For as long as I can remember, I have hated roller coasters.

I don't know where I picked up such a feeling, but for some reason all I could ever imagine was riding the coaster as it plunged downward to a point where the track broke and I died.

I know — pretty realistic.

Obviously, I have outgrown that particular phase, but I'm still not a huge fan of roller coasters — which is why the past month or so has left me with a bad taste in my mouth and the feeling like that once-ridiculous nightmare has come true.

No, obviously, I am not dead, but the up-and-down ride, which has been Wisconsin athletics in the past few weeks, has me feeling anything but lively.

To realize it fully, I will take you through the entire ordeal, as what was the greatest winter break I could have ever imagined, quickly ended with the worst week or so of covering the Badgers since I started four years ago.

The ride started Dec. 27 when I arrived in Orlando, Fla., ready for a week's worth of coverage on the Capital One Bowl.

To be fair, I expected this portion of my break to be somewhat of a ride in itself–the Badgers were double-digit underdogs and I had undertaken writing up to four stories a day on the game, all while trying to enjoy what most of my friends thought was a major vacation.

Instead, the day was the beginning of the greatest ride I'd ever been on. It was a time when I felt I really got a chance to do my job to my fullest, enjoy some warm weather when I got a chance, and, come Jan. 2nd, cover a Badger win in a game which few — including this reporter — thought UW could even keep close.

It didn't seem like it could get any better. I had been in nine straight days of sun while my friends back in Wisconsin endured two straight weeks without it.

But it wasn't over there.

While back in Wisconsin for the next 10 days, things remained pretty sweet and I even got to see Bo Ryan's squad take down Iowa.

The second weekend of January saw me back on an airplane, this time to Colorado, for what was expected to be a high-energy hockey series between UW and Colorado College.

I saw the Badgers win a tight game and then completely go off in the form of a 9-1 rout.

It was the perfect winter break.

The problem?

It could only go down from there…and boy did it ever.

Most of you can recall the events of the past 10 days, but I will just put an emphasis on the long list of struggles in Badger sports. All of the following events have happened in just a matter of days, resulting in the twisted heap of scrap metal that has become my emotions.

The men's hockey team lost Brian Elliott — who I personally feel is the best player in college hockey — to an injury in practice last Wednesday. While Shane Connelly did well filling in, Elliott's absence undoubtedly led to Denver's sweep of the Badgers and, as a result, UW's fall from its No. 1 ranking.

The men's basketball team has been without Marcus Landry and Greg Stiemsma, two of its top reserves. Landry is out for the year due to academics, while Stiemsma's status is uncertain. Nonetheless, their absence made an impact as the Badgers dropped their first Big Ten game. The team then endured its worst loss under Bo Ryan, to North Dakota State, in a game which the team's shooting percentage might as well have been on a milk carton.

On the football front, with Wisconsin already reeling in the running back department due to Brian Calhoun's leap to the NFL and Booker Stanley's legal issue, two more Badger players found their way into the police blotter after being arrested for driving at Mach 1 speeds and carrying some reefer. The Badgers also failed to lock up junior college quarterback Brent Schaeffer.

The wrestling team lost twice this past weekend, the women's basketball team continued its skid until a non-conference game Monday night, and the men's track and field team finds itself without Calhoun, Joe Thomas and perhaps Antonio Freeman.

Somebody better call the paramedics, because this roller coaster has derailed.

Good or bad, my job will not allow me to hop off the roller coaster or hit the ejection seat before the ride is over.

But since I'm generally an optimistic guy, I guess — just as at one point mere days ago things could only go down — things can now only go up from this point on.

At least Badger fans — and reporters — can hope.