In college football, there are games, there are big games and there are games with rivals for which no proper adjectives exist.

Last weekend's Badger victory over Michigan is one of those contests that left me without words, but I will not allow anyone to tell me that it was better than the win over Ohio State two years ago.

Other games are hyped solely on the fact that players or coaches are facing former teams.

Ty Willingham got his shot against the Irish last weekend, while T.O. took care of some bitter feelings towards the 49ers two weeks ago.

For some reason, the Badger Herald/Daily Cardinal football game continues to be one of those rival games, and this year it will combine both of the previously discussed aspects.

The political rivalry between the two papers ended long ago, yet the annual game continues to bolster cheap shots, both in print and on the field.

In fact, the game's rivalry seemingly grows more and more each year, as every season a group of D-II Cardinal players make the transfer to the D-I Herald.

The added twist to this year's story, the Herald's hiring of me … the former head coach of the Cardinal. After leading the D.C. to a victory last year, I bolted quickly for a chance to show my skills on a higher level.

Of course, the Herald obeyed league rules, interviewing at least five prospective candidates, before hiring me.

I released a statement following my hiring, stating I was sick of eight-page, tabloid-sized papers, having to see a loan officer upon return from road trips, and being unable to cover non-revenue sports.

I also did not want to have to work with a guy who apparently slept through history class, thereby failing to realize that women's suffrage actually happened.

When I left, it came as a surprise to many, especially since I was told that there was a very good chance I would be able to move up to a higher position within the organization.

But to tell you the truth, I was sick of towing the company line, and I knew that even if it essentially became "my company," it would never actually feel that way. Besides, who wouldn't take the chance to take the step up to the big leagues?

A fine question indeed, although the Cardinal's new coach may not feel the same way.

He'd rather stay in the minor leagues where everyone realizes that he's "Born to Mack." We all saw his "macking" skills last year when he said women shouldn't be allowed to play basketball at the SERF. I saw, and you can imagine, how his inbox flooded with e-mails from the ladies after that one — and it wasn't to ask him out.

A few of us even got to see him sheepishly turn down a chance to be a manager for the women's basketball team when given the challenge.

Maybe it was a good call, it gave him more time to think of a column to write every week. Wait … I'm kidding myself again, he's already had to resort to reading the rival's paper and writing a counter-argument to one of its columns. So much for original ideas.

Of course, coming over to the new squad not only gave me a better opportunity — I didn't want to have to deal with letting work overtake my college obligations or have to drop loads of my own money just trying to make the coverage look good — but I also have a scouting report.

Well, sort of anyways. I know what some of their players, the ones who actually work there, are capable of. But I suppose I don't know much about the other half of the team — the "players" they had come into their office for one night just so they could be used as "staff" for the football game.

They claim that these players are copy editors. For those of you who are actually still reading this, they are called copy editors because they edit the stories for grammatical errors and style issues, and they have their athletically gifted friends copy edit one night.

I'm hoping that it was the "ringer" copy editors on duty when articles in the publication claimed that Brian Calhoun transferred from Colorado State, the Badgers had "a drive of 96 yards that ended on the 50 yard line" and Michigan completed a pass "at 9:03 p.m. in the final quarter."

Of course any sports editor should probably catch such falsehoods.

Then again, mistakes happen … I mean, I worked at the Cardinal for three years.

The important thing is that everything got sorted out. I'll be on the right side of the field this year, playing with people who I actually work with in a no-lose situation. I mean, if, in some freak accident, we lose to the D.C. ringers, our sports coverage will still blow them out of the water.