Last year at this time I drove down to Indianapolis twice to see the Colts in the playoffs. This year was no exception except for the fact they were playing on Wild Card weekend rather than later in the playoffs. This worked out for my schedule since the Chicago Bears are now playing on the Divisional Playoff weekend. For this road trip, I was able to get a babysitter so I was set to drive to Indianapolis for the evening.
Pre-Game Dining
I arrived in Indianapolis early to give myself plenty of …

As is the case with most rounds of the NCAA tournament, two games are included in the purchase price of the ticket. Obviously, the second game of the day was between West Virginia and Duke which was relatively uneventful. Duke took an early lead and continued to extend the lead throughout the game. They defeated West Virginia convincingly 78-57.

Even though we did not take advantage of it, fans should consider buying tickets in the upper deck at the Final Four and then sneak into the fans section of the teams …

One perk of having tickets before you arrive in Indianapolis is that you do not have to deal with scalping tickets before the event. Instead you can just figure out the other joys of attending a sporting event – parking and where to eat before or after the game.
Parking
When we arrived in Indianapolis, we drove straight to the parking lot that cost $3 before the Colts divisional playoff game versus the Ravens and the Big Ten Tournament. Today it was $10, but the parking lot across the street was only …

On Friday night I wrote that I would wait to buy tickets to the Final Four semifinals until you are outside of Lucas Oil Stadium. Some people might be nervous about this strategy given 1) you are traveling to Indianapolis without the 100% guarantee of already having tickets in hand and 2) buying tickets from StubHub or a ticket broker guarantees you the tickets are legit.
This morning I almost bought tickets to the Final Four before driving down to Indianapolis. The cheapest tickets for last night’s games have hovered around …

Are you planning to buy tickets for the Final Four tomorrow in Indianapolis? Currently ticket prices are higher than I expected – especially for the semifinals tomorrow night. There are two ways to buy tickets to the Final Four through the primary market. First, you can buy tickets through the lottery the NCAA holds one year in advance. Second, you can buy tickets from a school. However, both methods require fans to buy “the strip” which includes one ticket to Saturday night’s semifinal games and …

The best part about March Madness is the second game of the session – it makes for a strange secondary ticket market and an even stranger audience in attendance. Most fans seem to just show up for “their” team’s game – even though the Big Ten did charge them for the “other” game. I mean the cheapest tickets for the session were $40.
Another great part is when that game goes into overtime. The last time I attended a conference tournament, the second game of the session also went into overtime. …

My decision to attend the Northwestern men’s basketball game in the Big Ten Tournament rather than the Milwaukee Bucks game meant I needed to leave earlier than expected. I left my house at 2:00 pm in order to make the first tip at 6:30 pm (Eastern Time). The drive from Chicago to Indianapolis normally takes me about 3 hours, so I should have had 30 minutes to park, buy a ticket from scalpers outside of Conseco Fieldhouse and get to my seat – plenty of time, right?
Wrong! About 47 miles …

The wife has plans tonight.  Whenever she has plans (that do not include me), I always pick out a game to attend somewhere within a reasonable distance – meaning I cannot spend the night in another city and come home the next day (a reasonable request I guess).  Most guys might head to the bar or out with some buddies, but I prefer sporting events (for better or worse).  Once her dinner was official, I planned to attend the Milwaukee Bucks game versus the Utah Jazz in Milwaukee.  I have …

It turns out the Indianapolis Colts were staying in our hotel on Saturday night – so much for the poor reviews on tripadvisor.com. Since the AFC Championship Game did not start until 3 pm we had plenty of time to sleep in and then go to brunch. I had picked out Patachou on the Park for brunch. My first pick, City Café, is closed for some reason on Sundays – even this Sunday with a major football game taking place.
Obtaining TicketsOn Saturday morning, I emailed a guy on craigslist.org about …

Nicole and I left Chicago at noon and arrived at our hotel by 4:30 pm (with some stops along the way). The hotel (which I was concerned about based on reviews online) was great! It was a 4-star hotel – the lobby and rooms were luxurious, but not “that” luxurious. With Nicole happy with the hotel, I was relieved and ready to attend the Indiana Pacers game for the third time this season. Since Nicole wanted to rest when she got to the hotel the Pacers …