A Royal return to Nashville, Tennessee in August!‏

Last October I went to Nashville aka Music City to see the Tennessee Titans play at LP Field. This time after spending the night in East Memphis, I drove to Nashville with the intentions of seeing the Nashville Sounds, the Triple A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers play‎ at Herschel Greer Stadium which is notorious for its unique guitar shaped scoreboard in left field. After playing 37 years of hits, this was the last year they were playing there hence the slogan, Last Cheer at Greer. With being said, I purposely made this trip with that in mind. Ironically the Titans were home for a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers as well. 

Me outside Pringles Park in Jackson, Tennessee

After having a royal breakfast at Baymont Inn & Suites, I drove across middle Tennessee. I stopped off in Jackson which is the home of the Double A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, the Jackson Generals. I drove a short distance off the highway & I made a quick stop to go see their ballpark which is called Pringles Park. After I walked around for a short time, I got back in the car & I continued on. I wound up getting to the Nashville area around 3:30PM. I decided to take a ride to the ballpark to check it out before I ate dinner at a highly recommended restaurant called Monell's in Germantown. Since dinner wasn't being served until 5PM, I had some spare time. The ballpark was a few miles away from the downtown area.

Monell's in Germantown

Monell's where you feel right at home

When I got back to Monell's, I parked the car & I waited with bunch of other people until it was time for dinner. It was quite an experience. I wound up sitting at a table with 14 other people. We got to pass around food the table until our hearts were content. Among the different people who were there, a couple came all the way from Poland to visit our country & they also got to experience life in the South. 

My dinner at Monell's

As they say there, we show your mouth to the South. Did they ever? I wound up having plenty of great food which consisted of southern fried chicken, catfish, corn pudding, biscuits & gravy, turnips, mashed potatoes, pulled pork & macaroni & cheese. It was Southern Hospitality at its finest. 

First Tennessee Park - New Home of the Nashville Sounds

I want to personally thank fellow ballpark chaser Steven Burke for the amazing suggestion. When I walked out, I was stuffed. If I get to go back someday, I can go to see the new ballpark that's being built for the Sounds. It's scheduled to open for the 2015 season. It's right near downtown within walking distance of Monell's. It will be called First Tennessee Park.

Me outside the Greer before I ate dinner at Monell's

37 Years of Hits

Guitar scoreboard in left field

Official stamp showing I was physically there

Tarp covering the field

I'm not happy after the game was rained out

I proceeded to drive back to Herschel Greer Stadium. I parked the car & as I approached the ballpark, ‎I noticed the skies didn't look good. I knew trouble in the form of rain was on the way. Sure enough, right after I walked into the ballpark, the skies opened. The rain came pouring down on my parade. I wound up sitting under cover behind home plate. The field was covered but the outfield was drenched with puddles everywhere. With that being said, I knew they had no chance of playing the game. A little kid who was sitting next to me was so upset. As for me, I was too but there was nothing I could do about it. I just had to accept the fact I wasn't going to get to see a game played there. However I did get my minor league passport book stamped to prove I was in the ballpark. After they waited a while, they made the announcement that the game was rained out. In retrospect, it was probably a blessing in disguise. I did have a long ride ahead of me. I got back to the car & I drove to Chattanooga, Tennessee where I spent the night at Super 8. In the process, I lost an hour due to the time zone change.

Stay tuned for another special post that will go into detail about the last day of the getaway.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly‎,

Gary Herman

Royalty goes to Nashville, Tennessee for football & meets up with roadtrippers old & new!

