Royalty sees a hockey/basketball doubleheader on Martin Luther King Day!

Prince at Sovereign Center

On the day we remembered the man behind the Civil Rights movement, the King & I and our pal Vincent Ascanio spent the day watching hockey and basketball.

After I spent another night with my parents in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I went to Super 8 and I picked up the King & Vincent. We drove to Reading, PA aka Baseball town and we stopped off at First Energy Stadium which is the home of the newly named Reading Fightin Phils of the Eastern League to show Vincent the ballpark which we think is one of the best in the minor leagues.

We wound up going to Zabala's Sports Diner for breakfast which was located right across the street from the ballpark in right field. We had a very nice meal there which consisted of bacon, eggs, home fries and toast for $2.25 each. What a deal that was.

After we ate, we drove to downtown Reading to the Sovereign Center, home of the Reading Royals. We got to see a rematch of the teams we saw play there Saturday night. I'm referring to the Elmira Jackals who were visiting the Royals again for a special holiday matinee affair.

As for the game we saw, the Royals scored first late in the first period to take a 1-0 lead. A minute and two seconds later the Jackals tied it up at one with just 26 seconds to go in the period. In the second period, the Royals went back ahead midway through the period to take a 2-1 lead. In the third period, the Jackals score four unanswered goals including an empty netter with 2:15 to go to beat the Royals this time, 5-2 in front of a crowd of 4,253 which was slightly smaller then the one they had Saturday night..

Prince at Wells Fargo Center

After the game, we drove to Philadelphia for game two of our two sport doubleheader as we saw the Philadelphia 76ers host the San Antonio Spurs at the Wells Fargo Center.

Before the game, we stopped off at the Oregon Diner for a great pre game meal since our pal Vincent wanted to see it for himself. He had trouble finishing the two massive breaded pork chops he ordered. With that being said, he was a very satisfied customer. As for me, I had the broiled fillet of flounder that was stuffed with crab meat again. It was delicious. When we were done, we drove over to the sports complex area and I parked the car.

We proceeded to walk over to the Wells Fargo Center. Upon arrival, we headed inside to our seats in section 221A that our pal Frankie Centola arranged to get for us. Shortly thereafter, we were joined by our buddy Andrew Van Cleve and his new born son Micah. It was great to see him again.

As for the game we saw, the Spurs led the 76ers, 25-17 after the first quarter. They extended their lead to 14, 49-35 at halftime. In the third quarter, the 76ers cut the lead in half to seven, 71-64 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, the 76ers ran out of gas as they fell short in their comeback attempt as they lost, 90-85 in front of a crowd of 15,346. I was surprised they didn't have a bigger crowd on hand. I guess since the 76ers have been struggling lately, people decided to stay home.

After the game, we drove back home as the holiday weekend getaway came to a close.

Stay tuned for the rest of my w/o 1/21 in review.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman