Wisconsin sports: The curse of all curses
Wisconsin sports fan have suffered a lot in the past decade. Is there a painful curse that’s been suddenly cast upon them?
One game. One lousy game. That’s how close the Milwaukee Brewers came to advancing to the World Series for just the second time in franchise history. Unfortunately, they came up short in the big game and continued a trend that’s been ongoing for a while in Wisconsin sports.
Ever since the Green Bay Packers‘ 2011 Super Bowl victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Wisconsin fans have suffered painful loss after painful loss on the biggest of stages. Every team from Wisconsin basketball to the Brewers to the Packers have come close to capturing another championship for the state of Wisconsin and each has fallen short in a very frustrating fashion.
In 2011, the Brewers advanced to the NLCS for the first time in franchise history. As they were playing the St. Louis Cardinals, one player kept making Milwaukee pay. David Freese. Freese was 12-for-22 in the six-game series with three doubles, three home runs and nine RBIs. That included a 3-for-4 Game 6 where the Cardinals dropped 12 runs on the Brewers’ heads.
Three years later, the Badgers’ men’s basketball team advanced to the Final Four for just the third time in school history and the first time since 2000. They ran into the powerhouse Kentucky Wildcats, but were able to prove they belonged. With the game on the line, Aaron Harrison (a career 33.5 percent 3-point shooter) hit a deep, contested three in Josh Gasser’s face to give them the lead in the final seconds. What a nasty way to lose.
Fortunately, the Badgers rebounded and beat the Wildcats in the Final Four the following season. Unfortunately, disaster struck again, as they fell to the Duke Blue Devils in the National Championship game in a horrible fashion.
The Badgers limited future first round picks Justice Winslow and Jahlil Okafor to a combined 21 points on 8-for-18 shooting. Unfortunately, Tyus Jones and Grayson Allen rose to the equation to score 39 points between the two of them. They only averaged 16.2 coming into the game.
Another chance at a championship, another blown opportunity.
The Packers have also come close to another Super Bowl a couple of times since their last Lombardi Trophy. In 2014, Green Bay went to Seattle as big underdogs. However, everything appeared to go their way for the first three quarters and they had Seattle on the ropes. It took a meltdown the likes of which the NFL has never seen before in order for the Packers to lose that game. Two years later, the Packers returned and got blown out against the Atlanta Falcons in embarrassing fashion.
It’s not as if Wisconsin sports have been void of opportunities at championships over the past decade or so. But that’s the painful part. It’s a lot easier to emotionally disinvest in a team when they are bad from the start. However, it’s more problematic to see your team succeed and get your hopes up with possibilities. Hopefully, someone can break the curse sooner rather than later and deliver a championship back to the great state of Wisconsin.