After spending the night at Knights Inn in Cookeville, Tennessee, I woke up early on Sunday morning October 6th so I could meet up with some people I know who drove from Kansas City to see their football teams play on the road. Thankfully I gained an hour once I left the Knoxville area as I went from the eastern time zone to the central time zone. I drove 180 miles to Nashville so I could meet up with Chris Coats aka KC Superfan & his girlfriend soon to be a Mommy, Brittani Murphy in February. Despite her stomach starting to show, she decided to go with her future husband to Nashville for the weekend. They drove 550 miles each way by car. They went to see their Missouri Tigers play against Vanderbilt on Saturday night. They arrived in the area early in the afternoon. When they did, they came across a brochure for a restaurant called the Loveless Cafe which was located in the western part of the city. Chris wrote me & he asked me if I ever heard of it. I told him no. Luckily while I was at the football game in Knoxville, I asked the young lady I was sitting next to about it because she told me she lived in Nashville. She told me it was very good. With that being said, I wrote Chris back & I told him I'll meet him there in the morning for breakfast instead of Cracker Barrel where we were planning to go. I told him I'll meet him there around 9AM. Unfortunately it wound up taking longer than I planned because this restaurant wasn't right off the interstate which cost me some time. In addition, I needed to stop for gas along the way. Thankfully they got there early & they put their name down for a table for us. When I finally arrived around 9:30AM or so, they were there waiting for me. We still wound up waiting for a while because this place was jam packed with people. It was an interesting set up there. They had a motel, a few stores to shop in as well as the restaurant to eat in. It was Sunday morning & everybody in the area was hungry. Finally around 10AM or so, we were seated.
We ordered our food & we spoke to each other while we waited for it to arrive. When it did, I told Chris this place is like Cracker Barrel on steroids. I had a massive ham steak that came with eggs, grits, homemade biscuits with sausage gravy & pancakes. It was a royal meal in every respect. I'm so glad we all decided to go there.

Prince at LP Field

After we ate, we followed each other so we could get to downtown Nashville together. We were going to LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans who were hosting the Kansas City Chiefs who came into the game with a 4-0 record under new head coach Andy Reid who I saw when he returned to Philadelphia on Thursday night football in week three. We wound up parking our cars on the street for free & we took a nice stroll over to the Stadium. Chris told me he went on Stub Hub that morning & he bought tickets for him & Brittani. They got seats in the second row behind the Chiefs bench in section 113. I didn't have a ticket yet. As we were walking over one of the bridges that runs over the Cumberland River that goes to the stadium, I saw a guy who had an extra ticket. He said he wanted $40 for it. I told him I'll give him $20. After he thought about it, he decided to give to me for $20. It was located in the upper level in section 313. Since it was close to game time & there was a threat of rain, I decided to stay downstairs instead. I lucked out into four empty seats in the last row of section 114 which was on the 35 yard line. I even had cover since the last two or three rows were protected by a slight overhang. I wrote Chris & I told him if he & Brittani wanted to join me for the second half they could. I also didn't want them to get wet since it did start raining in the second quarter. I was nice & dry where I was sitting. The rain came & went throughout the rest of the game.

Scoreboard at LP Field

As for the game we saw, it turned out to be a good one. The Chiefs raced out to a 13-0 lead in the first half. The Titans came all the way back & they took a 17-13 lead in the third quarter. The Chiefs wound up scoring 13 more unanswered points to beat the Titans, 26-17. As a result, Chris & Brittani had a very happy ride back to Kansas City.

Brittani Murphy, Chris Coats & I at LP  Field

After we got back to our cars, we said our goodbyes. It was great to see them both again.

As for me, I drove to a nearby local bar/restaurant where I was meeting a guy who I know from Twitter who lives in Nashville. His name is Tyler Garret Smith. His twitter handle is @ArenaFanatic. I strongly suggest that if you're on twitter you should give him a follow. I wound up parking in front of the restaurant he suggested. Shortly after I did, he showed up. For some unknown reason, it was closed that day. Luckily there was a Logan's Roadhouse across the street so we went there instead. It was raining so I wound up moving the car into their parking lot. We went inside & we enjoyed dinner together. We got to talk for quite some time. I had a great meal that consisted of wood fired grilled salmon that came with broccoli & cole slaw. It was delicious.

As for Tyler, he works in management for Kroger which is a local supermarket. With that being said, his hours always change. With that being said, he couldn't join me for the football game because he was working. In his spare time, he does like to visit different sports venues on the pro & college levels. He does his own reviews when time allows after he goes somewhere. For example, I looked at his website, Arena Fanatic & I saw his take on different college football venues. He ranked the University of Tennessee as his number one college football venue. He also had Auburn at number four. I was considering going there. I asked him for his personal opinion & he told me & I quote "Neyland Stadium takes the cake." I was leaning towards going there the whole time. He put the icing on the cake for me if you will. He's married to a young lady who went to school at the University of Tennessee. As a result, he got to see some games there in the student section he said. It was an amazing experience. I can only imagine since my experience is so memorable.

