The Badgers are back in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row – the only college basketball team in America that can say that – and that’s a great thing not only for them, but also for us.
Once again, Aaron Moesch and Matt Ferris, Wisconsin’s little-used reserves, are giving sports fans lots of laughs, with another edition of the patented and hilarious "Moesch Madness." For the second year in a row, Moesch and Ferris have created a series of videos documenting their experiences, sort of, during March Madness.
In 2016, after Bronson Koenig hit a game-winning buzzer beater to send Wisconsin to the Sweet 16, the guys tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to recreate the shot; and then, once in Philadelphia for the Regional Semifinal, Ferris and Moesch made their own excellent version of Will Smith’s iconic "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" theme song.
This year, after some Buffalo-flavored videos from the Badgers’ first- and second-round games in western New York, involving travel, media day and chicken wings, Moesch Madness is at it (at least) once more. With eighth-seeded Wisconsin in New York City for its Sweet 16 game – against No. 4 seed Florida at Madison Square Garden on Friday at 9 p.m.; listen to OnMilwaukee's podcast preview here – Moesch and Ferris again attempted to recreate a shot, this time Nigel Hayes’ clutch layup in the win over Villanova.
They spend a lot of time planning and drawing up the play, though very little physically attempting it.
Don’t overthink it, boys! Trust your athletic instincts!
Then, in their thus-far magnum opus, and because when in New York City, you remix a Jay Z and Alicia Keys classic hip-hop ballad, Moesch Madness gave us ... "Badger State of Mind."
The video is really well-produced (kudos, Badgers staff) and Moesch and Ferris actually sound pretty good, especially since white-guy duet-rapping in stereo is not exactly an easy or particularly popular style.
Everyone should be cheering for (allegedly underseeded underdog) Wisconsin, if only for more incredible Moesch Madness. The duo averaged a combined 0.2 points in 3.2 minutes per game this season, so, unfortunately, if either Moesch or Ferris gets on the court for a real NCAA Tournament game, it probably means the Badgers are getting blown out.
On, Wisconsin!
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
