tossing every bit of intellectual energy into telling the stories of the people and events that define the Wisconsin athletic program. There were moments of crisis, struck with sudden concern that I simply couldn’t cut it as a writer. More memorable were those bringing a rebirth of confidence, sudden assurance that fellow students actually cared about what I wrote.

Sure, I told the story of the freshman poised for a career of historic success, the unlikely star who had overcome a life full of obstacles, the senior whose eyes welled red with tears in the locker room after a crushing loss. All the standard storylines that sit in the Rolodex of every sports writer -- I’ve told them.

Beyond any lead or angle, however, shaping these stories served as a personal journey that forced me to look inward. I say this not in an effort to bathe myself in self-importance; it is more a personal realization that the sports page of this student newspaper taught me much more about myself than whatever knowledge it bestowed upon my audience.

Writing is a deeply individualistic activity — a keyboard, a computer screen and a recorder the only sustained companions. Such temporary isolation forces the author to think long and hard about what they want to write and, more importantly, how they should transport that message to the reader. Buried in the stress of every deadline, of every uninterested interviewee, is the lasting sense of achievement any writer feels when the message is complete and the words printed.

So yes, I have had the immense privilege of covering a Rose Bowl and an NCAA basketball tournament game, of traveling to football stadiums and basketball arenas across the Big Ten all thanks to this wonderful organization. I have expressed joy and rage and (OK, mostly) disappointment. Learning how to articulate those emotions seated in a press box above a dark field, the silence broken only by the furious pecking of keyboards, was when that self-assurance for this career choice — usually brought on by deadline-fueled adrenaline — came.

I like to think every one of my fellow graduating seniors has had similar moments of self-assurance in the time they spent in this lovely city, one so diverse and bustling with energy that its pulse never slows.

For the confidence and moments of clarity that I have gained from these pages, I owe a massive thank you to everyone involved with this student newspaper — they provided me with this platform. Writing about the teams that unite this student body on Saturday afternoons at Camp Randall and on Tuesday evenings at the Kohl Center helped this Wisconsin transplant carve out a special niche in the Badger community.

To spare you a few syllables, words define me. To every one of you — friend or stranger — who has ever expressed your appreciation for anything I wrote, now you have a better sense of just how much your praise meant to me. Words, you see, can really be quite powerful.

Ian is a senior majoring in journalism. He’s heading to Denver to explore the great West after graduation, so if you want to share some final thoughts or stay in touch, shoot him an email at imccue@badgerherald.com or give him a shout on Twitter @imccue.

I’ve covered countless beats during that time. I toiled through rebuilding seasons with the soccer teams, a season with each tennis team respectively as they tried to find the right mix, two wonderful years with the women’s hockey team that ended in a national title and, of course, two years with the football team that were each capped with return trips to the Rose Bowl.

But no beat was closer to my heart than men’s hockey.

Yes, I’ll admit it: I love hockey with unquantified passion.

After a season of struggle, the hockey team almost had me convinced I was going to cover another down year for my final lap on the beat after a 1-7-2 start. As fans and critics tried to persuade me with their outsider beliefs that head coach Mike Eaves should be fired or that this team with all their talent was such a waste, I held onto my convictions that they were capable of something great.

Enter the WCHA tournament.

Sitting in the press box at the Xcel Energy Center, I was a ball of nerves for three days straight. On the verge of breaking out in tears at a Badgers' loss, I was stunned again and again as Wisconsin continued to win game after game until that beautiful moment they hoisted the 2013 Broadmoor Trophy — the last one in the WCHA as it’s currently known.

Their run earned them a spot in the NCAA tournament. With a fourth seed, Wisconsin traveled to Manchester, N.H. and got smacked by UMass-Lowell 6-1.

I didn’t travel to Manchester. As far as I knew, my final days covering the team were some of the greatest I had ever experienced. A week later it was all finished, but I never had to say goodbye. I never shed a tear. The ending was perfect.

And maybe that’s the way I need to leave not only The Badger Herald but also Madison -- to let it go in this open-ended way.

As far as I’m concerned these last four years — with all their ups and downs — are exactly like my final days covering hockey. They were wonderful, nerve-wracking and eventually made me feel like I was on top of the world.

There was move-in freshman year, sporting a confident exterior that hid the well of insecurities, waiting to be unpacked in turn. The nerves set in but eventually went away.

More than a year later, I was already covering a major sporting event: the Women’s hockey team’s 2011 NCAA Title. I was living a dream. I was covering the sport I love, doing exactly what I love. It felt like nothing could slow me down — not even a nasty bout of strep throat or the awful city that is Erie, Penn. (Apologies to any natives, but that town is not my cup of tea).

And I didn’t slow down. During my junior year, I stepped into the football and men’s hockey beats. But I also faced my own personal crises; those few moments that creeped into my life every now and then, making me question whether I really wanted to write, whether I could really make a career of it. In the face of self-created, minor adversity, I knew I didn’t want to do anything else.

Finally, my senior year, that playoff push and insane tournament run which just served as a quick metaphor for my college career.

I’ve been dreading my ultimate goodbye to this wonderful city and all the brilliant people in it.

So instead of worrying about it or attempting to write some perfectly worded farewell, I’m just not going to say anything.

Sure, come Sunday, May 19 there will be tears and hugs all around as I part ways with some of my greatest friends and move onto the daunting, scary, real world. But there will be no goodbyes on my part.

Until next time.

