Now that we've made it to Chicago:

[CloneDontCare]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

That also lists both elite 8 games at 6, which is not right. Elite 8 games are never at the same time since there's only 2 of them on each day.

Hmmm...

So whoever listed it as night games for Chicago Friday, have a source? My googling brings up nothing.

It's fairly significant in my case, but I'm imagining we won't know for sure until... Saturday night? Sunday night?

 

[carvers4math]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

I you can just mooch off of relatives that live there, is there enough parking at the UC?

 

[stormchaser2014]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

Hmmm...

So whoever listed it as night games for Chicago Friday, have a source? My googling brings up nothing.

It's fairly significant in my case, but I'm imagining we won't know for sure until... Saturday night? Sunday night?

They may have been going off last year's games. Midwest region started at 6:15.

 

[CloneDontCare]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

Yeah, you guys are right. From 2014 and 2015, no Sweet Sixteen game starts before 6:00pm central. Websites fooled me.

 

[cyrocksmypants]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

I never really thought you were the type to be concerned about cost.

He's investing the millions he's made from farming/painting/playing the piano with stock tips he personally receives from Warren Buffet, not wasting it on silly basketball games.

 

[Psyclone Brian]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

Win Saturday in Denver... Then it's off to HILTON EAST!!!

 

[melt]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

Chicago/UC is not as difficult as everybody is saying. If it's a money thing I understand, but I can't imagine a more fun city to go to NCAA tourney games than Chicago.

-The area around the UC has been developing, it's not a place you'd hang out at but everyone will be fine on game day.
-Restaurant row is very close to there to eat before or after any games.
-Stay downtown and just cab/uber to within a few blocks and get out. Even with traffic it isn't that far from downtown hotels.
-Party just 15 blocks straight north on Damen in Wicker Park/Bucktown after the game. That's the de-facto UC neighborhood party spot and also simply the most fun place to go out and hang out. I'm biased because I lived there for a long time

Take the L around other parts of town if you make a trip out of it, or use the blue line to get from O'hare to your downtown hotel, but don't bother with public transit to the UC. It's not as convenient for it as the other major sports venues.

I would actually say that the River West area is the de facto party spot for the UC. There's a bunch of bars and restaurants on Randolph and Madison that do party buses to Hawks and Bulls games, I would expect them to have buses going for the tournament too.

I normally live in Chicago, but I'm in Cleveland for work, and I can't make it back home next weekend. It's going to kill me if ISU is there and I can't go, but that's how it goes.

 

[SCyclone]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

I you can just mooch off of relatives that live there, is there enough parking at the UC?

My daughter lives on Wellington Avenue in Lincoln Park, and the on-street parking around her apartment is absolutely NUTS. Most vehicles end up being less than a foot apart - it must take them 15 minutes to get either in or out of the spot! Plus that neighborhood isn't exactly where you might want to leave your vehicle unattended, if it's nice. You'd be better off parking out in the burbs and taking the train in.

 

[2forISU]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

I live in Chicago and tickets currently appear to be hella expensive. Each day, doesn't look like there's anything acceptable under $150 a ticket. And that's still 300 level, high rows. But I'm only looking at stubhub right now.

I can't decide if this is going to get better or worse. With Purdue out, MSU getting upset would be a dream, because yeah, who would really come to that?

Hotels currently don't look bad, but if you're thinking about it I don't see the harm in booking now and cancelling if we lay a turd Saturday.

That is cheap. NYC for the sweet 16 against UCONN the low end was $500+

 

[BryceC]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

I don't hate Chicago, but I haven't been to the UC since Iowa State/Duke played there. I was shocked at how much of a dump it was around the UC. There is absolutely nothing there. The fact that you have to take Uber or public transit to the to and from the stadium really makes me wonder why they even get these events.

 

[boone7247]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

Yeah, you guys are right. From 2014 and 2015, no Sweet Sixteen game starts before 6:00pm central. Websites fooled me.

Yeah I found a fox website that listed the 2015 game times. That was what I was basing it on And that also makes sense, why play any games during the day. Get your full TV audience.

 

[Cardinal2001]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

I don't hate Chicago, but I haven't been to the UC since Iowa State/Duke played there. I was shocked at how much of a dump it was around the UC. There is absolutely nothing there. The fact that you have to take Uber or public transit to the to and from the stadium really makes me wonder why they even get these events.

I was also at that game, and had the same reaction. I expected it to be at the center of something. Nope, race track for cab drivers (no Uber at that time).

At least the restaurants weren't crowded at the time, because of the snowstorm (that was fun to drive out of).

 

[boone7247]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

I don't hate Chicago, but I haven't been to the UC since Iowa State/Duke played there. I was shocked at how much of a dump it was around the UC. There is absolutely nothing there. The fact that you have to take Uber or public transit to the to and from the stadium really makes me wonder why they even get these events.

Uh, because Chicago is a top 3 market in the country. The tourney being here won't even interrupt anyone's regular routine. Also, there are so many options for fans staying here, it isn't like the UC is located in Crystal Lake, it is located 10 - 15 blocks from the heart of the city. I don't think it is hard to get to at all.

Also the neighborhood to the East of the UC is on the come. There is quite a bit more around it now than there was at the aforementioned Duke/ISU ame.

 

[Cardinal2001]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

Also, there are so many options for fans staying here, it isn't like the UC is located in Crystal Lake, it is located 10 - 15 blocks from the heart of the city.

Make sure and take time to visit the Museum of Science and Industry. Lots of time! That place is awesome, and don't skimp and skip the U-boat in the basement. Totally worth it!

http://www.msichicago.org/

 

[boone7247]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

Make sure and take time to visit the Museum of Science and Industry. Lots of time! That place is awesome, and don't skimp and skip the U-boat in the basement. Totally worth it!

http://www.msichicago.org/

You have this, the Field Museum, Art Museum, Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, shopping on Michigan Ave and State street, god knows how many plays/musical/comedy/blues, plus countless excellent restaurants/bars/clubs. There are only a couple of places in the world that you can stay in a hotel and have all that no more than 20 blocks from there. Okay the Museum of Science and Industry is a little further than that, and that doesn't include all of the small things that interest different people that somewhere in the city it is catered to.

Honestly I don't care who you are, if you come to Chicago for 3 or 4 days and have a bad time that is on you. I get not wanting to live her, i get it can be expensive. But for a short stay, there are very few places on Earth that can be as entertaining as this city.

 

[marothisu]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

I was also at that game, and had the same reaction. I expected it to be at the center of something. Nope, race track for cab drivers (no Uber at that time).

At least the restaurants weren't crowded at the time, because of the snowstorm (that was fun to drive out of).

Most Arenas/stadiums in the US are surrounded by parking lots. Places like Wrigley Field (Chicago) are rare. Not far west of UC is not a great neighborhood (improved from 10+ years ago, but not great). To the East a little bit, things are much different. West Loop is the former meatpacking area of Chicago (still has some) but now has a bunch of trendy and good restaurants. It's really come on strong in the last 3 or so years with a lot of new good, trendy restaurants/bars/boutiques opening with a number of new residential projects. Even if you go due north of the UC to like Chicago Avenue, it's a completely different world. Go north on Damen Avenue to Division Street or North Avenue area. A lot of nightlife over there. Utterly, completely different than the UC area it's not even funny.

 

[Boxerdaddy]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

In before one game at a time
In before lets win this one first etc etc.........

IF we make it to Chicago: Has anyone been to the tourney there? Whats it like, hotels expensive? I cant imagine the tickets will be expensive given the other teams playing there...aside from Mich State.

Any discussion welcome

 

[marothisu]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

Honestly I don't care who you are, if you come to Chicago for 3 or 4 days and have a bad time that is on you. I get not wanting to live her, i get it can be expensive. But for a short stay, there are very few places on Earth that can be as entertaining as this city.

Agreed. Before I moved here, I used to give it a lot of crap and call it ****-cago with my family. My mom and her side are from NYC, so we had that pretension, but none of us spent a lot of time on actual vacation there. Always for stuff like business or just passing through, or maybe an event at UC or something like that.

Then I moved here and realized the evaluation before was completely stupid. Tons to do, and very few cities outside of NYC offer what Chicago does (SF, Boston, DC, and Philadelphia also good, but they are also a lot smaller).

So point being - if you are coming to visit Chicago and you just stay in the burbs or just stay around UC without going anywhere else, then that's on you. Not only does the area around UC not look good, but it also looks nothing like the areas even fairly close by. The city has changed a good amount even in the last handful of years. I moved here 7 years ago and feel it has changed (plus contrary to popular belief, there's been a fair amount of construction in some areas like downtown in that amount of time).

Anyway, here's my point. Compare the area around UC to this:

* River North: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.890...&yaw=288.27594&pitch=0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

* Gold Coast: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.900...mQ0zm66Ohsf19iu_bw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

* Wicker Park: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.909...WI4J9nV4_05IWTAVYg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

... United Center area: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.877...&yaw=89.044846&pitch=0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

Completely and utterly different

My daughter lives on Wellington Avenue in Lincoln Park, and the on-street parking around her apartment is absolutely NUTS. Most vehicles end up being less than a foot apart - it must take them 15 minutes to get either in or out of the spot! Plus that neighborhood isn't exactly where you might want to leave your vehicle unattended, if it's nice. You'd be better off parking out in the burbs and taking the train in.

That area is one off the safest parts of town, at least where young people live. Crime rates are low all around.

 

[boone7247]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

Agreed. Before I moved here, I used to give it a lot of crap and call it ****-cago. My mom is from NYC, as is a decent amount of people in my family so we had that east coast pretension. When I moved here, I realized all that it offers and realized before when I visited that I was not really going out of my way to see what there was. There are very few cities that can compete with Chicago in the country (NYC of course. I'd say SF, Boston, and DC are great too but much smaller than Chicago. Philadelphia is not bad either). And there's a reason why I stated before in a post to not stay in the Loop (unless it's the north end of it like TheWit Hotel). Most of the Loop is pretty boring. Most of the nightlife downtown is north of the river in areas like Gold Coast, River North, etc. Many other neighborhoods. Wicker Park is one of my favorite areas for nightlife for example. It has a more East Village-ish vibe to it (but much smaller).

That area is one off the safest parts of town, at least where young people live. Crime rates are low all around.

Yeah, also for people who aren't into hip or trendy places, find a hotel in one of the neighborhoods north of downtown, like Lincoln park, bucktown, Roscoe Village, or wrigleyville. On Friday go out turn down a neighborhood street, walk until you find the local bar that isn't on the main path, go in and have the time of your life. Beers will be a little cheaper, the bartender will probably be the owner, there will be 5 - 10 regulars in there. By the end of the night you will either have the bar to yourself, or it will be packed with people from the neighborhood. Either way you will have a good time. Chicago is full of those places. It is no different than going to the local watering hole in a small town in Iowa.

Here is a map to acquaint yourself with the Chicago neighborhoods. I wouldn't go north of roscoe village or Wrigleyville, or west of the East Village Bucktown area, just because you will get into no man's land of neighborhoods.

http://www.mappery.com/map-of/chicago-neighborhoods-map

 

[gocubs2118]

Re: If we make it to Chicago:

I use to live in Bucktown off of Damen and Fullerton. It was very easy to get to the UC just by taking the Damen 50 bus, probably took about 20 minutes. And ya, either Division street or the Damen/Milwaukee/North 6 way are good spots to meet up before the game.

Now I live in East Lakeview and it takes so much longer to get to the United Center, I'm probably going to move back once my lease is up.