Wisconsin's 2011 Sports Success: Deserved Payoff, or Foreboding?

You can tell a Wisconsin sports fan by the change that's taken place over the last nine months.

He smiles a lot. Refuses to change habits (or clothes). Hugs strangers. Reacts to fixing a leaky faucet by either a) giving himself a championship belt, or b) going into "Beast Mode."

The last month has seen the bandwagon only pick up speed. The Brewers captured the division, the National League Division Series and Game 1 of the NL Championshp Series. The Packers won a Super Bowl in February, the sixth of an 11-game win streak that continued Sunday night. The Wisconsin Badgers football team is also unbeaten and a contender for the national title. And oh, yes, the Milwaukee Wave won their fifth league championship back in the spring and the Milwaukee Admirals won their division and a first-round playoff series.

But any fan with history can also recall the ugly side. The Don Morton years in Madison, gross ineptitude of the Packers through the 1970s and '80s, and of course the epic failure of the Brewers under Sal Bando, Davey Lopes and more.

So what is 2011 — a reward for decades of suffering? Or a glorious gift from the sporting gods that, soon enough, will come with a bill to be paid off with fumbles, strikeouts and sorry direction at the top? Tell us in this poll.