A friend of mine had a friend of his up this weekend. This friend is from the UP, which means that this friend can drink. My God, I, as old drunk baseball men say, "got after it" for two straight nights, which is cool, but led to a Sunday spent in pajamas and the 2003 TwinsFest long-sleeved t-shirt. I got some laundry done, and I got to talk to my sister, but, other than drinking three Cherry Vanilla Diet Dr. Peppers and one Guinness, I accomplished nothing else.

I really like those Diet Dr. Pepper commercials where they show things like people drinking cupcakes or reaching into a 12 pack of Diet Dr. Pepper and grabbing a doughnut. The thesis of these commercials is that Diet Dr. Pepper is so tasty, because it contains 23 flavors. Does this mean, then, that Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper contains 25 flavors? I was thinking about this. It's an interesting question.

[Of note, Blogger considers 'doughnut' a misspelling. It considers 'donut' to be the correct spelling. Mrs. Hastings, my third grade teacher, would be quite disappointed. So would Webster's, I'd imagine. Unrelated, is 'anyways' a word? I think 'anyway' is the word, right? I hate the use of the word 'anyways,' a word that one of the most frequent NU message board geeks uses regularly.]

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One of the poorest-conceived hangout ideas in recent history turned into one of the most fun Cats-watching experiences I've ever had. This was Saturday, and it helps that it came during a victory.

Roughly the plan:
"You drive Southeast for two hours. I'll drive North for two hours. We'll meet at a sports bar in The First Index Finger Knuckle. We'll watch Wildcats football for 3 1/2 hours. We'll drive home."

There were no hitches, however, and the afternoon was perfectly-spent, so perfectly-spent in fact that, ever-so-briefly, we considered a repeat performance.

Things learned about Damon's Grill, which was nice enough to put the Cats on one of their four giant screens (Michigan-Wisconsin, Michigan State-Purdue, and NTN Trivia got the other wall-sized screens):

1. Stay away from the Aztec chicken sandwich
2. Stay away from the loaded baked potato with peppercorn Gorgonzola sauce
3. In fact, don't choose a baked potato if you're doing a "half-and-half" lunch special
4. Ask for the cheesecake with drizzled strawberry syrup, instead of drenched
5. Probably, just get a cheeseburger and wings. Or ribs, if you're a big spender.

But, despite the fact that I blew it on 50 percent of the items ordered ($2.50 22-ounce beers, a two-refill-in-six-game-minutes coffee, and the 1/2 onion loaf were successful orders), the game experience was fantastic.

The game was interesting. The company was fantastic. And the waitress didn't flinch - much - when I made a semi-off-color joke about all the excitement that happened when Nemo and I shared bunk beds as off-campus students.

Needing something to do after the game, but not something that would take a real long time, we settled on Lost Pirates Adventure Golf, which was a fine, fine mini-golf experience.

It was indoors and, therefore, darker than I would like but, other than that, a fine mini-golf experience. (I'd like to link to a BigFlax post to show you how a true mini-golf review should be done but, alas, I can't find it.)

It was close throughout, with former Ypsi Putt-Putt champion Nemo taking an early lead with an opening par to my bogey three, but with me taking the lead as Nemo posted back-to-back double bogeys on the third and fourth.

I lost single strokes on the sixth and eighth, and went out with a one-stroke lead and a three-over 22. But Nemo was unflappable as, after we both opened the back nine with bogey threes, he played one-under golf for the next six holes, effectively ending the match.

The key came on the 13th when, with my ball nestled behind a tree stump, I theatrically got down to my haunches to analyze whether I had a putting angle. I then, fishing for laughter, got down to my chest to analyze further. (Nemo, in his competitive groove, did not laugh.) And I had an opening and an angle. Barely. And a one-stroke lead. And my backswing was pure, and my putt was online, but I babied the two-footer. I lost the stroke, and my composure, and it was over.

We were tied, but it was like the '69 Cubs or the '07 Mets. I was toast. Mentally defeated, and, while it took my double-bogey on the 16th to confirm that on the scorecard, it was over.

As a former Ypsi Putt-Putt all-star, he'd been there before. He had the composure. Mentally, I was a wreck, and it showed.

Next time, friends, next time.

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Let's break down the Cats.

Saturday was the most satisfying win of the year, because it was borne, at least partially, of defense.

The offense was good enough, but the defense, relatively speaking, bottled up one of the nation's top receivers and perhaps the conference's biggest quarterback threat. Ngene and Gill were very good. Kadela played, perhaps, his best game as a Northwestern Wildcat. Phillips laid one wicked hit. I noticed Prince Kwateng on the field for the first time all season, and Fast Eddie, of course, made the game's crucial play with his INT return for a TD. After a noticeably awful game against the Hawks, McManis was fantastic, matching up with Hardy and keeping him largely quiet.

Offensively, we fought through two INTs in the end zone to get a win. Lane had a not-great game, and Peterman was relatively quiet. But I thought Rasheed Ward played well, and Thompson closed his Ryan Field career with a solid, solid performance. The O-Line allowed not a sack, and was in solid enough condition to run run run on the game's decisive drive.

Most satisfying, though, was the game Garrick McGee called. He ran the ball, even late, even needing a late drive. He used his best player. (Sutton is, doubtlessly, the Cats' best player.) And his best player showed up big-time. I loved the designed run from Bacher on that last drive. I loved the return of the option, in some form.

I have a quibble with the Statue-of-Liberty Halfback Pass, which was cool, and which worked, but which was close to a third pick in the end zone. (I think the trick plays we try are particularly tricky, but I'm not sure that they're always the most potentially successful trick plays. But, in general, I'm still a fan of trick plays, especially when they result in touchdowns. There have been several trick plays this season, the SoLHP, the Hook-and-Ladder, which worked, and last week's Flea Flicker, which got picked.) I also have a quibble with the pass for the clinching touchdown, as we had two chances to get two yards, and then four more chances for the touchdown. But Lane got open and, as he does, he caught another game-winner.

Let's do power rankings, with the understanding that transitive law of victory does not exist, and that I'm grading entire body of work, as I can remember, with no additional research. That is, these power rankings are largely bunk, and I'm continuing to explain because I'm not sure if Ohio State is still in its own class or not, so I'm deciding as I write. Because the decision is, of course, Illinois would have to be the team in their class, because they just beat the Bucks in Columbus, but that that would also mean that Michigan should be in that class, because they beat the Illini in Shampoo-Banana, but what would that mean for Wisconsin?

So, understanding that the Power Rankings need not reflect transitivity, and understanding that Michigan and Ohio State will obviously sort it out this weekend, I thusly present:

1) Ohio State (1st last week, 1st tier)
2) Illinois, because Juice might be great (4, 2)

3) Penn State, purely due to attrition (3, 2)
4) Michigan, because they don't have a backfield (2, 2)
5) Wisconsin, though I feel they could be higher (5, 3)

6) Purdue, a body-of-work rating, rather than a loss-to-MSU rating (6, 3)
7) Iowa, because they beat MSU and Northwestern (7, 4)
8) Northwestern, purely out of blind love (10, 4)

9) Michigan State, who killed Indiana but hasn't beaten a team above them, I don't think (9, 4)
10) Indiana (8, 4)
11) Minnesota (11, 4)

Six wins hardly guarantees NU a bowl. In fact, owing to enrollment and potential for travel and national interest, I'd suspect that six wins will not get NU to a bowl. This is why I hate Duke, more than I hate the loss to Purdue or the loss to Iowa. (We were bad against Iowa, as they were better for all but the first quarter. We were better than Purdue for three quarters, but that was on the road.)

A win, combined with expected losses by six-win Michigan State (home, Penn State) and Indiana (at Purdue) still wouldn't guarantee a bowl, as Iowa will likely beat Western Michigan and the Big Ten probably won't get two BCS berths, even if Michigan beats Ohio State (who would then be coming off of two losses, a blowout loss in a bowl last year, and would have been out of the public eye for 45 days due to the Big Tens 'no games after Thanksgiving' schedule, driving down interest). Still, NU would likely get a berth to a non-Big Ten bowl in this situation, potentially Las Vegas or Emerald, it sounds like.

But, anyway, let's just hope for the best.

This week's picks:
Ohio State over MICHIGAN
IOWA over Western Michigan
Penn State over MICHIGAN STATE
Purdue over INDIANA
WISCONSIN over Minnesota

and, because I can
Northwestern over ILLINOIS

I'm excited that NU-Illinois is an ESPN game. The Cats are 0-1 when I watch at home (Ohio State), but 2-1 when I watch at someone's home (Nevada, at Nemo's; EMU, at coworker's), and 1-1 when I simply follow the game from home (Northeastern, on internet radio).

So, they're 3-1 when I'm in a domicile.

Gosh, I hope they do it.

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I've not done a NU hoops preview previously. I love NU football more when it's NU football season, and NU basketball more when it's NU basketball season. Maybe I'll try to write a preview Tuesday. Or maybe tomorrow night. They've certainly got a tough opening schedule, with Stanford then DePaul. (DePaul's got a true freshman as a captain this year, which is truly remarkable. Stanford's a tourney team.)

It's tough to be real optimistic about the '07-'08 Cats hoopsters, but I'll do my best.

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There's some level of turnover at work, and there are frequent new hires, owing to both the frequent turnover and to the fact that we're a pretty successful company. [Trivial Pursuit would call us an outfit.]

Recently, there's been a nice melding of departments, in terms of "people hanging out with people they don't work directly with," which is a good thing as, it is my belief that, at my age and life state, most of my friends will probably come from work. The nice thing about hanging out with people from outside my department is that, because we don't actually share work experiences, it's far more difficult to spend an entire night talking exclusively about work. Therefore, we talk about music, or just yell about nothing.

Point is, on Friday, I was hanging out with three people for, essentially, the first time. We were talking about how, "Hey, this is fun!" and about how we didn't really know each other. And one said, about me, roughly, "Yeah, you're all laid back and disheveled, but it's clear that you're secretly brilliant." And I was all, "Bitch, I'm openly brilliant," but with a smile. And then we took shots. It was unhealthy.

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I'm an Alltel customer. There aren't many of us, but the quality of their network in The Ring Fingernail came highly recommended and, indeed, I don't think I've had a dropped call since I've been with them.

Alltel also recently updated its security system, and they've moved far beyond "What's your mother's maiden name?" or "What's your father's middle name?" as security questions. The newest security system requires successfully filling out two security questions, one from section A, and one from section B. And these security questions, let me tell you, are tough to have answers that will stay static.

Among the questions:
Who was your favorite teacher in high school?
What was your favorite movie as a kid?
What is your favorite board game?

...and, basically, six more that I don't remember but that I don't think answers are constant to, or easy to remember.

I was able to find a static, I'll-never-forget answer on "What is the name of your oldest cousin (father's side)?" which some might have trouble with, and I chose to believe that Trivial Pursuit will always be my favorite board game, or at least will be my favorite board game until Alltel updates its security questions.

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Fringe-excited. Dinner with a coworker from Summer '06 on Monday night. Should be blast-tastic.

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I want to get out of this writing once a weekend rhythm, but I just don't think it's feasible. I mean, once a week is nice, I'm sure, but more than that is better. I just need drama in my life, or a nemesis.