Game #79- Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis Colts vs. Kansas City Chiefs Lucas Oil Stadium January 4, 2014 What a crazy, weird, cold week. I flew out to Indianapolis expecting a relatively unexciting week capped with a couple of games up in Chicago. But mother nature can be an evil lady. I was tracking the weather all week trying to figure out if I would be able to drive up to Chicago for the weekend to see a Bulls game on Saturday, followed up by the Blackhawks Sunday, before coming back and working in Greenfield. I was still unsure of my plans until I landed and saw the ominous clouds and the meteorologists all saying the incoming storm would be one of the worst in recent history. By the time the “polar vortex” was finally moving back north the city got a foot of snow and temperatures plummeted to negative 41 degrees. My plans for Chicago were shot, and my back up plan to drive to Cincinnati to see the San Diego Chargers was out the window as well. I did make the best of it and saw one of the greatest playoff comeback games ever. Landing at the Indy airport it was 4:15pm, Colts wildcard kickoff vs. the Chiefs was at 4:30. I had a good feeling that I could get my rental car, find some really close parking, run over to the stadium to find a scalper and get into the game before the end of the first quarter. So I hauled ass and got to Lucas Oil stadium, one of the nicest football arena’s in the country, and managed to find a dude selling tickets. I told him upfront I wanted a nosebleed seat because I only have $80. Turns out he only had club level that retail for $400. There was very little negotiations, he was stuck, either take the money or lose out completely…score one for me, I got to my seat and I only missed about 5 minutes. There was electricity in the air, Colts fans have had a lot of success the past 15 years but only one championship. I don’t want to recap all the scoring because by the end of the game there was a combined 89 points on the scoreboard, but I need to highlight from the third quarter when the Colts were down 28 points, 38-10. It’s crazy, even though they were down by 4 touchdowns, I didn’t think the home team was out of it. In fact, most of the scoring was because of timely take aways and bad decisions. If Indy could clean up their offence and the defenders tighten up on D, they would be back in the game. The people around me were starting to leave when K.C.’s Kniles Davis caught a 10 yard pass from Alex Smith to put them up by 28 with less than a half to go, but I told the woman next to me “I really think the Colts can come back”, luckily she stayed. In about 2 minutes the Colts drove 80 yards behind QB Andrew Luck and running back Donald Brown to score, then a couple minutes later Brown got in the endzone again with a 3 yard reception from Luck. By the end of the quarter, the Chiefs only got a field goal while the Colts put up 21. This set up one of the most exciting 4th quarter I have ever seen, in fact maybe anyone had seen in the entire stadium. The play of the day was when the home team was on a goal line push down 41-31, Luck handed off to Donald Brown who fumbled after Eric Berry of the Chief’s crushed him on the 2 yard line. Luck saw the ball pop out, and instead of jumping on the ball and falling to the ground, he pushed forward leaping into the endzone for a touchdown. The place went crazy! The only stadium I have been in that had been louder was Seattle, but the ear deafening crowd tonight was going ballistic. Even with that play, the Colts were still down by three and soon it was six after Ryan Succop kicked a 43 yard field goal to put the game at 44-38. Then it was time for the final drive. After a couple of short passes luck found the man of the night, T.Y. Hilton, throwing him a bullet and then it was off to the races…64 yards later the game was tied and with the magical leg of Adam Vinatieri, the boys in blue and white were up 45 to 44. With a bit of defense that is how the game ended. I commemorated the win by purchasing a brick outside the stadium that said “45 -44! Then I froze… Chris Costales”. This was the second greatest comeback in playoff history and I was so happy to be apart of it. In fact, that was the last good thing to happen to me all week. This is a side note, but again after the game the snow started and didn’t stop for 24 hours. Once the snow stopped, the Polar Vortex came in and the city shut down. I tried to dig my car out for a bit in the -41 degree weather, but was forced back in the hotel when my eyes started to freeze. My crappy week ended when I went to dinner and found my car had been broken into and my bag was stolen, laptop, blackberry, ipad, car keys, and $300 cash gone (had this for the possibility of getting a ticket for the Bolts). My bad for leaving it in the car, but never thought the car was in danger in a well lit Outback Steakhouse parking lot. Not good times…

Game #78- Portland Trailblazers

Portland Trailblazers vs. Dallas Mavericks Moda Center (formally and more famously the Rose Garden) December 8, 2013 Portland in December is cold. I mean, no joke cold. I had a free hotel night at the Marriott as well as a free flight, so I took a “me” weekend to the Northwest for a Trailblazers game. My initial idea was to come up with my golf clubs and get in a round of 18 at a local course, but I was tracking the weather the entire week and thought better of it. It snowed about three days prior to my arrival, and when I flew over the golf course it was still covered in the white stuff. When I exited the plane and was walking toward the trolley station people were looking at me funny…little did I know that shorts and flip flops were not appropriate attire when it is 25 degrees outside and in the teens with wind chill. Well the day of the game I decided to explore the city a bit. The last time I was up here was for a dudes trip in the summer, very different atmosphere. We did a lot of drinking and partying, this time I was looking forward to some sightseeing, food and possibly take advantage of the states non-sales tax law. First on my list was food. I got some amazing donuts from VooDoo Donuts (one topped with bacon, the other with Oreos) and for lunch I hit up the food trucks and scarfed down an amazing gyro before exploring the town. When I couldn’t feel my hands and nose anymore I ended up in Kel’s, a great Irish pub that I happened to go to years ago with Keli and her mom. Posted up at the bar I got a hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps and watched the rest of the MLS cup between Kansas City and Salt Lake City. Then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the game. I didn’t buy anything today, even with no sales tax nothing was worth the price at Columbia or Hardware. The best thing I did when booking the trip was picking my hotel. It was three blocks from the trolley stop and less than a half mile to the arena allowing me to walk to the game. This year the Blazers are one of the best teams in the league and have their most impressive start to the season since 1990 with a 17-4 record. With a high powered offense and a strong post up D they are the second ranked team in the NBA. When I got the ticket for the game about a month ago I was expecting a blowout by the home team, Dallas had not been playing well as there all-star roster is getting up there in age, but tonight the stars aligned. There was a lot of back an forth all night, Portland with LaMarcus Aldridge, Robin Lopez, and Damian Lillard were teamed up against Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, and Vince Carter for a down to the wire buzzer beater game. With less than two minutes in the game Dallas was holding on to a 104 to 100 lead, then Monta Ellis knocked down a 20 footer for a 6 point advantage. With 43 seconds left, the Blazer got two consecutive three’s from Batum and Lillard to tie it up. Finally with two seconds left in the game the Mav’s once again set up Monta Ellis for the game ending, buzzer beater to lift Dallas to the 108-106 win. It was really exciting and for a person who doesn’t support either team, I came away extremely satisfied. The one significant take away from the game was the good nature of the Portland fans. There were no fights, no screaming, no one bothering the Dallas fans. In fact, I saw a dude buy an entire pizza and on the way back to his car gave out slices to the local homeless people on the street. I don’t usually feel this, but seeing this extreme act of kindness really made my night.