Saturday, February 23, 2008

2-23-08 “The Rock” Welcome to the Land of NO!

When I saw there was a 1 pm, Saturday game on the schedule at the beginning of the year, I knew that was the only time I would be able to get to NJ to see the new Prudential Center. I thought for sure this was a no-brainer to get others to join me for the trip. The Booster Club had two busloads of cheering fans. My fellow blogger Mike S., Islesblogger.com brought his Dad and his Uncle. Prolific blogger Tiger Track Tom Liodice bought a last minute full price ticket when his plans changed at the last minute last night. Nevertheless, IslanderQueen and I wanted to take in the entire TRAIN experience, so we planed for weeks. The train wasn’t the problem today, the Rock was the problem.
My morning started out with me sliding down my porch stairs and landing on my back as I went out to get the paper at 7 am. It was a sheet of ice since yesterday’s storm. I managed to drive to the Wantagh train station after dropping off my 13-year-old at her friend’s house in Massapequa. IslanderQueen and I navigated the ticket machine where it dispensed strange gold coins as change for a $20. I thought they were subway tokens; IQ assured me they were actual currency and not MTA monopoly money.
We waited upstairs in the brick room, afraid to touch anything. “Did you read our horoscope this morning?” IQ said coyly. “I read mine; it said something about making sure we synchronized our watches since everything would be on a timetable.” Prophetic considering what we were up against!
“No. The regular MSN.com one said we should probably just stay home because we’d have to choose sides and there would be protests.” Thinking back now, as I sit here writing this, those words too were pretty darn accurate.
After a few rounds of cell phone “Marco Polo” with Mike S., we met up at the NJ Transit station, fighting with a new ticket machine and trying to get it to take the gold coins back. IQ had an idea of where we needed to go as she had done this once before. I was nothing more then a tourist carrying a camera and looking like a deer in headlights.
We managed to get off at the right stop in Newark Penn along with Mike and his family. There were plenty of other Islander fans in their gear so we attempted to follow them thinking they knew where they were going. Outside there was a cold drizzle, almost a fine mist of melted ice. IQ stopped to open an umbrella, I braved the elements. We bumped into other Islander fans that we know from the Coliseum and some from the message board, but we were all herding like cattle along the streets of Newark.
We stopped dead at the door and formed seven or eight lines to be searched and scanned. Unlike the Coliseum, they actually DO have someone poking through your purse looking for contraband. They let me keep my Cadbury bar. I thought that was nice of them. I thought I could hear “moos” from the crowd as we were herded up the escalator and to the first concourse. We all split up in search of food, facilities and alcohol.
Once in the ladies room I noticed that the make-up IQ had attempted to put on me during the train ride didn’t hold up very well in the mist. I now looked like a blue-eyed raccoon. She doesn’t use cheap make-up. It was not coming off with water from the sink; it only melted in the rain. Lovely. Oh, who cares? No one knows me here. Therefore, off we went to find a bar.
There are many bars on the first concourse of the Rock. However, they are quite PRIVATE. “No! No! You can’t come in here with that ticket. You need a gold ticket to get in here.” I heard, over and over and over as we went around the outer edge of the rink below.
“Ok. Where can we go with THESE tickets???” Everyone was quite pleasant, but unwavering in their reluctance to let us in anywhere. This is the Titanic, and my ticket is for Steerage.
“You can go upstairs to the Goal bar for pre-game only.” We made another lap around this massive building and up a metal staircase. There is a bar to the right, and one to the left. The bar to the right was packed four deep. The bar to the left had seats available. I am used to being well known at the Coliseum, so I just think I can go anywhere. Uh… NO.
I am immediately stopped and asked, “Where do you think you’re going?” Can I see your ticket please?” I show him my plain white ticket and he scoffs at me. “That side. Only THAT side.” I am now a little more than displeased, so I engage the gentleman in conversation regarding the facts about how someone new to this building would possibly know where they are allowed to go and not go. He had no concrete answers other than “…..by your ticket.”
“Yes, I understand that, but WHERE does it say that? What SIGN tells me I need a Willy Wonka gold ticket to get a Vodka and club soda?” IQ tugs on my jersey sleeve.
“Now I remember this.” I hear IQ say as she finds her way behind two men at the service bar on the “low life” side of the room. And there we wait, and wait and wait. The men that were there took their beers and left as more people took their place. Several minutes later, a Cher look-a-like of a barmaid makes her way to the service area where we stood, and immediately goes over to the male patrons.
“EXCUSE ME! We are FIRST here. THEY came in AFTER us. I don’t mean to be rude to you boys, but we’ve been waiting a LONG time.” Ahhhhh…. The California girl is learning how to be a New Yorker after all.
Two drinks were $24. I don’t think I will complain about Doolan’s anymore. We take our plastic cups and head down the stairs to wait for the pre-game skate.
“Woahhhhh!!! Where are YOU two going??? You can’t bring those down here. You gotta finish those up there.” IQ and I, and our cocktails, are now being held captive in the upstairs lounge. My blood pressure is rising and it’s a lovely contrast to the blue circles under my eyes.
We walk around the perimeter of our bar-cage, and then decide to just buck up, and suck them down. As we headed down the steel stairs, without our cocktails, we heard “Ladies, you won’t be able to get back in here once the game starts. It’s a private club.”
“Whatever.” I shake my head at her. We circled the building again trying to figure out what side we should stand on for pre-game skate. IQ walks me down to the glass toward the Islander side for a few minutes, but then made her way to the other side. I agreed to meet her back at the seats, which were basically in the rafters. I stood with other Islander fans and took a few pictures. I was happy to see how many Islander fans actually do make the trip to Jersey. It must make the team feel good at least. However, I’m still increasingly annoyed in the Land of No, and made my way back out to the concourse in search of some answers. I headed to the information booth, which is marked simply by a white sign with a black question mark.
“Excuse me. Can you tell me please, as I am not a beer drinker, nor do I have a golden ticket, where I might be able to find some Merlot?” The woman behind the desk just smiled at me….I asked again. “Is there any kiosk on the concourse that sells wine?”
“No. It’s not allowed by the ABC. And they’ve been here four times already.”
