Choosing only five stories from a career that dates to 1997 wasn’t easy. I’ve been blessed to interview a lot of interesting people and cover a lot of outstanding teams and games during that stretch.
As I make the transition to Lee Sports Wisconsin columnist, here are five of my favorite pieces from my time as a sports reporter:
SUPER SEASON
I was helping out on the UW football beat late in the summer of 2010 when our Packers writer left for another job. Most of training camp was done, the season opener was a couple weeks away, and I had a 4-year-old and 7-month-old at home.
This story ruffled some feathers inside the program, though that wasn’t my intention. I just wanted to give readers a look at how Ryan went about getting the best out of his players.
JIM POLZIN | Wisconsin State Journal | | 608-252-6473
NIGEL'S WINGMAN
I wrote a lot about Nigel Hayes over his four seasons with the Badgers because he was such a fascinating guy on and off the court. For one story his junior season, I spent a morning with him, talking over breakfast and sitting through one of his business classes.
This one was about his relationship with his stepfather, Albert Davis Sr. I don’t even remember what made me think of doing this story or how I pitched it to him, but I do remember sitting in folding chairs in a hallway at the Kohl Center and being amazed at how much he was willing to share. It turned out to be a fun story to tell.
Ethan Happ’s name is all over the UW men’s basketball record book. He scored a lot of points, grabbed a lot of rebounds, dished out a lot of assists, made a lot of steals and blocked a lot of shots. He also missed a lot of free throws.
I got a ton of messages, either via email or social media, asking why Happ didn’t spend more time working on his shot. I knew his work ethic wasn’t the issue because I spent a lot of time waiting to interview him after practices as he worked on shooting with coaches or teammates or student-managers. Still, I had no idea just how much time he spent working on his shot away from practice until I began the process of reporting this story.
One moment I’ll never forget is when Bo Ryan walked into the Kohl Center media room late on the night of Dec. 15, 2015, and the person moderating his postgame news conference said Ryan would open with a statement.
Ryan never opened with a statement, always choosing to go straight to questions. In that split-second before Ryan started talking, I knew: He was retiring. And so began a crazy night and crazy week that included wrapping up Ryan’s time at UW and moving on to the Greg Gard era.
The retired Madison physician once worked for the Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks and Green Bay Packers. Now he's written a book about those experiences.
The seven seniors on last season’s Badgers team had pointed criticism for coach Greg Gard during a disappointing season. “We’re not here to build your resume,” one of them told Gard. Another said Wisconsin “doesn’t feel like home.”
The Bucks announced Wednesday that an MRI confirmed that Giannis Antetokounmpo hyperextended his left knee but did not suffer structural damage after a scary fall in the third quarter of Milwaukee's Game 4 loss to Atlanta.
Twenty years after making her amateur debut in the event, Nelson found herself fighting for the future of an organization that had fallen on hard times. This time, with help from teammates, she was a clear winner.
According to the boxers who have trained with her, Nelson is part boxing coach, part life coach — bringing a blend of toughness and support that's perfect for people looking to face their fears.
The sport helped Nelson turn around her life to the point where she’s now making an impact on the boxers she coaches — just as they continue to stand in her corner.
Rodgers offered plenty of insight during a news conference in which his tone was borderline somber at times. What he didn’t do was instill much confidence his time with the Packers is going to end well or even that this season will be as super as some had hoped.
The point of this mailbag is to inform you while also having a little fun. Send me your questions about the Badgers, Packers, Brewers, Bucks and I’ll do my best to answer them.
“I think he’s doing a heck of a job building his brand and making use of the attention that he’s getting — and rightly so,” senior fullback John Chenal said of Mertz. “The dude’s a heck of a player, and I’m really happy for him.”
With another event preventing them from playing in Milwaukee, the Bucks opened their title chase with a 4-1 series win over the San Francisco Warriors, winning one game on the road and all three they played at the UW Field House.
