One of the most enjoyable parts of this retirement project I’ve embarked upon – Around the World in 80 Sporting Events – is the connection or, as is the case in the instance of Event 15, the reconnection, with people from throughout my life.
And, to be clear, Colin, who joined me in New York City for two events during one special Saturday at the self-proclaimed “World’s Most Famous Arena” – Madison Square Garden – is someone who played an integral role in my life but is also someone I don’t see nearly as often as I might like.
Part of that is due to the fact that he now splits time between London, England, and Miami, and I’m in southeastern lower Michigan. Yet, one might think distance shouldn’t be a barrier to seeing the person who’s indirectly responsible for introducing me to my best friend and spouse for the past 30 years.
Yes, it was actually due to Colin being in town from Marquette University’s Law School, that my wife, Carol, and I met at a place called The Boat Works in St. Clair Shores lo these 32-plus years ago. How infrequently had we seen each other since our high school days? Well, I skipped my grandmother’s 80th birthday party to go out with him. (Thankfully, there was a 90th … and I was there!)
So when Colin read about my project and indicated he’d like to be a part of an event, I tossed out the March 22 Garden doubleheader – Rangers-Canucks at 1 p.m. and Knicks-Wizards at 8 p.m. – as a possibility since I knew he had regular occasion to be in New York for business.
To my delight he said yes.
And to my surprise, when I asked where he’d like to sit, he told me not worry about the tickets, he’d take care of them.
I should’ve known …
Game 1 – New York Rangers vs. Vancouver Canucks, 1 p.m.
is virtually unrecognizable from Seventh Avenue.
Colin, his wife Tia, and I had met for dinner the night before and we agreed to meet in front of Madison Square Garden a bit before noon.
MSG is a unique building in as much as it’s also home to Penn Station, an active and busy transportation hub in the city that services Amtrak, Long Island (LIRR), New Jersey (NJ Transit), Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH), the New York City Subway, and the New York City Bus sytems. Basically, it’s rockin’ 24/7 but especially on game days.
It’s also unique in as much the myriad train stations are all located well below ground level while at ground level is The Theater at Madison Square Garden which is a 5,600-seat venue for concerts and other events.
All of this means that in order to reach the arena floor one has to go up a few flights not down as might otherwise be expected.
Colin made mention on our way upstairs that he thought our tickets would grant us access to the Delta Sky 360 Club. Having no idea what this was, you can imagine my surprise to see a sprawling club beneath the seating level at MSG. Boxes of complimentary popcorn festooned the place, as did several food service stations which ranged from typical stadium/arena fare, to specialty items such as rice bowls, spring rolls, carving stations, and the like. Additionally, there are two massive full-service cash bars as well as a pair of Pepsi Spire machines for all your soft drink needs.
I knew such places existed – I see spectators vacate their seats near the end of each period at hockey games on television – I’d just never been.
Then Colin suggested we head out to find our seats.
Along the way we ran into ex-Ranger Nick Fotiu – the first New York City native to play of the blue shirts – who was glad-handing fans and posing for photos. Don’t mind if we do.
Our seats were, um, close to the action. Even closer than we were that night at St. Clair Shores’ Civic Arena 32-plus years ago to watch Colin’s younger brother play some high school hockey. I’d never sat directly behind the bench at a NHL game; it was simultaneously exhillirating and frustrating.
The exhilliration came from witnessing the size, speed, and skill of the players at the highest level in their sport. It was easy to see why smooth-skating Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes was such a force at the University of Michigan and why the Canucks selected him with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. He was, far and away, the best player on the ice for the majority of the afternoon – and he was out there for nearly 29 minutes! – and finished with an assist.
Similarly, the size of these fellas is crazy. The biggest example of this (pun fully intended) was Rangers’ cult hero, Matt Rempe. He’s listed at 6-foot-9, but with skates on easily presents as a 7-footer and, unlike other big men like defensemen Zdeno Chara (6-foot-9) and Chris Pronger (6-foot-6), Rempe is a center.
Colin had tipped me to Rempe’s fan-favorite status as we watched he and the other Rangers during warmups.
“The fans here love him,” Colin said. “He has a tendency to muck it up and get things started.”
Ironic, then, that the fella that fired up both the lethargic Rangers (who mustered but one shot on goal the entire first period) and the sellout MSG crowd, was goalie Igor Shesterkin. About midway through the second period Shesterkin left his crease, grabbed Canuck Kiefer Sherwood around the neck at the side of the net, and wrestled him to the ice to earn roughing penalty. New York scored less than five minutes later to tie the score at one and went on to win, 5-3.
Clockwise from upper left, the New York Rangers’ retired numbers hang atop one end of Madison Square Garden; I had, basically, the same view of the game as Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette; Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes was one of the better players on the ice; the Rangers’ bench gets up to gree a goal scorer; New York goalie Igor Shesterkin adjusts his headband during a timeout; a Rangers spirit team member waves a flag to welcome New York back to the ice; there is a television monitor below the floor of the Rangers’ bench; a look up at the MSG scoreboard pregame; players change during a stoppage in play.
The frustrating part about sitting so close to the action was the obstructed views due to the players and coaching staff (first world problems to be sure:-) as well as difficulty seeing any play in the near corners at both ends.
Any frustration was more than offset by talking hockey with Colin, himself a high-level junior hockey player who played collegiately for a spell at Princeton University. He schooled me on the intricacies of line changes, player bench positioning, and why players are thrown out of the face-off circle. All things I felt like I should have known but did not.
We also spent a fair amount of time talking about Rempe, a 22-year-old from Calgary, and what life must be like for a kid from western Canada (even from a city as large as Calgary, population 1.4 million) to be living in a place like New York (population 8.2 million).
Sam Rosen, right, and wife Jill during the pregame ceremony. Rosen waves to the fans during the third period.
Beyond the Canucks not doing our Detroit Red Wings’ playoff chances any favors, the main event at this NHL matinee was the Rangers’ salute to soon-to-be-retiring television play-by-play announcer, Sam Rosen.
This is Rosen’s 40th year on the Rangers’ microphone and a pre-game ceremony honored him with a golden microphone, signed jersey, and tributes from his partners past and present: Phil Esposito, John Davidson, and Joe Micheletti.
Later, during the second intermission, Rangers’ organist, Ray Castoldi, and “Star-Spangled Banner” singer, John Brancy, honored Rosen with their rendition of “My Way” which was popularized by Frank Sinatra.
The Changeover
A primary reason I decided to visit MSG on this particular Saturday was because both primary tenants played on the same day. In fact, it was the only date on the 2024-25 schedules for the two teams when such an opportunity presented itself.
With the glut of NBA and NHL facility cohabitation these days I realize two events on the same day is not all that unusual (in fact I believe the Red Wings and Detroit Pistons have done it a few times since both took up residency at Little Caesars Arena), but I wanted to see it for myself and if I was able to get to a pair of events in the world’s most famous arena and spend 10 hours with a good friend to boot, all the better.
So we lingered as long as we could following the conclusion of the Rangers-Canucks’ game (which finished at 3:51 p.m.) to see how this hockey rink was going to become a basketball gym in – basically – under three hours as the gates were scheduled to open for the Knicks-Wizards game at 7 p.m.
Even as an usher is taking photos of fans, MSG crews are breaking down seating, and the undoing the cameras and netting above the glass.
By the time we made our way to the stairs, there were dozens of workers at both ends of MSG getting work done to complete the conversion.
Chairs and railings were being ripped out and carted off, the netting above the glass behind the goals was being unencumbered to allow it to be hoisted to the rafters and the boards removed, and personnel were on the ice getting it ready to be covered by the fiberglass covering.
And never mind the cleaning crews who were cooling their jets on the concourses waiting for the place to vacate to tidy up.
As for Colin and I, we posted up in the backroom at a pub, Stout, about a block away from MSG, had a few cooling beverages, appetizers, and enjoyed Saturday action of the NCAA Tournament. Turns out there were a lot of St. John’s University fans in the place and they were not happy with the outcome of its matchup with Arkansas (a 75-66 Razorback victory).
Game 2 – New York Knicks vs. Washington Wizards, 8 p.m.
We arrived a bit in advance of the scheduled 7 p.m. gate opening in order to check out the gift shop (yes, the vast majority of Rangers inventory had been swapped for Knickerbockers’ items) and made our way into the queue.
After the clock passed 7 I wondered aloud to Colin if the staff was putting the finishing touches on things in order to accomodate the basketball game. No sooner had I said this than we were moving forward and scanning out tickets.
And, as though there had not been any event earlier in day, we were at an NBA game.
My friend again went above and beyond with the tickets. We were seated in the second row behind the basket on the same end of the court as the Knicks’ bench and had a terrific perspective on the size, speed, and expressions of the players. Knicks star big man, Karl-Anthony Towns, in particular would invariably motion to something (an official? a television camera?) to our right anytime he missed a shot or was not the beneficiary of an official’s whistle. It wasn’t until halftime when we chatted up a courtside photographer that we discovered Towns actually had a running dialogue or similar with his father who was seated in the front row to our right.
MSG for a Knicks game was certainly a different vibe than that of its Rangers’ counterparts.
Part of it, no doubt, was a day’s worth of – shall we say – lubrication prior to this Garden party. Fans were certainly a bit more festive and skewed older than the matinee where we saw plenty of families.
The other noticeable difference is the fact the action is not cordoned off from the spectators by boards, glass, and netting. Because of this – and because you are in New York City – people turn out to be seen sitting courtside in the front row. The Knicks and MSG wholly endorse this and have a staff photographer making their way around the arena to capture images of “Celebrity Row” guests that eventually appear en masse on the scoreboard.
How MSG knew about me and my Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project and how that qualifies me as a celebrity, I’ll never know, but it did mean two or, maybe, even three appearances on the “Celebrity Row” segment;-)
As for the action on the floor, it went about as expected. By record, the visiting Washington Wizards were the NBA’s worst team. It didn’t help that a few regulars were injured and that they couldn’t hit a perimeter jump shot to save themselves (at one point their 3-point basket make percentage was 6.7%). The Knicks raced out to a big lead (31 points at one time in the third quarter), became disinterested and allowed Washington to get within four points midway through the fourth quarter, and then won going away, 122-103, thus beating the spread of 15.5 points but not beating the Over/Under which was – remarkably – set at 225.5 total points.
Clockwise from upper left, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau was grumpy during the early stages of the fourth quarter; New York’s Josh Hart and Washington’s Marcus Smart get situated following a timeout; Knick player OG Anunoby shoots a free throw; ex-Knicks’ player Tim Thomas returns to his seat after saying hello to New York legend, Bill Bradley; the Knicks’ banners atop MSG; Wizard player Alex Sarr follows through while Karl-Anthony Towns and Cameron Payne head for a possible rebound; Knicks’ player Tyler Kolek shoots a free throw.
Unlike the earlier game, our access to the Delta Sky 360 Club was not merely steps away but rather around much of the arena so aside from taking a lap upon arriving we didn’t spend any appreciable time there. I am able to confirm, however, that some menu staples (popcorn, burgers, stadium fare) remained while there were adjustments at the carving station (ham rather than pork loin) and the Asian fare.
The real treat, for me at least, was spotting a mustard yellow sportcoat on someone I recognized immediately as Knicks’ Hall of Famer and television color commentator, Walt “Clyde” Frazier.
Ashamedly, I was that guy who probably started the fan photo line (but I’m not sure I care) and grabbed a couple snaps with him one week shy of his 80th birthday.
Garden Nuggets
A few items I couldn’t quite find a way to tuck in anywhere above from my 10 hours in the world’s most famous arena.
John Brancy Can Sing!
Dancin’ Larry, Dancin’
Opening Possessions
Final Views
From left, the postgame view of MSG at the corner of 7th Avenue and 31st Street; the Empire State Building shown brightly as we walked out of the Garden; and my morning commute to LaGuardia Airport offered a lovely sunrise view of the Brooklyn Bridge through my Lyft’s dirty window.