I’ve joined my folks for a post-Thanskgiving visit to their Wisconsin getaway place. It’s relaxing up here. Very quiet.
To break up the solitude a bit, we drove down to Madison Saturday morning. The first stop was the Dane County Farmers’ Market which is the largest of its kind in the US. When the weather gets cold in mid-November, the market moves indoors from its regular set-up on the grounds of the state capitol into a large space at the Monona Terrace Convention Center a few blocks away. We arrived at about 9:45 AM. About fifty vendors were selling Wisconsin-grown/made products in strict adherence with guidelines from the market’s elected oversight entity. This time of year limits the type of fruits and veggies available, but what we saw was still an impressive array of Wisconsin products. There were several cheesemakers on hand. One vendor sold fresh trout filets.
The Luna Circle Farm in nearby Rio, WI had a colorful presentation of root veggies including “watermelon radishes.”
Some producers could be heard telling customers that Wisconsin’s dry, hot summer was bad for their harvest.
The gentleman working the Snug Haven Farm stand was in good spirits, however. He sold bags of beautiful-looking “frost-sweetened” spinach. Grown in hoop houses (a style of green house) in Belleville, WI, the plants are deliberately exposed to cold temps to improve texture and flavor.
Music was performed on one end of the selling floor. When the market shifts to a senior center location later in January, breakfasts made with market products are served for eight bucks.
I want to come back and see the market in its full glory on a Saturday morning in late summer at the Capitol grounds.
The Capitol building was open to the public all day Saturday as it is year-round, every day of the year. We went in about 10:30 AM and took a free tour that included access to the Governor’s conference room, the state supreme court and both chambers of the state legislature. The young woman who guided our group of about 40 people through the 55-minute tour threw a lot of good info at us but she was robotic and put too much emphasis on construction of the building. I’ve taken a lot of state capitol tours in my day and I always enjoy it when the guide sheds light on the current workings and business of what happens in the seat of state government. One need not get political to briefly describe key players in the three branches of state government and the current state of affairs. Here we were in a building that had recently been the site of historically important hostile clashes between a segment of the citizenry and the state’s chief executive and the tour guide made not a single mention of any of it.
We had lunch at Mickies Dairy Bar across the street from Camp Randall Stadium. Students from the University of Wisconsin packed the booths and counter seats. The milkshake here is fantastic. It’s thick and rich. Sandwiches are inexpensive and tasty.
After lunch we headed over to the UW campus for an afternoon of women’s hockey at the newly-constructed La Bahn Arena. The new athletic facility adjoining the Kohl Center (the primary on-campus indoor arena) includes an ice rink with room for about 2400 fans. It’s a great place to see a hockey game. Built mostly with private donor dough, the $30-million annex serves as the practice rink for both the men’s and women’s team. It will be the regular home venue for the women’s team. The Lady Badgers have four national titles and are coached by Mark Johnson, one of the more prominent heroes on the 1980 US Olympic hockey squad that won gold at Lake Placid.
Wisconsin beat St. Cloud St. 6-3. It was $5 to get in ($1 for seniors). The quality of hockey is high although the ban on body-checking in the women’s game takes some getting used to at first. The game is meant to include contact as a means of slowing the player with the puck but that’s not allowed at this level. The contact is so difficult for participants to refrain from, you see the occasional body-check. In this game, five checking penalties were called. Eleven other minor penalties were whistled for acts of aggression. So while the ban is enforced, it’s not fully observed.
Speed and skating skill is valued perhaps even more in the women’s game given the freedom of movement. The fastest skater in this game was Brianna Decker (pictured above). Just five feet four inches, Decker flies up and down the ice. She logs heavy ice time and won 21 of 33 faceoffs.
After junior Natalie Berg scored her first career goal as a Badger (it ended up being the game winner), Decker asked the referee for the puck and tossed it to the Wisconsin bench for safe keeping. Decker scored two goals including a short-handed empty-netter with 1:41 to play in the game. Decker wears the C and will walk away from Wisconsin next summer as one of the best players in the program’s history. You’d hope she’s part of the US squad that plays for gold in Sochi fourteen months from now.
Attendance was 1767. I loved how natural sunlight entered the arena from windows near the top of the building. It was nice to be at a hockey game again, especially not knowing when the guys who play for pay come back again.
There’s no television up here at the cabin in Adams County, WI but we’ve been listening to lots of radio. I brought along a small satellite receiver and feed the signal through a clock radio in a room on the main floor. Relying on the radio call as the lone source of enjoying a big sporting event is right up my alley. For ND/USC Saturday night, my Dad and I sat and listened to the Fightin’ Irish broadcast carried on the “Catholic Channel.” Play-by-play man Don Criqui’s form has fallen off considerably. He misses large chunks of action and often does little more than inform the listener where the ball is spotted after the play is over. When he occasionally gains focus, sets the scene and has full use of his voice, Criqui sounds like he did twenty years ago. It’s such an authoritative and kind-sounding delivery. But Criqui’s voice is cashed now. He crackles, chokes and gasps frequently without hitting the mute button in the booth. Criqui doesn’t get much help from his partner Allen Pinkett either. It’s an awful broadcast. ND’s loyalty to the two alums in the booth likely keeps them around as long as they want but Criqui would benefit from some self-reflection on his performance. Play the tapes. Make way for somebody who can process and describe a play in real time.