In the News Blog

The last 108 years or so has been torturous for Chicago Cubs fans. Then, on Saturday, October 22, 2016, a day that shall live on in the memories of modern day Cubs fans forever, the Chicago Cubs won the NLCS and earned their first trip to the World Series since 1945!

The scene here in the city has been electric. Wrigleyville was packed with an estimated 300,000 on Saturday night. The bars were over-flowing, many charging much more than their normal cover charges for a game day. Fireworks were exploding in all the cities neighborhoods well into the night after the Cubs clinched.

At night, the Chicago skyline is dotted with Cubby Blue on most of the major skyscrapers. The Art Institute has donned Cubs caps on their world famous lion statues at their entrance. Cubs jersey's and W flags are present everywhere. Both Northsiders and Southsiders have joined in a sort of peaceful unity in honor the Chicago Cubs being in the World Series.

On my way to work this morning, I passed the Metra station

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I want to express my gratitude to all our guests who have entrusted my team with planning their sports travel adventures over the years.

In this blog I'm sharing many of our memories (in no particular order) as we celebrate this business milestone. I invite all our past guests to share your special Sports Traveler trip memories and experiences by posting below, on Twitter using #SportsTraveler15 or on our Facebook page.

Here’s to another 15+ years!

Cheers!
Anbritt

#1: 2003 Eagles at Dolphins. The tour was successful for our guests, but what many people don’t know is what happened during our opening night reception. I choose a large dock for our groups evening meal overlooking the intercostal waterway. At some point during the event, one of our guests fell or jumped off the dock and onto the deck of one of the super yachts parked below. He was found alive by the crew, remarkably uninjured, and eating a pork chop in the galley. They returned him to us and I somehow convinced the captain of the boat to not call the police. The rest of the weekend went great, but to this day I have never done any of our receptions on a dock!

#2: Cubs Fan Tours 2002-2007. My family raised me a Cubs fan and in the mid-2000's I started a second company to focus on travel to Chicago to see Wrigley Field. We still offer similar Cubs tours every year at Sports Traveler and I’ll always be a Cubs fan no matter what my southsider friends say.

#3: Sports Traveler Chicago - Book Launch. Lydia Rypcinski and I wrote this book together and it won best non-fiction awards both in Illinois and National competitions! Our book launch party is still remembered fondly by those who attended. It was at Harry Caray’s, featured several sports mascots, and our guest of honor was the now late Minnie Minoso.

#4: STR: Sports Traveler Radio. For some reason in the early days all the college kids from my university’s radio station ended up working for my company. We launched our own podcast and had opinions about sports travel for 6+ awesome years on iTunes.

#5: Cowboys vs Redskins 2014. Our first marriage proposal! We were standing on the field at AT&T Stadium when he got down on his knee and she said yes! So sweet.

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I love London and I love the Dallas Cowboys so when the opportunity came to host this years NFL International Series in London when the Dallas Cowboys play the Jacksonville Jaguars in November I was in!

I’ve hosted tours all over the world during the past 14 years at Sports Traveler and this trip is one that I am really looking forward to.

From Westminster Abbey to Big Ben to St. Paul’s Cathedral, the city is filled with history and amazing architecture at every turn. I love the fish and chips and taking a walk on the River Thames. I love the cool air on my face. And then there is the game at the incredible Wembley Stadium. I can hardly wait to show you everything while we are in this amazing city!

On November 6^th, we’ll start out at Heathrow Airport where our guides will meet and greet you after your arrival and transfer you to our host hotel. We will be staying at the Copthorne Tara Hotel, located right in the heart of everything you’ll want to see in the city center.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will feature some of the best talent the game has seen from any era.  Cooperstown, NY will be the place to be on July 26th as the Class of 2014 is inducted.

This summer the baseball community will gladly welcome in three legends of baseball.  Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas will all have their places cemented in MLB history.  All three new member of the Hall of Fame managed to do so in their first year of eligibility.  This is the first time since 1999 that we have three first ballot HOF’ers in the same year.  Any clue who those three players were?

This weekend Damian Lillard will have the opportunity to expedite his path to becoming great.  In just his second year Lillard has the chance to become the king of NBA All-Star weekend.

Damian Lillard is not your average NBA sophomore and this weekend he will be out to prove it.  Baring any last minute changes the Portland guard will be competing in almost every possible event during the NBA All-Star weekend.   The only event he will not compete in is the Sears Shooting Star competition.  A competition that is more like the celebrity game than a true challenge.  So for the purpose of this accomplishment we can just say he is competing in every All-Star event.

1, 2, 3 Go!

It will all begin with the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge.  Last year Lillard played in this game and managed 18 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals.  A nice line but not worthy of MVP.  So this year he will have another shot to make his mark against the players of his generation and possibly take home an MVP.

Twenty six cities have had the pleasure of hosting the Final Four.  But what are the three best locations?  It might seem like a hard task to try to label the top 3.  But after a little research I think that you will see that it is relatively easy to come up with the best 3.

First let us take a look at the cities who have hosted the most amount of times.

Kansas City - 10
New York City - 7
Indianapolis - 6
Louisville - 6
New Orleans - 5

Hello sports fans and welcome to the first blog of 2014! This installment will feature the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule and a preview to the upcoming race campaign.

Please note that there are a few changes from last season.  I will specifically address each change to the schedule at the bottom of the 2014 NASCAR Spring Cup schedule that you see listed below.

Everyone loves the holiday season, especially sports fans.  We see this as another opportunity to get more stuff with our favorite team's or player's names and branding.  We, as sports fans, are a little nutty when it comes to seeing the new sideline cap or new throwback jersey.  We immediately think we have to have it.

We just hope someone else is paying attention so we try to make sure potential gifters understand our wants and needs.  In some ways its subconscious but we all are looking to bolster our collection of supportive merchandise.

Here is a guide to the buyers of these very special gifts.  How can you give a sports fans what he/she wants most?  Here are a few ideas that will make up our top 10 list.

All 32 World Cup qualifiers and seeds have been finalized and the field is set for Brazil in 2014.  A scoreless tie between Uruguay and Jordan on Wednesday sealed the final entry into the World Cup field.  We are now all set for the World Cup draw on December 6, 2013.  The draw of course will be the final piece of the puzzle.  After that we will know when and where everyone is playing.

Here is a look at the all the seeds for the upcoming World Cup in Brazil.

2014 World Cup Qualifiers