Royalty sees a rare basketball tripleheader!

Prince at Prudential Center for Seton Hall Pirates

Saturday morning I went to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ which is also the home of the Seton Hall Pirates who play their home games at the Rock. On this day they were hosting the Cincinnati Bearcats at 11AM. It was also the 20th anniversary of the Seton Hall team that won the Big East Championship during the 1992-1993 season. As a result, they had a ceremony at halftime to celebrate the reunion before an announced crowd of 6,961.

I was joined by the King and our pals Rich Wolber aka Staten Island Rich and Dennis Barbera.

As for the game we saw, the game was tied at 28 late in the first half. The Bearcats went on a 20-0 run that carried over into the second half. As a result, the Bearcats were able to hold off a late surge by the Pirates as they went on to win the game, 65-59.

Prince at WRAC - Home of LIU Blackbirds

After the game, we all took the Path train back to midtown Manhattan where we caught the Q train to downtown Brooklyn for game two of the day at LIU where the Blackbirds were hosting the Robert Morris Colonials at 3PM at the Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center aka the WRAC.

We were also joined by our pals Larry Peim, Michael Abrams, Phil Butleman, David Sack and Vincent Ascanio.

As for the game we saw, the Colonials led the Blackbirds, 32-29 at halftime. In the second half, the Colonials held off the Blackbirds in a closely contested affair, 60-57.

Prince at Madison Square Garden 

After the game, I went to Popeye's for dinner before I went to Madison Square Garden for game three at 7:30PM as the Knicks were taking on the Sacramento Kings.

As for the game I saw, the Knicks wound up blowing out the Kings who raced out to an early 18-6 lead. It went down hill from there for the Kings as the Knicks rolled to an easy 120-81 victory.

The Knicks got monster performances from Tyson Chandler who scored 11 points and he grabbed 20 rebounds. In addition, Amar'e Stoudemire came off the bench and he shot 10 for 10 from the field as he finished with 21 points while J.R. Smith added a team high 25 points off the bench which enabled the Knicks to win the game easily.

Stay tuned for the recap of how I spent Super Bowl Sunday.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty is going to the Queen City of Cincinnati this weekend!

It's going to be December in a few days, Royalty will be spending the first weekend of the month in the Queen City of Cincinnati.

The game plan is as follows:

The King and I are going to the 'Nati.The primary purpose is to see Nippert Stadium home of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats and former and original home of the Cincinnati Bengals.We also have a few other games while we're there.

Saturday, December 4th we have a flight booked on Delta Airlines that departs NY LaGuardia Airport at 8:05AM Eastern Time and it's scheduled to land in Covington, Kentucky which is 12 miles from Cincinnat at 10:19AM Eastern Time.

Upon arrival, I'll be renting a car and we're going to drive right to Nippert Stadium to see the Cincinnati Bearcats play the Pitt Panthers in a college football game that will kick off at Noon local time. They finally set the official time yesterday.

After the college football game, we have a minor league hockey game in downtown at the US Bank Arena where the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL host the Florida Everblades at 7:30PM.. That makes for a convenient doubleheader right in the Queen City.

Sunday, December 5th, we'll be back at Paul Brown Stadium to see the Cincinnati Bengals take on the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints. Kickoff is scheduled for 1PM local time.

After the game, I'll be driving the King to the airport so he can catch his 7PM flight home since he has to go into work at 2AM and he couldn't get off. I wanted to play it safe just in case with the flex schedule since I booked my flight back in August before the season started.

 I'll be flying back home on Monday, December 6th. My flight on Delta Airlines departs Covington at 9:45AM Eastern Time and lands at LaGuardia at 11:47AM Eastern Time.

Upon arrival, I'm going home fast then I'm going to Avis to rent a car and pick up the King as we head up North to Foxboro, Massachusetts for the AFC East showdown on MNF at 8:30PM  as the Jets and the Patriots meet to probably decide the division title.

Please feel free to check back for all the details of how this adventure turned out.

If you want to join us, please let me know so I can arrange to make it happen.

Thank you for reading.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Big East Championship Game at Pitt!

On December 5, 2009 I saw the Cincinnati Bearcats punch their ticket to the Orange Bowl, which is part of the BCS with their amazing come from behind victory.

It was an entertaining game to say the least.

With the Big East Championship on the line, the Bearcats stormed back to defeat the Pitt Panthers, 45-44!

The Panthers retook the lead late with a touchdown but they missed a critical PAT (point after touchdown) which proved to be costly as they wound up losing the game in the last minute.

Needless to say, some future NFL potential was seen at Heinz Field that day.

The players who were drafted were as follows:

For the Bearcats, they had 3 players.

Mardy Gilyard, wide receiver and kick returner was nabbed by the St. Louis Rams with the 1st pick in the 4th round, 99th overall.

I was impressed with him that day myself. He looked like a rising star.
He wound up with 5 receptions for 118 yards receiving which included a 68 YD TD pass.
In addition, he showed his multi dimensional ability when he returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.

Tony Pike, quarterback went to the Carolina Panthers on the 6th round with the 204th pick.
He finished that day throwing for 302 yards. He completed 22 out of the 44 passes he threw.

Ricardo Mathews, defensive tackle was taken by the Indianapolis Colts in the 7th round with the 238th pick.

As for the Panthers, they had a few players chosen as well.

Nate Byham, tight end, was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the 6th round with the 182nd pick.
He caught one pass that day for 6 yards.

Dorin Dickerson, also a tight end, was taken by the Houston Texans in the 7th round, 227th overall.

It should be noted that Pitt has a reputation of producing great NFL players such as Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Curtis Martin and most recently Darrelle Revis to name a handful.