Royalty sees another basketball doubleheader in the City of Brotherly Love!

Prince at Liacouras Center

Saturday morning I went to Avis & I rented a Dodge Avenger for the weekend.

I went back home to Astoria and I picked up the King and our pal Frank Anichiarico who joined us for the day. We then drove into Manhattan and we picked up our buddy Mike Carroll aka Sabre Mike who decided to join us for the day as well.

We drove down to Philadelphia and we went to The Liacouras Center which is the home of the Temple Owls. They were hosting the Rhode Island Rams.

We met up with our friend Frankie Centola who has season tickets for the Owls. It was nice to see him again.

As for the game we saw, the Rams led the Owls at halftime, 37-36. In the second half, the Owls pulled ahead. They went by 11 midway through. They wound up holding off the Rams, 76-70 on Mascot day.
They announced a crowd of 9,493 which consisted mainly of families who brought their children with them for this afternoon affair. They're were some empty seats in the outer reaches of the second level.

It should be noted that the Owls honored former football player, running back Bernard Pierce who played for the Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens in a ceremony at halftime.

After the game, we drove over to the Oregon Diner for dinner before we headed over to the Wells Fargo Center for the second game of our doubleheader as the Philadelphia 76ers were hosting the Golden State Warriors on Wilt Chamberlain bobblehead doll night.

We were joined by our buddy Andrew Van Cleve who was there with his son Dylan who is getting so big. It was great to see them both again.

Prince at Wells Fargo Center

As for the game we saw, the Warriors got off to a fast start as they led 31-20 after the first quarter as Stephen Curry scored 13 points. In the second quarter, the 76ers closed the gap as they trailed by 3 at halftime, 54-51. Stephen Curry finished the half with 23 points. In the third quarter, the 76ers went ahead as they led, 82-81. They cooled off Curry who only scored 3 points but Klay Thompson picked up the slack as he scored 12. In the fourth quarter, the 76ers out scored the Warriors, 22-16 as they went on to beat the Warriors, 104-97 in front of an announced crowd of 17,929.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson got shut down as they finished the game with 30 and 29 points respectively. For the 76ers, Jrue Holiday led the way with 27 points including a dozen in the fourth quarter which carried the 76ers down the stretch to the come back victory.

Stay tuned for the special post that will recap the way we spent my special day in Baltimore & Washington DC on Sunday.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty goes to Cleveland to see the Browns play the Ravens!

Prince at Cleveland Browns Stadium

After we spent the night in Somerset, PA at Days Inn, we got up in the morning and we had breakfast at the hotel before we continued our journey to Cleveland, Ohio.

We left the hotel at 9:15AM and we arrived in downtown Cleveland at 12:20PM. We parked the car on the street and we walked over to Cleveland Browns Stadium where we were going to see the Browns play the Baltimore Ravens.

We didn't have tickets yet. We went outside the southeast gate and we asked around for them. After a short time, we were able to round up a few singles. The first one cost us $20 and the second was $10 so we split the difference and we went inside to watch the game.

As for the game we saw, the Browns reminded us of the Washington Wizards from the night before. Ironically they fell behind big early as the Ravens raced out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter. Running back Ray Rice from Rutgers was running wild early. He scored the first touchdown of the game with 8:32 left in the quarter as he ran in from 8 yards out. His counterpart in the backfield, rookie from Temple, Bernard Pierce scored with just one second left on the clock. He toed the sidelines as he took it in from 12 yards out. This occurred after he took an unnecessary roughness penalty that moved the ball from the 6 yard to the 21 yard line.

In the second quarter, the Browns started to make a comeback. They got a 32 yard field goal from their kicker Phil Dawson with 9:19 left until halftime to break the shutout at 14-3. Later in the quarter they failed to get in the end zone on a few more occasions. They wound up settling for field goals from 28 & 29 yards out as they made it a game going into the locker room trailing by five points at 14-9.

In the third quarter, the Browns' defense continued to dominate as they held the Ravens scoreless. The Browns tacked on another field goal from 33 yards out with 2:39 left to get within two at 14-12.

In the fourth quarter, the Browns took their first lead of the day with 8:48 left as Phil Dawson connected on a 41 yard field goal to give the Browns a 15-14 lead. The Browns defense was worn down as they allowed the Ravens to regain the lead. The Ravens awoke as they marched down the field on a nine play 81 yard drive that culminated with a 19 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Torrey Smith with 4:26 left in the quarter. They added the two point conversion as quarterback Joe Flacco found wide receiver Anquan Boldin to give the Ravens a 22-15 lead. After the Browns turned the ball over on downs deep in their own territory, the Ravens got a 43 yard field goal from kicker Justin Tucker to seal the deal, 25-15. Just like the Wizards the night before, the Browns found a way to lose.

That's the way it goes. After the game, we walked back to the car as we got ready for the long ride home.
We got in the car just before 5PM. On the way back we stopped off at Burger King for a fast dinner. We made a pit stop for gas as well in Pennsylvania so we didn't have to worry about waiting all night to find a gas station who had gas. We got back home at 1AM.

All things considered we had a great weekend. We adjusted to the circumstances we were given and we made the best of them.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman