Game #85- Chicago Bulls

Chicago Bulls vs. Phoenix Suns February 21, 2015 United Center This is the Chicago Bulls/Hawks 2.0 trip. Last year my goal was to see both of these teams during my visit to Indiana for work but the “polar vortex” blew through the mid west with -41 degree temps and dumping a foot of snow. Needless to say the 360 mile round trip was not going to be possible in those conditions. This time the weather was going to at least cooperate, meaning it was going to be below zero again but at least the freeways would be open. The first game of this trip is the Chicago Bulls. Growing up in the Jordan/Pippen era I was never a fan of the Bulls. They were not necessarily a rival of my Lakers but for about a decade one or both of these teams would be in the finals. Since then the team hasn’t really fell on hard times but also have not won a championship since 1998 (Lakers have 5 rings in that time span…just saying). The 2015 team has the potential to be top notch. There are three all-stars in the rotation, center Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose and one of my favorite former Lakers Pao Gasol. The game started off slow for the home team, being down for the majority of the first half and part of the 3rd quarter. That’s when the game got exciting. Led by Gasol’s 22 points and 14 rebounds the Bulls pushed by the Suns in the last minute of the game to take a 112 to 107 win. Derrick Rose also had a strong game with 16 points, he looked agile on the floor showing no signs of his previous injuries. I don’t know how athletes can come back from ACL surgeries and play these types of sports, every time I run I am super cautious of each step I take. It was good to see him on the floor. Besides the cold weather, the worst part of the game was trying to find a ticket stub. I was in the rafters and no one around me had one. A gentleman told me that they didn’t issue them to the season ticket holders this year, similar to Orlando a couple seasons back. That was frustrating to hear, but as I went toward the exits in the lower level I saw people with hard stubs. After asking about 30 people I finally convinced one guy to give up a ticket. I am constantly baffled on why people are so stingy with tickets when there is a 99% chance that person will be trashing it as soon as they get home.

Finally an update about the arena. I was shocked to not see a lot more Bulls memorabilia around the building. They were a dynasty in the 90’s and had the greatest basketball player ever in that time span. Yeah, it’s great to look at the rafters and see championship banners and players numbers retired, but I would expect a lot more. I found a single trophy case showing off the championship trophies, a randomly placed statue of Pippen’s head in the foyer, and the iconic Jordan statue in front of the United Center…but that was it.

Game #84- Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens vs. Los Angeles Kings Bell Center (or Centre Bell if you like) December 12, 2014 What a great week in Canada. Knowing full well the weather wouldn’t be perfect, under the circumstances it could have been a lot worse. Montreal got about a foot of snow while I was in town, and besides getting completely lost leaving the metro while trying to find my hotel, the white stuff didn’t bother me too much. I just drove back from Ottawa last night where the Kings put away the Senators and I was hoping for much of the same tonight…too bad that didn’t happen. I started the night off early because I needed to return my rental car which happened to be a block from the stadium. I had several hours to kill before the puck was dropped and I didn’t want to drink since I had a really long day of travel on Saturday, so I decided to go to the Canadiens Hall of Fame. The first person that greeted me, the ticket taker, saw my old school Kings jersey and gave me a big thumbs down sign. In fact three people that worked there did the same thing until I walked by and they saw it was a Dionne sweater, then they screamed “Marcel! OK, OK, good!”. I guess I can’t complain about that, Dionne was and is a legend in French Canada. The hall of fame was cool, lots of old memorabilia ranging from jerseys, skates, pads, sticks and trophies. They put together a life size replica of the old Montreal Stadium locker room, had very early hockey cards dating back to the teens, and had a life size statue of Maurice “The Rocket” Richard. This was a good way to waste about an hour, stay out of the cold snow, and get me closer to game time. To be completely honest, I was expecting much more from the Bell Center. With so much history, the most celebrated team in the NHL, I really thought the city would go all out. In fact, it felt really old in the way it was set up. Yes the rafters were filled with retired jerseys and past Stanley Cup Championships, but just like the Saddle Dome in Calgary they have the announcers in a catwalk that completely blocks the scoreboard for the upper deck areas. You almost feel like you are watching the game on TV rather than being there in person. The only pleasure I got from my seat was the fact that I saw Bob Miller and screamed his name. He looked around a bit, I yelled again and when he found me he gave a great big thumbs up. I love that guy. Game time…it was rough. The Kings looked tired from last nights game. Quick couldn’t go back to back in goal and Martin Jones played really bad. Combine that with a very talented Montreal team lead by superstar PK Subban, and Carey Price who was a stellar in net, we had no chance. Three of the Canadien goals were cross ice passes that were slapped in perfectly, nothing Jones could have done, but Quick being the better goaltender might have had a chance at the saves. Before I knew it the game was over and Montreal won 6-2. A good experience, but the best way to describe Canadien fans…at least on a Friday night game…is drunk Boston Redsox fans times three. They were nuts!