It was Senior Day at Welsh-Ryan Arena Saturday afternoon as Northwestern recognized seniors Craig Moore, Sterling Williams, Patrick Houlihan and Marlon Day. Northwestern defeated Iowa 55-49 after a sloppy first half of play.
Pre Game DiningBefore the game, we ate lunch at Buffalo Joe’s located at 812 Clark St. Although Buffalo Joe’s has three locations around Evanston, the Clark St. location is the only location that serves beer.
Obtaining TicketsI met a former colleague at Buffalo Joe’s to purchase his extra tickets to the game and paid face value. …

One sporting event attendance goal I have is to attend a Northwestern game at all of the Big Ten football and basketball venues. However, I have not made this a priority over the years. Usually other, higher priority sporting events occur the same day or weekend when Northwestern is at a Big Ten school or I am too lazy to make the drive. Each school in the Big Ten is at least at 2 hour drive away. Here are the following distances and driving times from Chicago (according to Google …

The last time I watched the Orlando Magic in Chicago (New Year’s Eve 2008); I wrote that the Magic embarrassed the Bulls. They beat the Bulls by 19 points that day. Last night the Bulls defeated the Magic 120-102 in similar fashion. It was the Bulls first win in seven games and the first win at home in six home games versus the Magic. The Bulls scored 30+ points in three quarters – almost unheard of for an NBA game these days.
Parking and Obtaining TicketsI parked in my usual parking …

Generally I would not attend a sporting event at the Sears Centre. The arena is a 32 mile, 45 minute drive from my house (without traffic). Two years ago, I used my birthday as an excuse to attend a Chicago Shamrox game (now defunct) since the stadium opened in late 2006 and I had not attended a National Lacrosse League game at the time.
Yesterday with the Tyson American Cup at the Sears Centre I decided to make the drive again. This time I made the drive because the event is …

Since the Ultimate Sports Wife is also a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University, we find ourselves on campus periodically throughout the year. One thing that has become a Sunday tradition during cold Chicago winters is to spend the day on campus. Nicole studies at the Sociology department while I attend a basketball game at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Until this season, only the women’s basketball team played on Sunday afternoons. However, with the creation of the Big Ten Network, the men are beginning to play more consistently on Sunday afternoons. Today the Northwestern …

Thursday afternoon, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I drove to South Bend, IN to attend my first basketball game at the University of Notre Dame.
Pre Game DiningWe arrived in South Bend and were disappointed with the restaurant selection until we got to downtown which had much better options. We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings which is the Ultimate Sports Wife’s preferred dining restaurant in suburban towns.
Obtaining TicketsParking was free for the game. We did not see any scalpers or fans with extra tickets as we approached the arena. Thus, I …

A few years ago, I started using my birthday to attend random sporting events that Nicole would never attend if it was not my birthday. In 2004 we attended the Gary Steelheads of the CBA, in 2005 we attended the Chicago Storm of the MISL and in 2007 we attended the Chicago Shamrox of the NLL.
This year was a little different in that I chose an event that was outside of Chicago and a much better event – the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team was hosting Mexico in a …

I had already purchased a $10 ticket to the Pistons at Bulls game for Tuesday night so I was still planning to attend the game even though I had flown back from Dublin, Ireland the day before. However, my plans changed a little when I found out my neighbors were also attending.
Pre Game DiningI met my neighbors at WestEnd Bar & Grill located at 1326 W. Madison St. – about a 5 block walk to the United Center. On game nights WestEnd has a $5 – 22 ounce domestic beer …

With a free day in Dublin, I wanted to attend a random Irish sporting event. Before flying to Dublin, I had researched a few events to attend.
1) Irish Indoor Athletics Championships in Belfast, Northern Ireland. My friend, Peter, was driving back to Belfast Sunday morning so I would have a ride there and would have to take the train back. However, the event started at 11 am and with a 2+ hour drive to Belfast, I highly doubted we would leave Dublin by 9 am to get to the event …

My plan for the weekend had been to fly to Dublin, Ireland from Chicago Thursday night and attend the RBS Six Nations match between France and Ireland on Saturday evening. However, those plans changed a little when my flight to Dublin was cancelled Thursday night and I was forced to fly to Dublin Friday night instead.
With an additional three hour flight delay Friday night, I arrived in Dublin at 10:30 am Saturday morning – plenty of time before the 5 pm kickoff between France and Ireland. I got through customs …