While the sports world is divided over whether football games should be played this weekend, Wisconsin has announced that it plans to play Western Kentucky Saturday.
Yesterday the Big Ten announced that the conference will play its scheduled games this weekend, but it qualified its stance by saying that if President Bush declares Saturday a national day of mourning, all games will be canceled, including the Badgers’ match up with the Hilltoppers.
“We’re prepared to play,” UW head coach Barry Alvarez said. “We’ve been preparing the team to play, and we’ve been through meetings for most of the day, and I’ve been in conference calls and everything, and I understand the Big Ten has given a release. But whatever the president wants the day of mourning to be, if that [day] happens to be Saturday, then we will not play.”
Across the country several conferences canceled all of the weekend’s games, but the Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 have decided to follow through with the schedule as planned.
For Wisconsin, playing Saturday is a better option than sitting idle.
“Our players want to play,” Alvarez said. “The feedback I have heard from the players, they would rather play a game on Saturday than think about this.”
Quarterback Jim Sorgi confirmed his coach’s analysis.
“The feeling on the team is we’re out there practicing. If we play this weekend, it’s just a way of getting our minds off [of the recent tragedy],” Sorgi said. “It’s just kind of a release for us, kind of a way [for us to] put it out of our minds. I think everyone wants to play this weekend just to wave that American flag, and show people that we can care and we are sad and we are mourning as a team, but we’ve just got to go on with our lives and just find whoever’s responsible and make them pay. But we’ve got to live. I think everyone wants to play for that reason — just to get it off of their minds, and a nice Saturday afternoon of football, is what everyone wants.”
For now the Badgers are preparing for Saturday’s game as though it will definitely take place, but there is still a level of uncertainty surrounding the venue.
“I don’t want something like a terrorist attack to affect the way we live, so the way we’re approaching it is that there’s going to be a game on Saturday. And personally I hope there is a game on Saturday,” Joey Boese said.
The Badgers are also anxious to play Western Kentucky in order to prepare for the Big Ten season-opener Sept. 22 against Penn State, especially in wake of last week’s loss to Fresno State.
“I really think I also want to play the game because we’re 1-2,” linebacker Nick Greisen said. “I want to get on this field to prove that we’re a much better team than we were on Saturday.”
But the senior has also put football and the loss to the Bulldogs in perspective, in light of this week’s tragedies.
“If I’m going to feel bad after Fresno St., and then this happens, Fresno St. is nothing,” Greisen said. “Losing a football game can’t even compare to what has just happened.”
In memory of those who died during Tuesday’s tragedy, Alvarez announced the he ordered decals of the American flag for his team to wear on their helmets for the remainder of the season.
