Inconsistent chatter from a Sacramento-based 'Sconi attorney.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

BEST... GAME... EVER...

Whatta game! Whatta finish! Finally!

For all you cave dwellers and Selanders's of the world, what I am talking about is the University of Wisconsin Badgers defeat of the University of Michigan Wolverines, 23-20, this past Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. The game (practically) ended when Wisconsin's QB, John Stocco, scored on a 4 yard QB draw for a TD with 24 seconds left in the game.

I was there. Section L, Row 38, Seat 17. I have my ticket stub to prove it. Trust me, this will be a ticket stub that will not be getting tossed-out anytime soon. It will be placed alongside my Green Bay Packers v. Carolina Panthers 1996 NFC Championship Game stub.

As exciting and crazy as the game was, it was almost tenfold within the stadium. The students had a good 8 hours of drinking before the game to get them into the mood. The stadium was incredibly loud. Probably the loudest I have ever heard it. You could literally feel the stadium move as the PA played "Jump Around" heading into the 4th Quarter. When the Badgers scored their first TD, I did indeed tackle Phil, as per tradition during my undergrad days at Wisconsin. However, I was unable to tackle Phil on the winning TD, for the entire stadium was in a frenzy of high-fives, bear hugs, jumping up and down, and screaming. I believe I kept my hands outstretched towards the heavens from that point until the game clock hit zero.

Below, please enjoy some of hip-happenings before, during, and after the game. Unfortunately, Paige had the camera during the game, and wasn't inside of the stadium for most of the jubilation and madness.

Paige and I had rented an apartment for the weekend to be near the stadium (How did we do this? By posting a "Housing Wanted" on Craigslist.com for Madison, WI that is how). We ended up staying about 4-5 blocks from Bucky's front door. So, on Saturday, Paige and I invited the Sin Bin boys and Muktown boys over for some pre-game festivities. We ended up purchasing a quarter barrel, some dogs and brats, chips, some veggies and hummus, and vodka for bloody mary's and brandy for old fashioned's. We also brought our old grill from my parents's house to help out with the cooking.

So, Phil, Anderson, Josephs, Derek, Ross, Campbell, Katie Kehoe, Kruser, Brian, Cory, Cory's friend (help me out, I am terrible with names...), Lown, Megan, Mark, Kelsey, and Tom all stopped by the apartment for some partying. We ended up drinking two whole bottles of brandy (Korbel - only the finest for these upstanding members of society) during "Brandy Hour" which was suppose to take place at Stewart's friends' tailgate party (sorry StuPac, it was raining and we had a porch!). It was a great time, despite the rain. We actually had a couple of Ann Arbor fans stop by for a beer. We were great hosts, and gave them each a collector's edition can of Mountain Creek.

I, personally, was struggling early (from the night before at Essen Haus - that is a story for another day) and I couldn't find the right medicine to slap-me-out-of-it. I tried water, Gatorade, Cranberry Juice, Bloody Mary, Beer, and Tums, before finally the Brandy pulled me out of the gutter. An extra thank you goes to Campbell's 101 on how to make a Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet (the key ingredient being extra Brandy).

About an hour before kick-off, we all moved it down to Breeze Terrace, and specifically, the W House. On the way, we picked up our friend's Sally and Dave, who reside at our old place near the stadium. Once we got to the W House, we found that the tenant's there were trying to raise money for charity (I forget which one - was it the Human Fund or the Derek C. Blakeslee Foundation of America?) by holding a Chocolate Pudding Wrestling Contest on their front lawn. It was entertaining and disgusting at the same time. While there, I bumped into newly married Mr. Ryan Melby, Nick Morrissey (let me know if I got your name spelled wrong), and Jon Hisgen. I was able to sneak a couple of freebies for Jon and I before heading off to the game.

After the game, Phil and I raced to State Streets Brats to meet-up with Paige and the rest of our friends who unfortunately did not have tickets. They were joined by my big sister Alison, Keith, and Chad, among others. Jon showed-up right on my heels, as did Campbell and his new fiance, Liz, and Cory and Katie. Later, we bumped into Todd and Gretchen Nelson, and Todd's sister, Kendra. We proceeded to celebrate with all of these people the rest of the night, although I had a lot of catching up to do, for most had been at the bar pretty much all night through the game.

Tom and I did make an attempt to get into Mondays through the backdoor, but were thwarted by the construction of a new back patio (crazy!), and a nasty bouncer. The bouncer was not too nice. He was actually quite strange: very chatty when you are trying to get-in, but when you actually say "thanks anyway, good night" and proceed to walk away, likes to yell and curse you out. Very weird. Tom and I were able to make-it into Amy's Cafe, for a jagger bomb, brandy old fashioned, and a little impromptu karaoke and dancing with Josephs and Rebecca - it was "Mr. Jones", like I had a choice.

After that, it was back to State Street and the University Avenue to try to catch a cab back to the apartment we rented. Trying became failing to catch a cab, as we sat and sat and sat on the curb to no avail. Our group was forced to walk back. Yet, I'd take a 2 mile walk (or run, ehem, Tom) for Bucky any weekend.

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