Game 1 of Doubleheader Day: KC Cougars Rained Out

My plan today was to attend both the Kane County Cougars minor league baseball game which started at noon and the Chicago Bulls playoff Game 6 at the United Center this evening.

However, it rained heavily all morning and the Cougars postponed their afternoon game. Their website stated – “Thursday's 12:00 Game Rained Out. The Cougars' April 30 game has been postponed due to rain. It will be made up as a doubleheader on Friday, 5/1, with game 1 beginning at 4:00.” Thus, instead of eating lunch at the ballpark I ate lunch in the office.

Straight Doubleheader at U.S. Cellular Field

My original sporting event plan for Tuesday was to attend the noon start between the Beloit Snappers and Kane County Cougars in Geneva, IL. However, when Monday night’s game between the Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox was postponed and rescheduled as a straight doubleheader beginning at 4:05 pm Tuesday afternoon, I changed my plans – the first doubleheader (straight or split) I have attended since September 10, 2004.

Monday night was the 35th postponed game in the 19 year history of U.S. Cellular Field making Tuesday night’s doubleheader the seventh doubleheader played between the Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox – obviously all played in Chicago.

Parking
Since I was driving from work, I had to pay to park. The White Sox are charging $23 to park in their lot this year – up from $1 last season.

Obtaining Tickets
Monday night’s game was half-price night. Thus, the official ticket exchange policy stated that fans could trade in the value of their Monday night ticket for any future game. However, it seemed as though most fans chose to trade in Monday’s tickets for Tuesday’s doubleheader. I parked in the lot as the first game was starting and realized that lines, about 100 people deep, were waiting outside each ticket window. The White Sox had not opened enough windows – obviously not expecting such a large walkup crowd.

I found a group of fans who actually had complimentary tickets for both Monday and Tuesday night’s games. They gave me tickets for Monday night’s game but I realized I would have to “trade” these tickets at the box office and was not willing to wait in line. Thus, I took the tickets and walked the other direction in search of actual Tuesday night tickets. As I was walking, the next box office had a window open with nobody waiting in line. I sprinted to the window and the window had just opened! I traded the ticket I received for a ticket to Tuesday night’s game and was on my way into the ballpark before the hundreds of people waiting at each gate.

Game 1
In the first game of the doubleheader, the White Sox managed to defeat the Mariners 2-1 with only two hits. It was the first time since June 22, 2006 that the White Sox won a game with only two hits and the first time since June 23, 2001 that the Mariners lost a game when only giving up two hits.

Game 1 was the second shortest game (in time) I have ever attended. The game lasted a total of 112 minutes. The shortest game I ever attended (109 minutes) was on June 21, 2002 when the Chicago Cubs defeated the St. Louis Cardinals by the same score 2-1. The only other game I attended that was under two hours (114 minutes) was April 6, 1994 when the San Francisco Giants hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Between Games
Since Game 1 took so little time, Game 2 started at 7:11 pm rather than starting the customary 30 minutes after Game 1. After Game 1, I decided to walk to the Gate 5 ramp to see if people were still waiting in line for tickets. There were no longer any lines (it was 90 minutes later). As I was walking across the bridge, I noticed an advertisement hanging along the railroad tracks that cross over 35th St.

The ad was for Buffalo Wings & Rings, located at 3434 S. Halsted St, which is 4 blocks west of U.S. Cellular Field. The ad stated that the restaurant has free parking and a free shuttle to the ballpark (something I have not heard of at U.S. Cellular Field) – which would save the $23 it costs to park at U.S. Cellular Field. I will probably try to restaurant when driving to future White Sox games.

Game 2
The Mariners broke out their bats in Game 2 as they defeated the White Sox 9-1. Russell Branyan went 5-5 and Yunieky Betancourt drove in 5 runs as the temperature seemed to decrease over the remaining innings.

