I suppose I really should finish...

...writing about last weekend's football before this weekend's football begins (even though I won't be in attendance for Week 7).

To pick up where I left off, I drove down to Dyer, Indiana on Saturday morning to meet my friend Kevin and his buddy at the Scrambled Diner, above. (To my geographically-challenged wife, Indiana might as well be Pennsylvania.)

And as I pulled out of the driveway, she called after me "Don't get a speeding ticket!"

I'll kill ya.

Now, I won't complain about the traffic (I've done enough of that already), because I actually made it down there in decent time. I walked into the restaurant and before I even said "Hello," told Kevin and Marty that I hadn't seen the end of the Loyola - Mount Carmel game, so -- please, please, please -- don't tell me who won.

"Mike, we don't know; and what's more, we don't give a s***!"

That's strange.

But I sat down and we had a great breakfast. Marty (whose father was an Irish cop in the city) ordered the "Mighty Irish" skillet with "corned beef, sauerkraut, 1000 island & swiss." (Saw that one coming.) Kevin ordered the Veggie Scram. (Ditto.) So, in keeping with the theme of ordering to reflect our personalities, I asked for boring ol' two over easy with sausage. But at least the sausage was home-made. (Turns out, everything was home-made, even the strawberry jam and the ketchup!) Good place, by the way. If you ever find yourself in Dyer, Indiana, be sure to check it out.

After breakfast, Kevin and I bid farewell to Marty. Turns out, he had other things to do on a Saturday afternoon than watch a high school football game. Again, strange. So we soldiered on, just the two of us in my convertible on a beautiful late September day. Kevin showed me around "the Heights," as the locals call Chicago Heights, the setting for the Crete-Monee - Bloom game that afternoon.

First stop was Bloom High School, above, although the game would actually be played at Bloom Trail High School. Huh? (Just go with it.) It's a beautiful old structure that was built during the Great Depression in Art Deco style.

"Hey, that's where David Broder went to school!"

"Who?," Kevin asked.

"The dean of the Washington press corps. He's dead now." Crickets.

"How about Jim Bouton, the author of Ball Four?"

"Oh, yeah, him."

We drove on, and as Kevin showed me the various points of interest, he gave me a short history lesson on the next town over, Ford Heights. Apparently, when it was previously known as "East Chicago Heights" it was ranked somewhere as the "poorest suburb in the United States." So, what did the town fathers do? They changed its name to "Ford Heights" in 1987. (Today we call that "rebranding.")

But soon the time had come for the main purpose of my visit: to see one of the most heavily-recruited football players in the state of Illinois, Laquon Treadwell. (That's him, above, in Week 3 against Moline.) His school, Crete-Monee, was taking on the Blazing Trojans of Bloom in what I gathered was the latter's Homecoming Game. The contest was about as lopsided as I had feared, with the undefeated Warriors jumping out to a 35-0 halftime lead. "Don't worry, Kevin," I assured him. "If they get ahead by forty points they'll switch to a running clock." Which they did, early in the third quarter. The score ended up 41-6, not a great game.

But what about Treadwell? Well, as Mitt Romney famously said when asked about the London Olympics: It's hard to say. Even though Edgy Tim of the Tribune gushed over his performance, it's difficult for me to judge someone in a blowout. Also, there's a big drop-off from 7A to 6A. How, for example, would Treadwell fare against some of the state's tougher defenses, like 8A Maine South's, which has given up only 62 points all year? Or Mount Carmel's, which has surrendered only 61? And then there's such 7A powers as Lincoln-Way East, which has allowed 65 points this season. Or Glenbard West, which has given up only 58. Or how about (last one, I promise) Lake Zurich, whose stingy defensive unit has allowed -- are you ready for this? -- only 21 points all season! I doubt that Treadwell will ever see anything like that this year.

(But I'll also assume that college recruiters know more about football than me. So if Treadwell ever makes it to the Big Time I can say "Oh, yeah; I saw him play in high school. I knew back then he was going places!")

But it was a beautiful sunny day, and Kevin and I enjoyed catching up in the bleachers.

The last stop on my South Side odyssey was Zarlengo's Italian Ice, above, where Kevin treated me to an Arctic Blast, half Italian ice and half soft-serve vanilla ice cream. (Kind of like a Creamsicle.) It was delicious!

But it was soon time to head back up north, so I dropped off Kevin at his house nearby. We agreed to see another high school football game "real soon." (Yeah, right.)

Besides, I had to find out how that Loyola - Mount Carmel game ended up!

P.S. At one point during the game we saw a kid in the stands with a Mount Carmel t-shirt. In typical Kevin fashion, he leaned over and said to me, "Mike, that kid is smiling. Do you think it means anything?"

I'll kill ya.