A bit of southern hospitality way up north

Admittedly, I am a *huge* college football fan ... and it's SEC football all the way! Imagine my surprise then when I went with friends to the Houndstooth Saloon, a bar in the Chicago North Side where the people are crazy for Alabama football.

The inside of the bar is painted crimson ... even the ceiling is painted this color. The fans don tons of Alabama paraphernalia and pack into this place like sardines. Saturday night, we crowded into this place and watched the Alabama-South Carolina game. It was kind of like a deja vu; for a minute I thought I was back in AL. Good times!