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Chicago trip recap

HuskerTimOmaha

HuskerTimOmaha

Nebraska Legend
Apr 21, 2006
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Leave in the morning so here are my quick thoughts....

- Lack of taxi cabs around the United Center, big problem. Everyone associated with this tournament should get their asses chewed out. From the B1G to the city of Chicago to the cab companies and anyone else in-between, flat out embarrassment. Wednesday night we waited no less than 40 minutes for a cab. And when 3 cabs pulled up, they told us and everyone else it was a $35 minimum (our hotel is a $11 ride, later found out that's against the law for a cab driver to do). Tonight, sparky and I were the first there and waited 25-30 minutes. No rhyme or reason on how the cabs picked you up, it was a complete mess.

- Great arena, plenty of concessions and restrooms. Low attendance numbers helped with minimal waits, curious to know if they'll add staff members for Friday. Pulled pork from Sweet Baby Ray's was astounding, as was the coleslaw.

- Chicago itself, awesome. Tuesday night went to Bull and Bear or whatever it's called, about 4 blocks from our hotel. Good atmosphere, good wings, closed at 10:00 which kind of sucked. Took a red bus tour Wednesday, very educational. Went to Harry Caray's across from our hotel for lunch Wednesday, sparky enjoyed his hamburger and I enjoyed the fettuccine alfredo.

- People were friendlier than I remember in the past. Might be the weather warming up but it's something I noticed.

- If you're going this weekend, plenty of tickets around the stadium. Plus, there's a ticket broker inside Billy Goats sports bar, his prices weren't too bad, about $75 above value and he's loaded with tickets. StubStop is the name, he has a little section inside the bar for all transactions.

- Taco Bell, sucks, period.

That's it for now!
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
What a great time. I needed to get away for a few days from the helter skelter of 2 jobs. 6 basketball games in 2 days was awesome. Great food but the 10 oz of sirloin in my burger at Harry Carey's piled high with cheese, lettuce, mushrooms, and tomato will leave an impression in the notch in my belt.

A father & daughter sat next to us for the last 2 games. Her dad was proud to say the least. She had attended Stanford, played in 2 final fours while there, and received a Bachelors degree in Bio-Chemical Engineering. She was now attending Northwestern and getting a Masters degree in Business, but was first headed to South America on a grant to study AIDS in infants.

Waiting for a cab for over 30 minutes when it's 24 degrees wasn't a good thing. Met some great HUSKER fans in the last 2 days.

All in all had a great time but agree w/HTO, the Taco Bell leaves a lot to be desired.
 
Glad you guys had fun!

My mother is from Chicago so I always enjoyed going into the city to visit friends and family. A lot of interesting stuff to do downtown. There is no place in this country like Chicago in the summertime.
 
The B1G, city of Chicago, and everyone else in between should also fix crime, racial tensions, a lack of ability to get a seat at Girl and the Goat, and delays at the airport while they are at it.

It's a big city that has several things going on. If a 40 minute wait for a taxi was the biggest problem, I'd say you had a successful trip.

There are alternatives; Uber, Lyft, trains, buses, walking, rental cars, etc.
 
The cab and bus situation in San Antonio for the tourney last year. I don't think they care once they get you into the venue.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
Originally posted by chicolby:
The B1G, city of Chicago, and everyone else in between should also fix a lack of ability to get a seat at Girl and the Goat.
Click to expand...
RIGHT???
 
I sat adjacent to you two on Wednesday afternoon.

As for the taxi situation, waaaaaa. What are the city and conference going to do, compel a line of free-market, independent taxis to form? In 40 minutes I'd assume at least three buses went by, and an uber could have had you home even easier. Cripes, there are rickshaws all over after games too.
 
Glad you guys enjoyed it. I live an hour and a half or so drive west on I80, and I only go to Chicago if I have to. Lots of fun stuff to see and do, but I'm just too much of a country bumpkin I guess.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
"Lack of taxi cabs" ---

Uber or Lyft. Problem solved. No matter where I've used them, Lincoln, KC, San Fran, Omaha, New Orleans, Denver, a ride is there in under 10 minutes (Lincoln is slowest) and in most cases 2-3 minutes in popular areas. I will never take a taxi again unless its to/from an airport or in Vegas.
 
Originally posted by chicolby:
The B1G, city of Chicago, and everyone else in between should also fix crime, racial tensions, a lack of ability to get a seat at Girl and the Goat, and delays at the airport while they are at it.

