In between the two Stadium Series games I saw at Yankee Stadium at
the end of January, I saw the Nets play the Toronto Raptors at the Barclays Center. Our pal Vincent Ascanio came up with a much more
appropriate name for it. He calls it the Darklays Center. The reason
being if & when you go there that you feel like you're in dungeon.
It's so dark throughout the building. There's no lighting at all around
the ceiling that covers the upper level. They barely have lights in the
first few rows of the upper level too. They shine the lights they have
on the basketball court itself to make those who happen to be there feel
like they're at a theater. They call it theater lighting. People like
the King & I who like to keep score of the game come prepared with
our little flashlights so we can see what we're trying to write down as
the game is being played.
On that note, Monday
January 27th I wound up seeing the game with my buddy Sean MacDonald who
likes seeing the Canadian teams play since he's originally from Ottawa
himself.
As for the game we saw, it was a real
seesaw battle from start to finish. The Raptors wound up out lasting
the Nets, 104-103 which put a smile on Sean's face.
Tuesday
night after work I went to the Transformed Madison Square Garden to see
the Knicks play the Boston Celtics with the King who attended this game
as well.
As for the game we saw, it wasn't
much of a game as the Knicks raced out to a big lead & they never
looked back as they beat the Celtics, 114-88.
Thursday
night I returned to the Garden. This time the Knicks took on the
Cleveland Cavaliers. Just like Tuesday night, the Knicks proved to be
much for the opposition as they whipped up on the Cavaliers, 117-86.
Friday
night after work I met up with the King at the Darklays Center if you
will. This time the Nets hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder. Unlike Monday
night, this game reminded me of the two I saw at the Garden. The only
difference was the home team in this case, the Nets got their butts
kicked. The Thunder tossed them a beating, 120-95 to end the month of
January.
Saturday marked the start of February.
It started different then I initially thought it would thanks to my pal
Eddie Pelle who asked me if I wanted to go somewhere for the day. I
told him I would love to. Eddie was off from work & he wanted to
getaway. His only concern was the weather. He told me we had a few
college basketball games either to our North or to our South. As the
week went on, he said that the weather was supposed to be better to our
North. With that being said, He went ahead & he rented a car. He
picked me up bright & early & away we went. We decided to go to
Upstate New York for the day.
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| Lacrosse at Andy Kerr Stadium |
We drove to
Hamilton, NY which is the home of Colgate University. Since we got there
extra early, we were able to check out a Lacrosse scrimmage that was
taking place at Andy Kerr Stadium between the Albany Great Danes
& the Colgate Raiders. That was located within a short walk of
the Reid Athletic Center where Cotterell Court, the home of the Colgate Raiders basketball team is located. They
were hosting the Bucknell Bison that afternoon in a Patriot League match
up.
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| Cotterell Court |
As for the game we saw, the Bucknell Bison raced past the Raiders after a slow start as they defeated them, 79-68.
After
the game, Eddie drove us to the University of Albany for another
college basketball game. As we were driving there, we ran into some bad
weather luckily we had enough time to get there. Eddie weathered the
storm & he got us there safely. Upon arrival, I got to meet up with a
few guys I've met from going to baseball games. I'm referring to Bob
Deal & David Schaffer who happen to be Albany graduates. In matter
of fact, it was a reunion of their alumni that particular night. As a
result, Bob managed to get me into the special pre game party they had
for them. It was called the Ferocious Feast. It was the 17th year they've been doing it. I wound up having some food & soda
while I joined them briefly. Since I was hungry it worked out well for
me. When we got done, we went into the SEFCU Arena which is the home of
the Albany Great Danes. They were playing the Vermont Catamounts in their annual Big Purple Growl game.
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| SEFCU Arena |
As
for the game we saw, Great Danes weren't anything but great. They
scored a paltry twelve points in the first half. The Catamounts scored
21 in a low scoring half. In the second half, it was higher scoring but
the Catamounts went on to beat the Great Danes, 55-45.
After the game, Eddie drove me home. I got back around 1:15AM. I want to personally thank Eddie for taking me. I had a great time.
That
Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday. Even though the game was being played at
MetLife Stadium in nearby in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the King &
I decided to pass up the opportunity to. First & foremost, it would
have cost us a fortune just to get a ticket. When you figure in the
hassle & hell we would have had to go through to get to & from
there, we knew it wasn't necessary for us to go. We saw Super Bowl 35 in
Tampa, Florida back in January 2001. Since we both like the Jets, we
always say if they ever get to another Super Bowl we'll go again then.
However
our buddy Eddie Pelle did have a ticket for the big game as did some
other people we know. I'm talking about Sean MacDonald who saw every NFL
stadium this season so it was fitting that he got to go so did Andrew
Van Cleve & Larry Peim.
As for the King & I we went to our friend Frank Anichiarico's place to watch it on his HDTV.
As
for the game, as you know the Seahawks destroyed the Broncos, 43-8. It
was a nice way to cap off a week of games we saw that were mainly
blowouts.
Stay tuned for some posts that we'll go into detail about the rest of my adventurous month of February.
Thank you for reading & following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
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