Badgers have the best game day traditions
On Wisconsin!
Anyone who has heard about UW-Madison knows two things: we know how to party and we have some of the best fans in collegiate sports. With football season coming up soon, I asked some Badgers what their favorite game day traditions are, and they did not disappoint.
Even our dogs party with us
Game day drinks
With most of our home games starting at 11am, Badgers have found fun ways to get their drinks in before lunch. The game day mimosa is always a crowd pleaser, and I know I’m a fan of the Bucky-shaped Jello-shots. It’s also never too early to start a three-story beer bong or other drinking games.
Yelling “first and ten, Wisconsin!”
Every first down we earn, the student section yells “first and ten, Wisconsin” without fail. Nothing like rubbing our first down in the faces of the other team to keep morale up.
Counting Bucky’s push-ups
After scoring, the cheerleaders hold up our mascot on a mat, and good ol’ Bucky matches our score with push-ups. The student section counts the number of push-ups, and Bucky never fails to get a cheer out of us.
“Eat Shit” “Fuck You” chant
Drunk students love to yell, and there’s one chant that is our favorite: we split the crowd in two, and one side yells “eat shit” at the other. What’s the comeback? “Fuck you”, of course. After about two minutes of yelling, we all cheer and clap. No hard feelings.
The halftime show and 5th quarter
If you know anything about our football games, you should know we take pride in our marching band. They perform at every half-time, and after the last quarter of the game, fans stick around to watch the band perform during, what we call, 5th quarter.
The game day attire
The red and white coveralls, the face tattoos, the men with dad bods painting letters on their stomachs: all are typical game-day garb. Badger fans go all out when it comes to repping our team. We love our red and white so much, many students expose their pasty Wisconsin skin to the sun, and turn Badger red in no time.
Tailgating and drinking with parents
Nothing is more game day than playing flip cup on someone’s front lawn. But do you know who plays with us? Our parents, of course. The Badger student section is rowdy, but so are our parents. They know how to have an amazing tailgate. Brats and brownies? Yes please!
Our sing-a-longs
Badgers’ ears perk up every time “Sweet Caroline” and “Buttercup” start to play. These songs are a college tradition for us, and nothing is cooler than singing the same song with hundreds of your classmates around you. Of course, singing “Varsity” and “If You Wanna Be a Badger” are always necessary.
Nap and Rally
Badgers take pride in our “work hard, play hard” mentality, and we are not willing to waste a Saturday night because we are too tired. Go home, take a little snooze, puke if you have to, then get a start on a great night out. Rallying is definitely one of our most prized game-day traditions.
Jump Around, of course
When third quarter comes around, you know the student section is preparing to Jump Around. It’s our biggest and best tradition by far. When the House of Pain song “Jump Around” starts to play, everyone in the student section starts to jump. With hundreds of people jumping on the bleachers, Camp Randall starts to shake. You can hear the thumping from the other side of the stadium in Bucky’s Locker Room, and it sounds like the ceiling is going to collapse. Nothing is more incredible to watch than a sea of red and white jumping around with Badger pride.