Hidalgo, TX - Dodge Arena

This afternoon, Nicole and I are flying to Harlingen, TX to visit her grandfather (who lives in Mission, TX). Of course, I wanted to see if any sporting events were planned for the weekend in South Texas or Northern Mexico.

San Antonio: At first, I thought to check San Antonio. However, San Antonio is a 252 mile, 4.5 hour drive north. There is not enough time for that kind of drive.

South South Texas: My first step in searching for sporting events in an area is to logon to Ticketmaster.com and search for the city I am traveling to, select “All Sports”, then select the time frame of my trip. The only sporting event that popped up was the Rio Grande Valley Dorados of Arena Football 2. They play in Hidalgo, TX at the Dodge Arena – about a 15-20 minute drive.

Next, I went to http://www.dodgearena.com/ to see if any other events were taking place at the arena. No other events are taking place this weekend, but a few other minor league teams play at the arena during the winter:

1) Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees of the CHL (Minor League Hockey)
2) Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBDL (NBA Development League)

Minor League Baseball: I also logged on to http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/ – searching for games in South Texas or the Mexican League. There are games 2 hours away in Corpus Christi, TX and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

Mexico: The Tigres de Reynosa play across the border in the Primera División 'A' Mexicana but it appears their season ended last weekend. The closest Primera División team is Monterrey who is not home this weekend and another 2 hour drive.

Other Events: There may be some other “crazy” events going on in the area. We’ll find out about those tonight or Saturday when we read the local paper.

So the plan, for now, is to attend the AF2 game on Saturday night. Of course, since Saturday is our main night to visit, the game may not come to fruition, but there is always the possibility of attending a sporting event – even in the most remote location.