Royalty says goodbye to Chipper Jones at Citi Field!

Congratulations, Chipper! 

After work Thursday night I finally went home to get some rest after running around the Midwest then to DC followed by seeing the Super Bowl Champions open the 2012 football season.

I needed to recharge the batteries because after all I'm just as human as everybody else. Even if I'm doing what I love to do, it's hard to find the energy sometimes to function without sufficient rest.

With that being said, I was able to gear up for another busy weekend I had planned.

After work on Friday I went out to Citi Field to see the Mets take on Chipper Jones and the Atlanta Braves. I stopped off at Taste of Dolly's to get some pizza before I arrived at the ballpark.

Upon arrival, I saw my pal Sam Citron who always welcomes me with a handshake and a royal greeting. He usually says something about my blog since he tells me how he reads it religiously every day when he has free time to do so. He loves the way I detail my whereabouts. He and others have motivated me to not only maintain my blog but I want to continue to go as in depth as possible so they can continue to enjoy following my adventures now and in the future.

I love to write and it makes me feel good when others compliment my writing style. For those of you in particular, I'm forever grateful. It truly means a lot to me. I took tremendous pride in my work.

After seeing Sam, I proceeded into the ballpark and I went up to my seat in section 516. I was joined by Ralph & Vincent Ascanio, Bryan Gilligan, Frank Anichiarico and of course the King.

Before the game started, the Mets decided to honor longtime Met killer and potential Hall of Famer Larry aka Chipper Jones who will be retiring when the season comes to a close. Chipper has spent his entire 19 year career with the Braves. The Mets gave him a painting of Shea Stadium. Chipper loved Shea so much that he named one of his kids after it.

It was a classy and touching moment to see Chipper honored. Unlike most Met fans, I like and praise Chipper for all he's done in the Major Leagues over the years even if he did lots of damage against the Mets. He's a consummate professional. He has earned my respect in that regard.

As for the game we saw, the Braves wound up beating the Mets, 3-0. Despite getting a quality start from Jonathon Niese who allowed just one run over six innings. The Mets failed to score so he could have thrown a shutout and it would have been wasted on this night. Jason Heyward hit a solo home run in the fourth inning which proved to be the difference on this night. For good measure, David Ross hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to extend the lead and Dan Uggla rounded out the scoring with a solo homer in the ninth as the Braves did the Mets in. Unlike losses in the past, this one didn't hurt because the Mets are playing out the string and they appear to have given up a while ago. The first half of the season they showed surprising promise but since the All-Star break it's been all down hill.

After the game, Bryan, Frank as well as the King and I went to Donovan's Pub to have a post game meal.
Saturday morning after getting a good night sleep I was planning to do my laundry but since it suddenly started to rain so I decided to wait until it stopped to go out. By doing so, I had to rush to get to Citi Field for the start of the late afternoon game between the Mets and the Braves. The King and I were hoping the rain which was suppose to return around 7-8PM would stay away until we got the whole game in.

As for the game we saw, the Mets get torched early as starter Jeremy Hefner got lit up as he gave up five runs in just two and two thirds innings of work. The Braves went on to beat the Mets easily, 11-3. In between we had to sit through a rain delay of an hour and fifteen minutes after the game was already official. The King and I decided to go to the Caesars Club along with Ralph and Vincent Ascanio where we enjoyed some pizza as we stayed dry while the rain passed through. The game did resume but the rain didn't completely stop but thankfully they finished the game.

After the game, the King and I went home as we called it a night. We watched some late baseball games on TV before we went to sleep.

Stay tuned as I write a special post about my Sunday back at Met Life Stadium where I met up with some familiar roadtrippers.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty sees the latest Battle of New York on Christmas Eve!

Jets and Giants in Battle of NY

The one and only time I saw the Jets play the Giants in a regular season game was way back on November 1, 1981. On that day, the Jets tossed the Giants a beating as they sacked Phil Simms nine times as they won the game, 26-7.

This time things were different in more ways than one.

First and foremost, this time the game was played in a different stadium that being MetLife Stadium which is shared by both teams. This game was a designated "home" game for the Jets.

