What?

So, what's up with Noah getting drunk and naked in his tent? (no disrespect intended)
I have seriously never understood this part, but I think it is pretty critical to the overall story of the Bible. The descendants of Canaan (Ham's kid) play a pretty important role in the redemption story. So, I'm just throwing this out as a question and something to ponder. I realize that the nakendness part is linked to shame and that viewing his dad's nakedness was an extremely shameful thing for Ham to do, especially considering that he gossiped about it with his brothers. But, why was Noah drunk and naked in the first place?

As a side note, I realized in reading this familiar story again that Noah was 600 years old when the rain started. That means that for MANY years, he was faithful to the Lord in a terribly corrupt world. Which makes his indiscretion after the flood even more baffling to me.