Bundesliga: Arminia Bielefeld at Borussia Mönchengladbach

We went back to Dusseldorf’s Altstadt area before taking the train to Mönchengladbach for our third and final soccer match. While in Altstadt we saw Arminia Bielefeld fans wandering the area. Since Mönchengladbach is not mentioned in the guide books it probably makes sense to stay in Dusseldorf if planning to attend a Borussia Mönchengladbach match.

My brother, being tired of German food and multiple sausages, decided we should eat at the Italian restaurant across the way from Uerige – Ristorante La Grappa. While eating lunch, we considered the idea of attending the Dusseldorf Giants basketball game in Germany’s top basketball division. However, we decided it would be better to attend the soccer match in Monchengladbach.

The train to Mönchengladbach took about 30 minutes from Dusseldorf. When we arrived at the Mönchengladbach train station, we followed the crowd to the square just outside the train station where the fans walked to their favorite pub. We ended up at the Humboldt-Schanke pub which was full of Borussia supporters.

After awhile, we decided to take the bus to the stadium since we still needed to purchase tickets to the match (before flying to Germany, I realized the match would not be sold out which would give us the option of not attending if we chose to do so). The bus to the stadium took about 15 – 20 minutes.

Obtaining Tickets
There were some extra tickets being sold by scalpers outside the stadium. However, their prices were high and rather than negotiating with a German in poor English we chose to buy tickets from the box office for 35 Euros each. All tickets cheaper than that were already sold out with the exception of tickets in the visiting team’s section – Arminia Bielefeld. Tickets in their section were 13 Euros to stand or 25 Euros to sit. We decided it would be safer to sit in the Borussia section.

The Game
Just as was the case with LTU Arena in Dusseldorf, we needed to pay an extra Euro for our cups at Borussia Park.

Mönchengladbach took an early 1-0 in the 12th minute of play, but Bielefeld equalized in the 32nd minute. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Post Game
After the game we took the train back to Dusseldorf and ended up at Uerige for the second night in a row.

Bundesliga: Karlsruher SC at Bayer Leverkusen

We woke up early Saturday morning in order to take the train from Heidelberg to Dusseldorf. Bayer Leverkusen was playing in Dusseldorf for the second half of the season because they were re-building their stadium in Leverkusen. We had chosen to attend the Bayer Leverkusen match rather than the Borussia Dortmund match for several reasons:

1) Borussia Dortmund was sold out and Bayer Leverkusen was not.
2) Dortmund was further away than staying in Dusseldorf.
3) We had a friends and family certificate to stay at Marriott hotels. Dusseldorf has a Renaissance Hotel while Dortmund has none.

Obtaining Tickets
I called Leverkusen to purchase tickets before flying to Germany. When I tried to purchase the tickets, the ticket office told me they had reserved 2 tickets for me and that I would pay for the tickets when I picked them up at the stadium. However, when we picked up the tickets, they said we did not owe anything. I am not sure where the confusion was, but we ended up receiving free tickets.

LTU Arena and the Game
We did not find any restaurants or pubs around LTU Arena. It was basically a stadium on the outskirts of town. Once again, we could purchase beer in the stadium and drink at our seats. However, LTU Arena charged one Euro for each cup. Fans needed to return their cup in order to receive the Euro back.

Karlsruher defeated Bayer Leverkusen on a goal in the 72nd minute by Sebastian Langkamp.

Post Game Dining
After the game we took the subway back to Dusseldorf’s Altstadt (“Old Town”). We walked into the main part of the area and found an outdoor beer garden – Uerige. Uerige has been brewing beer since 1862. Servers walk by each table with about 20 beers on their tray. When the pass you ask for the number of beers you want and pay the server – quick and easy. No trip to Dusseldorf is complete without a stop at Uerige.

After a few beers, we decided to eat a German dinner at Alstadt Restaurant – a short walk from Uerige. We did not find many actual German restaurants in the area which is why we chose the restaurant we did.

Bundesliga: Hertha BSC at 1899 Hoffenheim

After spending the first day in Frankfurt, we took the train from Frankfurt to Heidelburg on Friday morning with the plan to attend the Bundesliga match between Hertha Berlin and 1899 Hoffenheim.

Any trip to Heidelberg should include a tour of the Old Town, Heidelberg Castle and the University of Heidelberg (the home of Sociology). We spent Friday afternoon touring the city after the Marriott would not allow us to check in early.

Obtaining Tickets
While still in Chicago, I did research on how to purchase tickets for the Bundesliga matches we planned to attend. I discovered that the match in Hoffenheim sold out in 90 minutes and that tickets were selling for two to three times face value on eBay. Rather than try to scalp tickets in German, I chose to take the guarantee and bought two tickets for 129 Euros from eBay Germany (I used babelfish.yahoo.com to translate the listing).

Train
We knew it would take about 30 to 45 minutes on the train to Hoffenheim. We bought a train ticket at the Heidelberg train station. To our dismay, we found out from the conductor that our tickets to the match acted as our train ticket as well. Oh well. At least we did not buy a round trip ticket.

The conductor also informed us that we needed to take the train to Sinsheim (not Hoffenheim) and that we would take a bus to Rhein-Neckar-Arena which hosted its first Bundesliga match only three months earlier on January 31, 2009.

Pre Game Dining
We arrived at the Sinsheim train station around 6 pm. Rather than hop on the shuttle right away we went to the Zum Bahnhof pub located right across from the train station. We sat inside the pub as we watched the 1899 Hoffenheim supporters sing outside.

We took the bus as the 7 pm train arrived. After the bus dropped us off, we stopped at a temporary concession stand that served beer and sausage. After eating we headed to the stadium.

I did not see anyone obvious selling tickets to the match, so it appeared my decision to buy tickets from eBay before flying over was a good one.

Concessions
To my surprise, you could buy beer inside the stadium and sit in your seat while drinking the beer. In England you can buy beer but have to drink it in the concourse. European countries all seem to have their own rules. Beer inside the stadium cost 3.10 Euro.

In order to purchase anything from the concession stand, you had to put money on a “concessions card.” Then you could purchase items from the concessions stand with the card only – no cash. This was similar to when my brother and I attended an NFL Europa game at Amsterdam ArenA.

The Game
Hertha defeated 1899 1-0 on a goal by Patrick Ebert in the 40th minute.

Post Game
Instead of taking the bus back to the train station, we followed the crowd and walked back. The walk took about 10-15 minutes. We were one of the last few to get on the train as we headed back to Heidelberg.

International Weekend Trip

Back in late March, my brother (who lives in San Francisco) and I decided we should take a weekend trip somewhere. At the time, airfares to fly overseas were pretty inexpensive and we narrowed our list down to three choices: 1) Australia, 2) Tokyo, or 3) Germany

We determined that Australia was too far to fly for a long weekend, even though round trip airfares to Melbourne were only $700 from San Francisco and $850 from Chicago – unheard of low fares.

Tokyo was similarly priced to Australia but not nearly as far. We almost chose Tokyo until we found a $440 roundtrip airfare from Chicago to Frankfurt and only $470 from San Francisco to Frankfurt. With those fares costing about half as much, Germany was the winner.

The Sporting Events
Before booking the trip to Germany, I already knew of sporting events we would attend no matter the location. With Germany, the plan was to attend three Bundesliga matches within a reasonable distance of Frankfurt – one Friday night, one Saturday afternoon and one Sunday evening.

Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs

Tuesday night was the Chicago Cubs first night game of the season. With temperatures below 40 degrees and rain most of the day, the announced crowd of 38,403 only appeared to be half full (with the exception of the bleachers which always appears full).

At the game, I met Zach Hample who, according to his blog snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com, has snagged 3,882 baseballs after Tuesday night’s affair. I met Zach through my friend, Kelly McMahon, who went on Zach’s “Watch With Zach” training at the end of the 2007 season.

