The Ultimate Sports Wife and I woke up early Saturday morning in Paris. Our friend, British Mick, who lives in London, is a big Sheffield Wednesday supporter. So with Wednesday playing Saturday afternoon at Hillsborough in Sheffield, we had a big day ahead of us:
1) Take the 8:07 am Eurostar train from Paris to London.2) British Mick and, his wife, Caroline was planning to pick us up from London St. Pancras when the train arrived in London a little before 10 am.3) We were driving directly from St. Pancras for …

Ten years and five months ago, my friend, Tom Fry and I stood outside the Parc de Princes Stadium in Paris trying to buy a ticket to the World Cup group stage match between Uruguay and Brazil. It was one of only a handful of games in which I tried to attend but could not get into the stadium. Although tickets were available, scalpers wanted around $400 for the match, which we thought was too expensive. Instead we watched the match with some Argentineans a few blocks …

In the first Champions League match I have attended since 2001, Arsenal defeated Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 on a late goal by Nicklas Bendtner. Once again, I attended the match with “Hospitality Jim” who started to think I was an Arsenal jinx since Arsenal had played 177 minutes without scoring a goal with me in attendance. Instead, with a free kick from beyond the mid field line, Cesc Fabregas launched a pass to Nicklas Bendtner who put the ball in the net for the only goal of the game.
Pre and Post …

This may have been the most intense sporting event I have ever attended. That is saying a lot after attending about 1900 sporting events. Since the hotel receptionist was correct that Saturday night’s soccer match would not be sold out, I was nervous he was correct that Sunday night’s basketball match would be. Once again, Nicole needed to work on her scholarship application. However, since she was instrumental in ticket negotiations at the Olympiacos match a week prior, I was nervous that I would be on my own for this …

After having to buy tickets on the secondary ticket market to Olympiacos I was a little nervous about attending the Panathinaikos match at Olympic Stadium Saturday night. On Friday night, I talked to the hotel receptionist about both Panathinaikos matches I wanted to attend. He stated the basketball match Sunday night would probably be sold out and that the soccer match Saturday night would not. He was right, attending the Panathinaikos was a completely different experience from the Olympiacos match Nicole and I attended last Sunday night. Of course, what …

Nicole and I arrived in Athens at 1:40 am Sunday morning after our day in London. We hopped in a cab driven by an associate of George Taxi and Limo, otherwise known as George the Famous Taxi Driver recommended by Matt Barrett. The cab took us immediately to the hotel and we were asleep by 3 am.
I had Sunday all planned. We would wake up, drink some coffee, get dressed and head to the Monastiraki Flea Market – the place to be in Athens on a Sunday. We would then …

The Ultimate Sports Wife and I landed at London’s Heathrow airport at 6:30 am. With a 13-hour layover before our 8 pm flight to Athens, Greece, I had already planned to attend the Arsenal and Aston Villa match at Emirates Stadium Saturday afternoon – kickoff was set for 3 pm.
Our friend, British Mick, had made all the plans for the day. He insisted on picking us up from Heathrow at 7:30 am (which was definitely a good decision) and drive us back to his place. From there …

For the second time in three days, I witnessed an undefeated team defeat a Chicago team. First was the Titans defeated the Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday and second was the Atlanta Hawks defeating the Chicago Bulls 113-108 last night at the United Center to win their first 6 games of the season – their best start since the 1997-98 season.
Obtaining TicketsWhen I attended NBA Opening Night two weeks ago, I bought about a dozen games for $10 each. Since the next price point above $10 is …

I had wondered what I would do between the end of the Bears game and the 6 pm Chicago Blackhawks start. However, since we ended up in the United Club at Soldier Field I had my answer. We left the United Club around 4:45 pm and I took the red line from the Roosevelt el stop and got off at the Monroe el stop. I transferred to the #20 Madison Street bus and got off at Ashland Ave. in order to eat dinner at Billy Goat Tavern, located at 1535 …

Rather than tailgating before the Chicago Bears game on Sunday we chose to frequent the bars around Soldier Field. First up was Grace O’Malley’s pub, located at 1416 S. Michigan Ave. – a good place for Irish Breakfast before the game. However, we were not eating breakfast and the bar was over crowded. Thus, we left and went to Weather Mark Tavern less than a block further south on Michigan Ave., located at 1503 S. Michigan Ave. Not only was the Weather Mark Tavern quiet and have room to sit, …