The NFL Offseason ... Ripe with Activity

Wow, what a year. Last year I completed my Quest for 31 with a trip down to New Orleans and the Louisiana Superdome for my regular season finale on Bourbon Street. It was supposed to be my last game of the year, but as the Super Bowl drew near, I received an offer I couldn't refuse. The fine folks at TicketCity.com offered me a ticket to the greatest sporting event in the world ... Super Bowl XLIV. I accepted immediately. Being at the Super Bowl was an amazingly surreal experience. I remember sitting there watching the game in amazement as I knew I was one of the chosen few on hand to witness the crowning of a World Champion in the greatest sport on earth in person. It doesn't get much better than that.

Fast-forwarding a few months, my offseason has been an extrmemly busy one, ripe with lots of new opportunities. Apart from trying to put some additional time into NFLFootballStadiums.com, my attention has been divided amoung several other website ventures. Upon completion of the Quest, everyone's first question always seems to be, "What will my next challenge be?". Well, I love the game of football and I thoroughly enjoy being a part of the tailgating culture that has evolved in each of these disparate cities across the nation. I just can't give that up (besides the Quest Machine is just getting broken in - I put 37,000 miles on it last year), so going forward I'm still planning on attending some NFL games, just not 17. For an encore on my travel exploits, I'd like to begin working my way through the NBA and the NHL. Back in May I started NBABasketballArenas.com to chronicle the exploits of my "RoundBall RoadTrip". So look for me in your NBA arena.

Fantasy Football season is once again upon us, so I've turned to my annual pursuit of steering perfect strangers toward their first fantasy football championships. Working with Jermain Baker, another astute mind and multi-year veteran of fantasy sports, we are taking our talents (thank you, LeBron) to FantasyFootballManifesto.com. There you'll find a series of articles outlining proven strategies for fantasy success, but the heart of what we're offering is a cheat sheet subscription. The cheat sheet on FantasyFootballManifesto is regularly updated and sent directly to your inbox each time there is player movement, injuries, or standout performances that affect player rankings. Think about it, would you rather use a fantasy football magazine that was printed back in June or would you rather have a dynamically updated cheat sheet based on recent developments in the NFL.

We can be your war room staff.

TicketCity.com Sends me to Super Bowl XLIV!

I recently received an incredible offer from "the fine folks at TicketCity". After promoting their online services over the last three years, writing stadium reviews for inclusion on their website, and sending them video from my many adventures around the league, they've actually offered to provide me with a ticket to Super Bowl XLIV in Miami! A ticket to the elusive NFL Championship game ... it's like the Quester's Holy Grail. I mean actually getting your hands on a ticket to the big dance is unheard of, unless you're one of the privileged few that can afford such a luxury. I'll tell you this much, that sucker is going to get bronzed, encased in a titanium ticket holder, and frozen in carbonite! I can't believe I'm finally going to the Super Bowl!

In the early Nineties during the Buffalo Bills reign of terror over the American Football Conference, I dreamed of going to the Super Bowl, but as it became more and more of a commercial entity, the likelihood of my actually attending a grew less and less feasible. In recent years, I grew more and more comfortable with the fact that attending football's greatest game is something that would probably never happen. For TicketCity to come forward and offer me a chance to be a part of an NFL Championship game is a great honor that I do not take lightly. It's certainly a most fitting way to close out the 2009 Season of Questing for 31. Words cannot express how greatful I am for this opportunity. I've just setup a page on my site to provide details to this year's Super Bowl Tailgating in Miami, click HERE for more information.

Completing the Quest ... but what's Next?

Wow! It's been a while since I had time to add to this blog and lots of things have been going on with my Quest for 31 over the past several weeks. I ended the season in December, two days after Christmas, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Donning a Marques Colston jersey with shoulder pads and spiked-studded arm guards, I reconfigured my JokeRaider costume from Oakland to include metallic gold facepaint, thereby transforming me into the Who Dat JOker. The lime green hair garnered lots of attention and I was able to capitalize on some local media as well while in town. The Times-Picayune in New Orleans and Star Tribune in Minneapolis did features on my Quest and three of the local affiliates down in New Orleans sent camera crews to interview me as I completed my four year journey. It was nice to finally be recognized for this passion of mine that's taken me all around the country in search of thirty-two unique home team experiences. The journey's end is bitter sweet.