MLB Promotional Giveaways
Tonight’s giveaway was Carlos Zambrano’s “no-hitter statue,” even though I did not get to the game on time to receive one. According to Kelly, the statue would sell for $60 on ebay.com.

The Game
The Cubs defeated the Cincinnati Reds 7-2. Rich Harden, who gave up 2 runs on 3 hits in 6 innings, decided to forego his jacket while running the bases despite the cold weather.

A cat ran on the field during the fourth inning of the game. The cat appeared to be grabbed violently by the security guard, but hopefully all is well. We do not want a repeat of the events that occurred after the black cat crossed Ron Santo’s path at Shea Stadium in 1969.

Sunday Night Baseball: Cardinals at Cubs (Postponed)

For the first time since Friday, April 22, 2005, I was planning to attend a Major League Baseball game that ended up being postponed. Last night’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs was postponed two hours before the scheduled first pitch since it had rained steadily all day Sunday.

Rain Delay Rules
Since the Ultimate Sports Wife and I live so close to Wrigley Field we have one rule we live by – when it is raining, we do not leave our house until the first pitch is thrown. Once the first pitch is thrown, umpires will generally let games play on in a heavy rain. However, by entering the park before the game starts, fans may be susceptible to lengthy rain delays with no option to return to the park if they decide to leave during the delay.

MLB Postponed Game Notes
I have now attended 11 postponed MLB games. Nine of those games have come at Wrigley Field while the other two were at Pittsburgh (1996) and Oakland (1994).

I have attended three postponed games between the Cubs and Cardinals. The first postponed game occurred after Darryl Kyle passed away in his hotel room on June 22, 2002. In the second postponed game, the Cubs and Cardinals played four wild innings in torrential downpours on Mother’s Day (May 11, 2003). St. Louis led Chicago 11-9 when Eli Marrero suffered a severe right ankle sprain. Even though the rains did not let up the umpires called the game after the injury.

NHL Playoffs: Flames at Blackhawks Game 2

Sometimes it is hard to determine which sporting event to attend in any given day. The Ultimate Sports Wife, who is also a synchronized figure skating coach, had scheduled her team to compete in the National Synchronized Ice Skating Competition in Orland Park. With the Chicago Cubs scheduled to play the St. Louis Cardinals at 2:40 pm Saturday afternoon, I was hoping her team would compete Saturday morning – giving me time to drive back to Wrigley Field in time for the game. As luck would have it, her team was scheduled to compete at 4:32 pm – right in the middle of the Cubs game. Since I had promised Nicole I would attend, the Cubs game was out.

However, since Orland Park was directly south of Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL, I thought I was clever enough to plan to attend the Chicago Fire game Saturday night after the skating event. That, of course, was before the Chicago Blackhawks were scheduled to play in Game 2 of their first round playoff series versus the Calgary Flames. Nicole, who was exhausted after her day of skating, dropped me off at the United Center at 7 pm – plenty of time to buy a ticket for the 8 pm start.

Obtaining Tickets
I did not have a ticket before arriving at the United Center since I was unsure whether I was attending the Chicago Fire game or not. Before Game 1 of the series, tickets had been available in the upper deck for $50 each (face value). I thought this price was too high and that I could get a better price outside the stadium. However, with the Blackhawks OT win on Thursday night, Game 2 ticket prices increased and were hovering slightly above face value for Game 2 on craigslist.org.

After one trip walking around the United Center, I quickly realized there were no extra tickets available and that most fans were looking for tickets rather than trying to sell their extras. Finally, outside of Gate 2, I found a fan that had an extra ticket. He had supposedly paid $160 each for four tickets. I noticed that face value for his ticket was $95, so I offered him $100 – a fair offer given the fact I had not found an extra ticket outside of the arena but knew tickets were not selling for much more than face value. He accepted the offer.

Ticket Buying Tip: When there appears to be a lack of extra tickets outside of the arena or stadium, be sure to ask as many people as possible if they have extra tickets. You will be surprised how many people you would never think have extra tickets actually do.

The Game
For the first time since 1995, I sat in the Club Level of the United Center. The Blackhawks came back from a 2-0 1st period deficit by scoring 3 unanswered goals in the 2nd period. The Blackhawks won the game 3-2.

Before the game, Mike Ditka dropped the ceremonial “first” puck. As Chris Williams of the Chicago Bears did Thursday night during Game 1, Ryan Dempster of the Chicago Cubs participated in the Blackhawks promotional puck shooting contest between the 2nd and 3rd periods.

Post Game
After the game, I met “Blackhawks Jim” and his wife Maureen at CrossRoads – the same place we ate dinner before Game 1.

St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs

Friday afternoon Cubs games are a rite of passage during Chicago summers. Fans can get an early start to their weekend by heading to Wrigley Field by 1:20 pm on a Friday afternoon. I was debating on whether I should attend Friday’s game until my friend texted me that he was taking the day off and wanted to hang out. I guess he sent this message to a few of his friends and almost all of them responded with “Want to go the Cubs game?” He accepted their free ticket and texted me that I should meet him at the Cubs game. With the temperature expected to be in the 70’s, how could I say no to that?

Obtaining Tickets
What most people do not understand is that it is very easy to buy Cubs tickets from scalpers during April and May games. The weather is too risky for most fans and kids are still in school. Thus, if you want to attend a Cubs game for much less than summer games and do not mind the risk of cold weather, then head to Wrigley Field early in the season. I bought a 200-level seat for $10. I believe it was an extra ticket that was originally purchased by a group since the face value printed on the ticket was $14 (and that seat normally sells for $28 individually).

The Game
Alfonso Soriano came through with a two-run homer in the bottom of the 8th inning to give the Cubs an 8-7 lead. Carlos Marmol was shaky to start the top of the 9th inning – walking Colby Rasmus and hitting Albert Pujols. However, he followed that up by striking out Ryan Ludwick and got Khalil Greene to ground out into a game-ending double play.

Post Game
After the game we headed to Wrigleyville North – our regular bar when people want to go out before or after the game. I will always say $10 pitchers of beer in an open bar beats a $6 can in a crowded bar any day.

NHL Playoffs: Flames at Blackhawks Game 1

Last night was the Chicago Blackhawks first playoff game in seven years and their second playoff series since 1997.

Obtaining Tickets
For the third time this season, my “first cousin once removed,” who at this point we will call “Blackhawks Jim,” invited me to the game with his friend’s season tickets.

Pre Game Dining
The plan was to meet “Blackhawks Jim” and his wife and daughter at our usual pre-game meeting place – The Beer Bistro, which has $5 martinis and ½ priced appetizers on Thursday nights. However, the Beer Bistro was too crowded and did not have a place to sit. Thus, we crossed the street to The CrossRoads Bar & Grill (located at 1120 W. Madison St.) – a new establishment this season.

Crossroads has a “home cooking” menu. I had the Thanksgiving Turkey sandwich with Celery Stuffing. Other interesting items on the menu include deviled eggs and hush puppies. On Thursday nights, CrossRoads has a $5 glass of wine special.

The Game
On April 19, 1996, I also saw the Blackhawks host the Calgary Flames in a playoff game. Last night, with every fan receiving a red playoff towel upon entering the United Center, the Blackhawks defeated the Flames in the third quickest overtime period in NHL playoff history. Twelve seconds into OT, Martin Havlat scored the game winner. The NHL record is nine seconds set by Brian Skrudland for Montreal on May 18, 1996. J.P. Parise of the N.Y. Islanders scored at 11 seconds of OT in 1975 and Pit Martin of Chicago also scored at 12 seconds in 1972.