After spending some quality time with him, we said our goodbyes. I want to personally thank him for making time to meet me when I was in the area. It was one of the many highlights of that weekend.
I got back in the car & I drove Tyler to his car that was parked on the street in the neighborhood. I then proceeded to drive back to Cookeville where I spent another night at Knights Inn. Before I got there, I stopped off at Steak N Shake which was at the exit before the hotel. I went inside & I ordered a vanilla shake to go for dessert.

Stay tuned for another special post that I'm going to do about that Monday night In Atlanta where I saw some football & I met another fellow roadtripper.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Titans take advantage of Giants miscues & lack of discipline, pull away and roll on the road, 29-10!

Sunday afternoon at the New Meadowlands Stadium, the Tennessee Titans took advantage of some sloppy plays by the Giants as well as some stupid costly penalties to cruise to victory, 29-10!

The Giants started this game well they were able to move the ball against stingy Titan defense. But Eli Manning had threw a few bad passes that killed the drives. The first was wasn't totally Eli's fault as the ball was deflected on the opening series of the game. The second one was absolutely inexcusable. On third and goal from the 6 yard line, Eli was scrambling to find a receiver, instead he had a brain fart if you will. He made an ill advised decision as he flipped the ball towards the end zone, Will Witherspoon of the Titans tipped the ball and his teammate Jason McCourty who played his college ball at nearby Rutgers intercepted the ball in the end zone for a touchback. So instead of a field goal attempt from a short distance, the Giants came away with no points.

As a result, the Titans jumped out to a early 10-0 lead. Rob Bironas kicked a 48 yard field goal to open the scoring. Chris Johnson who finished the game with 125 yards rushing scored the first of his two touchdowns from a yard out.

The Giants came back to eventually tie the game at the half at 10. Their place kicker, Lawrence Tynes connected on a 50 yard field goal to get them on the board after he missed one from 53 yards out. Ahmad Bradshaw added a 10 yard touchdown run to get the Giants even on the scoreboard despite the almost 2 to 1 margin in total offense.

The second half was the difference in this one. The Titans special teams set them up near midfield to open the third quarter which put them in position to succeed. That drive stalled but it set the stage for the Giant debacle to take place.

The Giants were pinned in at their own 1 yard line thanks to the great Titans special teams play. It appeared that the Giants got a big first down on third and long on a 44 yard pass to Mario Manningham but Ahmad Bradshaw got called for a chop block in the end zone which resulted in a safety for the Titans. The Titans took the lead for good, 12-10!

They got the ball back on the free kick and once again their special teams set them up in great field position at the their 49 yard line. That drive ended with a 13 yard touchdown pass to another former Rutgers player, Kenny Britt which gave the Titans a 19-10 lead.   

The Giants were attempting to get back into the game late in the third quarter but Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled and lost the ball at the 5 yard line killing their golden oppportunity to do so. To add insult to injury, David Diehl was called for a personal foul for unnecessary roughness which brought the ball out to the 20 yard line.

In addition, in the fourth quarter, Kareem McKenzie was whistled for two personal fouls for unnecessary roughness. The Giants had five of them for the game. As professionals, that's totally unacceptable behavior.

Furthermore, the Giants' Lawrence Tynes missed two field goals and Eli Manning threw two interceptions despite his 386 yards passing which proves that statistics don't always tell the true story. These days statistics are a fantasy football fan's dream.

Overall, it was a nightmare of a day  for the hometown Giants.

They play the Bears in prime time Sunday night. For their sake, they better get their act together. The Bears are 3-0. Royalty will be there again so check back for the details of that outcome.

Thank you for reading.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty meets & greets a few Giant fans at the game on 9/26!

Tom Ziemba & Jen

After I escorted my clients to their seats and I stopped to visit a fellow roadtripper, it was time for me to go to my seat in the upper deck so I could get ready to watch and keep the play by play of the game.

I decided to sit a little lower than my assigned seat. By doing so I lucked out in more ways than one.

First of all, I got a slightly better view that way.

Secondly and more importantly, I wound up sitting next to some really nice young people. They were Tom Ziemba and his girlfriend Jen as you can see in the picture above.

Early in the game I overheard Tom talking about the Ravens as he was watching the out of town scoreboard and I took note of his football knowledge. I was saying to myself this guy knows his football.

