NFL Road Trip 2013 - New and Improved

I have been very quiet on the blog for the past three weeks because there has been little going on worth writing about. With the Leafs out of the playoffs, I’ve stopped following the NHL, and the NBA hasn’t been as exciting as claimed, with the few Game 7s being blowouts and the finals predictably featuring the top seeds from each conference. The Blue Jays are terrible and baseball’s newest scandal threatens to blow up the game. Perhaps the most exciting event in the past month was Canada’s rugby team beating Fiji in Ottawa as part of the Pacific Nations Cup.

Of course, there is more to my silence than a relatively slow period in my sporting world. My last post was on the NFL Road Trip that I am seriously considering taking and I wanted to leave that as the landing page for some time to see if it would get some more coverage (it didn’t). Meanwhile, I have been tinkering with the actual plan. The one posted last month had a total of 20,000 highway miles, which was the best I had ever developed. But I still wasn’t satisfied, there was too much backtracking.

A “perfect” NFL trip would entail about 11,500 highway miles (these are the miles between stadiums)  to complete the round trip, assuming that you return to your starting point. That route includes no backtracking; you visit the next closest city every time that would prevent you from reversing direction. For example, starting in Denver, you would go KC, Minneapolis, Green Bay, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and so on, finishing with the Arizona, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, and Seattle before returning to Denver. There is a bit of room for adjustment in the north east perhaps, but doubtful that you could get much under 11,000 miles. So 20,000 was a bit less than double the ideal route.

I decided to revisit my assumptions to see if I could find a trip with less driving. Every hour on the road is one hour less to visit a city or write an update, not to mention about $8 in gas. If I could cut the number of miles down, it would make the trip just that much easier.

I decided to do three things. The first was remove the link between St. Louis and Kansas City. Every trip I planned had both cities being visited on the same weekend, necessitating a 500 mile backtrack as you would head west to KC and then return east for the following game. The second fix was to break up the seven-city southern trip into two bits. The original plan had all four NFC South teams along with Tennessee, Miami, and Jacksonville visited consecutively. But the game order was not good, with a lot of backtracking, particularly having to go to Miami between Atlanta and Dallas. The final adjustment was to eliminate as many Monday night games as possible, at least where a long drive was necessary.

The first casualty was the Bengals Week 2 Monday game. With the Sunday game in Baltimore and the following Thursday game in Philly, going to Cincinnati would cost over a thousand miles roundtrip. I slotted Cincy into week 5, where Cleveland hosts the Thursday game. This meant the NFC North journey would be pushed back, but things worked out well there too.

First, I noticed a Tampa Bay/Jacksonville/Miami in Weeks 8 and 9 with two Thursday games. Unfortunately, the Sunday Jacksonville game is in London, but New Orleans is a reasonable alternative, although there is a lot of backtracking. But it does allow me to skip the tough Sunday/Monday night combo in New Orleans and Tampa in Week 10 and opens up Green Bay/Minnesota/Chicago around the same time, with the Packers hosting the Bears on Monday in Week 9 while the Vikings have the Thursday night tilt in Week 10. Chicago then hosts Detroit on the Sunday.

The only negative is getting from Miami to Green Bay over three days. That’s 1600 miles, or just over 500 miles a day, well within acceptable limits.

As well, with Kansas City no longer tied to St. Louis, the Chiefs slot in nicely between Atlanta and Dallas on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, a much better alternative than traveling to Miami for that Sunday game.

The resulting schedule has 19,000 highway miles,  about a thousand less than the previous plan. It may not sound like much, but it will make a huge difference in the pace of the trip, particularly early on. The worst parts of the trip are those where there are 3 games in a week, and I was starting with two of those back-to-back. Now I can relax and spend more time in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Here is the updated trip.

Thu Sep 5    Baltimore at Denver 6:30
Sun Sep 8    Oakland at Indianapolis 1:00
Mon Sep 9    Philadelphia at Washington 7:10
Thu Sep 12   NY Jets at New England 8:25
Sun Sep 15   Cleveland at Baltimore 1:00
Thu Sep 19   Kansas City at Philadelphia 8:25
Sun Sep 22   Chicago at Pittsburgh 8:30
Thu Sep 26   San Francisco at St. Louis 7:25
Sun Sep 29   Chicago at Detroit 1:00
Thu Oct 3    Buffalo at Cleveland 8:25
Sun Oct 6    New England at Cincinnati 1:00
Sun Oct 13   Cincinnati at Buffalo 1:00
Sun Oct 20   New England at NY Jets 1:00
Mon Oct 21   Minnesota at NY Giants 8:40
Thu Oct 24   Carolina at Tampa Bay 8:25
Sun Oct 27   Buffalo at New Orleans 1:00 
Thu Oct 31   Cincinnati at Miami 8:25
Mon Nov 4    Chicago at Green Bay 7:40
Thu Nov 7    Washington at Minnesota 8:25
Sun Nov 10   Detroit at Chicago 1:00
Thu Nov 14   Indianapolis at Tennessee 7:25
Sun Nov 17   Arizona at Jacksonville 1:00
Mon Nov 18   New England at Carolina 8:40
Thu Nov 21   New Orleans at Atlanta 8:25
Sun Nov 24   San Diego at Kansas City 12:00
Thu Nov 28   Oakland at Dallas 3:30
Sun Dec 1    New England at Houston 3:25
Sun Dec 8    St. Louis at Arizona 1:25
Sun Dec 15   Kansas City at Oakland 1:05
Sun Dec 22   Oakland at San Diego 1:25
Mon Dec 23   Atlanta at San Francisco 5:40
Sun Dec 29   St. Louis at Seattle 1:25

I can’t imagine a better trip given this year’s schedule. Amazingly, New England is the road team 4 times. I do get Buffalo twice on the road as well, including their trip to New Orleans, which should be fun. Denver does not make a road appearance, meaning I see them in the season-opener and never again.

The ultimate point of this post is to encourage you to take your time when planning a big sports road trip and keep trying different options. Sometimes you make assumptions that are not necessarily valid, which adds unnecessary time and cost.

Check back in a month or so when the final decision on whether this trip will happen or not will be made.

Best,

Sean

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NFL Road Trip 2013 - Redux

A few weeks ago, the NFL released its 2013 schedule. I was flying out to Phnom Penh that afternoon so I put together a very quick NFL road trip plan, which I do every year just for fun. It took about 30 minutes to prepare and wasn't very good, as I realized after I returned to Singapore.

The main flaw was starting in Denver and moving to the West Coast without including a visit to the Arizona Cardinals. That strategy forces a return trip to Phoenix which essentially means criss-crossing the country four times. I knew that there was a better plan, so I resorted to the old standby: the roadtrip matrix. Using a spreadsheet program such as Excel, you enter the dates along the left side and the teams along the top, in roughly the order you would visit them while driving. Then you fill in the matrix when a team has a home game on that date. The entire season is thus visible at a glance. As an example, check out a portion of the full matrix below:

       Den Ind Cin Cle Pit Buf Was Bal Phil NE
5-Sep  Bal         
8-Sep      Oak     Mia Ten NE    
9-Sep                          Phi   
12-Sep                                      NYJ
15-Sep     Mia             Car     Cle SD 
16-Sep         Pit       
19-Sep                                 KC 
22-Sep         GB      Chi     Det Hou      TB

This shows home games for ten cities for the first three weeks of the campaign. For example, Baltimore plays in Denver on September 5th, Indianapolis hosts Oakland on the 8th, and so on. You can quickly see what the possibilities are for a trip that would allow for at least two games per week for those three weeks (one possibility: Denver, Pittsburgh, Washington in Week 1, New England, Buffalo, Cincinnati in Week 2, and Philadelphia and Baltimore in Week 3).

