Saw that CBS Sports piece ranking the best Big Ten rivalries and of course we got Minnesota in there. Paul Bunyan's Axe means something to people who actually grew up in this state. But the thing that gets me is how many of these kids in the portal right now will never understand what it means to play for that trophy. They see a logo on a helmet, not the history carved into that wooden handle.
I think back to the 1994 season when we went into the Metrodome and took that Axe back from Minnesota. You could feel what it meant in the stands, in the locker room, in the way Coach Alvarez talked about it all week. Those kids stayed for four years and earned the right to carry that trophy off the field. Now you got guys enteing the portal in May because they didn't get enough targets in spring practice. They don't care about Paul Bunyan's Axe or any of it. They care about their personal brand and their NIL bag.
The portal eliminated the whole concept of earning your stripes. I remember when a freshman would sit for two years learning the system, learning what it meant to be a Badger, learning the history of this program. Now if a guy doesn't start by Week 3 he's gone. And the worst part is they're allowed to do it during the summer dead period too, at least until this new rule kicks in next year. So here we are in May wondering who is actually going to be on the roster come August.
You want to know what made those Alvarez teams special? It wasn't just the talent. It was the continuity. Those guys practiced together for three and four years. They knew each other's tendencies. They knew the system inside and out. Now every spring is a complete roster overhaul and you're trying to build chemistry with guys who showed up three weeks ago from some other program. That's not Wisconsin football. That's free agency.
I saw where CBS had us in the top 10 for best Big Ten rivalries and they're right about that. But those rivalries only mean something if the kids wearing the jerseys understand the history. And I look at this portal era and I wonder how many of them even know who Ron Dayne is or what the 1993 Rose Bowl meant to this program. They're just passing through.