Get your fall calendars out. The NFL Schedule has been released so start planning your road trips. As for me, we are Bears Season Ticket holder so fall weekend (and holiday) plans are determined based on today.
In addition, I have been to every NFL stadium except:
1) Atlanta2) Philadelphia3) Pittsburgh4) Indianapolis
While I can plan Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis immediately, I need to wait until late July once the NBA and NHL 2008-09 schedules are released in order to plan an Atlanta trip.

If we lived on Grace Street, this title would be clever…instead, it is just sad.
My last entry screamed of the euphoria of being “back on top.” Mostly this was in reference to getting in the good graces of the “Most Powerful Rooftop Owner in Wrigleyville.” There is no greater reward than bartering your garage for access to the glorious rooftops on Sheffield Ave . But, I must admit, there was one other small advantage…
Last year, at this time, this car was parked in our garage. …

The Belmont Breeze is the official drink of the Belmont Stakes. However, planning the trip there is not so easy. As you may know, I am an avid Southwest Airlines customer for multiple reasons. The main one being – they do not charge change fees. No change fees is key for any sports fan trying to rank and file hundreds of possible sporting events to attend.
However, Southwest does not fly to three key sports cities – Minneapolis, Atlanta and New York City. Today I was trying to plan a trip …

A day after the pitchers tried to make history; the batters took center stage. Paul Konerko and Joe Crede each hit a grand slam – only the third time the White Sox had hit two grand slams in the same game. Also, according to baseball-reference.com, only 6 games in 2007 and only 3 games in 2006 had two grand slams hit in the same game. In addition, Paul Konerko’s grand slam catapulted Kenny Rogers into the “I’ve given up 10 career grand slams” club. He joined Nolan Ryan and Mike …

While Gavin Floyd was concentrating on pitching, I was concentrating on staying dry and warm in dismal, rainy baseball conditions. Floyd found out about his no-hitter in the 5th inning when some fan yelled it to him. What’s the #1 rule about a no-hitter – you never talk about the no-hitter.
I failed to realize Floyd was throwing a no-hitter until the seventh inning stretch. So in the bottom of the 7th, I started to get nervous. Did the fact I had not noticed the no-hitter cause Floyd to pitch one …

After not attending an event for 5 days, I am going to the White Sox game today at 12:05 pm CT. The White Sox rarely have Saturday afternoon games (unless they are on national television), but play a Saturday matinee on the first home stand of the season because of the cold Chicago weather.
From experience, my budget for today’s game is $10. We’ll see how it goes.

In a strange twist of fate, we got a THE call yesterday. A call that we had hoped for all off-season long.
Our friend, the anonymous and powerful rooftop owner, wanted to barter for another year. He parks his VERY expensive car in our garage and in exchange, we get to come up on the roof top all season long. Now, this is a very valuable trade. One parking spot in Wrigley sells for $20-25 per game. On Opening Day and for big …

The combination of the White Sox being home and my working about an hours drive north of Wrigley Field has kept my sporting events attendance at bay this week. Instead of attending, I began planning the hotel portion of our upcoming trip to Switzerland and Austria for Euro Cup 2008.
We are spending 4 nights in Switzerland and 3 nights in Vienna, Austria. Since we have more time and flexibility in Switzerland I chose to spend my time researching Vienna hotels.
We already have tickets for the quarterfinal match in Vienna, Austria …

We are planning a trip in the summer to go to the EuroCup. For you non-football fans, this is event is like a World Cup, but just a big ole’ tourney for the Europeans to decide who is the best national team of Europe. Equivalent tournaments are La Copa America for all of Latin America and the African Cup for all of Africa. We are traveling to Switzerland and Austria for this event in June and we, of course, are combining it with sightseeing and some rest …

While waiting for the Cubs to come back to the neighborhood, you have time to get inventive and enjoy some un-sports related fun. Traditionally, Brew and View at the Vic is the natural choice for a movie and a beer. Brew and View at the Vic
Well, you can change it up a bit at Vine’s on Clark…they have a Tuesday Movie Night with two-for-one pasta specials and half price bottles of wine. Movie Night at Vines
After watching the Women’s NCAA championship game, we enjoyed dinner, …