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| Mike Emrick Night |
Thanks to having my priorities in order this past week, I fell just short of another royal week of Stadium Travel.
If you don't have your health, you can't live and enjoy life properly.
With that being said, here's how my week turned out:
Monday thanks to it being President's Day I had the day off from work. As a result, I got to go to the Nassau Coliseum with the King and our friend Frank Anichiarico to see the Islanders play the Ottawa Senators in a matinee affair. There were plenty of young kids in attendance including Grace Rossi who was there with her Daddy, Joe Rossi. It was great to see them again. We also had our friend Dennis Barbera there. After the game, he drove us back to Citi Field in Queens. It was very nice of him to do so. That way we didn't have to deal with public transportation in Nassau County which is a pain in the butt.
As for the game we saw, I think the Islanders forgot to get the memo that the game was starting early. They fell behind 1:08 into the game as defenseman Erik Karlsson of the Senators lit the lamp for the first of his two goals in the game to make it 1-0. 27 seconds his teammate Jason Spezza scored to make it 2-0. You knew it's wasn't going to be the Islanders' day. As the game wore on, it definitely wasn't. They trailed 3-0 after the first period. They went on to lose the game, 6-0.
After Dennis dropped us off by Citi Field, the King and I went home and we ate dinner before we went back out to Madison Square Garden for game two of our doubleheader. The Knicks were hosting their cross town rivals, the New Jersey Nets.
This game included the return of Carmelo Anthony who missed the last two weeks with a groin injury. It also was the first time since "Linsanity" took over as the starting point guard that Melo was playing with him.
Anthony only managed to score 11 points in his return. Jeremy Lin finished with 21 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds but he couldn't contain Deron Williams aka D-Will this time around. D-Will after getting burned a few weeks earlier at the Garden by Lin, made sure he got his revenge this time. He scored a game high 38 points to pace the Nets past the Knicks, 100-92.
Tuesday night after work I had a night off since there were no games to attend in the area. After running around all weekend long, it was just what the doctor ordered.
Wednesday night after work I went back to the Garden for more "Linsanity". The Knicks were playing the Atlanta Hawks. I got to say hello to their longtime radio announcer, Steve Holman.
As for the game I saw, the Knicks redeemed themselves after suffering a brutal loss to the Nets. The Knicks came to play on this night as they blew away the Hawks, 99-82 and it wasn't that close.
Thursday night after work I came home and I did my laundry.
Friday after work I met up with the King in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center where we saw the Devils play the Vancouver Canucks on Mike Emrick Night.
Mike Emrick aka "Doc" as he's called was the long time TV play by play announcer of the Devils. He called their games for 21 years. He's one of the best voices when it comes to watching the game of hockey. He's a class act who loves the game and his job if you will. He knows how to relate well to his audience. He's a paid professional but he's truly a real hockey fan deep down in his heart. The sport of hockey is blessed to have him. He still calls games on the NBC Sports Network for the National Hockey League.
After the Devils honored him in a pre game ceremony, it was time to play hockey as Mike said when he finished his thank you speech.
As for the game we saw, the Devils lost to the Canucks, 2-1. The Canucks came from Detroit the night before where they snapped the Red Wings' record breaking 23 game home winning streak as they beat them in a shootout.
Saturday afternoon the King and I went to Madison Square Garden to see the Red Storm of St. John's play the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
We were joined by our friends Rich Wolber aka Staten Island Rich, Pat Gorman and Ralph and Vincent Ascanio. Since they were there with us it helped enhance the royal experience. We all enjoyed each other's company.
As for the game we saw, the Red Storm of St. John's knocked off the Fighting Irish who came in ranked in the Top 25 by a score of 61-58. The Irish had chances to win the game but they missed too many wide open shots.
After the game, the King and I came home to eat before we went back to the Garden to see the Rangers play the Buffalo Sabres that night.
I needed to get a head start in my preparation for a colonoscopy that I was getting done on Monday morning. So I ate lightly.
After we got done, the King and I went back to the Garden.
As for the game we saw, the Sabres took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 but the game was tied after regulation at two. Sabres' goaltender Ryan Miller played well but with 2:01 left in overtime the Rangers' Ryan Callahan made a beautiful move as he faked out the Sabres' defense as he split them which allowed him to put the biscuit in the basket to win the game for the Rangers, 3-2. The goal was the 100th goal of Callahan's young career.
It was a tough loss for the visiting Sabres and their fans who were there. I was up in the West Balcony where there were plenty of people dressed in their Sabre gear.
Sunday I was forced to miss the Devil game against the Tampa Bay Lightning so I could stay home all day and night so I could finish getting ready for my colonoscopy. It was a difficult day for me to say the least since I could only have liquids.
Thank you for reading and following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
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