It's a big city that has several things going on. If a 40 minute wait for a taxi was the biggest problem, I'd say you had a successful trip.

There are alternatives; Uber, Lyft, trains, buses, walking, rental cars, etc.
Click to expand...
Cool city, but would never ever live there. I used to go on a regular basis, as Abbott Labs is located in Deerfield. The traffic is a nightmare. Always sat in traffic for 2-3 hours every time we went back to the airport. I hear the "L" is the route to go, but always had luggage.

If I'm going to live in a huge city with traffic problems, it's going to be LA, where the weather isn't frigid 6 months out of the year.
 
Tried to tell you the L is a 5 minute walk from the UC.

I find the people in Chicago to be very friendly. It's a big city so it's crowded and fast-paced, but it's very midwestern in the way I see people treat each other.
 
Myself and 3 Iowa buddies went to the very first Big 10 B-Ball Tournment in 1998 in Chicago, I had an Uncle that worked for the University of Minnesota at the time and he was the one that purchased the tickets for the whole tournment.

I believe we stayed at the Marriott not to far from the arena back then we didn't have any trouble getting a cab to the arena. It leaving a guy just told us don't walk down this way or you will wind up in a very rough part of town walk this way and you'll find places to eat eat and drink.

It's been quite a while since then so I don't remember any of the places we eat at. Remember it was the year we split the National title with Michigan and one of the days I wore my 3 Sears National title trophy's, I had some funny looks and a little razzing from Michigan fans but it was all good.

Also remember we came back to Omaha on Sunday and our flight was delayed in Chicago because Omaha had a March snow storm that Saturday.

If I had remembered any of the places to drink and eat I would have told Spary and HTO were they could have a great time but it too long ago.

Glad you had a good time and I'm sure HTO was rooting for Iowa yesterday.
wink.r191677.gif




This post was edited on 3/13 12:00 PM by scarletred
 
No one will ever beat Kansas City for how to host and run a conference tournament. The B12 tournament is by far the best of the bunch. Built in fanbase. Great venue and atmosphere around the arena. Usually a great slate of games.
 
Originally posted by regoratsginrom:
No one will ever beat Kansas City for how to host and run a conference tournament. The B12 tournament is by far the best of the bunch. Built in fanbase. Great venue and atmosphere around the arena. Usually a great slate of games.
Click to expand...
Well I heard that Indianapolis is awesome majority of the Hotels and eating places are walking distance from the Arena and they have Big 10 schools names around the arena used for street names.
 
Like i said the taxis were the worst part of the trip but if that's the worst thing that happened to me I'm a lucky guy. If you ever get a chance to do something like this i recommend it. People are friendly and the food was great. Plus the basketball was more then i had hoped for.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
As someone else already mentioned, when in big cities Uber or Lyft are much much better than a cab.
 
Originally posted by TheBeav815:
Tried to tell you the L is a 5 minute walk from the UC.

I find the people in Chicago to be very friendly. It's a big city so it's crowded and fast-paced, but it's very midwestern in the way I see people treat each other.
Click to expand...
This.

And also this.
 
Originally posted by mel mains:

I sat adjacent to you two on Wednesday afternoon.

As for the taxi situation, waaaaaa. What are the city and conference going to do, compel a line of free-market, independent taxis to form? In 40 minutes I'd assume at least three buses went by, and an uber could have had you home even easier. Cripes, there are rickshaws all over after games too.
Click to expand...
Not surprised, next time take your eyes off me and introduce yourself, it was creepy. Or, stay creepy.

Waaaaa because your crime filled city wasn't prepared? Spare me your response, you're damn right they should have cabs all over the area once the games are complete. Or, at the very least, have a large number prepared to hit the area when a call comes in. It's catering to the customer, especially when Chicago is competing against Indianapolis, New York and DC for future B1G tournaments. Two buses came by, and from what I understood from the area PD, the two didn't go to our area.

Rocket science isn't needed for cabs to be prepared.

This post was edited on 3/13 2:15 PM by HuskerTimOmaha
 
Originally posted by MrReality:

As someone else already mentioned, when in big cities Uber or Lyft are much much better than a cab.
Click to expand...
We were going to do that, when local officials tell you it's not needed as cabs will be all over, you tend to go with the officials. Heck, we had 3 cabs tell us Wednesday night it was a $35 minimum then a cab driver told us Thursday night that's against the law and we should've written down the cab number and called them in. IMO, unnecessary. Lesson learned, not that I'll be going back to Chicago for a tournament though.
 
Originally posted by HuskerTimOmaha:
Originally posted by mel mains:

I sat adjacent to you two on Wednesday afternoon.

As for the taxi situation, waaaaaa. What are the city and conference going to do, compel a line of free-market, independent taxis to form? In 40 minutes I'd assume at least three buses went by, and an uber could have had you home even easier. Cripes, there are rickshaws all over after games too.
Click to expand...
Not surprised, next time take your eyes off me and introduce yourself, it was creepy. Or, stay creepy.

Waaaaa because your crime filled city wasn't prepared? Spare me your response, you're damn right they should have cabs all over the area once the games are complete. Or, at the very least, have a large number prepared to hit the area when a call comes in. It's catering to the customer, especially when Chicago is competing against Indianapolis, New York and DC for future B1G tournaments. Two buses came by, and from what I understood from the area PD, the two didn't go to our area.

Rocket science isn't needed for cabs to be prepared.

This post was edited on 3/13 2:15 PM by HuskerTimOmaha
Click to expand...
It might be a blow to your ego, but not everyone who identifies a person, even though he is a stranger, is compelled to come over and introduce himself to you. Narcissism isn't a species-wide trait to the degree the internet would make it appear.

Besides, it was Todd who I recognized from the sauce's publicity efforts. I just figure most people would rather be left alone; apparently not.
 
The taxi thing is nothing new there. I saw U2 in concert a few years back. Sold out house. No taxis anywhere. It took is 2 hours of walking before we were able to flag one down.

The funny thing is that there were hundreds of them dropping people off at the concert beforehand. You'd think they would get that there just might be a demand afterwards too.
 
Originally posted by HuskerTimOmaha:
Leave in the morning so here are my quick thoughts....

- Lack of taxi cabs around the United Center, big problem. Everyone associated with this tournament should get their asses chewed out. From the B1G to the city of Chicago to the cab companies and anyone else in-between, flat out embarrassment. Wednesday night we waited no less than 40 minutes for a cab. And when 3 cabs pulled up, they told us and everyone else it was a $35 minimum (our hotel is a $11 ride, later found out that's against the law for a cab driver to do). Tonight, sparky and I were the first there and waited 25-30 minutes. No rhyme or reason on how the cabs picked you up, it was a complete mess.

- Great arena, plenty of concessions and restrooms. Low attendance numbers helped with minimal waits, curious to know if they'll add staff members for Friday. Pulled pork from Sweet Baby Ray's was astounding, as was the coleslaw.

- Chicago itself, awesome. Tuesday night went to Bull and Bear or whatever it's called, about 4 blocks from our hotel. Good atmosphere, good wings, closed at 10:00 which kind of sucked. Took a red bus tour Wednesday, very educational. Went to Harry Caray's across from our hotel for lunch Wednesday, sparky enjoyed his hamburger and I enjoyed the fettuccine alfredo.

- People were friendlier than I remember in the past. Might be the weather warming up but it's something I noticed.

- If you're going this weekend, plenty of tickets around the stadium. Plus, there's a ticket broker inside Billy Goats sports bar, his prices weren't too bad, about $75 above value and he's loaded with tickets. StubStop is the name, he has a little section inside the bar for all transactions.

- Taco Bell, sucks, period.

That's it for now!
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Click to expand...
I thought you guys traveled by sparky`s limo ?
party0023.r191677.gif
 
Originally posted by mel mains:

It might be a blow to your ego, but not everyone who identifies a person, even though he is a stranger, is compelled to come over and introduce himself to you. Narcissism isn't a species-wide trait to the degree the internet would make it appear.

Besides, it was Todd who I recognized from the sauce's publicity efforts. I just figure most people would rather be left alone; apparently not.
Click to expand...
My ego is the same it was before the trip, just weird a creepy on-looker mentions something on an anonymous message board as if, well, as if.... Based on previous history, I'm not surprised you created a hole in the back of my head.

No kidding, really? That shocks me since he's shared pictures of himself on here and I haven't.
shock.r191677.gif
Nah, it's always great to meet more Husker fans, the groups immediately around us were fun to talk with.



This post was edited on 3/13 5:06 PM by HuskerTimOmaha
 
Originally posted by HuskerTimOmaha:
Leave in the morning so here are my quick thoughts....

- Lack of taxi cabs around the United Center, big problem. Everyone associated with this tournament should get their asses chewed out. From the B1G to the city of Chicago to the cab companies and anyone else in-between, flat out embarrassment. Wednesday night we waited no less than 40 minutes for a cab.

Posted from Rivals Mobile
Click to expand...
Your story reminds me of when we took AMTRAK from LA to Seattle when NU played there. The "Coast Starlight" terminates in Downtown Seattle at midnight three times a week. About 60 people got off that train and two cabs were waiting. I had hoped the cab company would have that figured out, but I guess not.
 
Originally posted by mel mains:
Originally posted by HuskerTimOmaha:
Originally posted by mel mains:

I sat adjacent to you two on Wednesday afternoon.

As for the taxi situation, waaaaaa. What are the city and conference going to do, compel a line of free-market, independent taxis to form? In 40 minutes I'd assume at least three buses went by, and an uber could have had you home even easier. Cripes, there are rickshaws all over after games too.
Click to expand...
Not surprised, next time take your eyes off me and introduce yourself, it was creepy. Or, stay creepy.

Waaaaa because your crime filled city wasn't prepared? Spare me your response, you're damn right they should have cabs all over the area once the games are complete. Or, at the very least, have a large number prepared to hit the area when a call comes in. It's catering to the customer, especially when Chicago is competing against Indianapolis, New York and DC for future B1G tournaments. Two buses came by, and from what I understood from the area PD, the two didn't go to our area.

Rocket science isn't needed for cabs to be prepared.

This post was edited on 3/13 2:15 PM by HuskerTimOmaha
Click to expand...
It might be a blow to your ego, but not everyone who identifies a person, even though he is a stranger, is compelled to come over and introduce himself to you. Narcissism isn't a species-wide trait to the degree the internet would make it appear.

Besides, it was Todd who I recognized from the sauce's publicity efforts. I just figure most people would rather be left alone; apparently not.
Click to expand...
I really wished you would have came over and introduced yourself. We were having blast with all the Husker fans in our section.Everyone was introducing themselves. Husker fans are always having fun at things like this. Hell, I was even sharing a box of popcorn with the usher. I'm that quiet & shy introvert so you're going to have to pull me out of my shell. There are tons of people on here that know me, & I don't know them. Come on Mel, next time don't be a stranger. Besides, then I can put a face with the person I'm going to ban.
3dgrin.r191677.gif

This post was edited on 3/14 11:19 PM by sparky62
 
Just curious how far of a walk is the Blue Line from the United Center? Though I've never walked it I thought it was about six blocks.
 
Originally posted by redthru&thru:
The taxi thing is nothing new there. I saw U2 in concert a few years back. Sold out house. No taxis anywhere. It took is 2 hours of walking before we were able to flag one down.

The funny thing is that there were hundreds of them dropping people off at the concert beforehand. You'd think they would get that there just might be a demand afterwards too.
Click to expand...
This. And to the people tell HTO and Sparky to use Uber, et al and problem solved - there were no Ubers available on Friday night. Believe me, I tried. Everyone else had the same idea with Uber and Lyft as I did, but there weren't many drivers for either platform around the UC when the games got over. We walked halfway through Ukranian Village (were heading north th Milwaukee and Damen) and we finally flagged down a cab after walking for 20 mins. It is pretty strange how there are hardly any cabs around after the games.

There were free CTA buses, though, that took the crowd from the United Center into DT Chicago. They stopped anywhere between the UC and Randolph and Michigan for the riders. That was a good route to have and it's what we went with on Saturday afternoon/evening afther the semifinals were over. I think the UC was semi-prepared for the lack of cabs, and thus the buses lined up on Madison. But if you didn't know they were the free ride to DT, you were out of luck, because they didn't publicize it. Other than that, I agree with HTO that it is strange there weren't more cab drivers around the UC at that time.
 
Originally posted by GBR ASAP:

Originally posted by redthru&thru:
The taxi thing is nothing new there. I saw U2 in concert a few years back. Sold out house. No taxis anywhere. It took is 2 hours of walking before we were able to flag one down.

