NBA: Indiana Pacers at Chicago Bulls

On Saturday afternoon, the Bulls defeated the Pacers 112-106 in a game that had a couple large lead changes. At one point the Bulls trailed by 14 points and they also blew a 10 point lead in the 4th quarter.

Obtaining Tickets
The Ultimate Sports Wife and I attended the game with two other couples – a “triple date” so to speak. When attending a game with more than 4 people it is generally wise to buy tickets ahead of time since it will guarantee everyone can sit together – especially if the team is offering a discount on their tickets. The Bulls sent an email earlier in the week stating they were selling their $46 tickets to $23. I decided to buy the tickets from ticketmaster.com for a total of $30 each (after Ticketmaster fees). If the Bulls had not discounted their tickets, we would have bought tickets outside of the United Center.

Before buying the tickets from Ticketmaster, I thought we may have been able to buy tickets for less outside the United Center and sit together since their have been many empty seats in the upper deck at Bulls games. However, the work involved would not have been worth the effort. Negotiating with scalpers with five people standing around is sometimes annoying for those waiting and some people may be uncomfortable. Also, we would probably have had to buy tickets from at least two scalpers since scalpers generally do not have six tickets and may not have saved too much money in the end ($5 to $10 each).

Post Game Dining
After the game we ate lunch at Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria located at 958 W. Wrightwoord in Lincoln Park. However, there are other Lou Malnati’s locations closer to the United Center if you are looking for good Chicago pizza after the game.

NHL: San Jose Sharks at Chicago Blackhawks

On Wednesday night, I witnessed an NHL game go to a shootout for the fourth time. The San Jose Sharks, who were behind 4-1 and 5-3 during the game, came back with two goals in the final 5:07 to tie the game at 5 goals apiece – becoming the 15th NHL game I have attended where two teams combined to score more than 10 goals in the same game.

The Blackhawks made their first two shootout attempts while the Sharks missed their first two resulting in the Blackhawks OT win.

Obtaining Tickets
While walking to the United Center I bought a $15 face value ticket for $10. I had hoped to pay $5 but everyone who had a $15 ticket wanted $10.

Pre Game and Post Game Dining
Before the game, I met my cousin and his friends at the Beer Bistro – our usual pre game restaurant. After the game we went back to the Beer Bistro. I generally do not go back to the same place I went before the game but my cousin is a big fan of the Beer Bistro and since he was giving me a ride home – I did not have much say.

NBA: Detroit Pistons at Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks are home every day this week. With the Bulls home Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and the Blackhawks home Wednesday, Friday and Sunday I needed to decide which games to attend since attending all six would not be possible.

Earlier today Nicole called me to say she would be working at the ice skating rink until 8:30 pm and be home around 9 pm. Since the Bulls game started at 7 pm and I would be home no later than 10 pm, I decided tonight was a good night to go.

Obtaining Tickets
Earlier this season I bought $10 tickets for most of the Bulls games I have attended. However, tonight I had not purchased a ticket ahead of time. As usual I parked in the Red Top Parking Lot I bought coupons for at the beginning of the season, since the walk from the parking lot passes many ticket scalpers. However, I did not find a $10 ticket on the walk so I went to the box office which also did not have $10 tickets.

Instead I found a scalper willing to sell a $55 face value ticket for $10. I bought the ticket, but rather than sitting in my “ticketed” seat, I sat in the same area where I had bought my other $10 tickets.

The Game
With Derrick Rose sidelined due to injury, Kirk Hinrich led the Bulls to a 99-91 win over the Pistons. Although he did miss a free throw with 17 seconds left, keeping the Bulls from scoring 100 points – denying fans in attendance from their free Big Mac when the Bulls score 100 points or more and win.

NBA Entertainment
Every NBA game is full on non-game entertainment. One of the Bulls promotions is a tic-tac-toe game where contestants must make a layup in order to put an X or O on the board. Tonight the two contestants slammed their pieces on a square at the same time which ended up breaking the X.

Quick Change, a married couple that changes their clothing quickly, performed during halftime.

