*Insert City*, *Insert State of Same Name*

The spirit is willing...

Thursday

I woke up after a short sleep in, still trying to stay on top of this cold/headache thing I got going for me at the moment. 

The intention for the day was to catch the 1 train to South Ferry and walk from Battery Park up towards mid-town.  But after chatting to a friend from Adelaide, who agreed to do that the next day, I decided to keep to mid-town and up.

I jumped in the shower and found that the bathrooms at the New York hostel were much unchanged from 4 years earlier.  They had the same 'communal' thing going for them as in Nashville, but each shower stall had a locking door and a place inside that locked area for you to store your goods.  So, from that perspective they were far superior to Nashville.  The downside is that because it is New York the amount of traffic going through the bathroom at any given time is far greater than the traffic in Nashville (indeed, I don't believe I saw anyone in Nashville's communal bathroom).

I had read that at Madison Square Garden, above Penn Station at 34th Street, that they did tours of the arena, so I figured I would start my day there.  I caught the 1 train downtown and alighted at Penn.  Walked around MSG to try to find a ticketing window or tour entrance, but found no such thing, honestly, MSG is a fucking maze to me... I gave up after one lap of the arena and then walked up 7th Avenue towards Times Square.

There were heaps and heaps of competing bus tour companies and people lining various corners along the way, and if you made the mistake of engaging one, just to obtain a brochure, you were beset upon by one of them and then the rest of the competing bus company's agents.  And they go straight for the hard sell...

'So, you don't want my business?' Hard Sell of the Day
Agent: "Oh, you're thinking of maybe taking a tour? Well, the tours start about 20 blocks from here, but why not buy your ticket now, from me!"
Sam: 'No, look, I really just want the brochure to have a look'
Agent: "Sir, you really do want to buy from me"
Sam: 'I'm sure I will consider it... Once you give me the brochure so I can see what it is that I am buying'
Agent: "Here, let me show you..." *opens up brochure* "... Can you please help me sir, the wind is blowing it"
Sam: *reluctantly helps hard sell agent*
Agent: "You see sir, if you get a tour from our company you get unlimited stops for 2 days on any of our 5 lines and even into Brooklyn"
Sam: 'OK, sure, and the price---'
Agent: "Don't worry about the price, you also get a discount at selected restaurants around the city and in some stores that you can find on the back here"
Sam: *apathetic/annoyed tone* 'That's great'
Agent: "So, you'll buy a tour from me?"
Sam: 'No, I'm just going to take the brochure and walk to the number 1 stop and think about it'
Agent: *clearly disappointed* "Oh, alright"
*Sam walks along the block and gets a tap on the shoulder at the end of the block*
Competing Agent: "Would you like to see my brochure?"
Sam: 'I will take it but I don't need you to expla---'
Competing: "We have different lines and services to that other company, it is better!"
Sam: 'I am very sure it is... Leave it with me... I'll give it a look...'
Competing: "You understand that it is different?"
Sam: 'Yes, painfully yes, I understand... Good day'
*Walks across the street and bins the brochures*

I don't know how much business they get by badgering tourists to buy from them, but it must work because that seemed to be the only selling method I experienced.  I understand that those guys would work on some kind of commission, but sweet Jesus, let it go... Do the Hank Hill thing and give the information so that I can come back later and buy propane and propane accessories from you another time...

The hard selling didn't stop there, I walked into a few clothing stores and was beset upon by sellers (now, it could potentially be because I had the look of an out of towner, it could potentially be because the merchandise wasn't flash and they needed the help to sell it, but the hard selling existed there as well.

I eventually made it to Times Square.  It is amazing how many lights and signs and stores and people are all there at the same time.  Those who have been will know, and those who haven't been should probably try to see it once in your lifetime (wouldn't necessarily put it on the top of the list of things to see before death, but it is still pretty damn amazing).

Times Square

Times Square

Whilst walking through there was a woman with a clipboard saying something about tickets to Letterman... This was something I had wanted to do the last time I was in the USA, but due to lack of knowledge, lack of planning, and a general lack of understanding I wasn't able to do this.  I answered her one trivia question, which was 'What does Paul Shaffer look like?'... "Bald guy with glasses" was deemed a sufficient answer... And I was given a piece of blue paper with instructions, my name, and the seller's ID on it which I was to take several blocks up Broadway to the Ed Sullivan Theater between 1 and 2 PM (written in red on my paper was: 2:01 PM is TOO LATE)... I was walking in that direction anyway, so I continued and ended up in the right place (for the first time in 4 years) and got in line for the pre-show ticketing.  As it was a Thursday they would be shooting two shows, one for Thursday and one for Friday... I would end up going to the Thursday show (if Ned ever reads this I hope he enjoys the shout out I gave to his stand up career).

Letterman... AND Pie Face, my Aussie pie lust prayers finally answered! Except that it was closed... Devo!

Late Show with David Letterman

Upon entering you had to show your blue sheet and ID to a person at the door, then again to a person inside the room before the room before the theater, then you were given a ticket marked with a letter (mine had 'A' on it) and then we were told to go stand in another room by the entrance.  Here some of the Pages (like the work lackeys for the show) spoke to us...

Australian for Beer
Page: "OK, who thinks they've come the furthest to be here today"
*Half the room raises their hands; the page looks at me who he'd spoken to earlier*
Page: "Oh, Australia right? Yeah, that'll clinch it"
*Someone mutters something to the Page*
Page: "This guy here says that Australians travel with a beer in their pocket.  I bet I know what type"
Sam: 'Uh... Coopers?'
Page: "No, Fosters, isn't that what you guys drink? The ads here say 'Fosters - Australian for beer', are you saying that isn't true?"
Sam: 'Uh, yeah, no, I don't reckon I've seen anyone drink Fosters except to be ironic'
Page: "What about the bloomin' onion?"
Sam: 'Uh, yeah, no, I haven't had one'
Page: "You really oughtta go to the Outback Steakhouse"

We were told to arrive back at 2:30 PM for the show and in the meantime go to the 3 Monkeys Bar around the corner... This was repeated several times, so I assume it is either a favourite of theirs or they have some deal going with them.  It was about 1:20 PM, so I decided to go for a walk to Rockefeller Center and see the ice skating rink and the Christmas tree.

Rockefeller Center

About as close to a white Christmas as I am going to get based on the forecast

 It was a very cool site!

I then headed into the NBC Store where 4 years earlier I bought some wonderful Seinfeld themed t-shirts, including one which was given away which has been a crowd favourite all these years... No Soup for You... Regrettably there was a massive Friends catalogue but no more Seinfeld shirts... This disappointed me to no end... But the trip to Rockefeller and NBC served its purpose as it killed enough time to get me through to lining up again at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

We lined up outside, then inside, and waited inside for close to 20 minutes.  All the while one of the Pages entertained us with being on a microphone and talking about nothing in particular... She asked for jokes from the audience, I offered up the Duck joke, but I think it was a little bit involved for her to repeat back to everyone else, though she did find it funny.

There was no photography allowed in the Theater, so I can only describe what I saw.  The theater itself was much smaller than I had thought, especially having seen it on TV for years and years.  Before the show the show's announcer came out and started chatting to the crowd, then introduced the CBS Orchestra.

The monologue from the show I was at was this one.  The guy on the bike was named Chris Smith, who before the show asked Letterman if he wanted a fat guy on a bike for his show... So, they got a fat guy on a bike named Chris Smith to go by at random... It went down better than most of his rehearsed material!

I was stuck behind the camera, so I had a very restricted view seat.  Can't really complain given it was a free ticket, but meant that I was essentially watching on a monitor... The Top 10 List for the night was something like the Top 10 TV moments for the year.  Number 6 was 'this' referring to the Merry Chris Smith bit that had occurred earlier in the show.  During the breaks the bank played an entire song which wasn't expected at my end, but then once Dave had a guest (in my episode it was Rosie O'Donnell... I know, half my luck right...) they would play an outro, and then play an intro, so they would basically go 'We'll be right back' then 12 seconds later they'd just pick up where they left off...  Rosie basically just spoke about The View and then threw in some really opinionated gun control spiel, which I actually kind of agreed with... She then talked about having a heart attack over the course of 2 days and how close she came to death... But there she was in front of us... She was actually pretty funny, despite all my misgivings with her being the guest for the episode I got to go to.  That said, I won't be going out of my way to watch her on The View.

