Riding with the Axe? Awesome

— -- MADISON, Wis. -- The chant begins in the northeast corner of Camp Randall Stadium, with the game's outcome secure and the celebration imminent.

Wisconsin students standing around the Badgers' tunnel, deprived of college football's coolest and most famous rivalry trophy for more than 58 minutes, call for its arrival.

"Chop! Chop!"

"Chop! Chop!"

After the final kneel, Bucky walks up the tunnel while holding aloft the giant axe, and the crowd roars. Bucky hands the Axe to Wisconsin senior defensive lineman Konrad Zagzebski, who gets on with the chopping.

The week had started with an announcement that, breaking with tradition, Paul Bunyan's Axe wouldn't be displayed on the sideline during the Minnesota-Wisconsin game. The reason: a testy exchange between teams the previous year in Minneapolis, when Wisconsin players tried to chop the goal post closest to Minnesota's locker room.

Before the most significant Axe game in recent memory -- the Big Ten West Division title was at stake -- Wisconsin officials would secure the Axe until the game had been decided and then present it to the victors closest to their tunnel. With 20 seconds left and a 34-24 lead against Minnesota, that time had come.

Although the Axe had limited time in the spotlight on its biggest day of the year, it had a very busy weekend. ESPN.com was there to document it all. That's right: We spent two days with an inanimate object.

And it was awesome.

FRIDAY

Meet the Axe

As Wisconsin players conduct their final walk-through on the McClain Center practice field, the Axe rests on a table in the locked equipment area of the locker room, flanked by a wall of jerseys. It's a rare moment of solitude for the weekend's biggest celebrity.

The six-foot Axe handle covers much of the table (the original Axe, built in 1948 and donated to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003, was shorter). It displays the scores of each Wisconsin-Minnesota game: Wisconsin victories on one side, Minnesota victories on the other. The head of the Axe is red on one side with Wisconsin's W and gold on the other with Minnesota's block M.

The Axe rests red side up. That's the only side Wisconsin displays throughout the weekend.

Although the Axe doesn't make it to the walk-through -- "I don't know where the freaking axe is," coach Gary Andersen said afterward -- it will join the team at the hotel.

Dinner date with the Axe

Talon Zarling has the hottest date of his life. As the team's senior student manager, Zarling's job is to safeguard the Axe from the moment it leaves the locker room Friday night until it returns with the team early Saturday afternoon. That includes sleeping with the Axe at the team hotel.

"We're sharing a king-size bed," said Zarling, a native of Sussex, Wisconsin. "I don't toss and turn too much, so I'll be pretty safe. I'm a pretty durable guy, and so is the Axe."

When Wisconsin arrives at its hotel, about a mile from Camp Randall Stadium, Zarling collects the Axe from the first bus. The Axe has its own special case, split into Wisconsin red and Minnesota maroon.

While players and coaches chow down on pasta, steak, salad, the hotel's famous chowder and pie, Zarling stands with the Axe at the doors of the ballroom. Center Dan Voltz and defensive tackle Warren Herring tap it on their way to the buffet. Linebacker Vince Biegel taps it twice before sitting down to eat.

Midway through the meal, the fire alarm goes off, which closes the doors to the ballroom. Andersen barely escapes injury.

Suddenly realizing the Axe could serve a practical purpose, Zarling asks, "Want me to take the Axe to the door?" The alarm soon stops.

After most of the players and coaches have finished eating, Parker Grimes, Wisconsin's other official student manager, takes over Axe-holding duty so Zarling can grab a bite. Zarling and Grimes share a room on the road, but with only one bed, Grimes, a freshman from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, will bunk on the floor.

"Gotta pay your dues," he said.

The Axe's bedtime routine

Dinner is over, and the Axe's bedtime nears. Zarling carries it toward the lobby, where several Wisconsin fans perk up.

"Oh, there goes the Axe."

"The battle axe, baby."

As Zarling waits for the elevator to his floor, Badgers wide receiver Jordan Fredrick asks if he can take a picture with the Axe, his high school coach and the coach's family. The Axe obliges.

On the elevator, a player peppers Zarling with questions.

"Do you sleep with it? Does it have its own bed?"

First, it needs a room, and the one assigned to Zarling and Grimes is occupied. For several tense minutes, the Axe is homeless and leaning against the wall on a third-floor hallway.

Amazingly poised, Zarling summons Jason Thomas, Wisconsin's director of football operations, for help. They head to the lobby to sort things out.

