Roy Beers: Scottish pubs offer the Tartan Army a fair-priced date with destiny
Unhappily it turns out November 17 is also the date when one the country's unluckiest kings, John Balliol, ascended the throne in 1292 - which isn't terribly auspicious.
It might seem risible that a nation which recently saw its team fail miserably against not particularly mighty Georgia should seriously reckon it's in with a chance against the legendary Azzurri.
However logic has very little to do with Scotland as combined with football. Living in a city which many still define by its classic rival sides, Rangers and Celtic, it's sometimes difficult to understand how people can be bothered with lesser teams like Airdrie or Stenhousemuir - which until the age of about 12 I thought was named "Stenhousemuir Nil".
But the dogged day and daily loyal support for teams which can never hope to be more than purely local heroes becomes a frenzy of tartan passion for the national side when an important international fixture is in the offing.
This, of course, is where the licensed trade bit comes in. Depending on the fickle whims of date, time, day of the week and whether satellite or terrestrial, pubs can hope to do extremely well during an otherwise sluggish autumn spell when they might normally be happy simply to tick over. If the game's on a Saturday, as with this one, larger bars can still expect to see overall increased business over the day.
Just to make sure the bars are super-busy, however, Glasgow's evening newspaper (the big game is at Glasgow's Hampden Stadium) has seen fit to print a two-page rallying call urging massive support. It heavily implies that November 17 is to be seen as an unofficial national public holiday, and wants everybody to wear Jimmy wigs and kilts.
It said: "Win or lose, we must turn Scotland's most vibrant city into a gigantic all-day party venue to celebrate the achievements of the team."
This is Glasgow at its most even-handed best - if you win, have a party; if you lose, have a party.
And it goes on to demand laser shows, firework displays and giant outdoor screens - a hoped-for orgy of bar-emptying municipal profligacy which thankfully isn't going to happen.
The same newspaper has assumed part of the function of the city licensing board too. It jovially asserts that on the day pubs "must" admit anyone wearing national colours, tartan, etc, "unless they are deemed to be drunk" - which is fair enough, perhaps, seeing as how serving drunks is against the law.
Amid all the jolly hysteria, however, there has been a solemn warning to pubs - sometimes accused of undercharging - not to overcharge.
It's not that most pub-based supporters really care about the price of a beer, because unless it patently a blatant ripoff it doesn't matter a whit whether it's £2.40, £2.55, whatever.
But drinkers are immediately on full alert at any suggestion they are being "taken advantage of" through a price specially jacked up for the occasion. They hate it, particularly if they're regulars.
Very recently Scotland's main tabloid daily reported how Stuart Ross, chief executive of Belhaven (part of Greene King) ordered an investigation when told one of his pubs, near Hampden Stadium, had bunged 25p on a pint for the duration of a big match - when the place was rammed with supporters.
He went further, reportedly promising that such a thing would only happen again "over my dead body" - and that by way of making amends he'd lay on complimentary snacks for the next major game at the same bar.
Why such a prompt, complete, and high profile response? It's because he fully understands the ordinary man in the street's iron grip on the concept of value - and particularly in a pub.
The idea of a bar appearing to be putting one over on both regulars and visitors is beyond the pale. The pubs boss couldn't have taken more decisive action if the place had been on fire. Having been seen to do the "right thing", firmly and fairly, that was the end of it.
Then last week the convenor of the city licensing board effectively warned pubs they could be breaching its price-changing strictures by hiking up prices over short periods. Evidently it's not so unusual - and on the east coast it's also been known to happen during the Edinburgh Festival.
The Glasgow board obliges you to keep the same price on a drink for 24 hours, a deft move which effectively bans cheap-drink happy hours - but which equally aims to deter you from applying a sudden sharp rise to prices.
Contrast all this acute attention on pub drinks (particularly at times when there's a big match on) with the current situation in the off trade.
Newspapers are confidently predicting the deepest discounting ever on beer in supermarkets, starting any time now.
The positive note is that for an important match like Scotland-Italy most fans, including plenty who aren't regular pubgoers, want to be in a good bar with a big screen, and a platoon or two of the Tartan Army - not at home with a carry out.
The pubs will boom because if Scotland does do the seemingly undoable this month, and miracles can happen, nobody wants to remember having watched it in a wee room with a few cans of beer.