“Wait. You’re allowed to have beer at every kiosk, but you can’t sell wine that has the same alcohol content on the concourse?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.” She is still smiling at me, and I can tell, she is not happy with that situation either.
“Ok. So, tell me please. Where can I, an out of town visitor, be able to get a glass of wine????” I am trying to be pleasant, but I am not a happy woman, and I am taking notes in my head.
“There is a restaurant upstairs, that IS open to the general public, and you can probably go to the bar up there and get one. Just tell this woman over there that you want to go to the restaurant.”
They are guarding the escalator up to the level where this mysterious restaurant that is “open to the general public” is. I was stopped twice more on my way to this magic place. By the time I reached the hostess, to recount for the third freakin’ time what I was there for, I was increasingly sarcastic, but she is well trained and about 22 and actually walked me personally to the bar and introduced me to the bar back. This is a caste system in its truest form, and I am on the lowest level.
“Cabernet, two ice cubes.” At this point, I didn’t even care what the heck it was, as long as it was red. “That will be $10.” and again, I couldn’t leave, but I have a little more room to wander the restaurant during my captivity. I called IQ to let her know where I was. She was in the seats and had eaten sushi. “Did you eat something? Did you get anything?” Now she played Mom. “Be careful when you come up here, the stairs are very steep.”
I finished the wine in record time and asked the hostess how to get to section 117. She directed me to a back elevator in a deserted hallway. Lou Lamarillo was getting out of the elevator as I was getting in. Now I KNOW I wasn’t supposed to be here.
I explain my wine debate plight to the woman running the elevator. She agrees with me, and then I find my way to my seat next to IQ. The first period went quickly, but truthfully, I really wasn’t watching too much of it. The sight lines are fine from up in the rafters, but my head was spinning because I was seething. With 4 minutes left of the first, we got out of our seats and tried to find our way to section 2 where we thought we were going to have a NYIC mini Meet & Greet. IQ tries to talk me into getting something to eat, but I cannot even recognize any of the food on this level. We stop at some sort of Cuban counter and notice they have Smirnoff Ice bottles, and opt for those instead of the deep fried Cod balls. We were carded, and I almost laugh myself sick. The young woman behind the counter is very sweet as she was in disbelief of my age. We found Mike and Tom and headed downstairs to attempt to locate Section 2.
We met up with MmingE and NJIslanderFan on the concourse and waited for Sybo, who didn’t show up. However, we did meet an arrogant Devils fan who at first started out harassing me relentlessly and then calmed down, took our pictures and my business card. Angry and hungry, I headed off into the ladies room, but before I could get in, IQ received a phone call from someone whom she had met during her last trip to the Rock. She had told him how upset I was about the entire “No entry” thing, and even though HE was on vacation in Florida, he arranged for us to be accommodated back in that upstairs restaurant with a view of the ice. Chef Hani is obviously a true gentleman who cannot stand to hear that a lovely woman such as IQ was having such a hard time of it in the establishment that he takes so much pride in overseeing. It bothered him enough to make sure we were to be treated like regulars there.
“Come, we’re going upstairs. We’re going to have lunch, and you can have whatever you want to drink.” She walks ahead of me. We were stopped at the door. “I’m sorry Ladies, the restaurant is closed unless you have reservations.”
“Chef Hani told me to come up here, NOW.” IQ says while still holding her phone on the long distance call. Suddenly, the golden gates opened to us. She handed her phone to another chef, and everyone snapped to attention. We were escorted to seats on the ledge looking over the rink, our drink order taken and miraculously, lunch was served. I was in awe of her power, and the kindness of one true gentleman and Head Chef that I have not had the pleasure of meeting. It’s amazing that there are still people out there like this.
While we were watching the game from this perch, my phone goes off with a text message. “Comrie and Satan for Marian Hossa. Reliable source.“ I wondered if I just became the NYI version of Eklund. “No way!“ I text back.
“No! Really!“
Now what do I do with the information that has now fallen in my lap along with my napkin and the bacon off my cheeseburger? I give it to Mike S. Let him figure out what to do with it. We stayed there for the balance of the game and were served desert too. The amazing chocolate mouse cake with whipped cream took the bitterness out of the Islanders loss on the ice. But maybe it wasn’t enough to take the annoyance out of the gum that was on the back of my jeans from the restaurant chair I was sitting in. However, it is just jeans; I am not going to make a stink about it. I tried to forget that it’s sticky and gross. As we were leaving, we met Garth Snow heading toward that same back elevator. We stopped and said hello. IQ shook his hand, and he was cordial and broke into a smile when he spoke with us. This is a man who just witnessed his team lose, but he had the courtesy to stop, smile and be charming to two fans who had made the trip. We continued to make our way downstairs to try to meet everyone else to make the trek back to the train.
“Are you okay now?” IQ asks me. “Yes. Much better, but I’m still writing!”
The 4:12 to Penn Station didn’t show up, so the 4:23 was packed. However, as chivalry is NOT dead, the boys stood while IQ and I sat as we made our way to Penn Station. Once there, I am again a tourist without a clue, but at least now, I have a support group with me.
While waiting for the train, we all catch up with the BlogFather, Chris Botta and his three sons. This is a very brave man. I can’t watch ONE kid, and he’s navigating Manhattan and Newark with three precocious and adorable little boys. I am amazed, and glad it is him and not me. While in Penn I noticed other Islander staff notables, and I wonder why they didn’t drive in either, or go on the team bus. At least now, I am not feeling as slighted since the Blog Box Troika (Mike, Tom and I) weren’t given special dispensation to travel with the employees. They were all waiting in Penn station too.
I can’t distance myself from the aroma of Starbucks and IQ and I broke away from the team to grab a cup. Once back on the train, I settled down knowing I was heading home… Never to go to the Land Of No again.
So the spell is broken, we didn’t beat the Devils this time, but it was a day game, and they had it coming. You can’t win ‘em all boys. It was time for Broduer to get one back.
Deadline day is Tuesday. Let’s see what that brings. At least I know where I can go in the Coliseum…. ANYWHERE I FREAKIN’ WANT TO!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Someone tells it like it is in Jersey. A boring hockey team along with a bunch of snobs running the new arena. What will that team do when Brodeur retires?

