One of the main reasons for taking the trip to London this week, was that the San Francisco 49ers were hosting the Denver Broncos at Wembley Stadium in the NFL’s annual regular season game in London. The game was scheduled to kick off at 5 pm on Sunday night.
Beg, Borrow and Deal
After spending the day with one of Nicole’s friends from high school I arrived at Wembley around 4 pm. Rather than check out the pub scene around the stadium, I decided to look for a ticket. I found an …

For the first time in awhile, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I did not tailgate or go out before or after a Bears game at Soldier Field – which actually made for a calm game day.

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears
It was Monday Night Football so we arrived at Soldier Field shortly after 7 pm and headed straight into the stadium. The Packers took a late first quarter lead after Greg Jennings caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers. The Packers held onto the lead at halftime 10-7.
However, that …

This season is the first in awhile where the Chicago Bears and Chicago Cubs home games do not conflict with each other – meaning I do not have to choose which game to attend. Two years ago, I chose to attend the Bears home opener rather than the Cubs game since Tailgate Rob was tailgating before the game. This year was no exception as Tailgate Rob tries to attend the Bears home opener each season. Needless to say we were in the South Lot by 8:30 am.

After the tailgate, my …

We were back at Soldier Field for a second consecutive Saturday night as the Chicago Bears were hosting the Arizona Cardinals.
Pre Game Dining
Before the game we ate at Tapas Valencia located at 1530 S. State St. As I wrote last week, we paid $26 to park and the parking lots around the area are more expensive than that. When we valet parked our car at the restaurant they told us we could pay $15 if we wanted for park for the Bears game (regular valet price is $6, but a …

After the Cubs game we drove down to Soldier Field for the Chicago Bears pre-season game versus the Oakland Raiders. Since we were not tailgating we paid $26 to park in the Monroe Parking Garage at Millennium Park. The garage runs a “free” shuttle to Soldier Field, but given the pain of getting on the shuttles after the game the price is expensive for what you get.
Oakland Raiders at Chicago Bears
Last time I saw the Raiders on the road was October 5, 2003 in the Bears first season at the …

It turns out the Indianapolis Colts were staying in our hotel on Saturday night – so much for the poor reviews on tripadvisor.com. Since the AFC Championship Game did not start until 3 pm we had plenty of time to sleep in and then go to brunch. I had picked out Patachou on the Park for brunch. My first pick, City Café, is closed for some reason on Sundays – even this Sunday with a major football game taking place.
Obtaining TicketsOn Saturday morning, I emailed a guy on craigslist.org about …