Lance Allan: Sports Glance with Lance
Rose Bowl: Superstitious Badgers
It's Worked Three Times, How About Four?
Bret Bielema told me before the Badgers left Madison that even though he has a lucky red windbreaker he wears every game day, he may have a variation for Rose Bowl Saturday.
But Bielema was quick to add that no one is more superstitious than Athletic Director and former Head Coach Barry Alvarez.
Back in 1993, after returning from beating Michigan State in Tokyo, Barry Alvarez and then AD Pat Richter ran after Tommy Lasorda in the LA airport. Lasorda joked that he thought they were Giants fans and he might have to beat them up.
Well, the Badgers duo wanted Lasorda to give their young Badgers a pep talk before the biggest game of their lives. And it worked...as Wisconsin won the 1994 Rose Bowl.
So Barry did it again..and they won in 1999. And did it again...and they won in 2000. Yes, a perfect 3-0 when the baseball Hall of Famer and former Dodgers manager speaks to the team.
I guess they figure the fourth time is a charm for Bucky.
Lasorda joked that there's something unbelievable that happens when he talks to football teams. And when I asked him if maybe he should have been a football coach, he replies that maybe the "baseball thing" does get in the way.
Emails at lallan@todaystmj4.com
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