Manhattan Style

All last week I was discussing buying tickets for the Cavaliers-Knicks game on Friday night; not to see the Knicks play, but rather for the chance to see Lebron again. I never bought the tickets (due to a combination of laziness and cheapness), however, on Friday morning a guy at ESPN Radio called me to offer me a pair of tickets to the game in ESPN’s suite. My response was “Hell yea.”

Before the game I went to pick up the tickets at ESPN’s Radio offices at 2 Penn Plaza. The guy who gave me the tickets, Willy, offered me a tour of the office/studios. We began the quick tour at approximately 5:15pm, smack in the middle of the Michael Kay Show. To make a long story short, I walked into the studio to introduce myself to Michael Kay during a commercial break. I have met Kay once before, he’s an alright guy, nothing special. (Just to note, I am a Met fan and therefore very rarely listen to him). Friday was a big day for Michael Kay; he was in the second car at the Yankee parade and was given a key to the city (and is expecting a World Series ring from the Yankees). I did my thing, told him that even though I am a Met fan that I am a fan of his, held the key to the city, and gave him a quick overview of my company (which advertises with ESPN Radio, that’s how I got the tickets). By the way, a side note, I am 99% sure his co-host, some woman named Barbara, was crying as I walked in; it was very weird.

So, onto the game….I brought my boy the Wolfe to the game (he met me at a bar right after I met Kay). We got to the Garden a little early, got ourselves settled, and started tapping into the free beer at the suite (which turned out to be the best part of the game). The actual game sucked. I have been a die hard Knick fan my entire life, but this team is actually unwatchable. However, Lebron is a god and for some reason continues to love playing at the Garden.

The suite was not so great. It was far from the court, the TV in it looked like it hasn’t changed since the Garden was built, and the food was just okay. It is not at all like the suites at the new baseball stadiums. Moreover, the crowd in our suite was mediocre at best; it was made up of ESPN clients and two girls from ESPN who were suppose to be the hosts. Since the game sucked and the suite was mediocre, the best part of the game was the celebrity sightings. The Yankees parade was that day, Lebron was in town, and this is New York, so the garden was jam packed with celebrities. The loudest the Garden was all night was when the Yankee’s walked out to mid-court. Some of the Yankees in the crowd included: A-Rod, C.C. Sabathia, Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera, Mark Texeira, Jaba Chamberlin, etc. My favorite celebrity sightings were the old Knicks, all of whom were shown on the big screen at some point (this group included Larry Johnson, Anthony Mason, Charles Oakley, John Starks, etc.). The winner for weirdest pair of ex-athletes sitting together goes to Larry Johnson and Jaba Chamberlin. I mean, how the heck did those two become boys?? Anyway, others sitting together included Jay Z, A-Rod, and C.C. Sabathia; Texeira and Cano; and possibly the biggest sighting of them all, my Mom and SK (in the 5th row behind A-Rod). There were plenty of other celebrities there, such as Chris Rock, John Legend, and Reggie Jackson, all in the crowd for the chance to watch Lebron play. Please come to New York Lebron!! Save us!!!

The Wolfe and I stayed until the final buzzer, mostly because I had the Knicks +8 (they almost came back to cover, only ended up losing by 9 even though they should have lost by 50), and for fantasy purposes; the Wolfe was going crazy as Larry Hughes put up some solid points for his fantasy squad in the last few minutes.

After the game the Wolfe and I made our way to one of our girlfriend’s birthdays at some bar on the lower east side. We got their a bit late and missed the open bar, but wasted no time buying $10 shots. At 1:50am MS, DC and I made our way to Katz’s deli and ordered a phenomenal pastrami sandwich (MS and I split a sandwich, although she barely ate any of it; she was into her matzah ball soup). As we were sitting down to eat it, 5 scumbags busted into Katzs, grabbed about 10 glass plates and chucked them at the staff behind the counter. The Katz’s staff grabbed some knives and bottles, and chased the attackers to no avail. Only in New York….

And then I went home, once again without any strange.

Move-in date to the new apartment is Thursday. HYD (How ya doin’).

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