Glory is an expensive date, even if you don’t count the beer.
Eddie Arana, 38, of Park Ridge, and three of his buddies are spending thousands of dollars to attend Michael Jordan’s homecoming and the Bears’ playoff game–all on the same wild winter afternoon.
Arana spent a little capital at home, too, where his “beautiful and understanding” wife will be left alone to deal with Brownies and youth basketball while Arana careers through the city in a rented limousine so he can get from one major sporting event to the other on time Saturday afternoon.
“It cost me a couple of mortgage payments,” said Arana, chief financial officer at a commodities firm, “and that doesn’t include drinking and eating all day.
“But this is, like, the biggest day in the history of Chicago sports.”
Arana can be forgiven the overstatement. For long-suffering Chicago fans reveling this weekend in the glow of an exotic doubleheader, it is a welcome oasis in a blighted landscape–and they are going to great lengths and paying any price to bask in the reflected glory of the Bears’ return to prominence and the return of a deity named Michael.
And for those who can’t afford to be there in person, there is the prospect of a long, long afternoon on the couch or barstool.
Jordan, a little thicker than in the days when he led the Bulls to six championships, will take the United Center floor just before noon wearing a Washington Wizards jersey to play his old team. A few miles to the east, at 3:30 p.m., the Bears start a playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
And there, in the stands at Soldier Field, will be Joe Cusimano–a suburban man who was supposed to serve as an usher at a friend’s wedding Saturday but who begged off so he could attend the game instead.
“I thought, `My God, must be a real important friend,'” said Mark Kuta, owner of Ticket America Inc. “That’s the wackiest I’ve heard.”
Cusimano, who met the groom 12 years ago when both worked at a plastic-molding plant in St. Charles, said: “We were all hoping [the game] was going to be the weekend before. But they got a bye.”
Cusimano hopes to make at least part of the wedding reception.
“I’ve got until 1 or 2 in the morning,” he said.
Arana, who is going to the games with three friends, has planned his day down to the minute so they don’t miss anything.
Da itinerary
“Here’s what the deal is,” he said: Breakfast with his buddies at 9 a.m. Billy Goat Tavern at 10 a.m. Bulls game at noon.
“Then we get in the limo and head over to Soldier Field,” Arana said, “and hopefully that won’t take more than about 20 minutes–just in time to tailgate for about 45 minutes before the game.
“I’ve planned it out perfectly.”
For four tickets to both games and the limo rental, Arana estimated the total price tag to be more than $6,000. He and his friends paid a ticket brokerage service $600 apiece for four Bears tickets on the 45-yard line, 25 rows up–tickets with a face value of $80 apiece; and $700 apiece for four Bulls tickets at center court, four rows up–face value $85 apiece.
More Top Picks Best Walk In Tubs For Seniors With Arthritis
Although the electric atmosphere of the weekend was generated largely by the strange and happenstance confluence of Jordan and the Bears, it was clear which was the far bigger event: the game at Soldier Field. The timing of the Bears’ playoff game surprised ticket brokers who had braced for a run on Jordan tickets only to find themselves losing money on the game.
“I think it’s because the Bears are doing so well and both games are on the same day,” said Max Waisvisz, owner of Gold Coast Tickets. “People don’t know if they can rush from one site to the other fast enough.
“If it was just the Jordan game by itself, everybody would be going MJ all the way; it would be a great ticket.”
If the games had overlapped, Arana said, “I’d definitely go to see the Bears. I’ve seen Jordan 300 times.”
The Bears’ game easily generated more goofiness, prompting officials from ComEd to wager a pizzas-for-hoagies bet with utility company officials from Philadelphia.
Michael Markellos, 35, who moved to Chicago from suburban Philadelphia 25 years ago, said the Bears game pits the city of cheese steak against the city of cheesecake.
“Cheesecake is easier to squish,” he joked.
Markellos, who owns Philly’s Best, at 855 W. Belmont Ave.–the only place to get a “real cheese steak” in town, according to Markellos–said he feels torn allegiances about Saturday’s game.
“To be honest with you, I’m kind of split,” Markellos said. “My heart is with the Eagles, being from Philadelphia, but my money is on the Bears.”
Thursday evening, Bears fans gathered for food, drink and encouragement at Mike Ditka’s Restaurant downtown. Ditka himself was there to make predictions and rally the troops. But his optimism was just icing on the cake, because the confidence among rank-and-file fans was palpable.
Fan Chuck Towns called the Bears’ 13-3 season a “pleasant surprise” with an unexpected benefit. With playoff action afoot, nobody has to fill the time with talk about the just-past baseball season and the latest plans to turn things around.
Joe Stephens of Chicago counted himself as another longtime but newly surprised Bears’ fan. At the start of the season, Stephens predicted the team to go 4-12, or 5-11 at best. He’s happy to be wrong.
`This is still a Bears town’
“The city hasn’t been like this since 1998 when the Bulls won the last time,” said Stephens, who planned to spend Saturday in front of the TV watching both the Bears game and–for old times sake–the Bulls game before it, to see Michael Jordan play his old team. But his heart will be with the football game, he said. “This is still a Bears town, so it’s all the better,” he said. “You always have eternal hope if you’re a Chicago sports fan.”
Another fan, Bob Van Hyfte, sat at a table wearing an old Monsters of the Midway sweater from 1985. Despite his attire, though, his thoughts were focused on future glories. Van Hyfte thought the current Bears team had many more wins in store for fans.
“It’s been so long since we’ve been respectable,” Van Hyfte said. “Mondays are fun again. People are happy. They’re not down because we lost another Sunday game.”
And if the Bears can manage to go all the way to the Super Bowl in New Orleans this year, Van Hyfte said he planned to follow them, in a rented motor home, just as he did the last time the Bears won that crown.
“I will go again,” he said. “If it only happens once every 16 years, you’ve got to take advantage of it.”