Chris and Steve venture to New York City

Because I'm completely nuts, and because my friend Chris is nuts, we decided to make the trip to New York City yesterday to watch the Rams play. Now, if you're in New England, or watch the national news at all, you may have heard that Rhode Island was dealing with the worst flooding of the past 100 years.

This was absolutely true, which made leaving... interesting. I left my house at 12:45, figuring it would be the usual 15 minute trip to Route 95. Unfortunately though, the most direct outlet - Kings Factory Road to Route 91 - was blocked, as was the other outlets, Burdickville Road and Buckeye Brook Road. As a result, I had to make a big loop to catch Route 95 in Connecticut, where Chris met up with me at about 2. Meaning, 75 minutes for a trip that usually takes 15. Along the way, I almost stalled out in a couple huge puddles, and my engine is now probably wet, because my car continues to stall from time to time. ick.

Once we got on 95 though, it was smooth sailing. Chris drove, and we made incredibly time even though we stopped once - We were on the outskirts of Manhattan by 4:15, and parked around 5. We were at a garage only a block away from Madison Square Garden, which was wicked sweet.

Before the game started, we went to a place near the Garden called Brother Jimmy's for a drink. While there were a couple Rhody fans there, it wasn't anything special, and the drinks were $6 a draft. So, instead of eating there, we ventured off to White Castle! It was my first time, and the onion-grilled burgers really hit the spot. I was less impressed with the chicken rings though; I was expecting something a bit more onion-y with those too. Before the game, we also went to a pizza place at Penn Station, and I had a slice of delicious tomato and cheese pizza, and we each some Coors Light tall boys. (We're classy like that.)

Finally, the games! The opener was Dayton vs. Ole Miss, which was pretty boring, actually. Dayton led comfortably pretty much the entire game. We sat in our assigned 300-level seating to start, but then moved to 115 a little before halftime. At the half, I went outside to meet my friend Allie and to give her her ticket. Then we watched Dayton maintain their lead against Ole Miss for the win.

For the start of the Rhody game, we moved up again, because Chris is the master at this. He found a spot on the baseline, two rows up, in the folding chairs! I think I was on television during a couple inbound plays. While Rhode Island lost in overtime, primarily because they couldn't hit their free throws, it definitely looked like Ulmer got tripped from our angle. The crowd went pretty ballistic at the final horn, as the boos and swearing at the refs far outweighed the cheering for UNC.

My overall impression of Madison Square Garden was kind of... meh. It just feels like a really big version of the Providence Civic Center, or any other generic, multi-purpose arena. I think they try to spice things up with the display boards and scoreboards, but it definitely feels like a 1960s or 1970s-era Grey Blob stadium.

Anyway. The Rams' loss put a damper on my mood, so I didn't really want to stick around in New York to eat. We ate on the road instead, and again, we made great time. Considering that we left New York around 1, I thought it was great that I made it back to my car by 3:30ish. Of course, it then took me 45 minutes from there to get home because of all the road closings, but hey, at least I didn't have to rent a hotel!

Steve ventures to the Not Invited Tournament

Although I have been mocking it in all of my NCAA tournament posts, at this very moment that you are reading this entry, I am in New York City watching the University of Rhode Island Rams play in the NIT – the Not Invited Tournament, also known by its official and generic name, the National Invitational Tournament. (To be precise though, URI plays at 9; the early game is at 7, and features Dayton vs. Missouri or Mississippi, I forget which one exactly.)

Obviously, I'm not a huge fan of the NIT. However, there are several reasons why I took the plunge and decided to check it out this year.

1) North Carolina. As in, URI's opponent is the University of North Carolina. The Tarheels uncharacteristically didn't make the NCAA tournament, since they lost pretty much their entire team following their national championship in the 2008-09 season. Given the reluctance of power / BCS conference teams to play the Atlantic 10 under any circumstance, this could be the last time in a while that the Rams meet up with the Tarheels.

2)Madison Square Garden. I've never been, and unlike an overpriced regular season New York Knicks game, prices for the NIT are very reasonable. I paid $10 for my ticket, which admits me to both games. In the past, I tried to go to Yankee Stadium the year before it was demolished, only to have the game be rained out; I took this as a sign that I wasn't meant to go. Hopefully, nothing will impede me from checking out MSG.

3)Timing and location. New York City is only about two-and-a-half to three hours from where I live in southern Rhode Island. I do have to work early Wednesday morning, but the 9 p.m. tip for the Rhody game leaves me plenty of time to watch the game and drive home after. I'm going with three other people, with the plan of leaving Rhode Island around 2 p.m. This will hopefully give us some time to check out the local... color... around MSG. If the Rams win tonight, I'm also free to go to their Thursday night game, which would be a fun if not-as-entertaining match-up.

4)The Rams. Yeah, seeing them collapse down the stretch for the third year in a row wasn't so entertaining. If they managed to turn a single of their bad losses – UMass, St. Bonaventure's, VCU – into a win, or managed to beat Temple once in three tries, or eek out the win against Richmond, then they are probably in the NCAA tournament. However, advancing to the Final Four of the NITs is a decent consolation to the season, and better than being at home for the players, I imagine. Hopefully, the performance of the A-10 bubble teams in the postseason – Dayton also made the NIT Final Four – will force the NCAA tournament selection committee's hand in future bubble situations, especially given the Big East bubble teams' performance in comparison.

Anyway, if you are by a television Tuesday night, and you're not watching LOST (my only regret about making this trip), then flip over to see the Rams on ESPN or ESPN2. I'm the balcony 300-level, and probably won't be acting like too much of an ass, so I doubt I will personally be on television. But, you never know – Maybe I'll get chosen to shoot a half-court shot, sink it, and make a million bucks. That would be pretty sweet.

Note: I'll update everyone on the progress of my NCAA tournament bracket later this week. The real fun is always in the opening weekend, although I'm sure my buddy Jared (not the Subway guy), who is a Butler alum, is pretty psyched about Saturday's results.