Which Loss Was Worse: Packers or Badgers?
We know not all of you are Wisconsin Badgers fans, but a lot of Green Bay Packers fans are Wisconsin Badgers fans.
Because it kind of goes with the territory if you’re from Wisconsin.
If you’re not from Wisconsin, then you can probably disregard this conversation.
If you are, then you can go ahead and join us in feeling sorry for ourselves for being emotionally invested in Wisconsin sports.
First of all, it’s been a brutal 12 months. Bucks putting together the worst season in team history, Badgers men’s basketball losing to Kentucky by one in the Final Four, Brewers authoring a historic collapse and missing the playoffs after leading the NL Central for the majority of the season, Badgers football getting embarrassed in the Big 10 championship, Packers pounding themselves in their own asses in the NFC Championship, Badgers men’s basketball falling short against Duke in the NCAA championship.
It’s the almosts that hurt the most though.
The Packers almost made it to the Super Bowl, where they would have faced a team they beat earlier in the season. The Badgers almost won their first basketball national championship since 1941.
Which loss is worse?
Hard to say.
Those who say the Packers will point to the epic nature of the collapse. The fact that it still defies logic that the team lost that game. They’ll say the Badgers weren’t expected to win and they lost to the better team.
Those who say the Badgers will likely rely on the very fact that Wisconsin isn’t expected to win national titles. That they were this close and that a win would have put the Badgers on the map in terms of national powers makes the loss even harder to take. After all, maybe that was their one chance and they let it slip through their fingers. The Packers, on the other hand, will have a great chance to go to the Super Bowl this year and will probably win another one in a matter of years, not decades.
We don’t know the answer. We just know it sucks to be a sports fan from Wisconsin right now.
Why don’t you go ahead and tell us what you think.
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I might be in the minority here, and maybe because the wound is still fresh, but last nights loss has the edge in my book.
We’ve grown accustomed to the Pack being in (relative) contention for a ring every year. They weren’t 5 minutes from a ring, they were 5 minutes from a chance to play for a ring. I expect a Sweet 16 year for Wisconsin on most good years – the last two years being exceptions. To be within 8 minutes of National Title for the first time in 70+ years, and subsequently losing that grip is worse in my opinion. Pair that with the fact that there’s complete overhaul to the collegiate roster every 2-4 years, Wisconsin’s relatively small recruiting pool, and the departure of Frank and likely departure of Sam Dekker – we may not see this opportunity again for some time.
Sorry, but you are in the minority. Last night was a bad loss, esp. with a 9 point lead in the 2nd half, but the Pack laid an egg for the ages: an epic collapse that will forever be remembered. The Badgers’ loss will be forgotten within a decade, regardless of whether they win a NT or not.
The Badgers. Never have I followed a team that had its star players (Dekker and Frank) forego being paid millions out of loyalty to the program and fan base. This is the one time that the team was just as heavily invested as us fans. Too bad Bo didn’t have the boys better prepared to finish.
The Packers transcend ALL. I value the Pack more than human life, at least in many instances. So it is a no brainer. I am not sure however they would likely have defeated the Patriots, given that Rodgers was injured.
Normally I would agree with Wolf’s sentiment – Pack trumps everything for me. But there was something really, really special about this particular Badger squad. And to echo Adam, I don’t think we’ll ever see another Badger team in our lifetime have a legitimate shot at a national title.
When the Packers fell short, I felt bad for myself the rest of Packer Nation. When the Badgers fell short, I felt bad for them. So, I’m going with the Badgers on this one.
Decker couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn last night, picked a bad night to go cold…way too much celebrating over the Kentucky game….too be a few mins away from a Super Bowl is much worse of a loss in my book….
Not just Deck, but Traevon…. man. He took some bad shots and rushed a LOT. He’s been so clutch for us up until the injury this year. Chalk it up to rust and a lack of chemistry after missing so many games.
I still wake up in cold sweats in the middle of the night from that terrible loss..
I didn’t watch the badger game and it sucks that they didn’t win, but that Packer game was the worst moment in sports I have ever witnessed.
Badgers in the Nat’l Champ game. Simply for the reason that it was a long time coming and it’ll probably be a loooong time before they even have the chance to think about competing for the National Championship.
As much as fans bitch about the Packers, you go into pretty much every year knowing that your team will be in the postseason conversation and can maybe replicate 2010 and pull a Super Bowl trophy out of their ass.
Stop-I love college b ball but to put that loss ahead of one of the worst collapses in professional sports is crazy. Its college- most people if not all have already forgotten about it.
I say a Packer loss means more because a Packer Super Bowl victory would mean so much more to me than a Badgers basketball championship.
Plus basketball is a greatly flawed sport where the end of the games isn’t a flurry of execution, but is a stumbling train of fouls and guys with limited athletic ability are succesful just because they are tall genetic freaks.
The Badgers. It might be 20 years before the stars line up again for a tournament run. The Packers content every year (although I do remember the dark days). Even if they started to suck it’s possible to reload through free agency–something Bucky just can’t do.
Packers, not even close.
UW was just tired.
Packers are in the playoffs every year? Yeah, so are the Badgers.
This is a much better program now. If you would have asked me 2 years ago if the Badgers would go to 2 straight Final Fours and play in a National Title Game, I would have said- “With WHO?”
The Badgers can get back here again.
Packers completely fuckin themselves.
I think the degree of shock was much worse with the Packers, cold ones were being celebratory poured with 5 minutes left in the game. We all were in shock.
With the Badgers even though they led by as much as 9 in the second half, those leads can evaporate…..fast…as it did. But, I agree that the chance of the Packers getting back to the SB are much greater than the chances of the Badgers getting back to the NCAA Championship I vote that the Badgers loss was much worse.
the egg laid by the packers was actually a twin egg laid by mike#2 who somehow morphed into mike#1’s final minutes’ choke vs. philthy. i’ll have to dub it “mike and mike in the millenium” or something like that.
anyway, college sports is only supposed to be part of a young man’s education: “these fields of sport to prepare us for the battles of real life to follow” to paraphrase Gen. Douglas MacArthur. ergo, is it healthy for media and fans to overhype and ramp up pressure on these athletic exhibitions among “kids”?