Royalty w/o 1/28 in review

Monday night after work I went to the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn to see the Nets play the Orlando Magic.

Before the game I walked over to the Atlantic Center Mall which is across the street. I wound up going to McDonald's for my pre game meal.

After I finished eating, I walked back over to the Barclays Center and I went inside. I was able to go to the area where the radio broadcasters do the game by section 109. On this night, I got to say hello to Dennis Neumann, the radio voice of the Magic. I also got to say hello to the Nets radio team of Tim Capstraw and Chris Carrino. These guys are always very fan friendly when they have some spare time.

When I was done, I went up to section 230 row 13 where I met up with the King. We wound up seeing our pal Steve Tepperman who was also at the game.

As for the game we saw, the Nets made fast work of the Magic who lost center Dwight Howard in the off season. The Magic are having a miserable season thus far. As a result, the Nets made sure they took advantage. They built an early ten point lead, 30-20 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, they out scored the Magic by six to lead 56-40 at the break. In the third quarter, the Magic made a comeback attempt as they out scored the Nets by nine to pull within seven, 70-63 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, the Nets turned it on again. They put the Magic away as they went on to win, 97-77 before a crowd of 16,480 which was just short of a sellout.

Tuesday night after work I got to come home and I caught up on things around the house after I made myself dinner. It was really nice to have a night off so I could play catch up.

Wednesday night after work instead of going to see the Knicks or the Nets play, the King and I went out to a special trophy awards dinner. During the spring and summer, the King and I play softball on Sunday mornings. Our team, the Fuzz Cougs, wound up winning the Championship back in late August. On this night, we got to see our teammates as we got rewarded for our hard work. It was a nice get together which was well worth missing a sporting event for.

Thursday night after work, I went out to Newark, NJ to see the Devils play the Islanders at the Prudential Center.

I met up with the King and our pal Mike Carroll aka Sabre Mike who joined us. I wound up getting pizza for dinner at the arena.

As for the game we saw, the Islanders took a 2-0 lead early in the second period before the Devils came back to tie the game at two. Both teams spent the rest of the game trading goals as the game was tied again at three and four. The game wound up being decided in overtime as the Islanders got the game winning goal from right winger Brad Boyes who scored with 2:59 left in the extra session to send the sellout crowd which included a number of Islander fans home with mixed emotions as the Islanders came away with an entertaining 5-4 victory.

Friday night after work I went back to the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn to see the Nets host the Chicago Bulls. Before the game, I arranged to meet my Cousin Andy at AppleBee's at the Atlantic Center Mall for dinner then we went to the game together. He told me he wanted to see the Barclays Center so I told him I'll make it happen and I did.

After we ate dinner, we walked over to the arena. We went inside and I showed him around the building before we met up with the King. We all watched the game together. Andy was very grateful that I got him the ticket and he enjoyed our company.

As for the game we saw, the Nets got off to a fast start as they led the Bulls, 24-14 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Bulls came back and they led, 42-41 at halftime. In the third quarter, the Bulls extended their lead to four, 67-63. In the fourth quarter, the Nets staged a comeback as they went on to beat the Bulls who played without a few of their key players, 93-89 much to the delight of the sellout crowd.

Stay tuned as I'm going to do a few special posts that will recap my busy weekend.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman