Royalty w/o 1/6 in review

Monday night January 6th after work I went to the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn where I saw the Nets host the Atlanta Hawks with the King. Before the game started I stopped by the press area where the radio announcers sit. I got to say a quick hello to my pal Steve Holman, the legendary broadcaster for the Hawks who has done over 2,000 consecutive Hawk games. It was nice to see him again. As for the game we saw, the Nets beat the Hawks, 91-86.

Tuesday night after work I went out to the Prudential Center in Newark as the Devils played their division rival, the Philadelphia Flyers. I met up with my Cousin Andy who joined the King & I for a rare night out. The Flyers got the game winner in overtime thanks to Brayden Schenn as they defeated the Devils, 3-2. 

Wednesday night after work I returned to the Barclays Center as the Nets entertained the Golden State Warriors. I met up with the King & our pal Sean MacDonald who decided to join us. He wanted to see Stephen Curry play. Last time he saw him in the area was last February when he came to New York on a business trip. That night Curry scorched the Knicks at the Garden as he scored a game high 54 points. This time he lead the way again with 34 points. Unfortunately for the Warriors, it wasn't enough as the Nets outlasted them, 102-98.

Thursday night after work, I returned to the Prudential Center in Newark as the Devils took on the Dallas Stars. This time I was accompanied by the King & fellow roadtripper Paul Derrick who returned to the area for the second time in a month. Paul flew into LaGuardia airport earlier in the day from Houston, Texas for the weekend. Since he missed the Devils the last time he visited, he wanted to return to cross the Rock off his to do list. As for the game we saw, the Devils blanked the Stars, 1-0 as goaltender Corey Schneider recorded the shutout.

After work Friday I came home & I relaxed as I wanted to rest up for the busy weekend I had planned. Paul Derrick wound up going to Madison Square Garden to see the Rangers play the Stars. He saw the Knicks play in December. 

Stay tuned for a special post that will go into detail regarding our getaway to New England for another three sport weekend. 

Thank you for reading & 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

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

Royalty sees Atlanta Hawks Radio Announcer Steve Holman at MSG!‏

Steve Holman behind the mic

On December 13, 2006 when the Atlanta Hawks came to Madison Square Garden I got to meet and greet a broadcasting legend from Atlanta. His name is Steve Holman.

Steve is a great guy who I always say hello to when I see the Hawks play.

Over the years, I've seen him in a number of places such as the IZOD Center when the Nets played there, Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland too.

He has been the voice of the Hawks for a very long time. In matter of fact, this is his 26th season behind the mic.

He has broadcast over 1,800 consecutive Hawks games including the playoffs which the Hawks have rarely made until the last few years. This streak started way back in March of 1989.

These days he does the games solo. In years past, he worked with Hawk legend Dominique Wilkins aka the human highlight film and Dennis Scott, both former NBA players.

Dennis Scott aka 3D as he was known in his playing days because of his great three point shooting ability was always a great guy to talk basketball with when I saw Steve.

Steve has suffered through many years of horrible basketball down in Atlanta. It wasn't until they acquired Mike Bibby from the Sacramento Kings that they have finally turned things around.

Bibby arrived just before I saw the Hawks play the Celtics in Boston on March 2, 2008.

Since then the Hawks have become a much improved team.

Despite their 34-20 record when they came to the Garden last week, Steve said and I quote "they should have a better record than that."

Steve knows best he sees them play every game. I'm happy for him that he has a better team to work for these days.

I hope someday the Hawks can rise up and win a championship so Steve can have the privilege and honor of calling it.

Keep up the great work, Steve. I'll see you again somewhere when I see the Hawks play.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 2/14 in review‏

This week started slow but finished in epic fashion.

Monday night after work I went out to Newark, NJ to see the Nets play the NBA's best team record wise, the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs unlike the Lakers bore you to death but they win and that's what matters.

That was the formula as they disposed of the Nets, 102-85.

The silent assassin Tim Duncan quietly did plenty of damage early on in this one to lead the way for the Spurs as he finished with 15 points and added 11 rebounds.

With the Spurs comfortably up most of the game, Duncan was able to stay on the bench most of the second half.

Tuesday night I went home after work to rest up.

Wednesday night I went to Madison Square Garden to see the Knicks take on the Atlanta Hawks looking for revenge.

The Knicks lost to the Hawks twice in Atlanta and the last time tempers flared up as Amar'e Stoudemire and Al Horford got into it.

This time cooler heads prevailed for most of the game until late when the players started to lose their cool. Nothing out of the ordinary came out of it just a few technical fouls were called.

As for the scoreboard, the Knicks came out victorious this time, 102-90.

I did have an opportunity to visit with long time Atlanta Hawks radio voice, Steve Holman before the game. Stay tuned as I'm going to write a special post about him.

Thursday night I went home so I could pack and recharge my batteries in preparation for our journey to Western Canada for the weekend.

Stay tuned as I go into plenty of detail from this classic adventure.

If you're a hockey fan, you won't want to miss it.

It may take some time but it will definitely be worth the wait.

As always, if and when you need my personal assistance don't hesitate to ask for it. I'll do my best to accomodate your needs and wants.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman