Today was upset Sunday at the United Center. After VCU’s dismantling of Purdue there was no way I thought Florida St. would do the same thing to Notre Dame. But, Florida St. did defeating Notre Dame 71-57 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1993.
The next game between VCU and Florida St. is the first time a #11 and #10 seed have played each other in the NCAA Tournament.
Post Game Dining
By the time the game was over, Nicole was back at home and getting ready for …

To my surprise the NCAA Tournament Round 3 was not scheduled to begin until 6:10 pm. Most first Sundays for the NCAA Tournament are schedule as afternoon affairs, but today was a change to the norm which definitely worked in my favor as my babysitter could not come over until later Sunday afternoon.
Pre Game Dining
As soon as the babysitter arrived, I left the house as Nicole was still working on her dissertation on Northwestern’s campus. I went to Billy Goat Tavern for a pre-game burger and beer.
Beg, Borrow and Deal
Most …

The last game of the day was definitely the best game. VCU trounced Georgetown 74-56. VCU was the controversial entry to the NCAA Tournament but proved they belong with this blowout. This was the third year in a row that Georgetown lost to a #10 seed or higher in the first round.

As I exited the arena, I began asking for extra tickets from the Purdue fans that were lined up at the gate to enter the arena. As I asked for extra tickets one young man said he had an extra and handed me the ticket. Since he was young, I was 1) surprised he had an extra ticket and 2) that he was giving it away for free. Turns out he worked for somebody at the Chicago Board of Trade who gave him the tickets. So he to giveaway the …

The second game of the session was more exciting than the first as Florida St. defeated Texas A&M 57-50 to advance in the tournament for the first time since 1998.
The last time I attended the NCAA Tournament at the United Center was in 2002. That day, we had at least two hours in between sessions so my friend and I walked over to Cheli’s Chili Bar to hang out. However, for some reason there was no time in between sessions this year. In fact, not only was there no time, …

I had waited for this weekend for awhile. I had two days where I could get out of the house, without Dylan, for the NCAA Tournament. The first game on Friday was scheduled for 12:40 pm so I left the house as soon as I could to get down for the first game.
Beg, Borrow and Deal
I walked in front of Gate 3 and found a family who had an extra ticket. I offered $20 for the $80 face value ticket and held firm on my price point. I told them …

I had waited for this moment ever since I started at Northwestern as a freshman in the fall of 1994 – an NIT game at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The last time Northwestern hosted an NIT game was in 1994. I was a senior in high school living in San Francisco at the time. Thus, I had to attend Wednesday night’s game!
Beg, Borrow and Deal
I went with a friend so we needed to buy two tickets. I was unsure how the secondary ticket market would work for this game since tickets just …

The Ultimate Sports Baby was really sick when I got back from the Blackhawks game Wednesday night. Earlier Thursday morning the Ultimate Sports Baby was admitted to Children’s Memorial Hospital for a respiratory virus. But, the doctor’s said he just needed time to get healthy so there was not much to worry about.
Nicole and I agreed it did not make any sense for both of us to sit around the hospital for 48 hours. Nicole left Thursday afternoon to run some errands. When she got back, I went to the …

Nicole planned to take Dylan to her grandfather’s 90th birthday party in south Texas so I had a weekend home alone in Chicago. Of course, since it is Super Bowl weekend, there is only one sporting event in Chicago – Illinois at Northwestern on Saturday afternoon. This was the first game ever televised by CBS Sports at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Beg, Borrow and Deal
Since I thought I would be late after dropping the wife and baby off at Midway airport, I called Broker Ben and told him I would pay $20 for …

My friend, Todd Sermersheim, called me minutes before he was driving into my neighborhood with an extra ticket to the Northwestern basketball game. At that exact time, Nicole got home so I was free from taking care of the Ultimate Sports Baby. I got ready in five minutes and was off to Evanston. It’s a good thing that game started at 8 pm.
Michigan at Northwestern
John Shurna scored 22 points in the first half as Northwestern rolled to a 74-60 victory over Michigan.
Post Game Dining
After the game, we went to BlueStone …