Kelly is graduating in a week and, well, is thoroughly freaked out by it. She is moving back home to the great state of Minnesota to cover some baseball for the summer before worrying about finding a full-time job. Feel free to keep in touch via Twitter @kellymerickson.

Maybe it’s in those moments; if you listen hard enough, the roars from April 9, 1960, still echo. A day where the championship banners of the Wisconsin boxing program didn’t seem so out of place in a place affectionately called the “old barn.” A day where the fate of two legends would be decided in a matter of minutes.

Simply the best

There was never a program that came close to the clout of the Badgers in the arena of intercollegiate boxing. Boxing at Wisconsin started out in April of 1920 with something called an “all university” boxing tournament. It featured student-boxers — and prominently, student-boxers who had been trained and exposed to boxing during the training regimens in the army during World War II — in six weight divisions vying to be named champion and was housed in a building that still stands as iconic as ever on campus: the Red Gym.

The event became so popular that it eventually had to be moved from the Red Gym — where 1,800 spectators had been in attendance for the 1929 finals — to the UW Stock Pavilion in 1930. That same year the tournament drew 8,000 fans for the finals. Finally, in 1931, the Field House was completed. Soon after, UW publicity director George Downer secured the new building for the 1931 tourney.

Just a few short years after the move, Wisconsin took the leap from amateur/intramural to official intercollegiate boxing in April of 1933, when it welcomed St. Thomas College of St. Paul, Minn., to the Field House. The match ended in a 4-4 draw, but the most noticeable result of the match came from who was in attendance.

Coaching and boxing for St. Thomas was a 21-year-old and Minnesota native by the name of John Walsh. Watching in the crowd, Downer saw a man he believed could lead Wisconsin boxing to the upper echelon. Originally planning to attend law school at St. Thomas, Walsh accepted the job upon learning St. Thomas was dropping its law program, opting to coach the Badgers and attend law school at UW.

The results speak for themselves as Walsh went from youngster to the greatest college boxing coach of all time. Wisconsin won five team championships under his guidance and went unbeaten and untied nine different seasons. In fact, Walsh was such a dominant coach that the unofficial champion trophy of college boxing was named after him in 1948, the year Wisconsin hosted the NCAA tournament.

The sport of violence

College boxing matches featured three two-minute rounds where the boxers would don headgear and larger gloves than the professional prizefighters. Still, critics saw boxing as a sport whose sole object was to hurt the opponent and that any risk of brain injury outweighed the benefits of the sport. Too barbaric, the critics said, for a prestigious school to be associated with, as reports of boxers suffering “punch-drunkenness” surfaced.

That criticism looked to have some measurable weight. According to author Martin Kane in an article entitled “You Can Blame it on the Moms” appearing in the March 30, 1959, issue of Sports Illustrated, in 1948 there were 55 colleges playing intercollegiate bouts. However, by 1952, just 29 teams remained with more on the verge of disintegrating.

“People have a visceral reaction against boxing,” author and Wisconsin State Journal columnist Doug Moe said. Moe wrote the definitive history of Wisconsin boxing in his book "Lords of the Ring: The Triumph and Tragedy of College Boxing’s Greatest Team." “College professors maybe more than most for other reasons. There were discussions whether this was a good activity for prestigious universities to be engaged in. Certainly the boxing people here in Madison had a lot of support and belief among themselves that the sport built character to use a cliché, and was more than a worthwhile activity but they were losing ground because colleges were dropping it. Big boxing schools were getting out of it so the writing may have been on the wall.”

A study released by two doctors working for the New York State Athletic Commission in 1959, Harry Kaplan and Jefferson Browder, said there was no evidence in their study of 1,403 professional boxers using electroencephalograms that a blow to the head by a padded glove “rarely produces cerebral changes demonstrable by any test that we have at the present time.” They also went on to disagree with what they called a common medical opinion, saying there was no evidence to support the idea that a knockout in boxing caused multiple “pinpoint” hemorrhages in the brain.

Wisconsin continued on as signs that the sport was in decline swirled around them, even producing a champion in the NCAA meet the same year. That boxer was a 165-pound fighter named Charlie Mohr.

(Part 2 will appear in Thursday’s paper. Information and facts from Doug Moe’s book "Lords of the Ring" were used in this column.)

Wisconsin (39-11, 16-7 Big Ten) will head to Lincoln, Neb., as the No. 4 seed in the tournament and await the winner of the game between No. 5 Northwestern and No. 12 Indiana.

Falling to the fourth spot in the Big Ten is a bit of a disappointment for the Badgers who had a slim chance of snagging the top spot going into last weekend’s three-game series with Michigan State, though is still an accomplishment Wisconsin coach Yvette Healy and her team are proud of.

“To be a top-four seed in the Big Ten, with how strong the conference is this year, it’s still a huge achievement,” Healy said. “To finish in the top four, that was one of our goals, to get a bye in the tournament was a goal. It wasn’t as flashy being fourth, but it’s one of our small victories along the way.”

This weekend will mark the first time the Big Ten tournament will be held since 2008, after the Big Ten decided to go without a conference tournament for four years, making this the first appearance in the tournament and postseason all together for everyone on the roster.

Senior Whitney Massey says there is a definite buzz amongst the team this week going into the post season and the players’ first Big Ten tournament.

“There’s a lot of excitement,” Massey said. “We’ve never been here before, so having the Big Ten tournament coming up is exciting … I know I’m really excited about it and it’s kind of cool that it’s happening my last year here, so I get to be a part of it too.”

No matter who Wisconsin is matched up with Friday, Northwestern or Indiana, it will have the confidence of knowing it can beat them as the Badgers swept their regular season series with both the Wildcats and the Hoosiers.

If the teams play to their seed and Northwestern emerges from the first round, it will set the stage for a matchup with Wisconsin that could rehash some grudges and bad blood as it was the Wildcats, not the Badgers, who were given a bid to the NCAA tournament last year despite UW’s superior record. This time, Wisconsin is looking to turn the table on Northwestern.

“We have that focus behind us because they took the bid away from us last year,” Massey said. “So, I think we will have that edge behind us.”

Wisconsin was able to hold Northwestern to just three runs in their 3-1 and 4-2 wins over the Wildcats in a two-game series at Goodman Diamond in April.

Junior pitcher Cassandra Darrah, who is set to be UW’s starter Friday, knows she will have to shell out a solid pitching performance against a Northwestern team who has the third-best batting average in the Big Ten at .305.

“[Having solid starting pitching] is super important,” Darrah said. “The pitching staff has to set the tone for the tournament, so we have to do our best.”

In her only appearance against Northwestern this season, Darrah pitched a gem allowing only one run on four hits and racking up seven strikeouts.

With an RPI rating of 26, Wisconsin is in line to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005, but Healy isn’t worried about her team overlooking the competition this weekend.

“I think everybody’s got their eyes set on game one, and I think that’s what you have to do for the rest of the year,” Healy said. “Any win that you get from this point on, it’s going to be a history-making win, it’s going to be a huge accomplishment. The fact that we are sitting on 39 wins makes it even more thrilling.”

For the seniors on the squad, the postseason stretch run is going to be an emotional ride as they make their first postseason appearances in their careers, knowing their time as Wisconsin softball players will soon come to an end — something Massey thinks will give her team an advantage.

“It’s definitely going to put some emotional charge behind every single game,” Massey said. “It will feel like Senior Day every day.”

He is one of only two University of Wisconsin alums to win college football’s most prized award, the Heisman Trophy. Dayne was twice a Rose Bowl champion and MVP and still stands as the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher with 7,125 yards to his name. Now, he is one of the newest members of the College Football Hall of Fame, earning the expected nod from the National Football Foundation Tuesday.

Dayne had a toothy smile plastered on his face from the moment he sat down at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, wearing a polo emblazoned with the Motion ‘W’ he made famous. His former coach, Barry Alvarez, sat beside him. Alvarez was also a 2010 Hall of Fame inductee and is currently the UW athletic director.

It was as if it was 1999 all over again, with the mentor and star embracing the spotlight after another Big Ten championship.

“I can’t stop smiling,” Dayne said. “I’m excited and happy, especially for me and my teammates. We worked on it; we worked on it as a team.”

The ultra-durable Dayne, who carried the ball more than 1,200 times over his four-year career as a Badger, was a bit delayed in learning he had added another achievement to his extensive resume.

Although he received the white football inscribed with his name and the words “A Member of the 2013 College Football Hall of Fame Class” Monday night, Dayne’s daughter tossed aside the package when she received it. It was not until this morning when people began asking if he had heard an official word that he finally solved the puzzle, holding the football for the first time just minutes before the congratulatory call from Alvarez.

Despite his historic accolades, Dayne refused to assume he would be part of the Class of 2013 before he opened up that fateful package. It was more than staged modesty in a class that included two other Heisman winners, former Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde and former Florida signal-caller Danny Wuerffel.

“It was just crazy that I was getting calls a couple days before, I guess because I was on the ballot,” Dayne said. “People were like, ‘Congratulations, congratulations.’ I’m like, ‘For what?’”

To even be considered for a Hall of Fame spot, players must have received near-unanimous recognition as a first team All-American — something Dayne achieved in three of his four years — and must be 10 years removed from their last college football down. Players must also be retired from professional football.

Dayne’s award puts him in rarified air, with less than 900 players and coaches claiming a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame.

“Over five million people have played college football,” Alvarez said. “There’s, like, less than 1 percent that have gone into the Hall of Fame; .02 percent of all the people that have played college football are in the Hall of Fame. That gives you the magnitude of this honor.”

A true workhorse back with a bulldozing style, Dayne’s name remains firmly atop the leaderboard for career rushing yards, in large part because he carried the ball at least 260 times in each of his four years, twice surpassing the 300-carry mark.

Pounding and slamming his way to 2,109 yards as a true freshman, his career high for yards in a season, Dayne was the central force behind the UW offense throughout his entire career. In today’s era, where the mileage put on running backs is so closely monitored, it could be decades before anyone challenges his career rushing record.

“As we said, there are a lot of guys that played this game, and no one did what he did,” Alvarez said. “… I told a story in the meeting that there was a stretch when he was a true freshman, an 18-year-old freshman, he carried the ball 49 times, 51 times, 47 times (in three consecutive games). We played Minnesota when he was a freshman, he carried the ball the first 17 plays of the game.

“So I think he goes down as one of the greats that ever played college football to this day.”

While Wisconsin has been home to 22 consensus All-Americans, likely none of them had the same impact on the program as Dayne. Suiting up in the cardinal and white from 1996 through the 2000 Rose Bowl, it is no coincidence his career signaled the peak of Alvarez’s revival of the Badgers’ football program.

His No. 33 jersey was retired in 2007. Joining the inscribed names of Alan Ameche (Wisconsin’s only other Heisman winner) and Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch  on the second deck at Camp Randall Stadium, Dayne played a vital role in vaulting the Badgers into a national brand.

