Gone Bowling

My Christmas Tickets had been bought.  I was going to be spending a whole week in sunny LA.  But then, two days before I was heading home for the Holidays, the Pinstripe Bowl participants were announced.  The Pinstripe Bowl takes place in Yankee stadium.  I've been a couple of times, and though it was always a good time, I figured I'd been enough times to get the experience so I wasn't planning on going again.  But that all changed when I found out who was going to be playing.  The Fighting Irish were coming to NYC!

Now I'm a huge ND fan.  But I've only seen them in person one time.  So there was no way I was going to miss this chance to see them play.  I scrambled to change my flights and buy tickets (which were almost three times as expensive as any other time I've gone...lets call that the ND effect).  So Saturday the 28th saw me at Yankee Stadium ready to cheer on my boys!

Now I wasn't sure what I was expecting.  But I for sure wasn't expecting ND fans to outnumber Rutgers fans 65-35% at the game.  Rutgers fans were louder (I'm thinking there were more drunk college aged kids in their section, giving them the edge), but there was for sure more ND fans.  And the best part about where I was sitting?  It was right next to the ND band!  And while ND only barely beat Rutgers, the ND band crushed the Rutgers band.

 

My favorite part of the whole experience was at the end of the game.  ND football games always end with the players gathering by the student section and singing the Alma Matter.  I had never been a part of it and it was just the perfect way to wrap up the evening!

 

Holiday Magic

Holidays are meant to be spent with your family.  And the best way to ensure you are having a fun time is to take an outing.  And the outing that my family loves to take together are sporting events.  So a couple of days before Christmas, we trekked over to Staples arena to root our Kings on together.

 

Sadly, the Kings lost.  But we and the rest of the crowd weren't as upset as we'd usually be.  Partly because the Kings have been on a hot streak, so we've seen them win a bunch this season.  And also because the Holidays provided for a festive atmosphere that even a Kings lost couldn't put a dent in.  I mean, staples center even put on a Holiday Light Show!

Truly a Kids Game

Sometimes you forget that even though the players are getting paid millions and millions of dollars, in actuality, NFL players are playing a game that kids everywhere play.  But when the snow comes down, it truly become a kids game with snowman celebrations, fans pelting players with snowballs and players slipping all over the field.

There's just something fun about a cold messily played game.  I mean, who doesn't love the fact that the snow is coming down so thick, you can't even really see the game?  That kicking is literally impossible, so the team goes for two after every TD?  That special teams play is amazingly atrocious with no one able to stay on their feet while trying to tackle the returner?  So when I woke up and saw that half of the morning games were going to be played in the snow, it felt like it was Christmas morning. 

So I don't know about you...but I for one, am for sure rooting for a snowy Super Bowl.

Tough Road Ahead

how i consoled myself after the draw

You know the expression it could have been worse?  Well in this case...I'm not sure that it could have.  Germany.  Portugal.  Ghana.  USA.  Does that seem like a fair group to you?  I mean, their rankings according to ESPN Soccer Power Index are 4, 16, 24 and then us at 17.  How's that for parity?

Look, do I think we have no chance? No.  We can def compete with Ghana and Portugal.  But I mean some of those other groups are soooo easy!  I mean we already had a group with Germany and Ghana...and the only three really hard European teams that were there to get were England and Portugal.  And wouldn't you know somehow England winds up in a group with Italy, Costa Rica and Uruguay while Portugal joins us?  I mean come on!  Those were the two groups that were already the hardest..so hey, how about we just increase their difficulty by adding one more competitive team?  Then, on top of that, the US has the longest travel schedule.  So yeah...I'm not sure how much worse it realistically could have been for them.

But, with all that, this draw does raise the possibility something cool really happening.  I mean, if the US makes it out of that group?  How big of a deal would that be!  We wouldn't luck into the elimination rounds.  We would have to earn it.  And you know what...after calming down and getting a few drinks into my system...I'm calling it.  We are definitely make it out of the group stage. 

Feeling like a VIP

The Redskins season is an unmitigated disaster.  But does that mean you can't enjoy yourself at the game? Um, no way!  You just got to find things other than the Redskins themselves at the game to distract you from the fact that your team is losing...again.  So in my annual trip to Fedex field this weekend, that is exactly what I did.  First with a huge tailgate, then by exploring the Club Level.

Can the Redskins win already?

Game time was 8:30pm. So what time do you think we rolled up in the parking lot?  4:30 pm baby!  As it was Thanksgiving weekend, we knew a lot of people who were home and therefore coming to the game, so a group of 15 or so of us got together to drink some beers, eat some food and play the bean-bag game.  And it was so much fun!  I mean, you would think 4 hours would be way to much prior to the game, but honestly I was just reaching for my second burger (after already had chili, 7 layer dip, chocolate cup cake and guacamole), when suddenly someone realized that it was already 7:45.  So even though I wanted to redeem myself on the bean-bag game...and I really wanted that second burger...it was time to pack up.  And once we got to the gates, it became obvious why people were in such a rush to get to the stadium once we realized the time.  It's because getting into the stadium is an absolute mess!  I mean, it took a good 20 or so minutes to get through the line.  Is there anything worse then being so close, but yet so far?   Luckily, I had brought a beer for the road, so at least I had something to drink while waiting in line.

The tailgate was a good start, but exploring the Club Level was definitely just as cool.  Say what you want about Dan Snyder, but that man knows how to build a VIP section.  Just to give a taste of what you can find: Hooters, then a club where can smoke a cigar, Sam Adams stand, Guinness stand, Bloody Mary stand...get the picture?   Plasmas were plastered throughout the level, with these super sweet seating areas for you to hang out in if you got to cold out in the stands. 

Would it have been more fun if the Skins had pulled out the victory?  Of course!  But going to the game with friends and exploring a whole different section of the stadium?  Can't complain to much about that.