During the 17 minute intermission between regulation and overtime, “Blackhawks Jim” and I discovered you could purchase drinks from the Ketel One Club even though alcohol sales are cut off in the rest of the United Center. We figured we would have awhile before a goal would be score. Oh well!

Chicago Bears newly acquired QB, Jay Cutler, dropped the ceremonial “first” puck, while Bears offensive tackle Chris Williams participated in the Blackhawks shoot-the-puck contest between the 2nd and 3rd periods. Also in attendance, were Bears Earl Bennett, Caleb Hanie and Israel Idonije.

Doubleheader Day Part 2: Raptors at Bulls

In the second game of the day, I saw the Toronto Raptors play for the first time in five years as they dominated the Bulls throughout the game to win 109-98. The Bulls loss combined with the 76ers win in Cleveland knocked the Bulls to the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference on the final day of the regular season.

Chris Bosh, who had 19 total rebounds on the night, grabbed his 4,000th career rebound during the game. The Bulls final record (for games in which I was in attendance) was 11-5 on the season.

Doubleheader Day Part 1: Rockies at Cubs

The day started out with a matinee at Wrigley Field between the Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs.

Pre Game Dining
While walking in the area Wednesday morning, I discovered that Cozy noodles & rice had a 2-for-1 entrée game day special by showing your Cubs ticket. One problem with Wrigleyville is that it is hard to find a sit down restaurant that is not over crowded. However, Cozy noodles & rice (located at 3456 N. Sheffield Ave.) is rarely full and two can eat for the price of two hot dogs in Wrigley Field with their current game day special.

The Game
Every player in the game wore the number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson day and Michael J. Fox sang the 7th inning stretch. The Rockies defeated the Cubs 5-2 in Cubs’ starter Rich Harden’s shortest start since July 7, 2007. Harden only pitched three innings after striking out the first four batters he faced.

MiLB: Burlington Bees at Kane County Cougars

Last year at this time I was unstaffed at my new consulting company which is located in Oak Brook, IL. Usually, while unstaffed, I look to see what MLB weekday afternoon games are taking place. Everybody knows the Chicago Cubs play the most weekday afternoon games throughout the season in Major League Baseball and to a much lesser extent the Chicago White Sox play some weekday afternoon games as well.

However, what I believe is a little known fact is that the Kane County Cougars (the Class A minor league affiliate for the Oakland Athletics) play a handful of weekday afternoon games during the month of April because the weather is usually too cold to play at night. For example, this season the Cougars are playing six weekday afternoon games during April and two for the rest of the season.

Tuesday afternoon I decided to attend the Kane County Cougars game over my lunch break (a longer lunch break than normal). The drive to Elfstrom Stadium is about 25 minutes from the office.

Obtaining Tickets
Tickets for the game were either $10 or $12. Since there is no bad seat, I chose the $10 ticket.

The Game
It was obviously school field trip day when I got into the stadium. Kids were running around everywhere and the stadium was full of school groups. Without the kids, there were probably only a few dozen fans in attendance. The Burlington Bees defeated the Cougars 3-2 in a game that lasted 2:41.

Cubs Home Opener: Rockies at Cubs

For the second year in a row, I watched the Chicago Cubs home opener from the bleachers. And for the second year in a row, the home opener was delayed by rain. This year the start of the game was delayed for 1 hour and 12 minutes. Last year the start of the game was delayed for 41 minutes (and again for 49 minutes in the bottom of the 3rd). Next year, I am going back to my regular seats in the upper deck which should at least keep the rain away – although the sub 40 degree temperatures will probably always be around.

Obtaining Tickets
Our friends from Evanston invited Nicole and I to the game with the bleacher seats they purchased on the day Cubs individual tickets went on sale. Bleacher seats ($60 each) are twice as much as my upper deck season tickets ($28 each).

Pre Game in Wrigleyville
We started out going to Yak-zies because our friends chose the location. Since Yak-zies was over crowded and charged $6 per beer we suggested going to our usual pre or post game hang out, Wrigleyville North, which only charges $10 for a pitcher. While we were at Wrigleyville North, we realized the game was going to be delayed for at least 45 minutes. We decided to meet another one of our other friends at Gingerman Tavern which was only charging $3 for PBRs.

MLB Rain Delay Rules
I have always heard that a major league baseball game will not start a game in rain. I have attended many games that would not start even though if the game had already started, play would have continued. However, today in a steady rain, the Cubs decided to start the game and play throughout a steady mist. While I am not sure what MLB’s official rain policy is, today’s game went against what has been decided in the past. I am sure it has somewhat to do with the fact this was one of the Cubs platinum games.

The Game
For the 5th time in the 786 regular season games I have attended, I witnessed a team being one hit. Ted Lilly, who took a no-hitter into the 7th inning, gave up one-hit to the Colorado Rockies and the Cubs relievers continued the one-hitter. The other one-hitters I have attended are:

1) June 21, 1994: Kansas City (Combined) at Oakland
2) August 5, 1995: Los Angeles (Hideo Nomo) at San Francisco
3) April 26, 2002: Los Angeles (Odalis Perez) at Chicago
4) May 18, 2004: San Francisco (Jason Schmidt) at Chicago

Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox

I attended my first Major League Baseball game of the season on Saturday. The White Sox defeated the Twins 8-0 as Bartolo Colon pitched 6 shutout innings.

Obtaining Tickets
I bought a $34 face value ticket for $10. However, the price for my ticket would have been $38 from the box office. The White Sox discount their ticket prices for season ticket holders.

NBA: Philadelphia 76ers at Chicago Bulls

Almost three years ago to the day (April 8, 2006) I saw the Philadelphia 76ers play at the United Center. That was the last time I saw the 76ers play.

Obtaining Tickets and Parking
Thursday night I already had my $10 ticket from the tickets I bought at the start of the season. Usually I park in the Red Top Parking lot on the corner of Madison St. and Ashland Ave. However, since I was driving from Oak Brook, IL, and not my house, I decided to park for free at the 2200 block of Warren Blvd.

The Game
The Bulls wore green jerseys for NBA green week and defeated the 76ers 113-99 after going on a 20-6 run in the third quarter to put the game away.

NBA: New York Knicks at Chicago Bulls

Last night, after passing my PMP certification exam, I attended the Chicago Bulls game. Once again, I had purchased the ticket at the start of the season for $10. Since I took my exam in downtown Chicago I had wanted to eat dinner in the West Loop before the game. However, I decided to go home and relax after the test and drove directly to the United Center for the start of the Bulls game.

The Game
The Bulls defeated the Knicks 110-103. In the first half, the Bulls showed a video tribute to Michael Jordan who was inducted to the Hall of Fame on Monday. They also showed a video tribute to Jerry Sloan.

NBA Entertainment
Roberto the Magnificent performed at halftime and the Bucket Boys performed between the 3rd and 4th quarters. What I had not realized before is that the Bucket Boys are actually sponsored by the Illinois Lottery.

Chicago Fire Home Opener

I generally do not attend many Chicago Fire games during the season. Their games are usually scheduled on Saturday nights or Sunday afternoons. Saturday nights are normally off limits for sporting events and since I live right by Wrigley Field, Sunday afternoon games sometimes compete with a Sunday afternoon Cubs game. However, today the Fire was home on a Sunday afternoon and the MLB season had not yet started.

Pre Game Dining
I invited my friend, FOXSoccer.com columnist Jamie Trecker, to the match. We met Sunday morning at Purgatory Pizza – a relatively new pizza place in Wrigleyville. A couple of months ago, I read in the RedEye (a free edition of the Chicago Tribune) that Purgatory Pizza had an all you can eat and drink Sunday hip-hop brunch. The brunch was amazing! In my opinion, all you can eat pizza and beer for $13 (upgrade to liquor aka Bloody Mary or Screwdriver for $6) is a great brunch.

