DON'T FLINCH

How to win a silent auction and how to be lucky at an alumni event.

Jake and I went to a DC Badger Alumni event Thursday night at Hamilton's Bar and Grill. I heard about it through an alumni email and signed up because they advertised free beer and wine with admission and because the money they earned goes to a scholarship fund for DC area students who want to attend Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the only free beer was Coors Light (wtf?). Otherwise, though, it turned out to be a pretty good night for Jake and me. Jon and Ellen didn't come, but we hung out with Scott, who usually comes to watch the football games with us. Then, Jake and I each won prizes in a raffle. I got a "Visit Milwaukee" cooler bag, headband, and coffee mug. Jake won "Don't Flinch", Barry Alvarez's autobiography. It was only after he grabbed it off the prize table, came back to mingle with people, and started flipping through the book when he realized it was signed by Barry himself!

There was also a silent auction, which Jake and I got into as well. I decided that I was interested in winning a behind-the-scenes tour of the National Zoo and the Baltimore Aquarium, so I bid on it. A man named "Tom C." kept bidding after me. Jake figured out who he was and pointed him out to me. I was going to wait him out and head straight over to the tables at 8:30 (when the bidding was to end) to try to win it. Fortunately, we saw Tom C. leave the building a bit before 8:15, so I swooped in and put in my bid. We watched the papers get picked up at 8:30, and we think that I had the winning bid for the Zoo tour and that Jake had the winning bid on a Bo Ryan signed basketball. We're waiting for the alumni chapter to call and confirm our good fortune.