Over the weekend I drove up to Columbus with a couple of friends to meet another friend who currently lives in the state capital. The primary destination of the trip was to attend the Columbus Blue Jackets game versus the St. Louis Blues. Growing up playing hockey, I’m happy to have a NHL team somewhat nearby, but I don’t make it to nearly enough games.

Nationwide Arena

Rather than making the two-hour drive north, most professional hockey I watch is provided by the Cincinnati Cyclones. But really there is no comparison. Aside from the obvious difference in talent, Nationwide Arena blows US Bank Arena away. Even the view from some of the highest seats at Nationwide are great.

Games at Intermission

There is a lot to do around the arena during intermissions too. My friends and I challenged some of the local kids to a game of table hockey and ended up losing badly. It was as if my friends and I were the Blues and these local kids were the Blue Jackets, though our score wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as the real Blues 7-1 loss to the Blue Jackets this night.

High School Hall of Hockey

Connected to Nationwide Arena is the OhioHealth Ice Haus, the practice facility for the Blue Jackets. This rink also serves as the home ice for many of the high school teams in the area. In fact there was a game going on during the Blue Jackets game, and we could watch a little of the action from the concourse of Nationwide. Next season I may try to make a weekend trip to catch my alma mater play a road game as the Ice Haus along with another Blue Jackets game.

This past Saturday was the University of Cincinnati homecoming football game against Miami University. It all kicked off with a parade across downtown. Normally the parade would take place up on campus, but as I mentioned earlier the on-campus stadium is being renovated this season and all games are taking place downtown instead.

The Bearcat and Cheerleaders

The UC Band is Damn Good

President Santa Ono

This weekend was also Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, America’s largest Oktoberfest with more than 500,000 people attending every year. So the parade and other weekend activities took on the Homecoming Zinzinnati theme.

Alumni Association

Maypole Float

After the parade was over we spent some time tailgating in one of the large lots surrounding the stadium before heading in for the 119th Battle for the Victory Bell.

Kim and Paige at the Tailgate

A record 41,926 people turned out to watch the Battle for the Victory Bell. The game started off a slow for the Cats but they eventually took control of the game and brought home the Victory Bell for the ninth straight year, 31-24.

Ring of Red

Next up for the Bearcats is an away game at Ohio State this weekend before returning back to town October 4th to take on Memphis.

The UC Bearcats football season finally kicked off this past weekend, two weeks after most other schools. All of this year’s home games are taking place down at the Bengals’ Paul Brown Stadium, while the on campus Nippert Stadium goes through some renovations. I’m not the biggest fan of PBS but I rarely miss a Bearcat game.

White Out

The Cats welcomed the Toledo Rockets to town for the annual “white out” game. The student section was jam-packed and the total attendance was 31,912, which is pretty great for a non-conference game. The team did not disappoint at all with a huge 58-34 victory and a couple of new figures for the record book, including quarterback Gunner Kiel’s impressive debut. The action continues with homecoming taking place this coming weekend and the 119th Battle for the Victory Bell with Miami University. Go Cats!

What a start for Team USA in the World Cup last night! Kim and I took the kids down to Fountain Square to watch the match versus Ghana. All of the round-robin games will be televised there on the big screen and last night there were easily thousands in attendance.

GOAL!

The next two events are Sunday, June 22nd from 12 PM – 9 PM, game time at 6 PM, and Thursday, June 26th from 11 AM – 4 PM, game time at 12 PM. I’m hoping to make it down for another fun game watch party.

To kick off the holiday weekend, my family and I joined my brother and his girlfriend for my first Reds game of this year. The Cardinals were in town, which always brings excitement to the park. And it was a Fireworks Friday game with an impressive post-game fireworks show.

Craft Beer Bar

You may have read about the new 85 foot long bar at the Reds Brewery District inside Great American Ball Park this year. The massive bar with five draft towers is located along the third base line and offers 60 taps. Nearly half of the space is dedicated to local brews, which is pretty awesome!

Hot Stacks

The game was fairly crowded, but we still managed to find a bit of room to spread out. Our seats were in the sun/moon deck with a great view of the field, scoreboard, and the downtown skyline. We were also just a section from the stadiums iconic smokestacks, which erupt with flames after any Reds pitcher throws a strikeout. We were so close we could really feel the heat from these fireballs.

Beautiful Night

It’s hard to get the kids to sit in the seats for the entire game, but they made it through almost half of it before running off to find the play set, which was so crowded. My wife later found a somewhat hidden sandbox area, which was much quieter for our little ones. It was a beautiful night for a baseball game and was made even sweeter thanks to a thrilling 5-3 victory for the Reds!

Tonight while most people’s attention will be focused on the NCAA basketball final, and I will definitely be watching, I will be more excited for this weekend’s Frozen Four!

Ferris St. vs. Colgate

A couple of weekends ago Miami University hosted the division 1 men’s ice hockey midwest regional at U.S. Bank Arena with the winner heading to the Frozen Four. My family and I attended all three games of the two-day mini-tournament. First we watched an exciting game between Ferris St. and Colgate Friday afternoon and followed it up with Wisconsin vs. North Dakota that night.

Ferris St. Band

Saturday evening had the winners of the previous day’s games, Ferris St. and North Dakota, face-off for the regional championship. I’ve long been a fan of the former “Fighting Sioux” from North Dakota, so I was happy to see them play two games.

Ferris St. vs. North Dakota

This championship game was very tight and at the end of regulation was tied at one goal each. An entire twenty-minute overtime period would then be played with neither team gaining a goal. Finally in the first couple of minutes of the second overtime period North Dakota claimed the championship! They are moving on to face Minnesota in one semi-final, while Boston College takes on Union in the other. Both games are on ESPN2 Thursday evening. The championship will be on ESPN Saturday at 7:30.

Yesterday I took a half day off from work and finally took Trey (and Paige) down to the Findlay Market opening day parade. My mom came along for the fun as well as my cousin-in-law (is that a real term?) and her three kids. We couldn’t have asked for a prettier day and we all had an excellent time. I’m already planning on how to make it even better next year. Finally going in for the game would be a good place to start!

I’ve been slightly obsessed with the winter Olympics once again this year. Obviously ice hockey is a favorite of mine, but I also really enjoy the freestyle skiing and snowboarding. The snowboard cross and ski cross events are also highly entertaining. If you have not seen either of those, it is like motocross but on snow. I would love to give it a try, though I have never seen a track open for the public.

Now I have just discovered something else that I would really like to try, ice cross downhill. Red Bull Crashed Ice is one such event just getting under way in Saint Paul, Minnesota this weekend. Ice cross downhill is basically the same idea as the snowboard cross and other similar events, but this one has athletes on skates over a frozen track. Think this could be an Olympic sport?

Last night we wrapped up yet another season of Fountain Square Broomball. As has become our custom, we all gathered at Market Wines in Findlay Market for beer, pizza, and a comical awards ceremony. One of our newer teammates pointed out that it was nice to see each other with normal clothing on and in a more social situation. I totally agree and it was a great time as always.

MVP

After three years on the squad, I was finally awarded Most Valuable Player! This was due in part to my good friend Kenny constantly being called for penalties and thus he was not awarded MVP this year but was given Most Hated By Ref, despite scoring the most goals on the team.

Intense Broomball Action. Photo credit: 5chw4r7z

However looking at the schedule, it seems that our celebration may have been premature. Typically a 1-4 record would not send your team to the post-season. However, contrary to years past, it looks like all teams made it into the playoffs this year. So we now have a game tomorrow evening, and if we win we keep on playing that night until a champion is crowned. Go Little Kings!

Friday night I was thrilled to join thousands of others at an event benefiting the A Kid Again organization. A Kid Again strives to enrich the lives of children with life-threatening illnesses and their families by providing healing times of respite through fun-filled group activities and destination events.

Basketball Extravaganza

My father-in-law’s company helped sponsor Friday night’s 23rd annual Basketball Extravaganza. This event pitted a team full of former and current NFL football players against a team full of other area celebrities, including former Reds players. The game was entertaining and both teams helped get the crowd into the game by having kids shoot their free throws and occasionally letting an attendee inbound the ball.

It is always great to have a nice night out while helping to support honorable charities such as A Kid Again.