As always, in this blog, I write about how I begged, bought, received for free or used my season ticket to gain entry into a game. Some of these experiences are lucky, some are random, some are typical and some plain boring – however, whenever I receive a free ticket or buy a $100 ticket for $20, most people do not believe it.
Last night was one of the random experiences. For this Blackhawks season, I have adopted the general rule that I would rather spend $25 on a …

It was a relatively warm Sunday in Chicago and the Chicago Blackhawks were playing in their earliest game I can ever remember – the puck dropped at 11:30 am. 2.5 hours earlier than their usual 2:00 pm March Sunday afternoon start time.
The early start time must have affected the goalies as the Red Wings gave up four goals and the Blackhawks gave up five goals in the second period alone. Crostobal Huet, who started the game, was replaced by Antti Niemi, after the Red Wings scored their fourth goal within …

For some, attending a Chicago Bulls game on a cold winter night can be considered, well, boring. However, tonight the Bulls (or I should say the Grizzlies and the fans) added some entertainment that was unexpected.
First, during the first timeout of the first quarter, hypnotist Tom Silver, ran onto the court and announced he was looking for volunteers for the halftime show. He selected 40+ people randomly and they went into a back room to be further “evaluated.” It seemed that anyone who was within the first couple of rows …

According to the Chicago Tribune, Northwestern, Illinois and the Chicago Cubs have cleared many of the hurdles to play their November 20, 2010 contest at Wrigley Field. The last football game played at Wrigley Field was on December 13, 1970 when the Chicago Bears hosted the Green Bay Packers.
This is an excellent opportunity for everyone involved – most importantly the fans. First, fans will have the opportunity to attend a football game at Wrigley Field for the first in 40 years. Second, similar to the Winter …

The Bulls and many other teams would have you believe that their group rates are the way to save money. As I prepared to go to the game tonight on a cheap, pre-bought $10 ticket, I could not help but think at how people are duped into shelling out money for sports tickets regardless of how much teams ask.
Case in point, I bought a “group” ticket for $23 for Friday night’s Bulls game. Part of my evening on Friday night included chatting with the Bulls ticket manager. With the understanding …

When you go to as many sporting events as I do, you eventually get to a point where you say – “there has to be some sort of degree or diploma for all the dumb stuff I know.” Northwestern does actually have a Masters Degree in Sports Administration. Of course, I am being tongue in cheek here; it is actually a good program. But I cannot help but make fun of myself – at commencement while others were handing in Masters Theses entitled “The Photosynthetic Properties of the Midwestern Fern,” …

It was a Saturday night and I had nothing going on.  So, of course, I chose to attend the Chicago Bulls game versus the Philadelphia 76ers.
I did not have a ticket ahead of time so I planned to buy one outside of the United Center.  I was hoping to buy a ticket similar to the one I did on Tuesday night but for a cheaper price.
Parking
Once again I was able to park on Washington Blvd. in between Wood St. and Wolcott Ave. for free.  It is only a short two …

With the wife not getting home until late Tuesday night, I attended the Chicago Bulls game versus the New York Knicks.
Pre Game Dining and Parking
I parked on Washington Blvd. in between Wood St. and Wolcott Ave. for free and walked a few blocks to Billy Goat’s Tavern before the game. This one block on Washington Blvd. (two blocks directly north of the United Center) is the only block north of the arena where you can see the United Center with no parking restrictions.
Obtaining Tickets
I did not have a $10 …

It was a snowy night to attend the Chicago Blackhawks game. But I managed to make the drive from my home to the United Center in less than 30 minutes. Rather than park for free on the street as I have many times this season, I used one of the parking passes I bought last year from Red Top Parking. I parked in their lot rather than brave the snow on the city streets.
Obtaining TicketsI parked just before 7:30 pm. I expected to see more ticket scalpers walking towards the …

One reason (of many) I never buy tickets ahead of time to games I am planning to attend is because you never know if you might get invited to the same game. On Sunday Blackhawks Jim called me since he had an extra ticket to the Blackhawks game versus Anaheim. However, since I was in Ann Arbor attending the Northwestern at Michigan men’s basketball game, there was no way I could get back to Chicago in time for the 6 pm start time.
However, that bad luck probably led to good …