A Bird's Eye View

By James Cardinal

Mountains and valleys, feast and famine, use whatever metaphor for highs and lows that you want, but such is the life of a Wisconsin sports fan these days. Last week, the Brewers clinched their third division title in the past four years. However, they’ve played pretty lackluster baseball since clinching, maybe still hungover from the celebration. On the third-to-last play of the Packers’ much-anticipated opener in Brazil, star quarterback Jordan Love’s knee buckled. It appeared as though the entire season might be in jeopardy, and it was only week one. But it appears that Love might be ready to go this Sunday against the archrival Vikings, good news for those with tickets like yours truly. In Madison, the honeymoon period is over for Head Coach Luke Fickell. His arrival was heralded as the beginning of a new era for Wisconsin football, but last Saturday they got beat handedly by Alabama, looking like they weren’t ready for prime time much of the time. A similar story played out for the Bucks last season. After making a huge trade to get Damian Lillard, it was the player that they traded away, Jrue Holiday, who won a championship in Boston while Milwaukee watched from home.

But Wisconsinites are a hardy people. We are a people who choose to live in a place that has an entire season that features sub-zero temperatures and hip-high snow (but at least it’s dark all the time). We are used to lean times and it’s the knowledge that all seasons pass that helps us make it through those bleak moments.

We are living in a relative golden age for Wisconsin sports. Much like Packers fans living through the 70s and 80s, Brewers fans who lived through the 90s and 2000s are now being rewarded for surviving a two-decade long winter. The sun is shining once again in Milwaukee (and we can close the roof on the days it doesn’t). Speaking of the Packers, all early signs seem to indicate that Jordan Love has the potential to be the third straight MVP-caliber QB for the green and gold. To put that in perspective, the Bears have had almost 40 quarterbacks start for them since Brett Favre’s first start in 1992. And, of course, there’s the Bucks championship in 2021.

Perhaps that’s why Wisconsin fans don’t panic now when there are little blips. Fans of a certain age of any (or all) of Wisconsin’s sports teams know what it feels like to have the team you cheer for be utterly irrelevant. The fact that they are all in serious conversations about being among the best in their respective leagues is a just reward for those of us who spent 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness without losing the faith.

Sports are fun because winning championships is hard. Going to games at Miller Park in 2002 when they lost 106 games makes going to playoff games now at American Family Field so much sweeter. But what we cannot do is take these moments for granted. If all seasons pass, and they do, then at some point the golden age will come to an end (although hopefully not any time soon).

I will use our neighbors to the west as a study in contrast. I remember attending Twins games at the Metrodome while I was in high school in the early 2000s. The Twins were in the middle of their own renaissance at the time. They spent a decade missing the playoffs after winning the World Series in 1991, but by the 2000s they were back on top of their division. However, they only made the pennant series once in that decade despite winning the AL Central six of the 10 years, and they never made the World Series. I remember hearing Twins fans complaining about making the playoffs but not winning in the playoffs. Their complaints fell on deaf ears for anybody who was dealing with the worst stretch of Brewers baseball in the team’s history. That’s why I will not take the Brewers’ recent success for granted. I will be disappointed if they don’t win it all, a real possibility, but I will never complain about making the playoffs or winning the division, regardless of how the season ends.

As is often the case, sports serve as a metaphor for life. It may not feel like it with the recent temperatures, but summer is transitioning to autumn. We should not take these last days of sun for granted. I have heard grumbles about the recent warmth, but the days are getting shorter, darker, and soon they will be colder. This season, too, will pass, let’s enjoy it while we can.