Black Hand Productions

Last night Julie and I headed down to the South Side for the ‘Beerman Bobblehead Night’ at US Cellular Field.  The White Sox ended up losing in the 9th inning to the Tigers.  We had heard about the bobblehead when the tickets went on sale for the season and this was a priority.  Every time we go to a White Sox game, I think more and more how much more enjoyable the whole experience can be compared to Wrigley Field.  It’s just so much easier to get around, the food is much better and typically the team is better.

Last night Julie and I went to Wrigley Field for the BP Crosstown Classic between the White Sox and the Cubs.  The Blackhawks were on hand with the Stanley Cup.

Side Note:

* As low scoring baseball goes the game was interesting to watch since both pitchers had ‘no-hitters‘ going for quite a while.  The Cubs ended up winning 1-0.

** We got rooftop tickets via youswoop.com and went to the Down the Line rooftop.  I was not impressed at all.  There was little information on their website (when do doors open, where’s the entrance, etc.) and the way the whole thing was run was shady.  On the main deck they had three couches setup and then tables and chairs behind them.  If you weren’t one of the first 3 people up you didn’t get a couch (I was fourth) and when you sat at the tables people just stood in front of you.  We ended up moving down stairs and watched from the window and the TV.  I think they might have just started business this season but compared to the Skybox on Sheffield this place was a joke.

Yesterday I met up with a friend who was in town for the Cubs – Pirates game at Wrigley Field.  I’m not sure how Dave was able to get tickets but they were probably the best seats I’ve ever had at Wrigley.  Definitely up there with the seats I had at the Dodgers game last year.  Having these seats provided us with the opportunity to see  some of the best beermen in the business.

The Rickshaw business around Wrigleyville is booming.  The bicycle rickshaws, which are much more common, setup shop right outside my house on game days.  today on my walk home I spotted this classic rickshaw.

I’m pretty sure that’s Lebowski looking for a fare.

On Sunday Julie and I headed to Cincinnati on our ‘mini honeymoon’ for the Mets – Reds game at Great American Ballpark.  We got to the stadium early and hung out at The Machine Room which overlooks the outfield for the Reds batting practice.  We had great seats about 4 rows back from the field on the third base side.  The Reds ended up winning on a home run in the bottom of the 11th.

*Side Note:
Hurley from LOST sat a couple of rows in front of us:

Yesterday Julie and I headed down to South Side for the White Sox – Red Sox game.  We got our tickets through the Blackhawks who were having a fan appreciation day (Julie’s got more on that here).  I was there for the baseball. The Sox ended up killing the Sox 12-2.

I must say the food, seats, views and most importantly bathrooms are 100 times better at US Cellular Field as compared to Wrigley Field.  Granted Wrigley is within walking distance to my house so that is why I probably end up at more Cubs games than Sox games.  This year I have probably seen more baseball games than in any other year, including games in 4 different cities.

I guess my point to all this is that I’m really glad Football Season has begun.

Sidenote:

* Julie and I were able to ‘parade’ around the field before the game as part of the Blackhawks event.  This is a photograph of us on the grass before the guy behind us threw us out.  Clearly we were not supposed to be on the grass.

** The View From My Seat:

*** Beermen on the South Side are a little rougher than their North Side counterparts.

This past weekend the Mets were in town and I went to a couple of games with Julie (I skipped the second game in protest of the concept of ‘Pitch Counts‘ which are completely arbitrary and in my humble opinion total bullshit).  Today’s game the Mets actually won and as you can see in the photographs above I focused on the beermen and the ushers.  Badass mustaches are nearly required to work as a beerman or an usher at Wrigley Field.

Jon Lovitz threw out the first pitch (after a muligan he made a decent throw) and sung during the 7th inning stretch.  I must say I respect Lovitz as he didn’t wear the lame personalized jersey.  Instead he wore a Ernie Banks jersey.

Side Notes:

* Tim Tebow of the Florida Gators made an appearance.

** Billy Cub once again was adhering to his restraining order and roaming the perimeter of Wrigley Field.

*** The view from my seat.

This weekend Julie and I ventured out to New York for the Mets – Phillies at Citi Field.  This was my first trip to the stadium (Julie went earlier in the week) and our first opportunity to see our brick.  The game of course didn’t end well after the starting pitcher was removed for an arbitrary stat… pitch counts. Besides that the stadium was really great.  There’s a ton of space, lots of quality food and great views from throughout the park.

Side Note:

* Saturday night I met up with Jim at the Blue Moon Cafe where we spent the better part of night discussing the finer points of the Stanley Cup Finals.  We spent the next day at the Shark Bar (which is really the Spring Lounge and not this Shark Bar) then we headed to McSorley’s before bailing on our reservations at the Ninja Restaurant.  I am nearly positive we each have a team of Ninja Assassins who will enact revenge on our disrespect some time in the future.  I will probably get mine via a blow dart when I least expect it.  If you’re wonder about the Ninja Restaurant this choice quote from the NY Times should do it justice:

You are greeted there by servers in black costumes who ceaselessly bow, regularly yelp and ever so occasionally tumble, and you are asked to choose between two routes to your table.

The first is described by a ninja escort as simple and direct. The second is “dark, dangerous and narrow,” involving a long tunnel and a drawbridge that descends only when your escort intones a special command, which he later implores you to keep secret.

I recommend a third path: right back out the door.

** This car was outside Citi Field:

Yesterday after spending the entire day in line at the Willis Tower we jumped on the train and headed to US Cellular Field for the White Sox – Indians game.  Despite being close to 90 degrees most of the evening the wind inside the stadium made everything comfortable.

It was hard to miss a chance to see a Cleveland team lose.

Julie managed to track down some rooftop tickets from groupon.com for about $80 so we headed to the Skybox on Sheffield for the Cubs – Brewers game.  I’ve never sat on any of the roof tops until today and the view was much better than I would have thought.  Then again it’s hard to compare to the last time I was at Wrigley Field.  The weather was perfect, the Brewers were terrible and the Cubs hit everything.

Side Notes:

* Myra and Julie were on a recon mission for a good portion of the 6th inning.

** Isn’t this the saddest looking unofficial mascot you’ve ever seen?  I’m pretty sure the Cubs have a restraining order on ‘Billy Cub‘ so he’s not allowed to cross the street and his is forced to endlessly wander around the perimeter of the block.  If you would like to contact ‘Billy Cub’ here’s his email:  billycub78@yahoo.com

Once again Legendary Traffic Coordinator Sal Pisconeri came to town.  The main purpose of the weekend was to see another Cleveland sports team lose a game despite itself.  We accomplished this with the best seats in Wrigley Field.  I of course secured the tickets figuring no way a ‘Row 1′ seat can really be obstructed view.  I was wrong.   Dead wrong.  As you can see in the top photograph there was a load bearing steel I-beam directly in front of my seat.  I could only see the batter, center and right field.  Really quite amazing.  On two separate occasions I was shocked to learn from Sal (who sat to my right) that the Indians had the bases loaded.  This is because I could not see any of the bases… at a Baseball game.

Classic.

The Kyle Neugebauer Bachelor Party was also in town, which of course led to a couple bar ‘throwouts’, several broken bottles and some really bad choices.  On the other hand Sal and I managed to go nearly the entire weekend with just two meals. I have to say if you’re going to spend 48 hours in Chicago and only eat twice you do as we did.  Wiener’s Circle (after 1am) and Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza (I’ve moved on from my infatuation with Giordano’s over the last 8 months).  Needless to say Lou Malnati’s put us into a food coma which lasted about 4 hours and threw us off our game.

But as great men always do… we rallied.