What's in store this weekend

So after taking a week off to sit in my living room with 4 tvs in front of me (awesome, by the way.  Next year I won't travel as much and instead will enjoy the 13-hour, 4-tv, case of beer college football binge), I am back on the road.  This week the journey takes me to the homeland: Madison, WI, where I will be a witness to the 1-2 Michigan State Spartans trying to derail the 3-0 Wisconsin Badger train. 

Traditionally when I go to Badger games, we have our standard crew of guys and we do our standard pre-game stuff, which everyone does.  It always starts off a good mile away from Camp Randall Stadium at a lesser-known bar called Buck's, which happens to be right behind the Kohl Center.  When I say lesser-known, don't think of it as this hole-in-the-wall joint.  Every bar in Madison is known, and every bar is busy.  But it's not one of the mainstream bars that you would ever see covered in Sports Illustrated or ESPN on a list of "Great College Town Bars."

The crew will generally assemble around 8am for an 11am game.  The drink of choice at Buck's is Miller High Life.  If I remember correctly, they're a couple bucks (PUN!!!!).  Occasionally you'll get the yokel still recovering from the night before so they start with with some hair of the dog Bloody Marys and such, but for the most part, it's a beer place.  The general crew can range from 4-5 people to upwards of 20, and I never really know more than half (a lot of "friends of friends" type stuff going on), but I see the same people year after year.  It's a good feeling. 

The great thing about Buck's is the outdoor beer garden, but not for the beer.  They also have a food stand where you can get the best $5 Italian beef sandwich this side of Venice (or Chicago... Chicago makes some pretty mean Italian food).  It's a must-eat every gameday, and really sets the stomach for the alcohol intake. 

Generally an hour before kickoff the crew begins to scatter and my particular clique starts the walk towards Camp Randall.  No idea how long this takes.  I'm usually pretty happy by this point in the day (again, 10am).  Could be a 10 minute walk, might be 40.  I really have no idea.  But the scene of walking a mile towards a stadium and seeing nothing but folks wearing red is a warming feeling.

We actually have 2 stops that we usually make before we actually get into the game.  One is the Big Ten Pub (not affiliated with the actual Big Ten) for a quick beer, which is actually far more of a nuisance than it's worth.  To this day I really don't know why we go there every week.  You have to drink outdoors because it's beyond packed inside, and the wait line at the outdoor bars is absurd and it can take you a good 5-10 minutes some days to get a bar (5-10 minutes to wait is way over par for someone needing a beer 30 minutes before kickoff).  But, ya know, tradition....

After a quickie at the Big Ten, we then always head to the Stadium.  Not the stadium, but The Stadium.  Its a bar, ironically, right across from Camp Randall Stadium.  Clever owners.  The Stadium ... well, the Stadium, she's a fickle lass... Sometimes you go there, have a quick beer, and head into the stadium and you're only 15 minutes late.  But occasionally, The Stadium will grab hold of you and not let you leave.  You want to.  You paid your money for tickets.  But the pull of The Stadium is too much.... 15 minutes becomes 30.  30 becomes 45.  45 becomes "Halftime."  Halftime becomes the full game (and for some friends, "Bedtime.")

But yes, the game.

This is my first trip to UW for a game this season and I am quite excited.  I'm excited to eat a big pretzel (little known fact, I eat a big, soft pretzel at pretty much every sporting event I go to).  I'm excited to see Jump Around.  I'm excited to see the student section juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust finally fill up with 3 minutes to go in the first half.  Just the atmosphere.  It's good to be back.

And probably my FAVORITE thing about UW games and 11am games in general?  Ok, so, the game's done... you leave Camp Randall and the crew meets back up at the Stadium Bar (some have never left, obviously), and guess what?... You get to keep drinking, and watch more football!!!!!  It's a glorious thing.

So, all that said, this year may actually be a bit different.  Due to the economy (terrible, terrible economy... sad), a handful of us are going to tailgate before the game, rather than do the Bucks-Big Ten-Stadium route.  Hopefully it will save us about $80 out of our wallets before 11am on Saturday even hits.  Of course, where are we tailgating?  The parking lot across from Bucks, a mile from the stadium ... so if we choose to, we can still hit the big 3 bars and ring with tradition.

I'm hoping to remain sober enough to compile plenty of good notes and tidbits in my notebook so I don't spend all day Sunday and Monday trying to transcribe stuff like, "Hey honey, what do you think I meant when I wrote 'Hhehe, duble truble beeeers!! Look out branches!!!! Birds!!'"

So, football-wise, what am I looking for?  Well, can Wisconsin's running backs hang on to the ball this week?  Is Curt Phillips going to get some more plays in the UW offense after looking like a complete stud so far?  Has Michigan State decided on a QB yet or are they better off just throwing 3 running backs in the backfield and just hoping for the best?  Will Greg Jones collect 20 tackles?

And of course no weekend of football would be complete without some spreads.   Who do I like? Well, in this game the line opened with Michigan State +3. Real tough.  I just don't know what we're gonna get from MSU.  They can't be this bad can they?  And they're obviously going to play their asses off because going 1-3 to start the year and dropping their conference opener is just a death knell, right?  But UW has the chance to go 4-0, and I think everyone on that team remembers what happened the last time they had the chance to go to 4-0.... you don't have to go back far.  It was just last season when they were 3-0 and got molested in the 4th quarter against Michigan, thus beginning a terrible downward spiral that ruined their high-hopes 2008.  I think I'm actually going to go with Wisconsin covering in this one, but it should be pretty close.  There is a chance for a real sloppy, wet field with thunderstorms in the area Friday night and early Saturday so traditionally that favors a run game, which I think WI has the advantage with.  I'll say UW takes it 31-23. 

Other games?

Kansas giving 13.5 to Southern Miss.  It's Southern Miss' first road game this season.  They only beat Central Florida by 7 and had to "rally" to beat Virginia (who might be one of the 5 worst D-1 teams in the nation).  Kansas just keeps getting manageable spreads against far inferior opponents.  I don't care what their football players do in their free time.  All I know is they put up some points and destroy wimpies on Saturday.  Kansas takes this 41-19.

Also, a rejunvenated Florida State team is giving up 14.5 at home to South Florida.  Please.  This is free money.  USF lost the best QB in school history last week and Florida State is coming off an enormous road win.  They are re-focused.  I don't care that Bobby Bowden can't name 10 of his own players and hasn't made a playcall in 3 years.  His team is better and will roll.  44-16.

I also want to wish my wife the best of luck as she is running in her second ever 5K in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on Saturday.  I will absolutely miss having her there with all of us, but I could not be more proud.  It's a great cause and she's going to run the best race of her life.

Enjoy the games this weekend.