One of the great traditions of post-season traveling with a University of Wisconsin sports team is selecting which bar will serve as the unofficial home base for visiting Badger fans.

Given the legendary reputation of UW fans for fun and their willingness to occasionally take a second drink, the competition can get heated.

At the 1999 Rose Bowl, a Pasadena bar called Robin 's, run by a transplanted Milwaukee guy named Robin Salzer, hung out a huge sign reading "Madison West " and imported 500 pounds of Johnsonville brats and a 150-foot inflatable cow for the veranda.

This week in Detroit, however, where the basketball Badgers will try to advance to the NCAA Final Four, there is no contest.

"We 're the official bar for Badger fans, " Chris Chelios was saying Tuesday. "It 's going to be a great weekend. "

I reached Chelios, the former UW hockey star, in St. Louis, where his Detroit Red Wings were preparing to play the St. Louis Blues Tuesday.

But both Chelios, who at 46 is threatening Gordie Howe 's record for most games played in the National Hockey League, and the Red Wings will be back in Detroit this weekend. And Chelios, who still has many friends in Madison, is delighted that his downtown Detroit sports pub, Cheli 's Chili Bar, is going to be "Madison East " for Badger fans.

Cheli 's is located just a block from Ford Field, where the Badgers will face Davidson in a Sweet 16 game Friday night. The winner will play Sunday for a trip to the Final Four.

UW associate athletic director Vince Sweeney confirmed that Cheli 's will host the Friday pre-game pep rally, which starts at 5 p.m. Eastern and will include appearances by the UW Pep Squad and the Marching Band. Sweeney noted that admission is free, but Chelios went him one better.

"Anyone with a Wisconsin I.D. will get a drink special, " Chelios said.

Bruce Meier, proprietor of the Kollege Klub and the Klubhouse at Hawks Landing in Madison, is one of Chelios ' best friends and has been in his buddy 's bar in Detroit.

"It 's outstanding, " Meier said. "A really nice place. "

Cheli 's has three floors, a full menu and 36 flat-screen TVs.

Chelios grew up in the restaurant business. "My parents are retired now, " he said, "but I worked in their places. " Gus and Sue Chelios operated a number of bars and restaurants in the Chicago area and their son worked as a bus boy, dishwasher and short-order cook.

Chelios opened his first Cheli 's Chili Bar in Dearborn in 2003, and the downtown Detroit location signed on in 2006. Chelios said that while the Red Wings have games both Friday and Sunday, he 'll be at Cheli 's when he can, before and after the games, and perhaps on Saturday. "I 'll be around, " he said.

If it had been five years ago, Badger fans could have found a familiar face running Ford Field. Remember the name Joan LeMahieu? The original director of Monona Terrace left Madison in July 2002 to become general manager of Ford Field, which opened that August. LeMahieu left the Ford Field position in 2004 but stayed in the Detroit area; today she 's president of a company that runs the celebrated Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade and other events.

Over the years, Detroit has been hospitable to and appreciate of Badger sports fans. In 1990, the NCAA men 's hockey tournament was held at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. UW fans showed up in droves. When the Badgers beat Boston College in the semi-final, a reporter noted: "If Wisconsin had lost and gone home, they would have taken all the spirit out of the tournament. " The Badgers capped it by beating Colgate for the national championship.

My friend Dan Smith, the longtime Channel 3 personality and producer, is a Detroit native and calls the city "a great sports town. " Of course he 'll be there this weekend.

In a note Tuesday, Dan wrote the following: "By the way, Bo Ryan 's favorite music is Motown. He claims to know every lyric to every Temptations and Four Tops song and said, as a kid, that he had up posters of the Temptations, the Four Tops, Mary Wells and Marvin Gaye. "

With that kind of karma, I like our chances.

Contact Doug Moe at 608-252-6446 or dmoe@madison.com.