For the last ad break they panned to the crowd but I reckon I was out of shot there as well, but I don't know, I didn't have a chance to watch the full episode because I was going out to the theatre.

I got the subway back to the hostel, dumped some stuff and killed some time speaking to home on Skype, before heading back downtown to the theatre.

The show The Book of Mormon was being shown at the Eugene O'Neill Theater on W49th Street.  The major reason I chose that show as the one for me to see during my trip to New York was that it was written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park.  The other co-writer was also the guy who wrote Avenue Q, which was the show I saw last time I was in New York (picture Seasame Street but for adults).

Eugene O'Neill Theater

The Book of Mormon

Inside the theatre - Don't ask me why they let me take a photo, I certainly wasn't the only person who did it

Without giving anything away, the story centres around a crisis of faith for a Mormon missionary who goes forth into the world with his assigned sidekick (who is not as adept at being a missionary), they grow, they laugh, they live, they sing... It was a really funny and enjoyable show.

I am not the kind of person who would identify as a 'theatregoer' but I have to say, I really enjoyed it.  Kind of like my experience with singing and dancing French Canadians in Las Vegas, it is a lot more enjoyable going to a theatre than it is not going at all (obviously it depends on the show, I mean, some shows I don't think I'd have any interest in at all... I've selected my Broadway viewing over the years very carefully...

After the show I walked back down a couple of blocks to Times Square.  So, it was Times Square by day, and Times Square by night... The lights and the crowds and the activity was amazing.  Though my phone did completely shit itself which kind of brought my photo taking to an end (or limited it to my camera which was also running out of battery).  The phone battery went from 20% to turning itself off, I don't know what the hell happened, but something happened, go figure...

Times Square by night

Times Square

Times Square

Times Square

After my phone died I decided to go back to the hostel... I got on the subway, jumped on the train, sat, and was forced to get off the train without it having moved, then having to wait 5 minutes for the next train before jumping on and heading back uptown to the hostel and a well deserved sleep.

Friday

I overslept something terrible... Really, really terrible... It kind of hamstrung my midday because there probably wasn't enough time to do anything downtown because I was meeting a friend from Adelaide, who I used to coach once upon a time, Anthony, at the Seinfeld Diner.

I waited for a while during the time they spent making their way from Brooklyn, and then walked the 9 blocks up Broadway to W112th Street and Tom's Restaurant.

The Seinfeld Diner

Not much like the inside of the Diner from the actual show...

It was really good sitting and chatting to friends from home, hearing their travel stories, their plans, and a familiar accent.  I had French toast... The same bacon issues that have followed me around America continued to Tom's, always with the slightly overdone strip bacon.

Selling Christmas Trees on the sidewalk

I walked back to the hostel as the other guys were off to the Staten Island Ferry.  I found it very cool that there were people selling actual trees on the sidewalk.  I was then killing a bit of time before a Comedy Tour of New York, so I spoke to home and then headed down to the hostel lobby.

The tour was to be well attended and we were all to meet in the lobby.  During the wait for the tour to start everyone kind of got to talking to each other.  There was one sorta old guy there, like, sorta real old... Who got to talking to a girl from the Netherlands and a Chinese girl... They were talking about China, and this old guy started badmouthing the Chinese Government... Like, vehemently badmouthing the government... Apparently he had a friend who got tortured by them once... No way of knowing if this was legit or not... As soon as either of the girls offered any kind of defence of the Chinese (as simple as saying 'I don't think that is entirely fair') the old guy lost his shit, began abusing them verbally and then stormed off... One has to question why a guy like that was going on a Comedy Tour in the first place when he was in no way open to ideas that weren't his own...

Our tour guide was a comic by the name of Max, he was from Staten Island, NY, and was going to take us to a couple of small clubs and then to a show, during the trip we were going to stop for what he described as 'the best pizza in the city' (which is an immediate red flag, much in the same way that 'the best fans in the NFL' cannot possibly describe 32 different supporter bases).

I was chatting to a guy from Scotland named Gordon (who was only on the tour because he missed his flight home), Marcus from South England (who was in Boston the week prior for the Pats-Dolphins game and was in New York for the Pats-Jets game on the Sunday), Anna from the Netherlands (who was the brunt of the old man's fury earlier in the night), and Flo from Germany (it was a dude, I didn't get his full name, so we just called him 'Flo' all night).  There were a few Australian girls from Queensland, I only got the name of one named Jo.

First club

Second club

The first and second clubs we went to were both very small and intimate, and both were for open mike, which was where up and coming comics try new material with varying degrees of success... The two most successful were an old woman who talked about everything in a monotone but was hilarious because of the content, and the other was an American kid of Russian extraction who did a brilliant Russian accent impression of his father and basically went on and on about how much of a hardass his dad is.  Both of these shows were ending as we came in so we got maybe 15 minutes out of both of them total...

We then headed to the 1 train, then to the L train, then to the pizza place, which was called Artichoke Pizza... No basic cheese slice... Not eligible for best in the city as far as I'm concerned... After waiting outside the pizza bar (as it wasn't big enough to house 8 people off the street let alone an entire tour group) in the cold we then walked a few blocks to the Beauty Bar.

When you walk into the Beauty Bar it is like you're entering a beauty shop, then a bar, then a cologne store, then a comedy venue... It was a crazy venue like that, super awesome though...

Beauty Bar

Girls getting their nails done on the left, people drinking on the right, comedy venue in the back

I chose to sit at the very front of the show room, mostly because that was the only spot in the room where there was a couch... You don't turn down a couch, even if you're sitting in the 'participation seats'.  The show was about 5 or 6 comics doing their thing.  The show was actually really good, the highlight for me was this comedian who looked like a stereotypical hick, wearing flanno, a trucker cap, had a massive red beard and was walking around beer in hand; apparently no one told him that a hostel group was in the audience, and he spent most of the show ripping into this French guy who didn't understand a word he was saying (again, must question why the Frenchman came on the tour).  This really got to the guy, and as much as he may have felt like he was bombing, it was actually the funniest part of the whole thing because he was so exasperated.  I got involved at one point when he asked me about myself, when he asked what I did for work and I told him I didn't have a job currently he became all defensive again and said 'Hey, don't make me the asshole here!'... I didn't think I was, but anyway... It was a really funny show despite him thinking he bombed... The guy who was hosting apologised for throwing him under the bus, but it was all good from where I was sitting.

After the show we walked a few blocks to the 'original' Coyote Ugly bar.   This was alright, but I got gouged out of $5.  This may not be common knowledge, but I kind of have a soft spot for jukeboxes... Whenever I go bowling I tend to pump in between $5 and $10 just to listen to my own brand of musical tastes... Weird or not, I like it... Anyway, after speaking to a few of my hostel companions I decided to put in my $5 (because that was the best value for money).

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen... Both of these were wonderfully received by the crowd... At this point in time others started putting money into the machine and instead of selecting more songs they selected to move their fewer songs to the front of the queue... So, the rest of my selections are irrelevant as I wasn't able to hear them... I had 8 more in the line... One of the Australian girls desperately wanted to hear Taylor Swift's Shake it off, and was very direct in telling me that "You have awful taste in music".... I felt this was a little harsh...

Random girls dancing on the bar to Taylor Swift

The next guy who moved on to the jukebox chose to push Eminem's Stan to the front of the queue... This completely killed any mood that the bar had... The guy looked like an absolute weirdo, so, it probably isn't a surprise he picked such depressing shit... Anyway, on that note I chose to leave.

I rode the train back with an old Spanish guy and a girl from a Latin country who used to live in Canberra.  This was uneventful and felt like it took longer than it actually did...

I soon made it home, and went to bed... Hoping for a good night's sleep as my stomach had begun to feel a little bit upset.

Saturday

The joys of hostelling... I was woken up at 4:30 AM by some dickhead walking into the room, turning on his personal light (each bed had a light above the pillow) and then falling asleep before he could turn it off... This guy's light was in direct line with my bed, and I got no good sleep for the rest of the night... What a mongrel!

So, the rest of the night was me having a really bad sleep, and given I had gotten home so late it was a really bad combination... When I rose from bed it was about 11 AM.  I checked my emails and found that the New York Knicks basketball game I had got tickets to was actually a day game and not a night game as I had expected, and tip off was going to be in 2 hours... This was a real wake up call, and I moved into my hurry up offence, showered, dressed and got my arse on the train heading downtown to the Garden.