Windy City Rollers

The Windy City Rollers is Chicago’s premier all-female flat track derby league. As a figure skater, the Ultimate Sports Wife was asked to join the team a couple of years ago and always wanted to attend one of their “bouts.” However, the problem with prior seasons was that the league skated at The Stadium in Cicero – a bit of a jaunt for an evening from Wrigley Field.

This season the team moved to the UIC Pavilion (home of the Chicago Sky and UIC Flames) and began selling their tickets on ticketmaster.com. Not to mention their tickets are $20 each! These three facts made their event more attractive to attend.

On Saturday night, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I decided to attend the Windy City Rollers Bout #3 after missing the first two. In my opinion the event is relatively expensive although the crowd was pretty decent so maybe they are charging the right price. There is no discount on parking which costs $13 and the tickets are $21 from the box office window ($16 if you have a student id).

The Bout
The first bout was between Double Crossers and The Fury. The second bout was between Hell’s Belles and Manic Attackers. Roller Derby bouts are split up into two halves in which the second bout waits during the first half of the first bout and vice versa. The rules of roller derby are pretty simple. Five players from each team are on the track – one pivot, three blockers and one jammer. Jammers start 20 feet behind the pack and attempt to race through the pack to gain lead jammer status. The lead jammer then attempts to accrue points by passing blockers from the opposing team. At the end of the night, Double Crossers defeated The Fury 98-81 and Hell’s Belles defeated Manic Attackers 107-78.

Post Game Dining
We briefly considered heading to the official post-bout party at Bottom Lounge. However, the best part about attending an event at the UIC Pavilion is eating in Little Italy. Thus, we decided to eat dinner at Tufano’s Vernon Park Tap located at 1073 W. Vernon Park Pl. Tufano’s is conveniently located on the other side of UIC Pavilion’s parking lot. Thus, we walked from the arena to the restaurant and back to the parking lot after dinner.

Just over one mile from the UIC Pavilion is Greektown where we went to Dugan’s Drinking Emporium located at 128 S. Halsted St. Dugan’s actually had Saturday night drink specials which are sometimes hard to find in Chicago.

World Baseball Classic: Mexico vs. South Africa

On Monday afternoon I changed hotels from the Ramada to the Hilton Aeropuerto. Nicole arrived from Chicago on Monday evening. The Hilton is located in Terminal 1 which is an easy train ride from Terminal 2 – where Nicole was flying into. Since Nicole was not arriving until after the game started and would need to go through customs, baggage claim and make her way from Terminal 2 to the hotel in Terminal 1, I would have time to attend about half the game Monday night before meeting her for dinner.

The Game
The atmosphere on Monday night was completely different when compared to Sunday night even though Mexico played in both games. The only reason I could think of is that none of the Mexican fans expected Mexico to play Monday night. They expected Mexico to win Sunday night in order to play Cuba on Tuesday night.

On Sunday night, a band played and the crowd sang the Mexican national anthem, while the military presented the Mexican flag. On Monday night, the national anthem was played over the loud speaker and nobody in the stands sang anything. In fact, the stadium was half as full as it was Sunday night with only 10,311 in attendance.

South Africa stayed close for the first 6 innings but fell apart late losing to Mexico 14-3 (technically losing by the slaughter rule) after nine innings. Adrian Gonzalez homered twice and had 6 RBI.

Post Game Dining
After the game, I met Nicole at the hotel and we ate at the Bistro Mosaico in the airport by the Hilton.

World Baseball Classic: Australia vs. Mexico

I took a cab back from the hotel to the stadium for Sunday night’s game between Australia and Mexico. I arrived over an hour early for the game and decided to buy a Cuba hat as a souvenir. However, all of the Mexico and Cuba hats were sold at the game Sunday afternoon. I thought to myself – how could the World Baseball Classic not supply enough hats for even the fans attending the second game to purchase?

Just as I had eaten for lunch, I ate at the same taquito concession stand for dinner. The taquitos were only 10 pesos each and were hand made by the concessionaires. Regular beers in the stadium cost 30 pesos whereas the big beers I had purchased Saturday night in Pachuca cost 80 pesos.

