Royalty w/o 1/14 in review

Prince at Barclays Center

Monday after work I came home for some much needed rest and blog catch up since they were no local games in the area.

Tuesday after work I went to downtown Brooklyn to the Barclays Center to see the Nets take on the Toronto Raptors. Before I went into the arena, I stopped off at McDonald's in the Atlantic Center Mall which is across the street for my pre game meal. I had a McRib. It was really good. When I was done, I walked back to the arena and I went inside. I met up with the King by our seats in section 230 row 13 and we watched the game together.

As for the game we saw, the Nets and the Raptors were tied at 27 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Nets went ahead as they led at halftime, 54-50. In the third quarter, the Nets added to their lead as they out scored the Raptors 29-26 to take a 83-76 lead after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, both teams scored 30 points as the Nets held off the Raptors to emerge victorious, 113-106.

Brook Lopez led all scorers with 22 points and he grabbed 9 rebounds while his teammate Deron Williams had 21 points and he dished out 7 assists. Joe Johnson also added 21 points and handed 5 assists to lead a balanced attack.

Wednesday night after work I came home and I did my laundry after I made dinner.

Thursday night after work I met up with my pal Larry Peim in upper Manhattan near the George Washington Bridge. I also met the King and our friends Frank Anichiarico and Phil Butleman there as well. He drove us all to the Stratis Arena at Rothman Center in Hackensack, NJ which is the home of the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights. On this night, they were playing the LIU Blackbirds. Upon arrival we met up with our pal Bert Shoobs who does the public address announcing for the Knights. It was great to see him again.

As for the game we saw, the Blackbirds led the Knights after the first half, 36-35. In the second half, the Knights went on a 13-2 run to take a 48-38 lead. The Blackbirds came all the way back to force overtime as Brandon Thompson hit a three pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 75. In the extra session, the Blackbirds out scored the Knights, 10-6 to win 79-75 before a sparse gathering of an announced crowd of 317. It should be the King did a head count and he came up with a total of around 200 people.

For the Blackbirds, they got 30 points and 16 rebounds from senior forward Jamal Olasewere while guard C.J. Garner added 23 points to carry them to the comeback win.

As for the Knights, Melquan Bolding scored a team high 22 points in the losing effort.

Friday night after work I went back to downtown Brooklyn to the Barclays Center. This time I saw the Nets host the Atlanta Hawks. Once again I stopped off at McDonald's for dinner. After I got done, I met up with my pal Phil Butleman outside the arena. We went inside together. After we got in, I told him I wanted to go to see the radio announcer for the Hawks before the game started. I'm referring to the legendary Steve Holman who has done Hawk games for the last 28 years. In matter of fact, on Wednesday night in Atlanta he called his 2,000th consecutive Hawk game. Ironically it was also against the Nets. This night was game number 2,001 for him. I also got to say a quick hello to him before he went on the air. He's a really nice guy and it was an absolute pleasure to see him again.

In addition, I got to see Tim Capstraw and Chris Carrino, the radio voices of the Brooklyn Nets. I got to speak to them as well. While I was doing so, I got to introduce myself to a young man who hopes to get into broadcasting himself some day. His name was Matt Cohen. It was nice to have the opportunity to meet and greet him too. I wished him luck and we exchanged contact information.

As for the game we saw, the Hawks and Nets played dead even for the first three quarters. The game was tied at 29 after the first quarter, 49 at halftime and at 75 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, the Nets finally broke through as they out scored the Hawks, 20-15 to win the game, 94-89. It should be noted that Josh Smith of the Hawks threw down a monstrous highlight reel jam with his left hand late in the game to get the Hawks with a point but the Nets held them off and escaped with the victory in front of a sellout crowd of 17,732.

Stay tuned for some special posts that I'm going to do regarding the weekend getaway the King and I took over the Martin Luther King weekend.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 2/20 in review

Mike Emrick Night

Thanks to having my priorities in order this past week, I fell just short of another royal week of Stadium Travel.

If you don't have your health, you can't live and enjoy life properly.

With that being said, here's how my week turned out:

Monday thanks to it being President's Day I had the day off from work. As a result, I got to go to the Nassau Coliseum with the King and our friend Frank Anichiarico to see the Islanders play the Ottawa Senators in a matinee affair. There were plenty of young kids in attendance including Grace Rossi who was there with her Daddy, Joe Rossi. It was great to see them again. We also had our friend Dennis Barbera there. After the game, he drove us back to Citi Field in Queens. It was very nice of him to do so. That way we didn't have to deal with public transportation in Nassau County which is a pain in the butt.

As for the game we saw, I think the Islanders forgot to get the memo that the game was starting early. They fell behind 1:08 into the game as defenseman Erik Karlsson of the Senators lit the lamp for the first of his two goals in the game to make it 1-0. 27 seconds his teammate Jason Spezza scored to make it 2-0. You knew it's wasn't going to be the Islanders' day. As the game wore on, it definitely wasn't. They trailed 3-0 after the first period. They went on to lose the game, 6-0.

After Dennis dropped us off by Citi Field, the King and I went home and we ate dinner before we went back out to Madison Square Garden for game two of our doubleheader. The Knicks were hosting their cross town rivals, the New Jersey Nets.

This game included the return of Carmelo Anthony who missed the last two weeks with a groin injury. It also was the first time since "Linsanity" took over as the starting point guard that Melo was playing with him.
Anthony only managed to score 11 points in his return. Jeremy Lin finished with 21 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds but he couldn't contain Deron Williams aka D-Will this time around. D-Will after getting burned a few weeks earlier at the Garden by Lin, made sure he got his revenge this time. He scored a game high 38 points to pace the Nets past the Knicks, 100-92.

Tuesday night after work I had a night off since there were no games to attend in the area. After running around all weekend long, it was just what the doctor ordered.

Wednesday night after work I went back to the Garden for more "Linsanity". The Knicks were playing the Atlanta Hawks. I got to say hello to their longtime radio announcer, Steve Holman.

As for the game I saw, the Knicks redeemed themselves after suffering a brutal loss to the Nets. The Knicks came to play on this night as they blew away the Hawks, 99-82 and it wasn't that close.

Thursday night after work I came home and I did my laundry.

Friday after work I met up with the King in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center where we saw the Devils play the Vancouver Canucks on Mike Emrick Night.

Mike Emrick aka "Doc" as he's called was the long time TV play by play announcer of the Devils. He called their games for 21 years. He's one of the best voices when it comes to watching the game of hockey. He's a class act who loves the game and his job if you will. He knows how to relate well to his audience. He's a paid professional but he's truly a real hockey fan deep down in his heart. The sport of hockey is blessed to have him. He still calls games on the NBC Sports Network for the National Hockey League.

After the Devils honored him in a pre game ceremony, it was time to play hockey as Mike said when he finished his thank you speech.

As for the game we saw, the Devils lost to the Canucks, 2-1. The Canucks came from Detroit the night before where they snapped the Red Wings' record breaking 23 game home winning streak as they beat them in a shootout.

Saturday afternoon the King and I went to Madison Square Garden to see the Red Storm of St. John's play the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

We were joined by our friends Rich Wolber aka Staten Island Rich, Pat Gorman and Ralph and Vincent Ascanio. Since they were there with us it helped enhance the royal experience. We all enjoyed each other's company.

As for the game we saw, the Red Storm of St. John's knocked off the Fighting Irish who came in ranked in the Top 25 by a score of 61-58. The Irish had chances to win the game but they missed too many wide open shots.

After the game, the King and I came home to eat before we went back to the Garden to see the Rangers play the Buffalo Sabres that night.

I needed to get a head start in my preparation for a colonoscopy that I was getting done on Monday morning. So I ate lightly.

After we got done, the King and I went back to the Garden.

As for the game we saw, the Sabres took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 but the game was tied after regulation at two. Sabres' goaltender Ryan Miller played well but with 2:01 left in overtime the Rangers' Ryan Callahan made a beautiful move as he faked out the Sabres' defense as he split them which allowed him to put the biscuit in the basket to win the game for the Rangers, 3-2. The goal was the 100th goal of Callahan's young career.

It was a tough loss for the visiting Sabres and their fans who were there. I was up in the West Balcony where there were plenty of people dressed in their Sabre gear.

Sunday I was forced to miss the Devil game against the Tampa Bay Lightning so I could stay home all day and night so I could finish getting ready for my colonoscopy. It was a difficult day for me to say the least since I could only have liquids.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Hawks shoot down sluggish Nets, 108-84!

The Hawks came to the IZOD Center and came away with a victory despite playing without Joe Johnson who has a sore achilles. The Nets were missing Devin Harris who was ill.

They started slow in the first quarter even though they had a 6 point lead early. The game was tied at 22 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, former Knick Jamal Crawford who came off the bench scored 15 of his game high 25 points including a 3 pointer at the buzzer to give the Hawks a 55-39 advantage at the half.

They built their lead to 20 points after 3 quarters.

In the end, it was another rough night for the Nets who lost for the 60th time this season.

Knicks top Hawks, 99-98!

After embarrassing themselves the other night against the NJ Nets, the Knicks played hard and found a way to defeat the Atlanta Hawks at the Garden without Tracy McGrady.

This was a seesaw battle for almost 3 quarters then the Knicks opened up a 6 point advantage after three quarters, 76-70.

Until that point there were numerous lead changes as well as ties in this game. The Knicks built their to as many as 11, 89-78 with 7:37 left in the 4th quarter.

 The Hawks did make a comeback to pull within one, 97-96 with 2:53 left. The next 2 minutes neither team scored then Al Harrington made a basket to give the Knicks a 3 point lead, 99-96 with 50.5 seconds remaining. Josh Smith of the Hawks got them back within one, 99-98.

 The Knicks lost the ball and the Hawks had a chance to win the game. But in the end, Al Horford made a basket that was overturned by the replay preserving the narrow victory for the Knicks.

The Knicks were lead by Danilo Gallanari who had 27 points. David Lee added 19 points and 13 rebounds..

For the Hawks, Josh Smith finished with 25 and Joe Johnson poured in 22 points in the loss.