I'm constantly asked what my next step or my next challenge will be. With pause, I respond that I think I'll attack the NHL and NBA Arenas next. Maybe, try to see a home game in each of those pro sports venues and write about my experiences as a fan of NBA Basketball and NHL Hockey. It will be at a much less aggressive pace, but it would be incredible to continue to follow in the mighty footsteps of Peter Farrell and Andrew Kulyk who are the ultimate questers, having traveled to every major sports venue in the nation. I'd also like to continue Questing for 31. As new stadiums are built, I gotta be there. As old friends around the league continue to send invitations, I'll be there. There's only one Commissioner of Tailgating and he is an exceptional mentor that's seen and done things I can't hope to achieve, but perhaps I can continue to hold the torch of Questing high, and in my own way, work to contribute to the sense of unity that is NFL tailgating.

It's coming ...

Perched on the eve of the 2008 NFL regular season, I am thrilled by the prospect of continuing my personal journey as I Quest for 31. Visiting seveteen stadiums in the last two years has only heightened my interest in the National Football League and its fanbase all around the country. My offseason was spent revamping the website to offer my users the most complete NFL gameday resource available on the world wide web. To that end, I offer an NFL ticket finder section to allow myself and others to find cheap NFL tickets, I've spent some time researching the best online betting sites and offer live NFL betting lines for your convenience, and I've added an NFL Schedule (broken down by team and by week) and an NFL City Road Mileage chart (broken down by hours and miles) that is second to none. If you're looking to attend an NFL football game at any time in the near future, my hope is that my website will facilitate your preparations for a premiere NFL experience.

This year I'm primed to attack the NFL schedule in style. I've setup two double-header NFL weekends for weeks one and two as I'll be traveling to the bay area for the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday and Oakland Raiders on Monday Night Football. Week two is the culmination of my State of Texas experience as I've made preparations to road trip down to Houston for a Texans game on Sunday and the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night. My goal is to hit nine stadiums this year, leaving "The Final Five" for next year to complete my Quest. Agressive but doable ... especially when several friends, who've had to turn down my first few trips of the year, have been working feverishly to join me on a Quest-run for another game instead. So please feel free to contact me with local hotspots and can't miss local flavors from your area, and if you see me in your city, "Buy me a Beer, damn it!"

Ralph Wilson Stadium - Cincinnati at Buffalo

Ralph Wilson Stadium is like a home away from home for all Buffalo Bills fans, and especially during our annual Bills Football Weekend Retreat. The Steiniger men select a Buffalo Bills home game each year, and we all gather in Buffalo to rent an RV and camp out in the stadium parking lot in preparation for the game on Sunday. The weekend becomes a food and beer fest, as we bring out all the stops to make certain that no one in our crew goes hungry. This year we selected the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Buffalo Bills game on November 4 and we cooked up a fantastic feast. Our tailgating crew was able to partake of a seafood boil, slow-cooked roast beast on weck, and grill-seared tuna steaks. The Buffalo Bills rewarded our efforts with a win over a Cincinnati Bengals team that seems to be reeling in mediocrity. Marshawn Lynch had a career day as the Buffalo Bills defeated the Bengals 33 – 21.

Stadium 4 - Ford Field - Detroit, MI

Ford Field in Detroit, MI is a state of the art indoor facility in the heart of downtown Detroit. Constructed in the Old Hudson's Warehouse area of the city, the Ford family has built an awesome domed structure with plenty of ambient light, fantastic concessions, and a practice facility all in one conglomerate structure. Adams St. and Beaubien St. were the original border streets of the Hudson's Warehouse. They are now enclosed within Ford Field to serve as concourses, housing concessions and souvenirs. Detroit is where I currently reside, and Ford Field does not disappoint as an NFL venue ... Stadium #4. For my first trip to Ford Field, I was accompanied by the fellas from Buffalo who braved driving bans throughout the city to watch our hometown Bills take on the Lions. The Bills lost, but your can check out my experience in Ford Field at, http://www.nflfootballstadiums.com/FordField.htm.

Why the Quest for 31?

Why not???? I am a huge fan of the National Football League. I have a room in my apartment, dubbed the "Football Room". It's filled with football memorabilia, jerseys, a large screen projection TV, and a set of goalposts (to kick the extra point of course). It is the premiere venue within which to view professional football contests. I've been playing fantasy football since 1995, back before the internet made it into the premiere workplace distraction that it has become today. I'm a big fan of the Buffalo Bills ... I think it all started in 1988. The Buffalo Bills were beginning to turn around an abysmal record of football ineptitude. Marquis names and legends were being created. Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, Bruce Smith, Darryl Talley, Shane Conlan, Cornelius Bennett, Kent Hull ... the names of my youth.

So why the Quest? I am fascinated by the thirty-two teams in the NFL and what it means to be a fan of each. Visiting each home stadium in which they play, meeting local fans, wearing foreign colors, eating local delicacies, tailgating in each area ... that's what football is all about. If you're interested in monitoring my journey feel free to check out my site at www.nflfootballstadiums.com.