Royalty sees a local basketball doubleheader in NYC!

Prince at MSG for St. John's basketball

Sunday morning I got up and I returned the Toyota Camry I rented from Avis for the day. I drove 262 miles safely.

After I returned the car, I took public transportation to midtown Manhattan. I went to Madison Square Garden to see the St. John's Red Storm play the Pittsburgh Panthers at Noon.

I met up with the King and our pals Frank Anichiarico, Rich Wolber and Vinny Ascanio in the lobby.

As for the game we saw, the Red Storm trailed the Panthers, 30-27 at halftime. Early in the second half, the Johnnies took a brief one point lead but that didn't last long. The Panthers got their act together as they went on to beat the Red Storm, 63-47 before an announced of 9,129 which consisted of a number of Panther fans who made the trip to NYC.

After the game, the King and I went home to relax for a little while since we had some time to kill before our second game of the day.

I was waiting to hear from fellow roadtripper, Sean MacDonald who was flying in to JFK from Dallas where he spent a few weeks seeing different sporting events and venues.

Sean is originally from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He spent 15 years in Japan. He recently moved to Singapore where now calls home.

Sean flew in to NYC because he was working here for the rest of the week. I was hoping to meet him for dinner at Junior's Restaurant before we went to the Barclays Center to see the Nets play the Memphis Grizzlies.

Unfortunately Sean got in later than expected which changed our dinner plans. I wound up going to 2 Bros Pizza which is located across the street from Junior's instead. It worked out as Sean told me he would meet me outside the Barclays Center at 5:30PM or so. I had his ticket that I arranged to get for him. In addition, he wanted to take pictures and he wanted to check out the arena for himself. The King came later and we met up with him inside the building.

Prince at Barclays Center

As for the game we saw, the Grizzlies raced out to a 14-4 lead just five minutes into the game. They went into a dry spell and they let the Nets back into the game. As a result, they trailed by three, 19-16 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Grizzlies started to surge again as they out scored the Nets by eight to take a five point lead at halftime, 43-38. In the third quarter, both teams were absolutely awful. They both combined for 25 points. The Grizzlies still lead, 55-51 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies went into another mental lapse as they let the Nets regain the lead by five, 72-67 then the Grizzlies got down to business as they used their grit and grind style to wear out the Nets down the stretch. As a result, they scored the last nine points of the game as they extended their winning streak to seven as they left Brooklyn with a hard fought 76-72 victory.

Stay tuned for a special post that I'm going to do about a few special people I know who work for the Grizzlies.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty sees a local basketball doubleheader at Madison Square Garden!

Prince at MSG for St. John's Red Storm

On Sunday January 27th, the King and I saw went to Madison Square Garden , the mecca for basketball, to see the St. John's Red Storm host the Seton Hall Pirates at Noon.

As for tickets for the game, we didn't get them in advance. We decided to wait until the day of the game. With that being said, while I was waiting on line at the box office, a gentleman approached me and he gave me two free tickets. I was very grateful. I shook his hand and I thanked him. As a result, the King and I saved some money that we planned to spend. We lucked as I was in the right place at the right time.

As for the game we saw, the Red Storm lead at halftime, 38-33 after they trailed by 8 midway through the first half. In the second half, they added to their lead as they built a 16 point lead early on. The Pirates wound up coming back but they fell short as they lost to the Red Storm, 71-67 before a crowd of 7,641. As a result, they closed off the upper level and the West Balcony. With that being said, we got to sit on the lower level which we can't afford to do for the Knicks. I must say the seating down there is rather snug. In other words, the leg room is tight.

Forward D'Angelo Harrison lead the way for the Red Storm as he played the whole game and he scored a game high 24 points to carry the Johnnies to the victory. For the Pirates, center Eugene Teague had 22 points in the losing effort.

Prince at MSG for Knicks basketball

After the game, the King and I went home for dinner before we returned to the Garden for game two of our convenient doubleheader. The Knicks were playing the Hawks at 6:30PM which was televised on ESPN.
Before the game, I was able to say a quick hello to my pal broadcasting legend, Steve Holman, who's the radio voice of the Hawks. He's now done over 2,000 consecutive Hawk games and counting. That's an incredible accomplishment. It was great to see him again. If you want to follow him on Twitter, his handle is @RealVoiceofHawk.

As for the game we saw, it was eerily similar to the game we saw at the Barclays Center nine days earlier when the Hawks were in town to play the Nets in Brooklyn. This one was tightly contested especially in the first half as the Knicks out scored the Hawks, 27-25 in the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Hawks returned the favor as they did the same to the Knicks. As a result, the game was tied at 52 at the half. In the third quarter, the Knicks pulled away to lead by 8, 82-74 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, the Hawks roared back. Josh Smith threw down a thunderous slam late just he did in Brooklyn to keep the Hawks within striking distance. Ironically the game came down to the last shot that would have won it for the Hawks but Josh Smith couldn't drain a three pointer at the buzzer as the Knicks held off the Hawks, 106-104.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Official review of Transformed Madison Square Garden Phase One - Home of the Knicks, Rangers and St. John's

Here's my official review of Madison Square Garden,  home of the Knicks, Rangers and St.John's. If you're lucky enough to go there in the near future, I strongly suggest you take a look at what I wrote so you know what to expect before you get there.

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/madison-square-garden-s95

I officially joined forces with my buddy Paul Swaney as a Special Correspondent by doing reviews for him when time allows me to do so. I also plan to contribute to great team of writers who cover different sports venues in the United States and other parts of the World.

His website, Stadium Journey is on my blog list. Here's the link: www.stadiumjourney.com/

Please feel free to check out his amazing site which will educate you greatly if and when you decide to take a road trip to see a new venue or if you're just curious how life is in other parts of the country and/or the world.

When it comes to sports travel knowledge, I have plenty but I don't have the time to go in depth like his site does. Regardless you can always feel free to e-mail me and pick my brain.

I'm a team player so whenever I can help somebody else, I indirectly help myself too. I think if you follow my blog, you should do the same.

Life is short. Play hard. I do, I believe you should too.

I hope you enjoy my evaluation.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 11/14 in review

Opening Tip off

This week started off slow for me as I went home after work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night.

After work Thursday night, I decided instead of staying home and watching the Jets play on TV that I would go to Madison Square Garden to see a few college basketball games thanks to the 2K Coaches vs. Cancer Sports Classic. With the NBA still locked out with no end in sight, I figured here's my chance to see the transformed Garden for basketball.

It was well worth it because for $10 I got to see a doubleheader. More importantly, I got to meet up with a guy named Eddie who I met last December thanks to my blog. We got to catch up and enjoy each other's company throughout the night.

As for the games we saw, in game one we saw the Bull Dogs of Mississippi State upset the Aggies from Texas A & M, 69-60. The Bull Dogs got off to a fast start as they were blowing out the Aggies. In the end, they held them off to emerge victorious.

In game two, we got to see local favorite, the Red Storm of St. John's University who play a majority of their home games at the Garden. They were taking on the Wildcats of Arizona aka U of A as a good number of people who support them were yelling. As a result, St. John's didn't have a distinct home court advantage as you might have expected.

The Wildcats used the crowd feed to knock off the Red Storm by a score of 81-72.

Friday I took off from work as I got ready for another memorable and adventurous weekend.

I went to Avis and I rented a car for a week. Stay tuned as I go into detail in a special post recapping this epic excursion.

As always it will be something you'll want to read. Hopefully in the future you'll get the bug to want to take a royal ride somewhere either with me or on your own. Either way I'll gladly guide you along so you can experience what royal treatment is all about.

Thank you for reading and following.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman