18-for-48 / HIMYM

Two things to talk about since I last posted. One is regarding my weekend in Detroit, the other is about last night's How I Met Your Mother -- lets take them in order:

I cashed in a gillion miles to fly to Detroit for the weekend to see the Badgers in the Sweet 16 -- I told collegeroommate.Beno in NYC that if the Badgers made the second weekend in Detroit, then he was responsible for the tickets and hospitality in his home town -- what I didn't realize is how seriously he took me.

For 48 hours it was like I was 18 again, someone's mom and dad to house me, feed me, drive me, feed me, and make sure I was having a good time -- I didn't have to do a thing. Breakfast? The bagels and Lox buffet was waiting. Lunch? Ben's mom took us out for Coney Island Dogs and Gyros. Dinner? How about a reservation at Cameron's for steaks in front of a TV to watch the Carolina game. Naps? Sure, why not -- the bed was magically made from the night before, don't mind if I do. What a flashback and what a weekend. Ben's dad even hit the piano after breakfast for a mini-concert. And the best part was that he knew every word and cord to the song he wrote for Ben's Bar Mitzvah 20 years ago...but Ben's wedding song from just a few years back? Nope, not a word. If anyone is interested in a bootleg of the show, email David Antler.

Speaking of Mr. Antler (college buddy/weekend roommate in Michigan), he is a guest at Ivanna Trump's wedding next weekend in Florida. He had to buy a white suit, white shirt, white tie. Unfortunately there are no cameras or cell phones, otherwise I would demand he live-text blog the whole wedding right here on Op-EdTV. At a minimum, I asked him to let Don Jr. know how much I appreciated his deep insights and opinions week after week on 'Celebrity Apprentice'. I really feel like he brought a lot to the table and his dad couldn't have made any decisions without his son's key input.

The Badgers were dismantled and had their heart ripped from their chest about 24 minutes into their game -- at some point is was like 41-38 Davidson, and then before I could throw out another complaint about the stadium, we were down 15 and Steph Curry was hitting shots with a blindfold on while in a moving car. The crowd was eating it up, and as you heard, the entire Davidson College was there to shove it in my face. It hurt. I won't lie. But when it was over, and I was in the concouse changing my flight, I realized that at least we lost to a classy school like Davidson where the fans were unbelievably giddy, genuinely excited, and super nice. They reminded me of what I usually love about Wisco at traveling events -- we take over, dominate the building in red, and are loud as hell-- this time it was Davidson's turn, and since they were wearing red the whole night was confusing to begin with.

Ford Field is hands-down the worst place in America to watch college hoops. If you get tickets to the Final Four next year, don't say I didn't warn you. They have to work on it - it was sterile, too big, cavernous, and the sight lines were a joke - not to mention that the closest fan to the court was about 100 yards away -- total disaster. And the worst part is, we had the highest price ticket and still were a million miles away. Too bad, definitely didn't help with the night overall. Congrats to all my Davidson readers, I am glad we lost to you I guess.

And a public thank-you to the Riback's for the home-from-college hospitality flashback.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
If you saw it you know what I am talking about -- probably the best episode ever. An NCAA tourney style bracket of all the women Barney slept with then screwed over, in order to figure out which girl he hurt the most -- the winner is the woman most likely sabotaging Barney's future conquests. He needs to find her and apologize. Trust me, it was genius.
But what made me stand up and applaud (almost quite literally) was the ending in which Barney was at his computer writing in his blog about what he learned. That's right, Neil Patrick Harris writing into a computer.....so as a favor to the televisions viewing audience between the age of 30-40, they played the 'Doogie Howser' theme song that played over every episode as he typed out his thoughts and the voice-over read them to us. The scene was even equipped with the giant cursor that used to be on Doogie's screen. It was a self-reflexive classic, and moves to the top of my list for all time 'wink-wink' moments in TV history.