My plan today was to attend both the Kane County Cougars minor league baseball game which started at noon and the Chicago Bulls playoff Game 6 at the United Center this evening.
However, it rained heavily all morning and the Cougars postponed their afternoon game. Their website stated – “Thursday’s 12:00 Game Rained Out. The Cougars’ April 30 game has been postponed due to rain. It will be made up as a doubleheader on Friday, 5/1, with game 1 beginning at 4:00.” Thus, instead of eating lunch at …

My original sporting event plan for Tuesday was to attend the noon start between the Beloit Snappers and Kane County Cougars in Geneva, IL. However, when Monday night’s game between the Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox was postponed and rescheduled as a straight doubleheader beginning at 4:05 pm Tuesday afternoon, I changed my plans – the first doubleheader (straight or split) I have attended since September 10, 2004.
Monday night was the 35th postponed game in the 19 year history of U.S. Cellular Field making Tuesday night’s doubleheader the seventh …

We went back to Dusseldorf’s Altstadt area before taking the train to Mönchengladbach for our third and final soccer match. While in Altstadt we saw Arminia Bielefeld fans wandering the area. Since Mönchengladbach is not mentioned in the guide books it probably makes sense to stay in Dusseldorf if planning to attend a Borussia Mönchengladbach match.
My brother, being tired of German food and multiple sausages, decided we should eat at the Italian restaurant across the way from Uerige – Ristorante La Grappa. While eating lunch, we considered the idea of …

We woke up early Saturday morning in order to take the train from Heidelberg to Dusseldorf. Bayer Leverkusen was playing in Dusseldorf for the second half of the season because they were re-building their stadium in Leverkusen. We had chosen to attend the Bayer Leverkusen match rather than the Borussia Dortmund match for several reasons:
1) Borussia Dortmund was sold out and Bayer Leverkusen was not.2) Dortmund was further away than staying in Dusseldorf.3) We had a friends and family certificate to stay at Marriott hotels. Dusseldorf has a Renaissance Hotel …

After spending the first day in Frankfurt, we took the train from Frankfurt to Heidelburg on Friday morning with the plan to attend the Bundesliga match between Hertha Berlin and 1899 Hoffenheim.
Any trip to Heidelberg should include a tour of the Old Town, Heidelberg Castle and the University of Heidelberg (the home of Sociology). We spent Friday afternoon touring the city after the Marriott would not allow us to check in early.
Obtaining TicketsWhile still in Chicago, I did research on how to purchase tickets for the Bundesliga matches we planned …

Back in late March, my brother (who lives in San Francisco) and I decided we should take a weekend trip somewhere. At the time, airfares to fly overseas were pretty inexpensive and we narrowed our list down to three choices: 1) Australia, 2) Tokyo, or 3) Germany
We determined that Australia was too far to fly for a long weekend, even though round trip airfares to Melbourne were only $700 from San Francisco and $850 from Chicago – unheard of low fares.
Tokyo was similarly priced to Australia but not nearly …

Tuesday night was the Chicago Cubs first night game of the season. With temperatures below 40 degrees and rain most of the day, the announced crowd of 38,403 only appeared to be half full (with the exception of the bleachers which always appears full).
At the game, I met Zach Hample who, according to his blog snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com, has snagged 3,882 baseballs after Tuesday night’s affair. I met Zach through my friend, Kelly McMahon, who went on Zach’s “Watch With Zach” training at the end of the 2007 season.
MLB Promotional …

For the first time since Friday, April 22, 2005, I was planning to attend a Major League Baseball game that ended up being postponed. Last night’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs was postponed two hours before the scheduled first pitch since it had rained steadily all day Sunday.
Rain Delay RulesSince the Ultimate Sports Wife and I live so close to Wrigley Field we have one rule we live by – when it is raining, we do not leave our house until the first pitch is thrown. …

Sometimes it is hard to determine which sporting event to attend in any given day. The Ultimate Sports Wife, who is also a synchronized figure skating coach, had scheduled her team to compete in the National Synchronized Ice Skating Competition in Orland Park. With the Chicago Cubs scheduled to play the St. Louis Cardinals at 2:40 pm Saturday afternoon, I was hoping her team would compete Saturday morning – giving me time to drive back to Wrigley Field in time for the game. As luck would have …

Friday afternoon Cubs games are a rite of passage during Chicago summers. Fans can get an early start to their weekend by heading to Wrigley Field by 1:20 pm on a Friday afternoon. I was debating on whether I should attend Friday’s game until my friend texted me that he was taking the day off and wanted to hang out. I guess he sent this message to a few of his friends and almost all of them responded with “Want to go the Cubs game?” He …