The Game
Mexico went down in the top of 1st inning 3-0, but came back in the bottom of the 1st inning and took the lead 5-3. In a back and forth (and very long) game Australia defeated Mexico 17-7 in 8 innings. Australia’s 22 hits set a WBC record for most hits in a game.

World Baseball Classic Rules
There are three major rules that that affect World Baseball Classic games:
1) A game is terminated if one team is ahead by more than 15 runs after the 5th or 6th inning or more than 10 runs after the 7th or 8th inning.
2) No pitcher may throw more than 70 pitches during first round games.
3) Beginning with the 13th inning, teams will start the inning with a runner on first and second base.

I believe rule #1 was created for the disparities between the teams talent in the first round. However, I am sure Mexico never planned to be slaughter ruled by Australia in the first round. If anything they thought it would be the other way around.

World Baseball Classic: South Africa vs. Cuba

About one week before I left for Mexico City, I decided to stay by the Mexico City airport for one main reason: Foro Sol, the stadium where the World Baseball Classic in Mexico City was held, was only one mile from the airport. Meaning I could take a short and cheap cab back and forth to the three games I was planning to attend Sunday and Monday.

Obtaining Tickets
After the cycling event Sunday morning, I arrived at Foro Sol in time for the noon first pitch between South Africa and Cuba. There were a lot of people selling tickets outside of the stadium. When I know there are a lot of secondary market tickets, I usually like to check with the box office first to understand what they still have available.

At the box office, I asked to buy tickets to the three games I wanted to attend: 1) Sunday afternoon, 2) Sunday night, and 3) Monday night. I was informed that I only needed to buy tickets for Sunday and Monday night. Tickets for the Sunday afternoon game were free with the purchase of a ticket for the Sunday night game between Australia and Mexico. I bought bleacher seat tickets for 95 pesos each. The seats were cement similar to Arena Mexico and in the sun.

Foro Sol Stadium
Foro Sol Stadium had a similar feel to Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. As with Wrigley Field the bleacher section was separate from the rest of the stadium so I could not wander around the entire venue.

The Game
Cuba dominated South Africa 8-1. Cuba set a WBC record by hitting 6 home runs in one game. The prior record was 4 when the Dominican Republic did it against Venezuela in the 2006 WBC.

Post Game
Rather than hang out at the Festival de Beisbol in between the Sunday afternoon and Sunday night games, I chose to go back to the hotel and relax. As I stated earlier, the main reason I chose a hotel by the airport was because it was close to the ballpark.

Stage 8 of Vuelta Mexico

After reading the sports section of a Mexican newspaper on Saturday, I discovered that the Tour of Mexico’s last stage was taking place in Mexico City Sunday morning. In addition, they were riding through Mexico City’s El Centro which is where most of Mexico City’s tourist attractions are located. Since I was planning to go to the city center on Monday afternoon, I figured I should just go Sunday morning and watch the event as well. Also, with stage 8 scheduled to last around 2 hours, I would have just enough time to make it to the start of the first World Baseball Classic game which was scheduled to start at noon.

The Event
My cab driver dropped me off at the Palacio Nacional and I walked the course as the cyclists would ride by every 10 minutes or so. Rather than a typical stage in which the cyclists ride from one city to the next, this stage was a circuit where the riders complete a pre-determined number of laps. Floyd Landis was racing in his second event after completing his two year doping ban. The last time I saw Floyd Landis race was in the 2006 Tour de France where he failed his famous drug test. The event was over in one hour and 36 minutes which gave me plenty of time to get to the World Baseball Classic.

Primera División: UAG Tecos at Pachuca

To my disappointment, the Primera Division did not schedule any soccer matches for the weekend in Mexico City. Three teams could have been home (America, Cruz Azul, or Pumas UNAM), but none were. The next best option was to travel to Pachuca which is 88 kilometers from Mexico City.

On Friday night I had negotiated with the cab driver to drive me to Pachuca – about a 90 minute drive from Mexico City accounting for some traffic. Before the soccer match Saturday night, I could not figure out how to purchase tickets to Pachuca before the match. This made me a little hesitant to pay the cab 1700 pesos for the roundtrip, but I figured tickets would be available at the stadium since most Mexican soccer matches do not sell out.

