Game #61- Green Bay Packers

Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions Lambeua Field December 9, 2012 Today is the day! I have been dreaming of coming to Lambeau for over a decade and it is finally here. Luckily my buddy Nathan is from Green Bay and his step dad gave us tickets for the game, by the way they are fantastic. We are in the corner, lower level, and I was able to bring in my big camera and really nice lens so I am set to get some great pics. Yesterday we did it right and visited the field to check out the gigantic team store and the Packers Hall of Fame. I highly suggest to anyone visiting the area to go to the hall. It has a ton of fun Packers memorabilia and interactive pieces. You get to line up next to the football team, do a Lambeau Leap, and take a picture with the 4 superbowl championship trophies. There is also a great film about the history of the team, a locker room of the Packer greats, and the first ever Superbowl ticket that took place at the L.A. Coliseum. The day of the game is what dreams are made of. I have told everyone that will listen that I want my first game to be in the winter, be freezing outside, and snow. The football gods had their ears and hearts open because that is exactly what we got. Several inches fell during the game and I won’t lie, my electrically heated gloves came in real handy. The crowd was really fired up because this is a nationally televised Sunday night game. Also, if the Packers win they will be alone at the top of the NFC North because the Bears lost earlier today. The game couldn’t have started worse. Aaron Rodgers looked a little stiff, wide receivers James Jones, Greg Jennings and Jermichael Finley were running crappy routes and dropping balls, and before we knew it the Pack attack was down 7-0 after the first quarter. It didn’t help that Matt Stafford and Megatron (Calvin Johnson) were unstoppable, they had close to 120 yards by the end of the game. Not until Mason Crosby made a 49 yard field goal and Mike Daniels ran a 43 yard fumble return did Lambeau finally light up. “Da Da, Da Da Da Da…Go Pack Go!!!”. Yes the rest of the game was pretty close but we all were pretty confident after Aaron Rodgers ran in a 27 touchdown in the third quarter. The game ended with a Packers win, 27-20, and it was off to the parking lot and “The Bar” to finish the night. Good times, great atmosphere, fantastic win.

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Game #60- Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee Bucks vs. Charlotte Bobcats BMO Harris Bradley Center December 7, 2012

So excited, I am in Wisconsin to see my first Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau Field!!! But I couldn’t fly all the way out here without getting in another game so I brought some partners in crime from work to party with me. Nathan Huven is from Green Bay and his step dad Craig has been a season ticket holder at Lambeau since it opened. Nate’s girlfriend Rose came along to share in the experience. We hit up Milwaukee for the night to see the town and go to a Bucks game. The city of Milwaukee is fairly small, we walked most of it (in a drunken stupor) in just a couple of hours. For dinner we went to this great “speak easy” called the Safe House where it did take us a couple of minutes to figure out how to get in. Luckily we found the right lever because just inside there are several monitors where patrons can watch the unsuspecting visitors fumble around the secret entrance. We saw people doing the Macarena and My Little Teapot for several waitresses before they were let in. Next we moved over to Mo’s Pub for a couple Guinness’ and an Irish Car Bomb before heading to the game. To say the least, but the time we got to our seats we were lit. The game was actually fairly exciting considering the teams playing. Both are under .500 for the season but we had row 4 seats for $40, how can we go wrong? The Bucks played well for the first three quarters, in fact they were up by 25 with strong performances by Brandon Jennings, Marquis Daniels, and from the bench the Turkish wonder Ersan IIyasova with 21. No one play stuck out but the players were working out on the court. I guess I am a little jaded because the Lakers have an amazing team this year but no one seems to be trying. I wish I could provide more details but we continued drinking throughout the game so highlights are a bit fuzzy. I did walk around the building to try to find some cool fan memorabilia or team pictures but there was nothing. I got a hint from the info desk that the 1971 NBA championship trophy was in the lower level VIP area, which I weaseled my way into, but I didn’t see a trophy case anywhere. Tis life, the Bucks won 108-93 and we had a great time. In fact on the way back to the hotel we thought we were parkour athletes…we also quickly found out climbing on metal sculptures when it is 25 degrees outside doesn’t feel good on the hands…

Game #57- Chicago Whitesox

Chicago Whitesox vs. Seattle Mariners U.S. Cellular Field August 25, 2012 I’m in Chicago for the 30th annual Chicago Lifetime triathlon. I planned the trip around the race over 8 months ago which included two baseball games. At the time I was in great athletic shape gearing up for a couple of races at the beginning of the year. About 3 weeks after I signed up and purchased the ball game tickets I tore my ACL, meniscus and cartilage in my right knee. Now that I am six months post surgery I am attempting my first race in a year and am pretty excited, but am a little scared of the heat and humidity. We will see how it goes, I am getting up at 4am tomorrow. That being said, why not go to a game the night before to relax the nerves… US Cellular field is apparently in a bad neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. I really couldn’t tell because I only went from the Red Line to the stadium. As I was walking around the ball park I found the site of the old Comiskey Park home plate. It is pretty cool, has the dates of the stadium and you can tell there was a perfect view of downtown. The new field is only about 100 yards away but is facing away from the city which is a little disappointing. You can still get great panoramic views but only on the outskirts of the escalator/elevator shafts. The building is still fairly new, it is a nice looking ballpark, but nothing too exciting to see. I was on the upper level and couldn’t get down to the ground floor so there might be more down there. I did like walking around the concession stand area because they have murals with pictures dating back to the early teens. That is what disappointed me a little bit, I wanted to see player uniforms and bats, signed balls and helmets, not just murals. Also what about the 2005 championship year? I only saw five blown up pictures and the only reason I found them is because I decided to take the ramp up to the top section of the stadium versus the escalators. Oh well. The game seemed like it was going to be a blow out by the Mariners. The first half inning took nearly an hour, pitcher Jose Quintana threw 60 pitches and quickly went down 3-0 after Kyle Seager’s 3 run homer. But the Chi Sox slowly crept back in the game (I think because manager Robin Ventura and catcher AJ Pierzynski blew up on the ump and were ejected) with great plays on third by Kevin Youklis (Yoooooook!!!) and some good batting by the middle of the line up. The game was at a stand still until the 6th when the Sox took the lead and never relinquished it back. I didn’t stay for the entire game because of my race the next morning and the fact that I was sweating so much I didn’t want to be completely dehydrated the next day. Overall, it was a decent experience. Sox won 5-4, but I think it would have been a lot cooler if Commisky was still there.

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