Harvard - the Wisconsin of the East

[warthog-driver]

I have been disgusted reading the arrogant crap posted by Badgers regarding the academic superiority of their school, particularly as it relates to Marquette. In particular, they have repeatedly compared Wisconsin to Harvard. Now, the USAF saw fit to send me to Harvard Business School for an MBA and so I want to give some perspective on how that program rates vis-a-vis Wisconsin's. Fact is, it does not. I now know HBS is bastard step child compared with the graduate school at THE University of Wisconsin, especially given UW's superior position as a "leading research university." I hate to say but all of us at HBS had an inferiority complex as we had to settle for our second choice. Commonly lamentations heard in my group while in Cambridge:

- I would rather be in Madison
- Getting that rejection letter from THE University of Wisconsin was the darkest day of my life
- If only I had scored better on my GMAT I would be a Badger
- I wonder what BBFran and Butch Badger are doing right now?
- I can't believe how inferior the curriculum is here at HBS compared with that at THE University of Wisconsin
- Here we are drinking at Grendl's when we could be on State Street
- The Charles River is a sewer compared to Lake Mendota
- I'll bet it's a lot warmer in Madison today
- I've had it with this lobster! What I wouldn't give for a Sheboygan brat!
- We're all going to have to work for a Wisconsin grad someday
- My parents are so ashamed
- These stinkin' road trips to the Cape are nothin' compared to a weekend at the Dells!
- The Kennedys WISH they could have been Badgers
- Ron Dayne turned down Harvard
- I hate going to Fenway! I'd rather be tipping Holsteins tonight!
- This Sam Adams sucks compared with PBR!
- Boston is just so provincial compared with Madison
- We ahve to put with this chowder when we could be eating at the Gobbler!

[akmarq]

Remind me how this relates to MU BASKETBALL?

[warthog-driver]

Ostensibly, at first glance, it is to provide perspective on the pretensions and affectations of our neighbors to the west since they have pointedly trumpeted the intellectual superiority and stature of their university at the expense of our own alma mater. But look deeper, akmarq, and you will see that this thread does indeed tie in with the theme of Marquette basketball. We are, after all, a community with shared experiences, observations, perspectives, and identities that transcend the generations. The basketball team merely ties together the forebearance of that perspicacity. Whether it is bars, professors, winter storms, tournaments, or favorite chili we have come together not for the strong affinity we have for a particular college basketball team but for the commonality of choices we have each made. Identity, association, fellowship, fraternity - perhaps the most essential, enriching, and profound dimension of the human condition. We share so much, perhaps in different decades, and that is a vital component of each of us here. 

[akmarq]

on their academics...sounds pretty superbarish to me...especially considering that there is already a topic in the Superbar for it.

It has nothing to do with either team's on the court performance.

[BostonBaller]

I would rank Grads from UW and Harvard equally on one level. The fact that they will bring up in the first mins of an introduction how they went to such a great school and try to make you feel bad.

[augoman]

actually, that's how you can always tell a Nortre Dame man..., you don't have to, he'll tell you.

[CAINMUTINY]

As Al once said "A Notre Dame grad will pick his nose just to show you his class ring."

Its funny because it is sooo true.

[reinko]

How many Notre Dame alums does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Answer: 100. 1 to do it, and the other 99 to obsess about for the next 100 years.