Today, the streets of Madison ran red.

The morning after the election, I noted a chalking on the sidewalk outside of the Law School, promoting an anti-war rally for Saturday, and I wrote that I'd attend and have some pictures and descriptions for you. So now it is Saturday, and I have come downtown, and I can tell you that today the streets ran red! Not red with blood or anti-war-demonstration-style paint symbolizing blood. No, the streets were teeming with Badger fans appropriately clad in red sweatshirts and T-shirts. Here you see the good people of Wisconsin stoking the fires of fanship at State Street Brats, under the watchful gaze of our leader, Bucky:



Many brats were consumed – we call them brats, Senator! – and much beer, under the sacred protection of our lady, Liberty:


I hear a cheer ring out, and I look up, here's the Bucky Wagon tearing around the corner.



Everybody's happy. It's the last home game of the season, and we've got a pretty damn good shot at finishing this day – it's a beautiful day, too! – with an unbeaten at-home record. So good luck to the Badgers, and may all the wonderful visitors have a great time. Don't get too drunk. It was only noon, and I saw a few people staggering drunkenly. I hear a beautiful girl – the streets are full of beautiful girls! -- say to a boy, "Are you going to be completely wasted when I see you later?" A little dog tied up outside of Chin's is lonely, but people stop now and then to pet him and tell him how cute he is:



And he is:



I go to my usual café, but it's crowded, and I worry that by the time I get to the front of the line, there won't be a table, so I leave and go over to the new café that's just off State Street. "Free Internet" says the sign, and I go in and take some pictures while I wait for my latte. Here's the table I choose:



Pretty! And there's this cool used bookstore off to the side:



There's a nice little tented alcove, which is probably most fun in the evening, when people come here for drinks and desserts:



Sounds nice! Why don't you tell us the name of the place? I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish them because the WiFi did not work. First, it asked for a password, and I went up and had to call "hello?" into the backroom to get a person to come out and let me know if I needed a password. She wrote down a 10-digit code for me to enter, but it still didn't work, after several tries. I went back up, had to call out again, and said the password wasn't working. Her response, in its entirety, was "I'm not an IT person." Arrgghh! At least say you're sorry. And give me a cookie or something!

So I won't give them a free advertisement on my popular blog. And I will probably never come back here again. I will continue to frequent my favorite State Street cafés: Espresso Royale, Michelangelo's, and Fair Trade. Business owners, take note: do not disappoint the people who care about WiFi!

But maybe everything happens for a reason, because without WiFi, I leave the café early, and I walk back toward Library Mall. There, in the distance … can it be? … it's the peace rally! Did I get some pictures? Oh, yes I did! But it will take me a few minutes to sort through them, and this post is already long enough, and I don't want all that peace rally stuff in this post anyway. I just want to end this post by saying: GO BADGERS!