I tried to get to Soldier Field to watch the Chicago Bears take on the Oakland Raiders. Unfortunately over here they fail to tell you that all game times are annouced in Eastern Time as opposed to local time. I arrived at the stadium shortly after kick off and couldn't get a legitimate ticket from anywhere. The scalpers (touts) were wanting $200 a piece. So i sacked that idea.
I do love the crowd atmosphere around a big game. I over heard some interesting conversations though. The notable one being between a group of lads about the price of aeroplanes. It was all 'Dude this' and 'Dude that'. They were arguing about how much it would cost to buy a 747, jumbo Jet'
'Well it's gotta be at least $10,000, Dude' One lad piped
'It's so not, dude, those things are huge. They've got like 4 engines'
'Yeah Dude, and you can get one of them F-18's for about $1,000,000 and they're totally smaller than a 747.'
'Maybe you could get a used one for $10,000, Dude.'
'Dude, if you could buy them for $10,000 everyone would have one.' The bright one of the group piped. This informed debate continued going round in circles for a while yet. I'm not sure if this reflects on the lack of understanding of the American youths or just the general brightness of football fans worldwide.
I also admire the Americans for getting drunk on light beer. One guy supping from a can of Miller Lite was heard to utter 'Dude, it's like only midday and I'm like, totally wasted.
A little dissappointed about not getting a ticket, but feeling thoroughly enlightened after overhearing such incitful conversation I headed up to the ESPN Zone Sports bar to soak up the atmosphere. What a great invention ESPN Zone is. On entry you are confronted with a large bank of TV screens each showing different baseball or football games. Upstairs there's an amusement arcade. It's like heaven.
Mx and I met at 18.00 to eat and prepare for our 20.30 bus to Memphis. The journey took us down the I-57, stopping at Effingham, Illinois and then onward through South East Missouri, where we picked up the I-55 into North East Arkansas and then east into Memphis, Tennessee for 6am. The countryside had been flat and featureless. There were plenty of sign of existence (mainly in the form of the MacDonalds golden arches) but we had not passed any major cities or towns in the 577 miles of Interstate between Chicago and Memphis.
I'm almost sorry to report that, after my last 2 bus journeys, this one had passed thoroughly uneventfully with no new characters.