Shortly thereafter, I decided to talk to him. He told me he's a big football fan. He said he likes the Giants but he watches all different teams play. I was impressed.

In addition, he told me he played football for a number of years until he blew out his knee.

As the game went on, we kept talking. We exchanged contact information as well. When he heard my name was Gary he said wow my friend who I usually watch football with is also named Gary but he's stationed in Afghanistan now. He said he'll be coming home in a few months and he plans to go to the Giants/Eagles game on December 19th with him.

An interesting note about this game on a personal level for Tom and his girlfriend Jen was that it was their first live football game they've attended in person.

By talking to them, it made for a more memorable experience despite the fact their Giants didn't play well to say the least.

For all the details about the game itself, please stay tuned for my special post regarding that.

I look forward to staying in touch with Tom and Jen. I hope I can arrange to meet them again down the road.

Thank you for reading and following my whereabouts.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty meets up with fellow road tripper, Sean Rowland at the New Meadowlands Stadium on 9/26!

After escorting my clients Joe & Sam to their lower level seats in the second row, I proceeded to make my way towards my seat in the upper level.

On my way there, I arranged to hook up with a fellow road tripper, Sean Rowland on the lower level concourse.

Sean is a nice young man who I had met back at Citi Field on August 1st when he came to see the new stadium for the first time. He wrote his take on his site too. For more details, please see the link below.

Today he was at the New Meadowlands Stadium for the first time. He told me he had read my blog post so he could have an idea of what to expect before he arrived.

I was so happy to hear that. I helped make a difference in another person's life by giving him a preview. That's an example of someone like myself who wants to know before they go so they can find to the road to success easier than others.

I look forward to getting his views on the building too.

He has a great website as well. It's on my blog list. It's called Stadium and Arena Visits.

Here's the link so you can check it and follow his whereabouts if you choose to do so:

http://www.stadiumandarenavisits.com/

Part of the royalty experience includes running into different people that I know or ones I introduce myself to while I'm attending a live sporting event.

With being said, stay tuned for the next post I do which will be an example of that.

I hope you're enjoying the posts as much as I enjoy writing them.

Thank you for following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royal treatment was given to clients at New Meadowlands Stadium on Sunday 9/26!



Sam Kumar & Joe Climenti



The royalty experience was in full effect on Sunday afternoon.

I had the privilege and honor of entertaining a few clients who wanted to see a Giant football game at the New Meadowlands Stadium.

I was able to secure a few tickets that included a parking pass for the Giants/Titans game.

I contacted Joe Climenti late Saturday night and we arranged to work out a deal to make this happen.
I wound up meeting Joe along with his friend Sam Kumar who lives in Queens. As a result, I was very fortunate and grateful to have gotten a ride to the game with them. In addition, on the way back they dropped me off by Yankee Stadium where I was going to see the Yankee/Red Sox game.

With royalty in charge, everything worked to perfection.

Joe & Sam had a great time despite the outcome of the game. They loved the seats they had in section 103 row 2 in the end zone. They were right on top on the action as you can see in the picture I took of them.
They can't wait to go back. That's an example of what happens when you deal with royalty.

If and when you do so, you're always left thirsting for more. Once you get a taste of royal treatment, you realize that it's the only way to go. You've tried the rest now you finally found the best. Why would you settle for less?

Since I was able to get a ride to and from the game with them, I was able to show them some of my tricks of the trade on how to avoid traffic both ways.

When Joe asked Sam who was driving would you remember the way we went. Sam responded no! That's why Gary's here to show us the way.

I was so happy to share my extensive travel knowledge with these guys especially since they were so appreciative and grateful for the opportunity to see the game. As a result, I saved myself a lot of time and aggravation not having to take a bus and/or train either way this time. It was a win-win situation for all of us.

I hope to have many more great times like this to share but I need to be given the opportunity to show you what royalty can and will do for you.

If you need to get a sample for yourself, please feel free to consult me because if you don't you'll be insulting me.

I don't make promises I can't keep, if I say something then you should take me serious because I know for a fact I will deliver for you.

I hope to have many more success stories in the future to write about.

You could be next. Like the lottery, you never know until you try. The worst I can say is no.

Thank you for reading.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 9/20 in review

For the second week in a row I had no nights off between work and play. This past week I spend most of my free time after work in the Bronx in the House that George built.