The funny thing is that there were hundreds of them dropping people off at the concert beforehand. You'd think they would get that there just might be a demand afterwards too.
Click to expand...
This. And to the people tell HTO and Sparky to use Uber, et al and problem solved - there were no Ubers available on Friday night. Believe me, I tried. Everyone else had the same idea with Uber and Lyft as I did, but there weren't many drivers for either platform around the UC when the games got over. We walked halfway through Ukranian Village (were heading north th Milwaukee and Damen) and we finally flagged down a cab after walking for 20 mins. It is pretty strange how there are hardly any cabs around after the games.

There were free CTA buses, though, that took the crowd from the United Center into DT Chicago. They stopped anywhere between the UC and Randolph and Michigan for the riders. That was a good route to have and it's what we went with on Saturday afternoon/evening afther the semifinals were over. I think the UC was semi-prepared for the lack of cabs, and thus the buses lined up on Madison. But if you didn't know they were the free ride to DT, you were out of luck, because they didn't publicize it. Other than that, I agree with HTO that it is strange there weren't more cab drivers around the UC at that time.
Click to expand...
BTW, thanks for the tickets. We had a blast.
 
Now boys, you're starting to sound like you want to trample on the individual freedom of these cabbies as small businessmen manifesting their own destinies and choosing where to pick up fares of their own free will.
smokin.r191677.gif


Cabbies here are NOT happy about what Uber and Lyft are doing to them. They were just protesting recently, wanting the city to basically ban them.

I would suspect that when it gets to be night time, the cabs are trolling the bar areas for the guaranteed money. There's not a ton in that area around the UC for them to catch random fares. Lurking variable is those guys are probably watching the Bulls and Blackhawks schedule for when to go to the UC, so they may not have even known there were games. I don't wanna stereotype but most of the cabbies I've ridden with didn't strike me as big college hoops loyalists or Big 10 alumni...
 
Originally posted by TheBeav815:

Now boys, you're starting to sound like you want to trample on the individual freedom of these cabbies as small businessmen manifesting their own destinies and choosing where to pick up fares of their own free will.
smokin.r191677.gif


Cabbies here are NOT happy about what Uber and Lyft are doing to them. They were just protesting recently, wanting the city to basically ban them.

I would suspect that when it gets to be night time, the cabs are trolling the bar areas for the guaranteed money. There's not a ton in that area around the UC for them to catch random fares. Lurking variable is those guys are probably watching the Bulls and Blackhawks schedule for when to go to the UC, so they may not have even known there were games. I don't wanna stereotype but most of the cabbies I've ridden with didn't strike me as big college hoops loyalists or Big 10 alumni...
Click to expand...
Is this response for real?
 
Originally posted by HuskerTimOmaha:
Originally posted by TheBeav815:

Now boys, you're starting to sound like you want to trample on the individual freedom of these cabbies as small businessmen manifesting their own destinies and choosing where to pick up fares of their own free will.
smokin.r191677.gif


Cabbies here are NOT happy about what Uber and Lyft are doing to them. They were just protesting recently, wanting the city to basically ban them.

I would suspect that when it gets to be night time, the cabs are trolling the bar areas for the guaranteed money. There's not a ton in that area around the UC for them to catch random fares. Lurking variable is those guys are probably watching the Bulls and Blackhawks schedule for when to go to the UC, so they may not have even known there were games. I don't wanna stereotype but most of the cabbies I've ridden with didn't strike me as big college hoops loyalists or Big 10 alumni...
Click to expand...
Is this response for real?
Click to expand...
Partly? I'm going to need you to be more specific.
 
First and third paragraph. Even the local PD commented they were surprised the cabbies weren't prepared.

Not happy with Uber makes perfect sense, and I don't blame the cab companies.
 
Originally posted by HuskerTimOmaha:
First and third paragraph. Even the local PD commented they were surprised the cabbies weren't prepared.

Not happy with Uber makes perfect sense, and I don't blame the cab companies.
Click to expand...
First was a joke, third was a total guess as to where else they might have been. I'm sure they'd normally be on it for UC events, so maybe this just wasn't on their radar. I don't recall if there were many when I went to Bulls/Blackhawks games because I wasn't taking cab.
 
Next time you're in Chicago just be sure you have the Uber app downloaded on your phone...you'll be picked up and on your way in no time. I don't think I've taken an actual cab in the city for at least a year. All Uber, all the time.





This post was edited on 3/16 1:33 PM by msuwest4
 
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