Islanderfanfromjerseycity said...

That first picture of you is worth a thousand words. You sure do know how to disguise your feelings well. Did that Devil fan ever send you the picture ? Isn't New Jersey great ??

7th Woman said...

Nope, not yet. Hopefully he will send it tomorrow since I gave him my business card.

Anonymous said...

Dee, you are hysterical! I completely cracked up reading this. You sound like a complete "rube"! Do you ever leave Long Island??? Joking!

I went to the Rock with the Booster Club, and had exactly the opposite experience. Every person we encountered working there was EXTREMELY pleasant and very helpful. I was pleasantly surprised. My only complaint was the service in the restaurant we ate in. It cost us $52 for 2 burgers and 2 beers, which I though was a bit much for lunch considering I was not in the city. And the service was snail-pace like. We got there as soon as the place opened and because of the slow service actually missed warm-ups, which pissed me off.

All in all I think the Devils can be proud of their new place. I liked it and think it is very well done. I will certainly go again.

And I am sure I will NEVER see a new place for our team to play in in my lifetime. I am usually an optimist but I am also a realist and hope I am wrong.

Ciao for now, Mary

7th Woman said...

Thanks Mary. I was hoping the humor would be apparent. I will say that I didn't have a problem with any of the employees being rude or mean, they were just doing their jobs. And I too wonder about a new arena here in our lifetime. But then again, I worry that if there was.... I'd never be able to afford to buy tickets there. Thanks for reading! See ya soon!

Jim McGlynn said...

Dee, thanks for the journal about the rock, I've yet to make it there yet. Good luck tomorrow, save some energy for Friday's blogger ball.

Gaspo said...

This reminds me of a line from one of my favorite films:
"I'm what you would call a teleological, existential atheist. I believe that there's an intelligence to the universe, with the exception of certain parts of New Jersey." - Miles Monroe, SLEEPER
I guess we can include The Rock as one of those parts.