As Alvarez noted, Wisconsin football and Ron Dayne have become one.

“I think anyone today that follows college football, when you mention Wisconsin, I think they picture Ron carrying the ball and us running the ball,” Alvarez said, adding the panel selected his former star by a unanimous vote. “I think that describes the brand of football that we established here, and that’s how everybody pictures it.”

Long before the NBA’s Jason Collins did his cover story confessional for Sports Illustrated revealing his homosexuality, Glenn Burke fought through a gauntlet of prejudice and hatred surrounding his sexuality.

Burke entered the majors in 1977, and achieved national attention in his rookie season not because of his homosexuality — that was kept secret for as long as possible. No, Burke garnered national attention for becoming known as the creator of the “High Five.”

That year, the Dodgers became the first team in baseball history to have four players hit 30 homeruns in a season. No team has ever repeated the feat. On the last day of the ’77 season, Dusty Baker hit his 30th homerun to become the fourth Dodger to reach the milestone. (Steve Garvey, Reggie Smith, and Ron Cey were the other three.) Burke was waiting on deck, and walked toward Baker with his hand high in the air. Baker hit it up top, and the high five was born. (Burke then proceeded to go to the plate and hit his own home run.)

Burke was a quality player from the beginning, and was the only rookie to start in the 1977 World Series. In the locker room that year, he was popular with his teammates. One teammate referred to him as the funniest man he had ever met; “a mix between Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy.”

Almost everyday after practice or a game Burke could be found dancing on top of the lockers and had teammates saying Burke could dance circles around John Travolta, who had just come out with “Saturday Night Fever.”

Although his relationship with many of his teammates was great, there was no hiding the fact that manager Tommy Lasorda and owner Al Campanis were uncomfortable with having Burke as a member of the team as rumors of his sexuality started to swirl among players and members of the media.

It got to the point where Campanis actually offered Burke $75,000 to get married, to which Burke responded, “I guess you mean to a woman?” Burke not only turned down the offer, but he started having a relationship with Lasorda’s gay son, “Spunky,” which ended up being the final straw for Lasorda and Dodger management. Burke was traded to the Oakland Athletics.

Oakland was at times a great place for Burke, but there was a deep dark side to his existence there as well. While the San Francisco community was recognized for being accepting of individual freedom as it relates to sexual choices, the Athletics manager, Billy Martin, had no tolerance whatsoever. When Martin introduced Burke to his new teammates, he barked, “This is Glenn Burke, and he is a faggot.”

“By 1978, I think everyone knew,” Burke wrote in his 1996 autobiography, "Out at Home." By “everyone” Burke meant all of his friends and family, the majority of players in baseball, and even members of the media. One reporter was overheard as saying he knew about Burke’s sexuality but he “couldn’t put that in the paper.”

Glenn Burke had to quit the game he loved at the young age of 27 because of the hatred he received day in and day out. He went on to become the face of the first-ever Gay Games in 1982 by winning medals in the 100- and 200-meter sprints.

In an Inside Sports article from 1982, Burke’s sexuality became public knowledge. After turning to drugs over the course of the mid-to-late '80s, Burke became HIV positive and died in 1996.

It never mattered to Burke that people didn’t approve of “that” lifestyle, because he wanted to live his life in an open manner and perhaps change the stereotype that a homosexual could not play professional sports.

“My mission as a gay ballplayer was the breaking of a stereotype, and I think it worked.” Burke told People magazine in 1995. “They can’t ever say now that a gay man can’t play in the majors, because I’m a gay man and I made it.”

Perhaps Burke’s story was one that wasn’t ready to be heard by many at the time. “I think everyone just pretended not to hear me,” Burke told People.

Now, more than three decades later, Jason Collins is recognized as the first gay athlete.

While Burke had to leave the game he loved, Collins has no need to worry about such a path. The reaction to Collins has been overwhelmingly positive. This past week he has enjoyed tremendous support from fellow players, celebrities, the public and the media. It shows we are headed in the right direction as a society, and one can expect more athletes to take similar steps in the near future.

While we’re applauding Jason Collins, a round or two in memory of Glenn Burke is worthy. He stood up in the face of disheartening and painful adversity to stay true to himself.

Although many of the seven seniors on this year’s Wisconsin softball team will continue school in the fall, their collegiate playing days will come to an end in a few short weeks. It’s a transitory period not unlike what the seven have been through in their time with the Badgers.

After a 20-31 finish to their freshman year, Shannel Blackshear and her Badger teammates went through a coaching change as Chandelle Schulte was replaced with Yvette Healy. Healy brought in her own coaching staff and the players were forced to adapt to a new situation.

“At first it was a little nerve-wracking just because you don’t know what to expect," Blackshear said. "You don’t really know what’s coming in, and these coaches are coming in not knowing a lot about you and not recruiting you, so it’s just kind of play by play and seeing how it goes. I think it’s been a great experience. Coach Healy and coach Schneider and coach Adix have been very welcoming and caring. And they’ve never one day put it in our face that they weren’t the ones who recruited us. They’ve always taken us and they’ve taken our abilities and they’ve worked with it and they’ve made us better.”

But after that sub-par freshman campaign, the current group of seniors — Blackshear, Whitney Massey, Meghan McIntosh, Kendall Grimm, Maggie Strange, Molly Spence and Kelsey Horton — has gone on to earn 123 career wins, the second most in school history and only four wins behind the record of 127.

Not only have the players transformed individually, but they have come together to transform the program too, helping set the school record for wins with 39 this season, with the postseason still left to play.

