Yay Hockey! Boo Rangers!
Michelle, Andrew and I all boarded the 4pm train to NYC to catch the last regular season game of the season at MSG. I'm a huge Flyers fan and Michelle is a huge Rangers fan. We have tickets to the Sunday game in Philadelphia too, long before we realized that is also Easter Sunday. Oops.
We had enough time to find something to eat, so we walked a few blocks away and stumbled on a restaurant called "Burgers and Cupcakes." The restaurant had a nice diner feel too it and there was a huge window to the pizza place next door. We split a pepperoni pizza with fresh tomato sauce (not sweet!), fresh cheese and lots of herbs and spices and also each picked out a cupcake. I had the vanilla berry, Andrew chose chocolate marble with peanut butter icing, and Michelle chose the vanilla with pink (but vanilla) frosting. Ok, now they were pretty tasty. It wasn't the best meal I've ever had, but I enjoyed it.
I was really wary about walking around MSG, because I actually wore Flyers paraphernalia - a shirt and a fleece. I've always been afraid to do so because I've been heckled before when wearing plain clothes, and cheering for the Flyers. By the time the game started, I had a thumbs up from another Philly fan and a "Take off your Halloween colors" heckle from an eloquent Rangers fan. Anyway, it's all in good fun.
Unfortunately for me, the Rangers won. Boy, was Michelle ecstatic. The Rangers clinched a playoff spot with the win - and since it was the last game of the season, we had freebies! Michelle now has 9 posters that say "I am a Ranger" and 13 of the beer cups. She's not a drinker, but she will need some cups for her apartment eventually. We could have collected more, but the employees at MSG were trying to get us to leave. Technically the beer cups were not free, but I drank the contents of one cup and therefore only purchased one.
The trip home was long, as always. We managed to grab pretty comfortable seats and I took a nap against the wall. Eventually, I woke up to really loud music. There was a girl sitting in the same car that would blast her music when she really liked what she was hearing. It was so ridiculous. I was all groggy from my name and I can't help but complain about it. Michelle said she had been doing that for the last half hour or so. And then she started singing! Good lord, it was horrible. And then we saw the plain brown bag holding the beer / liquor bottles. You can drink on NJ transit trains - and people do. And when I finally saw her, and saw that she was well older than me, I just couldn't believe it. She was acting like a teeny bopper.
We had another encounter before exiting the train. We stopped so I got up to go to an exit. Normally, only a few doors open because the whole train can't fit at our stop. We walked up to the conductor and waited in a vestibule. And then I realized we were stopped to let another train pass before pulling into the station. There were 2 rangers fans waiting in the same vestibule. The girl seemed pretty with it and the guy was barely standing. He kept cursing and chanting "Let's go Rangers!." He then started lecturing everyone on the train about the train rules. "Keep your feet off the seats. Don't talk too loudly. And fuck the Devils!" Ha ha. You might not realize, but I love the Devils too, mostly because I can get to their stadium in 45 minutes and I can watch all of their games. And - Andrew was wearing a Devils t-shirt. And then drunk guy says it again, and again. And then he starts yelling at some people for disagreeing with him. Actually, they weren't - they also were Rangers fans. And then they start picking on Flyers fans. And I can't help but egg him on. I said, "What do you want me to do? I live in New Jersey, I live right here!" She got a big kick out it and started talking about growing up in Philly and being a Rangers fan. Like I said, it's all in good fun.
But god help us all if the Flyers don't win on Sunday. I don't know if I can stand the smugness of all the Rangers fans around me.
We had enough time to find something to eat, so we walked a few blocks away and stumbled on a restaurant called "Burgers and Cupcakes." The restaurant had a nice diner feel too it and there was a huge window to the pizza place next door. We split a pepperoni pizza with fresh tomato sauce (not sweet!), fresh cheese and lots of herbs and spices and also each picked out a cupcake. I had the vanilla berry, Andrew chose chocolate marble with peanut butter icing, and Michelle chose the vanilla with pink (but vanilla) frosting. Ok, now they were pretty tasty. It wasn't the best meal I've ever had, but I enjoyed it.
I was really wary about walking around MSG, because I actually wore Flyers paraphernalia - a shirt and a fleece. I've always been afraid to do so because I've been heckled before when wearing plain clothes, and cheering for the Flyers. By the time the game started, I had a thumbs up from another Philly fan and a "Take off your Halloween colors" heckle from an eloquent Rangers fan. Anyway, it's all in good fun.
Unfortunately for me, the Rangers won. Boy, was Michelle ecstatic. The Rangers clinched a playoff spot with the win - and since it was the last game of the season, we had freebies! Michelle now has 9 posters that say "I am a Ranger" and 13 of the beer cups. She's not a drinker, but she will need some cups for her apartment eventually. We could have collected more, but the employees at MSG were trying to get us to leave. Technically the beer cups were not free, but I drank the contents of one cup and therefore only purchased one.
The trip home was long, as always. We managed to grab pretty comfortable seats and I took a nap against the wall. Eventually, I woke up to really loud music. There was a girl sitting in the same car that would blast her music when she really liked what she was hearing. It was so ridiculous. I was all groggy from my name and I can't help but complain about it. Michelle said she had been doing that for the last half hour or so. And then she started singing! Good lord, it was horrible. And then we saw the plain brown bag holding the beer / liquor bottles. You can drink on NJ transit trains - and people do. And when I finally saw her, and saw that she was well older than me, I just couldn't believe it. She was acting like a teeny bopper.
We had another encounter before exiting the train. We stopped so I got up to go to an exit. Normally, only a few doors open because the whole train can't fit at our stop. We walked up to the conductor and waited in a vestibule. And then I realized we were stopped to let another train pass before pulling into the station. There were 2 rangers fans waiting in the same vestibule. The girl seemed pretty with it and the guy was barely standing. He kept cursing and chanting "Let's go Rangers!." He then started lecturing everyone on the train about the train rules. "Keep your feet off the seats. Don't talk too loudly. And fuck the Devils!" Ha ha. You might not realize, but I love the Devils too, mostly because I can get to their stadium in 45 minutes and I can watch all of their games. And - Andrew was wearing a Devils t-shirt. And then drunk guy says it again, and again. And then he starts yelling at some people for disagreeing with him. Actually, they weren't - they also were Rangers fans. And then they start picking on Flyers fans. And I can't help but egg him on. I said, "What do you want me to do? I live in New Jersey, I live right here!" She got a big kick out it and started talking about growing up in Philly and being a Rangers fan. Like I said, it's all in good fun.
But god help us all if the Flyers don't win on Sunday. I don't know if I can stand the smugness of all the Rangers fans around me.