This week, my job took me to San Francisco to speak at the Essentials of Emergency Medicine conference organized by Mel Herbert and USC. (Essentials of Emergency Medicine) I love San Francisco- it is consistently number 1 on my list of favorite worldwide cities (Chicago is #2 followed very closely by Paris and London, LA barely cracks the top 10). I am happy to just walk the streets and see the amazing people here, or taste the wonderful and expensive restaurants, or enjoy the gorgeous views of the bay. I have previously written about the City by the Bay in this blog. Check out “Coldest Winter”: (Coldest Winter)
On this trip, we spent the first few days attending the amazing conference, then going out to dinner and drinks in the evening. The time was filled with wonderful, warm-fuzzy kind of moments. We took the streetcar (photo above) to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner at the famous Alioto's, drinks at the Chieftan irish pub, family style dinner at Buca di Pepo, then drinks at Smuggler's Cove. If you haven't been, Smuggler's Cove is an incredible bar specializing in rum drinks and dedicated to keeping the kitsch Tiki-bar style alive and well (Smuggler's Cove) And they succeed. Although it is decorated with the most awful collection of tiki torches, fishing nets, and a two-story waterfall, there is no doubt that it is very cool. Its the kind of place that is hard to find and you are kinda nervous when you approach the nondescript blacked-out door. But when you enter, you are very glad you came. The staff was friendly, engaging, eager to work their rum magic, converting skeptics into fanatics. I was doing great, pacing myself, trying rums from the far reaches of the Caribbean, and then I ordered a MaiTai.
If you have read "Coldest Winter" you'll understand. You would think I would have learned.
We were together the whole time, one big happy residency family, coming together as a team. Then Game Day arrived. Immediately following the conference, we split to the four winds across the hills of San Francisco, each heading for their own "official bar".*
- USC Trojans: Green's Sports Bar, Polk Street
- Nebraska Cornhuskers: Final-Final, Baker Street
- Iowa Hawkeyes: ALSO Final-Final, (boy, that's going to be awkward come next Thanksgiving)
- Oregon Ducks: The R Bar, Sutter and Polk
- Wisconsin Badgers: Ace's Bar, Sutter and Hyde
- Missouri Tigers: uh. . . well . . .they don't have a bar. Our Tiger alum went along with the Husker and joined the fun at Final-Final.
As we watched our respective games, Nebraska marched towards the Big 12 north championship, Wisconsin wore out Bucky's arms with a 83 drubbing of Indiana, USC completed its sweep of the Arizona schools, and Iowa got schooled YET AGAIN by Northwestern (poolers, if you haven't figured out to pick this game every year, you haven't been paying attention). But all these games were overshadowed by what was happening just across the bay from us in Strawberry Canyon.
Cal has struggled this season to say the least. They are the only team that made the USC defense look good, and that's embarrassing. So it seemed that the vaunted Oregon offense could take a week off before hosting Arizona next week. This game was such a forgone conclusion that none of the usual networks carried the game; it was broadcast on Versus. (By a remarkable coincidence, this is the same network that carried USC-Stanford two years ago when Stanford was a 45 point underdog. And we all know how that one turned out) As the game wore into the 3rd and 4th quarter and the Quack attack had still yet to emerge, more and more heads turned toward that game. Sorry, Ducks, you should have lost that game; Cal had the winning field goal made before they had to re-kick it. Oregon better take this second lease on life and run with it all the way to Glendale.
Fight On,
Hans
*PS:This didn't really happen. As you all know, the Wisconsin and Iowa games were played in the morning. I would never let the truth get in the way of a good story. But the official bar list is accurate.
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