“I think, as a class, we’ve really grown together,” McIntosh said. “We’ve really experienced it all, coming in from our freshman year, getting the new coaches, experiencing the change and being a part of changing history here. No one else got to experience the first coaches and then to get the change and see the program grow. I think we’ve really come together as a class.”

Grimm, who plays left fielder and is a career .308 hitter, echoed many the same sentiments of McIntosh while noting what it has been like to come so far in such a short amount of time.

“It’s definitely a really great feeling knowing that we’ve progressed so much. Coming in as freshman, we knew that we were going to get better together as a class. Knowing that we’re ending up on such a high note is a great feeling and I’m sure everyone feels the same way,” Grimm said.

Massey has played everything from outfield to second base to catcher and had this to add about the group dynamic among the seniors.

“We’re like a family," Massey said. "We’re all so different, yet we all get along really well. We know each other so well; I don’t know what I’d do without them, that’s for sure.”

Other than breaking team records, these seniors have also garnered many personal achievements.

On Sunday, Massey set the single season mark for home runs with her 12th long ball on the season. Massey also holds the career mark for most doubles with 40 in her career as of Sunday. She plans to graduate next winter with hopes to go into a career in the field of criminal justice.

First baseman Shannel Blackshear tied the career mark for home runs with her 30th when she went deep against Indiana April 26. She also holds the career mark for most RBIs with 135, easily breaking the previous record of 114. After graduating, Blackshear would like to go into coaching or a job in recreation.

With her breakout season this year, sporting a .384 batting average, Grimm has moved her way into the top 10 for career batting average, along with having the second longest streak of games, having reached base in UW history at 24 games. She is an environmental science major planning to graduate next fall.

McIntosh has also had a breakout season with a career best 12 wins in 2013, moving her to seventh on the UW all-time wins list with 35. She pitched two no-hitters this season, tied for the most in one year and second-most in a career. McIntosh is a sociology major who will also graduate next fall.

Except for Massey, none of the players will try to continue their softball careers after this season. However, Blackshear, like her fellow seniors, embraced what the future holds even though softball may not be part of it for the first time in quite a while.

“I think I’m going to have this be my last go of it and just see where life takes me,” Blackshear said. 

Dr. Seuss once said a thing or two about where life will go.

“Oh the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done," Seuss wrote. "There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.”

With only four more wins, this Badgers’ senior class can be the winning-est winners of all as Seuss once described. But even with many more places to go for these seven Badgers, the places they have already gone are an extraordinary feat.

A large section of campus is leaving to do non-academic things (thank goodness -- it’s been a long year) but it’s inevitable that the same large section will come crawling back to campus just a few months after departing. It’s a beautiful thing, too.

In August, the veterans of UW will undoubtedly find their campus remarkably warm and sweating with newness from a few thousand unaccustomed, baby-faced freshmen. Those freshmen will likely be begging for booze and the slightest sign of an invitation to a house party. They’ll also be waiting for their first chance to Jump Around, do the wave, toss profanity back and forth and get goosebumps while U2 sings. That comes Aug. 31. It’s only 115 days away.

It’ll be memorable for all the incoming students, which depends a little on their alcohol intake that Saturday. The same thing goes for the rest of the season; only this season likely won’t be nearly as great as that of any of us veterans, the students who have already experienced a season between sections J and P at Camp Randall.

The 2013 season is sure to be unlike any other, which goes without saying. In his first stint, head coach Gary Andersen will do his best to maintain the many traditions of Wisconsin football. But a new pair of shoes will always make you walk a little differently, at least until they’re broken in.

Unfortunately for next year’s crop of incoming students, the new shoes will be broken in without a home night game. This realization came through a series of announcements, one last week from the ESPN and ABC conglomeration and one this week from the Big Ten Network.

Last Monday, ESPN announced that UW’s only game to find prime time on its network would come at Ohio State, roughly 500 miles from the Wisconsin campus. The Big Ten Network followed up Monday, announcing Wisconsin’s only night game to air on its network will be the bout at Illinois, just 250 miles through the long state to our south.

So Camp Randall won't host a night game in 2013, and it’s too bad. Some of the very best moments known to the Wisconsin venue have come at night games. There’s something weird about how the sun going down brings the vivacity up.

A few years back, the Badgers toppled an undefeated and top-ranked Ohio State team in a moment that even sobered up the kids blacked out from too much Bacardi. ESPN opened its telecast, the city of Madison lit up from the ambiance of its stadium centerpiece and former wide receiver David Gilreath brought Camp Randall to a sound level once thought unimaginable. The game ended, but the night never seemed to.

Less than a year later, Wisconsin opened the season for the rest of the nation as UNLV traveled to Madison. One of those incoming students I’ve referred to was playing quarterback. His name was Russell Wilson, igniting excitement around a Wisconsin team that actually began to seem legitimate.

A few weeks later, the Badgers opened their door to Big Ten newbie Nebraska and then shut them down forcibly with a 48-17 thrashing of the bewildered Cornhuskers. That was another night that never seemed to end as cardinal and white poured out of the stadium into its surrounding locales.

Unfortunately, the only reason to use the lights at Camp Randall in 2013 will come at the outset of a 2:30 p.m. game that simply goes too long. And even then, that might not be as great as similar games of the past. The Badgers’ home schedule in 2013 is very much less than fantastic.  Badger football has plenty of great things, but Badger football matched up against a quality opponent has plenty more. 

