Going Twice...

Saturday night FFH, dressed to the nines, attended the prom. Actually it wasn’t, but with the holograms projected on the walls of the basketball gym it was an easy mistake to make. Really it was the Aggie Auction, an annual event in which everyone connected with the athletic department at UC Davis puts on fancy clothes, student-athletes become waiters, and wealthy people purchase fabulous trips at tremendous discounts and then write them off on their taxes. Supposedly the proceeds go into the scholarship fund, which might be a good cause depending on your point of view.

Anna and I sat at one of two sports information tables, with one of the SIDs and his parents. Mostly we heard about how that SID and his siblings had failed to provide grandchildren yet, giving me enough ammo for another season of press box banter. The night started with a silent auction after which they announced from the stage the tables that had bid the most money. That prompted the following exchange:

Me: True or False, they will not be announcing our table.
Anna: (sigh)

Anna was looking hot, and it was great fun introducing her around. We talked to the basketball coaches and the father of the UCD starting quarterback. I also had an awkward exchange with an administrator whose department I recently attempted to expose in print.

Her: Have we met?
Me (trying to let her off the hook): I think so
Her (motioning to my goatee): Is that new?
Me (trying to let her off the hook): It’s shorter in my newspaper picture.

Dinner was free and tasty. I ate Anna’s chicken and she ate my asparagus. We left halfway through the auction, once the really expensive items started going. It wasn’t quite as much fun as last year, when they auctioned off a hummer followed by a pearl necklace and the sports information table completely lost it.