Daily Pucking Grind. Road Trip. April 20th
By Frank Rekas
Today’s musical selection is My Hometown by Bruce Springsteen.
By the time you read this, I’ll be on a plane to the Windy City…. or maybe I have already landed. We are taking Little Miss Rat Trick to see some colleges, my Mom, Aunt Mary (everyone has an Aunt Mary), my brother and my niece. So besides coming here to read this site as often as you possibly can, please start sending your lose change from your coin jars, ashtrays, suitcases and gym bags. We’re going to see places like Northwestern University, Loyola, The University of Chicago, and DePaul. Yea, there will be no applications being sent to the University of Distractions.
Since we’ll be staying part of the time with Mom, who still doesn’t get how email works, my posting will be limited due to the schedule we’re on. Dave and Josh will be holding up the fort while I’m away, but if I do get a chance to put something interesting up, I certainly will. One good thing for sure is that we’ll be in a city who has a hockey team. You will remember last year when I went to Baltimore in May for a business trip…. the difficulty I had trying to get a game on in a local pub. In case you missed it, check it out here. It’s all true.
Things we plan on doing besides seeing college campuses and visiting the relatives?
* Eat stuffed/thick crust pizza. Giordano’s I hope.
* Gene and Jude’s for the best Italian beef sandwich you’ll ever have!
* Greek food! Some of the best Greek restaurants are in Chicago.
* See a Hawks game? The chance to see a game at a local establishment with the faithful of Chicago would make the trip worthwhile. See two? Man that would be the best!
* See a Cubs game? I think our only chance is Sunday. We’ll see.
Today also happens to be my Dad’s birthday. Nick would have been 86 years old today, but in 1993 a dumb thing called a heart attack took him away. (You can see a photo of us on the about page) This was just a few weeks before he would have seen his first grandaughter (my niece) and a year before he would have seen his second grandaughter (little Miss Rat Trick). My Dad was pretty much the one responsible for getting me into hockey. Taking me at a very young age to see Bobby Hull and the Chicago Blackhawks at the Old Chicago Stadium. It was basically love at first site, and it’s kinda been that way ever since. We also went to our share of Cubs games as well.
Yea, the Rekas family has had it’s share of loveable losers. But no matter what, the traditions, and the love for our teams is something that never goes away. We have lived with them as they fought to win, as well as suffered many a broken heart for all the times that they fell short. You can’t possibly know what it felt like to see the Hawks win the cup last year.
It will be good to be back “home” even for a short spurt. See the sites, see the family, eat some great food, and maybe catch a game. Have a great week everyone. Full report when I get back. Or maybe if I’m luck a little update as we go along.
Until next time!
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