Beer Me Strikes Again: The Battle of 18-12
Saturday, October 19th
8:40 a.m.
Kiss the beautiful missus goodbye and drop all the gear in the KIA. Got my motor and got it running.
9:00 a.m.
Pick up partner in crime, Tony T.; the partner in crime extraordinaire. His wife was still a little jealous that she was not on the trip, but this one is for the guys.
11:15 a.m.
Over the border and South Bend bound. No delays; it helps to have an honest face. Touch wood! Keep eyes peeled for an outlet mall to get some serious Irish gear.
2:00 p.m.
First outlet mall; no real deals and no college gear; concern starting to sink in. Our distracted driver, me, did some strange U-turn before a toll booth. I thank goodness there was no camera to capture that moment. My driving skills were Don Crewe taught. Not always a good thing.
4:11 p.m.
Pulled into Goshon. (Bon Jovi needs to write a song about pulling into Goshon.) The chance of this being a supreme party town is limited. Playing the odds, the brave driver chooses to forgo beer and DD it for the night. Liver sends a thank you note to the city of Goshon.
4:20 p.m.
Still no outlet malls or sports store. Looks like we are going to the game in the clothes be brought; until we find the ultimate cheap goods store; Wal-Mart!
4:31 p.m.
Spends $134 on Irish and Colt gear including a toque and a shirt for the wife. Worst deal was the $1.34 spent on the 500 ml of water. I could have gotten 2x2L of Coke for the same price. Tony T. makes out like a bandit as well.
5:43 p.m.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-09ayPX_KVs
Head to South Bend, theme from Rudy was playing in my head the whole way. Trying not to scare Tony I decide to allow it to whistle in my head only.
6:10 p.m.
We arrive at Holy Cross first... too cool. Just like Rudy did! I did not go straight to a priest though.
6:21 p.m.
Wandering through one of the nicest campuses I have ever been on! It is too nice and I would have loved to played the golf course. Luckily, UNB did not have such a distraction.
6:40 p.m.
Band parade begins. It is very cool. I think I have spotted Joe Montana while someone else thinks it is Martin Short. I was slow on the draw and no one photo evidence was available.
7:11 p.m.
After I was wrong about gate locations, we walk completely around the stadium and eventually find our gate. We did get to see all the cool statues and stuff though. Unfortunately, our seats did not exist. Instead, we paid for a section of the 2 by 8 and lots of knees to the back. I was a little doubtful.
7:12 p.m.
Doubt was gone. Rudy theme still playing.
7:33 p.m.
Kick Off! Very cool. It was a tale of two games. There was no punt until midway through the second quarter. After that there was no more scoring. The crowd was loud! Funny enough, the Stadium does not have a jumbo tron either. If I had watched Rudy play some 37 years ago, it would have been the same experience. The old Irish Dr. next to us kept us entertained. My attempt to get the Rudy chant going failed but I learned a lot of the Irish team classics.
Sunday
12:01 a.m.
We arrive back at the Comfort Inn in Goshon. Beer was cold and toasts were made. Old men were asleep by 12:45.
5:45 a.m.
Wake up alarm. Whoa! What? Whose idea was this? Stupid me made a tee time for 10:00. Coffee would be needed.
6:15 a.m.
On the road again with eyes peeled for coffee. This time the Hoosiers theme bounced in my head. No Humming! (It's Jerry Goldsmith's greatest hits.) Indiana is fun.
9:30 a.m.
Arrive at Brickyard Golf Course. (The course with four holes inside the Indianapolis Speedway.) I convince Tony T. to agree to the Corey Crewe cheating regulations of golf. Despite the breaks, I beat up the course with a blazing front nine of 53.... yep it was not pretty.
10:51 a.m.
Enter the track. It's very cool.
11: 14 a.m.
Magic happens. We make the turn, get some beers and cigars, and the game turns around.
Note a sexy second new toque.
1:15 p.m.
Shoot a 45 on the back and I'm feeling great. The three beer did not hurt at all. Check into the Wyndham and relax watching the Lions play. We order some pizza and wings and at some point I drift off for a nap.
4:30 p.m.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOB4VdlkzO4
As only a true Bronco's fan could, Tony wakes me by blasting John Denver's Rocky Mountain High. Wake up, shower, and we are off. We grab a coffee on the way out as we realize old men need a pick me up.
5:30 p.m.
On the game bound shuttle, one of the drunk fans explains how this is the war of 18 (Manning) 12 (Luck). We both agree on how brilliant his idea was and wonder why no one else thought of it. Tony then discovers he has ticket row18 – seat12 and cracks up. We find a bar and drink with the locals; most of whom were from out of town.
8:00 p.m.
Still finding it hard to believe we are there we enter the stadium to watch the tribute to Payton; very well done! The fans really did need to let him know how much they appreciated him.
11:25 p.m.
Great game and Payton almost pulls it off. The crowd was electric and loud! It was a nonstop roller coaster despite some sloppy play. No one gave Tony a hard time because of his Bronco cheering. It was awesome.
11:27 p.m.
Game ends and we head back to the Indy Whistle Stop. More beers and celebrations on a great trip. Of course we then headed over to White Castle because, well who needs a reason to go to White Castle.
Trip Home:
No real adventures on a 7 hour drive. We learned Munroe, Michigan is not worth the turn-off and Smothered Chicken is the only low carb option at Cracker Barrel. We arrived home and it was over. But don't worry, as long as there is beer in a can, Beer-Me will be coming up with possible trips!
