Thursday night just before I was getting ready to leave work, I got a text message from a friend of mine, JeanAnn Harrison. She asked me if I had any plans for Friday night. I wrote her back and said no. She replied and asked me if I wanted to go to the Big East Semi Finals at Madison Square Garden. She said she was going to drive down from Nashua, New Hampshire where she currently lives. Without hesitation, I said yes. She told me she was getting tickets on Stub Hub. She told me she wanted to treat me. I was in a state of shock. Shortly thereafter, she sent me an e-mail confirmation. She asked me if I could go to the Stub Hub office here in Manhattan and pick them up. I said absolutely. I went during my lunch break on Friday.
After work, I wound up meeting the King for dinner at Popeye's before I met up with JeanAnn outside the Garden. The King came with me so he could say a quick hello.
JeanAnn and I proceeded to go into the building to see the college basketball doubleheader.
In game one we had the final meeting between the Syracuse Orange who JeanAnn is a huge fan of and the Georgetown Hoyas as members of the Big East Conference. This was a historic occasion. Thanks to JeanAnn I got to take part in it.
As for the game we saw, Syracuse played well early as they were up 29-20 at halftime. In the second half, the Hoyas battled back as they forced overtime as the score was tied at 51 after regulation. What a way to end a storied rivalry. In the extra session, the Orange prevailed, 58-55 as the rivalry was officially closed as a fan in the stands held up a sign acknowledging that fact.The crowd was filled with plenty of Orange and Hoya fans who were into the game from start to finish. It was an electric evening at the Mecca.
In game two, the Louisville Cardinals were hosting the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The winner was going to meet Syracuse for the Big East Championship Saturday night.
As for the game we saw, the Cardinals led the Irish, 32-25 at halftime. In the second half, the Cardinals extended their lead as they cruised to an easy 69-57 victory.
Unlike the first game some of the sellout crowd of 20,057 were long gone which made for a more subdued atmosphere. Regardless we saw one of the best teams in the country play.
After the game, we arranged to meet up with the King who met us outside the Garden around midnight. We wound up going to Stout NYC which is on 33rd Street between 6th & 7th Avenue to hang out. We got to eat, drink and we were merry catching up while JeanAnn was staying over for the weekend.
After spending a few more hours with JeanAnn, the King & I went home. We arrived home at 3AM.
Stay tuned for the special post that I'm going to do regarding how we spent our Saturday afternoon.
Thank you for reading and following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
-