Madison Square Garden

The amount of people around was a lot greater than when I had walked around here the other day... Obviously with a game on that was bound to be the case... Finding a way in was less of an issue this time as I had the benefit of following a crowd of people... In the above photo I followed people up and to the right, walked through a short corridor thing and ended up going through security to get to the Will Call window.

The seats I had were pretty good for MSG, especially given how expensive it was looking like the game was going to be... The surprising thing was, even before I got to New York, many, many people were apologising for the Knicks.  When I was at Rendezvous in Memphis a guy I was chatting to from NY told me they sucked... People down in Florida told me that... People at the hostel told me that... So, the sheer cost was surprising, but I got a face value ticket at a spot that was agreeable to me and I didn't pay too much, so I was pleased... The seats I had were on the second level, and were close enough to the balcony that I could see the TVs in front of me so the entire pre-game shootaround time was spent watching CNN.   There were some pretty funny things on the screen as well, including the 'Oblivious Cam' where someone who was on a phone or eating was shown on the screen until they worked out they were on the screen... One guy lasted a full 2 minutes on his phone before he finally looked up and embarrassingly waved to the Bronx cheering crowd.

Getting ready for the Knicks at the Garden

He spent a fair while on the phone before he worked it out

The expectation I had for the game itself was for the Knicks to get absolutely spanked, and early in the first quarter that is exactly how it looked, but to their credit they fought back and even held the lead at half time... They even got a free throw before the 3rd quarter started due to a technical foul at the end of the first half.... The upset looked on!

Opening tip

Phoenix shoot from the free throw line

So many white guys for New York

Suns on offence

I figured the Knicks weren't going to hold on though... As awful as this may sound, the more white guys you have on your team the more likely it is that you're going to suck... With two white guys in their starting 5 the Knicks never had a full chance at a win... Oh well, they're all getting paid... AND they put on a good show despite the eventual result... They lead by 1 point going into the last quarter, so they absolutely put on a good show despite their obvious demise coming soon...

Way to take a charge!

Carmelo

The Knicks stayed in the game until there was about 4 minutes left, and then the arse fell out of them and they ended up letting the game go... It was a thoroughly enjoyable game though, much better than had been expected prior to the game from what had been said to me.

Final, Suns 99, Knicks 90

After the game, getting out of the Garden was like a well thought out battle plan devised by Zapp Brannigan... It was slow going... Sorta, real slow going... And that was just getting out of the Garden... Once I made it out of the crush I entered the street and headed for the Subway, which was a whole other ballgame again, the line to get into the 1 train was a little bit ridiculous... Waiting on the street, then waiting on the stairs, and then waiting at the gate, and then waiting on the platform.

I caught the train downtown to the World Trade Center Memorial.  I chose not to go inside the museum (partially because it cost money, mostly because I was burning daylight).  It is a very sombre place, obviously as a place of remembrance; but compared to other memorials and historic sites I'd been to this one was the most quiet.  I mean, I was actually alive for this particular moment in time, and I was of an age where I can remember where I was when I found out, what I spent the rest of the day doing (watching TV at school instead of doing school work) and the fallout, but then, if you're reading this then odds are you also can remember those things specific to yourself for that day.  Most of the other historic places or memorials I have visited were for events that occurred well before 1988.  I walked around for about 20 minutes and then headed to the New York Stock Exchange building.

 

New WTC building

North Tower Memorial

Trinity Church at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street

Wall Street

New York Stock Exchange

After walking down through the Financial District I ended up down at the Battery and got a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  I hung out here for a little while and just looked over the harbour and watched the world go by... Though, at the time of evening at the time of year I was there the world going by was limited to about 6 people... But it was still alright... I mean, there are worst places in the world to be standing and watching the world go by and just thinking about nothing than looking at the Statue of Liberty with downtown New York City behind you...

Lady Liberty

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

For those who aren't aware, Ellis Island was where thousands upon thousands of immigrants were processed upon their arrival into the United States.  I am not sure if I will go on the cruise to the two islands when I return to New York as I did these last time I was in NYC, but the stories and territorial claims over Ellis Island are very interesting.




After this I even found the Men in Black building, but the photographs of this building were terrible as the sun had gone down... I swear it was there though... I swear...

