Best of the Midwest Tournament - Friday, Sept 28

On the risk of bordering on the psychotic, I approached the Blue team a few weeks about about coming to the Best of the Midwest (Hebron, IN) event this weekend.  The tournament was short one U11 team and I thought I'd throw it out there to see if anyone was interested.  We had 10 commit right off the bat, so in turn we committed to the tournament.  We ended up traveling with 12 of the 14 Blue players and 2 White team players. 

I have to admit, after already 2 trips to the Chicago area this fall, as well as a trip to Des Moines last weekend left me a little bit jaded for a fourth trip this fall.  I've never traveled to more than 2 regional events in a fall previous, and this season there were 4.  However, the prospect of seeing the girls compete against teams from other strong Region II clubs was enough to get me excited on Friday morning as i jumped in my car to make the nearly 7 hour drive to Portage, Indiana.

Though this tournament is put on by the Chicago Magic, it is held at their new field complex in Hebron, Indiana.  Go figure that one.  The fields were 50 miles from downtown Chicago.  I know the Magic have league games scheduled at this new complex, and I assume they train there as well.  Big travel/commute commitment from participating families I would imagine. 

I got on the road around 8:30AM and had a scenic fall drive through Wisconsin.  I caught site of the downtown Chicago skyline around 2:00PM, then hit bumper to bumper traffic around 2:02PM.  The Friday afternoon time slot coupled with the perpetual road construction that I always experience in the area doesn't make for speedy travel.  I somehow didn't think to keep my Google map printout in the front seat with me, preferring to leave it stashed away in the side pocket of my Nike duffle bag in the trunk.  I figured I was good though, at least until I got closer to the hotel in Portage, Indiana, but I was wrong.

I90 split just south of downtown Chicago in to Skyway (I90) and the Dean Ryan Expressway (I94).  I had no idea which to take, so went with my usually keen sense of direction and chose the latter.  Signs for I94 pointed to the right lane, and after spending entirely too long in one lane of bumper to bumper crawling traffic trying to merge onto the Dean Ryan, I finally made it onto the Expressway.  Man, what an inappropriate name.  You guessed it, more traffic that I could have walked faster than. 

30 minutes later and 1 mile further down the road, I began second guessing my choice as I saw signs for St Louis, not Indiana.  So, I called up my wife to ask her to look at a map and help me out.  Now I love my wife, but she reads maps like I read Klingon.  10 minutes later, we finally figure out that I'm on the wrong road, so I spent 10 minutes trying to merge to the other side of the Expressway and exit.

Another 20 minutes to creep northward, north of the I90/I94 junction, exit, creep back onto the southbound gridlock and get in the far left lane to take the Skyway.  Nice, finally back on my way. 

Somehow, and I still can't figure out how I did it, things started to look familiar... too familiar.  I must have zoned out, for even though I know I was in the far left lane, I somehow managed to end up back on the Dean Ryan Expressway heading to St Louis.  It was inconceivable as I know I was not in the slow, right lane traffic merging onto the Dean Ryan as I was initially.  I know I was in the far left lane.  I don't know how it happened. 

Back on my phone with my wife looking for an alternate route.  I told her the street names I saw in front of me, and after a minute of silence as she looked at the online map, she informed me laughing, "You're on the Dean Ryan again!".  Thanks, honey, I know that.  That's why I'm calling you sweety. 

She told me I could take the 12/20 Hwy east and connect up with I90, so I did that.

Though only a few miles, the traffic on 12/20 was a nightmare as well.  But, soon I could see the I90 overpass ahead in the distance and traffic looked to at least be moving - something that I had not been doing a lot of the past 2 hours. 

However, my Chicago adventure was no where near completion as try as I might, I could not find access to the freeway.  I took turn after turn, followed every sign I saw for I90 East, but could not find a way onto it.  Yet there it always stood in my sight, taunting me.  I thought for a second about calling my wife, but I was frustrated that she couldn't get me correct directions (though it was all my fault), and she was frustrated because she knew I knew that she had trouble reading maps and that I kept on asking "are you SURE so-and-so street can get me there?", so I didn't pick up the phone. 

How difficult could it be?  I can fricking see it right there!  But an onramp eastbound was no where to be seen.  I drove around for a good 45 minutes, retracing steps with signs for the freeway, trying to make my way further north and south along the freeway looking for entry, and driving in some scary areas of town. 

I led a pretty sheltered life in Rochester, MN, and my buddies horror stories of the south side of Chicago ran through my head.  I'm sure I was over dramatizing the area I was in in my own head, but I was't really comfortable at red lights, and most of my stops at stop signs were of the rolling variety.

I didn't really want to pull over and ask any of the bum-looking people walking up and down the middle of the street selling towels and socks... just didn't feel very comfortable though I'm sure some would have been more than helpful.  I finally found a half dozen cops (thank the lord!) hanging around on a corner across from a park to ask directions.  I didn't realize that they were cops until I almost drove by them, not able to see their blue cop uniforms underneath the black kevlar vests they were all wearing. 

I rolled up and they tensed.  One might have even put a hand to his holster.  I rolled down my window and they gave me the what-the-#%@*-are-you-doing-in-this-part-of-town look and, somewhat hastily, tried to give me directions out of there. 

After nearly an hour of relative uncomfortableness, I made a random turn on Stoney Island Ave and there it was... an onramp!  An onramp in the direction I wanted to go!  It's about fricking time. 

I was finally able to release my death grip on the steering wheel, sit back in my seat, and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Gary, Indiana, on my way to Portage and the hotel. 

At 5:30PM, close to 9 hours after I started from Woodbury in the morning, I finally rolled into the hotel.  Not an ideal start to the weekend, but I made it.

Most girls were already in town, so we went over to the nearby Steakhouse for some dinner.  I met with them at 7PM back at the hotel to talk about the weekend, remind them about their hotel behavior, curfews, and pool restrictions, and talk about their Game Goals for the tournament.  I had initially thought to arrive at the hotel early enough to make up these individual game goals for each player, but my Chicago adventure threw a wrench into the plans.  So I asked the girls to come up with 3 Game Goals for themselves by tomorrow morning and to write them down in their Journals that they had with them.  Worked out well as the girls were creative and took to challenging themselves.

* * * * *

I wasn't sure what to expect from this event, though I thought it would be more difficult than our previous two adventures this fall already at the NSR Cup and Just For Girls.  We were in Group C with Team Chicago Rockets (IL), Ohio Elite Soccer Academy (OH), and Lou Fusz (MO). 

Team Chicago was a U10 team that I wasn't worried about.  OESA was a solid club, but I think this was their second team.  Their top team was also in the event, in Group B.  If we advanced out of our group, we'd likely meet up with them in the semis.  Group A favorite looked to be GSE Cardinals Red (Cincinnati, OH).  I had never seen the LISC teams, nor heard of the Viati club, also in Group A. 

Though this Blue team has gotten favorable results in the last two events this fall, I wasn't coming into this event thinking championship.  I've been to the BOMW for the last 4 or 5 years, and MN teams are happy to go 1-1-1, ecstatic to advance out of group play.  We come for the competition though, and that is the constant sell to all involved.  We'll see how the weekend plays out.