Eichelberger Field – Urbana, IL

30 03 2009
  • 1201 W. Florida Avenue
  • Urbana, IL 61801
  • (217)
  • Website
Eichelberger Field on the campus of the University of Illinois

Eichelberger Field on the campus of the University of Illinois

Nothing like getting up early on a Sunday morning to drive in blizzard like conditions to a softball game.  That was how my day started. 

After getting rained out Saturday at Illinois Field, I made the trek back to Champaign/Urbana from my parents house for a softball game between the University of Illinois and Michigan State University.  Unfortunately, the weather didn’t want to cooperate.

The University of Illinois softball team plays their home games at Eichelberger Field in Urbana.  It’s actually just a few hundred yards from the men’s field, but the city limits for the two towns lie just outside the center field wall at Illinois Field.  Even though the street addresses are different, they’re on the same street. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Big Ten Tour, Champaign/Urbana, Entertainment Venues, Illinois, Live Entertainment, Urbana

Illinois Field – Champaign, IL

27 03 2009
  • 1605 S. Wright Street
  • Champaign, IL 61820
  • (217) 333-3630
  • Website
The view from the press box at Illinois Field in Champaign, IL

The view from the press box at Illinois Field in Champaign, IL

I freakin love baseball.  I played growing up.  I played a couple years in college.  I can’t get enough of it.  I’ve never been much of a football person, but I love when baseball season comes around.  I know…that’s weird.

Now that I work in broadcasting, spring is my favorite time.  I love it when I get a call to shoot a baseball game.  Yes, chances are it’s going to be cold and rainy, but that’s ok with me.  I got a last minute call to make the trek to Illinois for three games in three days.  The first two days were U of I vs. Michigan State University baseball.

Illinois Field in located on Wright Street right at the boundry for the cities of Champaign and Urbana.  It’s just down the street from Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium.  The grassy lot next to the field is actually used for overflow parking during football season. Read the rest of this entry »


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Huff Hall – Champaign, IL

21 03 2009
  • 1206 S. 4th Street
  • Champaign, IL 61820
  • (217) 244-9755
  • Website
Huff Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois set up for gymnastics

Huff Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois set up for gymnastics

Even if you’ve never been to the University of Illinois and you’ve never heard of Huff Hall, you are quite familiar with a term that was coined during the days when the IHSA boys state basketball championships played in the gym.  It’s actually pretty fitting that I’m writing about this right now.  The term “March Madness” is a term that was trademarked by the IHSA after a court battle that also gave the NCAA a right to trademark the term.  The IHSA still claims to have invented the term and they own the sole trademark to the phrase “America’s Original March Madness” which is how they bill their tournament these days

The phrase “March Madness” was first used in 1939 to describe the state basketball championships that were held at Huff Gymnasium.  The layout and design of the building made it loud and when the place was full, it was deafening.  If you’ve ever watched an IHSA small schools game, you know how loud it can get.

Huff Hall was built in 1925 as a multi-purpose gymnasium named after George Huff who was the school’s athletic director from 1895 to 1935.  It’s a 4,500 seat arena with a permanent upper deck and retractable bleachers in the lower area.  Like Michigan State’s Jenison Fieldhouse, Huff Hall is the home of the U of I’s volleyball, wrestling,  and gymnastics teams. Read the rest of this entry »


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The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor

1 03 2009
  • 377 Riverside Drive
  • Windsor, ON N9A 7H7
  • (519) 258-7878
  • Website
The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor

The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor

I have never been outside the United States.  I’ve never had any reason.  Hell, until a few years ago, the only time I had been on an airplane was my 8th grade class trip to Washington DC.  Traveling farther than driving distance just wasn’t something my family did.  Now, Canada is within driving distance and there was a concert J wanted to see at Caesars Windsor, so I did all the research about what we need to travel back and forth to Canada then bought a couple tickets to see Miranda Lambert.
Getting to Canada and back home had literally kept me up at night for a week.  People do it everyday, so I’m not sure why I was so worried about it, but I was just anxious about making sure I knew where we were going and what we needed to get back into the country.  Since we were downtown in Detroit, the GPS sent us to the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.  I had no idea what to expect.  I paid the toll them waited as five lanes converged down to one.  I think J was a little nervous about using the tunnel, but I just do what the GPS tells me.  It took about a half hour to get through.  When your stuck in bumper to bumper traffic under a river, you do kind of start thinking about what could go wrong.  We got to the other end and talked to the border agent who wished us luck when I told him where we were headed. 

Caesars Windsor sits right on the river and is highly visible from downtown Detroit.  We could see the neon signs well before we made it to the border crossing.  From the time we got to Windsor, it felt like we were just going in circles.  We got to the casino then went around the block what seemed like six times to get to the self park parking garage.  We made our way all the way to the top then hit the elevator back to the third level where the pedestrian bridge is.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Canada, Entertainment Venues, Live Entertainment, Ontario, Windsor

McCormick Place – Chicago

16 02 2009
  • 2301 S. Lakeshore Drive
  • Chicago, IL 60616
  • (312) 791-7000
  • Website
The entrance to McCormick Place in Chicago.

The entrance to McCormick Place in Chicago.

This is funny.  Last month, when I was writing the review for Cobo Hall after we went to the North American International Auto Show, I mentioned I had never been to the Chicago Auto Show or McCormick Place.  I happened to be home this year during the auto show and I asked my dad if he wanted to go.  You see, he was supposed to drive up for the Detroit show, but snow kept them home.  I figured the Chicago Auto Show was a good replacement…and boy, was it.

 

McCormick Place is on Chicago’s South Side right where I-55 (Stevenson Expressway) turns into the famous Lake Shore Drive.  When you’re on the highway, it’s really tough to see anything other than a massive building.  I had no idea what the front of the building looked like or even how to get to a door from Lake Shore drive, but I have driven by it hundreds of times.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Jenison Field House

9 02 2009
  • 248 Jenison Fieldhouse
  • East Lansing, MI 48824
  • (517) 355-1610
  • Website
The entrance to Jenison Fieldhouse on MSUs campus

The entrance to Jenison Fieldhouse on MSU's campus

I wish my first visit to Jenison Field House was thirty years.  When I walked in to the building for the first time, the first and only thing I could think was, “I bet this place was loud.”  I knew of Jenison before I moved to Lansing.  Who hasn’t?  I loved watching the old clips of Magic Johnson in East Lansing.  I can only imagine what the place was like.  Sure, it’s huge, but those big cavernous ceilings had to make the place loud.

Jenison Field House is on the campus of MSU just off Kalamazoo Street.  It’s just a block or so from it’s replacement, the Jack Breslin Student Events Center (review HERE).  It’s a huge building.  At first, I was wondering how they would even do basketball, but figured it out after seeing the wrestling set up. 

Jenison was opened in 1940 and was the home to Spartan basketball until 1989.  The facility is now used for Women’s volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling, and indoor track & field as well as a practice facility for a number of MSU sports.  There is permanent seating in an upper deck that runs around the entire facility.  The surface is a multi purpose rubber which is used for track and field.  When other events are held in the Field House, a curtain is dropped to divide the arena into a smaller area and portable bleachers are brought in to fill out the empty spaces.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Big Ten Tour, East Lansing, Entertainment Venues, Live Entertainment, Michigan, Reviews

Crisler Arena

18 01 2009
  • 333 E. Stadium Blvd
  • Ann Arbor, MI 48104
  • (734) 998-7236
  • Website
Crisler Arena on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor

Crisler Arena on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor

When I got the e-mail asking if I was available to shoot men’s basketball at Crisler Arena, I have to admit, I was a little pumped.  Growing up in the far away land of Central Illinois, Ann Arbor was this far away, mystical place we saw on TV every Saturday afternoon.  I would have been in junior high during the Fab Five years and there were wars at my house over college basketball.  My brother was a Michigan fan while I rooted for Duke.  This was also about the time Nike was coming out with “authentic” apparel.  My brother had the Jalen Rose jersey and matching shorts.  I had a number of Duke shooter shoots.  As far as we were concerned, Crisler Arena was one of those places we’d never go to, but would have given anything, at that time, to see a game there. 

Well, I got my chance 10 plus years later.  Crisler Arena is on the campus of  U of M in the shadow of Michigan Stadium.  My first impression was, “wow.”  That’s not a good wow.  That’s a “I can’t believe this” wow.  The place is so run down it doesn’t look fit for a basketball program with the history and aura of the Michigan Wolverines. The seats were rusted, they were small and low to the ground.  From a broadcast point of view, Crisler is one of the worst stadiums I’ve ever worked at.  I’ve never been to Big Ten stadium where all of the cable had to be run from the truck.  After being there five minutes, all the expectations I had as a kid were squashed.  I’m really glad my brother hasn’t been there. Read the rest of this entry »


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Darb’s Crystal Bar

11 01 2009
  • 4279 Holt Rd.
  • Holt, MI 48842
  • (517) 694-9716
  • No Known Website
  • No Menu
Darbs Crystal Bar on Holt Road and Cedar Street in Holt

