Where's Waldo Wanders the NBA & NHL

Well, the NFL regular season has passed many of us by as we are now well into the NFL playoffs. For me and my Buffalo Bills, our attention turns to next year and the promise of an infusion of new blood to help resuscitate the franchise. It just feels like we’ve all been through this before. Another NFL offseason, ripe with possibility ... another step closer to rebuilding this talent-starved franchise. So when do we actually stop re-building and just start building? When do the pieces finally fall into some semblance of a finished product that starts to win games? The last time the Bills were in the playoffs was the Music City Miracle against the Titans in 1998 … here’s hoping that the front office finally gets something right …. but I digress.

Along with the completion of another NFL regular season comes the promise of a renewed focus on the NBA and NHL. Springboarding from my success as an NFL stadium traveler, I am continuing my professional sports journey around the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. I even came up with some spiffy names to describe these new quests, the “Roundball RoadTrip” and the “Frozen Pond Pilgrimage”. Throughout my NFL travels I recorded my experiences in the form of a written review. Over the years, my website has evolved into more of an NFL City Travel Guide. It’s like the Frommer’s of NFL stadium travelers. My hope is to bring this same mentality to my NBA and NHL journey’s. For each city I travel to, I’ll write about what there is to see and do in each sports-crazed city and make recommendations as to how to experience each as a true local fan. I’d also like to open up content generation for my network of websites to other guest correspondents. Those of you that are experts in your particular area or those of you who have also traveled to different sports cities, send me something on your experiences. I’m really interested in getting your thoughts on what there is to see and do across the NFL, NBA , and NHL. So if you’re out there and you’re interested, send me a photo and four of five sentences on your experiences across North America. Until then … be sure to look for me wandering around your city.

My Journey Continues

It’s interesting … when I started this Quest, I did it because I was curious about the home team NFL experience in every city in the country. I wanted to wear a head of cheese, or spike arm guards. I wanted to spell out the word “Jets” and bark like a dog in the Dawg Pound. I wanted to Tomahawk Chop Chant, swirl a yellow towel overhead, sing “Hail to the Redskins”. I wanted to do all of these things, just to truly understand, if only for a day, what it would be like to be a fan of every pro football franchise in the nation. Now that I’ve completed my mission, visited every stadium in the country, tailgated with some of the NFL’s finest … I just can’t seem to give it up. I’ve met so many fantastic people in cities across the nation, traveling to over 60 games in the last four years, that I constantly have folks asking me when I’m planning on making a return appearance.

Seeing as how I feel compelled not to let anyone down, I guess we’ll just keep this train moving along. Well, we’re approaching Week Seven in the NFL and I’ve already been to five NFL games this season. I assembled the Ultimate Minnesota Vikings Fan Experience in Minneapolis, which included a stay in a Viking-themed bed and breakfast, sung the Chicago Bears Fight song with random fans outside Soldier Field, partied in the RV lot at Ralph Wilson Stadium beginning on Saturday morning in Buffalo, ate steamed crab and fresh Maryland crab cakes in Baltimore, and visited the New Meadowlands Stadium in New York … well New Jersey, so I'm up to date in seeing a game in every active NFL home stadium in the league. It’s been an incredible year and there’s more to come. Apart from my continuing journey on the Quest for 31, like LeBron, I’ve decided to take my talents to the NBA. I will be doing a 30 city, arena tour that will take me on a journey to see a game in every NBA Arena. I call it the RoundBall RoadTrip. Stay Tuned …

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.