"The most painful Big Ten team to endure is the Badgers, a team that combines brutishness and blandness into an unwatchable goulash."

Says Robert Weintraub in Slate. I have no idea who Weintraub is, and I don't follow basketball, but I feel I must highlight this egregious badmouthing of Wisconsin.

I blame Bo Ryan, the coach who has created a top program in Madison by installing all manner of defensive tactics while forgetting the game is supposed to be entertainment. To use a soccer analogy, the Badgers always appear to be playing for a draw but manage to get enough muscled-in offensive rebounds from the likes of Brian Butch to get past the league's weak competition. Wisconsin will muck along in the tournament until it runs into a team that knows how to execute a crossover dribble. Until then, I'll be singing my own version of the Badgers' fight song every time they clog up my TV: "Off, Wisconsin!"

"Off" to you too, Weintraub!