Love sports? Saturday’s your day – Chicago Tribune

Wake up. Brush teeth. Eat breakfast. Watch sports. All. Day.

Untended lawns and incomplete errands may be the rule of the day this weekend as a different type of to-do list takes shape for area sports fans.

From morning until night, a jampacked Saturday of high-profile events offers a convenient distraction from house projects and homework. The most anticipated boxing bout in years and the Kentucky Derby lead the way, following the final day of the NFL draft in Chicago.

Add to the mix regular-season baseball games — not to mention the youth league and school games on families’ dockets — and there’s something for nearly every type of fan.

“It’s going to be crazy, to say the least,” said Vincent Alfieri, manager at Real Time Sports, a bar in Elk Grove Village.

For many, the marquee event Saturday is the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, especially with Bulls and Blackhawks playoff action quiet for the day. Many fans will be plunking down at least $20 to watch the fight at area bars like Real Time, or will be heading to the place of a friend who popped for pay-per-view.

“This weekend is sports,” said Scott Harris, 33, of Joliet, who plans to host a combination fight night gathering and birthday party for his son in his newly refurbished basement. “In our household, we’re sports fanatics.”

Not much else will get done around the house, Harris said, other than attending son Isaac’s baseball game and celebrating his seventh birthday.

Looking to make up for lost productivity? Hawks fans have until 7:30 p.m. Sunday, when the puck drops for Game 2 of the playoff series against the Minnesota Wild.

“Recovery on Sunday,” said Dan Rojas, 26, of Melrose Park. “There’s always coffee.”

Rojas will be having about 15 people over to his place to watch the fight on a 55-inch television, with chili, pizza, chicken wings “and lots to drink.”

Erica Pedersen, 24, of Elgin, will be there, bringing her Oreo cookie cake and cheering for Pacquiao.

Horse racing’s biggest event was drawing less interest among casual fans, but many said they would find two minutes to watch the race. Plenty of area bars will be hosting Kentucky Derby parties, and Arlington International Racecourse has live racing and an array of Derby activities.

The top priorities are local for LaVance Williams, 63, who lives near State and 15th streets. Williams was most excited that the NFL draft was going on so close to home. The fight and the race weren’t as much on his radar screen.

“It’s all about the Bears, the Bulls and the Blackhawks,” Williams said.

Die-hard fans could sketch our their day with a visit to the NFL Draft Town in the morning, a trip to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs host the Brewers (the Sox are in Minnesota), then sip mint juleps during the derby before catching the boxing bout to round out the night.

“My priorities? All of the above,” said James Welsh, 53, of Berwyn, who plans to watch the Sox at home before catching the boxing match at a Bridgeview bar.

Real Time Sports will be showing the fight and plans to set up tents outside for additional viewing space. The bar sold out its advance $15-per-person tickets, but fans still can pay $20 at the door.

“We’ve been getting phone calls nonstop noon to midnight inquiring about the fight,” said Alfieri, who expects the bar to be at capacity.

The Ogden, a bar about two blocks east of the United Center, usually is home to pre- and postgame gatherings of Hawks and Bulls fans, or those without a ticket who want to watch the games. But on Saturday, the bar decided to show the boxing match on its 70-inch televisions.

“It’s a really big event for us,” said Joe Magoonaugh, a managing partner. “It’s the biggest sporting day I’ve ever seen in (about 10 years in) the bar business.”

Business has been good for many bars with the Hawks and Bulls in the playoffs, and the warming weather means more people will flock to outside beer gardens while keeping an eye on their teams.

“We’re gearing up for a huge weekend,” said Ryan Indovina, a director with the Four Corners Tavern Group, which owns 11 restaurant-bars in the city, including two that will show the boxing match.

One location, the Highline Bar + Lounge, on Kinzie Street in River North, will be hosting a Kentucky Derby party and then a separate boxing party back-to-back.

Indovina said the Derby and fight, combined with hockey playoff action, will make for a busy May weekend.

“Any time a Chicago team is winning, it’s good for everybody,” Indovina said.

But not everyone was blocking out their whole day to sit in front of the television watching sports.

Irene Seo, 21, an Illinois Institute of Technology student who lives in Bronzeville, said she had no idea the Saturday sports calendar was noteworthy. She occasionally roots for the Bulls but generally doesn’t schedule her life around any team’s games.

“It’s better to do other things,” Seo said. “Like go outside. Hiking. Doing something with friends.”

Seo won’t be watching boxing, baseball or horse racing. Or anything. She’s going to Great America.

poconnell@tribpub.com

Twitter @pmocwriter

Copyright © 2015, Chicago Tribune