I am a pretty generally healthy person, generally just meaning that I am rarely sick. Thursday night, however, I became about as ill as I likely get in a given year. I was reading this hilarious series of articles about erotic video games and all of a sudden felt like I was going to pass out. I was admittedly laughing pretty hard at the description of Beat ‘Em and Eat ‘Em but the fact that I was bed ridden for the next 30 odd hours makes me think it wasn’t just that. Regardless, after drinking a two liter of Sprite, watching Ocean’s Twelve, and annoying Katie with my requests for soda and water, I am in much better condition and continue the TC recap.
--Lambeau Field: It certainly was far from a dream season for the Pack attack in 2005, but even a 3-12 game against the number 1 seed in the NFC is an NFL excursion at the greatest stadium in the history of sports. My dad and I got up at 5 in the morning, giving me a approximately 3 hours of sleep to deal with 4 bottles of champagne. I was not wide awake, to say the least, but 3-4 Diet Red Bulls kept me in the swing of things for most of the ride. We made great time, went to Kroll’s for a brat and a beer, before heading to the game. I bought a really spiffy new hat (technically, my dad bought it) and have actually never had a black Packer’s cap before. The game was really fun to watch, the crowd was full and in good spirits, and the Packers, though not playing a team that had much to worry about, came through strong. Brett through a touchdown, which was fun to watch after 3-4 weeks of nothing.
My dad and I came into the game confident that number four was coming back. It just didn’t seem likely that he would leave on this low a note and all. The entire NorthEastern section of Wisconsin always explodes when they announce the quarterback from Southen Mississippi, but it was potentially even more significant that day. When it was all said and done, when the Packers got the ball back to end the game, Sherman pulled Brett and the ovation was deafening. It went on for several minutes, everyone in Green Bay on their feet, and while that doesn’t prove anything, Brett made a bigger deal than I would usually expect. He was waving and playing to the crowd on his way off the field, which really made me question if he was leaning the other way. The fact that they ditched Sherman not more than 20 hours after the end of the game seemed odd to me as well.
Anyway, we saw my Grandma for a while, and she was doing alright. We had dinner with her and talked for a couple hours before crashing at the casino/hotel that evening. I won 50 some dollars playing craps and left early the next morning, using a couple more Diet Red Bulls (potentially my new favorite thing) to make the drive home.
--Texas: We were home from Lambeau about 10:30, which meant I was able to get 2:30 hours sleep/bowl game watching before heading to the airport via Katie’s rents. Our flight to Dallas was uneventful, though Katie and I weren’t able to sit next to each other (I guess that’s what you get flying on January 2nd). DFW airport is, literally, the worst location in the entire world. It is much less an airport than it is a randomly organized series of buildings linked by an incoherently labeled and arranged set of roads and ramps that connect them. The rental car facility is about 3-5 miles away from the terminals, even worse than that at Logan. It took us over an hour from the time our plane landed to get our luggage, get to the rental joint, and get back to the terminals with the cars. I got to drive a Durango, which I ended up really enjoying. It sucks gas like an urban myth about Alanis Morissette, but it’s a hella comfy ride.
The first tournament was at North Texas and it gets my Diet Red Bull award for best debate tournament in Texas that I have ever attended. I believe that every round was contained in 3ish floors of a single building. The judging was pretty good all around, there were some pretty entertaining debates, I got 3 of them off, and the food was pretty impressive (pretty impressive being the average of really shitty breakfast and really incredible lunch). I even got home in time to see both of the BCS games that occurred on the evenings of prelims. The neighborhood around the university was chweet, little bars and shops that seemed totally out of place for a Northern suburb of Dallas. We had some success all around, especially considering that many of our teams moved up for the first half of the swing. It was a great tournament, they should’ve done it twice.
Especially considering that the second tournament kind of bit it. I mean, the food was still aight (way better breakfast, way worse lunch on one day, almost as good the other) but the tournament was spread randomly across one of the least interesting campuses I have ever seen. Most of the open rounds were in two buildings which were nowhere near each other and the JV debates were literally across the campus from both of them, all of which were at least a 10 minute walk from the food/meeting place. The tournament treated the JV kids like they were more a nuisance than anything else, and since 5 of our 6 teams were there, it kinda pissed me off. We still had a decent tournament, clearing in open and winning the novice breakout.
Even more interesting than the debating in Texas was the food. I sampled four different barbecue joints, Coulter’s, Rudy’s, Sonny Bryant’s, and Spring Creek. Coulter’s was my personal fave, though Sonny Bryant’s had pretty solid pulled pork as well. Spring Creek had some smoked sausage that was off the hook, but their sauce paled in comparison. I know my proclivities towards pork make me biased towards East Coast ‘cue, but I can respect the brisket and none of these joints disappointed. I was surprised by the generally low quality BBQ beans, at which I expected Tejas to excel, but still.
The hamburgers were also really really good. I ate at Whataburger (my first time) Jack in the Box (been there, but awesome) and Sonic (about 4 times, cuz whoa damn do I love Sonic). Seriously, everything about that place is awesome. The ordering is better than a drive-thru, the jalapeno cheeseburger is phat, the cream pie shakes are the nutz, and the ability to get tater tots instead of fries-wow. This doesn’t even get in to the supersonic breakfast burrito or the Cherry Limeades, but suffice to say I would very rarely eat at any other fast food joint in the event that my hometown featured a Sonic.
Hippo is all over me about going to play on the new sheets we got with her catnip bubbles, so I will have to continue with the Sixth Floor Museum later.
Peace,
MB-K
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