Darb's Crystal Bar on Holt Road and Cedar Street in Holt

We found it!  We found a karaoke bar.  When we moved here almost ten months ago, we left a town that had the best karaoke bar.  It wasn’t a bar that hired a guy to come in once or twice a week with a TV and a microphone.  It was a karaoke theater with lights, multiple TV’s, a computer song book, a stage, multiple microphones, and a “KJ’s”  It was more of a karaoke saloon that happened to be in a bar.  It was awesome for someone like J who really likes karaoke.  If you heard a song on the radio for the first time, this place would have a karaoke version a week later.  You weren’t stuck doing songs from five years ago….you could do songs that were on the charts right now.

When we moved to Mid-Michigan, we immediately started looking for a karaoke bar with no luck. We tried Crunchy’s and Rookies with no luck.  The atmosphere was no good, the song selection were terrible, and it wasn’t fun.  A while ago, Corky suggested Darb’s Crystal Bar in Holt.  I had driven by a few times and though it just looked like a good place to hang out.  I had no idea they had karaoke. 

J has been going through withdrawals for months now, so we decided to give Darb’s a try.  We were there five minutes and we knew this was a place that we would be visiting several more times.

Darb’s Crystal Bar sits on the corner of Holt Road and Cedar Street in Holt.  There’s a large neon sign hanging off the side of the building, a beer garden to one side, and a ton of Christmas lights…even when t’s not Christmas.  We were surprised to find a packed parking lot.  It was a Saturday night, but we also had gotten a foot of snow in the last 24 hours.  We thought tonight would be a good time to try out Darb’s hoping the snow would keep people away.  No dice.  The place was packed.  It’s not very big inside and all the tables near the front of the bar were packed. Read the rest of this entry »


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Assembly Hall – Champaign, IL

22 12 2008
  • 1800 S. 1st St.
  • Champaign, IL 61820
  • (217) 333-5000
  • Website
An empty arena at the Assembly Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois

An empty arena at the Assembly Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois

Until last year, even though I lived near it all my life, I had never been to Assembly Hall in Champaign for a basketball game. Heck, until earlier this month, I had never even been to a college basketball game tha wasn’t for work. The same is still true in Champaign.

I spent another Saturday night in Illinois working. Assembly Hall isn’t the most modern arena in the Big Ten, but it does have it’s charm. The arena looks like a giant UFO. It must be a thing with Illinois arenas. I used to go to events at Assembly Hall when I was younger. We went to many Ice Capades in Champaign, but like I already mentioned, last year was the first time I had been there when the basketball floor was set up.

When you walk in to Assembly Hall, you come into a concourse level. You have to go up a series of ramps on the outside to get to the main gates. From the concourse level, you can enter the arena and either go up or down. Most of the day of sales tickets are up. Like most college basketball arenas, season ticket holders get the lower bowl while every one gets up in the B and C levels. There are portable bleachers in each end zone. The side near the tunnel and Illinois’ bench is for family and the band. The other end is for the Orange Crush (Illinois’ version of the IzZone.) Read the rest of this entry »


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Convocation Center – DeKalb, IL

18 12 2008
  • 1525 W. Lincoln Highway
  • DeKalb, IL 60115
  • (815) 752-6831
  • Website
The Convocation Center on the campus of Northern Illinois University

The Convocation Center on the campus of Northern Illinois University

Here’s another Illinois school’s basketball arena I can cross off my list.  Northern Illinois University doesn’t get a whole lot of their basketball games televised.  They’re awfully close to Chicago, but not close enough to get a lot of attention from Comcast Sports Net.  The MAC doesn’t have a TV package with anyone, so televised games are few and far between in DeKalb. 

Southern Illinois University, on the other hand, has a good number of their games televised by Mediacomm (Comcast for Southern Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa).  They even do away games which is why I ended up in the rafters at the Convocation Center.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Convocation Center is that it’s not a huge arena.  All parking is on site and there’s only one way in where you’re directed to the nearest spot.  Once inside, it’s hard to realize NIU is not a Big Ten school.  The arena is a scaled down version of a major basketball arena.  You walk in on the concourse level between the upper and lower decks.  The walkways around the arena are actually an indoor track.  The whole area is carpeted and the bleachers push in and out like most high schools use.    Hell, there’s even a few luxury suites that open up into the arena with their own private seating section. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : DeKalb, Entertainment Venues, Illinois, Live Entertainment, Reviews

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