Upon returning from Cincinnati Monday at Noon at LaGuardia Airport I went home quickly to drop off my bags. After doing so, I proceeded to go to Avis to rent a car for the day.
I drove to pick up our buddy Al Linderman aka "Big Game Al" who took the King's place since he had to get back to work so he reluctantly couldn't make the trip. Al and I went to Foxboro, Massachusetts to see the AFC East showdown between the Jets and the New England Patriots.
On the way up we were listening to sports radio. Mike Francesa, a local host on WFAN in New York said and I quoted "if you plan to stay for the whole game it's going to take you 3 or 4 hours to get out of the area since there's only one road in and one road out."
Royalty laughed at the commentary. Rightfully so, we stayed to the bitter end and we got out rather fast even with plenty of traffic. I drove 3 miles to the highway in 10 minutes. Once I got on the highway it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. I dropped Al off and I took myself home. I got home at 4:10AM.
In addition, Royalty knows where to park cheap. I paid $20 to park as opposed to the other lots that we passed that were charging $30, $35, $40 & $50 to park. We had to walk a mile and a quarter but it was well worth it. If you parked in one of those other lots you still had to walk a mile or more.
As for the game, it didn't live up to the hype for the Jets who failed to show up. They fell behind early and they never had a chance. They went on to lose, 45-3!
After getting an hour and a half sleep I went to work Tuesday. After work, I went to see St. John's play St. Bonaventure in college basketball on my way home at the Carnesecca Arena formerly known as Alumni Hall in Jamaica, Queens.
I managed to stay awake even though it was a struggle in the second half.
I saw a good game and a great ending. The Red Storm as they're called these days got off to an early 13-2 lead but that disappeared as the Bonnies from St. Bonaventure stormed back to keep it close the rest of the way. In the end, the Bonnies won 67-66 as Andrew Nicholson who had 19 points and 13 rebounds scored the winning basket with just 5.2 seconds to go. His teammate Michael Davenport added 22 points.
Dwight Hardy of the Red Storm led all scorers with 24 points in the losing effort.
Wednesday night after work I went to Madison Square Garden to see the Knicks take on the Toronto Raptors. The Knicks won in dramatic fashion as Raymond Felton hit a three pointer that bounced off the rim a number of times before dropping in with 2.7 seconds left to give the Knicks a 113-110 decision over the visiting Raptors. The Knicks were paced by Amar'e Stoudemire who poured in 34 points. Raymond Felton finished with 28. The Raptors got a career high 41 points from Andrea Bargnani in the defeat.
Thursday & Friday night I went home to catch up on sleep and I prepared for the busy weekend ahead.
Saturday I went to Manhattan College to see the Japsers take on the Bearcats from Binghamton. Both teams came in with horrible records. Despite that, the game turned out to be a good one including another stunning ending. The visiting Bearcats came away with the victory as guard Jimmy Gray scored his only basket of the game with just 5.6 seconds to go to give the Bearcats a 70-69 win. Mahamoud Jabbi led the Bearcats with 20 points. George Beamon paced the Jaspers with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
After the college basketball game, the King and I went to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ to see the Detroit Red Wings, the King's favorite team play the NJ Devils.
The Red Wings got a few goals early and never looked back as they beat the Devils, 4-1!
Pavel Datsyuk led the way with a goal and two assists.
It should be noted this game was the King's 400th sporting event he has attended this calendar year.
Sunday we had another double dip as we saw the Knicks play the Nuggets at the Garden at Noon.
The Knicks continued their winning ways as they notched their eighth straight win for the first time in 16 years. In addition, they've now won 13 out of their last 14 games.
Amar'e Stoudemire was a monster again especially in the second half as he scored 30 points again for the eighth straight game. Wilson Chandler added 27 while Raymond Felton had 19 points to go along with 17 assists.
As for the Nuggets, they were led by Carmelo Anthony who had 31 points and 13 rebounds and Nene who scored 26 points in the loss.
After the Knick game, we went to the New Meadowlands Stadium to see the Jets try to rebound after Monday night's nightmare against division rival the Miami Dolphins.
Before mother nature made things ugly the Jets got a head start. They had some costly turnovers that gave the Dolphins an early 10-0 lead which the Jets couldn't recover from.
As the game wore on the weather got worse. As a result, Santonio Holmes missed a sure touchdown pass in the end zone as the Jets had to settle for a field goal to get on the board late in the second quarter.
The Jet defense played well as they shutdown the Dolphins the rest of the game. Unfortunately, the Jet offense couldn't get going all day as they failed to get in the end zone for the second straight game.
They went on to lose again, 10-6!
Their season has taken a turn for the worst. The way they're playing they may miss the playoffs. We'll have to wait and see if they can get it together again.
Thank you for reading and following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
