The current quarterback situation isn’t affecting one Wisconsin signal caller.
If hell freezes over, pigs fly and Ralph Nader becomes the next commander in chief, maybe Wisconsin will play in January’s Rose Bowl. But if for some odd reason all those things don’t happen, there will still be one Badger playing in Pasadena Jan. 1.
Well, ex-Badger.
Oct. 3 started off like most Friday mornings for former UW backup quarterback Tyler Fishbune: His head hurt a little, and he didn’t feel like waking up. But when 3 p.m. rolled around, he was glad his friend Casey Lynde — who goes by “Swan” (no relation to Luke) — had forced him out of bed.
As a senior in high school, Fishbune — also known as “Fish” by his close friends — was an all-state quarterback from St. Charles East High School in Illinois, beating out University of Illinois’ Isiah “Juice” Williams for the honor. He walked on the UW football team and redshirted his freshman season. But after the Badgers’ Capital One Bowl victory over Arkansas, he decided he’d had enough of football. At least the kind where wearing pads is necessary.
His spiral is still tighter than Snoop Dogg’s cornrows, but now he just plays with his thumbs. And thanks to Lynde, he’ll be practicing quite a bit for the next 2 1/2 months.
“I set my alarm for 10:30,” Lynde said. “I woke up early, and I was trying to get him up, but he wouldn’t get out of bed. Finally, at 10 minutes to 11, he got up, and we got dressed and headed over there.”
“There” was in front of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house on Langdon Street, where EA Sports was holding the 2009 NCAA Football Challenge, a 32-person XBox tournament with a trip for two to the Rose Bowl on the line.
“I was prepared to play Madden,” Fishbune said. “I hadn’t played NCAA Football in a long time.”
Didn’t matter. Fishbune coasted his way through the three rounds, winning each by the 21-point mercy rule. And after winning the semi-finals by just seven points, he found himself in the tournament’s finals.
“Not that many people showed up; I thought there’d be a bigger crowd,” Fishbune said. “After a couple rounds, I realized I could actually win.”
The realization soon became a reality. With Swan cheering behind him, Fish swam to victory. Two plane tickets, two seats to the coveted game, two nights in a Pasadena hotel and an estimated $2,500 vacation courtesy of EA Sports. Next, a 16-person tournament to be played before the Rose Bowl; winner gets $10,000.
“I went there thinking I could do it, but I wasn’t expecting to win,” Fishbune said. “Then afterwards it was kind of surreal. We were walking around, and I was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m going to the Rose Bowl for playing video games.”
Of course, he’ll be taking Lynde, his self-proclaimed manager, along with him.
“I have to take him,” Fishbune said. “If he didn’t wake me up, none of this ever would have happened.”
By definition, he’s not a gamer; he’s just an athlete and casual video game player. But make no mistake about it; his time between the hash marks was the ultimate difference that Friday morning.
“Even some experience playing football, playing quarterback helps reading defenses, teaches you to multi-task,” Fishbune said. “In video games, it’s the same way. If you can read the defense, you know what to do with the ball. You go through progressions, one, two, three, where you’ve got to throw the ball. It’s not that different than real football.”
Right — except for the fact that you can play five games in four hours and leave with only a pair mild blisters and a fading headache.
Fishbune now has 78 days before he attempts to bust the bracket once more. What will he do with the 10 grand, should he win?
“I’m going abroad next semester, so I will have a good time in Prague (Czech Republic) if I win,” he said. “Obviously I’m going to save some of it and not be an idiot, but I’m definitely going to have a good time.”
And the manager’s cut?
“We’re talking about 10 percent, but it’s still up in the air,” Lynde said.
So when the calendars turn, the SoCal beaches will be Badger-less, but a swan and a fish will peruse the Pacific.
And you thought the BCS was unpredictable.
Derek is a junior majoring in economics. He already canceled his ticket to Pasadena, so he won’t be able to watch Tyler’s quest for $10,000, but you can still e-mail him at [email protected].
