The Saturday trifecta

Pardon the absence.

Squawking VFR has been on hiatus, as the human resources folks here mandated I take an allotted amount of time off from blogging for a "life-changing event."

As many of you know, that event occurred the first Saturday of November. My ladyfriend officially became Mrs. VFR. It was a fantastic weekend. We had an absolute blast, and are so glad many of you were there.

There are a lot of photos circulating of the schtick that occurred including a smiling photo of a certain comedian posing with a Sonic waitress, only one day before he embroiled himself in a fiasco with a pimple-faced member of the same waitstaff.

Photos exist of the husband of a certain member of the D.C. media rocking out to Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker" while climbing atop the pool table at Vinny's Bar in Morrison. And also photographic evidence of my brother-in-law in the clutches of a 40-year-old Cougar.

Good times, good times.

If you'll forgive a rare moment of sappiness, the entire weekend was even better than I could have ever envisioned. I wouldn't change a single second of the day.

We celebrated our one-week anniversary by going to see Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers at the Gothic Theater in Denver. Clyne, nee of The Refreshments, puts on a rollicking show full of schtick and energy. A great live act.

I must also say that his opening act, As Fast As, rocked even harder. These clowns were such an odd blend of jam band, metal and keyboards that I couldn't help but order one of their albums. You can hear a couple of their tunes on that Web site. They sound a little more polished online, which is a shame, because their meandering, spontaneous live style was a big plus.

It is worth noting these guys hail from Portland, Ore., which absolutely must be the hottest hotbed of indie rock in the country right now.

Off the top of my head, I can think of The Shins, The Decemberists and Modest Mouse (whom I don't particularly care for) of groups that call PDX home, in addition to the newly discovered As Fast As. Perhaps one of our astute Portland readers will chime in and lend some insight into this new phenomenon.

The trifect of great Saturdays was completed last week with the glorious Game of the Century.

Mrs. VFR and I hustled down to Denver to a bar where the Ohio State Alumni Club meets. We got there an hour before kickoff. The joint was sold out, and the line of people waiting to get in stretched around the block.

A bar underneath that establishment handled some of the overflow, but was also jammed past capacity. That's where we watched a man in a sweater-vest continue his domination of Lloyd Carr and company.

What a game. Ohio State never could quite put the Wolverines away. It was sloppily played, but riveting, just enough to leave me at the edge of my seat the entire game.

Michigan is clearly the No. 2 team in the country. But they absolutely should not get a chance to play the Buckeyes again. Such a matchup creates too many problems. What if the Wolverines win by three points? Who wins the championship then?

No, the Wolverines had their shot. They lost. So someone else should get a chance to prove their dominance over the Buckeyes. (Not that it will happen).

Anyway, I digress. On successive Saturdays, we enjoyed our wedding, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers and an Ohio State victory. It doesn't get much better than that.