The Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars meet in the 2012 Apple Cup exactly one week from the time this article is published, and it's going to be a little bit different this year. We're used to the game being played the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We've even seen it played the Saturday after that or even the week before. But thanks to the magic of new-fangled and lucrative television contracts, the game time this year is going to be a bit ... interesting.
Instead of a Saturday Apple Cup, this year's game will be on Friday. But not just any Friday: It'll take place on Black Friday. In Pullman. Hours away from civilization.
And the game time itself isn't exactly the most convenient thing in the world. Sure, a night game would've been all right, giving fans the ability to easily make the trip over on the day after Thanksgiving. Heck, even a mid-afternoon game time would allow for travel and a bit of tailgating. Instead, we were saddled with a 12:30 p.m. start time. Again, in Pullman.
With the drive from Seattle taking somewhere around five hours on a good day -- a little less for experienced vets -- that start time presents some problems, and a decision. Do you, fan driving over from Seattle, spend Thanksgiving in Pullman? Do you drive all night to get to Pullman in the wee hours of the morning? Or do you risk it and leave early on Friday morning?
And mind you, the weather around this time of year isn't the greatest, especially on the pass. Add in snow on Snoqualmie Pass -- always a possibility -- and perhaps icy conditions on Highway 26, and it's a recipe for problems. Note that right now -- and we're still a week out -- the weather forecast for Snoqualmie Pass calls for a high of 41 and a low of 14 on Thursday and a high of 41 and a low of 32 on Friday, with a chance of snow each day.
So the question here is simple: What's your plan? Are you gathering around for Thanksgiving in Pullman? Getting together with friends in the deserted oasis that is Pullman for turkey and a pre-Apple Cup celebration? Or are you driving over Friday morning and basically just punting sleep? Or, finally, are you a bad sports town that'll skip the game?
Leave your plan of attack in the comments.