I made it to the United Center Tuesday night driving through a blizzard. I already had a $10 ticket that I had purchased on NBA opening night. With my ticket already in hand, I avoided having to negotiate for tickets on a windy, snowy night.
The GameThe Bulls defeated the Knicks 105-100. Larry Hughes broke a 97-97 tie by draining a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left in the game.
During the third quarter the video board showed Vice President-elect Joe Biden and David Axelrod, Obama’s advisor. I did not bring my camera …

After spending the better of two weeks attending football matches in Europe, it was time to get back to the NFL. With a 15 degree forecast for the Chicago Bears game and some laziness setting in to prepare a tailgate, we decided to forgo tailgating before the game. Instead we ate in our neighborhood and drove to the game. As we were leaving for the game, our neighbor, who was smoking on her front porch in Bears gear, asked if we were driving to the game. We said yes and …

After spending Saturday night in Misterton, the plan was to drive back to London Sunday afternoon. We left the house at 11:30 am for the 3 hour drive back to London. With Nicole and British Caroline planning to spend Sunday afternoon shopping in London, I had 3 matches in London to choose between (in order of preference):
1) Arsenal at Chelsea – kickoff at 4 pm.Commentary: I thought tickets might be difficult to find or expensive since it was the local derby, but the match was close to where we were …

The Ultimate Sports Wife and I woke up early Saturday morning in Paris. Our friend, British Mick, who lives in London, is a big Sheffield Wednesday supporter. So with Wednesday playing Saturday afternoon at Hillsborough in Sheffield, we had a big day ahead of us:
1) Take the 8:07 am Eurostar train from Paris to London.2) British Mick and, his wife, Caroline was planning to pick us up from London St. Pancras when the train arrived in London a little before 10 am.3) We were driving directly from St. Pancras for …

Ten years and five months ago, my friend, Tom Fry and I stood outside the Parc de Princes Stadium in Paris trying to buy a ticket to the World Cup group stage match between Uruguay and Brazil. It was one of only a handful of games in which I tried to attend but could not get into the stadium. Although tickets were available, scalpers wanted around $400 for the match, which we thought was too expensive. Instead we watched the match with some Argentineans a few blocks …

In the first Champions League match I have attended since 2001, Arsenal defeated Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 on a late goal by Nicklas Bendtner. Once again, I attended the match with “Hospitality Jim” who started to think I was an Arsenal jinx since Arsenal had played 177 minutes without scoring a goal with me in attendance. Instead, with a free kick from beyond the mid field line, Cesc Fabregas launched a pass to Nicklas Bendtner who put the ball in the net for the only goal of the game.
Pre and Post …

This may have been the most intense sporting event I have ever attended. That is saying a lot after attending about 1900 sporting events. Since the hotel receptionist was correct that Saturday night’s soccer match would not be sold out, I was nervous he was correct that Sunday night’s basketball match would be. Once again, Nicole needed to work on her scholarship application. However, since she was instrumental in ticket negotiations at the Olympiacos match a week prior, I was nervous that I would be on my own for this …

After having to buy tickets on the secondary ticket market to Olympiacos I was a little nervous about attending the Panathinaikos match at Olympic Stadium Saturday night. On Friday night, I talked to the hotel receptionist about both Panathinaikos matches I wanted to attend. He stated the basketball match Sunday night would probably be sold out and that the soccer match Saturday night would not. He was right, attending the Panathinaikos was a completely different experience from the Olympiacos match Nicole and I attended last Sunday night. Of course, what …

Nicole and I arrived in Athens at 1:40 am Sunday morning after our day in London. We hopped in a cab driven by an associate of George Taxi and Limo, otherwise known as George the Famous Taxi Driver recommended by Matt Barrett. The cab took us immediately to the hotel and we were asleep by 3 am.
I had Sunday all planned. We would wake up, drink some coffee, get dressed and head to the Monastiraki Flea Market – the place to be in Athens on a Sunday. We would then …

The Ultimate Sports Wife and I landed at London’s Heathrow airport at 6:30 am. With a 13-hour layover before our 8 pm flight to Athens, Greece, I had already planned to attend the Arsenal and Aston Villa match at Emirates Stadium Saturday afternoon – kickoff was set for 3 pm.
Our friend, British Mick, had made all the plans for the day. He insisted on picking us up from Heathrow at 7:30 am (which was definitely a good decision) and drive us back to his place. From there …