Tuesday, December 24, 2013

If You Had the Bears and 42 Points...YOU LOST!

2013 was a great year in the life of The Poop especially as it regards all the awesome sporting events I went to. There was the Rangers game in the amazing seats, the Jon Jones title fight, the Home Run Derby, the field passes at CitiField, Chase's first Knicks game, the last appearance by Syracuse in the Big East Tournament, and of course the Final Four in Atlanta, which I went to with my best friend Billy. A fitting way to end the year was enjoying a game in style. Since Billy is a bigwig at a company with a suite he asked for the tickets to the Bears game.
He donned his Walter Payton jersey, and I wore a Bears shirt to support my buddy and we entered into enemy territory.



It's a good picture, but a little too much light behind us darkened our faces.

Note: While Eagles fans get a bad rep, and they may have been tailgating all day, we didn't get hassled at all for wearing Bears gear. Obviously no one in the corporate suite is going to do that, and we didn't go to the concourse or hang out in the parking lot, but we saw a lot of other Bears fans in full regalia and Eagles fans said nothing. Not to say it never happens, but the idea that I heard from many people that if I wear a Bears shirt, I'm going to get attacked by an angry mob, is totally untrue.

The suite was really nice, you walk in and there's hot food on the right and snacks and stuff on the right and seats in front. 2 rows of 6 seats and then some high tables that you can also sit at and watch the game.



Had it been cold, the suite would have provided a little respite from the weather but not too much. But it was a very comfortable 50-something degree night. I didn't even wear a jacket.

Note: we felt very VIP with our laminated tickets.



Let's start with the food, I started with a cheesesteak (the meat, onions and cheese are in separate compartments and you cobble together your own sandwich) because when in Rome...



Then I had the paella.



The fridge was fully stocked. And they actually brought the champagne around towards the end of the game.



There were soft pretzels.



And popcorn. I took the bucket, but don't worry I left those cups for other people.



And for dessert there were gingerbread men and a yule log. Pretty cool.



At the end of the game there was still an entire tray of gingerbread men still left so I took a couple home. The suite attendant offered to give us any other leftover food because otherwise she'd have to throw it away. She was literally thinking "what am I going to do with all this paella?"

The food was great, but then the game started. From the 30-yard line, we had a great view of one of the worst ass-kickings I've ever seen. The Bears couldn't move the ball, and every time the Eagles had the ball, they scored. There seemed a moment where the game could have turned, down 24-3 the Bears forced a Lesean McCoy fumble and recovered near midfield. A touchdown there would have at least made it a game, but it was overturned on replay.





When Jay Cutler got picked off and it was returned for a touchdown to make it 47-11 with 8 minutes left we decided to bail out. As soon as we left the stadium we heard a roar, the Eagles had scored again to make it 54-11. I hate to leave early but it was late and I had a long drive ahead of me.

On that drive home I heard an old DMX song, with a line I had never quite understood. It refers to a very popular line of Reeboks, which I later learned had been commonly referred to by the price they cost, after tax. The shoes sold for 49.99, when you added New York's old 8.25% tax rate ($4.12) you got...54-11.

1 comment:

Bill said...

bigwig is mighty generous. Glad you could come. sorry my team sucks.