Last Saturday morning I woke up early and I went out to Avis to rent a car for the weekend. I drove back to Astoria and I picked up the King and we went on our way.
We drove down to the City of Brotherly Love to see a college football game at Lincoln Financial Field which is the home of the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Temple Owls were hosting the Toledo Rockets at Noon. The King and I had to go near the Philadelphia airport first to meet our friend Frankie Centola who arranged to get us tickets for the Phillie game against the St. Louis Cardinals which was Game 1 of the National League Division Series. First pitch was scheduled for 5:07PM.
Despite the detour which cost us a half hour, I still managed to get us to the football game on time. In classic royalty fashion, we barely made it but we did and that's all that matters. I found a way to make it happen.
We wound up parking the car on the street for the day. We walked over to the box office and took advantage of the $5.00 deal they had if you showed a Phillie ticket.
We proceeded to go inside and we watched the game. As for the game we saw, the Owls got beat up, 36-13.
After the game, we walked back to the car and we dropped off some stuff. Once we got ourselves set, we walked back to Citizens Bank Park and got ready for some post season baseball. It was a rare time that we arrived early enough to watch batting practice there.
As for the game we saw, Phillies ace Roy Halladay started. He got touched up for three runs in the first inning as Lance Berkman smacked a three run home run off him. He settled down and he retired 21 straight batters before he departed after pitching 8 solid innings. The Phillies chipped away after they were shut down for five innings by Cardinals' starter Kyle Lohse. They finally got to him in the sixth inning and they hit him very hard as they scored six times on their way to a 11-6 victory.
After the game, we waited out the traffic and we drove over to one of our favorite restaurants in the area, the
Oregon Diner. After we enjoyed a hearty dinner, we went to the Sugar House Casino in nearby North Philadelphia which was located right off I-95. In years past, we would have driven to Atlantic City instead.
After we spent a few hours there we called it a night. We drove over the Betsy Ross Bridge to Mt. Laurel, NJ where we got some sleep.
We woke up in the morning and we drove up the road a mile and a half and we had breakfast at another royalty staple,
Cracker Barrel. As usual, we weren't disappointed in our great meal.
After we ate, we drove back to the Sports Complex in South Philadelphia. We had the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the San Francisco 49ers at 1PM.
Ironically back in 1991, I saw my first football game at Old Veterans Stadium and the Eagles played the 49ers that day with a quarterback named Joe Montana. The 49ers won, 24-7.
On this day, we saw Michael Vick of the Eagles lead the way as the Eagles took a 23-3 lead with 9 and a half to go in the third quarter. Unfortunately that lead disappeared thanks to the Eagles failure to run the ball which would have helped kill the clock. Instead the Eagles let the 49ers hang around. With three minutes to in the game, the 49ers completed the comeback as their running back Frank Gore ran into the end zone with what turned out to be the winning score. The 49ers came back to win in improbable fashion, 24-23.
After the game, the King and I parted ways temporarily. He stayed in Philadelphia and he went to Game 2 of the NLDS at Citizens Bank Park.
I went back to the car and I took a hundred mile drive South down I-95 to Baltimore, Maryland to see the Jets play the Baltimore Ravens in Sunday night football at 8:20PM.
I stopped off at McDonald's in Delaware quickly so I could have some dinner in the car since I didn't have too much time to burn on my way to Baltimore.
I parked the car on the street within walking distance of M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Ravens. I proceeded to get myself in position to get a ticket despite having to deal with a mob of people who were trying to enter the Stadium.
I finally rounded up a ticket after looking for a short time. I managed to get into the Stadium relatively fast considering what a mess it was. I got situated and I went upstairs to get ready for some football.
As for the game I saw, the Jets came out looking over matched. The Ravens came out ready to play. They were lead by Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, the anchors of their ferocious defense who gave Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez all he could handle and then some. On the Jets' opening possession of the game, Ed Reed blind sided Sanchez and he forced a fumble that lead to a touchdown to give the Ravens an early 7-0 lead which set the tone for the rest of the night.
Despite Joe McKnight of the Jets returning the ensuing kickoff a team record 107 yards to tie the game, the Jets didn't stand a chance.
They did briefly in the third quarter as the trailed 27-17 when they got a turnover but on the first play Mark Sanchez threw the ball in the flat and the Ravens returned it 73 yards to seal the deal, 34-17. That's the way it ended as the Jets had no response for the Ravens' Super Bowl like performance.
After the game, I went back to the car. I got going at 12:21AM. SIx minutes later I got on the highway and I drove towards Philadelphia where I went back to pick up the King who was waiting for me.
I avoided a potential delay getting out of Baltimore. I noticed a construction area where two lanes were closed and traffic was backed up. I wisely got off the exit just before the mess and I found an alternate route which saved me plenty of time.
I met up with the King at 2AM. I drove him back to the Post Office at Grand Central Station in Manhattan where he works. I dropped him off at 3:47AM. I proceeded to drive home so I could get an hour of sleep before I went to return the car.
I wound up driving 518 miles then I went to work dead tired and all. With that being said, another adventurous weekend getaway was in the books.
Thank you for reading and following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
