Chicago, Illinois is well represented by the American Professional Basketball team, the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have been a mainstay in the Eastern Conference Central Division of the NBA since 1966. During the 1990s, the Bulls dominated the teams that they played and along with Micheal Jordan, Scottie Pippen and coach Phil Jackson, they popularized the NBA around the world. From 1991-1998, the team won a total of six NBA Championships. In the 1995-1996 season, they were the first team in NBA history to win 70 games or more in a single season. The Cleveland Cavaliers, the Detroit Pistons, the Miami Heat, and the New York Knicks are just a few of the Chicago Bulls rivals.
The United Center is the indoor arena near the west side of Chicago that the Bulls call home. The Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL also share this arena. The very first event at the United Center was the WWF SummerSlam in 1994. The arena hosted the democrats for the Democratic National Convention in 1996. In May of 2011, Oprah’s Farewell Season: Oprah’s Surprise Spectacular episode was recorded at the United Center. The first musical performance at the arena was the great Billy Joel, but numerous performers have followed him over the years from Prince, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Dave Matthews Band, Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones and many more!
Chicago boasts a foodie’s dream. There are a ton of great restaurants to be had in the Windy City has has four iconic dishes; deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dog, popcorn and the Italian beef sandwich. For Deep-Dish Pizza nobody beats Lou Malnati’s. For Chicago-style hot dogs head on over to Portillo’s. Since 1949, Garrett Popcorn has been making freshly made kettle popcorn and finally for the best Italian beef sandwich there’s no other like Al’s Italian Beef.