People are constantly warning students about how dangerous and stupid our drinking habits are. Most of the time, I think they're right, even if it doesn't make me change my ways. But if it wasn't for a drunken Friday night this past week, I might have given up on Madison completely.
You see, Thursday night, I got a binge dose of Madison at its worst. First, I got talked into going to Wando's, where the Cutty Black girls were dancing. Alcohol that bad being promoted by dancing that sleazy is enough to make any evening nauseating. But it got worse.
Later, on State Street, three D-grade thugs got in my face, saying they wanted my phone and my wallet. I walked away un-robbed, but it's sad when someone tries to jump you on State Street when all you have is 30 bucks, let alone when that someone is 5'4\. If somebody that little is going to mug me, I would at least hope it was Ja Rule or Michael J. Fox.
So with all that stuff happening, then returning home to find a puddle of urine in my building's elevator, you can understand why my feelings about Madison were at an all-time low. But just when I was feeling like Madison was just one big group of elevator-peeing, Amos-mugging, cage-dancing assholes, I had a night that made everything better. Friday night, I got to witness Madison at its best, and it was all thanks to the First Annual All Madison Area Run/Walk/PubCrawl.
The crawl was organized by UW graduate Will McDonald. Competitors had to start at the Essen Haus, hit seven designated bars, drink a designated drink at each bar, then go back to the Essen Haus for a last drink, all to be completed as quickly as possible with bartenders signing our shirts to verify our drinking.
Running with fellow Daily Cardinal rock star Ben Sykes, I quickly discovered that while I'm a world-class drinker and in decent shape, I was slowing him down. After Sykes graciously put up with me for three bars, I let him go on without me. But while Sykes and fellow competitor Matt Gruenke were both out of my league athletically, the people participating were fantastic. And with all the normal hang-ups of weekend partying, it was really fun to throw on sweatpants and jog through the bars with people I just met.
Also, something about the event brought out the best in people. I met friendly people in every bar. People on the street cheered me on. One woman even yelled ""Go, Harry Potter!"" And after the crawl was over, it was fun to go to my regular bars in my running clothes. I thought the bartenders at the Blue Velvet Lounge were going to faint when they saw me without a collared shirt on.
But most of all, I got a much-needed reminder that there's more to Madison than attempted mugging and pee in my elevator. It's about being friendly to people because strangers are fun and Midwesterners are nice. It's about partying in silly ways after long hard weeks. It's about having fun in ways that break routines and about admiring other people who do the same.
And yeah, sometimes it's about smart people doing stupid and dangerous things.
amosap@hotmail.com.