When looking at all 32 teams over 17 weeks though, it becomes a bit more difficult to immediately see a possible route. The next step is then to group geographically proximate locations together, highlighting a series of games that can be seen. For example, you’d want to see the Chiefs and Rams around the same time, the three Florida teams, the two New York teams, the five clubs on the West Coast, etc. When you do this, the path that you would have to take becomes a lot clearer

The Thursday and Monday night games are also key considerations. It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to realize that achieving 32 stadium visits in 17 weeks means two games per week most of the time. Assuming you see a game every Sunday, you’d then need to see either the Thursday or Monday game in 15 out of the 16 weeks (there are no non-Sunday games in the final week). This really limits your choices. It might be nice to see a game in Kansas City on one Sunday and St. Louis the following week, but if that means missing the Monday and Thursday games in between, it really hampers the overall trip. So you are looking for weeks where a team with a night game is close to a team with a Sunday game. You also want to avoid seeing a team on a Sunday if it happens to have a suitable night game later in the year.

Keeping all this in mind, I was able to put together the following trip, beginning with the season opener in Denver and ending in Seattle. Note that this trip is different than the one first posted - I moved St. Louis and Kansas City earlier in the year (better opponents) and then Detroit and Buffalo after New York, with the Miami and Carolina games moved a bit later in the trip to the Southeast.

Thu Sep 5    Baltimore at Denver 6:30
Sun Sep 8    Oakland at Indianapolis 1:00
Mon Sep 9    Philadelphia at Washington 7:10
Thu Sep 12   NY Jets at New England 8:25
Sun Sep 15   Cleveland at Baltimore 1:00
Mon Sep 16   Pittsburgh at Cincinnati 8:40
Thu Sep 19   Kansas City at Philadelphia 8:25
Sun Sep 22   Chicago at Pittsburgh 8:30
Thu Sep 26   San Francisco at St. Louis 7:25
Sun Sep 29   NY Giants at Kansas City 12:00
Thu Oct 3    Buffalo at Cleveland 8:25
Sun Oct 6    Detroit at Green Bay 12:00
Thu Oct 10   NY Giants at Chicago 7:25
Sun Oct 13   Carolina at Minnesota 12:00
Sun Oct 20   New England at NY Jets 1:00
Mon Oct 21   Minnesota at NY Giants 8:40
Sun Oct 27   Dallas at Detroit 1:00 
Sun Nov  3   Kansas City at Buffalo 1:00
Sun Nov 10   Dallas at New Orleans 7:30
Mon Nov 11   Miami at Tampa Bay 8:40
Thu Nov 14   Indianapolis at Tennessee 7:25
Sun Nov 17   Arizona at Jacksonville 1:00
Mon Nov 18   New England at Carolina 8:40
Thu Nov 21   New Orleans at Atlanta 8:25
Sun Nov 24   Carolina at Miami 1:00
Thu Nov 28   Oakland at Dallas 3:30
Sun Dec 1    New England at Houston 3:25
Sun Dec 8    St. Louis at Arizona 1:25
Sun Dec 15   Kansas City at Oakland 1:05
Sun Dec 22   Oakland at San Diego 1:25
Mon Dec 23   Atlanta at San Francisco 5:40
Sun Dec 29   St. Louis at Seattle 1:25

There is only the one west coast trip at the end, so you are looking at just over 21,000 highway miles starting and ending in Denver. There are a couple of tough Sunday/Monday combos, particularly going from the Sunday night game in New Orleans to the one in Tampa on Monday. As well, most of the cold-weather cities would be dealt with in September and October. There are three Thursday-Sunday-Monday trifectas but two of them are in the first two weeks, which helps keep the latter part of the schedule more spaced out for relaxation and less driving.

The trip would last for 118 days and there are several good games on the slate. The Raiders and Chiefs are seen as the road team 3 times, and there is one home-and-home (Jets-Patriots). It is the best trip I've put together in the seven years I've been doing this. Most trips are 24,000 miles or more, so this is the most economical one. In fact, this is so intriguing that I am actually thinking of doing it!

Without getting into details, my personal life will be undergoing some changes and I might have a few free months at the end of the year. Why not complete the holy grail of sports road trips? I've already booked a rental car and am beginning to look at the logistics and overall cost. The final decision will be given in early July.

Update: It's July and I'm going on the trip, but not this one. I altered the schedule a bit and leave for Denver on September 4th on my NFL Stadium Journey!

Best,

Sean

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NFL Road Trip 2013 - The First Draft

The NFL released its schedule a couple of hours ago, so here is the annual road trip that involves all 32 home teams. Of course, I never do these but it is great fun to figure out if it is possible.

Thu, Sep 5   Baltimore at Denver         6:30
Sun, Sep 8   Green Bay at San Francisco  1:25
Mon, Sep 9   Houston at San Diego        7:15
Sun, Sep 15  Jacksonville at Oakland     1:25
Sun, Sep 22  Jacksonville at Seattle     1:25
Thu, Sep 26  San Francisco at St. Louis  7:25
Sun, Sep 29  NY Giants at Kansas City   12:00
Mon, Sep 30  Miami at New Orleans        7:30
Thu, Oct 3   Buffalo at Cleveland        8:25
Sun, Oct 6   New England at Cincinnati   1:00
Mon, Oct 7   NY Jets at Atlanta          8:30
Thu, Oct 10  NY Giants at Chicago        7:25
Sun, Oct 13  Carolina at Minnesota      12:00
Sun, Oct 20  New England at NY Jets      1:00
Mon, Oct 21  Minnesota at NY Giants      8:30
Thu, Oct 24  Carolina at Tampa Bay       8:25
Sun, Oct 27  SF at Jacksonville          1:00
Thu, Oct 31  Cincinnati at Miami         8:25
Mon, Nov 4   Chicago at Green Bay        7:25
Sun, Nov 10  Houston at Arizona          1:25
Thu, Nov 14  Indianapolis at Tennessee   8:25
Sun, Nov 17  NY Jets at Buffalo          1:00
Mon, Nov 18  New England at Carolina     8:30
Sun, Nov 24  NY Jets at Baltimore        1:00
Mon, Nov 25  San Francisco at Washington 8:30
Thu, Nov 28  Oakland at Dallas           4:30
Sun, Dec 1   New England at Houston      3:25
Sun, Dec 8   Cleveland at New England    1:00
Sun, Dec 15  Houston at Indianapolis    12:00
Mon, Dec 16  Baltimore at Detroit        8:30
Sun, Dec 22  Chicago at Philadelphia     1:00
Sun, Dec 29  Cleveland at Pittsburgh     1:00

A few long drives (22 of 500 miles or more of which 8 are over 600 miles) but overall seems quite possible at first glance.

Update: Wrong! This trip was 27,500 highway miles. I played around and found a trip under 20,000 miles, and that one I am taking, starting September 4th.

Best,

Sean

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NHL Shortened Season Road Trip

With the NHL season well underway, I wondered how the shortened season would impact the possibilities of a league-wide road trip. As it turns out, it is much easier to plan a trip when teams are playing more games per month and not traveling on extended road trips as there are no interconference games. Usually it takes a couple of hours to work out a reasonable trip but this time, it took less than 30 minutes. Starting today, February 1st, the following trip takes you to all 30 stadiums in just over 2.5 months.

Feb 01 St. Louis at Detroit
Feb 05 Los Angeles at Columbus
Feb 07 Carolina at Ottawa
Feb 09 Toronto at Montréal
Feb 12 NY Rangers at Boston
Feb 16 New Jersey at NY Islanders
Feb 17 Washington at NY Rangers
Feb 18 Ottawa at New Jersey
Feb 21 Florida at Philadelphia
Feb 23 New Jersey at Washington
Feb 28 Pittsburgh at Carolina
Mar 03 Carolina at Florida
Mar 07 Winnipeg at Tampa Bay
Mar 09 Minnesota at Nashville
Mar 12 San Jose at St. Louis
Mar 14 Anaheim at Dallas
Mar 21 Vancouver at Phoenix
Mar 22 Detroit at Anaheim
Mar 23 Vancouver at Los Angeles
Mar 27 Anaheim at San Jose
Mar 28 Colorado at Vancouver
Mar 29 Columbus at Calgary
Apr 01 Calgary at Edmonton
Apr 05 Detroit at Colorado
Apr 09 Chicago at Minnesota
Apr 11 Florida at Winnipeg
Apr 14 Tampa Bay at Buffalo
Apr 15 Dallas at Chicago
Apr 17 Montréal at Pittsburgh
Apr 18 NY Islanders at Toronto

What I like about this trip is that it is nearly perfect, in that you can see nearly every team on the road exactly once. Only six teams are missed in their visiting whites, and no team is seen more than twice away from home. The San Jose-Vancouver-Calgary stretch over 3 days is the only difficult drive and you would bet a nice week in between Dallas and Phoenix.

Of course, I won't be taking this trip, but as always, it is fun to plan.

Best,

Sean

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Off to Europe - 2 more games to end the year

The year-end holidays are upon us, which means a couple of weeks off work and a chance to visit some new places and perhaps see some new sports. With flights back to North America costing so much, I figured I'd relax at a resort in Asia, but having spent the last six months here, I decided that perhaps Europe would make a better destination. Using my favourite flight finder Kayak.com, I tried a number of major cities in western Europe and found a surprisingly cheap flight to Amsterdam leaving December 20th and returning January 2nd on Malaysia Airlines. It is unusual to get promotional prices during the Christmas holiday, but I suppose few tourists want to leave the balmy climes of southeast Asia for the chilly Netherlands. I have no problem with that and quickly made the booking.

The next step was to figure out where else to visit while in Europe. Barcelona and Brussels came up as convenient and affordable destinations that I've yet to see, so I booked a couple of one-way flights and the schedule was set. Now I had to find a sports match or two to include.

With this being the year-end holiday, there isn't a lot of sport to see as most soccer leagues rest over the final weekend of the year. By arriving on the 20th though, I get to see action on the penultimate weekend, when the main Dutch soccer circuit, the Eredivisie, is in action. Ajax Amsterdam is out of town, but there are several nearby towns hosting a match. The most interesting city among these is The Hague, so I'll head there next Saturday to see ADO Den Haag host N.E.C. of Nijmegen at Kyocera Stadion. The town is easily worth a day trip and with the game in the evening, the afternoon can be spent at the various museums and other attractions.

Barcelona proved to be slightly more troublesome to easily find sports as La Liga is taking their break while I am there. Fortunately, the FC Barclelona sports club has a basketball team, although their domestic home schedule saw no games while I am to be there. However, they are involved in the continental competition, known as the EuroLeague, which is the basketball equivalent of soccer's Champions League.

Twenty-four teams contest the regular season, playing in four groups for a home-and-away round robin. The top four from each group move on to the Top 16, which sees two groups of eight engage in another round robin. The top four advance to the best-of-five quarterfinals, with the winners meeting in a Final Four in London in May, 2013. The regular season finished yesterday and Barcelona topped their group. I knew that the first round of Top 16 games would be played while I am in Barcelona, but I wasn't sure if they would be at home during that round. Thankfully the league immediately announced the Top 16 schedule, and the sporting gods smiled upon me again as FC Barcelona hosts a game on December 27th, against Fenerbahce from Istanbul. That will provide a nice ending to a great year of sports travel.

Next year promises to be just as exciting for me, with the Texas Triangle Trip to get things started in early February. As always, check back for regular updates. Happy Holidays everyone!

Best,

Sean

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Texas Triangle Trip Planned

Now that I live in Singapore, getting back to North America is a long and painful process. There are two direct flights (one to LA, one to Newark) but those are not affordable and won't be around into 2014 anyway. Instead, I am forced to transit via my old stomping grounds in Tokyo, which adds at least 8 hours to what used to be a half-day trip, depending on my destination. So it takes a fairly big event to get me back across the Pacific. Next year sees my parents celebrating a milestone anniversary, so I'll be heading home for that. But with no sports left to see in that area of the world, I'll be stopping off in Texas to knock a few venues off the Quest for 400 list. The centerpiece is the NBA All-Star Weekend in Houston, which is probably the second most difficult ticket behind the Super Bowl. Fortunately, there are backup events should I not find my way inside the Toyota Center on February 17th.

I'm also hoping for a trip to New York during that time, which would allow me to see the resurgent Knicks and Brooklyn Nets. All this is still to be confirmed, but who knows, maybe this schedule will inspire some other roadtrippers.

Feb 14 Miami Heat at Oklahoma City Thunder 7:00 (NBA finals rematch)
Feb 15 Oklahoma City Barons at Texas Stars (AHL) 7:30
Feb 16 NBA All Star Saturday at Houston or Sacramento State at Texas (NCAA Baseball)
Feb 17 NBA All Star Game at Houston or UIC at Texas A&M (NCAA Baseball)
Feb 18 Central Baptist Mustangs at New Orleans Privateers (NCAA Basketball) 7:00
Feb 19 Chicago Bulls at New Orleans Hornets 7:00
Feb 20 Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets 7:00
Feb 21 Florida Atlantic Owls at North Texas Mean Green (NCAA Basketball) 7:00
Feb 22 Houston Aeros at Oklahoma City Barons 7:00
Feb 23 Texas Strikers at Dallas Sidekicks (PASL) 7:00
Feb 24 LA Lakers at Dallas Mavericks 12:00
Feb 27 Golden State Warriors at New York Knicks 7:30
Mar 01 Dallas Mavericks at Brooklyn Nets 8:00

Note

This year, the Central Hockey League went from 16 teams to 10, knocking the 400 venues on the quest down to 394. I added the Appalachian League to bring the total up to 404, but will be playing with other leagues over the next little while to see if I can get it back to exactly 400.

Best,

Sean

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NHL's Looming Lockout Affects Road Trip Plans

The braintrust that runs the NHL are yet again steering the league towards a labour stoppage. Despite handing out long-term contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, the owners cry poor. The players suggest revenue sharing to help those clubs losing money which makes sense to me as the league is only as healthy as its poorest teams, but the richer owners will have none of that. I'm so tired of these shenanigans that a glimpse of another headline on the topic sends me into a narcoleptic collapse. Still, these negotiations have an effect on me as I am planning my next big sports road trip during the upcoming season.

The Winter Classic in Ann Arbor is supposed the centerpiece of that journey, and I hoping to complete all 30 NHL rinks with stops in Boston, Raleigh, and Buffalo as well. Without a season, those destinations would fall by the wayside. Fortunately, other leagues have labour certainty, and the AHL has an outdoor game scheduled for Detroit on December 30th with the Marlies the visitors. That afternoon sees the Bears visit the Lions in a week 17 NFL tilt. So I've decided to go ahead and plan a trip based around the Detroit area at New Years, with that two-sport doubleheader as the centrepiece. If the NHL comes to its senses, I'll see the Winter Classic two days later; if not, then those three NHL rinks will remain unvisited as I will be boycotting the league for a very, very, long time.

What I expect to happen is for the NHL to follow the NBA model from last season: a relatively short lockout to scare everyone, a hasty agreement when they realize that fans have many more entertainment options these days, and a shortened schedule that begins just in time for the Winter Classic. If that scenario happens, the new schedule will leave me with little time to change plans, so I'll have to see how things work out, but regardless, once I have finished visiting all 30 NHL rinks, I'm going to leave the league in the rear view mirror. Two major work stoppages in eight years shows how little they care about the fan and I'll gladly spend my sports dollars elsewhere.

Anyway, here's the plan so far, with lots of time left for changes:

Fri, Dec 14    Albany Devils at Connecticut Whale (AHL) 7:00
Sat, Dec 15    St. John's Icecaps at Springfield Falcons (AHL) 7:05
Sun, Dec 16    St. John's Icecaps at Providence Bruins (AHL) 3:05
Sun, Dec 16    San Francisco 49ers at New England Patriots 8:20
Mon, Dec 17    Los Angeles Kings at Boston Bruins 7:00
Tue, Dec 18    Utah Jazz at Brooklyn Nets 7:30
Wed, Dec 19    Albany Devils at Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) 7:00
Thu, Dec 20    Florida Panthers at New York Rangers 7:00
Fri, Dec 21    Albany Devils at Norfolk Admirals (AHL) 7:30
Sat, Dec 22    Anaheim Ducks at Carolina Hurricanes 7:00
Sun, Dec 23    Oakland Raiders at Carolina Panthers 1:00
Fri, Dec 28    Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators 7:30
Sun, Dec 30    Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions 1:00
Sun, Dec 30    Toronto Marlies at Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL Outdoor Classic) 7:00
Mon, Dec 31    Rockford Icehogs at Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) 6:00
Tue, Jan 1     Toronto Maple Leafs at Detroit Red Wings (Winter Classic) 1:00
Tue, Jan 1     Sacramento Kings at Detroit Pistons 7:30
Wed, Jan 2     Washington Wizards at Indiana Pacers 7:00
Thu, Jan 3     Florida Panthers at Buffalo Sabres 7:00
Fri, Jan 4     Reading Royals at Elmira Jackals (ECHL) 7:05
Sat, Jan 5     Tampa Bay Lightning at Buffalo Sabres 7:00

I still have a month or two before I need to book any tickets or hotels, so here's hoping by then that we have a sudden burst of intelligence in the NHL's head offices and the season proceeds as scheduled.

Update: As you know, there is a dearth of intelligence at the NHL's head offices. Why did I think otherwise? I have cancelled the entire trip and will be visiting Texas in February instead.

Next Up

The Malaysia Cup is in full swing and Singapore has a team playing in the tourney, so I'll be heading back to Jalan Besar Stadium this Saturday to see Lions XII hosting a team from Johor Bahru. Check back next week for a recap of the game.

Best,

Sean

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NFL Road Trip 2012

The NFL schedule came out a few days ago and it was a bit disappointing for me. In all but the last two weeks there are Thursday night games (well, the season opener is on a Wednesday if you want to be pedantic), which makes a road trip much easier to plan than it was before. Whereas in past years it would take a few hours to come up with a viable route, this year it took about 30 minutes. The following road trip might not be optimal, and naturally I'm not taking it as I'm moving to Singapore in August, but for what it's worth, here is a trip that takes you to all 32 stadiums (yes the Giants and Jets play at the same place but the experience is different).

Sep 5  Dallas at NY Giants
Sep 9  Buffalo at NY Jets
Sep 10 Cincinnati at Baltimore
Sep 13 Chicago at Green Bay
Sep 17 Denver at Atlanta
Sep 20 NY Giants at Carolina
Sep 23 NY Jets at Miami
Sep 30 Tennessee at Houston
Oct 1  Chicago at Dallas
Oct 4  Arizona at St. Louis
Oct 7  Baltimore at Kansas City
Oct 14 New England at Arizona
Oct 15 Denver at San Diego
Oct 18 Seattle at San Francisco
Oct 21 Jacksonville at Oakland
Oct 25 Tampa Bay at Minnesota
Oct 28 Carolina at Chicago
Nov 4  Chicago at Tennessee
Nov 5  Philadelphia at New Orleans
Nov 8  Indianapolis at Jacksonville
Nov 11 San Diego at Tampa Bay
Nov 15 Miami at Buffalo
Nov 18 Baltimore at Pittsburgh
Nov 22 Houston at Detroit
Nov 25 Buffalo at Indianapolis
Nov 26 Carolina at Philadelphia
Dec 3  NY Giants at Washington
Dec 9  Dallas at Cincinnati
Dec 10 Houston at New England
Dec 16 Washington at Cleveland
Dec 23 Cleveland at Denver
Dec 30 St. Louis at Seattle

You could flip those last two depending on where you wanted to spend Christmas and New Year's as Seattle hosts the 49ers on the 23rd and KC visits Denver on the 30th.

In the past, the typical trip requires about 28,000 miles of driving; this one is somewhat shorter at just 25,000, assuming Toronto as a start and end point. I'm also ignoring practical problems such as driving from Denver to Seattle in the winter, which might cause some difficulties. Some of the drives are quite long, with about 20 days having a journey of greater than 500 miles so it's not something that I'd want to do alone. It would not surprise me if someone did a trip this year though as the additional midweek games make it pretty easy.

Best,

Sean

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Quest for 400

Happy Birthday to me! Or at least to the blog. Sports Road Trips is three years old today and it's time to change it up a bit. I've been doing odd trips over those years, generally when I found a bit of free time and spare cash, but there hasn't been a lot of rhyme or reason behind them. Mostly I've been trying to see Toronto teams on the road and all the new baseball stadiums, and then finding other games in the vicinity.

I've decided that this is no longer the best way to approach these trips, so I've set a goal to complete visits to 400 pro stadiums in North America over the next five years. Now, I've already been to nearly 300 venues across the continent, plus another 75 or so in far-flung international locations, but that was using a more scattershot approach. Since I'm only planning to do this for a few more years, I want to set a goal and use the blog to monitor progress.

What I've done is found 25 leagues that total 400 teams. I hope to see a game in each of those venues that I have yet to visit by the time I retire from this in 2017. The rules are as follows:

1) the game must be a regular season or playoff game, no pre-season antics allowed

2) the home team must be present. So although I saw the First Niagara Center twice (when it was the HSBC Arena), once was for an exhibition game and the other time was for the World Junior Hockey Championships, so it is still on the list to visit.

3) a full game must be played. I saw 5 innings in New Hampshire one year and so need to drop by again to consider it official.

4) Once a stadium becomes inactive, the new stadium is added back to the list. When the Atlanta Trashers moved to Winnipeg, Phillips Arena no longer counted as an NHL venue, so I had to check out the MTS Centre to stay current. This rule is most difficult in minor league baseball, which sees franchise relocations and new ballparks every year.

The breakdown of the 400 is as follows, with the number of active venues I have seen listed.

MLB: 29/30 - Marlins Stadium to be knocked off the list this summer.

NHL: 27/30 - Buffalo and Boston have been seen before, but not under the rules. Carolina also on the list.

NFL: 7/32 - Need to do an NFL roadtrip one of these years, it is too tough to see more than two games on the sort of trips I do, which are usually in the summer.

NBA: 19/30 - Not something I'm particularly keen on but will try to knock them off during the NFL trip

Minor league baseball: 70/150 - Not including independent leagues, there are 13 affiliated minor league circuits that I count here, excluding the Appalachian League. I was surprised at how low the number I've seen is, it used to be nearly 90 which shows you how much franchise movement and ballpark construction there is at this level.

AHL: 5/30

ECHL: 6/22 - another league with far too much franchise movement.

CHL: 1/16

MLS: 1/19 - Like the NFL, a difficult one to get when I travel. Three Canadian teams now.

NBDL: 2/16 - Yep, even minor league basketball.

CFL: 1/8: - Gotta get out west again.

NLL: 1/9 - Have seen two franchises that have moved, but the league has reached relative stability

MLL: 0/8 - When I started planning this, there were only 6, but they expanded for this season.

A rather arbitrary list of leagues but it totals nicely to 400 venues with Major League Lacrosse expanding 8 teams. I'm ignoring college sports for one main reason: too many venues. There are 345 here alone in Division 1 basketball and I am not immortal (nor a millionaire). I'm also ignoring junior hockey rinks as I want to focus only on professional sports. That doesn't mean I won't visit those places when opportunity presents itself, but I will not be counting them on this list.

Out of the 400, I have only visited 169 of them, a surprisingly low number (my overall venue count is 362). That makes 231 to go, not including new stadiums which will certainly be built. I'd estimate about 50 per year over the next five years to make it. I'm going to track this on the following page, along with my total venue count. I should note that this quest is predicated on my moving back to North America next year. If that doesn't happen, I won't be able to get home often enough to achieve this. But If I do move back, then it will be interesting to see if I get even close.

Best,

Sean

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Canadian Soccer Roadtrip in LA

Toronto FC are the new kid on the block in terms of the city's pro sports teams and although they have not had much success in their first 5 seasons, they are the Canadian champion which allows them entry into the CONCACAF Champions League. They finished second in group play and advanced to the quarterfinals, where they are taking on the defending MLS champs, the Los Angeles Galaxy.

The first leg was played today and finished 2-2 after Toronto had taken a 2-0 lead. The second and decisive leg is to be played at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA on March 14th. That got me thinking about flying over to LA to check out the game so I had a look at the MLS schedule and was intrigued to find that the Vancouver Whitecaps would be visiting the very same stadium on March 17th to face Chivas USA.

A quick check of other leagues revealed an ECHL game in Ontario on Tuesday, and the Clippers and Lakers home between Thursday and Saturday, among other possibilities.

Here's one potential schedule:

Tue Mar 13  Idaho Steelheads at Ontario Reign (ECHL) 7:00
Wed Mar 14  Toronto FC at Los Angeles Galaxy (CCL) 7:00
Thu Mar 15  Indiana Hoosiers at Loyola Marymount Lions (NCAA Baseball) 3:00
Thu Mar 15  Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Clippers 7:30
Fri Mar 16  Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers 7:30
Sat Mar 17  Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Clippers 12:30
Sat Mar 17  Vancouver Whitecaps at Chivas USA 7:30

I won't be able to make the trip as I'm going to Okinawa the following week, but it is fun to think about.

Best,

Sean

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2012 Sports Road Trips Schedule Takes Shape

Yesterday was my last day at work. The main reason for quitting is that I am leaving Japan! Yes, after nearly 16 years here, it's time to move on. At this point, I'm not sure where I'm going or what I'll be doing, but you can bet there will be lots of sports involved.

Before I leave for good, I want to see some of the venues here in Japan that I haven't visited in a while, or seen at all. Most important is Sapporo Dome, which became a regular NPB home ground in 2004 when the Nippon Ham Fighters moved there from Tokyo. Over the eight seasons since, I have yet to see a single game there, a truly embarrassing admission for a sports road tripper. The dome is also home to the J League's Consadole Sapporo franchise, which regained promotion to the top level. I want to see this venue tricked out for both soccer and baseball, and there is only one chance to do so early in the season, when the teams play two days apart.

Nagoya is also on the list in mid-April as there are 3 games in 3 days there, one AFC Champions League, one with the Giants at the Dragons, and a minor league tilt at Nagoya Stadium.

I am also planning one more trip to Osaka to see the three ball stadiums there over a 3-day period. The Orix Buffaloes usually play at the Kyocera Dome Osaka, but they also have a few home games at Hotto Motto Stadium Kobe, the best old-style stadium in Japan. I'll also check out Koshien to see the Tigers one last time.

Despite departing Japan as a full-time resident, I'll be hanging around Asia for the better part of the year, with three trips back to North America for sports. The first trip starts next week with a few days in LA sandwiched around two weeks watching hockey on the Canadian prairies. Then in June, I'll be checking out the Jays in Atlanta and Miami, as well as all ballparks in the Florida State League and perhaps some NCAA Regional baseball playoffs. Before and after, I'll be checking out Rogers Centre to see the Jays, including a weekend set against the Mets, which promises to be another road trip convention as the boys from Royalty Tours and the Ultimate Sports Road Trip are expected to attend.

The final trip will be in December when I'll return home to finish up the NHL rinks (Buffalo, Boston, and Carolina) and check out the Leafs in the Winter Classic. There's also the outside chance of an NFL road trip, but that will depend on the schedule to be released in April.

Whatever the case, it will be a busy year. The schedule is updated regularly whenever I find a new game to see. As usual, if you are in a town I'm visiting, drop me a line and let's meet up for a game.

Best,

Sean

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Fours Are Wild Road Trip

I like to post road trip ideas here even when I'm not taking them as it keeps the creative juices flowing. While browsing the NCAA Baseball home page, I noticed that the Final Four and Frozen Four were being held one week after the other, with both taking place in the southeast; New Orleans is hosting the hoops on March 31 and April 2, while Tampa showcases the hockey on April 5 and 7. At the same time, the newly-named Miami Marlins open their ballpark on 4/4. Fours everywhere! A bit of searching to find some other games in between and we have the following:

Sat Mar 31   NCAA Final Four at New Orleans
Sun Apr  1   Arkansas at LSU (NCAA Baseball at Baton Rouge)
Mon Apr  2   NCAA Basketball Championship Game at New Orleans
Tue Apr  3   Winnipeg Jets at Florida Panthers or Florida Gulf Coast at Florida State (NCAA Baseball at Tallahassee)
Wed Apr  4   St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins (Stadium Opener)
Thu Apr  5   NCAA Frozen Four at Tampa
Fri Apr  6   New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays (Home Opener)
Sat Apr  7   NCAA Frozen Four Final at Tampa

It would be a long drive (850 miles) from New Orleans to Sunrise to see the Panthers, so Tallahassee might be a more reasonable stop. In reality though, you'd probably want to reserve that day for recovering from the post-game party that is sure to rock Bourbon Street.

Best,

Sean

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The Post-Lockout NBA Road Trip

The NBA has ended its lockout and released an updated schedule. Fans can't wait for the season to start, but with all those games in such a short time, I expect the quality of basketball to be rather low as players get tired from all that travel and back-to-back games. There is a winner from the compressed schedule though, namely the basketball road tripper. With more games in less time, it is far easier to plan a 30-stadium jaunt. So that's what I did. Starting on Christmas, you can see all 30 stadiums in 53 days, finishing up with a Clippers tilt in mid-February. I suspect with a little extra work, you can find an even shorter trip, but I like this trip as there are no ridiculous drives and some big ticket matchups.

Dec 25 Chicago at LA Lakers
Dec 26 New Orleans at Phoenix
Dec 28 LA Clippers at San Antonio
Dec 29 San Antonio at Houston
Dec 30 Toronto at Dallas
Dec 31 Phoenix at Oklahoma City
Jan 03 Sacramento at Memphis
Jan 06 Cleveland at Minneapolis
Jan 07 Charlotte at Indiana
Jan 09 Detroit at Chicago
Jan 10 Dallas at Detroit
Jan 11 Sacramento at Toronto
Jan 13 Chicago at Boston
Jan 14 Philadelphia at Washington
Jan 16 Orlando at New York
Jan 18 San Antonio at Orlando
Jan 19 LA Lakers at Miami
Jan 21 Cleveland at Atlanta
Jan 23 San Antonio at New Orleans
Jan 24 New York at Charlotte
Jan 25 New Jersey at Philadelphia
Jan 29 Toronto at New Jersey
Jan 31 Boston at Cleveland
Feb 01 Miami at Milwaukee
Feb 03 LA Lakers at Denver
Feb 04 LA Lakers at Utah
Feb 08 Houston at Portland
Feb 11 Phoenix at Sacramento
Feb 12 Houston at Golden State
Feb 15 Washington at LA Clippers

Obviously this is not a journey that I will be taking, but as usual, it was fun to put together.

Best,

Sean

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NHL Realignment and Road Trips

The NHL announced its realignment plan for next year and it is mildly disappointing for road trippers. There will be four conferences aligned geographically, two with eight teams and two with seven. There is no more east/west separation, rather teams will play their interconference rivals 5 or 6 times and each other team twice, once at home and once away. The first two playoff rounds will be contested within each conference, with the semifinals seeded based on regular season records.

The Leafs are in a 7-team conference that includes their current Northeast Division foes plus Florida and Tampa Bay. They will play three home and three road games against these teams (36 games) plus one home and away against the rest of the league (46 games). Compare that to the situation now, where they play 24 divisional, 40 conference, and 18 non-conference games and you can see that the new alignment reduces the variety in opponents.

For road trip planning, this makes things slightly harder since I am more interested in seeing the Leafs against non-divisional teams on the road. This season I had 29 chances; next season this number will be reduced to 23. Essentially half the road games against each of the 10 teams in the Southeast and Atlantic Divisions are being replaced by an additional four games against Florida and Tampa Bay and 6 games against Western teams. The Leafs will visit every rink in the league now, which is an improvement, but overall there is going to be less chance to see them.

Overall, the league will see 45% of the schedule composed of interconference matchups, compared to 78% now, so in one sense there is more variety, but this is somewhat misleading as there are far fewer teams in a conference.

I am disappointed that the playoffs will be conference based as again, there is less variety. I think the top 4 teams in each conference should be seeded 1-16 and play from there, but of course, this could result in a lot more travel, so it will not change. The good news is that Toronto is in a smaller conference so they have a slightly better chance of making the playoffs then under the current system, but that will change when the league expands to Quebec.

The most interesting aspect will be the elimination of the east and west, which will increase the odds that the two best teams will meet in the finals, as long as they don't come from the same conference. Whatever the case, I am looking forward to the schedule being released and planning my next NHL roadtrip.

Best,

Sean

Update: The NHLPA ixnayed the realignment, citing travel concerns and the unfair playoffs. Good on them - they've been pushovers for far too long. Just move Winnipeg and one of Detroit/Columbus/Nashville and be done with it until we get teams in Quebec and Seattle!

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The Perfect NHL Road Trip

The NHL came out with their schedule last week and I quickly put together the usual roadtrip spreadsheet that shows each team's home games in roughly the same order that one would make a roundtrip journey. This way, you can quickly see when nearby teams play back-to-back and which teams are away for extended periods (the bane of the roadtrip planner), making it much easier to put together a plan.

There are countless possibilities for league-wide trips that take in all 30 arenas, it just depends on where and when you want to start. Rather than bore you with a randomly generated trip, I decided to see if I could create the "perfect" NHL roadtrip. A perfect roadtrip is one where not only each arena is seen, but each team is seen exactly twice - once at home and once on the road. This is trivial to do if you are flying, but if you want to stick to the road, it becomes quite difficult to find a sensible route. There are only 41 home games per season and finding a string of nearby games with different visiting teams is much harder than it sounds. But after a few hours of playing around, I came up with the following, starting with the new Jets visiting the old Jets in Phoenix:

Oct 15 Winnipeg Jets at Phoenix Coyotes 5:00
Oct 16 St. Louis Blues at Anaheim Ducks 5:00
Oct 17 Anaheim Ducks at San Jose Sharks 7:30
Oct 18 New York Rangers at Vancouver Canucks 7:00
Oct 20 Minnesota Wild at Edmonton Oilers 7:30
Oct 22 Carolina Hurricanes at Winnipeg Jets 6:00
Oct 28 San Jose Sharks at Detroit Red Wings 7:30
Oct 29 Detroit Red Wings at Minnesota Wild 7:00
Nov 10 Chicago Blackhawks at Columbus Blue Jackets 7:00
Nov 12 Buffalo Sabres at Boston Bruins 7:00
Nov 15 Colorado Avalanche at Pittsburgh Penguins 7:00
Nov 16 New Jersey Devils at Buffalo Sabres 7:30
Nov 23 Vancouver Canucks at Colorado Avalanche 7:00
Nov 29 Nashville Predators at Calgary Flames 7:00
Dec  2 New York Islanders at Chicago Blackhawks 7:30
Dec  5 Tampa Bay Lightning at Ottawa Senators 7:30
Dec  6 Columbus Blue Jackets at Montreal Canadiens 7:30
Dec 10 Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Islanders 7:00
Dec 11 Florida Panthers at New York Rangers 7:00
Dec 13 Philadelphia Flyers at Washington Capitals 7:00
Dec 16 Dallas Stars at New Jersey Devils 7:00
Dec 17 Boston Bruins at Philadelphia Flyers 1:00
Dec 19 Los Angeles Kings at Toronto Maple Leafs 7:00
Dec 23 Ottawa Senators at Carolina Hurricanes 7:00
Dec 27 Toronto Maple Leafs at Florida Panthers 7:30
Dec 29 Montreal Canadiens at Tampa Bay Lightning 7:30
Jan  1 Calgary Flames at Nashville Predators 5:00
Jan  3 Phoenix Coyotes at St. Louis Blues 7:00
Jan  7 Edmonton Oilers at Dallas Stars 1:00
Jan  9 Washington Capitals at Los Angeles Kings 7:30

The trip starts with a lot of driving, going from Phoenix to Winnipeg in just a week before a break. There are a few back-to-back games with drives exceeding 10 hours with San Jose to Vancouver being the longest at 16 hours. That would be extremely tough to make by oneself when you factor it time at the border, but it can be done if you get a few hours on the road after the game.

There are some interesting games as well. The Flames at Nashville is the only New Year's contest on the schedule and would be a rematch of the Predators visit to Calgary just over a month earlier. The Sharks/Red Wings and Bruins/Flyers are good rivalries stoked by the just-completed playoffs. Five of the last seven games would see Canadian teams on the road around the holidays, so there should be a lot of fellow roadtrippers at those tilts. You'd spend Christmas in Miami and watch the Leafs two days later.

There is a lot of backtracking on this trip, particularly those two trips from Alberta to the east coast. Overall, you'd be looking at about 20,000 miles of highway driving compared to around 12,500 for a trip that goes in one direction. The trip is 87 days long so you'd be averaging 225 miles per day, with a number of very long drives. You'd miss most of the bad weather by starting early in the season, but there'd be a few chilly days in December. There's also the general issue of snowstorms, this sort of trip has little room for weather problems.

I think you can play with the schedule a bit to make it more efficient but it would result in more days on the road. Whatever the case, it is always fun to think about these trips, even if they are pretty much impossible. When the AHL releases their schedule, I'll try the same for them.

Best,

Sean

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The Vancouver/San Jose Road Trip

One of my favourite sports roadtrips was driving from Vancouver to San Jose in 1994 to see the Sharks' first ever home playoff games, which they split with top seed Detroit. It was a blast; the fans were still new to the game and excited to see their team succeeding in just their third season, long before the Sharks became the poster boys for playoff failure. When San Jose went on to upset the Red Wings in 7 games, it helped the Canucks reach the final.

Now these two west coast rivals meet in the playoffs for the first time, and although I wish I could be there, I'm stuck across the ocean. So I can only plan a roadtrip that takes you to all 7 games as well as plenty of other action in between.

Sun May 15 San Jose at Vancouver 5:00
Mon May 16 Pacific Tigers at Washington Huskies 2:00 (NCAA Baseball)
Tue May 17 Lewis-Clark State Warriors at Seattle Redhawks 3:00 (NCAA Baseball)
Wed May 18 San Jose at Vancouver 6:00
Thu May 19 Oklahoma City Redhawks at Sacramento River Cats 7:05 (PCL)
Fri May 20 Vancouver at San Jose 6:00
Sat May 21 New England Revolution at San Jose Earthquakes 7:30 (MLS)
Sun May 22 Vancouver at San Jose 12:00
Mon May 23 San Jose Giants at Stockton Ports 11:05 (Cal League)
Tue May 24 Nashville Sounds at Tacoma Rainiers 11:35 (PCL)
Tue May 24 San Jose at Vancouver 6:00
Wed May 25 FC Dallas at Seattle Sounders 7:00 (MLS)
Thu May 26 Vancouver at San Jose 6:00
Fri May 27 Stanford Cardinal at Cal Bears 2:30 (NCAA Baseball)
Sat May 28 San Jose at Vancouver 5:00 (or, if series is over)
Sat May 28 New York Red Bulls at Vancouver Whitecaps 4:00

One good thing about this roadtrip is the early start times, which give you more time to drive in the evening, or perhaps find some local establishments in which to relax. I am sure a number of Canucks fans will be doing the hockey portion of this trip, so I hope that some of them see this and check out a couple of more games on the way.

Times Have Changed

Looking back on that 1994 playoff season, it is amazing how much things have changed since then. At that time, I had lived in Vancouver for 4 years and had seen dozens of Canucks' games at the old Pacific Coliseum. Tickets were cheap and easy to get in those days, particularly before Pavel Bure arrived. When San Jose knocked off Detroit and Vancouver completed a 3-1 comeback over Calgary, I realized that the Canucks had a good shot of making the final, since they matched up well with Dallas and Toronto, the other remaining squads (yep, Toronto used to be in the West).

That year, the Canucks put all remaining rounds on sale on the same day, so I headed down to TicketMaster (no Internet at home, remember?) and bought a pair of tickets to each of the 3 finals games, in the top row for $50 each. I recall the gentleman behind me laughing at my optimism, but it turned out to be the one year I actually predicted something correctly. Vancouver beat Dallas easily, and then knocked out Toronto in a double OT Game 5 that I also attended. It was a bittersweet moment, for although I was still hoping for the Leafs to win, I knew that if they lost I would get some Stanley Cup finals action for the first time in my life (no need to point out that the Leafs have not made the finals in 44 years).

That championship series was unbelievable, especially game 6 when Vancouver won 4-1 to send everyone back to New York. I'll never forget Nathan Lafayette hitting the crossbar in game 7, all the bandwagon fans, and the riot afterwards marked by the smell of tear gas as I walked home.

Unfortunately, I lost a lot of respect for Vancouver hockey fans that year, mainly because there were so few fans that believed in their team at the beginning of the playoffs. As an example, the sports bar where I watched the games showed Toronto/Chicago tilts over Vancouver/Calgary in round 1, since there were no Canucks' fans in the house. By the time the finals rolled around though, all the fake fans had come out of the woodwork and I finally saw what a bandwagon town was like.

Things are obviously different now. Vancouver has had a top team for several seasons and the fans are truly passionate, as I saw at a road playoff game in LA last year. I still cheer for the Canucks, but from the position of a faraway observer rather than a true fan. For me though, there will be nothing like that 1994 playoff run, and I can only hope to be living in Toronto when the Leafs finally do the same.

Best,

Sean

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The CFL Road Trip

The Canadian Football League released their 2011 schedule a couple of days ago and naturally I looked into possible road trips. The CFL is a tricky league for travel - although there are only 8 teams, they are spread across a large area and you don't have much choice about the order in which you visit the cities; you either start in Montreal and finish in BC or vice versa. Of course, you can backtrack, but for me, I'd probably do the return leg through the northern US and try to catch some other sports. Teams play once a week, although there are two bye weeks (when 4 teams have the week off), which reduce your options a bit.

A few teams are close enough that you could see games on back-to-back days, which is important when you are trying to save a couple of weeks on the road. Edmonton and Calgary are the most obvious pair, but they are home on the same weekend exactly once, on the last weekend of the season. Not good! Fortunately, Winnipeg and Saskatchewan are not that far apart, and Montreal, Hamilton, and Toronto are also relatively close, and they do have games on the same weekend, so a six-week journey is possible.

The season gets underway on Canada Day weekend and lasts until the first week of November. I prefer the warm weather, so I'd get started early and try to catch some late-season minor league ball on the way back. With that said, here's one potential CFL road trip for 2011:

Fri, Jul 15 Toronto at Montreal 7:30
Sat, Jul 16 Saskatchewan at Hamilton 4:00
Sat, Jul 23 Winnipeg at Toronto 4:00
Thu, Jul 28 BC at Winnipeg 7:00
Sat, Jul 30 Calgary at Saskatchewan 7:30
Sat, Aug 6  Hamilton at Calgary 7:30
Sat, Aug 13 Winnipeg at BC 7:00
Fri, Aug 19 BC at Edmonton 9:00

Not bad, just 5 weeks, and leaves two weeks to get back to the east via Washington, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where there'd be plenty of chances to see minor league ball. It would also be a great chance to see Canada, something I haven't done since 1990. Doubtful I'll be able to take this trip, but you never know, it might be the only pro football played in North America this year and I'll need to get my fix somehow.

Best,

Sean

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The Gold Cup Road Trip

This summer sees the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup being held throughout the US. The Gold Cup is North America's national tournament, much like next year's Euro or the just-completed Asian Cup (won by Japan).