Well, you know what they say, they're a rumour, recognisable as deja vu and are dismissed just as quickly...

My photo of MiB HQ

Deja vu... This isn't a photo I took though

I headed back uptown and went and got dinner at Tom's Restaurant again.  Roast lamb, in a sandwich... Very good result...


I then went back to the hostel and tried to get an early night given the difficulty I had had sleeping the night before due to the rude guy with the light...

Sunday

I didn't sleep so well again, mostly due to an upset stomach that I had.  The dickhead with the light came in late again, but he thankfully decided to turn it off this time...

But it was Sunday, and that meant Tom Brady and some Patriot football!

It also meant a day trip to the nicest place on earth... New Jersey... (See meaning of facetious)

So despite my feeling very average I put on my two pairs of socks, two pairs of thermal pants, multiple thermal shirts and multiple jackets and headed for the Subway.

I had been speaking to Marcus from England about catching the same mode of transport to the ballpark, however he was not replying to my messages and by the time he did I was already at the Port Authority.  He was going to catch the train because some Patriot fans he met at a bar told him that it was better.  I on the other hand was catching the bus... A $10 fare for a return trip to the Meadowlands, and I had used the same method 4 years earlier, so I was sure it worked.

Jumping on the bus I sat right next to a guy who had just flown in from Adelaide... Small world... We chatted briefly before we both ran out of things to say and we watched the scenery (or there lack of) go by.

Metlife Stadium at the Meadowlands

Second Patriots game of the trip

The Verizon Gate

Cold but decent seats

Patriots Owner Robert Kraft

The great man during warm ups

The Jets' "Flight Crew"... The weather was about at freezing point... You reckon these girls are cold?

The game actually meant a great deal to New England despite the clinching of the Division a week prior and the resultant playoff berth.  New England needed to win and hope that Denver lost to Cincinnati on Monday Night Football to clinch the Number 1 seed and homefield advantage all the way through the AFC Playoffs.  The alternative was to win, have Denver win, and then win against Buffalo in Week 17 to clinch homefield... New England held all the tie-breakers against the other likely division winners.

It was also Jets 'Fan Appreciation Day', which is a bit of a hollow day when it is the second to last week of a 2 win season... Attending all those Port Adelaide matches between 2008 and 2012 I can empathise with fans who go through seasons like that, and an appreciation day isn't what they need, what they need is a fucking campaign badge... Showing up week after week and watching Geno Smith quarterbacking your team must be a lot like showing up week after week and seeing guys like Simon Phillips, Jay Nash, Daniel Stewart and my darling Cameron Hitchcock were getting games for Port... You knew they were in a uniform you love and care about, but you were also horrified to see them wearing it... Regrettably, as supporters, we support laundry... If an inept player is wearing your jumper and representing your team you have no choice but to support them (there are so few times when supporting against your team is acceptable I'm not going to even try to mount a case for it)... You don't have to wish these players well and you can actively wish them off your roster (See Why PAFC Should Draft Sam Kuhne Over Cameron Hitchcock Case), but while they're wearing the club's laundry you support them... The same goes for inept coaches and administration staff... You hope that the club succeeds and pray that those working those offices are not inept and will also help the club succeed, if they don't then you can wish them out but ultimately while they're still working for the club you hope and pray they do the best thing for the club... You only have so much say as a member or supporter, and I guess this little spiel is me venting over 5 long years of sheer ineptitude and empathising a little with the Jets fans who braved a 2 win season... Though, as a Division rival I hope they suck forever...

I really loved it when the Patriots came out onto the field... When I saw the Yankees and Red Sox play back in 2010 they introduced the starting lineups for the away team (I saw them both at Yankee Stadium (on the night of the drawn Grand Final between St. Kilda and Collingwood (When Goddard should have won the Norm Smith medal but had it stolen by that grub Lenny Hayes (Only a few of you will get that Hayes reference))) and at Fenway Park a week later (when the Magpies finally didn't wobble a Grand Final to a loss)) as the Imperial March from Star Wars... Which is hilarious when you're watching Derek Jeter and A-Rod get introduced for the Yankees, but less funny when it is David Ortiz and Jed Lowrie (yeah, the Sox were scraping the bottom of the barrel by the end of the 2010 season as far as marketable players went, Pedroia and Youkilis were long gone due to injury, and Mike Lowell may as well have been playing with a walking frame)... The Jets on the other hand were super classy/funny about introducing the Patriots... Playing everyone's favourite TV Theme Song from Deadly, Unna? that wasn't Gilligan's Island... That's right folks... The theme song from The Brady Bunch...  I actually laughed, it was a brilliant touch... I mean, obvious joke, but brilliant touch of humour...

I crowbarrred a lot of references in there huh!

Fans spelling the team name in the celebration of Fan Appreciation Day

The Brady Bunch

2 win Gang Green

National Anthem

The game started as a defensive struggle for each team... I don't know if it was the weather, the defence or just sheer ineptitude/no Julian Edelman, but both offences struggled for the entire first quarter.

It took until about 3 minutes into the second quarter before either team scored... This was in the form of a Brady to Gronkowski touchdown... 7-0 New England...

Brady during the 1st quarter

Patriots set up on offence deep in the red zone

Brady throwing to the sideline

A wonderful catch by Gronkowski!

Flag for the spike... There was no foul on the play... Touchdown New England

The Jets fought back and ended up leading 10-7 at half time... And another New York upset looked likely... The difference was I didn't care about the Phoenix Suns, and the Patriots needed the win for homefield... I missed the New York touchdown as I had taken a trip to the Men's room (and just like a jaded 2011 Port Adelaide fan I didn't expect them to score that way... Only hustle plays which resulted in unlikely scores worked for me)... But yeah, 10-7 New York at the half...

I'll also level with you, the majority of the second half I kept my camera and my hands in my pockets because it was bloody cold... I had dressed better than when I was at the Titans-Steelers Freezerbowl back in Nashville, but one set of gloves doesn't do heaps for my hands which are cold at the best of times... The Jets got out to a lead but the Patriots eventually hit the front 17-13 early in the final quarter; though not without a moment of gasping or two... Brady scrambling and sliding in before being hit on the legs whilst on the ground was one such moment... But all is well that ends well... After a failed Jets possession which resulted in a field goal brought the score to 17-16 New England the game ended in the victory formation and we all went home happy... Apart from the thousands of Jets fans who had the pain I knew but chose to ignore because my team had won... (As a side note, I wish the Adelaide Crows nothing but pain and misery for the rest of their existence)... We walked out of the arena to the sounds of Patriot fans mocking Jets fans by spelling out the abbreviated Patriot nickname in the same style as Jets fans chant their entire nickname during the games... J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! became P-A-T-S PATS! PATS! PATS!... Simple but you can't expect the world...

Final, Patriots 17, Jets 16

Game over!

The wait for the bus was excruciating... I still had a very upset stomach and was waiting in the cold and wind to be marched on to NJ Transit buses, Zapp Brannigan style... I didn't see him in the line, but who did I sit in front of on the bus? Yep... The same guy from Adelaide... You just can't avoid them... I learned that he was a Fremantle fan, we chatted about the Semi-Final, the Prelim-Final and how Hawthorn are absolute wankers... We didn't forget Sydney but Hawthorn wore the brunt of it all... He was doing a great deal of travel, only for a few weeks with a greater amount of criss crossing than me, but going to nowhere near as many places and flying virtually everywhere... Good for him...

I disembarked at the Port Authority, wished him a good trip and then caught the Subway back uptown to the hostel where I could warm up.  I made a quick trip to a pharmacy to get something to help with my upset stomach and then returned to the hostel where I would try to sleep off whatever I was dealing with and get ready for a trip up to Boston the following day...

It had been a busy but not too busy few days in New York... I kind of let how I felt dictate how hard I went with the whole tourism thing... I think that'll remain for the time that I am feeling at all ill, when travelling your immune system is going to take a pounding at times and winter does it no favours... What it is, is what it is... New York truly is a wonderful city... And a city so nice that they named it twice.... Buuuuuuuuuuut....

Next up is my favourite city in the United States...
The Hub...
The Olde Towne...
The City on a Hill...
The Athens of America... (Sorry Athens, Georgia)
The Cradle of Liberty...
America's Walking City...
The City of Champions...
Beantown...

Yep, those sound better than 'the city so nice they had to name it twice'...

Boston, Massachusetts up next!