This is one journey we have been looking forward to with eager anticipation.

Why? Because it’s to Indianapolis, one of our all time favorite USRT destinations. Indy is a sports lovers paradise - Conseco Fieldhouse, the best of the best of all 4-sports venues; a vibrant and energetic downtown scene with shopping, restaurants, nightlife, hotels and entertainment, everything we wish that Buffalo could become. Victory Field is one sweet ballpark and it’s right downtown too. The NCAA Hall of Champions is closeby, the Indianapolis 500 motor track, and if you’re a disciple of the movie “Hoosiers”, then the Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University is a must-do pilgrimage.

Adding to the glitz and buzz is Lucas Oil Stadium, the new home of the Indianapolis Colts, and when we attend Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, once again we will cross the finish line and claim bragging rights of having attended a home game of each of the 122 teams in the four major sports in their current and active venues.

We’re staying at the Sheraton right downtown and right near Victory Circle, so we will be right in the middle of the action and walking distance to the stadium. Very cool!

But there is more to this trip… we start things off Saturday down in Bloomington, where we will see the Indiana Hoosiers take on Iowa in Big-Ten college football action. Then on Monday, as we head home we will take a little detour up towards Detroit (well Windsor, actually). The OHL Windsor Spitfires will be saying goodbye to “The Old Barn”, Windsor Arena, in another month or so, and this gives us a chance to see a hallowed and storied venue (and former NHL venue, once home to the Detroit Red Wings), before it is gone for good. Puck drops at 3PM on this Canadian Thanksgiving, and our creds are at will call!

On the down side, we will have to miss the Sabres opener and that’s a bummer. We got Sirius in the car but now they supposedly have an “XM on Sirius” feed which means we can try and catch the game on radio. Hope it works, not sure if that’s some sort of premium tier. And of course, the baseball LCS’s are on as well so plenty of sports on air for the ride down.

We will TRY to do postings from the road. Truth be told, Sheraton’s wifi and internet service sucks and is always an adventure. But nonetheless, tune in for updates!

Mike Simoncelli is a college student majoring in sports management at Medaille College and has been working for the Buffalo Sabres as a part of the media crew in the pressbox. We ran into Mike during the summer and he told us he was traveling to Indy with the Bills equipment staff for their preseason game, so we asked him if he would take a few shots and give us a report. Here is Mike’s submission for our readers, along with our appreciation…

Lucas Oil Stadium Fulfills The Hype

As the Buffalo Bills team flight descended towards the Indianapolis airport the afternoon before their third preseason game, I looked out my window and spotted the structure everyone had been buzzing about. That structure was Lucas Oil Stadium, and the first word that came to my mind was simply “wow.”

With no objection from me, we went directly from the airport to the stadium to unload all of the equipment, so I did not have to wait long to get an up close look at just how majestic this stadium was. My anticipation was not disappointed. The first thing I noticed was the shape of the stadium was different from most other stadiums I have seen, in that it was more rectangular than round, making it look more like a factory than a stadium. I was also astounded by the fact that nearly the entire exterior was brick, which made even more obvious the amount of time that went into putting this building together.

The inside of the stadium was breath taking as well. There are six levels of seats on the sidelines, two of which are for suites. In each of the end zones there are large windows, and on what I believe is the west side of the stadium, the windows open up whenever the retractable roof is open. Those windows may cause problems for receivers during day games however, because the ball gets lost in the glare on mid-level and high throws.

When the game started the crowd sounded as if they were cheering during a regular season game. This was not surprising to me based on what I found while walking through the city prior to the game, as everyone was decked out in their Colts gear, even the night before the game.

I was pleasantly surprised by the city overall as there appears to be a lot to do downtown as far as restaurants and bars go, and there is even a large mall only minutes away from the stadium. This city is definitely worth taking a road trip to for a game as you’ve got a beautiful venue to watch it in, and an upbeat town to spend your downtime in.

-Mike Simoncelli

Heading to Indy to see the Indianapolis Colts? Then you better hope your ticket doesn’t read “Sec 433, row 13, seats 27-28-29″ (pictured above).

The media was given a tour of the new stadium yesterday, set to host its first football game on August 24 when the Buffalo Bills play the Colts in a preseason game. What they found was about 200 obstructed view seats, in each of the four corners of the stadium up in the nosebleed seats.

For what it’s worth, the Colts ticket operations people say that “these seats are not part of the ticket program”.

Whatever that means.

But then according to the Indianapolis Star, one of the suits from the front office offers this nugget:

Pete Ward, senior executive vice president of the Colts, said that fans who buy partially-obstructed seats would know in advance that their view will not be unobstructed, like most of the seats in the new stadium.

“Absolutely. It is printed on the ticket,” said Ward.

The official USRT visit to Lucas Oil Field is set for Sunday, October 12, Columbus Day weekend. Tickets have been procured (via eBay) and *shudder*, here’s hoping we’re nowhere near a support post!

The NFL released their 2008 regular season schedule this afternoon.

The Buffalo Bills return to the Monday Night Football schedule on November 17 against the Cleveland Browns, and that is certain to be the “hot ticket” on this year’s home schedule.

The opener is set for September 7 against Seattle. And the one thing everyone was certainly watching was who was going to be the opponent for the game up in Toronto.

The answer to that is the Miami Dolphins. Remember a few years back when the NFL realigned its divisions? Buffalo then had the golden opportunity to move into the AFC Central, and annual games against geographical rivals - Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Cincinnati. “No way” said The Old Geezer, who waxed poetically about the great Buffalo-Miami rivalry and how he didn’t want to lose that by shifting divisions. Well guess what? These days Don Shula is off selling his steaks, Jimmy Johnson is on his boat and combing his hair, Bryan Cox is giving the finger and spitting in someone else’s direction, and nobody really gives a rats ass about the Fish anymore. And now the Dolphins will have the nice warm and cozy Rogers Centre to visit in December, and at worst a neutral crowd in their grills. Nice job all around!

Today was USRT schedule planning day, and with Pete being off from work, we both met up at Dunn Tire Park and the Bisons day game, fired up the laptop in the pressbox and waited for 2PM to come around.

The planets did not align well at all… we had hoped for a Colts home game on 9/28 so we could tie in two major college venues on the same trip; the Colts are on a bye week. For 10/26, we wanted a Saints game in New Orleans, so we could also visit the LSU Tigers that weekend. The Saints have a “home” game that weekend… but it will be played at London’s Wembley Stadium. Dave Ricci asked pointedly what kind of wusses we really are that we just don’t hop over to the UK that weekend. We ignored Dave and left him to his merciless heckling of former Bisons and now the Syracuse Chief’s Hector Luna.

So as of now, this is kind of what our fall USRT football schedule looks like, although only the Indy weekend is a lock:

Sat 9/21 Akron at Army (NCAA-f)

Sat 10/11 Iowa at Indiana (NCAA-f)
Sun 10/12 Baltimore at Indianapolis (NFL)

Sat 10/25 Alabama at Tennessee (NCAA-f)
Mon 10/27 Indianapolis at Tennessee (NFL)

Sun 11/23 Grey Cup - Montreal (CFL)

For the October trip, Florida is our “Plan B” - Saturday in Gainesville with Kentucky at Florida, then the Bills and Miami at Dolphins Stadium. We’re going to wait for the NHL schedule in July and see what else might fit before making final plans.