Madison is used to being the No. 1 community in all sorts of rankings, but the latest distinction is noteworthy. Sports Illustrated on Campus ranked the Badgers the No. 1 Best College Sports Town in the United States.
In an edition of SI on Campus to be distributed in college papers next week, Wisconsin was picked first of 20 collegiate cities evaluated in this first annual ranking.
To quote the magazine, "There were numerous worthy candidates, but one town stood above the rest; a lakeside burg where jocks, intellectuals, activists and good ol' Midwestern boys and girls all come together in support of one thing: the Badgers.'
The Badgers beat a host of great schools and towns including Athens, Ga. (Georgia), Austin, Texas (Texas), Gainesville, Fla. (Florida) and Boulder, Colo. (Colorado) that rounded out the top five.
The Big Ten Conference showed well in the survey with six schools ranked among the top 20'the most of any conference. Besides Madison at No. 1, Bloomington, Ind. (Indiana) was No. 6; Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan) ranked 11th; Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State) was 15th; Iowa City, Iowa (Iowa) ranked No. 18; and State College, Pa. (Penn State), was No. 20.
The magazine eloquently described Badger fans in dress and deed and was more complimentary than critical. The football games were the main focus of the survey with descriptions of the slow motion wave, jump around, student cheers, Fifth Quarter, and a full house of 76,634 red-and-white clad fans jammed in the giant horseshoe that is Camp Randall Stadium.
The writer also visited a number of other Madison venues from the Memorial Union Terrace to the SERF recreational facility to State Street Brats. He recognized the Grateful Red basketball fan section and the Badger hockey fans. He complimented the football team on its talented players as well as the women's hockey team on its sixth place national finish a year ago.
In his brief visit the writer managed to experience most of the game-day haunts and activities. He concluded, 'tolerance is the order of the town and be you a nerd, or a jock, or a stoner, or a neo-punk, you can all come together on game day.'
Sports Illustrated on Campus is a free magazine focused on college sports and college students' sports interests that is inserted in student newspapers throughout the nation.
