Two Slow Weeks in Chicago = DePaul Women’s Basketball

The week or two around Super Bowl Sunday is a slow time for professional sporting events in Chicago – mainly due to the fact that Disney on Ice comes to town in late January and early February. This year they performed at Allstate Arena from January 22 through January 25 and moved to the United Center from January 27 through February 8.

With the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks out of town for two to three weeks, one must look for other sporting event options in Chicago. Other professional sporting event options include:

1) Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League - the Wolves are playing two games per week at home during this time.
2) Chicago Storm of the XSL (Xtreme Soccer League) - the Storm was not wise enough to schedule games during the professional sports down period in Chicago.
3) A couple of “professional” basketball teams from the ABA (Chicago Steam) and PBL (Chicago Throwbacks). However, these teams also did not schedule games while Disney On Ice was in town. Note: Chicago also has IBL teams but the league takes place during the summer.

The other sporting event options in Chicago are Men’s and Women’s Division I College Basketball at Northwestern, DePaul, University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola University Chicago and Chicago St.

Last night, I attended the DePaul Women’s Basketball game versus West Virginia over a few other sporting event options (mainly Northwestern Men’s basketball and the Chicago Wolves). All games started at 7 pm. There were multiple reasons why I chose DePaul. First, McGrath Arena is much closer to my house than Welsh-Ryan Arena or Allstate Arena. Second, and the main reason, the Ultimate Sports Wife was hosting her 32nd birthday party at Hidden Cove starting at 9:30 pm. The DePaul game would end before 9 pm, meaning I could watch the game, make it back to the house to pick up Nicole and still make it on time to the party. The other games would take longer which could be a risk of making the party on time – a no-no for the wife’s birthday party.

Obtaining Tickets
The worst part about attending third tier sporting events is that there is no secondary ticket market. Thus, I had to pay full price ($10) for my ticket, which is normally what I pay to attend any event in the Chicagoland area. However, if I had worn pink my ticket would have cost $5.

The Game
#25 DePaul defeated West Virginia 74-56 to win their fourth straight Big East game. Sam Quigley led DePaul with 17 points and had career-high’s with 6 assists and shooting 8-8 from the free throw line.

Note: No sporting events occur at the Staples Center in Los Angeles around Super Bowl weekend either. The arena is setting up to host the Grammy’s the Sunday following Super Bowl weekend.