Jocelyn had to head to Illinois this weekend so instead of sitting on my butt I went with Luedke and one of his co-workers and wife to Ann Arbor for the Badgers v. Michigan game. Luedke picked me up at work at noon and we carpooled in his friend’s van. The drive to Michigan was long and uneventful. We got to the hotel, checked in and immediately hit the hotel bar for a couple drinks. Luedke and I played some pool while we waited for everyone to settle into their rooms. After everyone got settled and met us at the bar we hung out for a bit and continued shooting some pool. We then cabbed it downtown and had dinner at Ann Arbor Brewing. I had a burger and a brew sampler, the food and beer were both delicious but be forewarned that when they say their Cajun burger is hot they mean it. After dinner we hung out there about an hour when everyone wanted to go back to the hotel. L and I wanted to get crazy so we stayed out. We met this dude at AAB and he took us to a hard to find bar that he thought we would like. We walked for quite some time and the dude didn’t even really know how to get there. The more we walked the more I thought he was going to lead us down an alley and have his way with us. We finally found the place and I admit it was a hard place to find. It was a really cool bar in the basement of what looked like an apartment building. We stayed there for a bit but we wanted to ditch the dude who brought us so we took off. L and I walked around and found another brewery. We ordered up another round of samplers and those lasted us until bar time. After the bars closed it was impossible to get a cab so I started asking people at the stop signs for a ride for $10. One guy said he would give us a ride but he had to drop his buddy off, we gave him the old “yea right.” So we continued our search. There were drunken Badger fans everywhere so we were hooting and hollering with them. One car we saw full of Badgers went through a stop sign and proceeded to get t-boned by another car, not a fun weekend for them. The cops were there in a second so we continued on our way. We kept on walking around and then out of nowhere that guy that said he had to drop off his friend drove up to us and asked if we still needed a ride. We did, so we hopped in and he took us back to our hotel for the night.

L and I woke up super early and trekked to the gas station to pick up some beer. Of course they didn’t have beer and they said there was nothing in the immediate area. So we went back to the hotel and slept a couple more hours. After we woke up we hooked up with Erica and all her friends. We went down to their room and drank some Guinni and talked Badgers. We all hopped on the shuttle with a bag of beer in tow. We arrived at the stadium and really didn’t have a plan. We walked around and found a liquor store where we bought some beer. We then camped out on the lawn of house that was nothing but Badgers fans. It was amazing. In the heart of Michigan country, and rows of houses with Michigan parties, there was a lawn of cardinal. We squatted there for the entire pre-game and met some of the people there. We finally made it to the game. It started out good with the Badgers winning and it was close at halftime. The second half wasn’t as fun because Michigan pulled away. The Michigan fans were ignorant asses. They didn’t know a homerun from a touchdown. I got about two dozen mini footballs thrown at me during the game and at half time I almost got in a fight with an old man and his family for calling the Michigan band a high school band. His quote was, “You can insult the team all you want, but don’t mess with the band.” Someone got his tuba pooped in when he was a kid. After the game we were walking away from the stadium and all the asses when we ran into this black dude. He was a Badger fan and we got to talking. He was a nice guy from a town over. He wasn’t very big but he proceeded to tell us that he used to be a linebacker for the Badgers and now lived back in Michigan, we were skeptical. We asked where to go for some fun and he told us the main bar area was the other way from the direction we were walking. We started to turn around when he asked us if we wanted a ride. Of course we said sure and in his car we went. While we were driving he told us about Madison and how hard it was for a black athlete. The guy was very interesting to talk to and he took a shine to us. We finally got to a restaurant area and we saw another brewery so we had him drop us off there. Interesting dude but this wasn’t the last we’d see of him. We did some boozin’ at this really cool brewery that also made their own alcohol. We met some more Badgers fans and even a couple nice Michigan ones. After a couple drinks Luedke noticed he didn’t have his cell phone. It fell out of his pocket in the dude’s car. So L called it up from Anna’s phone and asked if he could return it and he said “no problem,” he’d drop it off. So about half and hour later the guy showed up. Not only did he have L’s cell phone he had his varsity pictures with him. The dude wasn’t full of it. We talked to him a little bit and then went back inside. We stayed there another hour or so before heading further downtown to get some food. We ate at a good Mexican restaurant and had some margaritas. From there we headed next door for some beers at an Irish bar. Then we met Erica and all her friends at a pool hall. We hung out there an hour or so when we decided to someone heard of this awesome bar that was “a ten minute walk away.” An hour later and getting the “ten minute walk” answer from five other people on the walk we arrived at the bar, which was closed. So we hit up a dive bar called Touchdown. There were some overly drunk Badger fans causing a ruckus in the place. All the bars had at least a 7:1 Badger fans ratio. This bar was 100% drunk Badgers. We hung out there until the club opened. We thought this was going to be the cats meow. It was overly touted and identically to Bullfeathers. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Bullfeathers, but I thought this place was going to be something different. It was a good time though. Lots of Badger fans drinking and a couple crazies playing flip cup. I was running on fumes and wanted to leave and so did the others so we headed back to the hotel. We had a couple more at the hotel bar and concluded a crazy day.

Sunday was a long drive back. I felt fine but it’s a long drive. Fall is definitely in the air!