In 2013, Wisconsin gets the pleasure of hosting Massachusetts, Tennessee Tech and Brigham Young in the nonconference slate. Barnstorming excitement there. On the conference side, UW will entertain the heinous grouping of Purdue, Northwestern, Indiana and Penn State. Riveting. Camp Randall will never frown, but it may take more for it to smile this season.

Although 2012 witnessed a pair of heartbreaking overtime losses to the darned Spartans and Buckeyes, having fans on the edge of their concrete-sustained seats is a much better scenario than fans climbing that concrete in exiting form after House of Pain shouts through the loudspeakers.

Alas, don’t fret too much. In the end, night games provide just a sliver of the fun known at 1440 Monroe St. throughout the fall.

You might be able to take the prime time away from Camp Randall, but you’ll never be able to take Camp Randall away from a prime time. That’s what every single Saturday is.

Sean Zak is a junior studying journalism and communication arts. Does a schedule without a night game concern you? Let him know at szak@badgerherald.com or on Twitter @sean_zak.

For a large part, that assumption proved correct. Winning six out of seven games in a lengthy homestand helped thrust the Badgers into a sizzling hot nine-game winning streak. Standing in sole control of second place in the Big Ten heading into this past weekend’s series with Michigan State, it also seemed safe to assume Wisconsin would sweep the Spartans and secure another record — the best conference finish in program history.

But, for whatever reason, the stars did not align as the Badgers watched the Spartans steal the series with a decisive victory in the teams’ rubber match on Sunday at Goodman Diamond.

“It’s hard to lose your last game here,” senior infielder Shannel Blackshear said after the team’s loss. “We’ve done really well this season and it’s just about from this point on.

“We can’t take anything for granted and that showed here today. Michigan State is a good team, and they came in and put the ball and play and did well against us. We can’t take anything for granted because we’re doing well.”

From this point on may be what makes or breaks the Badgers season. Hoping to advance to their first NCAA tournament since 2005, UW currently sits at No. 26 in the NCAA Women’s Softball RPI, perhaps the best indicator of the team’s chances to be selected for a spot in the sport’s biggest stage.

Last season, Wisconsin lost a chance at an at-large bid in the tournament when it finished ranked No. 53 in the RPI, largely fueled by the team’s slide in the last month of the season, losing four of their last five games — albeit to strong Michigan and Nebraska teams.

Now, sitting pretty for an at-large bid thanks to a tough non-conference schedule filled with wins against their ranked opponents, the Badgers will hope to solidify their resume with some postseason wins.

Wisconsin will play in the Big Ten Tournament Friday afternoon against the winner of a first round game between No. 5 seed Northwestern and No. 12 Indiana. After losing a series to a Spartans’ team that sat below them in the conference standings, the Badgers are alert to how easy it is to drop a game to any Big Ten opponent, regardless of record.

“We sat above them in conference and if they can knock us down, I’m sure anybody can,” senior utility player Whitney Massey said. “It will make us try that much harder and not take anything for granted.”

“That urgency always needs to be there no matter who you’re playing,” junior outfielder Mary Massei said.

As far as the opponents go, Wisconsin has already had its way with both Indiana and Northwestern. Just two weekends ago the Badgers swept the Hoosiers in Bloomington, Ind., in three straight games by a combined score of 20-3. Although the games against the Wildcats were closer and at home, the Badgers still managed to sweep both their possible opponents.

With the taste of defeat fresh in their mouth, the losses to Michigan State may have served as a wake-up call for Wisconsin that it can’t take its potential opponents in the first round lightly.

“Weekends like this keep you grounded,” Wisconsin head coach Yvette Healy said. “It shows you how closely matched everybody is and nothing’s easy.

"We had won eight conference games rolling into this weekend and swept three series. I don’t know if everyone completely grasped how special that is and how it’s an accomplishment to finish with 16 wins. Every win is a huge deal when you’re in a conference like the Big Ten.”

If the Badgers respond to their Sunday loss the way they have all season, the team could potentially win the entire Big Ten tournament. Not only have the Badgers lost consecutive games just three times the entire season, but they’ve put together colossal winning streaks of 9, 11 and 13 in response to losses this season.

“I definitely think it [sharpens our focus],” Blackshear said. “These games are the games that show you can be completely at the top and anyone can come out and beat you on any given day. I think that’s a lesson learned for our team.”

Now preparing for big crowds in Lincoln, Neb. and the first conference tournament for every player on the roster, Wisconsin hopes the Michigan State series will re-energize the team for a deep run in postseason play.

“One good thing you can take from this weekend: We haven’t peaked too soon,” said Healy, laughing.

Call it a rebirth, call it an emerging powerhouse, call it whatever you want. But in the midst of the best season in program history, Sunday afternoon at Goodman Diamond, everyone and their friends turned out for Wisconsin Senior Day.

After serving as the softball beat writer two seasons prior, I had to make the difficult decision to give the post to a pair of upcoming young bucks in The Badger Herald sports ranks.

But, on this lucky day, one of the writers asked me if I could cover the Sunday doubleheader for him. All too happy to oblige, I set off on the familiar walk down the Lakeshore path. The weather was clear, the wind was blowing and the setting picturesque. And the parking lot outside Goodman Diamond was … packed?

Getting my first glimpses of the diamond revealed, well, something I had never seen before: Goodman Diamond was absolutely full to the point of bursting. Scratch that, it was overflowing. Extra bleachers had actually been brought in behind the outfield fences to house the excess fans.

Players noticed the extra bleachers when they first arrived to warm up, hours before the first spectators filled their seats.

