As soon as we were done eating at El Mariachi, I left to meet Blackhawks Jim before the Chicago Blackhawks opening playoff game.
Pre Game Dining
We were supposed to meet at Crossroads Bar & Grill, but with a long wait, we met at Plush instead.  Plush is next door to Crossroads at 1104 W. Madison St.  This was not the best decision.  The Ultimate Sports Wife and I went to Plush a few years ago after a Chicago Bulls game and we vowed not to go back before or after an …

One of the best parts of the Cubs playing afternoon games is that your nights are free. While most MLB teams play at night, the Cubs are required to play mostly during the day which is usually a blessing. For example, today the Cubs played their usual Friday afternoon home game (the only team in baseball to play on Friday afternoons). Their early game time allowed Chicago sports fans the option of also attending the Chicago Blackhawks opening playoff game at the United Center tonight. Of course, my plan was …

On Jackie Robinson day, where every player was wearing the number 42, Derreck Lee was ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes. This was the first time Lee had been ejected from a game since June 16, 2007.

Déjà vu occurs when you consider that the two games were eerily similar. First, Carlos Zambrano was the starting pitcher in both games. Second, the double-play combination was the same in both games. Ryan Theriot was at short-stop and Mike Fontenot was at second base …

Buying tickets from Ticketmaster.com is insane – as most fans already know. So why do it? You should never do it. In my ticket buying guide, I write that fans should never buy tickets through Ticketmaster unless absolutely necessary. First, Ticketmaster adds so many fees to their tickets they are essentially scalping tickets. Second, the odds you will pay higher than what Ticketmaster ends up charging is very rare.
This morning Chicago Bulls playoff tickets went on sale at 10 am since they clinched a playoff …

Looking for a sporting event to attend in Chicago or Milwaukee today? If you can take the afternoon off, your best bet is to attend the Chicago Cubs game versus the Milwaukee Brewers at 1:20 pm. The weather is going to be amazing so get out to Wrigley Field.
Other options for tonight include attending either the Kane County Cougars at 6 pm in Geneva, IL or the Harlem Globetrotters at the United Center at 7 pm.

The NBA Playoff Schedule is set and for the first time since the 1990-91 season the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks are all in the playoffs in the same season. Below are the first round home schedules for each team:
Chicago Blackhawks vs. Nashville Predators:
Friday, April 16 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 18 at 7:30 pm
*Saturday, April 24 at 2:00 pm
*Wednesday, April 28: TBD
Chicago Bulls vs. Cleveland Cavaliers:
Thursday, April 22 at 6:00 pm
Sunday, April 25 at 2:30 pm
*Thursday, April 29: TBD
Milwaukee Bucks vs. Atlanta Hawks:
Saturday, April 24 at 6:00 pm
Monday, …

For the second time in as many Chicago Cubs games I saw fans using a fist beer koozie (officially named Tuff Glove).  You know the one: it looks like a gigantic hulk-sized fist that holds your beer.  The perfect beer koozie, right?  Huh, wrong.  For the second straight game, the Tuff Glove has been implicated in two major beer spills causing the users to not only look like a moron but also lose their beer.
On Monday, a woman at Mullen’s on Clark was carrying her beer in the koozie and …

Some argue that the Chicago Cubs home opener at Wrigley Field is an event not to be missed. I would argue that you should save your money for another event – the weather is usually miserable, tickets are expensive and all the bars in the neighborhood are overcrowded. The games later in the week are the much better bargain and experience.
However, as was the case with the Chicago White Sox home opener last Monday, today’s game between the Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers was abnormal – it was …

A few weeks ago, I wrote about attending the Chicago Bulls game with students from my Masters program at Northwestern University. That night, I wrote that I had to pay more than I normally would since we were attending the game as a group.
Last night, the “group” experience benefited me greatly. This time around we were attending the Chicago Fire’s home opener at Toyota Park versus the San Jose Earthquakes. However, we had a luxury box with unlimited food, drinks and parking included for only $5 – essentially free when …

Unless the Chicago White Sox have a Saturday home game on FOX, they always schedule their Saturday games for 6:05 pm. This does not allow me to attend many weekend White Sox games as I cannot leave the wife alone on a Saturday night. However, for the past several years, the White Sox scheduled their first Saturday home game of the year for 12:10 pm rather than 6:05 pm. The reason for this is that it could easily be 35 degrees on an April afternoon in Chicago …