Have you ever heard of the Border Battle? Maybe you've seen "#BorderBattle" used in tweets any time Minnesota and Wisconsin meet on any kind of surface or in the water.

"Border Battle" isn't just a catchy phrase, though. It's an official contest for border supremacy between the two rival athletic departments. The concept was hatched 12 years ago and now includes 11 sports and 29 teams.

Our Joe Christensen wrote: To reach a fifth consecutive NCAA title game, the Gophers must overcome a major obstacle in Friday's semifinals: Wisconsin's record-setting goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens.The Border Battle will extend to the women's Frozen Four Friday night when the Gophers and Badgers' face off for a berth in the national championship game. Wisconsin leads the women's hockey season series 3-2.

Christensen also chronicled Gophers women's hockey coach Brad Frost's rise to national dominance.

Despite Wisconsin's edge in women's hockey, the Gophers lead the race for the 2015-2016 Border Battle crown by a score of 410-230.

Women's volleyball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's cross country, women's tennis and women's basketball each have accounted for 40 points of the total. Gophers men's hockey earned 30. The spring sports are worth 240 more points.

The Gophers have won six of the last seven Border Battles for a 7-4 series lead.

Here is how the scoring process works:

In the initial year of the battle, each of the 11 sports originally included in the competition had 40 points at stake. If the teams meet just once annually (football as an example), then the winner gets 40 points and the loser gets zero. If the teams meet twice (women's basketball, for example), the winner of each game gets 20 points and the losers get zero. If the teams meet four times (men's hockey for example), then the winner of each game gets 10 points and the loser gets zero. If a game ends in a tie, the points are split (20 to each school).

The new scoring configuration maintains the original scoring structure and adds 40 points to the higher finishing school at the Big Ten championship in the sports of men's and women's cross country, golf, indoor track and outdoor track, swimming and diving and women's rowing.

Six sports are sponsored by only one of the institutions and, thus, not included in the Border Battle. Wisconsin has men's soccer, men's rowing and women's lightweight rowing (UM does not), while Minnesota has baseball and men's and women's gymnastics (UW does not). Adding the 11 sports raises the annual points available to 880.

Earlier this week, we posed the question "Is Wisconsin the best athletic department in the country?" The Badgers' own the nation's longest streak (14 years) of qualifying for a college football bowl and the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Though football and men's basketball are only two of many Division 1 sports, their power can't ignored. The revenue these sports create often fund the rest of the programs.

Wisconsin has maintained a big leg up on the Gophers when it comes to football and men's basketball since the start of the Border Battle, but the full body of work leans in the favor of Minnesota. So it is up to you how you determine what defines a better athletic program -- great football/men's basketball or the overall body of work.

What would you rather be associated with?

Previous Results:

2014-15: Minnesota 465-415
2013-14: Minnesota 560-320
2012-13: Minnesota 565-315
2011-12: Wisconsin 455-425
2010-11: Minnesota 455-425
2009-10: Minnesota 550-330
2008-09: Minnesota 535-345
2007-08: Wisconsin 465-415
2006-07: Wisconsin 445-435
2005-06: Minnesota 530-350
2004-05: Wisconsin 215-205