Possible Pre Game Dining
One option for eating while driving to Pachuca is to stop at one of the barbacoa tents on the side of the road. Even though they have seating for 20-30 people, there is nobody in the tents and there are approximately 20-30 places to eat on the drive. The cab driver wanted to stop along the way, but I said no since the tents seemed shady and I would prefer to eat at the stadium.

Obtaining Tickets
We arrived at Estadio Miguel Hidalgo around 5:30 pm for the 7:00 pm start time. I walked up to the ticket window and bought a ticket for 100 pesos. The stadium only had general admission seats except for one section at midfield. After buying my ticket, I asked the cab driver if he also wanted to attend the match (thinking he would have to buy his own ticket) rather than wait for me outside the stadium. He informed me (in Spanish) that the ticket I purchased was actually good for 3 people and that he would like to go to the match. Since that was the case, I paid 20 pesos to park the cab in the parking lot and we both entered the stadium with the ticket I had purchased.

Estadio Miguel Hidalgo
The stadium consisted of one level with mainly general admission seating. One good thing about Mexican sporting events is that the concession prices are cheap. One 940 milliliter beer (about two 16-ounce beers) at Pachuca only cost 40 pesos (less than $3). A paste (basically a warm sandwich) cost 10 pesos and sodas cost 17 pesos.

The Match
About 20 minutes into the match I began to realize my cab driver was a Pachuca supporter. He was singing all of the Pachuca songs and cheering for Pachuca the entire time. Also, he told me his Dad grew up in Pachuca. However, he had not been to a match for a long time since moving to Mexico City so at least he had not been planning to attend the match anyway.

Pachuca defeated UAG Tecos 3-2 after scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute. Before the winning goal, I made the cab driver move to the other side of the stadium where we had parked the car in order to avoid traffic. After the winning goal, we left and discovered the Mexican parking attendants had blocked the taxi with another car in the parking lot. After about a 5 minute wait the car that was blocking us left and we were able to leave without too much traffic.

We made it back to the hotel by 10:30 pm.

Davis Cup Americas Zone Group II: Jamaica at Mexico

Since my cab driver was not a minute late Friday night, I hired him to drive me to two events Saturday. First was the Davis Cup Americas Zone Group II match between Jamaica and Mexico. I found out about the event from reading the Mexican sports newspaper Aeromexico handed out on the plane Friday.

Estadio Rafael Osuna
The event took place at Estadio Rafael Osuna which is a clay surface. The stadium is near Bosque de Chapultepec which contains some of Mexico City’s main tourist attractions.

Obtaining Tickets
I bought a ticket for 40 pesos. Since the stadium only had 8 rows in the main section I felt it made no sense to pay anymore. Rows 1-4 cost 80 pesos and rows 5-8 cost 40 pesos.

The Match
The event felt similar to most tennis matches I have attended. As with all Davis Cup matches Saturday’s event is doubles. Luis-Manual Flores and Santiago Gonzalez represented Mexico while Damar Johnson and Damion Johnson represented Jamaica. Jamaica played respectably during the first set losing 6-3. However, it appears as though Jamaica gave up after they fell down 2-0 in the second set – eventually losing the match in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.

Bosque de Chapultepec
After the match I walked around the park for 90 minutes until the cab driver picked me up.

Lucha Libre en la Ciudad de México

A few months ago, Nicole and I decided to spend a week in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Since she teaches ice skating and had a synchronized skating competition over the weekend of March 7-8, I decided to fly to Mexico City for the weekend to watch the World Baseball Classic and some other events.

Since most of the Mexican leagues do not plan very far ahead, the only event I knew was taking place in Mexico City that weekend was the first round of the World Baseball Classic. However, I knew soccer matches for the Primera Division would be scheduled for Saturday and Sunday and I had read that Lucha Libre took place on Friday nights. With that information in hand, I decided to fly to Mexico City on Friday in order to have the chance to attend multiple events in addition to the World Baseball Classic.

About a week before I was scheduled to leave, I checked ticketmaster.com.mx and www.arenamexico.com.mx to find out what events were taking place. I discovered that Lucha Libre was scheduled for Friday night at Arena Mexico. Since I decided to stay at the Ramada by the Mexico City airport I took a cab to the event. The cab cost 360 pesos for the roundtrip to the arena.

