I had plans for Saturday. It's Iron Bowl weekend, after all, that sacred time in the heart of every Alabama native when the forces of all that is mighty and pure (Auburn) battle to stave off the ever-creeping tide of darkness and malignant evil in the world (the University of Alabama) on the gridiron.

I had a three-pronged plan to set in motion beginning bright and early:

1) Pound the Crimson Tide in as many games as I could in NCAA 07 to appease the Terrible and Vengeful Gods of SEC Football.

2) Prepare a huge bowl of Ruffles, complete with ranch sauce.

3) Provide moral support for my team, mainly by howling at the television with unfettered rage each time Alabama so much as managed to get a first down.

Only a few things on earth would make me miss the Iron Bowl. One of them involves Scarlett Johansson and probably isn't appropriate for this blog. Another, of course, is my boss telling me I needed to be in Los Angeles on Saturday to cover the launch event of the Nintendo Wii in SoCal, which is just what I'll be doing.

Honestly, I expect the Wii event to be decidely lower key than the craziness that has accompanied the PS3 debut. The general perception seems to be that anyone who wants a Wii before Christmas will be able to find one. Still, it's cool to think that I'll have been there in person to experience two of the bigger consumer entertainment spectacles in recent years. And if I should come back to the hotel late tomorrow evening after the first of the Wii's have been sold, only to find that Auburn has pounded the Crimson Tide for a fifth straight year, well, all the better...