{"id":2449,"date":"2010-04-17T10:42:18","date_gmt":"2010-04-17T15:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/?p=2449"},"modified":"2010-06-09T06:19:11","modified_gmt":"2010-06-09T11:19:11","slug":"friday-night-hockey-the-cubs-and-ot-beer-jinx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/friday-night-hockey-the-cubs-and-ot-beer-jinx\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Night Hockey, the Cubs and OT Beer Jinx"},"content":{"rendered":"

As soon as we were done eating at El Mariachi, I left to meet Blackhawks Jim before the Chicago Blackhawks opening playoff game.<\/p>\n

Pre Game Dining
\n<\/span>We were supposed to meet at Crossroads Bar & Grill, but with a long wait, we met at Plush instead.\u00a0 Plush is next door to Crossroads at 1104 W. Madison St.\u00a0 This was not the best decision.\u00a0 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 event at the United Center.\u00a0 And, after yesterday, my sentiment remains the same.\u00a0 Even though we could sit outside, the service was slow and the place does not have the same atmosphere as other bars and restaurants in the area.<\/p>\n

Beg, Borrow and Deal<\/span>
\nTickets for the Blackhawks playoff games have been above face value throughout the week leading up to their first game.\u00a0 However, as usual, ticket prices began to fall as game time approached so I was expecting to pay around face value for a ticket to the game.<\/p>\n

I started out in front of Gates 2 and 3; continued walking passed Gate 4 to the other side of the United Center.\u00a0 I did not find any extra tickets immediately so I started to think I may have to walk down Madison St.\u00a0 Instead, I ran into a scalper who had a single.\u00a0 He offered it for $60 and I countered by offering face value which was $55.\u00a0 He accepted \u2013 a small savings, but savings nonetheless.<\/p>\n

In the end, I still saved money by not buying tickets ahead of time.\u00a0 Face value for the same sitting area through Ticketmaster was $65 (plus at least $10 in Ticketmaster.com fees).<\/p>\n

The Chicago Cubs and the Game<\/span>
\nBefore the game and during intermissions, I went down to Blackhawks Jim\u2019s seats.\u00a0 Someone pointed out that the entire Chicago Cubs team was sitting in the luxury box just above his seats so I snapped this picture with Cubs manager Lou Piniella.\u00a0 Some folks on the internet mentioned that the Cubs cursed the Blackhawks in their first playoff game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, I offer another suggestion for the Blackhawks jinx in Game 1.\u00a0 With 10:53 remaining in the third period and the game tied at one goal apiece, I decided I would buy an overtime beer.\u00a0 Remember, beer sales at the United Center end with 10 minutes left in the third period for hockey.\u00a0 I ordered the beer before the 10 minute cut-off, but did not complete my purchase until 9:23 was left in the third period \u2013 the exact time J.P. Dumont scored the Predators second goal.\u00a0 After that it was all downhill for the Blackhawks who allowed two empty net goals to make the final score Predators 4, Blackhawks 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As soon as we were done eating at El Mariachi, I left to meet Blackhawks Jim before the Chicago Blackhawks opening playoff game.
\nPre Game Dining
\nWe were supposed to meet at Crossroads Bar & Grill, but with a long wait, we met at Plush instead.\u00a0 Plush is next door to Crossroads at 1104 W. Madison St.\u00a0 This was not the best decision.\u00a0 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 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[170,46,264,55],"tags":[337,349],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2630,"href":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions\/2630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anygame-anywhere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}