Hockey in the Hood.

For those who don't know, I live a few blocks east of Wrigley Field. Today (New Years) was the outdoor hockey game at Wrigley between the Blackhawks and Red Wings. Detroit won.

I didn't go, but here is what it was like around here today.

The jets flying overhead sounded like thunder. Really loud thunder. I didn't have the TV on then so I didn't realize it had been jets until someone mentioned it later. We're used to that from the annual air show.

The hovering blimp is a constant, low hum. That too is familiar, from baseball season. I couldn't hear it at my old place but they seem to spend a lot of time hovering directly above my building here.

Overall, it was just like during a Cubs game, except in January. I live right on one of the major East-West streets, so it's easy to tell when something is going on at Wrigley from the bumper-to-bumper traffic.

One interesting thing is that the stadium lights were on most nights for the last week or so, as they prepared.

I could have skated on the rink if I had wanted to, had skates, and had been on ice skates at any time in the last 35 years (I ice skated a little as a kid). They give perks like that to we neighbors to keep us from complaining about the inevitable disruption caused by 40,000 people coming into our neighborhood.

I didn't go over by the Wrigleyville bar strip last night, nor tonight, but I'm sure it's hopping still.

I was reminded of the Police concert there in the summer of 2007, although then they had seating on the field, which they did not appear to have today.

It's fun to see anything in Wrigley Field.