“When we saw the bleachers in the outfield, us seniors were like, ‘We have never seen anything like this,’” senior utility player Whitney Massey said after the doubleheader.

Multiple news outlets were in attendance, with numerous cameras positioned behind home plate. The press box was a tight squeeze with extra UW personnel brought in to specifically handle the higher attendance. And luckily for me, the usual wonderful press box potluck luncheon was so full that the legs of the table supporting the magnificent spread looked to be shaking under the immense weight of food.

Finding my spot on a box next to my staff members, with Spencer Smith and beat writer/freshman all-star Dan Corcoran calling the game on the radio, I started to reminisce about the first senior day I had attended during my two years with the team, which wasn’t exactly well-attended.

That was back in the day when Wisconsin softball’s head coach Yvette Healy was in her first year at the helm of the program and in the midst of beginning to turn the program around with a 30-23 season. Someone in the Badgers’ dugout was thinking the same thing.

“It’s amazing to go from what we had a couple years ago and to seeing how full it was today,” senior infielder Shannel Blackshear said of the attendance. “It just shows how far the program has come.”

Snapping out of my daydream to present day, I spotted a notable face in the sold-out crowd, Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez. Working up my courage, I decided to sit down next to him and ask him a question. I know, you’re probably thinking, “Oh no, a student journalist bugging Barry as he's trying to enjoy a game. Don’t do it, Nick!” No worries, I thought the same thing. If it was any other day, I would’ve left the living legend alone. Unfortunately for him, seeing as I only have two weeks left before I graduate, I decided to throw caution to the wind.

After shaking his hand and introducing myself I asked him what he thought of everything he was seeing. After all, Alvarez had been the one who hired Wisconsin head coach Yvette Healy just three years ago to resuscitate a Wisconsin softball program that was dead in the water.

“Well, I think it says volumes for what she’s done,” Alvarez said. “She’s put excitement into the program. I love the attitude of the kids and how hard they play and you can see they’re having fun. She’s upgraded the quality of play and I couldn’t be more impressed or more pleased with the job that she’s done.”

Then I said thank you. And ran away. With a senior bucket list item crossed off.

After I regained my composure, I realized the Wisconsin AD hit the nail right on the head. Covering Healy’s first two years at the program, it was hard not to notice every game how the Badgers were playing looser and more relaxed. Not only were they improving every game on the field, they legitimately seemed to enjoy playing. The next year the attitude was the same, but the wins came easier.

“We got that 30th win my freshman year and now my junior year we’re at 39 and have more games to play,” junior outfielder Mary Massei said. “It’s a great culture and atmosphere we’ve created for this team.”

Now, it looks like the team is going to make its first NCAA tournament since 2005. And maybe, just maybe, advance past the first round of the NCAA Regional for the first time in program history. And after playing in front of a Goodman Diamond record crowd of 2,007 fans, the Badgers won’t be able to say they haven’t been prepared for the pomp and circumstance the sport's biggest stage has to offer.

“Today really had that NCAA tournament atmosphere and I think that’s so important for the team because this is a group who has a chance to keep playing into the postseason,” Healy said. “You have to get used to this type of environment. It’s thrilling, it’s exciting, but it’s still different.

“I think the more we can have things like this, the better it will make our team when there are other schools that see this every weekend. For us to get a glimpse of it, I think it makes them hungry to do more.”

It goes both ways, coach. Now that fans have seen a glimpse of your program, they're going to stay interested. Just like I have since the first day I ever reported on your team.

Nick is a fifth-year senior and law school hopeful. Nick serves as the Sports Editor of The Badger Herald and a radio host on the WBA award-winning show "The Student Section" and "The Badger Herald Sports Hour" on 91.7 WSUM. Think Nick should have asked Barry more questions about UW softball? Email him at nkorger@badgerherald.com.

Hitting her 12th home run in the rubber match of the Wisconsin softball team's series with Michigan State, senior utility player Whitney Massey set the UW single-season record for long balls.

The home run propelled Massey past former Wisconsin power hitters Anastatia Miller and Katie Hnatyk, who set the record at 11 in 2005 and 2007, respectively.

“I had been seeing the ball really well all day and it was Senior Day, so I felt like something special had to happen,” Massey said. “This pitcher had been throwing me the same stuff all weekend so I felt I had to take one. I had a hard hit in the first game and I thought it was gone, so I had a little anger behind [the home run].”

Her teammates were quick to share in the special moment, mobbing the plate after Massey cranked the 1-0 inside fastball off Michigan State pitcher Kelly Smith for her record-breaking two-run homer.

“I’m so proud of her,” junior Mary Massei, who hit two home runs of her own Sunday, said. “She’s just been hitting the ball so well. Last year it was with the doubles and this year it’s with the home runs. I’m proud to call her my teammate.”

“Whit is just a bulldog,” fellow senior Shannel Blackshear said. “She’s very determined and doesn’t let anything get her down. She could have three of the worst at bats ever, but then she’s always thinking she’s going to come back and get you at some point.”

It was a perfect reminder for the Wisconsin crowd and Massey of how far the senior has come in her career donning the Badger uniform. A four-year starter, Massey was hidden deep in the lineup her sophomore year because she struggled offensively, finishing the 2011 campaign with just a .233 batting average — although she did hit five doubles and two home runs.

Her junior year in 2012 yielded a drastic jump into offensive stardom with a team-best .358 batting average and a Wisconsin single season record of 22 doubles, earning her a First Team All-Big Ten honor and a spot on the NFCA All-Great Lakes Region First Team, making her just the third Badger to ever earn a spot on the list. This year has been no different, with Massey batting .362 and recording 18 doubles.

