A walk through the Garden

And there it is ... right down the street from my hotel.

I'm not a big "bucket list" type of guy. Sure, there are things I'd like to do, but I don't look at doing them as another item checked off.

But of the few things I'd like to do but haven't yet, going to an event at Madison Square Garden is near the top of that list. Not only is it in New York City with that famed, distinct architecture sitting right atop Penn Station, it has an aura that I struggled to define as I was thinking about it. 

What I came up with is that no matter the event -- Knicks, Rangers, the real Big East men's basketball tournament, concerts, wrestling (even the way wrestlers would walk to the ring looked different, entering from the side and with a shorter walk, seemingly into a mass of humanity) -- the Garden seems to fit the event, like there was never a more natural place for it. Nothing ever seems out of place.

As he so often does, Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant got it just right before the Rangers and Flyers played in the seventh game of their playoff series Wednesday night.

Wow. Place looks different from the last time I was here for Michigan State-UConn.#game7 pic.twitter.com/7ZzEfZVSMD
— Jeff Jacobs (@jacobscourant) April 30, 2014

I had actually momentarily forgotten that this year's East Regional was at MSG, and not just because the NCAA, in its finite wisdom, continues to insist on generic floors. For on Wednesday, the Garden was a hockey arena hosting a massive game that had the whole city buzzing.

Mrs. Last Honest and I spent a few days in New York this week, staying at the New Yorker hotel right down the street from the arena. While we didn't go to the Rangers-Flyers game (we were supposed to see the Yankees and Mariners that night, a game washed away by the all-day and all-night rain, and I wasn't up to spending the hundreds of dollars it would have taken to go to the hockey game), we did take a tour the previous day.

Wow ... just wow.

The tour wasn't perfect. I understand the guide (who was actually delightful, plus she was working off a format, anyway) was trying to inform us about the renovations at MSG, but I really don't care about tile patterns or the high-class offerings in the food court. Also, if there is going to be a stop for people to have their photos taken with hockey sticks or basketballs, it should be before or after the tour and not in the middle, and people shouldn't have to get their picture taken if they don't want to.

All these did was take time away from what people wanted ... which was to be in the arena.

It's always exciting to walk into a stadium or an arena, but there are some that are more meaningful than others. As I was sitting there, listening to our guide talk about how the rink is put together and the changeover from hockey to basketball, there was only one thing I could think of.

I'm in Madison Square Garden. I'm in Madison. Square. Garden.

Now I just have to get to a game there someday.

Philadelphia fans live up (as in down) to their reputation

Philadelphia is, without a doubt, one of my absolute favorite places, but let's be honest, its sports fans have a wee bit of a bad reputation. Just ask Michael Irvin.

Or Santa.



But maybe things have been changing in the City of Brotherly Boos; at least Gary Smith of Sports Illustrated seemed to think it was a possibility.

Alas, it seems as if some Flyers fans were hankering for the "good old days" after the Winter Classic game against the Rangers Jan. 2.

"Neal Auricchio, 30, has worn the uniforms of the Marine Corps and the Woodbridge Police Department, but it appeared to be his Rangers hockey jersey that made him a target of the attack earlier this week."

"Auricchio, a former Marine, earned a Purple Heart in Iraq, and even went back for a second tour after he was shot in the leg."

Outstanding work guys, really.

Maybe you once wanted to hit an umpire. It's still wrong.

I actually have a Yorvit Torrealba story.

Actually, it's not so much a Torrealba story. After all, how many people have stories about journeyman semi-regular catchers?

This is more of a Vin Scully story, about the time Torrealba came up to bat while playing with the Rockies and Scully told the story of how the name Yorvit came to be. I don't remember all the details -- if memory serves, his parents had different ideas and so there was some kind of merger -- but what I remember is how smoothly Scully told the story, complete with imagining a little Yorvit asking his parents where his name came from, without missing a pitch.

That, and the way he said "Yor-vit Tor-re-al-ba." It was lyrical.

But even if my Yorvit Torrealba story isn't actually about him, he'll probably prefer it to this one.