Snowy Night in Chicago: Stars at Blackhawks

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 Tickets
I parked just before 7:30 pm. I expected to see more ticket scalpers walking towards the United Center box office than I did – but it had snowed all day. The scalpers who were there, either looking for tickets or did not have a single. Meaning I bought a standing room only ticket for $25 from the ticket office – even though seats were available. I bought SRO because my cousin, “Blackhawks Jim,” was at the game and I was hoping to sit with them in the first level.

Standing Room Only
Since I arrived just before the game started, I immediately went to the upper deck and found a seat for the first period. “Blackhawks Jim” texted me that there was a seat in front of them so I met up with him during the first intermission. The seat was free so I sat in section 120 row 10 for the 2nd and 3rd periods.

The Game
Tonight was Tony Esposito Heritage Night. I actually attended the last Tony Esposito Night on March 19, 2008 when the Blackhawks started celebrating the hero’s of their past.

This was the fourth shootout game I have attended this season. Kris Versteeg scored in the 5th round to win the shootout 1-0 and give the Blackhawks the win 4-3. Patrick Kane scored two goals in the first period as the Stars and Blackhawks traded goals throughout the game.

Super Bowl Sunday Basketball: Indiana at Northwestern

Today I attended a sporting event on Super Bowl Sunday (that was not the Super Bowl). Northwestern scheduled their Sunday afternoon game for 1:30 pm CT, which was perfect timing in order to attend the game and still get back to wherever fans were planning to watch the Super Bowl.

The Game
Northwestern got out to an initial 13-2 lead and their lead never dipped below nine points as the Wildcats defeated Indiana convincingly 78-61. This was Northwestern’s first three-game winning streak versus Indiana since the 1930s – there are a lot of firsts for Northwestern this season.

A Day on Campus: Michigan at Northwestern

The main reason I bought Northwestern men’s basketball season tickets this year is that the Ultimate Sports Wife is a Ph.D. student at Northwestern University. We met in undergrad at Northwestern so I do have “another” reason to attend. However, with Nicole spending much of her time on campus, I realized that buying season tickets 1) gives her an incentive to go to campus to work, 2) allows me to attend the basketball games and 3) allows us to spend more time together since we are both on campus - #1 and #3 giving me good husband points.

Today was one of those days. Nicole needed to drive to campus by 2 pm for “office hours” – where she instructs her students how to perform better in class. Since Northwestern was playing at 6 pm versus Michigan, I decided to ride to campus with her and spend a few hours in the sociology department surfing the internet and working.

Parking
As usual I parked in the neighborhood near Welsh-Ryan Arena since you can park for free on the street.

The Game
The game was close through the first half, but Northwestern started to pull away with 10 minutes left in the game. That’s when Drew Crawford stepped up his game and scored all 11 of his second half points (he had 17 points total) to defeat Michigan 67-52. The win gave Northwestern their first sweep of Michigan since 1967.


During the game I ran into my fraternity pledge father and deadspin.com columnist, Benoit Denizet-Lewis. He’s writing about Northwestern’s quest for its first NCAA Tournament bid. At this point in the season, Northwestern has played their most difficult games in Big Ten play. Northwestern must now defeat the teams they are “supposed” to in order to be eligible for the bid.