Exactly five years ago, on December 28, 2003, I saw the St. Louis Rams play in Detroit on the final weekend of the season. Five years later, on December 28, 2008, I again saw the St. Louis Rams play on the final weekend of the season. This time they were in Atlanta.
Pre Game DiningAfter checking into the W Hotel Midtown, Nicole and I immediately went for Sunday brunch at Einstein’s located at 1077 Juniper St. – about two blocks south of the W Hotel. Einstein’s has won several awards for …

Today I am planning to attend the Atlanta Falcons game at the Georgia Dome and the Atlanta Thrashers game at Philips Arena. We left Nicole’s family’s home shortly after 5:00 am and arrived at the W Hotel Midtown shortly after 11 am. The Falcons game kicks off at 1 pm and the Thrashers game starts at 5 pm.
The irony with today’s doubleheader is that I have never seen either of these teams play at home and these are the only two teams I have not seen play …

The Champs Sports Bowl is the eighth bowl game I have attended. The other seven bowl games include: three Rose Bowls, the Citrus Bowl, the Outback Bowl, the Alamo Bowl and the Emerald Bowl. Northwestern, my alma mater, played in three of those bowl games. The other bowl games were either conveniently located to where I worked or where family lived.
Last night’s Champs Sports Bowl was no exception. As I have already stated, we are visiting Nicole’s family for the holidays in the Villages, FL. Although the Villages are not …

In my first Christmas Day sporting event, the Orlando Magic defeated the New Orleans Hornets handily 88-68. They began the game on an 8-0 run and never looked back.
Under normal circumstances I would never attend a game on Christmas Day. However, I was able to attend the game today since Nicole’s family eats a big dinner and opens presents on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is left to sitting around, relaxing and eating another big dinner. With no plans to visit with any relatives and dinner scheduled for 7 pm, …

Back in August, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I decided to visit her family for this year’s Christmas Holiday in the Villages, FL (about 75 minutes northwest of Orlando). I also wanted to take a weekend trip to Atlanta in November to attend an Atlanta Falcons game at the Georgia Dome and both an Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Thrashers game at Philips Arena.
However, after researching flights to both locales, it was going to cost more than normal to fly to each city (especially after airlines added all of the …

Last season, I witnessed Joakim Noah grab 20 rebounds against the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was only the 6th time I had watched a player with 20 or more rebounds. On Wednesday night, Marcus Camby grabbed 27 rebounds against the Bulls. It was the most rebounds I have ever seen by a single player, breaking my previous record of 24 by Ben Wallace on April 7, 2001. It was also the second time I have witnessed Camby with 20 rebounds – the first game occurring on April 3, 2007.
Also, for the …

To complete the east coast trip, I planned to take the train from New York City to Philadelphia for Monday Night Football. However, this was not going to be your typical overnight trip. After taking the train and watching Monday Night Football, I planned to hang out (not stay) at the Holiday Inn until my 7 am flight back to Chicago Tuesday morning. Since Monday Night Football does not end until 11:30 pm on the east coast, I thought it did not make sense to pay for a hotel room …

Not many times would I attend a women’s college basketball doubleheader over a New York Jets game. But this is exactly what happened today. Let me explain.
I was visiting my friend, Mike Nadel, the un-fan, in New York City. He did not want to attend a sporting event Sunday afternoon, especially after attending the Devils game Saturday night. However, he was going to the gym Sunday morning at 10 am and would be in Manhattan between 2 and 3 pm. Since the women’s doubleheader would end around 3:30 pm, I …

Yesterday I flew from Chicago to New York City (via Long Island Islip Macarthur airport). My plan was to stay in Brooklyn with a friend and attend the New Jersey Devils game at the Prudential Center on Saturday night.
Getting from Islip to New York City was pretty easy. My Southwest Airlines flight was landed 15 minutes early which allowed me to catch the 10:40 am train from the Ronkonkoma train station to Penn Station in Manhattan. The cheapest way to get from the Islip airport to the Ronkonkoma train station …

Last night was the second Thursday night football game I have attended. The first game I attended was the first NFL Kickoff Game on September 5, 2002 between the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants.
Pre Game DiningBefore the game my friend, Sandeep Chunduri, took the train south towards my usual Soldier Field bars. However, it took us four tries to find a place:
1) As was the case with Sundays, Grace O’Malley’s pub, located at 1416 S. Michigan Ave., was packed. We arrived at 6 pm and they had a …