We made it back from Chicago last night. I haven't any pictures or many things to say about Chicago because we really only got to see it for the earlier part of Saturday. Rick and I stayed afoot and walked a few streets and checked out a few shops. There wasn't time to sight any of the traditional things. But, we did get a feel of the place--enough to decide that yes, it would be nice to come back to get a more thorough feel for the city but if we had to choose--we'd pick going back to NYC again before Chicago.
Saturday night we saw UFC 90 at the Allstate Arena with some friends of Rick's that he sorta kinda new from corresponding with over a mixed martial arts message board. It wasn't really weird meeting them; what was weird was when the shuttle driver asked us how we all knew each other upon finding out we were from Pittsburgh, LA and Syracuse.
Oh, and dinner that night was NOT Chicago pizza. With those same friends, we had dinner at a place called Gibsons. The restaurant had good food and likely good service but with all the people (mostly men hahaha) packed in to have dinner before the fight it was very loud and service was slow. The best way to give you a visual is to tell you how our friend Yuna described it:
"All of these men, all in tight shirts with big muscles sitting like this...(here she curves her arms out like an orangutan and hunches slightly)...eating like this....(mimics eating rapidly by rotating only her wrist in a continous shovelling method). It's so funny."
What made her words even more priceless and set me off laughing is how when she said this, we were standing outside waiting for the shuttle to the Arena and Andre Arlovski--a very hot muscle-y Russian UFC fighter-- got out of car and walked up into the crowd of guys behind Yuna where he was promptly fawned over.
I think we stayed out a bit too late the night before because I was pitiful and dozed off once or twice with my head on Rick's shoulder during the fights. But, I was awake to see Anderson Silva act like a total pr*ck to Patrick Cote by showboatin.' <---That's Rick and the guys' term for it; I had to use it because I haven't a better term for it. It only reinforced the feeling of dislike I always had for him.
Our friends from LA, Matt and his girlfriend, Judy, knew Herb Dean (a very well known referee) and knew him as a friend. Not surprised that it was the LA friends that knew someone? Neither were we. We met Herb Dean briefly before Rick and I and Brad and Yuna took our leave for the night. Matt and Judy had asked us to go out with them and Herb to a bar but I guess us Pittsburgh and Syracuse people aren't quite as starstruck as LA people pretend not to be!