The event will be held at 13 different venues over 3 weeks, which makes for an intriguing road trip. What is particularly interesting is that each venue hosts just two games in a doubleheader format, so you can move from city to city without retracing your steps. The full schedule is below:

June 5:  Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, TX      Costa Rica/Cuba, Mexico/El Salvador
June 6:  Home Depot Center, Carson, CA       Jamaica/Grenada, Honduras/Guatemala
June 7:  Ford Field, Detroit, MI             Panama/Guadeloupe, Canada/USA
June 9:  Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte  Costa Rica/El Salvador, Cuba/Mexico
June 10: FIU Stadium, Miami, FL              Jamaica/Guatemala, Honduras/Grenada
June 11: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL    Canada/Guadeloupe, USA/Panama
June 12: Soldier Field, Chicago, IL          El Salvador/Cuba, Mexico/Costa Rica
June 13: Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ        Guatemala/Grenada, Honduras/Jamaica
June 14: KC Soccer Stadium, Kansas City, KS  Canada/Panama, Guadeloupe/USA
June 18: New Meadowlands Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ (QF)
June 19: RFK Stadium, Washington, DC (QF)
June 22: Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX (SF)
June 25: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA

An ambitious roadtripper could make 10 of these venues, skipping only Carson, Chicago, and Kansas City. To be honest, many of the games are not that compelling, with teams such as Guadeloupe, Cuba, and Grenada coming from the Caribbean, but such is the nature of these continental competitions (except the Euro). It would still be a fun time and you'd see most of the country. The draw hasn't been held yet, but when it is, I'll update this post with the teams. If you are Canadian, it's a great chance to see our boys as they begin the long road to the 2014 World Cup!

Update (March 12): The draw was held a few days ago. I've updated the schedule above with the games for the first round. Each group plays in one of the cities that would be skipped, so you'd see each team twice. The big game is Canada vs US in Detroit on the 7th.

Best,

Sean

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Empire State of Roadtrip

While watching the World Junior Hockey Championship in Buffalo, I saw an advertisement for the WWE Raw show that will take place there on February 28th. I quickly checked the Sabres and Bandits schedules but they weren't conducive to a 3-day sports weekend. Not that I'd be able to attend but I thought my friend Sharpy might be interested. Alas, no go.

When I got back to Japan though, I had a look at neighboring teams in Rochester and Syracuse. It turned out that a simple 4-day road trip was possible once you included those cities. That got me to thinking: how about looking at all the teams in New York? Turns out that there's more than a few sports teams in the Empire State, so once I got checking for possible events, I realized that you could spend nearly 3 weeks on the road watching sports only in New York.

You know of the 3 NHL teams and the Knicks in the NBA, but there's also 5 AHL squads, the ECHL's Elmira Jackals, 2 NLL teams (indoor lacrosse for the uninitiated), 3 franchises in the Federal Hockey League, the Rochester RazorSharks of the Premier Basketball League and a number of college basketball teams of which I considered just 3. All tolled, that's 19 franchises plus the WWE.

So I tried to make a road trip with the usual simple rules: at least one event per day and no home team is seen more than once. Amazingly, you can see each team mentioned above exactly once and finish off in Buffalo for Raw. Here's the schedule:

Feb  9  Abbotsford at Rochester (AHL) 7:05
Feb 10  Connecticut at St. Johns (NCAA Basketball) 7:00
Feb 11  Rome at 1000 Islands (FHL) 7:05
Feb 12  Minnesota at Rochester (NLL) 7:35
Feb 13  NY Islanders at Buffalo (NHL) 3:00
Feb 14  West Virginia at Syracuse (NCAA Basketball) 7:00
Feb 15  Ohio at Buffalo (NCAA Basketball) 7:00
Feb 16  Atlanta at New York (NBA) 7:30
Feb 17  Los Angeles at NY Rangers (NHL) 7:00
Feb 18  Connecticut at Adirondack (AHL) 7:30
Feb 19  Philadelphia at Buffalo (NLL) 7:30
Feb 20  Adirondack at Albany (AHL) 4:00
Feb 21  Florida at NY Islanders (NHL) 1:00
Feb 22  Charlotte at Syracuse (AHL) 7:00
Feb 23  Wilkes Barre/Scranton at Binghamton (AHL) 7:05
Feb 24  Cape Cod at New York (FHL) 7:05
Feb 25  Wheeling at Elmira (ECHL) 7:35
Feb 26  Dayton at Rochester (PBL) 1:05
Feb 27  Cape Cod at Rome (FHL) 2:05
Feb 28  WWE Raw at Buffalo 8:15

There you have it. Now I'll be the first to admit that there's a lot of driving and you would be criss-crossing the state several times (and going through New Jersey and Pennsylvania a lot too). There's only one occasion where back-to-back games are in the same city, which means a lot of checking into and out of hotels. But if you love sports and you love New York, this can't be beat.

I found out about the FHL through Our Sports Central. The FHL is a small league with 7 teams, including a new team in Akwesasne, Ontario. It seems to lie beneath the ECHL, so it's highly unlikely you'll see future NHL'ers here, but it looks like a decent league with a good internet presence. The New York team plays in Brooklyn so check them out when you get a chance.

The PBL is only 3 years old but already has fallen from 13 teams to just 7, so I'm not sure how much longer it will be around.

Best,

Sean

Update (Feb 9th): The FHL should change their name to the F%*ked-Up Hockey League. They are shortening their schedule, so a couple of games later on the roadtrip wouldn't happen. I know, this is just a possible roadtrip and I'm not even going, but it's the principle; road trippers need schedule certainty!

Thanks to Gary and his friend Dom for the info on this.

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Dollar a Day Rental Car - Road Trip Plan

Dollar Rent A Car has a great special once in a while. You can rent a car for $1/day if you are driving it just one way. Pick up and drop off locations are limited and differ for each special, but are usually far enough apart that you can plan a nice little sports road trip. From now until November 17th, this special is available with pick up locations in New York City and Pittsburgh and drop offs in Houston, Dallas and some other Texas cities as well as Tulsa, Oklahoma. The biggest restriction is that the rental period is limited to 7 days so you can't just take your time, pretty much every day you want to be moving closer to your destination.

I've been looking at the schedules and found dozens of potential trips between these spots. I'd love to go, but my temp job and the Nabisco Cup Final keep me in Japan until November 3rd. I also need to be here on November 21st in order to fly to Okinawa for a few days. Even with those constraints, I found the following trip quite intriguing.

Nov 10   Bruins at Penguins 7:00
Nov 11   Reading at Wheeling 7:05 (ECHL)
Nov 12   Avalanche at Blue Jackets 7:00
Nov 13   Gwinnett at Cincinnati 7:30 (ECHL)
Nov 14   Bengals at Colts 1:00
Nov 15   Miami at Memphis 11:00 (NCAA Basketball, Midnight Madness)
Nov 16   Trailblazers at Grizzlies 7:00
Nov 17   Mavericks at Thunder 7:00 
Nov 18   Sharks at Stars 7:30

The seven-day restriction is met by renting the car on November 11th, using public transit the day before to get from the airport to downtown Pittsburgh. The same would be done in Dallas: returning the car in the afternoon and taking the train from the airport to the arena. One note - the taxes and surcharges in Pittsburgh add $38 to the dollar-a-day price.

Am I going to take this trip? Sadly, it's quite unlikely, given my trip in December among other things. But it sure is tempting.

Meanwhile, for those of you who have some time off and want a cheap way to travel, check out the special at Dollar and see if you can put together your own sports road trip.

Best,

Sean

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