Thursday, January 14, 2016

Adventures near ice-level

For the most part, I've had mediocre experiences with mail/parcel delivery. Never in my life have I ever received a shipment early... until this week.

I submitted an online order on Sunday and was expecting delivery either yesterday or today. What a fabulous surprise when it showed up on Tuesday! Talk about being ridiculously happy. Thank you Wrigleyville Sports and UPS for making my day!

What was in that highly-coveted, early-arriving package, you ask? Why, my new Blackhawks Panarin jersey, of course!
I was dying to put the new jersey to work right away (especially given my jersey history). It was burning a hole in my proverbial closet!

As timing would have it, the Hawks were playing at home that night.

Luckily/unluckily, the weather in Chicago was abysmal. The temperatures were in the single digits, the wind was howling, and the real-feel temperature was in the negative teens. BUT - crappy weather on a weeknight game day also means that last-minute ticket prices usually take a nosedive in the secondary market.

My motto for the day: Go big or go home. 

An hour before face-off, I was the proud owner of tickets for two seats located five rows off the ice.

Yeah, these seats will do. ;-)

Rewinding a little bit from that game-action shot, here is a snapshot of my star jersey-wearer (#72) during the pre-game warm-ups:

and here was the view during the pregame show:
It was an incredible experience to sit so close to the action. It really made me appreciate the insane speed at which the game moves. I gained a much stronger understanding of the brutality of the hits, the wall-to-wall coverage of the shooting lanes, the challenge of seeing the plays unfolding at ice-level, and the truly mind-blowing skill that the players exhibit. We were even able to read the lips of the players talking to each other and to the officials.

I have so much renewed respect for what those players do. It is unbelievably competitive. They all make it look easy when it really is anything but.

Since I may never sit in seats like those ever again (back to the upper deck I go!), I relished the experience as thoroughly as I could!
Rushed selfie during a TV timeout.
And of course, that night wouldn't have been complete without an up-close glimpse of Adam's favorite mascot!
Go Blackhawks!

13 comments:

  1. Go Hawks! Glad you truly relished the surprise of getting your package early--- I love that!

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    1. Go Hawks! What a treat it was to get the package early, indeed! Here is hoping that both of us can ever be so fortunate again with any of our future deliveries. =D

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  2. Oh my gosh, I'm so jealous - those seats are INCREDIBLE! I don't even want to think about what the face value for those sorts of tickets might be haha. Super awesome that you got to experience the game so close, though!

    Bethany @ Accidental Intentions

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    1. Thanks Bethany! Face value was $195 but thankfully I didn't pay nearly that much. =D Gotta love the benefits of living in the city and being able to take advantage of last-minute deals!!! It's times like this that all the extra city residential costs are worth it!!!

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  3. Uh oh! You're going to be spoiled now! :-)

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    1. You know it, LOL. I'm going to another game this Sunday where I'll be sitting in the upper deck, and I'm going to feel like I'm missing out on all the details! =D

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  4. How did you ever get those seats?

    That happened to us once at a Cubs game. We traded in our tickets and got the most amazing seats on the 1st base line--1st row. Never again...

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    1. I generally have two sources I use to buy tickets second-hand - StubHub and Gold Coast. I was stalking both of their sites on Tuesday night and in this instance, Gold Coast came through. =)

      OMG - you got to watch a Cubs game from the first row on the first base line!?!?!? To quote the great Harry Caray, "HOLY COW!!!!!" That must have been the most amazing experience!!!!!!!!

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  5. Great timing! I had that happen with my UA Star Wars shirt. The website said they wouldn't ship until 1/1, but I got it the Friday Star Wars hit theaters.

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    1. WOO HOO!!!!!!!!! PERFECT TIMING FOR YOU!!!!! So pumped that your shirt arrived so early!

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  6. Yay go Hawks! So glad you were able to sit that close. It's so fun!

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    1. GO HAWKS!!! It must be nice to be a season ticket-holder that gets to sit that close all the time, yes?

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  7. Thanks Karen! I don't know anything about Nascar - maybe one of these days you can do a Nascar 101 post for those of us that would like to learn? =D

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