Obtaining Tickets
I arrived about an hour early for the 8:30 pm start time. Ticket prices for the event ranged from 30 pesos ($2) for the upper deck to 300 pesos ($20) for ring side seats. I bought the upper deck seats.

Arena Mexico
As I tried to enter the arena, security told me cameras were not allowed inside. I tried to convince the guards (in lousy Spanish) that I would not take any pictures but to no avail. I was forced to check it while being assured it would be at the check point after the event.

Arena Mexico, which seats 16,500, has a lower and upper deck. However, there are no seats in the upper deck – just concrete rows for fans to sit on. Rather than walk around with beer and soda, the vendors in the arena sit within the crowd and shout “cervezas y frescos” frequently. One Corona or Victoria costs 25 pesos while sodas are 15 pesos.

At first food vendors were only on the first level, so for a time I thought I should have sat there. However, the food vendors eventually came up to the upper deck. For the first time ever, I happened to negotiate with a vendor. I bought a torta which was supposed to cost 25 pesos. However, I only had a 200 peso bill or 20 pesos in coins. The vendor accepted the 20 pesos since he did not have change for the 200.

Lucha Libre
Lucha Libre is pretty similar to the WWE, but does not have as much drama – although it is highly likely I did not understand everything they were saying in Spanish. In addition, the event was much more acrobatic as wrestlers seemed to have more of a connection with their opponent in moving around the ring. At certain points I was amazed at how the wrestlers would launch off the ropes, outside of the ring, and land on their opponent while both wrestlers maintained their balance. A few times the wrestlers would land on empty seats in the front row directly next to a patron. Next time I may spring for the seats closer to the ring.

My camera was at the check point after the event just as promised and my cab was waiting for me at 10:45 pm just as I had wanted. I picked the perfect time for him to arrive as the event had just ended.

NBA: Golden State Warriors at Chicago Bulls

As has been the case with most of the Bulls games I have attended this season, I already had my $10 ticket prior to attending tonight’s Bulls game. Tonight’s game appeared to be sparsely attended even though the Bulls announced an attendance of 20,108.

The Game
Tonight was the first time I have watched the Warriors play in Chicago since February 26, 2001. Since I grew up in the San Francisco area, I used to try to attend the Warriors game each time they came to Chicago. I went to the United Center to see the Warriors in 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2001. However, I obviously fell out of that habit.

Although the Warriors opened up an early 20-6 lead, the Bulls went on a 12-2 run to cut the deficit to four points and eventually defeated the Warriors 110-88.

Halftime Show
One thing I have not commented on much this season is the halftime show during an NBA game – usually a spectacle. Tonight the Bulls had Adagio on a Unicycle – a man from Cirque du Soleil rode a unicycle while balancing a woman on top of him.

NHL: Los Angeles Kings at Chicago Blackhawks

Yesterday I received a call from my cousin – “My friend has four extra tickets, do you and Nicole want to go to the Hawks game tomorrow?” I said yes, since I already planned to go but did not have a ticket.

Pre Game Dining
We agreed to meet at our usual pre game bar – The Beer Bistro. On Sundays they have 25 cent wings. In addition, we ordered our favorite Beer Bistro pizza – Pepperoni & Goat Cheese. After eating we took the Beer Bistro’s free shuttle to the United Center.

The Game
The Blackhawks defeated the Kings 4-2 after taking a 3-1 lead early in the first period. Blackhawks’ goalie Antti Niemi made 22 saves in his first NHL start. The Blackhawks scored a goal with 43 seconds left in the third period which meant everyone in the crowd received a free Big Mac from McDonald’s. The promotion states that if the Blackhawks score a goal in the last minute of any period or overtime everyone with a coupon handed out before the game receives a free Big Mac.

This was not the first time I have seen the Kings at the United Center, but I have seen the Kings play in seven different stadiums on the road (nine arenas total if you include the Great Western Forum and Staples Center). I have also seen the Red Wings in seven different venues as the visiting team.