In 1981, the Giants were the home team. The game was played at old Giants Stadium that day. The Jets were still playing their home games at Shea Stadium then.

This time the result was different as well. The Jets with their coach Rex Ryan opening his big mouth early in the week got beat on the field as the Giants showed Rex who owns this town and it's not his Jets. The Giants whipped the Jets, 29-14 as they made life miserable for Jet quarterback Mark Sanchez who wound up throwing 59 passes in the defeat. Thanks to the Giant defense that was led by Jason Pierre Paul and Justin Tuck who made Sanchez feel very uncomfortable most of the afternoon.

The win set the Giants up to possibly win their division if they beat the Dallas Cowboys in their season finale Sunday night in prime time.

The Jets on the other hand, have to beat the Miami Dolphins and they'll need three other teams to lose just to get in the playoffs as a wild card team.

On the bright side, the King and I did get a special visit from Steve Cirvello who's from the FDH Lounge. Steve is Rick Morris' business partner. It was great to see him again.

It was frustrating to watch the Jets lose a game they really needed to win but being able to see Steve softened the blow.

In reality, both teams don't deserve to make the playoffs but the bottom line is the Giants have the bragging rights in the area for the time being.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty enjoys the added entertainment of the Hooligan's and Hooligals at Citi Field!

CitiFSHooligan's in Section 516

Back in the good old days when the King and I went to see the Mets play at Shea Stadium, the place always seemed to rock and occasionally shake from time to time thanks to the people who were in the building.

The King was always notorious for his signature strikeout call which some people liked and others didn't. But like anything else that's just the way it is
.
Nowadays the people who go to a game seem like robots all the time. When the scoreboard says make noise, they make noise.

Citi Field is nothing like Shea was. I know some people think it's such a better place than Shea. That's only true you're a corporate person or somebody who happens to have a lot of money to burn. For us real baseball fans and/or everyday people, that's not the case.

Needless to say, I miss Shea big time. That place was not as bad as people said. The City of New York owned that building and they never properly maintained it. That's why people mainly influenced by the media preferred to call it a "dump".

Shea Stadium held 55,000 people and majority of the seats were in foul territory which meant most of the views weren't bad and they were much more affordable to all walks of life.

Citi Field on the other hand, has many obstructive views or "blind spots" if you will. That's not an opinion that's a true fact. It's sad but true. It only holds 41,000 give or take. A good number of them are horrible seats mainly in the outfield. Fortunately for the King and I we were blessed to have a few of the better seats as we see it at a somewhat reasonable price. In matter of fact, our seats are a bargain compared to many others there.

Furthermore, the Mets had a distinct advantage playing at Shea, where those of us who were old enough witnessed two World Series Championships in miraculous fashion. I was only a year old when they won in 1969 so I can't relate to that. But in 1986, it was an unbelievable feeling to be a Met fan.

With all that being said, I want to point out and acknowledge a special group of people who have been coming to Citi Field a few times a month and they happen to sit in our section 516.

They refer to themselves as the "CitiFSHooligan's". They consist of a bunch of guys who they say are the "Hooligan's and there are some young ladies as well who go by the name "Hooligals". They also wear their own personalized jerseys so they're easy to distinguish amongst the rest of the section.

They like to enjoy the game, get the crowd involved, drink their beer, have lots of fun and be merry.

They have different antics that they roll out as the game goes on. For example, they sing different songs for the Mets when they come up to bat. They have different chants as well for opposing fans. They do everything in good fun which makes for an entertaining night out at the ballpark for everyone who's there.

When they show up at the game, they say and sing I quote "I believe the Mets will win." That doesn't always hold true but it doesn't hurt to believe like the late great Tug McGraw said "Ya Gotta Believe" back in the day.

Their record is 6-3 they said when then show up. Based on my math, that's the equivalent of the 1986 Mets overall record of 108-54. That's a winning percentage of .667. So like Meatloaf sings, "two out of three ain't bad".

Last Tuesday night, they kept us entertained and their belief willed the Mets to an improbable 5-4 win.
Even when the Mets lost a few weeks ago, Christine aka "Bean" one of the Hooligals said and I quote "I try to keep it positive".

We need more people like them on a daily and nightly basis to inject some life into the building.

For some reason, the Mets have had a hard time winning at home.

Don't blame it on the spacious field of play, that's one of the few things they got right with the ballpark in my eyes.

The Mets need to build a team that strives on speed so they can take full advantage of their new home field.
After all, the dimensions are for both teams. It would help if they could add a true power hitter or two so we can see the "Apple" in centerfield go up once or twice a game.

This year and last year the Mets have been like a roller coaster ride with plenty of ups and downs.

I think going forward in 2012 and beyond, they need to take my advice. Hopefully they can find a way to keep Jose Reyes in a Met uniform and hopefully he'll stay on the field so he can spark the Mets resurgence to the glory days here at Citi Field.

Off the field, I think the Mets should set up a special section so people like the "CitiFSHooligan's" can take over and energize the rest of the crowd throughout the game. For further details about them, look for them on Twitter and follow them and while you're at it, you can follow me @royaltytoursusa if you're not already doing so.

Believe it or not, I'm trying to be realistic in my thoughts and ideas, we'll have to wait and see what actually happens in the future.

Met fans, hang in there. I expect to enjoy another World Series Championship before my time is up.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 8/1 in review

Mike Jaffee, Bryan Gilligan, The King, Vincent Ascanio, Fuzzy, Michael Abrams, Steve Tepperman, Me and Nelson Greer  

After my road trip ended it was back to work Monday morning.

After work it was back to my home routine. I went to Citi Field to see the Mets play the Marlins. I had some familiar faces in the house. Vincent Ascanio, Steve Tepperman, Martin Caamano and Michael Abrams showed up to keep us company.

In addition, we were treated to some more in-house entertainment as the Hooligans and Hooligals showed up as well. It's always fun to have them in our section 516. They always bring an added dimension to the live game experience.

As for the game we saw, the Mets fought hard but they fell short in 10 innings when Mike Stanton of the Marlins hit a game winning grand slam to give the Fish a 7-3 victory.

Tuesday night I went back for more at Citi Field after work. This time the Mets had a 3-2 lead going into the ninth inning. Justin Turner aka "Ginger Boy" made a costly error that gave the Marlins a 4-3 decision over the Mets.

Wednesday night I went to Subway and Carvel thanks to my boy Vincent Ascanio who discovered a new place to eat on his way to Citi Field. I met him there and we both ate like royalty.

After we ate we got back on the 7 train and we hoped to see a baseball game even though it was raining at the time.

We finally got to Citi Field and we went upstairs and once we got off the elevator we were treated as we saw a bunch of old time baseball fans and members of our group that we know who we haven't seen in quite some time.

It was quite a gathering as you can see in the picture above. Our pal Cory Zimmerman was also at the game took our picture. While we waited to see if the game would be played we got to catch up and have plenty of laughs like we used to back in the good old days at Shea Stadium.

Unfortunately they decided to call the game off so we didn't get to enjoy the game together. Hopefully we will get another chance to do so in the future.

Thursday night I went home after work since there was no game in the area to go to. I didn't mind since my body needed to rest up after running around rigorously.

Friday night after work I went back to Citi Field as the Mets were hosting their division rival, the Atlanta Braves.

The Mets took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning but that's all the runs they scored for the game. The Braves went on to beat the Mets, 4-1.

Saturday night it was back for more punishment. First mother nature decided to interfere. The game was delayed by an hour and two minutes at the start.

Luckily the Mets found a way to win this time. It was a seesaw battle but they managed to pull through, 11-7.

On Sunday I went back for the rubber game of the series. It was another heart breaking loss by the Mets as their nemesis Chipper Jones of the Braves delivered the game winning hit in the ninth inning to win the game and the series for the Braves, 6-5.

It should be noted that impressive rookie Jose Constanza who killed the Mets all weekend long with his speed, arm and bat hit his first major league home run.

Another week in the life of royalty is in the books.

Remember if and when you want to take part in the live experience please let me know so I can arrange to accomodate your needs and wants.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman