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***NOTE: This story has NOTHING to do with Wisconsin other than the badger tie-in. BUT, the headline was so bizarre, I had to share it.

In a bizarre case that would have even CSI's top investigators stumped, a dwarf porn star who was Gordon Ramsay's doppelganger was found dead in a badger set in the U.K. RadarOnline.com has learned.

Percy Foster, star of X-rated movie Hi-Ho Hi-Ho, It's Up Your A**e We Go, was about to be rocketed into the ranks of celebrity porn lookalikes due to his resemblance to the Hell's Kitchen host when his partially eaten body was discovered in a badger's den.

According to a report in U.K. tabloid The Sunday Sport, the 3'6" actor was found "deep in an underground chamber by Ministry of Agriculture experts ahead of a planned badger-gassing program near Tregaron, west Wales."

Expert CSI teams had to use fingertip technology to remove his body from the six-foot-deep burrow, and investigators have not yet ruled out the possibility of suicide.

There were other far more memorable plays during the University of Wisconsin football team's 31-18 victory over top-ranked Ohio State last October, but J.J. Watt's sack late in the first half was a monumental moment for the junior defensive end.

On third-and-9 from the UW 22-yard line, Watt beat Buckeyes right tackle J.B. Shugarts and sacked quarterback Terrelle Pryor for a six-yard loss. It wasn't so much that Watt made a play — he was a playmaking machine during his two seasons with the Badgers — it was how he did it that left an impression on the Pewaukee native.

Until that point, Watt's preferred method for getting in the opponents' backfield was to use his power to beat his blocker. This time, Watt used pure speed to blow past Shugarts.

"At that moment, I was like, ‘This is one I need to put in my arsenal,' " Watt said earlier this week. "I put that in my playbook and used it from that point forward."

The 6-foot-5, 290-pound Watt had one sack coming into that game. He had two against the Buckeyes, one the following week during a big victory at Iowa and finished the season with seven.

Watt had a combined five tackles for loss in the back-to-back victories over Ohio State and Iowa and finished the season with 21.

The dominating stretch that started midway through the season helped Watt establish himself as a top NFL prospect. He's a virtual lock to be selected in the first round of next week's draft.

That's it folks. The poll is closed, the voting is over and Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsin, is America's Best College Sports Town. Go nuts Badgers! After seven days of voting in the Final Four and nearly 66,000 votes cast, Madison emerged victorious with 35% of the vote. Morgantown, West Virginia, wasn't far behind in second with 28%, nor was Knoxville, Tennessee, which received 25%. Eugene, Oregon, on the other hand, trailed the pack with only 12% of the vote. Poor showing Ducks.

Thanks to everyone for voting and congratulations to Madison, which we're hoping will now stop all that silly protesting and band together to celebrate this unprecedented honor.

The Wisconsin Badgers likely will open the 2011 football season on national TV on Thursday night, Sept. 1, the Las Vegas Sun reported Sunday.

Citing sources, the paper said that "a deal should be reached by the middle of this week for UNLV's 2011 football season opener at Wisconsin to be moved to Thursday, Sept. 1, and aired on ESPN. Both sides and conferences have agreed to the change, with ESPN simply now needing to give the final OK to the deal."

The game currently is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 3 at Camp Randall Stadium.

The Las Vegas Sun story is here.

Madison population: 235,626
University of Wisconsin enrollment: 42,009
Top 25 finishes in football and basketball since 2000: 14
Awesome Alums: Frank Lloyd Wright, Joan Cusack

When one thinks of Madison, Wisconsin, one thinks of a bunch of longhairs playing hacky sack and the kind of political activism that has pushed the state capital to the forefront of the news over the past month.

But lurking alongside the tree-hugging and hemp-loving is the University of Wisconsin’s powerful athletic program, which has been equating itself rather well in both football and basketball over the past decade.

The Badgers are known to have one of the most passionate student cheering sections in the nation, whether they are making noise in the Kohl Center, their state-of-the-art basketball arena, or Camp Randall Stadium, their ancient football field.

During football games the students sing frat-house favorites "Jump Around" and "Sweet Caroline" in unison--which probably makes you whatever the opposite of a hippie is.

Thanks to our friends at Sconnie.com for sharing the link!

After watching No. 12 Wisconsin beat Northwestern 78-63 on Sunday to go unbeaten at home for the third time in his tenure, Ryan said the idea of maintaining home-court advantage isn't something he emphasizes to his players -- or even mentions to them.

"It never was in a conversation that we had," the coach said. "All I said after the game was we closed out the home portion of the schedule. Now we still have games to play. But I've never talked about it."

Jon Leuer scored 26 points to lead the Badgers (22-6, 12-4 Big Ten) past a hot-shooting Wildcats team that used 3-pointers to stay in the game.

Wisconsin went 16-0 at the Kohl Center this season -- the third time in 10 seasons under Ryan that the Badgers were untouchable on their home court.

Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said on a Madison, Wis., sports radio station Wednesday that he was approached about playing host to TCU on Sept. 3.

"I was contacted probably a week, maybe a week and a half after the bowl game about the opportunity to play TCU in our opener," Bielema said on the show. "It was something that was going to be broadcast and made a big deal. It took me all of about point-five seconds to say, 'Yes.' "

TCU defeated Wisconsin 21-19 in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, vaulting the undefeated Horned Frogs to a No. 2 final ranking in The Associated Press and USA Today top 25 polls (they remained No. 3 in the final BCS standings).

"I would definitely love the challenge to play them again," Bielema said on the show. "And really, I thought it would be a great sell with our folks. Unfortunately, TCU wasn't as excited about the matchup."

TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte on Wednesday confirmed that a third party approached him about playing the Sept. 3 season opener at Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium. Del Conte also confirmed that he declined the offer.

However, he said his lack of interest in the game had little to do with a lack of excitement at the prospect of playing the Badgers again, but rather that the one-time meeting would not produce a return game in Fort Worth.

"We already have Baylor for our opening game," Del Conte said. "A team supposedly Wisconsin played last year doesn't want to go back there. A third party was shopping the game around to other teams. I have no interest in playing a one-[time] game."

Congrats to JJ Watt on entering the 2011 NFL Draft. We wish you the best and thanks for all of your great work for the Wisconsin Badgers!