With almost enough signed Wisconsin Badger jerseys abounding to form a whole basketball team, you’ll want to watch the Big Ten Tournament at Kozy Korner restaurant and bar in the Village of North Hudson this weekend.
There can be a few drawbacks, although they are worth a few yucks. A jersey reading “Nelson” and having been worn by the basketball forward from Hudson when she played for the Badgers a few years back, isn’t displayed dead-center in the restaurant and elsewhere because she’s part of the family who run Kozy, also named Nelson. So no, they’re not tooting their own horn in that way; they’ll reserve that for their ambiance as a true sports bar and pizzaria. It’s simply that with that many pieces of memorabilia abounding, most featuring athletes who either had played high school ball here or had strong local ties, there’s bound to be commonalities.
Also gracing the place’s walls are photos of UW hockey and football players, who don’t have the kind-of plastic personalities that eventually permeate the personas of the most highly paid pros. The cager Annie Nelson is shown in a photo that like many here, was brought in by local people, along with her husband Joe Thomas, himself an acclaimed pro football player but a nitty-gritty offensive lineman, not a quarterback or running back. Some of the other athletes who wore the jerseys spread out on the walls have also gone on to play professional sports.
The photo of the couple is good size, and also shows two other former Raider and Badger linemen, Kraig Urbik and Eric Vanden Heuvel, flanking their sides just like they were in an offensive formation. It’s placed on a wall equidistant from all spots along the bar-rail, and just like any number of jerseys, flags and other photos, is a hoop’s-height or less away. Some of the photos show iconic moments in Badger sports history, action and posed, and many of the areas have items with themes, such as a Lambeau Field wall. There is scant space on any wall that is wasted, it is covered tight with hundreds and hundreds of sports items.
The Big Ten Basketball Tournament starts on Thursday and runs through the weekend, and you can catch all the games at Kozy, UW or otherwise. The No. 13-ranked Badgers have a first-round bye and take the court first at 5:30 p.m. Friday (6:30 p.m. Eastern time), facing the winner of an initial Thursday contest, which was rival Minnesota. This quarterfinal game played at Indianapolis is on the Big Ten Network.
After this final Big Ten stint is complete for the Badgers, there is more March Madness, as the NCAA tourney play is shown at Kozy Korner. There is a field a 64 teams and plenty of opportunity for other Badgers to make their mark — and maybe get on the wall at Kozy. They hope to see you there.
— Elsewhere, new music acts were showcased recently that will likely be seen in these parts more often. Singer Amanda and her new band Jawsey got going with a middle-of-the-week gig at Dick’s Bar and Grill, and she said there were a couple of blunders, but despite that it was a good opener. On an actual weekend, the foursome Ruben played at Guv’s Place in Houlton, and their style was loud and jangley, with the only regular percussion being a conga. Their creativity was shown on a guitar solo where only the extreme lower-left corner of the strings was played — and violently shredded with fingers.