“Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.” Goethe
If you’re a sports fan, you have to love this time of year. Baseball is in it’s pennant drive, and the football season has just kicked-off. Back in September of 1992 when I was 26 years old, a couple friends and I attempted a sports fan’s endurance bucket list challenge: two four-hour plane rides to see three games in two states all in 54 hours.
We left California at noon on Friday for the Big Shoulders of The Windy City. My friend cashed-in some of his frequent flyer points so we got upgraded to fly First Class for the first time in my life. I’m used to being called “29C” and looked at with disdain by most flying waitresses, but on this flight I was “Mr. Jerome,” from the moment that I stepped on to the flight.
“Mr. Jerome,” the flight attendant asked, “What kind of cocktail or beverage would you like?”
“Well, for my cocktail I’ll have a bourbon and seven, and for my beverage, I’ll have a beer.” It was going to be that kind of a trip.
We landed at O‘Hare around 6:00 pm local time, quickly checked into our downtown hotel, and headed for a White Sox game at new Comiskey Park (or “Cominskey Field” as dubious White Sox fan President Obama calls it). We ended up with great seats about twenty rows behind home plate and settled-in with a beer and bratwurst cheering for the Pale Hose. After the game we bar-hopped around the Clark & Division area until 2:30 am. Our wake-up call the next morning was 6:00 am which was 4:00am for our internal California time clocks. “Sleep when you’re dead,” my “so-called” friends hollered as they threw ice water on me from the hotel’s ice bucket.
Our ride met us in the lobby at 7:00 am. He was a friend of one of my travel partners and a Notre Dame alumnus who played on the Irish’s 1973 National Championship football team. We spent that rainy morning driving across the Hoosier state to South Bend for the Notre Dame vs. Purdue football game.
We arrived several hours before kick-off so we toured the campus and took photos in front of the Golden Dome, First Down Moses statue, and Touch Down Jesus mural. It was exciting to be inside historic Notre Dame Stadium and view the emerald turf were they would film the climactic “Rudy!, Rudy!, Rudy!“ scene just six weeks later. With the offensive prowess of Rick Mirer, Reggie Brooks, and Jerome Bettis, the game quickly turned into a blow-out, and the leprechaun’s biceps were burnin’! Even with a 48-0 lead, Lou Holtz paced the sidelines like an expectant father to be. After the game we drove back to Chicago for another night of late night partying on Rush Street.
Sunday morning we scored some scalper’s tickets and saw the Bears take on the Falcons at Soldier Field. The seats weren‘t together and mine was wedged in between a Montgomery Burns look-a-like with 70’s era radio headphones, and a jersey-wearing Bears fan with a Clinton-Gore political button attached. “Neon” Deon Sanders returned a punt for a touchdown and Andre Rison caught a 60 yard touchdown pass, but the highlight of the game was seeing the affection that the Bears fans had for Walter Payton. He strolled around the sidelines waving to the crowd as they rose to their feet to cheer for the retired “Sweetness.”
After the game we grabbed our luggage at the hotel and raced for O’Hare inside the cab of a lunatic who nearly killed us several times, and earned himself a whooping $1.30 tip. We again flew in First Class, but this time I by-passed the freebees in favor of sleep. A good coach tells his players to “leave it all on the field.” Well, as a fan, I can honestly say that that weekend we “left it all in the stands.” Who knew you could get so exhausted watching other people play sports!