But it’s been the home run that has made Massey an elite offensive player in her final season. Thanks in large part to her 12 home runs, triple the number she put up just a season ago, Massey leads the team with 46 RBIs from her three-spot in the batting order.

“She’s really risen to the occasion, and she’s a kid that we challenged and got on, and she responded the right way,” UW head coach Yvette Healy said. “She’s got a lot of heart. She’s a tough kid with a lot of fight and that’s what you want to see towards the end. You want kids that play well but have the right temperament, where they don’t have fear and rise to the occasion in these types of environments.”

The environment Massey played in Sunday definitely had the feel of a big stage. Playing in front of the largest home crowd in Goodman Diamond history, Massey delighted the 2,007 fans not only with her home run, but also an overall dominant performance in Sunday's doubleheader.

Going 5-of-6 from the plate with 4 RBIs Sunday and 6-for-10 with 6 RBIs in the entire series, Massey terrorized the Michigan State pitchers all weekend to leave her home dirt on her own terms, even though her team lost the rubber match and fell to third in the conference standing to end the regular season.

Although the season is far from over with the Big Ten Tournament approaching next week in Lincoln, Neb., Massey can take solace in knowing her senior class and its efforts have not only put the program in a position to make its first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2005, but also have left a program that went 20-31 their freshman year to 34-19 in their final season.

“I don’t take it for granted any day,” Massey said. “I’m always out here working hard. I know where I came from and it’s not a far road back to that.”

Men’s assistant coach and cross country head coach Mick Byrne said that the quality of competition in the Big Ten makes the conference outdoor championship a highly anticipated event.

“The conference is so competitive, it’s so deep in all events across the board,” Byrne said. “It’s a really tough meet. Times go out the door; you don’t consider time. It’s about competing. It’s completely different than running at a meet like we did this past weekend out at Payton Jordan or Mt. SAC or any of the big invitationals.

“Indoors, it’s competition. Nobody cares about how fast you ran coming into the meet. It’s all about head-to-head competition. That’s why we run conference events; that’s why they’re very exciting.”

The UW men’s team has already won conference championships at the indoor track and cross country championships, including a second place finish at the NCAA Championship for the cross country team.

Senior long-distance runner Elliot Krause said a goal of any good track program is to complete the triple crown — winning the cross country, indoor track and outdoor track championships in the same season. The Wisconsin Open will serve as the final preparation for the eager Badger team.

“We’re trying to conclude that triple,” Krause said. “I think everyone’s very focused. Everyone’s excited and this is definitely what we’ve been looking forward to all season. This is definitely the highlight of the outdoor season.”

Based on the accomplishments of the team so far this season, success in the coming weeks is a definite possibility.

Along with Krause, senior Maverick Darling and sophomore Alex Hatz make up the Wisconsin trio of long-distance runners that have dominated the standings. Krause was named co-Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week April 25 after finishing first among collegians and 10th overall in the Elite Invitational section of the 5,000-meter race at the Mt. SAC relays, which concluded April 20. His time of 13:34.30 ranks second in the NCAAs this season and is the fifth best time by an American.

Both Darling and Hatz set personal records on Sunday at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., which is considered the country’s most competitive meet for long-distance runners. In the top section of the 5,000-meter race, Darling finished fourth among collegians and 16th overall with a time of 13 minutes, 30.4 seconds, beating out Krause for best-Big Ten time in the 5,000-meter event this season. Hatz’s run of 3:39.87 in the 1500-meter race is the Big Ten’s top time this season and is good for third in the country.

While Darling and Hatz found success this past weekend, the Badgers lost a key member of their squad to injury. Junior multi-event athlete Japheth Cato, the 2012 Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year, ruptured his Achilles heel competing at Payton Jordan and will not compete in the Wisconsin Open or the Big Ten Championships. He is scheduled for surgery on Thursday.

Women’s competition heating up

With the postseason nearing, women’s track head coach Jim Stintzi said his team will be undergoing some changes.

Redshirt sophomore Deanna Latham, who was named a 2012 Second Team All-American for the heptathlon, will compete in open events, not the heptathlon.

Stintzi also said that fifth-year senior Caitlin Comfort has not opened up in a 10,000-meter race. He said that the key for his team for the championship is hitting its peak performance at the right time.

“It really is a bit of an unknown quantity,” Stintzi said. “People are running faster right now. We’re setting season personal records. So I feel like we’re moving in the right direction, but we’re just a little bit up in the air right now.”

Comfort finished fifth in her section of the 5,000-meter race with a personal-record time of 16:18.05 at the Payton Jordan Invitational, which the women’s team also competed in this past weekend. Her time ranks fifth best in the Big Ten this outdoor season.

Comfort will run both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races at the Big Ten Championships next weekend. As a long distance runner, Comfort said she averages between 80 and 90 miles per week to prepare herself for further distances.

Senior thrower Taylor Smith also set a personal record in the shot put by more than three feet, and topping her own school record with a throw of 56 feet, 11 1/2 inches to win the Triton Invitational.

Byrne said that the Big Ten Outdoor Championship is a great opportunity for your team to showcase its talents to other teams in the league.

“The conference meet is all about competing,” Byrne said. “It’s great experience for your athletes. It teaches them what the sport is all about. It’s our priority. If you’re a Badger, you get excited about competing about the Big Ten Championships — that’s just what we do.”