Wisconsin, the 2011 Big Ten Championship, and Preparing to be a Dad
The night was December 3, 2011, and excitement was building. Yes, the Big Ten Championship game between the Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan State was set to take place inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
However, there was also a chance I was also set to become a father for the first time.
My wife and I, along with my in-laws, sat down to eat dinner at a nearby restaurant on the west side of Madison that Saturday evening. Mind you, I was not a reporter at the time. I was a 28-year-old administrative assistant and dad-to-be. Like a hawk, I was constantly watching my nine-months-pregnant partner having regular contractions at the table and asking if she was OK.
Honestly, I must have been annoying as hell.
By my memory, my mother- and father-in-law were also paying attention to my wife's contractions and wondering if we needed to go to our hospital. After monitoring for the duration of the meal while inhaling a steak (hey, I was hungry), the call was made to head in just to confirm this was the real deal. The bags were packed and ready to go.
As FS1 replayed the entire 2011 Big Ten Championship game on Wednesday evening, I admit I do not have much recollection of that entire contest. Some of that is due to Father Time and eight years passing, and we now have three kids that I am trying to keep in check while school is out justifiably due to the concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was also due to what I thought what might have been -- what could be one of the most important and greatest days of our lives with our firstborn coming into this world, and also what was happening around us at the time (more on the latter in a bit).
My wife and I got to Meriter, our hospital of birthing choice that is very close to the UW campus, and went to the birthing center triage unit. In our designated area or room, I looked around. With time to waste and my wife amazingly calm (seriously, she's a rock y'all), I saw the television. "Aha!" Maybe I could turn it on. I looked back at her, looked back at the screen, and I got the OK to turn on the game.
I remember catching the tail end of Wisconsin sprinting out to an early 21-7 lead thanks to a Russell Wilson touchdown pass to Jeff Duckworth and two Montee Ball rushing scores. The Badgers clinching a berth to Pasadena AND potentially seeing the birth of my son on the same night? That would be quite the day indeed.
The rest of my memory feels shot up until the final quarter really, and we would have to wait about 78 more hours to meet our baby boy. Laura was monitored for a while, I tried to focus and keep tabs on her while glimpsing at the TV here and there. Then we got released and we made the 20-minute trek back home. By that time, Michigan State scored 22 unanswered points to take an eight-point lead into halftime.
I have seen all the replays multiple times, but I do not recall watching live Wilson's 42-yard touchdown pass to Jared Abbrederis with 9:13 remaining in the third quarter. According to former UW quarterback Nate Tice, Wilson broke his nose after the hit from a Spartan defender:
I do not remember much of the third quarter, or much of the fourth, to be fair. It has been viewed so many times since, but I feel I caught Wilson's heave of fourth-down, 36-yard completion to Duckworth in the final period on what became Wisconsin's game-winning drive.
That was because when we returned home, one we had bought just over three months earlier, the boisterous sounds of fans engulfed its walls. You see, we did not know that for a considerable time, but there had been a small water leak from our refrigerator that had slowly but surely continued and found its way before our upstairs flooring..
How long? Well, to the point that the day after Thanksgiving, we noticed water seeping through the basement ceiling. How the laminate floors were laid down, which included it being placed over the previous linoleum layering, water sat there for a considerable time without being noticed (i.e. it seeping into the finished basement area sooner).
So, we were having a child at some point in the very near future, and our kitchen/dining room area was being aired out/dehumidified so they could kill the mold and eventually replace everything.
Though trying to turn the volume up to hear the play by play during the final quarter, the fans provided an overwhelming white noise effect. Couple that audio dissonance with coming down from the emotions and excitement from hours prior, it was quite a jarring viewing experience. The only play that really stands out to this day was another fourth down play. That would be the game-sealing, running into the punter penalty against Brad Nortman.
Being honest, I did not have the opportunity to watch the entire replay of the game last night between family time and relaxing from the stay-at-home nature many of us are currently facing. However, I turned it on just as UW's final drive started. Three straight runs, and Nortman came on to flip the field position.
The Brookfield (WI) Central product booted a 41-yard punt to Keshawn Martin, who then returned it 64 yards to the UW three-yard line, only for it to be nullified by the penalty on Isaiah Lewis. Resulting in a fresh set of downs, the Badgers only needed three kneel downs thereafter for time to run off and clinch its second of three consecutive conference championships.
That very play brought back all of the aforementioned memories from that night for me, and for that matter, a reflection of just what has transpired since both personally, professionally for my family and even what Wisconsin athletics have accomplished. Though a false alarm that evening, our son was born a little over three days later, and with the house still in rebuild mode, my amazing in-laws provided a very comfortable, temporary home for us until everything was back to the normal.
It is striking just how sporting events spring forth the who, what, when, where, why and how when viewing them. Though most current and future games are on hold, at some point they will come back, and new memories will cement themselves once again.
