A little extra time in the Windy City

So our trip to Chicago turned into a bit of travel lore. Friday training was very eventful – we had a dog at pregame training for the second straight week, I was able to avoid asking a player’s father to leave, and all eventually went well.

There was some serious hilarity in the airport as we waited for our flight when a young man who looked striking similar to one of our players walked up next to the group. Everybody kind of collapsed in laughter without the guy really knowing a lot about it. Fortunately, our player took it on himself to go up to the guy and pose for a picture, so we have proof of the uncanny resemblance.

All went well with the flight itself until we neared Chicago, and then we got delayed a bit due to the weather, eventually arriving late but not super late. Our bags, on the other hand, were fairly well delayed, and one or two event went missing. Walking out into the cool Chicago air was certainly a shock, but sitting on the bus waiting for the bag and arriving at the hotel maybe two hours late upset plans for more than a few people. Fortunately, I had none, and I wound up watching the second half of the nationally televised Friday night game in the hotel lounge with several of our coaches.

Saturday went relatively smoothly. I enjoyed breakfast in a deli a few blocks from the hotel, got my work done at the team walk, and eventually went to the stadium on the early bus with our reserves and four high school players from our youth system – a very big day for them. Chicago is where I had one of my biggest broadcasting setup issues. Two years ago, I couldn’t get on the air via conventional methods and therefore missed kickoff and the only goal of the game, recovering to call the remainder of the game via cell phone. Not cool. So I felt a little accomplished when I managed to set up properly in about 15 minutes, three hours before kickoff.

The game itself was good enough – a tie in a game we could have won – and I felt the broadcast had its moments, although I don’t feel I was at my sharpest. A good night with some laughs to be sure, but it was still probably 2 a.m. before I went to bed – game night takes a lot of work!

So waking up at 7:30 for an 8:30 bus was not very easy the next morning, but it was just the beginning of a long travel day. To recap:

7 – team breakfast
7:30 – Jon wakes up
8:30 – team bus departs
9 – team bus arrives, warm-ups begin
10 – reserve game starts, I provide updates via Twitter from fieldside table
11:30 – glare from the sun makes seeing my computer screen almost impossible
11:45 – reserve game ends in a loss
12:30 – team bus leaves for airport; I send out match report from computer on bus, then settle in
1 – team bus arrives airport but check-in process is very long
1:30 – security check, grab lunch at bagel place in airport
2:20 – board plane for 2:55 flight
2:45 – drift off to sleep
3:10 – informed of mechanical problem being worked on
3:11 – drift back to sleep
3:45 – informed mechanical problem appeared fixed but broke again
4:15 – finally told to de-plane
4:17 – strap on my radio bag finally snaps, dropping my stuff to the floor in the middle of the terminal
4:20 – the waiting begins … time-killing techniques of the players involve Su Doku, reading, playing games on phone, using my internet card to check facebook, stretching out to sleep, talking on the phone, etc. etc. We are a motley crew spread out across maybe five gates at one end of the terminal. At one point, I am seated next to four players each from a different country, each with a particular accent on the English language, each with a very different outlook on life. One is listening to music, one doing Su Doku, one reading a book, and one reading a magazine. Truly a diverse team. We discuss, among other things, how Easter is celebrated and how many states end in ‘a.’ There is no telling what other conversations are going on around the terminal as we all think about what we would be doing back in Houston.
6:45 – we are finally informed we have tickets on an 8:15 flight, giving us about an hour to get dinner. Amazing job by our team admin to book all players, reserves, staff, high school kids on same flight.
7:40 – prior to boarding, I give up my exit-row seat to a 6-foot-4 player, whose seat is in row 36
7:45 – find out row 36 includes a player with pregnant wife and infant son
8:40 – roughly the time of our departure. Too cheap to buy TV, as always, I’m using Su Doku and crossword puzzle from in-flight magazine to pass the time.
9:40 – I switch over to some combination of The Economist and sleeping. Thankfully, the cute little tyke next to me has gone to sleep with a minimum of fuss. His parents are very relieved.
10:55 – We finally land in Houston. I’m actually looking forward to the heat/humidity
11:15 – I get to baggage claim and my bag is already there. A miracle!
11:25 – I get to my car quickly. What in the world is going on?
11:50 – I get home before midnight! Amazing! Quite an end to a ridiculous travel day that began some 16-plus hours before. Hey, it could have been a lot worse.