Badger Bits: Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs

Outside of the Rose Bowl, there were a dozen-or-so hispanic vendors selling bacon-wrapped hot dogs. The hot dogs sizzled in foil-lined trays, above an unseen heat source in a shopping cart. The edges of the trays fit neatly along the rims of the carts.

It's easy to push past the first few vendors, but at some point you're going to buy the thing smothered in fried onions and bacon. You say "no" four times, and in your mind that suitably proves your willpower so that by the time you see the line open in front of the fifth vendor you feel perfectly at peace ordering as many hot dogs as will fill the hole in your heart.

Without asking, the woman who served up my hot dog squirted ketchup and, oddly enough, mayonnaise on top of my hot dog in a thin, criss-crossing pattern. She had yellow mustard available too, but she apparently didn't size me up as a mustard man, which is all well and good. If given the option, I would have taken mustard too, but I don't eat bacon-wrapped hot dogs often enough to know how they should properly be dressed.

It was good, but not nearly as good as it smelled. Somehow I couldn't taste the bacon. Perhaps it was too fatty. The mayo didn't make a lick of difference. The only thing that came through, besides the hot dog itself, were the onions, which were a bit under cooked, and the ketchup.

My hot dog was five dollars. About 200 yards away as the golf course began, bacon-wrapped hot dogs were going for $2.50 apiece. I did not think the mark-up just outside of the stadium was unfair, however. Any successful enterprise hinges on understanding demand and setting price points to take advantage of market segments. Business is business, at all times. Wisconsin and Stanford fans seemed to be buying hot dogs in proportion to the turnout at the stadium.

I had something else written above, but then I deleted it and wrote about hot dogs instead. I don't think I'm ever going to the Rose Bowl again.

LINK:

Ben Brust is all good after leaving practice Wednesday with a lower leg injury.

Laff Riot not as funny as usual.

OTE on the Big Ten and moral victories.

Notes, stats, etc., from Dave Heller.

Chase Hammond ... GAH.

"I looked for the ball. I was open for a while. Curt had to step up in the pocket and the ball was late. I felt the DB there and I just dropped the pass. That's about all it was. I got hit. I was going to get hit either way."

Matt Canada explains the plan for Joel Stave. Not sure if I have strong feelings either way on the Stave/Phillips debate, if there is one raging somewhere.

And next year really could be great. The wounds are too fresh to get jazzed just yet, but at some point I know I'm going to be really excited about what the Badgers could do next season. Ditto article ESPN blog.

The Montee Ball era is over.