"Somebody stay with the Axe," Thomas instructed.

Grimes stands guard.

"It's a big deal coming to campus," he said while waiting. "I didn't realize how big these games would be."

Minutes later, Thomas and Zarling return, having located a vacant room. Zarling takes the Axe inside, stretches its handle on the king-size bed and props its head on some pillows.

Will the Axe get a bedtime story?

"Yeah," Zarling said. "It's called the past decade."

SATURDAY

Waiting to make a grand entrance

A crowd has gathered near the Camp Randall Memorial Arch, waiting for the Badgers to arrive. Former Badgers defensive lineman Bryce Gilbert stops and asks athletic communications assistant Brian Mason about the new in-game Axe policy. Gilbert, like many players, loves the old tradition of having the Axe on the sideline and running to it after wins.

Shortly after noon, the buses pull up, and Zarling carries the Axe toward the stadium. "Battle of the Axe!" several fans shout.

"Let's keep that Axe here!"

A woman sprints in front of the Axe to snap a picture of its entrance.

After entering the locker room, Zarling brings the Axe into the locked equipment area, where it rests against a wall. At halftime, Shane Burgess, a member of Wisconsin's event management staff, takes the Axe to a "neutral location between the two locker rooms."

Burgess first learned of his Axe assignment on the Wednesday before the game. He was to guard the Axe alone and accompany it to the winning team's tunnel late in the game. With Wisconsin ahead late, he takes it to the back of the northeast tunnel, away from public view, and waits for Bucky.

Heeeeeeerre's the Axe!

Zagzebski was the first player to celebrate with the Axe after Wisconsin's victory, but he almost never got the chance to hold it. He committed to play for Minnesota as a high school junior in January 2009 before he switched his pledge to Wisconsin three months later.

The Weston, Wisconsin, native grew up watching Wisconsin-Minnesota and calls it "by far our biggest rivalry game." As the final seconds ran out, he knew where the Axe would be coming from and beat his smaller and faster teammates to Bucky.

"I got my first chop in, and then I had to give it up to the other seniors," Zagzebski said. "To chop down the goal posts is such a tradition on both sides."

After the game, Badgers players chop the north goal post, race to the south goal post and back again. Different players parade the Axe around the rim of the playing field so fans can touch it and snap pictures.

Herring and Zabzebski raise it together near the Badgers' bench.

"It's great to keep it out of their hands for another year," Herring said.

The Axe then heads to midfield for the presentation of the Big Ten West Division championship trophy.

"I couldn't have pictured a better way to go out than the Axe and the Big Ten West [title]," senior tight end Sam Arneson said.

Smile and say "Axe"

The Axe makes its triumphant return to the Badgers' locker room, carried by senior linebacker Derek Landisch. Players kneel, and the Axe stands as Rev. Msgr. Michael Burke, the team's chaplain, leads a postgame prayer. Andersen, holding the Axe, tells players how proud he is of them and begins the "U-Dub!" chant before passing the Axe back to the players.

It's picture time, and each position group, along with its coach, poses with the Axe. First up are the Badgers' linebackers, also known as the "Chevy boys," because as inside linebacker Marcus Trotter recently told ESPN.com's Brian Bennett, "We love Chevys and country music and wear only flannel all day long."

The specialists are next, followed by defensive line, quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs and defensive backs. Heisman Trophy candidate Melvin Gordon, likely playing in his last Axe game, asks if someone can snap a picture with his smartphone.

The Axe isn't finished, though, as individual players and small groups are up next. Wide receiver Jake Stengel kisses the Axe in his picture. When a member of Wisconsin's video staff poses with the Minnesota side of the Axe, fullback Derek Watt reminds him, "Turn it around the other way." Marcus Trotter and his twin brother, Michael, also a Badgers senior linebacker, take one final Axe pic.

The Axe finally gets a breather and leans against the wall, with the Big Ten West Division championship trophy at its side. It briefly returns to the equipment area before being brought out for more photos.

"Anybody want this?" one staffer asks after his picture. He leans the Axe on the case holding both the Heartland and Freedom trophies, the evidence of Wisconsin's division dominance.

Finally, Zarling and the other student managers get their picture with the Axe. They then place it next to its case, where it will be stored for another year.

"The Axe is where it needs to be," Gordon said. "When we came in here as freshmen, we were told never to lose the Axe. And we kept it."