It has been well documented that our state is seeing our sports teams soar to heights never before reached. We have the reigning Super Bowl, Big Ten football, National League Central Division, Division III football, MISL and NCAA women's hockey champions all residing here in our little hard-working, out of the way, flyover state. For just the second time in history, we saw both the Marquette and Wisconsin basketball teams in the Sweet 16, and watched Erin Hills host its major precursor, the U.S, Amateur, won by Kelly Kraft.

But what we saw this weekend was something unprecedented.

Never before have there been so many different major sporting events of national significance all at the same time on Badger State soil. Saturday and Sunday, of course, the Brewers hosted the Arizona Diamondbacks in Games 1 and 2 of the NLDS.

Saturday night, the eyes of the football world were on Madison for the Big Ten debut of one of the most storied programs in the game, Nebraska. For the first time in memory, the Packers were the unquestioned (by rational people) undercard of the weekend, hosting the struggling Denver Broncos.

The biggest fear was that our state's teams would flop. The Brewers were playing one of the hottest teams in baseball; the Badgers were wholly untested; and you know what they say about "any given Sunday." Most of us would have been happy with a split. Win the first three and you're playing with house money the rest of the way.

But a sweep? In such convincing fashion? Unthinkable.

Saturday afternoon

The weekend began with a buzz at Miller Park. For the first time ever, the Brewers would be opening up a playoff series at home. History has not been kind to our home town team in the postseason; the Brewers currently sport a dismal 1-3 series record all-time. Standing in the Brewers way was one of the National League's best pitchers in Arizona ace Ian Kennedy. The former USC Trojan went 21-4 with a sparkling 2.88 ERA this season, and was coming off his best month as a professional (4-0, 2.08 ERA in September).

Early on, Kennedy was in command, throwing just 12 pitches in the first inning. In the second, however, a more patient middle part of the Milwaukee order waited for Kennedy to make a mistake. He didn't, but the Brewers still worked the Arizona ace for 27 more pitches. If they could just get to the Arizona bullpen, they might have a chance to get the Diamondbacks best pitcher out of the way and take a Game 1 victory home with them.

Not only did the Brewers break through with a run in the 4th, but also touched up Kennedy for two more in the 6th, while Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo was superb. When Prince Fielder ripped Kennedy's 0-1 offering into the right field bleachers, there was no team that was going to stem the Milwaukee momentum. For only the second time in franchise history, the Brewers had a postseason series lead, winning 4-1.

Saturday night

From Miller Park, all eyes shifted 77 miles to the West, at Camp Randall Stadium. Like the Brewers game before it, this was going to be a nationally televised contest. ABC's Saturday Night Football had it's "A" team of Brent Musberger, Kirk Herbstreit, and Erin Andrews in place. ESPN's College GameDay broadcast live from Madison that morning. Nebraska was making its Big Ten debut as the No. 8 team in the country; Wisconsin was No. 7.

The game started innocently enough, and was tied at 7-7 after the first quarter. Both Wisconsin and Nebraska were trading touchdowns. When Phillip Welch's extra point attempt was blocked, making the score 14-13 Cornhuskers, most of us thought that one point could loom large. Some believed that would be the difference between a Badgers win and a Badgers loss.

But then there was a seismic shift.

As the Lake Mendota winds swirled around the venerable old arena; as the ghosts of the 70,000 Civil War soldiers that trained there willed their eternal souls into doing what soldiers do; defend their turf, the Badgers began just assaulting their guests into submission. When the bloodbath ended, Wisconsin shocked the college football world by way of a crushing 48-17 defeat of the Cornhuskers.

While many had predicted a Wisconsin win, no one had ever dreamed it would be by such an overwhelmingly wide margin. In one game, quarterback Russell Wilson gave notice that he is indeed for real and is a viable participant in the Heisman Trophy race.

Sunday

It was a dilemma that only had to be faced once before, three years ago. Packers regular season game – or Brewers playoff game? As this was one of the two weeks of the "Gold" season ticket holders package at Lambeau Field, there were some difficult negotiations to be had. Packers tickets are the literary equivalent of gold in Wisconsin. If you have them, you are envied. But the Packers play games for Milwaukee season ticket holders every year; the Brewers have played exactly two home playoff games in a generation.

Unlike the hearty souls that defiantly attended both the Brewers and Badgers game the day before, this was an impossible task. Even with the Brewers game pushed back to just after 4 p.m. because of Friday's rainout in New York, there was still no way possible that anyone could attend significant portions of both the baseball and football games.

Fans at Miller Park brought their transistor radios to tune into 94.5 "Lake-FM" to catch Wayne Larrivee's call of the Packers game, while Brewers fans in Green Bay had their smartphones on auto-refresh to catch the latest from Milwaukee. Fortunately for them, the powers-that-be put the Brewers game on the further-reaching AM 620 signal for the drive home. (Tip of the cap to my old boss and mentor Steve Wexler for that decision, BTW. But I digress.)

So those with Packers tickets went to the Packers game and those with Brewers tickets went to the Brewers game.

As the Packers game began almost one hour before the Brewers game did, there were smatterings of applause when Jordy Nelson caught Aaron Rodgers laser beam from 50 yards out. There was a slightly louder roar when Charles Woodson picked off Kyle Orton and took it to the house for six a short time later. By the time Aaron Rodgers scampered in for the first of his two touchdowns, most of the crowd was ready for baseball because lets face it; no one gave the Broncos a chance anyway.

Even though Denver made it close momentarily, there was no stopping Rodgers, who finished with a career-high 408 yards passing and 4 touchdowns. After the game he sounded dejected because he threw an interception.

Yes, the differences between him and his predecessor are stark, aren't they?

At Miller Park, while it took some time for Zack Greinke to find his rhythm, he was good enough to allow his offense to keep him in the game early, which was all the bullpen needed. A five-run 6th inning put the game out of reach, the fans delighting in not only the victory, but Ryan Braun's first-ever postseason home run, a titanic shot over the left-center field fence that might still be rolling had it not been for the back retaining wall of the stadium.

Improbably, the Brewers are the only team in the postseason right now with a 2-0 series lead. Even more improbably, over the course of this historic weekend that had so much anticipation and buildup, our teams went a perfect 4-0.

Monday – at the water cooler

Most Wisconsinites watched at least one of the games; many watched more than one. There were, of course, those that watched all of the games on television. There were a lot of us (in attendance figures, for the record, 237,101) that attended one of the games. Fewer attended more than one. Some media members got to as many as three; but it was impossible to do more than that. But I'm sure someone, somewhere tried; but all they really got was two hours on I-43 while they could have been witnessing history.

As for me, I was at Miller Park all weekend, and missed seeing the football games in person. On Saturday, I watched the Badgers clobber Nebraska at home, and then took my little portable seven-inch television set to Sunday's Brewers game. I was in sports heaven.

But no matter where you were, you were able to witness, even if just on television, one of the greatest sports weekends any state could possibly see. You saw four nationally televised games. You saw the emergence of two elite quarterbacks; one as a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate, the other as a legitimate NFL MVP candidate. You also saw something none of us had ever seen before; the Brewers taking a multiple-game lead in the playoffs. You also saw a legitimate National League MVP in Braun lead his team by refusing to get out.

All in all, this one was a weekend for the ages. I can't wait for the encore.