{"id":273,"date":"2009-06-08T10:43:29","date_gmt":"2009-06-08T16:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/?p=273"},"modified":"2012-08-21T11:15:07","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T17:15:07","slug":"saturday-6-6-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/chicago-for-the-world-cup-qualifier\/saturday-6-6-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"USA vs Honduras at Soldier Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

We got up at the crack of noon (haha), and got ready to head downtown. We were smart this time, and took the hotel shuttle to the train station at O’Hare. It was a big day!<\/p>\n

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We intended to go to Hot Doug’s to get some food, so we hopped off the train at the appropriate stop and headed east. Most people would’ve taken the bus, but we insist on walking. After a mile or so, we arrived to find a line two blocks long. I’m sure Hot Doug’s is awesome, but we couldn’t wait that long.<\/p>\n

So we kept walking. And walking. I have no idea how far it was, but it was a lot. Finally, we found ourselves at Wishbone, one of my favorite places. It was 3pm. Perfect time for brunch, if you ask me.<\/p>\n

We revived ourselves with lots of coffee and grits, and then headed up to hop on the El. Someone on twitter had told me about the crazy paintings at the Old Town Ale House, so we had to check that out. Well, the paintings were amazing. How can you go wrong with creepy naked Sarah Palin? The bar itself was kind of scary, though: we walked in and everyone turned at stared. That’s because everyone else lived there, and we were strangers. At least the bartender was nice!<\/p>\n

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We rode downtown and walked over to Millennium Park, because no trip to Chicago is complete without a visit to Cloud Gate, aka the Bean. There were Honduras soccer fans everywhere. So awesome.<\/p>\n

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We still had a bit of time to kill before the game (and we were alarmingly sober), so we set off in search of Matt’s dad’s favorite bar. It was easy to find, and was crowded with fans. We found spots at the most oldschool bar ever, and I ordered a Manhattan and a piece of spanakopita. That’s just how I roll.<\/p>\n

Matt went out to smoke, and came back in with Robin in tow. He’s one of Kris’ friends, and we run into him at every soccer-related event in Minneapolis. We finished our drinks and decided to head down to Soldier Field.<\/p>\n

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Even though I grew up in Chicago, I’d never been to Soldier Field!! It’s amazing, and so was the crowd.<\/p>\n

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There were a few sections of US fans at either end of the stadium, but it was at least 80% Honduras fans. That was a little intimidating, but the atmosphere seemed friendly. The US fans seemed to be doing most of the taunting, of course.<\/p>\n

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We got to see Landon Donovan:<\/p>\n

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And Jozy Altidore:<\/p>\n

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And, of course, Tim Howard. I love Tim Howard. A lot.<\/p>\n

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The game was pretty stressful, but the US team managed a win! Towards the end, some of the Honduras fans in the upper deck started throwing their beer cups onto the US fans. We were pretty glad to be in a sheltered area.<\/p>\n

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The entire crowd poured back into Chicago together. Despite the taunting and such at the game, everything was very friendly again. It was also the only time I’d be comfortable chanting “U.S.A.!” Usually that kind of behavior makes my skin crawl.<\/p>\n

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Matt and I headed towards Giordano’s for our traditional deep dish pizza. For some reason, it never occurs to us that things are really far apart in Chicago. I later calculated that we walked almost 10 miles that day, in not-great shoes.<\/div>\n

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It was worth it for the deep dish.<\/p>\n

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I was pretty much dragging at that point. We wanted to go hang out somewhere for a bit, but didn’t want to make a lot of effort doing so. Thankfully, the blue line helped us decide; it was closed for several stops between downtown and O’Hare, so we decided to take the shuttle up to the part where it was back in service, and find somewhere to drink right near the stop. Then getting back on the train and to the airport when we were about to fall asleep would be as easy as possible.<\/p>\n

The offerings at that stop looked a little bleak when we got there, but we managed to spot a couple places, and decided on the one called the Green Eye. This, it turned out, was the right choice.<\/p>\n

The crowd reminded me of a cross between Grumpy’s and Triple Rock, which was immediately appealing. The bartender was gruff and hilarious. After we’d had a drink or two, he came over and excitedly started telling us about the movie they were about to play; apparently they have a trashy horror-film tradition on Saturday nights. It was called Poultrygeist<\/em>, and it was a Troma musical. Rather than try to explain it, you should just go read about it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Poultrygeist <\/em>was as great as it sounds. The entire bar sat there watching it, breaking into hysterics and groans. We really need to get a copy so we can spread the love.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Matt and I made our way back over to the train, and from there to the hotel shuttle stop at O’Hare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We got up at the crack of noon (haha), and got ready to head downtown. We were smart this time, and took the hotel shuttle to the train station at O’Hare. It was a big day! We intended to go to Hot Doug’s to get some food, so we hopped off the train at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[222],"tags":[51,52,29,50],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"geo":{"latitude":41.87811279999999669598764739930629730224609375,"longitude":-87.629798899999997274790075607597827911376953125,"description":"Chicago, IL, USA"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2009\/06\/3608368140_2c276e5fe6_o.jpg?fit=2354%2C1766","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Z5R-4p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":116,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/baseball-roadtrip\/friday-832007-chicago\/","url_meta":{"origin":273,"position":0},"title":"My First Visit to Wrigley Field","author":"Jenni","date":"08.6.2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We got up Friday morning and searched in the phonebook for the nearest Dunkin' Donuts, because what you've heard about their coffee is true. 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We did some shopping at CB2, one of my favorite stores, and then it was time to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chicago for the World Cup Qualifier"","block_context":{"text":"Chicago for the World Cup Qualifier","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/chicago-for-the-world-cup-qualifier\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2009\/06\/3607700223_b8c9c14439_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":108,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/chicago-lollapalooza\/sunday-862006-lollapalooza-day-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":273,"position":2},"title":"Lollapalooza Day 3","author":"Jenni","date":"08.10.2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Sunday morning, we got up and went downtown to Millennium Park to take about 400 photos of the bean, aka the Cloud Gate. I could probably stare at that thing all day. We sat and watched the kids in the fountain, then wandered back into downtown to find food. 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Especially when one of the cheapest hotels ended up being the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chicago #5"","block_context":{"text":"Chicago #5","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/chicago-5\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2014\/01\/11405887065_f949e8701c_h.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":109,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/chicago-lollapalooza\/monday-872006-going-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":273,"position":4},"title":"Chicago -> Minneapolis","author":"Jenni","date":"08.10.2006","format":false,"excerpt":"On the flight home Monday, reveling in another first class upgrade with my legs curled underneath me on the seat, having survived a very large drop over Lake Michigan which went unexplained by the cabin crew but did not leave us entirely unrattled, I was peering down at the immense\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chicago for Lollapalooza"","block_context":{"text":"Chicago for Lollapalooza","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/chicago-lollapalooza\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2940,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/chicago-4\/chicago-being-tourists-in-the-homeland\/","url_meta":{"origin":273,"position":5},"title":"Chicago: Being Tourists in the Homeland","author":"Jenni","date":"08.31.2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Saturday morning, we headed to the airport shortly after 8. 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