Chicago - My Kind of Town!

OK, it's been a couple of days now and I have had a chance to come down off the emotional high that was Chicago. Thought I should update the blog. I can't believe it's come and gone. It was awesome. Everything about the city that we saw and did was amazing. The sporting events, the city, the people, the meals, the classic hotel...all amazing.

So, let me summarize...

• Thursday morning we left at 6am from Port Moody. It was me, Trevor, and another friend of mine Shaun. We got down to SeaTac in good time and (9am ish) and decided it was time for some bevvies. We of course decided that screwdrivers would be the best option. Breakfast also sounded like an idea so I ordered up an omelet with some crab and shrimp. Normally, this might sound tasty, but I had forgotten that I was in a restaurant in the AIRPORT! So, the combo of eggs, shrimp, vodka, orange juice, and coffee had my stomach doing circles! With about 25 minutes before we boarded the plane I spent some time in the local shitter trying to make myself puke. The other end was working just fine - I was able to purge my bowels of a soupy like substance that would have made the soup-nazi proud. I was still green as a Celts jersey when I boarded the plane. I immediately located the nearest bathroom on the plane and prepared all 3 barf bags in my row for the inevitable puke fest at 32,000 feet. I was able to catch some Z's on the plane and ultimately my stomach issues subsided. That had the potential to be the worst start to a roadie ever.

• We arrived at our hotel, the Ambassador East to find this 1938 gem of a hotel. The rooms were tiny and hadn't been upgraded in a long time. We had some masking tape on the drywall in our room and the grout in the shower looked like my handy work. Ben and Trev's room was -32 upon arrival and they quickly cranked the heater to 80 degrees in hopes of warming up the ice box. My room was so small that the 2nd bed was actually butted up against the door opening. Crazy and classic at the same time.
  

• Our first night we went to Hugo's Frog Bar down the street. We geared up with long johns, gloves, coats, etc and walked the 3 blocks in -20 degree weather. Awesome. We ate and drank our faces off. Our appetizers were frog legs, escargot, oysters, etc...followed by monster steaks. We washed all of this down with Sam Adams. With a $400+ bill on the 1st night we had started the trip off with a bang. It should also be noted that Benny almost forgot his gloves at the restaurant. Thankfully, Trev remembered to grab them. Remember this for later...
  


• Upon arriving back at the hotel in the wee hours of the morning Trev and Ben noticed their room has only warmed up slightly. Oh well, I guess it takes awhile to heat up a hotel room.
  


• When Friday morning came around I went over to see the boys and find out our schedule. When they opened the door I found Trev and Benny fully clothed like they were going on an adventure to the north pole. Both had their coats and hats on. Why? Because their room was still -20. I guess the heater wasn't working after all. A quick call to the front desk and a visit from the local maintenance guy revealed the filter was shot and they had been blowing cold air around for the last 10 hours. Nice. Anyways, the boys had the better of the 2 rooms as it was bigger and had a cool peak of Lake Michigan from one of the windows.
  


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• We headed out for the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave). This is the main street of downtown Chicago that has hundreds of shops/stores/malls/restaurants. Amazing area. Filled with people. It was still quite cold and we walked a lot so we were a bit frosty after awhile.

• We shopped and I spent hundreds of dollars adding to Ryan's ever-expanding jersey collection. For Christmas, he will be getting a Garnett, Nash, and Chris Paul under the tree. Later, I would also add a Derrick Rose to the pile to go with the Kobe jersey we had already bought for him


• For lunch on Friday we went to a local Italian place called Giordano's. They advertise that they have the best deep dish pizza in Chicago. We took them up on the offer. We also saw CJ Watson eating in this place. We had to wait 30 minutes for a table (at 1pm) but it was worth the wait. While we were waiting for our lunch in came Anthony Morrow but the wait was too long for him so he want across the street to some other Italian place. Obviously Morrow and Watson aren't that close because they never acknowledged each other (or maybe they didn't see each other). Anyways, our deep dish pizza was big and outstanding.

• Our first game of the trip was Warriors vs. Bulls. Just walking into the United Centre was amazing. The history in that building. Awesome. The banners hanging from the rafters. Wow. Plus, we had 8th row seats behind the Warriors bench at the free throw line.

• Unreal. How impressive and cool the whole experience was finally hit me when they Bulls introductions came on...the music, the intro, the announcer and the crowd made the experience surreal. Hard to put into words really. Maybe I'll add the video of the intro's later...yeah, good idea. Anyways, the game was good. It went to OT with the Bulls eventually pulling it out 96-91. What did I take from the game? Many observations...


• Brad Miller gained a new nickname from our crew...the appetizer. He was the Bulls offense in the 1st quarter getting 12 pts and 7 rebounds. His stats for the game, 12 pts, 13 rebs. So, he set the stage for the rest of the night with his big start. Nice call Benny, the appetizer.


• Radmanovic's jump shot could bring rain.


• Deng is not a focal point of the Bulls offense...which is strange considering he's their leading scorer. Watching the game I didn't think he was anything special until I realized he had just put up 21-6-6. He just gets his points here and there, on broken plays, offensive rebounds, or wherever. Quiet player but really effective.


• Rose is not a natural leader at all. He doesn't say a thing on the court or in the huddle. That being said, none of the Bulls exhibited much confidence in their games. They constantly passed up open shots once Rose had passed to them. No wonder his assists are down.


• Monta Ellis is fast. Very fast. No wonder he turns the ball over so much...his mind cannot keep up with his body.


• Mikki Moore has the skinniest legs of any man alive and they are probably even skinnier than Calista Flockhart's.


• Hinrich is a whiner. Every call he complains or walks away in disgust.


• Del Negro should be fired. The offense has no flow to it at all. The guys really have no idea what they are running...they need a leader.
• After the game we went to the Chicago Chop House for steak. It should be called something other than steak because what we ate was like no other steak I had ever tasted. Amazing. 60 day aged Kobe prime rib he said. I asked for a steak knife and the waiter laughed at me. His look screamed of "son, you are a fool". He was right, I didn't need a steak knife to cut through this buttery velvet medium rare piece of heaven. Oh my. I guess it should be good for $89 dollars. Awesome food, awesome atmosphere. Afterwards, we waddled outside, found a cab and headed back to the hotel. As we exited the cab, again, Benny dropped one of his gloves. He was doing his best to lose them. We kept saving the day.
  

Well, that's a little bit of what happened the first 2 days in the Windy City...I'll do more about Saturday and Sunday tomorrow night...ciao for now.