Obtaining Tickets
We arrived at Toyota Park and parked in the media lot with Jamie’s national MLS credential. Since Jamie had a national credential, I was able to receive a day-of-game credential for the game.

The Game
The Chicago Fire defeated the New York Red Bulls 1-0 on a fluke goal when Wilman Conde played a long ball that was held in the air because of the severe winds. The ball dropped to the field, as Marco Pappa shot the ball from eight yards outside of the penalty box, which hit the left goal post, rolled along the goal line and happened to cross the goal line before hitting the right post.

At halftime, Jamie and I decided to sit in the press box for the second half since the weather was 37 degrees and raining – which probably kept many people from attending the match. The home opener attendance was announced at only 11,633.

Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Racecourse

For the first time I attended the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Racecourse. I chose this event rather than attend the Chicago Bulls game which tipped off Saturday afternoon at 1 pm. The reasons I chose to attend the Illinois Derby were:

1) I had never attended the Illinois Derby which is a prep race for the Kentucky Derby.
2) I had never attended an event at Hawthorne Racecourse.

Obtaining Tickets and Parking
Parking at Hawthorne is free unless you want to park close to the entrance. Entrance to Hawthorne Racecourse is only $3. Most people had cutout an advertisement from either the Chicago Tribune or Chicago Sun-Times which gave people free entrance to the race.

The Event
I arrived at the track just before Race 2. The race started as I was walking through the parking lot so I stopped and watched the race from the parking lot. After the race, two guys hopped the fence rather than pay through the turnstile.

Race 7 was the Illinois Derby. I bet on Muscat Man to win and Giant Oak to show before the race. Muscat Man did win and Giant Oak placed so I won both of my bets. With the win, Muscat Man qualified for the Kentucky Derby with his fifth win in six starts.

Hawthorne Racecourse
After attending five racing days this past summer at Arlington Park, I expected Hawthorne Racecourse to have a similar feel. However, Hawthorne is much more run down than Arlington Park. Most of the seats are indoors since Hawthorne races during the fall (October, November, December and early January) and the spring (March and April) – cold weather months in Chicago where most people would not attend the event if they had to sit outside.

NHL: St. Louis Blues at Chicago Blackhawks

I had not planned to attend the Chicago Blackhawks game on Wednesday night, but my cousin (who I have either attended with or met at the Beer Bistro the last four Blackhawks games I have attended) invited me on Tuesday night.

Rather than go to the Beer Bistro or Billy Goat Tavern before the game, my cousin had promised his kids he would pick up the Jonathan Toews bobblehead promotional giveaway. So we parked in the official United Center parking lot for $21 and walked into the United Center at 6:30 pm (one hour before the game).

Since I had not researched what the giveaway was before the game, I surprised to receive a Glenn Hall commemorative pin when we walked into the United Center – it was Glenn Hall night. Although we did not get the giveaway we thought we would, as we walked into the concourse we realized the Chevy booth was giving away the Toews bobblehead doll as long as you gave them your name, address and phone number. I signed up and received the last bobblehead they had available.

After receiving our bobbleheads, we ate dinner at the Budweiser Select Brew Pub and Carvery which has carved roast beef or turkey sandwiches.

The Game
Before the game the Blackhawks held a ceremony for Glenn Hall. However, Hall was unable to attend due to family obligations so I’m not sure what the point of the ceremony was. The Blackhawks defeated the Blues 3-1. Nikolai Khabibulin lost his bid for a shutout when St. Louis scored a power-play goal with 1.5 seconds left in the game.

At one point during the game, my cousin and I were shown on the scoreboard while they showed fans in the stands. My friend, Mike Holzman, who was also at the game, saw us on the scoreboard and came over to our seats – nothing like the video board to bring two friends together.