Speaking of George, the late great owner of the Yankees, George Steinbrenner was honored with a larger than life size plaque in Monument Park in a special ceremony before the Yankees/Rays game on Monday night.

It was a typical Yankee first class production. They had the current team as well as many former players who had the privilege of wearing pinstripes during the George Steinbrenner era which was from 1973 until he passed away on July 13th on hand as well as family members to honor the "Boss". Those included former manager Joe Torre, Don Mattingly, Reggie Jackson, Roy White, Gene Michael, David Cone, David Wells and Tino Martinez to name a few.

George was always remembered for charity work and his relentlessness to have to win at all cost. George symbolized capitalism. He was referred to as the greatest owner in professional team sports. It's hard to dispute that fact.

After the touching ceremony, the Yankees in a George like fashion went on to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-6!

The Yankees roughed up Rays starter Matt Garza in the process. Curtis Granderson led the way by hitting two home runs including a three run blast that hit high off the foul pole in rightfield that give the Yankees a 8-4 lead at the time.

Tuesday night it was game 2 of this crucial series for first place. The Yankees stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. They went on to cruise to an easy 8-3 victory as they opened a 2 and a half lead over the Rays for first place.

Wednesday night the game started and the Rays lead 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning when the sky opened up and the game was delayed for 2 hours and 11 minutes due to rain. they finally resumed playing at 10:11PM. The Rays tacked on a few runs to take a 3-1 lead going to the bottom of the sixth inning. It was 11:15PM and I needed to get home at a somewhat reasonable hour so I decided to leave. It was a case of deseperate times since I very rarely leave a game early unless it's a special situation like this.

The Rays hit back to back solo home runs courtesy of Carl Crawford & Evan Longoria in the seventh inning to extend their lead and they eventually won the game, 7-2! It should be noted the game ended at 12:34AM. I got home a minute earlier so if I would have stayed until the end I wouldn't have gotten home until around 2AM assuming I made the necessary train connections.

In retospect, I made the right decision. Thankfully I did. I was tired at work Thursday.

Thursday night after work as tired as I was it was time to go back to the Bronx for more punishment. Actually the Yankees were the ones who got beat up. This was suppose to be a marquee pitching matchup on paper between two Cy Young award candidates in the Rays' David Price and the Yankees' CC Sabathia. Neddless to say, it didn't live up to the hype. In matter of fact, CC took a bath if you will in this one on the mound. He got lit up for 10 hits and he gave up 7 runs as the Rays pulled back within a half game of first place with a 10-3 win!

Friday night the hated Boston Red Sox came back to the Bronx to see if they could keep their slim playoff hopes alive. They got to Yankee starter Andy Pettitte in the second and fourth inning and they knocked him out of the game after they touched him up for 7 runs to take a 7-1 lead after 4 innings. They added 3 more in the fifth inning to go up 10-1. The Yankees thanks to Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez who both hit two home runs got within 2 runs but they couldn't finish the comeback as they fell short, 10-8! Please note that A-Rod hit his 609th and 610th career home runs.

Saturday afternoon it was game 2 of the series against the Red Sox. The Red Sox behind 7 strong innings by starter and  Cy Young award candidate Jon Lester shut down the Yankee offense as they won again, this time by a score of 7-3! A-Rod hit his 611th home run in the loss.

Sunday afternoon I went to see the Giants play the Tennessee Titans at the New Meadowlands Stadium. The Titans took total of a Giants team that couldn't help themselves from self-destructing time and time again.

For all the details of this Giant debacle, please stay tuned for my special posts regarding the game and more importantly the Royalty experience. Trust me it will be worth the wait.

After the Giant game, it was time for me to attend Sunday night baseball in the Bronx as the Yankees were looking to salvage a game in this three series and put a dagger towards the Red Sox slim playoff hopes.

This was a well pitched game for 7 innings between starters Daisuke Matsusaka aka "Dice-K" and Phil Hughes. Then as usual the bullpens took over and they prolonged the agony.

A-Rod hit his 612th career home run to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning. The Red Sox rallied against Mariano Rivera of all people to tie the game again.The game wound up going into extra innings and the Yankees eventually won in the 10th inning  after Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon blew the game and relief pitcher Hideki Okajima walked Juan Miranda with the bases loaded with one out to give them the victory.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman