December 9, 1965, 50 years ago today: On the day that Branch Rickey, baseball's greatest executive ever, dies at age 84, the Cincinnati Reds trade Frank Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles for Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson.

Baldschun and Simpson were throw-ins, designed to make the trade a 3-for-1, so it didn't look like the Reds were trading Robinson even-up for a single pitcher.

"Bad trades are a part of baseball. I mean, who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God's sake?"
-- Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon), Bull Durham

This looked like a bad trade rather quickly, as, in the very next season, 1966, Robinson led the Orioles to their 1st American League Pennant and their 1st World Championship, winning the Triple Crown and the Most Valuable Player award for himself, thus becoming the 1st man to win the MVP in both Leagues. (He's still the only one.)

As for the Reds, they wouldn't win another National League Pennant until 1970, and another World Series until 1975. To make matters worse, when the Reds did win the Pennant in 1970, who beat them in the World Series? Robinson and the Orioles, although Brooks Robinson (no relation, of course) was a bigger reason than Frank on that occasion.

So why did they trade Robinson? Because he was "an old 30."

An old 30? This guy carried the Reds on his back to win the Pennant (and the MVP for himself) just 4 years earlier. He was one of the best hitters in baseball. He would go on to hit 586 career home runs -- and Crosley Field, the Reds' home field until mid-1970, had a short left-field fence. He collected almost 3,000 career hits. He was a good fielder, too. Perhaps he didn't cover as much ground in right field as his contemporaries Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, Roger Maris or Roberto Clemente; or have as good an arm as Clemente or Rocky Colavito. But he was really good.

What a bonehead trade.

Surely, there must be some justification for having made the trade...

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame the Cincinnati Reds for Trading Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas

5. Frank Robinson. Okay, he wasn't exactly in decline, but view him from the perspective of after the 1965 season. Here's his batting average, his on-base percentage, his slugging percentage, his OPS+, his doubles, his home runs, his RBIs and his stolen bases from 1962 (in which he actually had a better year than his MVP season of 1961) through 1965:

.342, .421, .624, 172, 51, 39, 136, 18
.259, .379, .442, 133, 19, 21, 91, 26
.306, .396, .548, 160, 38, 29, 96, 23
.296, .386, .540, 151, 33, 33, 113, 13

No, that's not a "decline." And his 1963 numbers were artificially held down by missing time due to injury.

But it did look like he'd dropped a bit from his peak. Reds owner Bill DeWitt (father of the man of the same name who now owns the St. Louis Cardinals) might have been concerned that the '63 injury hadn't fully healed. And 30, being a round number, is a harsher (if not an entirely fair) indicator than 32, or even 35.

The fairest thing you can say is that Frank went from being one of the 3 best players in the game (along with Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) to being one of the 20 best. Where trading him had once been unthinkable -- Gabe Paul, the Reds' general manager from 1951 to 1960, supposedly told Branch Rickey, then running the Pittsburgh Pirates, "I wouldn't give you Frank Robinson for your whole team," but was running the Cleveland Indians by 1965 -- it was now thinkable.

Check out Frank's numbers from 1966, though -- and Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, especially in those days, was a pitcher's park:

.316, .410, .637, 198, 34, 49, 122, 8
Yeah, his stolen base total (which actually went up, reaching a career high for him, in the injury-shortened 1963 season) continued to go down. But, as the saying goes, If you hit it far enough, you don't have to run. And that's why this is only Reason Number 5: Trading him was plausible, but still not very smart.

4. Money. Pappas was making $32,500, Baldschun $24,000, and Simpson $8,000; total, $64,500. Robinson, all by himself? $57,000. Robinson wanted $64,000 for 1966, and owner DeWitt couldn't throw that kind of money around for just 1 player.

Orioles owner Jerry Hoffberger gave Frank his $64,000. He made it $100,000 after the Triple Crown/MVP/World Series season. The most he ever made? $160,000 in 1973 and '74. He actually took a pay cut in '75, to $105,000, even though he was both playing and managing. (He was the 1st black manager in Major League Baseball.)

3. The Reds needed pitching. Their 1965 starting rotation consisted of Jim Maloney, Joey Jay, and 2 out of these 4: Jim O'Toole, Joe Nuxhall, Sammy Ellis and John Tsitouris. Nuxhall then retired. O'Toole had a horrible season: 3-10, 5.92 ERA. Tsitouris wasn't much better: 6-9, 4.95. Jay, the only Reds pitcher to win a World Series game between 1940 and 1970, was 9-8, but his ERA was 4.22. Clearly, the Reds needed at least 2 more starting pitchers -- or 1, and hoped that someone out of Jay, O'Toole, Ellis and Tsitouris bounced back.

Nuxhall appeared in 32 games that season, divided evenly between 16 starts and 16 relief appearances. The Reds also had Roger Craig, once a very good starter, but, by this point, was being used exclusively in relief, and was pretty much done.

2. Milt Pappas. He was a very good pitcher. He was then 26 years old, and had already won 110 games in the major leagues, against just 74 losses. In 1965, for an Oriole team that finished a distant 2nd to the Minnesota Twins, he went 13-9, with a 2.60 ERA -- an ERA+ of 133, so he wasn't just taking advantage of a pitching-friendly period in baseball history. His WHIP was a nifty 1.102.

He had made the All-Star Team for the 2nd time in 4 seasons. He'd won 16 games in '63 and did it again in '64, and had just won 13 in '65. That's 45 wins over the preceding 3 seasons. Not great, but very good. And he was reliable: He'd never had a significant injury.
His career record turned out to be 209-164 -- by 1 win in the National League, he missed becoming one of the few pitchers ever to win at least 100 games in each League.

Does this sound like a failed pitcher to you? Hardly. The problem wasn't that the Reds acquired him. It was that they let him go too soon. He had a down year in 1966, just 12-11, 4.29. But, even then, he won just 1 fewer game than he did the season before. In 1967, he went 16-13, 3.35. Much better. And then, in 1968, they traded him to the Atlanta Braves, in a 3-for-3 deal.

The names that mattered in that trade turned out to be Pappas and Clay Carroll. Carroll did turn out to be a key cog in the Big Red Machine bullpen of the 1970s. Then again, you wouldn't trade Frank Robinson and Milt Pappas for Clay Carroll, would you?

In 1970, between the Braves and the Chicago Cubs, Pappas went 12-10, 3.34. If he'd been available for the Reds during the 1970 World Series, it might have been a very different story.

1. Unexpected declines. It wasn't Robinson that ended up declining. But the aforementioned Joey Jay did. So did center fielder Vada Pinson, costing him a genuine shot at the Hall of Fame. So did 1st baseman Gordy Coleman. So did shortstop Leo Cardenas. And, despite the addition of Pappas, the Reds' pitching didn't get much better.

Pretty much the only '65 Reds who were still around by the time they won the '70 Pennant were Pete Rose (24 years old in '65) and Tony Perez (23). Just about everybody else had to be replaced. If they'd lasted a little longer, maybe the Reds could have challenged the Los Angeles Dodgers for the '66 Pennant, the Cardinals for the '67 and '68 Pennants, and the Braves for the '69 NL Western Division title. By '70, they were ready to begin a decade that, in 10 years, saw them win 6 NL West titles, 4 Pennants and 2 World Series. But they did need to rebuild.

There may have been other reasons. There were stories that Robinson and Pinson didn't get along -- odd, since they were both graduates of McClymonds High School in Oakland, as were Curt Flood of the Cardinals and basketball superstar Bill Russell. There were also stories of cops in Southern Ohio and Kentucky giving Robinson, one of the biggest names among black baseball players, a hard time for minor issues. Certainly, Baltimore had its racial issues in the 1960s, and, being an hour's drive (with good traffic flow, not always a given) from Virginia, is almost on the South's doorstep, as Cincy is.

But the trade of Robinson for Pappas didn't have to be so bad. If the Reds had just hung onto Pappas through 1970, and Jay, Pinson, Coleman and Cardenas had lasted a little longer, it might have been a very different story.

Today, Frank Robinson is 80 years old, a special assistant to Commissioner Rob Manfred, and the honorary President of the American League.

Milt Pappas is 76, living in the Chicago suburbs (where he stayed after pitching for the Cubs, including a 1972 no-hitter that was a controversial walk away from a perfect game), and retired from the building trade.

Jack Baldschun is 79, retired from the lumber business, and living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. And Dick Simpson is 72, although I can find no recent information on him.

This coming Monday night, the Giants try to bounce back from their awful loss to the Jets, and head down to Miami – or, at least, the suburbs of Miami – to play the Dolphins.

The Jets, for the 1st time since 1965, do not visit the Dolphins this season, as the 'Phins gave up a home game in order to be the "home" team against the Jets at the new Wembley Stadium in London.

Before You Go. Miami is in Florida. It's frequently hot, even during the Christmas season. And it's frequently rainy. And the stadium has no roof, which means there’s no protection from either rain or heat at your seat. So dress lightly, wear a hat, keep hydrated, and you should probably bring an umbrella.

The Miami Herald website is predicting that Monday afternoon will have a shower early, and reach the low 80s. That's right, over 80 degrees in December. Monday night won't have rain, but it won't be much cooler, staying in the high 60s

Florida is a former Confederate State, and parts of Miami sure seem like a foreign country. But you won't need to bring your passport or change your money. And it's in the Eastern Time Zone, so you won't have to fool with your timepieces.

Tickets. The Dolphins are averaging 64,938 fans per home game this season, not including the "home game" in London. With 10,000 seats having been sacrificed in a recent renovation, this is close to a sellout. So getting tickets may be hard, although this being the Giants, rather than AFC East rivals the Jets, may help.

Dolphins tickets are freakin' expensive. In the Lower Level, the 100 sections, seats go for $325 on the sidelines and $295 in the end zone. In the Upper Level, the 300 sections, they're $165 on the sidelines and $150 in the end zone. The 200 sections are Club Level, and, truly, prohibitively expensive, so don't even consider them.

Before you order online, or (if you are so foolhardy as to not have your tickets before you take off from Newark/JFK/LaGuardia) pay at the ticket window, be advised that the northeast sideline gets the full brunt of the sun during day games, although that won't be a problem this time, as it's a Monday night game.

Getting There. It’s 1,283 miles from Times Square in New York to downtown Miami, and 1,267 miles from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey to Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Knowing this distance, your first reaction is going to be to fly down there. This is not a horrible idea, but you’ll still have to get from the airport to wherever your hotel is. If you’re trying to get from the airport to downtown, you’ll need to change buses – or change from a bus to Miami’s Tri-Rail rapid transit service. And it is possible, if you order quickly, to find nonstop flights, lasting 3 hours, for under $500 round-trip.

The train is not a very good idea, because you’ll have to leave Penn Station on Amtrak’s Silver Star at 11:02 AM and arrive in Miami at 5:58 the next day’s evening, a 31-hour ride. The return trip will leave at 8:10 AM and return to New York at 11:00 AM, “only” 27 hours – no, there’s no time-zone change involved. Round-trip, it’ll cost $386. And the station isn’t all that close, at 8303 NW 37th Avenue. Fortunately, there’s a Tri-Rail station there that will take you downtown.

How about Greyhound? There are 5 buses leaving Port Authority every day with connections to Miami, only one of them nonstop, the 10:45 PM to 7:30 AM (2 days later) version. The rest require you to change buses in Richmond and Orlando. (This is not fun, but, since New York to Miami should be straight down and back up I-95, it's also pointless. Resting the passengers, changing the driver and refueling the bus all make sense; making passengers change buses, twice, doesn't.)

The ride, including the changeovers, takes about 33 hours. Round-trip fare is $438, but it can be cut by more than half to $198 with advanced purchase. The station is at 4111 NW 27th Street and, ironically, is right across 42nd Avenue from the airport. It’s worth the fact that it’ll cost twice as much to simply fly down. Plus, going from New York to Miami on Greyhound, you might be reminded of the end of the movie Midnight Cowboy, and nobody wants to be reminded of that.

If you want to drive, it'll help to get someone to go down with you, and take turns driving. You’ll be going down Interstate 95 (or its New Jersey equivalent, the Turnpike) almost the whole way. It’ll be about 2 hours from the Lincoln Tunnel to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, 20 minutes in Delaware, and an hour and a half in Maryland, before crossing the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, at the southern tip of the District of Columbia, into Virginia. Then it will be 3 hours or so in Virginia, another 3 hours in North Carolina, about 3 hours and 15 minutes in South Carolina, a little under 2 hours in Georgia, and about 6 hours and 15 minutes in Florida before you reach downtown Miami – maybe a little under 6 hours if you get a hotel near the stadium.

Given rest stops, preferably in one in each State from Maryland to Georgia and 2 in Florida, you’re talking about a 28-hour trip.

Once In the City. A lot of people don't realize it, because Miami is Florida's most famous city, but the most populous city in the State is Jacksonville.  However, while Miami has about 425,000 people within the city limits, there are 5.6 million living in the metro area, making it far and away the largest in the South, not counting Texas.

Because Florida is so hot, and air-conditioning didn't become common until the mid-20th Century, Miami was founded rather late by the standards of the East coast, in 1825, and wasn't incorporated as a city until 1896. The name is derived from the Mayaimi tribe of Native Americans. Miami Avenue is the east-west divider, Flagler Street the north-south.

The Herald is the only major newspaper left in the city, but the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale should also be available. And, considering how many ex-New Yorkers are around, you might also be able to get the Times, the Daily News, or, if you're really desperate (or really conservative), the Post.

The sales tax in Florida is 6 percent, but it's 7 percent within Miami-Dade County. Since 1984, Miami has had a rapid-transit rail service, Metrorail, and a downtown-only smaller service, Metromover. Both above-ground, sort of like Chicago's El and the Detroit People Mover, if they were in the same city. The fare for the Metrorail and the Metrobus is $2.25.

Going In. Sun Life Stadium is probably best known under its original name, Joe Robbie Stadium, named for the owner of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, who had it built for them and for a hypothetical MLB team that became the Marlins. It’s 15 miles north of downtown Miami, in a location that’s been called, at various times, Miami, Miami Lakes, Miami Gardens, Carol City and Opa-Locka. Sounds like a bad variety show sketch.

The best way to get there from downtown is to take I-95 North to the Florida Turnpike (renamed the Ronald Reagan Turnpike, and, contrary to "conservative principles," the Gipper did believe in good roads), to Exit 2X for Northwest 199th Street. NW 199th is also known as Dan Marino Boulevard, named after some guy who never won a championship, college or pro. The Stadium is between 199th and 203rd, and between the Turnpike and 27th Avenue, across 203rd and Snake Creek from Calder Race Course. The exact address is 347 Don Shula Drive, for the coach who won the Dolphins' 2 titles and the record number of NFL coaching wins he has.

Like tickets, parking is expensive: $40. Tailgating is permitted.

Public transportation there is a bit trickier. You'd have to take Metrorail from downtown to M.L. King Rail Station, then transfer to the Number 27 bus, riding that to NW 199th Street & NW 27th Court. And then you'd have to walk down 199th for about 15 minutes and turn into the parking lot. Not exactly ideal. (Somehow, I don't think a situation like this, especially with a transit station with his name on it, was part of Martin Luther King's dream. But he certainly would have approved of a racially mixed crowd watching racially mixed teams playing each other.)

The gates go from A, on the 1st base side, around the stadium clockwise, to H, in the right field corner. Gates G and H open an hour and a half before first pitch, all others one hour before.

In spite of South Florida’s climate – the stadium probably gets more rain than any other in the NFL, including Seattle – umbrellas are not permitted inside. "Safety concerns," No, I’m not making that up, it’s on the Dolphins' website. The field runs northwest-to-southeast, and is natural grass.

The stadium has been home to the Dolphins since 1987; the Orange Bowl game in 1996, 1997, 1998 and since 2000; the University of Miami football team since 2008 (their games were the last thing the Orange Bowl stadium hosted before its demolition to make way for Marlins Park); the Marlins from 1993 to 2011; and the Champs Sports Bowl from 1990 to 2000.

It's hosted 5 Super Bowls: XXIII (1989, San Francisco over Cincinnati), XXIX (1995, San Francisco over San Diego), XXXIII (1999, Denver over Atlanta), XLI (2007, Indianapolis over Chicago, and the only Super Bowl that's yet been rained on) and XLIV (2011, Green Bay over Pittsburgh). Sites for Super Bowls LIII and LIV (2019 and 2020) have not yet been selected, but Sun Life Stadium (or whatever it would be named by that point) will likely be awarded one of them.

It's also hosted 2 World Series: 1997, Marlins over Cleveland; and 2003, Marlins over, uh, let's move on. It hosted 4 BCS National Championship Games: 2001 (Oklahoma over Florida State), 2005 (USC over Oklahoma), 2009 (Florida over Oklahoma) and 2013 (Alabama over Notre Dame).

The stadium is also a premier U.S. soccer venue. On August 4, 1989, London's Arsenal played Argentine club Independiente, each team coming off winning its national league title. Arsenal won, 2-1, but only 2,100 fans came out to see it in the oppressive August Florida heat. (Perhaps this is why Arsenal did not play in North America again for 25 years, coming to Red Bull Arena in 2014.) Other major club teams to play there include Mexico's Chivas of Guadalajara; England's Chelsea of London, Everton of Liverpool and Manchester United; Spain's Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia; and Italy's AC Milan, Internazionale and Juventus.

The U.S. national team has played there 4 times: A 1-0 loss to Colombia on April 22, 1990; a 1-1 draw with Bolivia on February 18, 1994; a 3-1 loss to Sweden on February 20, 1994; and a 1-0 win over Honduras on October 8, 2011.

Food. With a great Hispanic, and especially Cuban, heritage, and also being in Southeastern Conference country (hello, tailgating), you would expect the football team in Miami to have great food at their stadium. Centerplate runs their concessions, and the stadium renovations include better options. From the Miami Herald:

* Sloppy Joe's (based on the famous Key West bar) at Sections 106, 144 and 317.
* Kosher Central (Hey, a lot of ex-New Yorker Jews in South Florida) at 111.
* BurgerFi at 114, 124 and 350.
* Craft Beer Tap Room at 117 and 147.
* Versailles (A French theme?) at 119 and 317.
* Sushi Maki at 126.
* Bodega Taqueria at 142, 329 and 345.
* Paradise Cups at 155.

Team History Displays. The Dolphins are celebrating their 50th season (their 50th Anniversary would be next year), and while it's been over 40 years since their last title, they have lots of history. The Dolphins Honor Roll currently honors the undefeated 1972 team and 26 individuals:

* From the 1972 team that went undefeated and won Super Bowl VII, and the 1973 team that won Super Bowl VIII: Founding owner Joe Robbie, head coach Don Shula, defensive coordinator Bill Arnsparger, quarterback Bob Griese, running back Larry Csonka, receiver Paul Warfield, tight end Jim Mandich, center Jim Langer, guards Larry Little and Bob Kuechenberg, defensive end Bill Stanfill, defensive tackle Manny Fernandez, linebacker Nick Buoniconti, and safeties Jake Scott and Dick Anderson.

* From the 1982 team that reached Super Bowl XVII: Robbie, Shula, Arnsparger, center Dwight Stephenson, receivers Nat Moore and Mark Duper, defensive end Doug Betters and defensive tackle Bob Baumhower.

* From the 1984 team that reached Super Bowl XIX, the team's most recent appearance: Robbie, Shula, Moore, Duper, Betters, Baumhower, quarterback Dan Marino and receiver Mark Clayton.

* From the 1992 team that reached and hosted the AFC Championship Game, the team's most recent appearance: Shula, Marino, Duper, Clayton, offensive tackle Richmond Webb and linebacker John Offerdahl.

When someone says, "This guy was a New York basketball legend," they usually mean that he played for the Knicks. They don't mean he played for the Nets: The Long Island and New Jersey editions don't get counted (not even Julius Erving), and the Brooklyn edition hasn't produced any legends yet. They could mean he played for St. John's. They could also mean he was a local high school star or a "playground legend."

But the days when New York colleges other than St. John's produced basketball legends are long gone, a victim of the early 1950s point-shaving scandals that relegated New York University (NYU), City College of New York (CCNY) and downtown Brooklyn-based Long Island University (LIU) to 2nd-class status, thus helping to pave the way for the success of the nascent NBA.

And one of the last of the players who made those schools matter has left us.

*

Adolph Schayes (no middle name) was born on May 19, 1928 in The Bronx. A son of Romanian Jewish immigrants, he grew up in the University Heights section of The Bronx, on Davidson Avenue off 183rd Street, and attended the prestigious DeWitt Clinton High School.

Too young to have served in World War II, he attended NYU and played basketball there, when playing there really meant something. He was a classic gym rat: NYU's coach, Howard Cann, said, "He was in the gym practicing, every spare minute. We had to chase him out."

The hard work paid off: In 1945, NYU reached the NCAA Final, losing to Oklahoma A&M, coached by Hank Iba and led by Bob "Foothills" Kurland, the 1st 7-footer to be more than just a roadblock. (The school won the title again the next year, and became Oklahoma State in 1958.)

In 1948, the 2 leagues that would merge a year later to form the NBA battled over his services. His hometown New York Knicks of the Basketball Association of America drafted him, and so did the Tri-Cities Blackhawks of the National Basketball League. (They played their games in Moline, Illinois, representing the region that usually gets called the Quad Cities today, also including Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa.) The Blackhawks traded his rights to the Syracuse Nationals, who offered him $7,500, twice what the Knicks did, and so Dolph left home.

In his rookie season, he broke his right arm. He played anyway, with a cast, and learned to shoot with his left hand, making him an even deadlier shooter, right up there with Bill Sharman of the Boston Celtics as the best shooter of the 1950s. He led the league in rebounding in 1951, making the 1st of what turned out to be 12 NBA All-Star Teams.

In 1954, the Nationals (like today's Washington Nationals baseball team, known as the Nats for short) reached the NBA Finals, losing to the Minneapolis Lakers of George Mikan. Then the 24-second shot clock was established -- an innovation thought up by the Nats' owner, Danny Biasone. The Lakers could not adapt. The Nats did, and defeated the Fort Wayne Pistons to win the 1955 NBA Championship.

Hail the Champions, as you will almost certainly -- with the possible exception of the Green Bay Packers -- never again see a North American major sports league champion from a metropolitan area so small: Number 3, guard George King; Number 4, forward Dolph Schayes; Number 5, guard Paul Seymour; Number 6, center Connie Simmons; Number 7, guard Billy Gabor; Number 8, forward Wally Osterkorn; Number 10, center Johnny "Red" Kerr; Number 11, forward Earl Loyd; Number 12, guard Dick Farley; Number 14, forward Jim Tucker; Number 15, guard Bill Kenville; Number 16, center Ephraim "Red" Rocha; and head coach Al Cervi.

*

In 1957, Schayes hit 18 consecutive free throws in a game, then a record. In that year that began the space race, his high arcing shots earned him the nickname "Sputnik."

From February 17, 1952 to December 26, 1961, he played in 706 consecutive games, also then a record. (That one would be broken by his Nats teammate, Red Kerr.) He was, for a time, the NBA's all-time leading scorer, becoming the 1st player to finish with at least 15,000 career points.

As the NBA grew, its smaller cities, as happened to the NFL by the time the 1920s ended, fell by the wayside. Tri-Cities Blackhawks moved to Milwaukee in 1951, becoming the Hawks; then to St. Louis in 1955, then to Atlanta in 1968. The Fort Wayne Pistons moved to Detroit in 1957. The same year, the Rochester Royals moved to Cincinnati, later to Kansas City where they became the Kings, and then to Sacramento. And in 1963, the other Western New York team, the Syracuse Nationals, moved to take the place of the Philadelphia Warriors, who had moved to San Francisco. The Nats became the Philadelphia 76ers.

Their 1st coach in Philly was Dolph Schayes, who retired as a player at the end of that 1st season, 1963-64. He was named NBA Coach of the Year in 1966, but stepped aside when he was offered the job of the NBA's supervisor of referees. Can you imagine that happening today, in any sport: A former player being named supervisor of game officials? There's a laugh.

In 1970, Schayes returned to Western New York, as the 1st coach of the expansion Buffalo Braves. But he left at the start of the next season. The team is now known as the Los Angeles Clippers.

His home still in Syracuse, he became a real estate developer there. He was also heavily involved in the Maccabiah Games, effectively the Jewish Olympics, held in Israel. In 1977, he coached the U.S. team to the gold medal there.

That team included his son Danny Schayes, who played at Syracuse University, and for 18 years in the NBA, his best years for the Denver Nuggets of the 1980s. Danny's wife is Wendy Lucero, a former Olympic diver. He now runs an investment firm in Phoenix.

He and his wife Naomi had another son, David; daughters Carrie Goettsch and Debra Ferri; and 9 grandchildren.

Carrie's daughters, Abi, Carla and Rachel Goettsch, won silver medals with the U.S. volleyball team at the 2001 Maccabiah Games. And Debra's son, Mickey Ferri, was part of the gold medal-winning 4 by 100 meter relay team at the 2005 Maccabiah Games.

In 1971, Dolph was named to the NBA's 25th Anniversary team. In 1972, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1979, he was elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, and attended the unveiling of the 50 at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland. He was the only Nationals player selected, although others from the franchise's Philadelphia days were chosen.
Dolph Schayes died of cancer in Syracuse yesterday. He was 87 years old, and one of the grand old men of American sports.

With Schayes' death, Billy Gabor, 93 years old; Jim Tucker, who turns 83 today; and Bill Kenville, who just turned 85, are still alive from the 1955 NBA Champion Syracuse Nationals, 60 years later.

Oddly, especially considering how the NBA tends to treat its venues as disposable, the Nats' arena still stands. Opened in 1951 as the Onondaga County War Memorial Arena, it is now known as the Oncenter, and is home to a minor-league hockey team, the Syracuse Crunch.

A week from tonight, the Brooklyn Nets travel to Indianapolis to play the Indiana Pacers. It will be their only visit of the season. The New York Knicks visit on February 24 and April 12.

Before You Go. Indianapolis is about as far south as Baltimore and Washington. Despite being in the Midwest, it is not on a Great Lake, bringing strong winds and "lake effect snow." So the weather won't be substantially different from what we get in the Middle Atlantic States. The website of the Indianapolis Star is predicting low 40s for next Friday afternoon, but mid-20s for the evening. Bring a winter jacket.

Despite Indiana being 1 of the 2 States (Arizona is the other) to have a quirky relationship with Daylight Savings Time, Indianapolis is in the Eastern Time Zone, so there will be no need to adjust your timepieces.

Tickets. The Pacers averaged 16,864 fans per home game last year, less than 93 percent of capacity. So, despite Indiana's reputation as a basketball-crazy State, tickets shouldn't be hard to get.

Seats in the lower level are $168 between the baskets and $92 behind them. In the upper level, they're considerably cheaper: $56 between and just $26 behind.

Getting There. It's 714 miles from Times Square in Manhattan to Monument Circle in the center of the City of Indianapolis. Knowing this, your first reaction is going to be to fly out there.

This may not be a good idea, as you'll have to change planes in Chicago, which is further west, and fly back east to Indianapolis. Or southwest to Charlotte, then northwest to Indianapolis. But with the right times of day on your flights, you can get there and back for under $400 round-trip. The Number 8 bus is a 45-minute ride from the airport to downtown.

If you take Amtrak, it will be simple to go out: You would board the Cardinal at Penn Station on Wednesday at 6:45 AM, and arrive at Union Station in Indianapolis on Thursday at 5:20 AM. Unfortunately, the Cardinal only runs 3 times a week, so you'll have a day and a half to kill in Indianapolis before the game. Going back, you'll leave Indy at 11:59 PM on Sunday (a wait of over 26 hours after the game ends), getting back to New York at 9:58 PM on Sunday. Round-trip fare would be $236.

Union Station is at 350 S. Illinois Street, corner of South Street, 6 blocks from the Fieldhouse.

Greyhound runs 7 buses a day from Port Authority Bus Terminal to Indianapolis, although 4 of these require you to change buses, mostly in Pittsburgh. The fare is $335, but it can drop to $102 with advanced purchase. The station is at 154 W. South Street, at Illinois Street, around the corner from Union Station. (That's right, "West South Street," but that's South Street, west of downtown.)

If you decide to drive, it’s far enough that it will help to get someone to go with you and split the duties, and to trade off driving and sleeping. You’ll need to get on the New Jersey Turnpike, and take Interstate 78 West across New Jersey, and at Harrisburg get on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which at this point will be both I-70 and I-76. When the two Interstates split outside Pittsburgh, stay on I-70 west. You’ll cross the northern tip of West Virginia, and go all the way across Ohio (through Columbus), and halfway through Indiana.

If you do it right, you should spend about an hour and 15 minutes in New Jersey, 5 hours in Pennsylvania, 15 minutes in West Virginia, 3 hours and 45 minutes in Ohio, and an hour and 15 minutes in Indiana. That’s going to be 11 and a half hours. Counting rest stops, preferably 6 of them, and accounting for traffic in both New York and Indianapolis, it should be about 14 hours.

Once In the City. Indianapolis, named (as was its State) for the Native Americans, was founded in 1821, and is home to over 840,000 people -- making it the 2nd-largest city in the Midwest, behind Chicago -- with a metropolitan area of 2.4 million. The centerpoint of the City, and indeed of the State, is the 284-foot-high Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument inside Monument Circle, at Market & Meridian Streets.

The sales tax in the State of Indiana is 7 percent. There's no subway, but IndyGo offers a $4.00 all-day pass for its buses.

Going In. The official address of Bankers Life Fieldhouse is 125 E. Georgia Street, at Pennsylvania Street. Built in 1999 as Conseco Fieldhouse, the Pacers' new arena was designed to be a throwback, "the Camden Yards of basketball," if you will. (A little ironic, but at least this time they only took Baltimore's idea, not it's team. Then again, Washington, D.C. already took the Bullets, now Wizards, in 1973.)

In particular, there is a strong resemblance to "Indiana's Basketball Cathedral," Hinkle Fieldhouse. It seats 18,165. The court is laid out north-to-south.

In their first season at the new arena, 1999-2000, the Pacers reached the NBA Finals for the first time, but got swept by the Los Angeles Lakers. They have not gotten back since.

Minor-league hockey's Indianapolis Ice also play at Bankers Life. However, you should not expect an NHL team to play there: Due to the layout, the capacity for hockey is just 12,300, and some of the seats end up being obstructed view. The place was built for basketball. The WNBA's Indiana Fever play there, and it has regularly (but not every year) hosted the Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.

Food. Indiana is in the heart of the Midwest, right-smack-dab in the middle (or what used to be the middle, before Penn State, and then Nebraska, Rutgers and Maryland, were admitted) of Big Ten Country, where tailgate parties are practically a sacrament. So you would expect there to be great food inside the Pacers' arena.

Coors Light Beer Wagon (if you're willing to say that Coors Light is "beer") can be found at Section 2; Mr. Smoothie at 3, 14, 207, 220 and 226; Snack Shoppe at 4, 16, 202 and 217; Dippin' Dots at 4, 208, 220 and 229; Crossroads Tavern at 5 and 15; Homestead Favorites (including the evil Papa John's Pizza) at 5, 15, 208 and 224; Union Smokehouse at 6, 14, 215 and 231; Sno Zone (cotton candy and snow cones) at 6, 17 and 222; Sun King (local craft beer) at 6; Nacho Cart at 7 and 213; Gluten Free Cart at 8; Hardee's at 10; Red Burrito at 10; Salt & Lime Bar (margaritas) at 10; Golden Kettle (popcorn & pretzels) at 11 and 212; Merchant Bar at 13; Street Taco Cart at 13 and 232; Sun King (local craft beer) at 13, 216 and 224; Bud Light Lima-A-Rita at 16; The Amazing Potato Chip Company at 18 and 225; Blue Moon Tap Room at 19; Philly Cheese Steak Cart at 19 and 201; Capital Sausage Cart at 207 and 226; Scratch Food Truck at 224; and Indiana Ale House at 231.

And there's a Dunkin Donuts inside the Fieldhouse, in the Entry Pavilion, on the building's north, Pennsylvania Street side, next to the Pacers Home Court Gift Shop. 

Team History Displays. The Pacers were the most successful team in the American Basketball Association of 1967 to 1976, reaching 4 Finals, winning 3. (The Nets went 2-1, and no other team reached 3 Finals or won 2 titles.) Since joining the NBA, the exciting moments have been many, but the achievements have been few. Indeed, they had no 1st-place finishes for 22 years (1973 to 1995).

The Pacers hang banners for their 1970, 1972 and 1973 ABA Championships; their 2000 NBA Eastern Conference Championship; and for their 1995, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2013 and 2014 NBA Central Division Championships. They do not, however, hang banners for their 1969 and 1971 ABA Eastern Division Championships.

The Pacers honor 6 men with banners: Former owner Mel Simon (no number on the banner), former head coach Bobby "Slick" Leonard (529, for the number of games he won as Pacer coach, not counting the postseason and the 3 ABA titles), and 4 players. Naturally, they honor 1990s-2000s guard Reggie Miller. The other 3 are from the ABA days: Forwards George McGinnis (30) and Roger Brown (35), and center Mel Daniels (34).
The Fieldhouse also includes banners for the Indiana Fever's 2012 WNBA Championship, and their Conference titles in 2009, 2012 and 2015.
In 2007, Pacers fans chose a 40th Anniversary Team. In addition to Miller, Daniels, McGinnis and Brown, they chose guards Billy Keller, Billy Knight (now general manager of the Nets) and Mark Jackson (the ex-Knick, now ESPN NBA analyst), forwards Clark Kellogg (former CBS college basketball analyst analyst, also working in the Pacers' front office), Dale Davis, Antonio Davis and Jermaine O'Neal, center Rik Smits. Miller was the only Pacer named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players. 

Stuff. The Pacers Home Court Gift Shop is located in the Entry Pavilion on the building's north side, on Pennsylvania Street.

Despite nearly half a century of history with some success, there aren't many books about the Pacers. Your best bet is probably Nate Frisch's entry about the Pacers in the NBA's A History of Hoops series, publishes earlier this year.

As part of its 30 For 30 series, ESPN produced the documentary Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks. Other than that, the most notable DVD about the Pacers is the NBA's official Indiana Pacers Greatest Games collection. Two Playoff games against the Knicks (including that one), two against the Chicago Bulls.

During the Game. Because of their Midwestern/Heartland image, Pacer fans like a “family atmosphere.” They don't much like New York, but they won't bother Knick or Net fans just for being Knick or Net fans, or for wearing Knick or Net gear in their arena. As long as you don't say anything bad about Reggie Miller or former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight, you should be okay.

The Pacers hold auditions for National Anthem singers, instead of having a regular. Their mascot is Boomer the Panther, although what a panther has to do with pace (the cheetah is the fastest land animal) or Indiana is unclear.
Pacers player Paul George sang lead on a new theme song for the Pacers, mixing in the team colors: "Blue Collar Gold Swagger." You likely won't hear any fan chants more imaginative than, "Let's go, Pacers!" But the fans do have a tradition of wearing yellow team jerseys and T-shirts, providing a takeoff on the "whiteout" effect seen at some basketball and hockey games.
After the Game. Indianapolis is a big city, bigger than most people realize, and has every problem that comes with that, including crime. But since the stadium is right downtown, this will probably not affect you. As I said, leave the home fans alone, and they'll probably leave you alone.

There are several eateries near the arena, with, at the least, interesting names. Howl at the Moon is 2 blocks away at 20 E. Georgia Street. Kilroy's Bar & Grill is across from it, at 201 S. Meridian Street. Cadillac Ranch (named for the Amarillo, Texas pop art display that also inspired the title of a Bruce Springsteen song) is inside Union Station. Although connected to a different Indianapolis team, the Indianapolis Colts Grille is at 110 W. Washington Street at Illinois Street, and is festooned with local sports memorabilia.

I can only find one reference to a bar in Indianapolis where expatriate New Yorkers gather to watch their teams: Claddagh Irish Pub, at 234 S. Meridian Street, corner of Jackson Street, 3 blocks from the Fieldhouse, is said to be the local headquarters of Jet fans.

Sidelights. Indianapolis is often said to be boring: Its most common nickname is "India-no-place." But there are some things worth visiting, particularly for a sports fan. Helpfully, the city's new NFL stadium, new NBA arena, and new minor-league ballpark are within a few blocks of each other downtown.

* Victory Field. This 12,230-seat ballpark opened in 1996 as the home of the Indianapolis Indians of the International League (formerly in the American Association), one of the oldest and proudest minor-league franchises. While the Indians have won just 1 Pennant since moving in, in 2000, they are still a legendary franchise, winning 10 International League Pennants.

There have been 10 future Hall-of-Famers who have played for them: Napoleon Lajoie, Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, Rube Marquard, Ray Schalk, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Gabby Hartnett, Al Lopez, Harmon Killebrew and Randy Johnson. Three others managed them: Luke Appling, Joe McCarthy and Al Lopez. In addition to McCarthy, Yankee Legends associated with them are Roger Maris, Don Zimmer and Aaron Boone.

Considering their name, it is a bit odd that they were only briefly, from 1952 to 1956, a farm team of the Cleveland Indians. They contributed players to the Pennant winners of the 1939 and '40 Cincinnati Reds, the 1948 Boston Braves, the 1954 Indians, the 1959 Chicago White Sox; and the Reds again in 1970, '72, '75 and '76. Currently, they are the top farm team of the Pittsburgh Pirates. 501 W. Maryland Street & West Street.

* Bush Stadium. This was the Indians' home from 1931 to 1995. It was first known as Perry Field, after the Indians' owner. In 1942, he took his own name off it, and, in line with the war effort, renamed it Victory Field, a name brought back for its replacement. In 1967, it was renamed Owen J. Bush Stadium, in honor of "Donie" Bush, a former major league shortstop from Indianapolis who had managed the Pirates to the 1927 National League Pennant, and also served the Indianapolis Indians as manager and team president.

Like Wrigley Field in Chicago and Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Bush Stadium had ivy on its outfield walls. In 1987, it was dressed up to resemble both Chicago's Comiskey Park and Cincinnati's Redland Field (later Crosley Field) for the movie Eight Men Out, about the 1919-21 Black Sox Scandal, as it was one of the few remaining pre-1920 ballparks left. (Comiskey Park was still standing, but it didn't yet have an upper deck in 1919, so it was unsuitable for the film.) Interestingly enough, both the White Sox and the Reds had the Indians as their top farm team for some time (though not, of course, at the same time).

The Indians won Pennants at Bush Stadium in 1949, 1956, 1963, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1994. Peak capacity was 15,000. Parts of the stadium have been preserved and turned into housing. 1501 W. 16th Street, northwest of downtown. Number 25 bus.

Across W. 16th Street, at 1502, is Kuntz Stadium, a 5,257-seat soccer stadium. The U.S. national team played 3 games there in the late 1980s. That shows you how far that team has come: They couldn't even sell out 5,000 seats. If they were to play in Indy now, they would sell out the 62,000-seat Lucas Oil Stadium.

Don't expect Indianapolis to get a major league team anytime soon: The metro area would rank 29th in Major League Baseball. It would actually rank higher in the NHL, 24th, but who thinks of hockey when they think of Indiana sports?

The nearest MLB teams to Indianapolis are the Cincinnati Reds, 112 miles away; the Chicago White Sox, 178 miles; the Chicago Cubs, 188 miles; and the St. Louis Cardinals, 242 miles. But according to a recent New York Times article, the most popular team in and around Indianapolis is the Cubs, with the Yankees 2nd, and the Reds and the Boston Red Sox battling it out for 3rd. Why? And why not the much-closer White Sox or Cardinals? Because of the media, particularly the influence of Chicago's superstation WGN, and ESPN and Fox constantly showing the Yankees and Red Sox.

* Lucas Oil Stadium. Home of the Colts since 2008, the stadium looks like red brick, as do a lot of buildings in the city. Actually, it's made out of Indiana limestone -- as is the decidedly not-brick-looking Empire State Building. This makes it look more like an oversized version of an old-style gym.

In spite of its retractable roof, the stadium has artificial turf, specifically FieldTurf. While fully enclosed, behind each end zone is a large window that can be opened; however, there's not much of a view to speak of, since Indianapolis isn't exactly loaded with interesting skyscrapers.
Lucas Oil Stadium hosted the NCAA Final Four in 2010 (Duke beating Butler despite Butler playing in their hometown) and 2015 (Duke winning for the 5th time, the 3rd time in Indy, over Wisconsin). Indianapolis is where the NCAA keeps its headquarters, and after 4 Final Fours were held at the Hoosier Dome, they've decided to make sure the Final Four is held in Indianapolis at least once every 5 years. For this event, the stadium can be adjusted into a 70,000-seat configuration. It has also hosted the Big Ten Football Championship since its first game in 2011, and is under contract to do so through 2021.

500 S. Capitol Avenue. It is bounded by Capitol, McCarty Street, Missouri Street and South Street. It's downtown, with Union Station only a block away.

* Site of Hoosier Dome/RCA Dome. The 60,000-seat building that, along with Bob Irsay's greed, made the move of the Colts to Indianapolis possible hosted only 24 seasons of NFL football, from 1984 to 2007. The building, whose name was changed in 1994, hosted 4 Final Fours: 1991 (Duke's 1st title, shocking defending champion UNLV and then beating Michigan's Fab Five), 1997 (Arizona's only title to date, over defending champion Kentucky), 2000 (Michigan State over Florida) and 2006 (Florida over UCLA).

The stadium was demolished in 2008, and its fabric roof was recycled to make hundreds of new products. An expansion of the Indiana Convention Center is now on the site. 100 S. Capitol Avenue at Georgia Street.

* Site of Market Square Arena. Home of the Pacers from 1974 to 1999, this 16,530-seat arena had a weird egg shape, possibly the result of a Seventies-inspired drug haze. It also hosted minor-league hockey, and the World Hockey Association's Indianapolis Racers from 1974 to 1979. This was the first major league team of Wayne Gretzky.

It also hosted the NCAA Final Four in 1980 (Louisville over UCLA), and what turned out to be Elvis Presley's last concert, on June 26, 1977. 300 E. Market Street at Alabama Street.

The closest NHL team to Indianapolis is the Columbus Blue Jackets, 174 miles away. The Chicago Blackhawks are a little further away, 184 miles.

* Hinkle Fieldhouse. Formerly Butler Fieldhouse, and renamed for longtime basketball coach Tony Hinkle, this gym was built for Butler University in 1928, and has hosted countless Indiana basketball memories, including the State high school championships. Most notably, it hosted the 1954 Final, which saw Milan defeat Muncie Central, inspiring the film Hoosiers, which filmed on the same court and used the original announcers. (Milan had also been to the Final 2 years earlier, with some of the same players, so while it was an upset, it wasn't like Milan was a total unknown. An underdog, yes; a longshot, no.)

The NBA team known first as the Indianapolis Jets, and then as the Indianapolis Olympians, played there from 1948 to 1953, but the 1951 collegiate point-shaving scandal implicated some of its players (who had also played in the 1948 Olympics, hence the name change), and doomed them to the trashcan of history. And after the Fort Wayne Pistons moved to Detroit in 1957, not until the 1976 ABA-NBA merger would another NBA team play in the most basketball-crazy State of all.

Seating 15,000 at its peak (a sellout of which at the 1987 Pan American Games becoming, to this day, the largest crowd ever to attend a volleyball match in America), modernizations, including wider seats, have reduced capacity to 10,000. But it still stands, and is one of the oldest remaining buildings to have hosted one of the 4 major sports leagues in North America. 510 W. 49th Street, north of downtown. Number 28 bus, then walk west on 49th from Illinois Street to Rookwood Avenue.

* Fairgrounds Coliseum. Opening in 1939 as part of the Indiana State Fair complex, this was the Pacers' first home, from 1967 to 1974. It was their home when they won the American Basketball Association Championship in 1970, 1972 and 1973. It still stands, and now hosts the Indianapolis Fuel minor-league hockey team. 1202 E. 38th Street, northeast of downtown. Number 39 bus.

Indiana University is in Bloomington, 50 miles to the southwest. Purdue University is in West Lafayette, 68 miles to the northwest. And the University of Notre Dame, easily more popular in Indianapolis than either IU or PU, is in South Bend, 149 miles to the north.
* Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The most famous building in the State of Indiana, and the largest sports facility in the world, has nothing to do with basketball or football or baseball. It's the home of the Indianapolis 500, held there every year (usually on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend) since 1911 (except for the World War years: 1917, '18, '42, '43, '44 and '45). The track opened in 1909, and has spread the name of the city all over the world, as drivers from as far away as Britain (Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti), Brazil (Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan), Australia (Scott Dixon) and Colombia (Juan Pablo Montoya) have won the 500 in recent years.

The permanent seating capacity is 257,325. Infield seating can push it to over 400,000 -- and the Indy 500 sells out every year. Although the mailing address is "4790 W. 16th Street, Speedway, Indiana 46222," it's within the city limits of Indianapolis, 5 miles northwest of downtown. Number 25 bus.

* Michael Carroll Stadium. This is the home of the Indy Eleven, of the new version of the North American Soccer League, the 2nd division of North American soccer. It sets 12,111. 1001 W. New York Street, a mile west of downtown. There is no bus service there. The nearest MLS team is the Columbus Crew, 178 miles away. The Chicago Fire are 183 miles away.

* Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. Standing 284 1/2 feet high at the geographic center of the City and the State, this tower was dedicated in 1902, commemorating the Indiana military personnel of the recent Spanish-American War, the American Civil War, the Mexican-American War, the frontier conflicts that were a part of the War of 1812 (which produced several battles in Indiana), and the American capture of Vincennes from the British during the War of the American Revolution. During the holiday season, it is decorated like a Christmas tree. (If that sounds sacrilegious, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the considerably shorter Civil War Monument is turned into an artificial Christmas tree, and nobody objects.) Monument Circle, at Meridian & Market Streets.

The tallest building in the State of Indiana is the Chase Tower, with a roof 700 feet high and spires rising to 830 feet. 111 Monument Circle.

Indianapolis is not big on museums. The best-known is the Indiana State Museum, at a complex that includes the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. Washington & West Streets, downtown. Number 8 bus if you don't feel like walking.

William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States and former Territorial Governor (died just 1 month after his 1841 Inauguration), and his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President (1889-1893), both lived in Indiana (as did Abraham Lincoln as a boy). But Grouseland, the house of "Old Tippecanoe," is 130 miles away in Vincennes. The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site is just north of downtown, at 1230 N. Delaware Street. Number 19 bus.

Only 3 TV shows are known to have been set in Indianapolis. Close to Home and the U.S. version of the British hit Men Behaving Badly are best forgotten. But the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time, which aired from 1975 to 1984, and starred Bonnie Franklin and launched Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli to stardom, was groundbreaking: It was not only the first TV show to show a divorced single mother (rather than a widowed one), but it actually made Indianapolis seem like a fun place to be.

Movies set in Indianapolis are also rare. Some early scenes of Close Encounters of the Third Kind were set there, before moving out to the iconic Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Last year, the cult hit The Fault In Our Stars was set there, but filmed in Pittsburgh.

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Indiana is the most basketball-crazy State of them all. That love of the game extends to the Pacers, though success has been in short supply for them.

But New Yorkers love their basketball, too, and memories of past Knicks-Pacers games will keep this rivalry fresh. Enjoy yourself, but don't rub it in if you win.

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This coming Friday night, the New York Knicks visit the Philadelphia 76ers. They will also visit on April 8. The Brooklyn Nets, who lost to them 100-91 at the Barclays Center this past Thursday night, will visit on February 6 and March 11.

Along with the Boston Celtics, and each other, the Sixers are a team that could be called a rival to the New York NBA teams -- the Nets more so, because the franchises are historically linked, in what was a turning point for both:

In order to enter the NBA for the 1976-77 season, the New York Nets, as they were then known, had to pay both an expansion fee and a territorial indemnification fee to the Knicks. As a result, they had to sell their best player, Julius "Dr. J" Erving. Management figured, the Knicks are trying to screw us over, so let's screw them over, by selling him to their biggest rivals. But that would be the Boston Celtics, defending NBA Champions, and we don't want to make them stronger. So who's their next-biggest rivals? The 76ers, and they stink. Dr. J. can't help them that much, right?

Result: In just 1 season, the Sixers went from being a team that hadn't won a Playoff round in 8 years to within 2 games of an NBA title; while the Nets went from a team that had dominated the last few years of the ABA, including winning the last title and 2 of the last 3, to the worst team in the NBA. In the NBA, 1 player can make a gigantic difference -- as the Nets would find out 25 years later, in the other direction, with Jason Kidd.

The Nets would move from the Nassau Coliseum to the Rutgers Athletic Center, becoming the New Jersey Nets, and then to the Meadowlands, and then to the Prudential Center, and finally Brooklyn 3 years ago, never winning a title, and only twice making the Finals. In Dr. J.'s 1st 7 seasons with the 76ers, they would reach the Eastern Conference Finals 6 times, reach the NBA Finals 4 times, and win the 1983 NBA Championship.

It's silly to blame the 76ers for the Nets' misfortunes, though. This is a franchise that has continually shot itself in the foot, to the point where their feet have more bullet than bone.

Then again, that's also been true of the 76ers the last 30 years. They broke the record for the longest losing streak in American professional sports history with 27 straight losses over this season and last season with a 114–116 loss to the Houston Rockets. The losing streak would reach to 28 games before getting their first victory at home against the Los Angeles Lakers. (This in a season where the former Philadelphia NBA team, the Golden State Warriors, won their 1st 24 games before finally losing last night, to the Milwaukee Bucks.)

The Sixers are currently 1-23, on a pace to break the record for worst record in NBA history, 9-73 -- set by the 76ers themselves in 1972-73. Wouldn't it be just like the Nets -- in Long Island, in Central Jersey, in North Jersey, or in Brooklyn -- to give the Sixers a rare win in this season?

Before You Go. Philadelphia is just down the road, so it's in the Eastern Time Zone, and you don't have to worry about fiddling with various timepieces. And the weather will be almost identical to what you'd have on the same day in New York. Still, check the combined website for the Philadelphia newspapers, the Inquirer and the Daily News, before you head out.

For the moment, it looks like there's not going to be a weather disruption. There's a 20 percent chance of rain for Friday. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 50s in daylight, and the mid-30s at night. A winter jacket should be enough.

Tickets. Due to being lousy, the 76ers are averaging just 14,820 fans per home game, 26th in the league, ahead of only Milwaukee, Minnesota, Denver, and, uh, the Nets. (The Nets are 28th, Denver last.) They're averaging just 72.9 percent of capacity, 27th, ahead of only Detroit, Minnesota and Denver. (The Knicks, no surprise, are averaging 100.0 percent, while the Nets are at 80.7 percent, which is great by their standards.) So getting tickets shouldn't be an issue.

Lower bowl seats are $127 to $203 between the baskets and $51 to $74 behind them. Upper level seats are among the cheapest in the NBA: $25 to $59 between the baskets and $18 to $26 behind them.

Getting There. It’s 99 miles from Times Square in Manhattan to City Hall in Center City Philadelphia, and 101 miles from Madison Square Garden to the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia. 

This is close enough that a typical Knicks or Nets fan could leave his house, drive to his home arena or some other meeting place, pick up some friends, head down to the WFC, watch a game, head back, drop his friends off, and drive home, all within 7 hours. But it’s also close enough that you could spend an entire day in Philadelphia, and, hopefully, you’ve already done this. Having done so many times myself, I can tell you that it’s well worth it.

If you are driving, you’ll need to get on the New Jersey Turnpike. If you’re not “doing the city,” but just going to the game (considering the weather, I would advise just going to the game this time), take the Turnpike’s Exit 3 to N.J. Route 168, which forms part of the Black Horse Pike, to Interstate 295. (The Black Horse Pike later becomes N.J. Route 42, U.S. Route 322 and U.S. Route 40, going into Atlantic City. Not to be confused with the White Horse Pike, U.S. Route 30, which also terminates in A.C.)

Take I-295 to Exit 26, which will get you onto Interstate 76 and the Walt Whitman Bridge into Philly. Signs for the ballpark will soon follow, and the park is at 11th Street and Pattison Avenue. If you want to plug a specific address into your GPS, the mailing address is 3601 South Broad Street.

From anywhere in New York City, allow 2½ hours for the actual drive, though from North Jersey you might need only 2, and from Central Jersey an hour and a half might suffice. But take at least another half-hour to negotiate the last mile or so, including the parking lot itself, due to the weather, if not to traffic for a game that might not attract anywhere near a full house.

You could take New Jersey Transit from New York's Penn Station to the Trenton Transit Center, and, from there, transfer to SEPTA, the SouthEastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. (You might recognize their “S” logo from Trading Places, and the bus that hits Tommy Morrison at the end of Rocky V.) This will be cheaper than Amtrak.

With the game starting at 7:00 PM, you can leave Penn Station at 3:27, make the transfer at Trenton at 5:10, and arrive at Suburban Station at 6:05. With the game ending at around 9:15, you should have no trouble taking the Subway back to Suburban Station, and taking the Trenton Line out at 9:56, making the transfer at Trenton at 11:18, and arriving back at Penn Station at 12:55 AM. Round-trip, NJ Transit from New York to Trenton will be $33.50, while SEPTA from Trenton to Philadelphia will be $18, for a total of $51.50. (I know, I know: "That's insane!" Still cheaper than Amtrak.)

Philadelphia and Toronto are the only 2 cities left on the North American continent, as far as I know, that still use tokens rather than farecards (or "MetroCards" as New York's MTA calls them) or tickets for their subways. One ride on a SEPTA subway train is $2.25, cheaper than New York's, but they don’t sell single tokens at booths. They come in packs of 2, 5 and 10, and these packs are damn hard to open. Two cost $3.60; five are $9.00, and a ten-pack costs $18.00. They are also available for bulk purchase.

From Suburban Station, there's a pedestrian concourse that leads to the Broad Street Line at City Hall Station. If you're a Knick fan -- or a Net fan who also either a Met fan or an Islander fan -- you’ll notice that the Market-Frankford Line’s standard color is blue, while the BSL’s is orange. Blue and orange. Don’t think that means they want to make New York fans feel at home, though.

From City Hall, if you’re lucky, you’ll get an express train that will make just 2 stops, Walnut-Locust and AT&T (formerly "Pattison" -- yes, SEPTA sold naming rights to one of their most important subway stations). But you’ll want to save your luck for the game itself, so don’t be too disappointed if you get a local, which will make 7 stops: Walnut-Locust, Lombard-South, Ellsworth-Federal, Tasker-Morris, Oregon, Snyder and AT&T. The local should take about 10 minutes, the express perhaps 7 minutes.

The subway’s cars are fairly recent, and don’t rattle much, although they can be unpleasant on the way back from the game, especially if it’s a football game and they’re rammed with about 100 Eagles fans who’ve spent the game sweating and boozing and are still loaded for bear for anyone from outside the Delaware Valley. It’s highly unlikely anyone will give you anything more than a little bit of verbal on the subway ride into the Sports Complex, while they might give a little more gusto to the verbal on the ride back. But despite Philly sports fans’ reputation, this will not be the equivalent of the London Underground on a Saturday afternoon in the 1980s: They might tell you that your team sucks (even if your team is ahead of theirs in the standings), but that’s about the worst you’ll get.

Once In the City. Philadelphia is a Greek word meaning "brotherly love," a name given to it by its founder, William Penn, in 1683. So the city is nicknamed "The City of Brotherly Love." The actions and words of its sports fans suggest that this is ridiculous. Giants coach Bill Parcells was once caught on an NFL Films production, during a game with the Eagles at the Vet, saying to Lawrence Taylor, "You know, Lawrence, they call this 'the City of Brotherly Love,' but it's really a banana republic." And Emmitt Smith, who played for that other team Eagles fans love to hate, the Dallas Cowboys, also questioned the name: "They don't got no love for no brothers."

On a map, it might look like Penn Square, surrounding City Hall, is the centerpoint, but this is just geographic, and only half-refers to addresses. Market Street is the difference between the north-south numbering on the numbered Streets. But the Delaware River is the start for the east-west streets, with Front Street taking the place of 1st Street. Broad Street, which intersects with Market at City Hall/Penn Square, takes the place of 14th Street.

In the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, Philadelphia was the largest city in America, before being overtaken by New York. As recently as 1970, it had about 2 million people. But "white flight" after the 1964 North Philadelphia riot led to the population dropping to just over 1.5 million in 2000. It has inched back upward since then. The metro area as a whole -- southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and most of Delaware -- is about 7.1 million, making it the 6th-largest in the country, behind New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston.

The sales tax is 6 percent in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Massachusetts, Virginia and Kentucky are also "commonwealths" in their official State names), 8 percent within the City of Philadelphia.

Going In. The Philadelphia sports complex, whose official address is 3601 South Broad Street, 3.7 miles south of City Hall, once included Sesquicentennial/Municipal/John F. Kennedy Stadium (1926-1992), The Spectrum (1967-2009), and Veterans Stadium (1971-2004). The arena now known as the Wells Fargo Center was built in 1996 on the site of JFK Stadium. Citizens Bank Park, the new home of the Phillies, was built in 2004 to the east of The Vet. And Lincoln Financial Field was built in 2003 south of the new ballpark, and east of the Spectrum.

There is plenty of parking in the complex, including a lot on the site of  The Vet. But you'll be a lot better off if you take the subway. Not really because of the price of parking: At $16, it's one of the cheaper prices in sports. But traffic could well be awful. The first time I went to a sporting event in Philadelphia, it was a 4th of July celebration at the Vet, and 58,000 people showed up to see the Phils face the Houston Astros, with Nolan Ryan pitching. The game and the fireworks combined did not last as long as it took to get out of the parking lot and onto the Walt Whitman Bridge: 2 hours and 40 minutes. And with the projected weather, making streets slippery? Trust me: Take the freakin' subway.

Coming out of the AT&T subway station, you’ll walk down Pattison Avenue, with a parking lot on the former site of Veterans Stadium to your left, and the site of the Spectrum to your right.

Further to your right is the successor to the Spectrum, the Wells Fargo Center, named for the banking and insurance company. This building is 19 years old and is now under its 5th name, which it got when it was 14 years old. One of the previous names was the First Union Center, and fans, especially watching Flyer games, liked called it "The F.U. Center."

It was built on the site of John F. Kennedy Stadium, formerly Municipal Stadium, a 105,000-seat structure that hosted all kinds of events, from the Army-Navy Game to heavyweight title fights (Gene Tunney taking the title away from Jack Dempsey in 1926 and Rocky Marciano doing the same to Jersey Joe Walcott in 1952), from the occasional Eagles game that was too big for Shibe Park in the 1940s and ’50s to the U.S. half of Live Aid in 1985. And it hosted the Phils’ victory celebration in 1980, with its huge capacity coming in handy. By that point, it was crumbling, and it surprised no one when it was demolished to make way for the new arena.

Inside the arena, concourses are wide and well-lit, a big departure from the Spectrum. Escalators are safe and nearly always work, as opposed to the Vet, which did not have escalators, only seemingly-endless ramps. Getting to your seat should be easy. The court is aligned north-to-south. Seats are red, so, if you're also a New Jersey Devils fan, but haven't been inside yet (and after 19 years, why not?), it will have some familiarity to you (as long as you don't look up at the bright orange Flyer banners).
The WFC, whose seating capacity tops out at 21,600, hosts the 76ers, the Flyers, some home games for Villanova University basketball, and the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League. It also hosts NCAA Tournament basketball, concerts, and Sportsradio WIP's annual pre-Super Bowl gorgefest, the Wing Bowl. With the exception of the Soul, who hadn't been founded yet, all of these events were previously held at The Spectrum. The WFC also hosted the Republican Convention in 2000, and will host the 2016 Democratic Convention.

Food. From the famed Old Original Bookbinder's (125 Walnut Street at 2nd, now closed) and Le Bec Fin (1523 Walnut at 16th) to the Reading Terminal Market (Philly's "South Street Seaport" at 51 N. 12th St at Filbert) and the South Philly cheesesteak giants Pat’s, Geno’s and Tony Luke’s, Philly is a great food city and don’t you ever forget it. The variety of food available at the Wells Fargo Center is unbelievable. Little of it is healthy (no surprise there), but all of it is good.

On the lower Main Concourse Level, the South Jersey restaurant chain P.J. Whelihan's has stands behind both goals. Tim Hortons, the Canadian donut chain founded by the Toronto Maple Leafs legend, has stands at all 4 corners. Chickie's & Pete's, whose main outlet is nearby at 1526 Packer Avenue (near the also-famed Celebre's Pizza), has stands on the west side and in the northeast corner, to sell their fish and their “crab fries” -- French fries with Old Bay seasoning mix, not fries with crabmeat. The northeast corner also has that wonderful junk food staple of Pennsylvania Dutch country (and the Jersey Shore), funnel cake. The legendary South Street pizzeria Lorenzo & Sons has stands on both the east and west sides. Each of these brands can also be found on the upper, Mezzanine Concourse Level.

Stuff. The Flyers have a team store, run by Forty Seven Brand ('47), in the northwest corner of the lower concourse, which is also open on non-game days. The 76ers have a Fan Gear Store, at the opposite, southeast corner.

The Phillies, Eagles and Flyers all seem to have more books written about them than the 76ers. Wayne Lynch collaborated with Billy Cunningham, the one man with on-bench connections to both titles, on Season of the 76ers: The Story of Wilt Chamberlain and the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers. For the 1983 title, the general manger wrote Pat Williams: Tales from the Philadelphia 76ers: 1982-1983 NBA Champions.

In between, going from the sublime to the ridiculous -- or, if you don't mind the awful pun, going to the other end of the spectrum -- Charley Rosen wrote a book that shows that this season's horrendous start is hardly unprecedented: Perfectly Awful: The Philadelphia 76ers' Horrendous and Hilarious 1972-1973 Season. Like Jim Bouton's baseball book Ball Four, it tells of things that couldn't possibly have gone wrong in real life, but did. Indeed, while the Seattle Pilots only existed in that form for 1 season, making Ball Four seem like a novel about a fictional team, the '73 76ers were all too real, though it's hard to believe some of these stories are for real.

But if you really want to get a feel for Philly sports, get these 3, all co-written by WIP host Glen Macnow with one of his colleagues: The Great Philadelphia Fan Book with Anthony Gargano, The Great Philadelphia Sports Debate with Angelo Cataldi (who is Philly's answer to Mike & the Mad Dog, all in one guy), and The Great Book of Philadelphia Sports Lists, with Ed Gudonis, a.k.a. Big Daddy Graham, also a Philly and Jersey Shore-based standup comic and a great guy who writes a regular column for Philadelphia magazine.

As for DVDs, The NBA Dynasty Series includes Philadelphia 76ers: The Complete History, running from their arrival from Syracuse in 1963 until the DVD's release in 2012. There are also DVDs (or, in some cases, VHS'es) on Amazon.com honoring Dr. J, Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson.

During the Game. The Mets-Phillies, Giants-Eagles, Rangers-Flyers, Islanders-Flyers and Devils-Flyers rivalries don't really carry over into either Knicks-Sixers or Nets-Sixers. So you shouldn't have too much of a problem with your safety. Yes, these people do root for the Phils, Eagles and Flyers, but you're not going to get beaten up, as long as you don't go out of your way to antagonize them.

The 76ers hold auditions for National Anthem singers, instead of having a regular singer, like the Flyers do with Lauren Hart. The team might play the old fight song "1-2-3-4-5-Sixers!" And, perhaps more than any other team, the 76ers breakout throwback uniforms. They dropped Hip Hop, their shades-wearing, trampoline-jumping-and-dunking rabbit mascot, and have adopted a new mascot, a big blue dog named Franklin (named for Ben), whose "uniform number" is a paw print.
After the Game. Philadelphia is a big city, with all the difficulties of big cities as well as many of the perks of them. But with 76ers fans not having the reputation of Eagles or Flyers fans, and with the weather and the holiday probably keeping a lot of people away, you'll almost certainly be safe. But watch your step on the wet streets and sidewalks, and be wary of cars.

If you drove down, and you want to stop off for a late dinner and/or drinks (except, of course, for the designated driver), the nearby Holiday Inn at 9th Street & Packer Avenue has a bar that is co-owned by former Eagles quarterback, now ESPN pundit, Ron Jaworski. As I mentioned earlier, the original outlet of Chickie’s & Pete’s is at 15th & Packer. Right next to it is a celebrated joint, named, appropriately enough, Celebre Pizzeria.

(The legend is true: Richie Ashburn and his broadcast partners, Harry Kalas, Chris Wheeler and Andy Musser mentioned their great-tasting pizzas on the air so often that, since Phils broadcasts were then sponsored by a pizzeria chain, they couldn’t mention Celebre’s anymore. So, just as Ashburn’s New York counterpart, Phil Rizzuto, liked to mention birthdays and food, especially Italian food, on the air, “Whitey” rattled off a few birthday wishes, and said, “And I’d like to wish a Happy Birthday to the Celebre’s twins, Plain and Pepperoni! Say, Wheels, how old are Plain and Pepperoni?” And Wheeler said, “Oh, about 20 minutes, I hope!” Sure enough, 20 minutes later, the delivery of the 2 pizzas was made. And nobody fired Richie Ashburn -- although he died from a diabetes-induced heart attack in 1997, and his eyesight was already getting bad enough that he was getting pressured to retire, and was considering it. He died at the Grand Hyatt adjacent to Grand Central, during a Phils roadtrip to play the Mets -- and he wasn't alone as initially reported: He had his mistress with him.)

The legendary Pat's and Geno's Steaks, arch-rivals as intense as any local sports opponents, are across 9th Street from each other at Passyunk Avenue in the Italian Market area. My preference is Pat's, but Geno's is also very good. Be advised, though, that the lines at both are of Shake Shack length, because people know they're that good. Also, Pat's was "the original Soup Nazi": You have to have your cash ready, and you have to quickly order your topping, your style of cheese, and either "wit" or "widdout" -- with or without onions. I haven't been there in a while, but I've been there often enough that I have a "usual": "Mushroom, whiz, wit."

Both Pat's and Geno's are open 24 hours, but, because of the length of the line, unless you drove down to the game, I would recommend not going there after the game, only before (if you can make time for it). Broad Street Line to Ellsworth-Federal, then 5 blocks east on Federal, and 1 block south on 9th.

There is one place I know of in Philadelphia that caters to New York fans: The Tavern on Broad, at 200 S. Broad Street at Walnut, seems to be the headquarters of the local Giants fan club. A particular favorite restaurant of mine is the New Deck Tavern, at 3408 Sansom Street in University City, on the Penn campus.

You can also pick up a sandwich, a snack or a drink at any of several Wawa stores in and around the city. If you came in via Suburban Station, there's one at 1707 Arch, a 5-minute walk away; if the game lasts 3 hours or less, you have a shot at getting in, getting your order, getting out, and getting back to the station in time to catch your train.

Sidelights. The Philadelphia sports complex once included 3 buildings that have all been replaced and demolished: From north to south, the Vet, the Spectrum and JFK Stadium. The arena now known as the Wells Fargo Center was built on the site of JFK Stadium. Citizens Bank Park, the new home of the Phillies, was built to the east of The Vet. And Lincoln Financial Field was built south of the new ballpark, and east of the Spectrum.

* Sesquicentennial/Municipal/JFK Stadium. Built in 1926 for a 150th Anniversary (Sesquicentennial of American independence) world's fair in Philadelphia, this 105,000-seat horseshoe (open at the north end) was designed for football, but one of its earliest events was a fight for the Heavyweight Championship of the World. For the 1st time, that title changed hands on a decision, rather than on a knockout. But Gene Tunney so decisively outfought champion Jack Dempsey that no one disputed it. (When they had their rematch a year later, at Soldier Field in Chicago, that was another story.)

The stadium was renamed Municipal Stadium in 1931 (sometimes it was called simply Philadelphia Stadium), and, due to being (roughly) halfway between the service academies, became the site of the Army-Navy Game from 1936 to 1941, and again from 1945 to 1979, before it was moved to The Vet.

The Eagles played home games there from 1936 to 1939, and select games thereafter, including the 1950 season opener that was, as soccer fans would call it, a "Charity Shield" game: The 2-time defending NFL Champion Eagles vs. the Cleveland Browns, 4-time titlists in the All-America Football Conference. The Browns were 47-4-3 over the AAFC's 4-season history; the Eagles, 22-3-1 over the last 2 years, thanks to a 5-2 alignment that was the 1st defensive unit to have a memorable nickname: Before San Diego and Los Angeles had a Fearsome Foursome, Philly had a Suicide Seven.

Some people then called it "The Game of the Century," and some now think of as an unofficial "first Super Bowl" -- ironic, since neither team has won an NFL Championship in the Super Bowl era, and the Browns haven't even been to a Super Bowl yet. Playing on a Saturday night -- making it, sort of, not just "the 1st Super Bowl" but "the 1st Monday Night Football game" -- in front of 71,237 fans, still the largest crowd ever to watch a football game in Philadelphia (and nearly double the capacity of Shibe Park, which really limited the Eagles' attendance), the Browns beat the Eagles 35-10, stunning football fans all over the nation. The Eagles never recovered, while the Browns won the NFL title that year, and appeared in 7 title games in 8 years, winning 3.

In 1964, Municipal Stadium was renamed John F. Kennedy Stadium. On August 16, 1966, the Beatles played there. On July 13, 1985, it hosted the American end of Live Aid. But that show exposed to the world that it already falling apart. The Rolling Stones, who had packed the place on their 1981 Tattoo You tour, chose the considerably smaller Vet for Steel Wheels in 1989. It was demolished in 1992, and the new arena opened on the site in 1996.

* The Spectrum. This modern (for its time) arena opened in 1967, and 2 teams at the opposite ends of the competitive, uh, spectrum moved in: The 76ers, the NBA's defending Champions; and the Flyers, an NHL expansion team. Although the Flyers won inspirational (and confrontational) Stanley Cups in 1974 and '75, they also lost in the Finals in 1976, '80, '85 and '87. And while the Sixers won the 1983 NBA title in a dominating season-long performance, they also lost in the Finals in 1977, '80 and '82, and were lost after a couple of puzzling Draft Day trades in 1986.

The Spectrum hosted the NCAA Final Four in 1976 and 1981, both times won by Bobby Knight's Indiana. Since 1976 was the Bicentennial year, it also hosted the NBA and NHL All-Star Games. The Vet also hosted baseball's All-Star Game that year. And the Spectrum was the site of both fights between Philly native Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed, the former in the first Rocky, on New Year's Day 1976, and the latter in Rocky II, on Thanksgiving of that year. (All the fights in the 1st 3 movies were actually filmed at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, due to its proximity to Hollywood. The fights in Rocky IV were filmed in Vancouer.)

The Spectrum was also a big arena for college basketball: Villanova used it for home games that were too big for its on-campus Pavilion, the Atlantic 10 Conference used it for its tournament, and it hosted NCAA Tournament games at the sub-Final Four level, including the 1992 thriller that put Duke into the Final Four at Kentucky's expense, thanks to the last-second shot of Christian Laettner. The first rock concert there was by Cream, on their 1968 farewell tour. Elvis Presley sang at The Spectrum on November 8, 1971, June 23, 1974 (2 shows), June 28, 1976 and May 28, 1977. The last, and the last public event there, was by Pearl Jam in 2009.

The Spectrum became, in the words of its promoters, "America's Showplace" and the most-used sports arena in the world. This was a blessing and a curse: They could make a lot of money off of it, but it was limited. So Spectacor, the company that owned the Spectrum and the Sixers, built Spectrum II, now the WFC.

From 1996 to 2009, the arenas stood side-by-side. The main Spectrum tenants said goodbye as follows: The Flyers with an exhibition game on September 27, 2008, with all their former Captains on hand, as the Fly Guys beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2; Villanova with the building's last college basketball game on January 28, 2009, a win over the University of Pittsburgh; and on March 13, 2009, the Sixers beat the Chicago Bulls 104-101 in a special regular-season game.

The Spectrum was demolished the next year, and replaced in part with a live concert venue called "Xfinity Live!" (Yes, the exclamation point is included in the official name.) This structure now hosts the statues that were outside the Spectrum. A hotel is planned for the rest of the Spectrum site.

* Veterans Stadium. When it opened on April 10, 1971, it was considered state of the art and wonderful. And, as the Phillies had a great team from 1976 to 1983, reaching 6 postseasons in 8 years, winning 2 Pennants and the 1980 World Series, it became beloved by Phils fans. The Eagles, too, had a resurgence in the late 1970s, and hosted and won the 1980 NFC Championship Game. The Vet was seen as everything that Connie Mack Stadium was not: New instead of old, in good shape instead of falling apart, in a safe place instead of a ghetto (unless you were a New York Giants or Dallas Cowboys fan), and representative of victory instead of defeat.

The Eagles had a down period in the mid-1980s, but rebounded toward the end of the decade. But the Phils had collapsed, and the Vet's faults began to be seen: It was ugly, the sight lines were bad for baseball, and the turf was bad for everything, from eyes to knees. By the time the Phils won the Pennant in 1993, Camden Yards had opened just down the road in Baltimore, and suddenly everyone wanted a "retro park," and no one wanted a "cookie-cutter stadium."

It took a few more years, and a lot of complaints from opposing NFL players that the stadium was deteriorating and the turf was dangerous, for a new stadium to be approved. The Eagles closed the Vet out with a shocking and devastating loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2002 NFC Championship Game, and the Phils did so with a loss to the Atlanta Braves on September 28, 2003. The Eagles had already moved into their new stadium by that point, and the Phils moved into theirs the next April, a few days after the Vet's demolition. The baseball and football sculptures that were outside have been placed on Pattison Avenue, in front of the parking lot where the Vet once stood.

The Vet hosted the Army-Navy Game every year from 1980 to 2001, except for 1983, 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2000. (The 1983 game was played at the Rose Bowl, the 2000 game at the new Ravens' stadium in Baltimore, and the rest, as well as the 2002 game, at the Meadowlands.) Various pro soccer teams, including the North American Soccer League's Philadelphia Atoms, also played there.

* Citizens Bank Park. It opened in 2004, and the Phils were in the Playoff race until September that year. In 2005 and '06, they were in it until the last weekend. In 2007, they won the Division. In 2008, they won the World Series. In 2009, they won another Pennant. In 2010 and '11, they won the Division -- 5 straight Playoff berths, and 8 seasons in the ballpark with all good-to-great seasons. Only in 2012, when injuries flurried in and the team suddenly seemed to get old all at once, did the bad times return.

Baker Bowl was a dump. Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium was already neglected due to Mack's strapped finances by the time the Phils arrived, and by the time they left the neighborhood was a ghastly ghetto. The Vet was a football stadium. CBP is a ballpark, and a great one. (Okay, on January 2, 2012, it was a hockey rink. To make matters worse, the Flyers lost to the one team I would want them to beat, the Rangers.)

"The Bank" has statues of Phils greats like Richie Ashburn and Mike Schmidt, great food like Greg Luzinski's Bull's Barbecue, and lots and lots of souvenirs, some of which don't involve the Phillie Phanatic. And, with the Phils now being terrible, tickets are easier to get.

* Lincoln Financial Field. The new home of the Eagles has seen them make the Playoffs more often than not, and reach the Super Bowl in the 2004 season. And fan behavior, while still rowdy, is not as criminal as it was at The Vet: No more municipal court under the stands is necessary.

"The Linc" has hosted the Army-Navy Game every year since it opened, except for 2007 and 2011. It will also not host it this year or in 2016, as Baltimore will on those occasions. It's hosted 3 games of the U.S. National Soccer Team, an MLS All-Star Game, and several games by touring European teams such as Manchester United, Glasgow Celtic and A.C. Milan.

If you drove down, or you came by train early on Saturday and have the whole day to yourself before a 7:05 gametime, in addition to the other stadiums and arenas at the Sports Complex, there are lots of interesting locations for you to check out. Remember that, although the city's centerpoint is technically Broad & Market Streets, where City Hall is, the numbering of north-south streets starts at the Delaware River, so that Broad takes the place of 14th Street.

* Deliverance Evangelistic Church and site of old ballpark. This was the site of Shibe Park, renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1952. This is where the A's played from 1909 to 1954, the Phils from 1938 to 1970, and the Eagles in 1940, and from 1942 to 1957. The A's played World Series there in 1910, '11, '12, '13, '14, '29, '30 and '31, and the Phils (against the Yanks) in '50.

The Eagles played and won the 1948 NFL Championship Game there, beating the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 in a snowstorm, and also won the NFL title in '49 (though the title game was played in Los Angeles against the Rams). The Frankford Yellow Jackets sometimes used it in the 1920s, winning the 1926 NFL Championship. On October 14, 1948, shortly after Israel declared its independence, its national soccer team faced the U.S. at Shibe Park, shortly after doing so at Yankee Stadium. These were Israel's 1st 2 matches, and the U.S. won them both.

Be advised, though, that this is North Philly, and the church is easily the nicest building for several blocks around. Across the street is Dobbins Tech, a high school known for its great basketball program. (Remember the story of Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble? They went to Dobbins. So did Dawn Staley.) 21st Street & Lehigh Avenue. By subway, use the North Philadelphia station on the Broad Street Line, and walk 7 blocks west on Lehigh.

* Site of Baker Bowl. This was where the Phils played from 1887 to 1938, and the Eagles from 1933 to 1943 (though sometimes moving to Municipal Stadium, the one renamed for JFK). The Phils won one Pennant there, in 1915. It was also the Eagles' 1st home, in the 1933, '34 and '35 seasons.

Southwest corner of Broad Street and Lehigh Avenue, 8 blocks east of the Connie Mack Stadium site. Same subway stop as Shibe/Connie Mack. The A's original home, Columbia Park, is at 29th Street & Columbia Avenue, but I wouldn't recommend going there. If you're going to any of these, do it in daylight.

* The Palestra. Built in 1927, this is the arena aptly nicknamed the Cathedral of Basketball. It even has stained-glass windows. (I swear, I am not making that up.) The home gymnasium of the University of Pennsylvania (or just "Penn"), it also hosts some games of Philly's informal "Big 5" basketball programs when they play each other: Penn, Temple, La Salle, St. Joseph's and Villanova.

Penn, a member of the Ivy League, has one of the nicest college campuses anywhere, but do not be fooled by its Ivyness: In Philadelphia, even the Ivy Leaguers are tough. 235 South 33rd Street. Take the "Subway-Surface Line" trolley, either the Number 11, 13, 34 or 36, to the 33rd Street stop.

As I said, Philadelphia has hosted 2 NCAA Final Fours, both at the Spectrum. 'Nova has made it 4 times: 1939, 1971, 1985 and 2009. La Salle made it in back-to-back years, 1954 and 1955. Temple made it in 1956 and 1958, although never under legendary coach John Chaney. St. Joe's made it in 1961, and just missed in 2004. Penn made it in 1979, under future Detroit Pistons coach Chuck Daly. Temple won the NIT in 1938, but the only Philly-based National Champions under the NCAA banner (which began in 1939) are La Salle in 1954 and 'Nova in 1985.

* Franklin Field, right next to the Palestra. The oldest continuously-used college football site, Penn has played here since 1895 (which is also when the Penn Relay Carnival, the nation's premier track-and-field event, began), and in the current stadium since 1922. That year, it supposedly hosted the first football game ever broadcast on radio (a claim the University of Pittsburgh disputes), and in 1939 it supposedly hosted the first football game ever televised (a claim New York’s Columbia University disputes). The amazing building in the west end zone is the University administration building.

The original Franklin Field was the 1st midpoint/neutral site game for Army vs. Navy: 1899 to 1904, 1906 to 1912, and 1914. The current structure hosted it in 1922, and 1932 to 1935, before it was moved to Municipal/JFK Stadium.

The Eagles played here from 1958 to 1970, including their last NFL Championship, December 26, 1960, beating the Green Bay Packers in a thriller, 17-13. Half a century. Penn’s football team has been considerably more successful, having won 14 Ivy League titles since the league was formally founded in 1955.

The stadium is in surprisingly good shape (must be all those Penn/Wharton Business School grads donating for its upkeep), although the playing field has been artificial turf since 1969. Same trolley stop as the Palestra.

* Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. This was the site of the Philadelphia Civic Center, including the Convention Hall, where Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for President by the Democrats in 1936, Wendell Willkie by the Republicans in 1940 and both Harry Truman and Thomas E. Dewey were nominated in 1948 – that year’s Republican Convention being the first televised convention.

The Beatles played here on September 2, 1964. Pope John Paul II said Mass here. The Philadelphia Warriors played here from 1952 to 1962, when they moved to San Francisco (and now the "Golden State Warriors" play in Oakland), and the 76ers from 1963 until the Spectrum opened in 1967. Titles were won here by the 1956 Warriors and the 1967 76ers. The Philadelphia Blazers played the 1st World Hockey Association season here, 1972-73, but were terrible, and with the Flyers on the way up, nobody wanted to see the WHA team. They moved to Vancouver the next season. 

So many Philly area greats played here, in high school, college and the pros, but you need know one name -- pardon the pun -- above all others: Wilt Chamberlain. I saw a concert here in 1989, and the acoustics were phenomenal, with a horseshoe of seats and a stage at one end, much like Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and the building once known as the Baltimore Civic Center.

Built in 1931, it was demolished in 2005 to make way for an addition to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. 34th Street & Civic Center Boulevard. Same stop as the Palestra and Franklin Field, which are a block away.

* Site of Philadelphia Arena. Built in 1920, this was the first home of the NBA's Warriors from 1946 to 1952, and site of some 76ers home games as well. It seated only 6,500 at its peak, so the Civic Center and later the Spectrum were preferable. 

The worst team in NHL history played there: The 1930-31 Philadelphia Quakers. After 5 seasons as the Pittsburgh Pirates, they clowned their way to a record of 4 wins, 40 losses and 4 ties, making them about as bad as the worst team in NBA history, the 1972-73 76ers (9-73). They were strapped during this 2nd indoor sports season of the Great Depression, and went out of business thereafter. Although several minor-league teams would play at the Arena, it would not be until 1967, with the opening of the Spectrum and the beginning of the Flyers, that Philly would have another NHL team.

Philly's ABC affiliate, Channel 6, formerly WFIL and now WPVI, built its studio next-door, and it hosted American Bandstand from 1952 to 1964. (Contrary to the TV show American Dreams, whose 1st episode took place in 1964, the show had already been moved to Los Angeles.) Elvis was never a guest on Bandstand, but sang at the Arena on April 5 and 6, 1957 (2 shows each night).

The building that housed the studio still stands. The Arena does not: It caught fire on August 24, 1983, and had to be demolished. A housing project is on the site today. 4530 Market Street. Market Street Line to 46th Street.

* Talen Energy Stadium. Built in 2010 for the expansion Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer, this facility was known as PPL Park until earlier this year. it seats 18,500 people, on the bank of the Delaware River in Chester, under the Commodore Barry Bridge (U.S. Route 322), linking it with Gloucester County, New Jersey.

The main supporters' section is called the River End, and is home to The Sons of Ben. The group named themselves after Benjamin Franklin, and they created an alternate logo for the team, showing a skull, with a Liberty Bell-style crack in it, wearing Franklin's hairstyle and bifocals, on a kite-shaped background. Of course, fans of the rival New York Red Bulls and D.C. United tend to call them The Daughters of Betsy -- after Ross. The U.S. national team played Colombia there on October 12, 2010, and Panama on July 25 of this year, but lost both games.

1 Stadium Drive, in Chester. SEPTA R2 train to Highland Avenue (not to the Chester Transportation Center), then a 15-minute walk. If you're only going for a visit, not a game when there would be plenty of police protection, do not visit at night: Chester can be a dangerous city.

* Temple University. Straddling the border between Center City and the mostly-black North Philadelphia ghetto, Temple has given thousands of poor urban kids a chance to make something of themselves, including comedian Bill Cosby, who ran track for the school, including in the Penn Relays at Franklin Field.

Temple now plays basketball at the Liacouras Center, at 1776 N. Broad Street, across from its former arena, McGonigle Hall, at 1800. Broad Street Line to Cecil B. Moore station. 

The Owls have played football at the South Philly complex since 1978, first at The Vet and now at the Linc. From 1928 to 1977, they played at Temple Stadium, a 20,000-seat facility on the city's northern edge. On September 25, 1968, the U.S. soccer team played Israel to a draw there. It was demolished in 1996, and, like Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium, the site is now home to a church. 2800 Pickering Avenue at Vernon Road. Broad Street Line to Olney Transportation Center, then transfer to the Number 18 bus toward Cedarbook Mall.

* LaSalle University. All of Philly's Big 5 basketball universities are private; unlike Penn and Temple, La Salle, St. Joe's and 'Nova are Catholic. LaSalle is in the northernmost reaches of the city, its bookstore at 1900 W. Olney Avenue, and its new Tom Gola Arena, named for their late 1950s superstar and 1960s coach, and 2100 W. Olney. Broad Street Line to Olney Transportation Center.

* St. Joseph's University. St. Joe's straddles the western edge of the city, on a hill bisected by City Line Avenue. Their fieldhouse, now named the Michael J. Hagan Arena, is at 2450 N. 54th Street, and features a plaque commemorating a 1967 speech by Martin Luther King. Number 44 bus from Center City.

* Villanova University. Famously, they played a Big 5 game against St. Joe's at the Palestra a few years back, having beaten each of the other Big 5 schools, and, pulling away, their fans chanted, "We own Philly!" The St. Joe's fans, no fools, reminded them of their location, in the town of Villanova, 18 miles northwest of Center City: "You ain't Philly!"

Jake Nevin Field House, their home at the time of their 1985 National Championship, and The Pavilion, which that success allowed them to build, are next to each other, along with their bookstore, at 800 E. Lancaster Avenue. They also have a 12,500-seat stadium for their Division I-AA football team. SEPTA R5 commuter rail to Villanova Station.

Of the Big 5, only Temple plays Division I-A football: Temple, 'Nova and LaSalle play I-AA, and while St. Joseph's Prep has one of the better programs in Philly-area high school football, their collegiate namesake doesn't play football at all.

* Spike's Trophies. When the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society closed its facility in the northern suburb of Hatboro, they moved their operations, and the plaques honoring A's greats that used to be on the concourse wall at the Vet, to this store near Northeast Philadelphia Airport. 2701 Grant Avenue at Ashton Road. Market-Frankford Line to Frankford Transportation Center, then transfer to Number 50 Bus.

* Laurel Hill Cemetery. This is the final resting place of former Phillies manager Harry Wright, who founded the 1st professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1869; and of longtime broadcaster Harry Kalas. 215 Belmont Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, not far from the St. Joe's campus. Use the Number 44 bus to get to both.

* Gladwyne Methodist Church. Kalas' longtime broadcast partner, the Hall of Fame center fielder Richie "Whitey" Ashburn, is laid to rest here. 316 Righters Mill Road in Gladwyne. The Number 44 bus can also be used for this.

* Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. This is the final resting place of Connie Mack. 3301 W. Cheltenham Avenue. Broad Street Line to Olney Transportation Center, then Number 22 bus.

Philadelphia is home to Independence National Historic Park, including Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. The Visitor's Center is at 6th & Market Streets: At this complex, there will be people there to advise you on what to do. 5th Street on the Market Street Line.

The President's House -- that's as formal a name as "the first White House" had -- was where George Washington (1790-97) and John Adams (1797-1800) lived while Philadelphia was the national capital before Washington, D.C.. It was demolished in 1832. When digging to build the new Liberty Bell Center, the house's foundation was found, and somebody must've asked, "Why didn't anybody think of this before?" So, an exhibit has been set up, at 530 Market Street at 6th. The new Liberty Bell Center is between it and Independence Hall (Chestnut Street between 5th and 6th). Be advised that since 9/11 -- and since the movie National Treasure -- they're understandably a bit finicky about security there. 

The oldest surviving Presidential residence (chosen specifically for the President, not counting homes like Mount Vernon or Monticello) is the Germantown White House, which still stands at 5442 Germantown Avenue. George Washington and John Adams used it to escape the heat and, more importantly, the yellow fever epidemics of what's now Center City Philadelphia, making it less "the first Summer White House" and more "the first Camp David." SEPTA R7 to Germantown, then 3 blocks down Armat Street and a left on Germantown Avenue. Definitely not safe at night.

Speaking of George Washington, Valley Forge National Historical Park is just an hour's bus ride from Suburban Station. On JFK Blvd. at 17th Street, board the SEPTA 125 bus. Valley Forge Casino Resort and the King of Prussia Mall are a short drive (or a moderate walk) away. The fare is $4.75 each way ($9.50 total).

Only one President has ever come from Pennsylvania, and he might be the worst one of all: James Buchanan, whose Administration began with the Panic of 1857 and ended with the secession of several Southern States. (Whether Buchanan was gay has been debated since even before he became President; the evidence is interesting, but hardly conclusive.) His home, Wheatland, still stands at 1120 Marietta Avenue in Lancaster, and he's buried about a mile away in Greenwood Cemetery. But Lancaster, the heart of "Pennsylvania Dutch Country," is 80 miles west of Philly. It's a cheap trip by Amtrak standards, but unless you've always wanted to visit the area, or you're a big history buff, I'd suggest forgetting about it if you're pressed for time. 

Philadelphia's answer to the Museum of Natural History is the University of Pennsylvania Museum, at 33rd & South Streets, across from Franklin Field. (Same trolley stop.) Their answer to the Hayden Planetarium -- and a better one -- is the Franklin Institute, which is also the national memorial to Big Ben, the man who, more than any man made any city in the Western Hemisphere, made Philadelphia. 20th Street & Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Number 76 bus. 76, get it? The bus is nicknamed "The Ben FrankLine."

At the other end of the Parkway, at 25th and Spring Garden Streets, is Philly's answer to the Metropolitan, the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Rocky Balboa statue is here, and it doesn't cost anything except sweat to run up the steps.

The chocolate city of Hershey, Pennsylvania is 95 miles west of Center City, and only 15 miles east of the State Capitol in Harrisburg. The smell of chocolate wafts over the city, and is the source of the nickname "The Sweetest Place On Earth." Amtrak goes from 30th Street station to Harrisburg and nearby Middletown (the home of the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, which is still in operation and hasn't had an incident since the one in 1979), but if you want to go to any prominent place in Hersey, you'll have to rely on local bus service.

There are 4 prominent places. There's the Hershey's chocolate factory. There's Hersheypark amusement park. There's Hersheypark Stadium, a 15,641-seat high school football stadium, opened in 1939. On May 9, 1990, the U.S. soccer team beat Poland there. Most notably, Hersheypark Arena, formerly Hershey Sports Arena, which now seats 7,286 people. The Warriors and 76ers played a few home games here, including the March 2, 1962 contest between the Warriors and the Knicks, when Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points.

The minor-league Hershey Bears used it from its opening in 1936 until 2002, when the 10,500-seat Giant Center opened next-door. It still hosts college hockey and concerts. Appropriately, the address of the Arena is 100 W. Hershey Park Drive.

No college football rivalry has been played more than Lafayette College and Lehigh University, separated by 17 miles of U.S. Route 22 in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Lafayette is in Easton, 69 miles north of Center City; Lehigh is in Bethlehem, 56 miles north. On occasion, they've played each other twice and, during World War II due to travel restrictions canceling out longer roadtrips, even 3 times a season. Now, they limit themselves to 1.

Lafayette now leads the series, 78-68-5. Lehigh's Goodman Stadium hosted a U.S. soccer game on October 23, 1993, a draw vs. Ukraine -- although I doubt too many people in the Delaware Valley were paying attention, as that was the day of Game 6 of the World Series, which the Phillies lost on the Joe Carter home run.

Believe it or not, it's easier to reach both Easton and Bethlehem without a car from New York than it is from Philadelphia: Transbridge Lines runs buses from Port Authority into the Lehigh Valley, and Susquehanna Trailways runs them from Philly's Greyhound Terminal at 1001 N. Filbert Street, across from the Market East Station.

From 1901 to 1987, City Hall was the tallest building in Philadelphia. Indeed, from 1901 to 1908, it was the tallest building in the world. It's 548 feet from the street to the hat on the statue of  city founder William Penn. A "gentleman's agreement" kept any building from rising higher.

In 1987, One Liberty Place opened at 1650 Market Street, standing 945 feet. Some observers cited "The Curse of Billy Penn," suggesting that Penn had put a curse on the city, for "obstructing his view" of his city with a taller building. (That's bogus: The statue faces northeast, away from Center City and the South Philly sports complex.) But after the 76ers won the 1983 NBA title, they lost the NBA Finals in 2001; the Phillies lost the 1993 World Series; the Eagles lost NFC Championship Games in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005; the Flyers lost the Stanley Cup Finals in 1985, 1987 and 1997; and no Philly-based team reached the Final Four. Even Smarty Jones, foaled and trained in the Philly suburbs, was said to be hit by this Curse, because he blew the Triple Crown by fading in the last few furlongs of the 2004 Belmont Stakes.

So when the Comcast Center went up at 1701 JFK Blvd., a figurine version of the William Penn Station was placed on its roof, 974 feet high, as it was topped out on June 18, 2007. Just 16 months later, the Phillies won the 2008 World Series. Curse over? Maybe not: The Eagles lost another NFC Championship Game in 2009, Villanova reached the 2009 Final Four but lost in the Semifinals, the Phillies lost the World Series in 2009, the Flyers lost another Stanley Cup Finals in 2010, and, for the moment, the Phillies and 76ers are each the worst team in their league. Maybe it was separate curses all along. 

Not surprising for a city of its size, Philadelphia has had a few TV shows set there, but not many actually filmed there. Boy Meets World was filmed entirely at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. (Its sequel series, Girl Meets World, featuring Cory & Topanga Matthews and their kids, is set in New York.) Neither does It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia film in Philly -- and it is not always sunny there. Nor did Thirtysomething film there. Nor did Body of Proof. And, being a cartoon, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids didn't have to "film" anywhere. 

The aforementioned 1960s flashback series American Dreams did some filming under the Market Street Elevated Line, but most of it was filmed in L.A. The films Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Story and The Philadelphia Experiment had a few Philly locations put in, but, except for the 1st, all filming was done in Southern California.

Probably the best-known film set in the city is Trading Places -- except a lot of it was filmed in and around New York! The New York Chamber of Commerce Building (65 Liberty Street) and the Seventh Regiment Armory (643 Park Avenue) stood in for the Heritage Club. Mill Neck Manor for the Deaf on Long Island stood in for the Duke Brothers' estate. And, of course, the climactic scene was set at the New York Mercantile Exchange, at 4 World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. Locations in the film that were absolutely in Philly were: 30th Street Station; Duke & Duke, at Fidelity Bank at 135 S. Broad Street, 2 blocks south of City Hall; and Lewis Winthorpe's residence, with exterior shots at 2014 Delancey Place at 20th Street, near Rittenhouse Square, which is where Eddie Murphy pretended to be a blind, legless Vietnam veteran. (This is a private residence: Walk down there if you like, but leave the residents alone.)

*

So, to sum up, I would definitely recommend to any Knicks or Nets fan to follow their team to nearby Philadelphia. But be warned: These are Philadelphia fans. They're not as rough for the 76ers as the are for the Phillies, Eagles and Flyers, but, still, don't antagonize them. Stay safe, and good luck. (To the team, too.)

If you lived in the New York Tri-State Area in the 1970s and 1980s and you loved baseball, you read Phil Pepe in the New York Daily News. It was something you chose to do without thinking.

But you sure did some thinking while reading him.

Philip Pepe (no middle name, which is unusual for an Italian-American) was born on March 21, 1935 in Brooklyn. He graduated from St. John's University. In 1957, he joined the sports department of The New York World-Telegram and Sun, and in 1961, just 26 years old, he was assigned to be their beat reporter for the Yankees.

It was just in time, as this turned out to be the year of Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris pursuing the single-season home run record. "The M&M Boys" were great copy, and Maris broke the record, completing the famed "61 in '61."

In 1966, weakened by a strike and the growth of television news, the World-Telly went bust, and Phil was hired by ABC radio, writing scripts for the national sports-talk show hosted by Howard Cosell. In 1968, he was hired by the Daily News.

Again, his timing turned out to be great. From February 11, 1968 to May 8, 1970, the old Madison Square Garden closed and the new one opened, the Jets won the AFL Championship and then pulled off a stunning upset in Super Bowl III, Mantle retired with an epic ceremony at the old Yankee Stadium, the Mets pulled off the Miracle of '69 and won the World Series, and the Knicks won their 1st NBA Championship. Pepe covered all of it, including s the Knicks beat writer when they won the title.

He wrote the lead story for the Daily News for every World Series game from 1968 to 1981, including the ones played by the Mets (1969 and 1973) and the Yankees (1976, 1977, 1978 and 1981). In 1982, with the irascible Dick Young bolting the News for the New York Post, Pepe was promoted to the paper's lead sports columnist. He even appeared in commercials for the News.

In 1989, he left the paper, and became the sports director for radio station WCBS, 880 on the AM dial. Every morning, at 15 and 45 after the hour, a 30-second "Pep Talk" would air, in which he would briefly discuss a major sports issue of the day.

From the team's arrival in 1994 until it left in 205, he was the lead announcer for the New Jersey Cardinals, the St. Louis Cardinals' farm team in the short-season Class A New York-Penn League, that played at Skylands Park in Augusta, New Jersey. (The Sussex County Miners play there now.)

He was so esteemed around these parts that the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America -- the organization that votes on baseball's major awards like the Most Valuable Player and the Cy Young Award, and the people who vote on recently-retired players for the Baseball Hall of Fame -- made him its executive director, a post he held for the last 21 years.

Jack O'Connell, the secretary-treasurer of the BBWAA and, currently, the man who makes the phone calls to the newly-elected Hall-of-Famers, wrote for the Daily News during Pepe's time there. He said, "He was a mentor to a lot of writers of my generation. He was a guy you could always go to. I worked with him at the News, and he was somebody a lot of us looked up to."

Bill Madden succeeded him as the paper's Yankee beat writer in 1982. He said, "He was a mentor tome, and a giant among baseball writers who never got his true credit."

And Mike Lupica, who succeeded Pepe as the paper's lead sports columnist, said, "There was a time, in another time in New York, when whatever had happened the day before or the night before with the Yankees didn’t become official until you picked up the Daily News and read Phil Pepe."

He also wrote nearly 50 books, including the 50th Anniversary retrospective 1961*: The Inside Story of the Maris-Mantle Home Run Chase, Talkin' Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s (12 years before Dan Epstein's equally in-depth and even more fun Big Hair and Plastic Grass), The Ballad of Billy and George: The Tempestuous Baseball Marriage of Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner, and the more recent Core Four: The Heart and Soul of the Yankees Dynasty (with David Cone). Outside of baseball, he wrote biographies of Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier and basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 

He wrote "as told to" books with Mickey Mantle (My Favorite Summer 1956), Whitey Ford (Slick: My Life In and Around Baseball), Yogi Berra (The Wit and Wisdom of Yogi Berra), Bob Gibson (From Ghetto to Glory), Jim Kaat (Still Pitching: Musings from the Mound and the Microphone), Bud Harrelson (Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets), Ken Griffey Sr. (Big Red: Baseball, Fatherhood, and My Life in the Big Red Machine) and Gary Carter (Still a Kid at Heart: My Life in Baseball and Beyond).

His marriage to Adele Sbaratta ended in divorce. Together, they had a daughter, Jayne Platts; and 3 sons, David, Jim and John. Their 4 children have thus far given them 5 grandchildren.

He was played by Josh Pais in The Bronx Is Burning, the 2007 ESPN miniseries based on Jonathan Mahler's book about the Yankees and life in New York in general in 1977. (Pais didn't look much like him, and his voice was way too high and nasal for the part. He was credible as a sportswriter, but not as that particular sportswriter.) Sportswriters Maury Allen and Steve Jacobson were also portrayed in it, and each of the 3 got a cameo. Phil's was in a scene where George Steinbrenner is pontificating to the writers, spelling out his "Seven Commandments" for a baseball team's manager; Maury and Steve got to pose with their portrayers in the victorious clubhouse scene at the end.

Phil Pepe died on Sunday, apparently of heart attack, at his home in Englewood, New Jersey. He was 80 years old.

"He truly, truly loved what he did," David Pepe said. "He always felt he was blessed to do what he did for a living. He had a real passion for baseball."

Sports Illustrated has selected Serena Williams as its Sportsperson of the Year.

This was no mere "lifetime achievement award," although her career merits that. This year, she came without a lost Semifinal of winning tennis' grand slam: She won the Australian Open in Melbourne, the French Open in Paris, and then Wimbledon in London, before running out of gas at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadow.

Certainly, a great achievement. Who else should have been considered?

* It wasn't an Olympic year.

* Boxing remains a muddled mess.

* American Pharoah became the 1st horse to win the Triple Crown in 37 years, but no animal has ever won the honor -- not Secretariat in 1973, not Seattle Slew in 1977, not Affirmed in 1978. Affirmed's jockey, Steve Cauthen, won it -- in 1977, before he won the Triple Crown aboard Affirmed. But can you even remember the name of the jockey who rode American Pharoah? I hate to admit it, but, just 6 months after this epochal achievement, I had to look it up: Victor Espinoza.

* No baseball figure stood out.

* The leading football figure is Tom Brady, and he's a cheater.

* The leading hockey figure is Patrick Kane, and while the legal case against him fell apart, there's still a cloud over him.

* They could have chosen Lionel Messi. But while the U.S. team that won the Women's World Cup was collectively chosen for 1999, no individual soccer player has ever been chosen, not even Pelé.

* There is Stephen Curry in basketball. The Golden State Warriors defeated LeBron James and The Other Guys to win their 1st NBA Championship in 40 years, and they followed that up by winning their 1st 24 games of this new season.

So it's between Serena and Steph. And SI went with a woman.

But there's another woman they could have chosen. And I'm not just saying this because she's a fellow New Jerseyan, or a Rutgers graduate.
Carli Lloyd led the U.S. to win the Women's World Cup this past early summer. She won the Golden Ball as the tournament's most valuable player. She scored 3 goals in the Final to beat Japan. To put that in perspective: The women's edition of the World Cup has been around since 1991, and the men's edition since 1930, and only once before had anyone scored a hat trick in the Final: Geoff Hurst of England in 1966. And the 3rd goal be like, "Nice pass, Carli, hey, that's not a pass! Holy shit! What a goal!"

No, Carli isn't as image-conscious as Serena. She doesn't go out of her way to show us how fit or sexy she is. Serena does, but, except for Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux, none of the '15 USWNT players do that. There's no Brandi Chastain, "Hey, I ran my ass off for this body, I'm proud of it" on this team.

But what Carli did was stunning. Remember, it had only happened once before. And while Serena seemingly wins at least 1 tennis major every year, the World Cup happens only once every 4 years. If the U.S. team had lost, as they did in 2003, 2007 and 2011, they would have had to start all over again with the qualifying campaign for 2019. Just typing the number looks strange. I grew up in the 1970s, when 1990 seemed like "the future," and here I am, typing 2019. (Assuming no tragedy or crime getting in the way, I'll be 50 at the end of the year.)

Serena Williams will have the chance to go for the Grand Slam again in 2016. Who knows, she may even get it. Had Carli Lloyd's achievement happened last year, or next year, Serena would have been an easy choice, ahead of Steph Curry and Victor Espinoza and everybody else.

But Carli Lloyd did something even more remarkable, making the most of the best chance she was ever going to get. Something that legendary soccer players like Ferenc Puskas, Johan Cruijff, Socrates, Roberto Baggio, Paolo Maldini, Steven Gerrard and, thus far, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo haven't been able to do.

Am I wrong? Let me know what you think.

This coming Sunday afternoon at 5:00, the New Jersey Devils will play the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden.

The Bruins were the 1st U.S.-based team in the National Hockey League, established in 1924. They've won 6 Stanley Cups -- but only 3 in the last 74 years, compared to the Devils' 3 in the last 20 years. (Well, if you want to be strict, 3 in the last 33 years.)

These teams do have some history, having faced each other in the Playoffs 4 times. In a series marked by controversy, including Bruin fans looking at the red and green uniforms we then wore and calling us "Team Texaco" and "Team Pizza Hut," and the horrible officiating by Don Koharski that led to Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld yelling at him, "You fat pig! Have another donut!" and getting suspended 1 game for it, the Bruins won the 1988 Prince of Wales Conference Finals in 7 games. (Ironically, Schoenfeld, once a fine defenseman for the Buffalo Sabres, had played for the Bruins just 4 years earlier.) The Devils defeated the Bruins in the Playoffs in 1994, 1995 (including winning the last competitive sporting event at the old Boston Garden) and 2003.

Some of you are Yankee Fans who hate the Red Sox. Some of you are Jet fans who hate the Patriots. Some of you are Red Bulls fans who hate the Revolution. Some of you are Devils, Rangers or Islanders fans who hate the Bruins.

The Bruins are a New England team, and, for a New York Tri-State Area fan, that means that they
must go down.

But, as they're a Boston team, you need to be on your guard.

Before You Go. Boston weather is a little different from ours, being a little bit further north. Mark Twain, who lived the last few years of his life in nearby Hartford, said, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, wait a minute.”

You should check the websites of the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald before you leave. Usually, the temperatures will be a little lower than what we're used to in New York and New Jersey at the same time. At least, being indoors, wind will not be the issue that it sometimes is inside Fenway Park. For the moment, they're predicting mid-40s for Sunday afternoon and mid-30s at night.

Do not want to wear is the kind of T-shirt you see sold at the souvenir stands on River Avenue across from Yankee Stadium, with messages like “BAHSTON SAWKS CACK” or “There never was a curse, the Sox just sucked for 86 years!” If you have one (or more) of these, leave them at home. The Chowdaheads are already antagonized by our mere presence in their city, and there's no reason to make it that much worse. Bald Vinny will thank you for your patronage, but he's smart enough to remind you that there is a time and a place where his product is inappropriate.

Boston is in the Eastern Time Zone, so adjusting your watch and your smartphone clock is not necessary. And, of course, despite the silliness of the concept of “Red Sox Nation,” you do not need a passport to cross the New Haven City Line, or to change your money.

Tickets. In the 1960s, when the Bruins stunk and the Celtics were winning title after title, it was the Bruins who hit the Boston Garden's official capacity of 13,909 every game (with standing room not reported due to fire laws, but some people have suggested there was really more than 20,000 inside), while the Celtics found it only half-full. (Gee, could it have been because the Bruins were all-white and the Celtics half-black?) Throughout my youth, with both teams in the Playoffs just about every season, the Bruins always hit the listed capacity of 14,448 and the Celtics 14,890.

Opened in 1995, the building now named the TD Garden (TD is a bank, Toronto-Dominion) seats 17,565 for hockey, slightly less than the Prudential Center, and 18,624 for basketball. The Bruins averaged 17,565 fans per home game last season, a sellout. They are averaging the same again this season. Tickets will be hard to get.

As with Fenway Park, tickets at TD Garden cost a bundle -- law of supply & demand. In the lower level, the Loge, seats are $197 to $215 between the goals and $150 to $180 behind them. In the upper level, the Balcony, they're $110 between the goals and $85 to $105 behind them.

The Bruins have a Family Section, Section 326. There, you can avoid nearby drinking and profanity. That doesn't mean, however, that you won't hear profane drunks in other sections.

Getting There. Getting to Boston is fairly easy. However, I do not recommend driving, especially if you have Yankee paraphernalia on your car (bumper sticker, license-plate holder, decals, etc.). Chances are, it won’t get vandalized... but you never know.

If you must drive, it’s 214 miles by road from Times Square to Boston’s Downtown Crossing, and less than another mile to the TD Garden.

If you're coming from Manhattan or The Bronx, get up to the Cross Bronx Expressway. If you're coming from New Jersey, get to the George Washington Bridge to the Cross Bronx. Then, after turning north and moving outside The City, the New England Thruway (or the New England Extension of the New York State Thruway). If you're coming from Brooklyn, Queens or Long Island, get to the Grand Central Parkway and take the Bronx-Whitestone or Throgs Neck Bridge, and follow the signs for Interstate 95 North. 

Continue on I-95 North into Connecticut to Exit 48 in New Haven, and take Interstate 91 North toward Hartford. When you reach Hartford, take Exit 29 to Interstate 84, which you will take into Massachusetts, all the way to its end, where it merges with Interstate 90, the Massachusetts Turnpike. (And the locals call it “the Mass Pike” – never “the Turnpike” like we do in New Jersey.)

Theoretically, you could take I-95 all the way, but that will take you though downtown Providence, Rhode Island, up to the Boston suburbs. I like Providence as a city, but that route is longer by both miles and time than the route described above.

Fenway Park, or at least its light towers, will be visible from the Mass Pike. The last exit on the Pike is Exit 24B. Follow the signs for " Concord NH"/"Interstate 93 N." I-93 becomes the Tip O'Neill Tunnel, then get off at Exit 23 (this is for I-93, not I-95), keep right at the fork, and follow the signs for the North End and North Station, which is under the arena, just as New York's Penn Station is under Madison Square Garden. (In fact, the old Boston Garden/North Station complex may have been the inspiration for the "new" MSG/Penn Station.) 

If all goes well, and you make one rest stop (preferably around Hartford, roughly the halfway point), and you don’t get seriously delayed by traffic within the city limits of either New York or Boston (either of which is very possible), you should be able to make the trip in under 5 hours.

But, please, do yourself a favor and get a hotel outside the city. It's not just that hotels in Boston proper are expensive, unless you want to try one of the thousands of bed-and-breakfasts with their communal bathrooms. It's also that Boston drivers are said to come in 2 classes, depending on how big their car is: Homicidal and suicidal. If you're just going for the one game, then find a park-and-ride for the subway. For example, Exit 14 will take you to Riverside Station in Newton, the terminal for the Green Line D Train. From there, it's a 40-minute ride to the Garden.

Boston, like Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, is too close to fly from New York, and once you factor in fooling around with everything you gotta do at each airport, it doesn’t really save you much time compared to driving, the bus or the train. It certainly won't save you any money.

The train is a very good option. Boston’s South Station is at 700 Atlantic Avenue, corner of Summer Street, at Dewey Square. (Named for Admiral George Dewey, naval hero of the Spanish-American War, not New York Governor and 1944 & ’48 Presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey, and not for former Red Sox right fielder Dwight “Dewey” Evans, either.)

It’ll be $152 round-trip between New York's Penn Station and South Station, and the trip should take less than 5 hours. The last Amtrak train of the night leaves South Station at 9:30, arriving at Penn Station at 2:15 AM, so unless you leave early, you won't make it. Then again, if you can afford the train instead of the bus, chances are, you can afford a hotel room also.

South Station also has a bus terminal attached, and it may be the best bus station in the country – even better than New York’s Port Authority. If you take Greyhound, you’ll leave from Port Authority’s Gate 84, and it will take about 4½ hours, most likely making one stop, at Hartford’s Union Station complex, or in the Boston suburbs of Framingham, Worcester or Newton. New York to Boston and back is tremendously cheaper on the bus than on the train, usually $98 round-trip (dropping to nearly half that, $68, with advanced purchase), and is probably Greyhound’s best run. On the way back, you’ll board at South Station’s Gate 3.

Once In the City. Named for the town of the same name (a shortened version of "St. Botolph's Stone") in Lincolnshire, in England's East Midlands, Boston is home to about 650,000 people, with a metropolitan area (including the areas of Hartford, Providence, and Manchester, New Hampshire) of about 7.6 million, making it the largest metro area in the country with only 1 MLB team (trailing only the 2-team areas of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area).

Boston is easily the largest city not just in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but in all of New England. The next-largest are Worcester, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island, each with around 180,000. The largest in Connecticut is Bridgeport with 145,000; New Hampshire's largest is Manchester with 110,000; Maine's is Portland with 66,000, and Vermont's is Burlington with a mere 42,000.

Of New England's 100 largest cities and towns, 53 are in Massachusetts, 30 in Connecticut, 9 in Rhode Island, 4 in New Hampshire, 3 in Maine and 1, Burlington, in Vermont; only 2 of the top 17 are outside Massachusetts and Connecticut. Boston is also the official capital of Massachusetts, and the unofficial capital of New England.

Counting New England as a whole -- except for the southwestern part of Connecticut, which tilts toward New York -- there are about 13.5 million people in "Red Sox Nation." This isn't even close to the top, when "markets" are viewed this liberally -- the Yankees have close to 20 million in theirs, and the Atlanta Braves lead with over 36 million -- but it does rank 7th out of 30 MLB markets, and aside from the Yankees none of the pre-expansion teams has as big a market.

Boston is also one of the oldest cities in America, founded in 1630, and the earliest to have been truly developed. (New York is actually older, 1626, but until City Hall was built and the grid laid out in 1811 it was pretty much limited to the 20 or so blocks from the Battery to Chambers Street.) It's got the history: The colonial era, the Revolutionary period its citizens did so much to make possible, the abolitionist movement prior to the Civil War, Massachusetts' role in that conflict, the Industrial Revolution. Aside from New York, it was the only city on the Eastern Seaboard to have grasped the concept of the skyscraper until the 1980s.

It also has America's first college, Harvard University, across the Charles River in Cambridge, and a few other institutions of higher learning of some renown in or near the city: Boston College, Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Northeastern University, Tufts University, College of the Holy Cross, and so on. The particular instance of Harvard, funded by Boston's founding families, resulted in Boston and the surrounding area having a lot of "old money." And then there's all those Massachusetts-based writers.

All this gives Boston an importance, and a self-importance, well beyond its interior population. One of those aforementioned writers, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (grandfather of the great Supreme Court Justice of the same name), named the city "the Hub of the Solar System"; somehow, this became "the Hub of the Universe" or just "The Hub." Early 19th Century journalist William Tudor called Boston "the Athens of America" -- but, as a Harvard man, he would have studied ancient Greece and realized that, while contributing greatly to the political and literary arts, Athens could be pretty dictatorial, warmongering, and slavery-tolerating at times. Later sportswriters have called the Sox-Yanks (in that order) rivalry "Athens and Sparta." (Remember, if not for Sparta, all of Greece would have fallen to the Persian Empire.)

Well, to hell with that: We are New York/New Jersey Fans. We are based in, or around, the greatest city in the world, and we don't even have to capitalize that.

The sales tax in Massachusetts is 6.25 percent, less than New Jersey’s 7 percent and New York City’s 8.875 percent. However, aside from that, pretty much everything in Boston and neighboring cities like Cambridge, Brookline and Quincy costs about as much as it does in New York City, and more than in the NYC suburbs. In other words, a bundle. So don't get sticker-shock.

When you get to South Station, if you haven't already read The Boston Globe on your laptop or smartphone, pick it up. It's a great paper with one of the country’s best sports sections. There’s probably no paper that covers its local baseball team better, although the columns of Dan Shaughnessy (who did not coin but certainly popularized the phrase “The Curse of the Bambino” and wrote a book with the title) and Tony Massarotti (who started at the rival Herald and whose style is more in line with theirs) can be a bit acerbic.

You will also be able to pick up the New York papers at South Station, if you want any of them. If you must, you can also buy the Boston Herald, but it’s a tabloid, previously owned by William Randolph Hearst and Rupert Murdoch. Although neither’s man's company still owns it, it carries all the hallmarks of the papers that they have owned (Murdoch still owns the New York Post, the Hearst Corporation owned the New York Journal and its successor, the New York Journal-American, which went out of business in 1966). In other words, the Herald is a right-wing pack of sensationalism, frequently sloppy journalism, and sometimes outright lies, but at least it does sports well (sometimes).

Once you have your newspapers, take the escalator down to the subway. Boston had the nation’s first subway service, in 1897, along Boston Common on what’s now named the Green Line. Formerly known as the Metropolitan Transit Authority, leading to the folk song “MTA,” in 1965 it became the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), or “the T,” symbolized by the big T signs where many cities, including New York, would have M’s instead.

(Here's a link to the most familiar version of the song, done by the Kingston Trio in 1959. Keep in mind that Scollay Square station is now named Government Center, and that the reason Mrs. Charlie doesn't give him the extra nickel along with the sandwich isn't that she keeps forgetting, but that they're acting on principle, protesting the 5-cent exit fare -- my, how times have changed.)

Boston was one of the last cities to turn from subway tokens to farecards, in 2006, a decade after New York's switch was in progress. A ride costs $2.50 with cash, the same as New York's subway, and if you're there for the entire series, it may be cheaper to get a 7-day pass for $18. (The MBTA 1-day pass is $11, so the 7-day pass is a better option.)

There are 4 lines: Red, Green, Orange and Blue. Don't worry about the Silver Line: That's basically an underground bus service designed to get people to Logan International Airport. (General Edward L. Logan was a South Bostonian who became a hero of World War I and then the commander of the Massachusetts National Guard. Boston kept the name on their airport in spite of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, leaving New York to name an airport after that great Bostonian.) Chances are, you won’t be using the Blue Line at all on your trip, and the Orange Line might not be used, either.

It's important to remember that Boston doesn't have an "Uptown" and "Downtown" like Manhattan, or a "North Side,""East Side,""South Side" or "West Side" like many other cities. It does have a North End and a South End (which should not be confused with the neighborhood of South Boston); and it has an East Boston, although the West End was mostly torn down in the late 1950s to make way for the sprawling complex of the new Massachusetts General Hospital. Note also that Boston doesn't have a "centerpoint," where all the street addresses start at 1 and move out in 100-segments for each block. It doesn't even remotely have a north-south, east-west street grid like New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, and so on.

So for subway directions, remember this: Any train heading toward Downtown Crossing (where the Red and Orange Lines intersect), Park Street (Red and Green Lines), State Street (Blue and Orange Lines) or Government Center (Blue and Green Lines), is "Inbound." Any train going away from those 4 downtown stations is "Outbound." This led to a joke that certain Red Sox pitchers who give up a lot of home runs have "been taken downtown more than the Inbound Red Line."

I should point out that Government Center station is closed for renovations until this coming March, which is a major pain since it's a key interchange. For anything that could be reached by that station, such as City Hall of Faneuil Hall, use State station.

South Station is on the Red Line. If you’re coming by Amtrak or Greyhound, and are up only for the one game and are going directly to Fenway, take the Red Line to Park Street – known locally as “Change at Park Street Under” (or “Change at Pahk Street Undah” in the local dialect) – and then take the Green Line toward Lechmere. Although not labeled as such, this could be the "A train," as the ones going outbound are the B (terminating at Boston College and having that on its marquee), C (Cleveland Circle), D (Riverside)  or E (Huntington Avenue) trains. If you’re starting your Garden voyage from a hotel, take any train that gets you to a transfer point to a Green Line train. It can also be reached from the Orange Line.
Going In. The building was originally named the Shawmut Center, named for a bank, which in turn was named for the original Native American name for the land on which Boston now sits. Before it could open, Fleet Bank bought out Shawmut, and the building opened in 1995 as the FleetCenter (1 word). In 2005, TD bought out Fleet, and it became the TD Banknorth Garden, before becoming simply the TD Garden in 2009.

The T station for the Garden is "North Station" -- the Boston Garden name is no longer part of it. With the old Garden, the Orange Line was underground while the Green Line was elevated. In a 1986 Sports Illustrated article, Boston native Leigh Montville said the spot underneath the Green Line in front of the Garden was the wettest spot on Earth. Now, both lines are underground.

The address of the old Boston Garden was 150 Causeway Street. The address of the new TD Garden is 100 Legends Way. It's roughly the same spot, but the old Garden was on Causeway, while the new Garden was built behind it, and the old one was demolished for a parking lot for the new one. Parking is $9.00, relatively cheap compared to other NBA and NHL arenas, and cheap considering it's Boston. But driving to and in Boston is ridiculous, and parking is at least as bad.
The entrances to North Station are on the east and west sides, and escalators will take you from the Station to the Garden.

In addition to the Bruins, like its predecessor did from the 1952-53 season to 1994-95, it hosts the annual Beanpot, a hockey tournament between BU (30-time winners and current holders), BC (19-time winners, last in 2014), Harvard (10-time winners, last in 1993) and Northeastern (4-time winners, last in 1988). As far as I know, Detroit is the only other U.S. city that hosts a college hockey tournament like this.

Along with the Celtics, the Garden usually hosts an annual Coaches vs. Cancer basketball tripleheader, featuring all Bay State schools: In the fall of 2014, it was Northeastern vs. Boston University, Boston College vs. the University of Massachusetts (UMass), and Harvard vs. Holy Cross. However, for this season, it was canceled. They hope to host it again next season.

The Garden, then still known as the FleetCenter, hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Its predecessor never did, but it held many political rallies, liberal and conservative, most notably the Election Eve rally of Boston's native son, John F. Kennedy, in 1960.

The Beatles played the old Garden on September 12, 1964. Elvis Presley played it on November 10, 1971. It also hosted James Brown on April 5, 1968, Brown insisting to Mayor Kevin White that the show must go on after the assassination of Martin Luther King, so as to keep the peace. White agreed, decided to call Boston's PBS station, WGBH-Channel 2, and have them televise it live, and he announced that anyone who didn't have a ticket should watch it at home, instead of going to the Garden and risking additional strife. It worked, and it's known as "The Night James Brown Saved Boston."

Food. Dunkin Donuts started in the Boston suburbs, and has stands inside the TD Garden. What else do you need to know?

Okay, okay. The Frank House (not named for Bruins legend Frankie "Mr. Zero" Brimsek) serves customized hot dogs (behind Sections 3, 10, 14, 21, 302, 308, 310, 315, 317, 324 and 327). The Links Grill offers "Old World Italian Sausage with peppers and onions and a Jumbo All Beef Dog with your favorite toppings" (17, 310, 322, 330). They have a Back Bay Carvery with roast beef and turkey sandwiches (8 and 323). They have Sal's Pizza (6, 307 and 325), a Kosher Café (4), and West End Brew, with "Crispy Chicken Tenders, a bucket of Spicy Cheese Fries, and a soon-to-be Garden favorite – Lobster Rangoon" (8 and 19). For dessert, Sweet Spot is behind 309.

Team History Displays. While the Bruins hang 6 Stanley Cup banners, they also hang banners marking every 10 of their 25 Division Championships, every 10 of their 17 Prince of Wales Trophies, one for their 4 Conference Championships (post-1982 realignment) and one for their 2 President's Trophies, plus 10 banners, for each of their retired numbers.
The Stanley Cup banners display the logo that they wore on their jersey at the time.
The Bruins have 10 retired numbers. Unlike most teams, the banners have the full names of the honorees, so that Dit Clapper is listed as "Aubrey V. Clapper," and Bobby Orr as "Robert G. Orr."
They honor 2 for defenseman Eddie Shore, 3 for defenseman Lionel Hitchman, 4 for defenseman Bobby Orr, 5 for defenseman Dit Clapper, 7 for center Phil Esposito, 8 for right wing Cam Neely, 9 for left wing Johnny Bucyk, 15 for center Milt Schmidt (at 97, now the oldest living NHL player and the oldest living Hall-of-Famer in any sport), 24 for right wing Terry O'Reilly, and 77 for defenseman Ray Bourque.

There are 54 men with some sort of connection to the Bruins in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but some of these connections are stronger than others. The number drops to 32 when you count Hall-of-Famers who were with the Bruins for at least 5 season or for 1 of their Cups:

* From the 1929 Stanley Cup: Team owner Charles Adams (from the Presidential Adams family), head coach and general manager Art Ross, goaltender Clarence "Tiny" Thompson, (Number 1 could be retired for him, but isn't), defensemen Shore and Clapper, left wing Cy Denneny, and centers Ralph "Cooney" Weland, Harry Oliver and Duncan "Mickey" MacKay.

* From the 1930 Stanley Cup Finals, but not there the previous season: Center Marty Barry.

* From the 1939 Stanley Cup: Owner Weston Adams (Charles' son), Ross, Thompson, Shore, Clapper, Weiland, goaltender Frank Brimsek (1 could also be retired for him), left wings Roy Conacher and Woody Dumart, centers Bill Cowley (Number 10 could be retired for him, but isn't) and Milt Schmidt, and right wing Bobby Bauer. Dumart, Schmidt and Bauer, all Canadians of German descent, were known as the Kraut Line. Once the U.S. got into World War II, they were renamed the Kitchener Line for their Ontario hometown -- itself renamed, as it had been Berlin before World War I, and it became the hometown of our own Scott Stevens. All 3 enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and returned as the Kitchener Line when the war ended.

* From the 1941 Stanley Cup: Weston Adams, Ross, Clapper, Weiland, Brimsek, Conacher, Dumart, Cowley, Schmidt and Bauer -- but not Thompson, Shore or Weiland.

* From the 1953 Stanley Cup Finalists: Weston Adams, team president Walter Brown (also honored by the Celtics), and defensemen Bill Quackenbush, Fernie Flaman and Leo Boivin. Flaman and Boivin also played on the Bruins' Stanley Cup Finalists of 1957 and 1958, while Brown was by then the owner.

* From the 1970 Stanley Cup won by "the Big Bad Bruins": Head coach and general manager Harry Sinden, goaltender Gerry Cheevers (Number 30 could be retired for him, but isn't), defenseman Bobby Orr, left wing Johnny "Chief" Bucyk, center Phil Esposito and broadcaster Bob Wilson.

* From the 1972 Stanley Cup: GM Sinden, head coach Tom Johnson (played for the Bruins, but elected because of his playing for the Montreal Canadiens), Cheevers, Orr, Bucyk, Thompson, and broadcasters Wilson (who remained through 1994) and Fred Cusick (who remained until 1997).

* From the 1977 and 1978 Stanley Cup Finals, but not the 1970 and 1972 Cups: Defenseman Brad Park and center Jean Ratelle, both acquired from the Rangers in "The Trade" for Esposito. Right wings Terry O'Reilly and Rick Middleton also played for this team, nicknamed the Lunch Pail Athletic Club, and perhaps they should be in the Hall of Fame, but they're not.

* From the 1988 and 1990 Stanley Cup Finals: Defenseman Ray Bourque and right wing Cam Neely.

* From the 1990s: Bourque, Neely and center Adam Oates.

From the 2011 Stanley Cup win and the 2013 Finalists, it's not clear who will get their numbers retired or be elected to the Hall, but possibilities include defenseman Zdeno Chara (33), center Patrice Bergeron (37), goaltender Tukka Rask (40) and left wing Brad Marchand (63), all still there, are possiblities.

The Garden is also home to The Sports Museum of New England, encompassing all sports in the 6-State area; and a statue commemorating the overtime goal that Orr scored to win the 1970 Cup. There are statues of Celtics legends Red Auerbach and Bill Russell, but they're elsewhere.
Stuff. The Bruins Pro Shop reminds you that, even though the Celtics are by far the more successful team, the Bruins have always been the owners of the Garden (old and new). Anything black and gold takes precedence inside over anything green and white. Nevertheless, both Bruin and Celtic items are available.
Books about the Red Sox are plentiful; the other Boston-area teams, less so. But the Bruins, as one might guess from their storied (in more ways than one) history, have their contributions to good sports literature.

Eric Zweig and Ron MacLean just published Art Ross: The Hockey Legend Who Built the Bruins. Ross was a legendary defenseman for the Montreal Wanderers, winning 4 Stanley Cups in 5 years from 1906 to 1910, and was a character inductee into the Hall of Fame as a player. But what he did with the Bruins as coach and GM was so influential that both the trophy for NHL leading scorer and, formerly, a Division in the NHL were named for him.

Stewart F. Richardson and Richard J. LeBlanc also covered the Bruins' early days in their biography Dit: Dit Clapper and the Rise of the Boston Bruins. Last year, Bobby Orr published a memoir, Orr: My Story. What it lacks in originality of title, it makes up for and then some in honesty, admiration for his family and his teammates, and reverence for the game that took him from a id in a small town in Northern Ontario to a legend in 2 countries.

Clark Booth, the lead sportscaster for the local ABC affiliate, WCVB-Channel 5, and Steve Babineau wrote The Boston Bruins: Celebrating 75 Years in 1998. The most recent Cup win is chronicled in Full 60 to History: The Inside Story of the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins, by John Bishop and Eric Tosi.

The NHL, as part of its "Original Six" series, produced a DVD, History of the Boston Bruins. The Globe staff put together, and sat for interviews for, Boston's Greatest Sports Stories: Behind the Headlines. I have this DVD, and it's fantastic, even if you don't like the teams involved. It has Ryan, Dan Shaughnessy, Leigh Montville, Bud Collins, Jackie MacMullan and others telling it like it was aboutthe B's,  the C's, the Sox, the Pats, and other local sports moments, ranging from the joyous (the 2004 Sox triumph had just happened when it was made) to the sorrowful (the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis), from the sublime (the steals of Havlicek, Bird and Gerald Henderson, and the great moments of Orr, Carl Yastrzemski and the young Tom Brady) to the ridiculous (Rosie Ruiz, that blackout at the old Garden during the 1988 Stanley Cup Finals).

During the Game. I only saw one sporting event at the old Garden; and, to date, have only seen one at the new Garden. Both were hockey games, Devils vs. Bruins. The one at the old Garden was rough, and I probably came closer to getting hurt by opposing fans than I have ever come -- including at Fenway, Foxboro, Shea Stadium and Philadelphia Flyers games. The visit to the new Garden was much calmer, although that could be due to the Bruins then being terrible.

There is an innate insularity among people in "Greater Boston," and whether they take kindly to visitors on a given day is a crapshoot. And, unlike the old Garden, with its cramped quarters, obstructed views, and the Bruins' 2010s resurgence, the new Garden doesn't exactly ooze menace. The fans are calmer. The ventilation system works well. There are no rats. And nobody, as they did at the old Garden, throws a lobster onto the ice to mimic the Detroit tradition of throwing an octopus. (I get it from a regional standpoint, but why would you throw something as expensive as a lobster? Why not a clam, which is cheaper, smaller, and easier to throw for distance?)

With a season's glory depending very little on the result of this game, the locals may not be inclined to compromise their safety, or yours. If a fan near you wants to engage in civil discussion, by all means, engage back. If not, get a feel for those around you, to see if they're going to be okay, before you start talking to any of them. Most likely, if you behave yourself, so will they. If you simply support your team, and lay off theirs, you should be all right.

Because, let’s face it, like any other group of people, there’s always a 1 percent (or less) who ruin it for the other 99 percent. The type of people parodied in the Saturday Night Live sketch “The Boston Teens” (featuring Jimmy Fallon before he played a Sox fan in the U.S. version of Fever Pitch) were, in the Pedro Martinez era (1998-2004), too young to remember 1986, let alone 1978, 1975, 1967, or Boston’s agonizing close calls of the late 1940s -- or the Bruin titles of the 1970s and the close calls of the 1980s, or the Celtics' down period around the time of the arena changeover, or the Pats' Victor Kiam era before Bill Parcells revived them.

These fans, these Townies, the British would call them “chavs” (and no American city is chavvier than Boston, at least not that I know of), really didn’t deserve the Sox victories of 2004, 2007 or 2013; the Pats victories of 2002, 2004, and 2005; the Celtics title of 2008; or the Bruins title of 2011 and near-title of 2013 -- and yet they’re the first to brag about them.

So if the Bruin fans around you just want to talk, by all means, talk with them. But keep it on a civil level. If they don’t want to antagonize you, why antagonize them? These are not the Townies: They’re hockey fans first and Bruin fans second. So be a basketball fan first and a Devils fan second. It’s worth it.

John Kiley was the long-time organist at the Garden and Fenway Park, and thus the answer to the trivia question, "Who played for the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins?" But he's gone now.

Rene Rancourt has been the Bruins' regular singer of the National Anthems since 1980. He also sang it at Fenway Park before the iconic Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. The Bruins have Ice Girls and a mascot, Blades the Bruin.

"Let's go, Bruins, let's go!" is the main fan chant. Their goal song is "Kernkraft 400" by Zombie Nation. Like the Red Sox and the Celtics, they play "Dirty Water" by the Standells as a postgame victory song, even though the band, and the song's writer Bob Cobb, were from hated Los Angeles.

After the Game. Win or lose, get out of the arena and back to your hotel (or to South Station or the park-and-ride you parked at, if you came up just for the day) as quickly and as quietly as possible. This will require you to be on the streets of Boston, and, unless you can get a taxi (don’t count on it), to take the Green Line in one direction or the other.

You’ll have to take some verbal on the streets and especially on the subway. Respond as little as possible. This is a good time to observe the advice of the great football coach Paul Brown: “When you win, say little; and when you lose, say less.”

Chances are, no one will try to pick a fight with you, or damage your Devils (by spilling a drink on it, or worse). Most Bruin fans, regardless of how much they’ve had to drink, will not fight. And if they see New York/New Jersey fans ready to defend each other, they could very well back off entirely.

Perhaps the best way to avoid a confrontation is to stay at your seat for as long as the Garden ushers will let you. This is a tactic used in European and Latin American soccer, with stadium stewards keeping the visiting fans in their section until the entire rest of the stadium is emptied of home supporters, to minimize the chance of hooliganism. This will also allow the crowd to thin out a little and make it easier to leave the park, regardless of the level of aggression.

Another way to avoid any unpleasantness is to find a bar where New Yorkers not only hang out, but are left alone. Easier said than done, right? Well, just as the Riviera Café off Sheridan Square in the West Village and Professor Thom’s on 2nd Avenue in the East Village are New Englander-friendly bars in New York, there are places in Boston that welcome New Yorkers and New Jerseyans.

The following establishments were mentioned in a Boston Globe profile during the 2009 World Series: Champions, at the Marriott Copley Place hotel at 110 Huntington Avenue (Green Line to Copley); The Sports Grille, at 132 Canal Street (across from North Station and the Garden, Green Line to North Station); and, right across from Fenway itself, Game On! at 82 Lansdowne Street. I’ve also heard that Jillian’s, across from Fenway at 145 Ipswich Street, takes in Yankee Fans, but I’ve only seen it rammed with Chowdaheads, so I would advise against it.

The local Giants fan club meets at The Greatest Bar – a name, if not an apt description – is at 262 Friend Street off Canal, a block from the Garden. M.J. O'Conor's, at 27 Columbus Avenue at Church Street, in the Back Bay, is the local home of Jets fans. (Green Line to Arlington.)

Several noted drinking emporiums are near TD Garden. Perhaps the most famous, and once rated the best sports bar in America by Sports Illustrated, is The Fours, at 166 Canal Street. It’s named for “the Miracle of the Fours”: 1970 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 4, overtime (therefore the 4th period), winning goal scored by Number 4, Bobby Orr, while tripped up by Noel Picard, Number 4 of the St. Louis Blues, to clinch the Bruins’ 4th Stanley Cup. (Some people like to point out that it was Orr's 4th goal of the Finals, but this is incorrect: It was his 1st.) McGann’s isn't exactly New York Tri-State Area-friendly, but it is close to the Garden, at 197 Portland Street.

But the 2 most famous Boston sports-related bars will be unavailable to you: The Eliot Lounge, in the Eliot Hotel at the convenient intersection of Massachusetts & Commonwealth Avenues, closed in 1996; while Daisy Buchanan's, postgame home to many a Boston and visiting athlete, closed last year -- at its original location, anyway: 240A Newbury Street at Fairfield. It's a development issue, and the owner says he's going to try to reopen the bar, named for The Great Gatsby's lost love, elsewhere. Bruins star turned broadcaster Derek Sanderson was one of the original 1969 owners.

Sidelights. Boston is probably America’s best sports city, per-capita, and the number of sports-themed sites you might want to check out is large:

* Solomon Court at Cabot Center. This is part of Northeastern University’s athletic complex, and was the site of the Huntington Avenue Grounds, the only other home the Boston Red Sox have ever known, from their founding in 1901 to 1911. When the Sox won the first World Series in 1903, it was clinched here. At roughly the spot where the pitcher’s mound was, there is a statue of Cy Young, who pitched for the Sox in their 1903 and 1904 World Championship seasons. Huntington Avenue at Forsyth Street. Green Line E train to Northeastern.

* Matthews Arena. Built in 1910 as the Boston Arena -- in fact, today is the anniversary, April 16 -- this is the oldest currently-used multi-purpose athletic building in use in the world. Northeastern still uses it, while BC, BU, Harvard, MIT and Tufts all once played home games here. It was the Bruins' first home, from 1924 to 1928, and the Celtics played the occasional home game here from 1946 to 1955, on occasions when there was a scheduling conflict with the Garden. In 1985, the Celtics played an alumni game here, with the opposing teams coached by Red Auerbach (his players wearing the white home jerseys) and Bill Russell (who didn't play, his players wearing the road green).

A gift from NU alumnus George J. Matthews led the school to rename the arena for him. In spite of its age, the building is fronted by a modern archway. Massachusetts Avenue at St. Botolph Street, 2 miles southwest of Downtown Crossing. Green Line E train to Symphony. Symphony Hall, Boston's answer to Carnegie Hall, is a block away at Massachusetts and Huntington Avenues.

* South End Grounds. This is still the most successful baseball location in Boston history. It was home to 3 ballparks, all named the Sound End Grounds. In 1871, the first such park was built there, and was home to the Boston Red Stockings of the first professional baseball league, the National Association. This team featured half the members of the first openly professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings (hence the name), and also had a young pitcher named Al Spalding, who would later co-found the team now known as the Chicago Cubs and the sporting-goods empire that still bears his name. Those Boston Red Stockings team won Pennants in 1872, ’73, ’74 and ’75, and its strength (domination, really) was one of the reasons the NA collapsed.

When the National League was founded in 1876, the Red Stockings were a charter member. They won Pennants in 1877 and ’78, and by the time they won the 1883 Pennant, they were popularly known as the “Boston Beaneaters.” No, I'm not making that name up. Building a new park on the site in 1888, they won Pennants in 1891, ’92 and ’93. But on May 15, 1894, in a game against the NL version of the Baltimore Orioles, a fight broke out, and no one noticed that some kids had started a fire in the right-field seats. (Or maybe it was the ashes of a grown man’s cigar. Both have been suggested, probably nobody knew for sure.) It became known as the Great Roxbury Fire, and the story goes that the park and 117 (or 170, or 200) buildings burned to the ground, and 1,900 people were left homeless – but nobody died. (I don’t buy that last part at all.)

A new park was hastily built on the site, while the Beaneaters temporarily played at the home of the city’s team in the 1890 Players’ League. This last South End Grounds hosted the Braves' 1897 and '98 Pennant winners, and lasted until 1914, when, with the team now called the Braves (owner James Gaffney had been a “Brave,” or officer, in New York’s Tammany Hall political organization), decided it was too small for the crowds the team was now attracting. So he moved the team to Fenway, and played their 1914 World Series games there, and opened Braves Field the next season. Overall, 12 Pennants were won here, in a 44-year span -- one more than the Red Sox have won at Fenway Park in 102 seasons.

Parking for Northeastern University is now on the site -- and save your Joni Mitchell jokes. Columbus Avenue at Hammond Street. Orange Line to Ruggles.

* Third Base Saloon. There’s some question as to what was the first “sports bar”: St. Louis Brown Stockings (the team now known as the Cardinals) owner Chris von der Ahe’s place on the grounds of Sportsman’s Park, or Michael T. McGreevy’s establishment that opened just outside the South End Grounds, both in the 1880s. “I call it Third Base because it’s the last place you go before home,” McGreevy would tell people. “Enough said.” McGreevy used that phrase to settle any and all arguments to the point where not only did “Nuf Ced” become his nickname, but he had it (spelled that way) laid in mosaic tile on the bar’s floor.

Third Base Saloon became the headquarters of the Royal Rooters, a Beaneaters’ booster club, founded in 1897. In 1901, when the American League and the team that became the Red Sox was formed, Beaneaters founder-owner Arthur Soden made one of the dumbest mistakes in sports history: Despite competition practically next-door to his team, he raised ticket prices. This infuriated the working-class Irish fan base of the NL club, and they immediately accepted Nuf Ced’s suggestion of switching to the AL outfit. (I wonder if they built their park near Nuf Ced's place for just that reason, to get his customers?)

Nuf Ced and the Rooters stayed with the Sox after their 1912 move to Fenway, until 1920 when Prohibition closed him down. He died in 1930, and to this day, no Boston baseball team has ever won a World Series without him being present at all home games. (Not legitimately, anyway.) A park with a bike trail is now on the site, so the address, 940 Columbus Avenue, is no longer in use. As with the site of South End Grounds, take the Orange Line to Ruggles.

A new version, named McGreevy’s 3rd Base Saloon, was founded by Dropkick Murphys member Ken Casey, with “an exact replica of McGreevy’s original barroom.” 911 Boylston Street. Green Line B, C or D train to Hynes-Convention Center.

* Site of Braves Field/Nickerson Field. Although Boston University no longer has a football team, it still plays other sports at Nickerson Field, which opened in 1957. Its home stand is the surviving right field pavilion of Braves Field, where the Braves played from 1915 until they left town. In return for being allowed to play their 1914 World Series games at Fenway, the Braves invited the Sox to play their Series games at Braves Field, which seated 40,000, a record until the first Yankee Stadium was built. The Sox played their home Series games there in 1915, ’16 and ’18.

The Braves themselves only played one World Series here, in 1948, losing to the Indians, who had just beaten the Sox in a one-game Playoff for the AL Pennant at Fenway, negating the closest call there ever was for an all-Boston World Series.

The Braves’ top farm team was the Triple-A version of the Milwaukee Brewers, and, with their team in decline after the ’48 Pennant and the Sox having the far larger attendance, they gave up the ghost and moved just before the start of the 1953 season, and then in 1966 to Atlanta. But they already had Warren Spahn and Eddie Mathews, and, ironically, if they’d just hung on a little longer, they would have had Hank Aaron (they’d already integrated with Sam Jethroe in 1948, 11 years before the Sox finally caved in to the post-1865 world and added Pumpsie Green). They could have played the 1957 and '58 World Series in Boston instead of Milwaukee. If this had happened, once Ted Williams retired in 1960, interest in the declining Sox would have faded to the point that Tom Yawkey, not a Bostonian, could have gotten frustrated, and the Red Sox could have moved with the Braves staying.

If so, while the 1967, ’75, ’86, 2004, ’07 and '13 World Series would have been played somewhere else, Boston would have gained the 1957, ’58, ’91, ’92, ’95, ’96 and ’99 World Series, and, because of the proximity, there would be a big New York-Boston rivalry in baseball, but it would be Mets-Braves. (Of course, this would have meant the Yankees' main rivals would be the Baltimore Orioles -- who are, after all, the closest AL team to them, closer than the Red Sox.)

Instead, the Braves moved, and BU bought the grounds and converted it into Nickerson Field. The NFL’s Boston Redskins (named for the Braves) played their first season, 1932, at Braves Field, before playing 1933-36 at Fenway and then moving to Washington. The AFL’s Boston Patriots played at Nickerson 1960-62, and then at Fenway 1963-68. The former Braves Field ticket office still stands, converted into the BU Police headquarters. Unfortunately, the field is now artificial.

Commonwealth Avenue at Babcock Street and Harry Agganis Way, 3 miles west of Downtown Crossing. (Agganis was a BU quarterback who briefly played for the Red Sox before getting sick and dying at age 24 in 1955.) Green Line B train at Pleasant Street.

* Fenway Park. If you can stomach being around so much Soxness -- or if you're a Mets fan and thus a fellow Yankee-Hater -- the Auld Enemy offers tours of their Back Bay bandbox on the hour between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM for $17, accessing the warning track (but not the field), the Green Monster, the Monster Seats, the press box, and the Red Sox Hall of Fame. 4 Yawkey Way (formerly Jersey Street) at Brookline Avenue. Green Line B, C or D (not E) to Kenmore.

Across Lansdowne Street/Ted Williams Way is the Cask 'n' Flagon. This legendary bar is definitely not to be visited by a New York/New Jersey fan while a Boston sporting event is in progress, but one to try at other times. And if you look to your right as you come out of the Kenmore station, you'll see a Barnes & Noble that serves as the Boston University bookstore. If you look up, you'll see that the famous CITGO sign so often shown in shots of Fenway is on top of this building.

NCAA basketball tournament games have been held at the TD Garden, the Hartford Civic Center (now the XL Center), the Providence Civic Center (now the Dunkin Donuts Center), the Worcester Centrum (now the DCU Center), and the University of Rhode Island's Keaney Gymnasium in Kingston. But no New England building has ever hosted a Final Four, and none ever will, due to attendance requirements, unless the Patriots put a dome on Gillette Stadium, or the Sox ever do build a New Fenway, with a dome.

No school within the city limits of Boston has ever reached the Final Four. One Massachusetts school has: Holy Cross, in Worcester, winning the National Championship in 1947 with George Kaftan, "the Golden Greek," and reaching the Final Four again in '48 with Bob Cousy (a freshman in '47 and ineligible under the rules of the time).

The University of Massachusetts, with its main campus in Amherst, made the Final Four in 1996, under coach John Calipari, but had to vacate the appearance when later Knick Marcus Camby admitted he'd accepted money and gifts from agents.

The University of Connecticut (UConn, in Storrs, closer to Boston than to Manhattan) has made it 5 times, winning it all in 1999, 2004, 2011 and 2014, and losing in the Semifinal in 2009. The only New Hampshire school to make it is Dartmouth, in Hanover, in 1942 and 1944, losing in the Final both times. The only Rhode Island school to make it is Providence, in 1973 and 1987 (coached by future Big East Commissioner Dave Gavitt and future preening schmo Rick Pitino, respectively). No school from Maine or Vermont has ever reached the Final Four.

* Alumni Stadium. Boston College has played football here since 1957, and the Patriots played their 1969 home games here. Prior to 1957, BC played at several sites, including Fenway and Braves Field. Beacon Street at House Road, 6 miles west of Downtown Crossing. Green Line B train to Boston College.

* Harvard Stadium. The oldest continually-used football stadium in America – the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field is on the oldest continually-used football site – this stadium was built in 1903, and renovations (funded by those wealthy Harvard alums) have kept it in tip-top condition, if not turned it into a modern sports palace.

This stadium is responsible for the legalization of the forward pass in football. When the organization that became the NCAA was founded in 1906, rules changes were demanded to make the game safer. One suggestion was widening the field, but Harvard – at the time, having as much pull as Notre Dame, Michigan and Alabama now do, all rolled into one – insisted that they’d just spent all this money on a new stadium, and didn’t want to alter it to suit a rule change. Much as Notre Dame has sometimes been a tail wagging college football’s dog, the Crimson were accommodated, and someone suggested the alternative of legalizing the forward pass, which had occasionally been illegally done.

Today, the stadium is best known as the site of the 1968 Harvard-Yale game, where the two ancient rivals both came into the game undefeated, and a furious late comeback from 29-13 down led to the famous Harvard Crimson (school newspaper) headline “HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29” and a tie for the Ivy League Championship. (Actor Tommy Lee Jones, then listed as "Tom Jones," started at guard for Harvard in that game. His roommate at Harvard was future Vice President Al Gore.) The Patriots played 1970, their first season in the NFL and last under the name “Boston Patriots,” at Harvard Stadium.

Although its mailing address is 65 North Harvard Street in “Allston, MA,” and the University is in Cambridge, 3 1/2 miles northwest of Downtown Crossing, the stadium is actually on the south, Boston side of the Charles River, 4 miles west. Harvard Street at Soldiers Field Road. Unfortunately, it’s not that close to public transportation: Your best bet is to take the Red Line to Harvard Square, and walk across the Anderson Memorial Bridge.

* Gillette Stadium. The NFL’s New England Patriots and MLS’ New England Revolution have played here since 2002. It was built next-door to the facility known as Schaefer Stadium, Sullivan Stadium and Foxboro Stadium, which was torn down and replaced by the Patriot Place mall.

The Pats played at the old stadium from 1971 to 2001 (their last game, a Playoff in January 2002, being the Snow Bowl or Tuck Game against the Oakland Raiders). It was home to the New England Tea Men of the North American Soccer League and, from 1996 to 2001, of MLS’ Revs. Before the Tea Men, the NASL's Boston Minutemen played there, including Mozambicuan-Portuguese legend Eusebio da Silva Ferreira (like many Portuguese and Brazilian players, usually known by just his first name). Because of this, and because of New England's large Portuguese community, a statue of Eusebio stands at Gillette, possibly puzzling people who don't know soccer and only go for Patriots games. The statue was there at least as far back as 2010, well before his recent death.

The U.S. national soccer team played 10 games at Foxboro Stadium, winning 7. They've now played 12 at Gillette, winning 7. The most recent was a 4-1 loss to Brazil this past September 8. BC played a couple of football games at the old stadium in the early 1980s, thanks to the popularity of quarterback Doug Flutie. The old stadium was basically an oversized version of a high school stadium, complete with aluminum benches for fans, and it was terrible. The new stadium is so much better.

It has one problem: The location is awful. It’s just off U.S. Route 1, not a freeway such as I-95, and except for Pats’ gamedays, when an MBTA commuter rail train will take you right there, the only way to get there without a car is to take the MBTA Forge Park-495 Line from South Station to Walpole, and then get a taxi. That’ll cost you $18 each way, as I found out when I went to see the New York Red Bulls play the Revs in June 2010.

60 Washington Street (Route 1) – or “1 Patriot Place,” Foxboro. It’s actually closer to downtown Providence, Rhode Island than to downtown Boston. Adjoining is the Patriot Place mall.

* Suffolk Downs. Opened in 1935, this is New England's premier horse-racing track.  On their last tour, on August 18, 1966, the Beatles played here. However, as horse racing has declined, so has the track, to the point that New England's best known race, the Massachusetts Handicap (or the Mass Cap) hasn't been run since 2008. Previously, it had been won by such legendary horses as Seabiscuit, Whirlaway, Riva Ridge and Cigar.

So, unless you really loved the film Seabiscuit or are a huge Beatlemaniac, I'd say that if you don't have the time to see everything on this list, this is the first item you should cross off. 525 McClellan Highway, at Waldemar Avenue, in the East Boston neighborhood, near Logan Airport. Blue Line to Suffolk Downs station.

* Basketball Hall of Fame. New York and Boston fans can debate which of their cities is "the home of basketball" or "the best basketball city," but the birthplace of basketball cannot be questioned: It is Springfield, Massachusetts, 90 miles west of downtown Boston. Dr. James Naismith invented the sport at the Springfield YMCA on December 21, 1891, because the Y needed an indoor sport for those months when it was too cold to play baseball or football outside.

The Springfield Y became Springfield College, and the "Hoophall," founded in 1959, opened its first building on the SC campus in 1968. It quickly outgrew the facility, and a new one opened on the Connecticut River in 1985. That one, too, was outgrown, and a 3rd one opened adjacent to the 2nd one in 2002.

1000 Hall of Fame Avenue. It might not be a bad idea to see the Nets-Celtics game on Friday night, stay over in Boston, and then on Saturday head west to see the Hoophall before heading south again to go home. Take the Mass Pike/I-90 West to Exit 6, to I-291, then take Exit 1 onto I-91, then take that highway's Exit 6, and the Hoophall will be on your right. If you'd prefer to take a separate trip from New York, it's 138 miles. Follow the directions to Boston: I-95 North to New Haven, then I-91 North, except, in this case, pass Hartford, stay on I-91, and, once in Massachusetts, take Exit 6. Hartford and Springfield are only 25 miles apart.

* Museum of Fine Arts. This is Boston’s equivalent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’m not saying you have to visit, but you should see one major Boston tourist site that doesn’t involve sports, and it’s a 10-minute walk from Fenway and a 5-minute walk from the sites of the Huntington Avenue and South End Grounds. 465 Huntington Avenue at Parker Street. Green Line E train to Museum of Fine Arts station.

* Freedom Trail. Boston’s most familiar tourist trap is actually several, marked by a red brick sidewalk and red paint on streets. Historic sites include Boston’s old and new City Halls, Massachusetts’ old and new State Houses (old: Built 1711, with the State Street subway station somehow built into it; “new”: 1798), the Old North Church (where Paul Revere saw the two lanterns hung) and the Old South Meeting House (where Samuel Adams started the Boston Tea Party and would be horrified at the right-wing bastards using the “Tea Party” name today), Revere’s house, the Boston Tea Party Ship, the U.S.S. Constitution, and the Bunker Hill Monument.

The Trail starts at Boston Common, at Park and Tremont Streets. Green or Red Line to Park Street.

* Cambridge. Home to Harvard and MIT, it is not so much “Boston’s Brooklyn” (that wouldn’t be Brookline, either, but would be South Boston or “Southie” and neighboring Dorchester) as “Boston’s Greenwich Village,” particularly since Harvard Square was the center of Boston’s alternative music scene in the Fifties and Sixties, where performers like Joan Baez and the aforementioned Kingston Trio became stars. Later, it would be rock acts like Aerosmith and the J. Geils Band that would make their names in Cambridge.

The city is also home to the Longfellow House, home of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And while Harvard Yard is worth a visit, no, you cannot, as the old saying demonstrating the Boston accent goes, “Pahk yuh cah in Hahvuhd Yahd.” Harvard Yard does not allow motorized vehicles. Centered around Harvard Square at 1400 Massachusetts Avenue. Red Line to Harvard Square.

* John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Unlike the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, which is a 2-hour drive north of Midtown Manhattan in Hyde Park, closer to Albany, the JFK Library is much more accessible – not just to drivers and non-drivers alike, but to anyone.

Maybe it’s because it’s more interactive, but maybe it’s also because FDR is a figure of black-and-white film and scratchy radio recordings, while JFK is someone whose television images and color films make him more familiar to us, even though he’s been dead for over 50 years now. (Incredibly, he’s now been dead longer than he was alive.)

Sometimes it seems as though his Library is less about his time than it is about our time, and the time beyond. While I love the FDR Library, there’s no doubt in my mind that this is the best Presidential Library or Museum there is. Columbia Point, on the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts. Red Line to JFK/UMass, plus a free shuttle bus.

Other Massachusetts Presidential sites include the JFK Tour at Harvard, JFK’s birthplace at 83 Beals Street in Brookline (Green Line B train to Babcock Street), those involving John and John Quincy Adams in Quincy (Red Line to Quincy Center – not to “Quincy Adams”), the house at 173 Adams Street in Milton where George H.W. Bush was born (Red Line to Milton, now has a historical marker although the house itself is privately owned and not available for tours), and the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum, in Northampton where he was Mayor before becoming the State’s Governor and then President (20 West Street, 100 miles west of Boston, although Greyhound goes there). Closer than Northampton are sites relating to Franklin Pierce in Concord and Hillsboro, New Hampshire.

Salem, home to the witch trials, is to the north: MBTA Commuter Rail Newburyport/Rockport Line out of North Station to Salem. Plymouth, where the Pilgrims landed and set up the Massachusetts Bay Colony, is to the south: MBTA Kingston/Plymouth Line out of South Station to Kingston, then switch to FreedomLink bus.

Lexington & Concord? Lexington: Red Line north to its terminal at Alewife, then switch to the 62 or 76 bus. Concord: MBTA Fitchburg/South Acton Line out of North Station to Concord. Bunker Hill? 93 bus on Washington Street, downtown, to Bunker Hill & Monument Streets, across the river in the Charlestown neighborhood, then 2 blocks down Monument.

The Bull & Finch Pub, which was used for the exterior shot and the basis for the interior shot of Cheers, was at 84 Beacon Street at Brimmer Street, across from Boston Common and near the State House. It's since been bought and turned into an official Cheers, with the upstairs Hampshire House (the basis for the show's Melville's) also part of the establishment. Green Line to Arlington.  A version designed to look more like the one on the show, complete with an "island bar" instead of a "wall bar," is at Faneuil Hall. Congress & Market Streets. Orange or Blue Line to State, since Government Center is closed for renovations.

The Suffolk County Court House, recognizable from David E. Kelley's legal dramas Ally McBeal, The Practice and Boston Legal, is at the Scollay Square/Government Center complex.  The official address is 3 Pemberton Street, at Somerset Street. Again, use State, due to the closure of Government Center.

The Prudential Tower, a.k.a. the Prudential Center, at 749 feet the tallest building in the world outside New York when it opened in 1964, contains a major mall. 800 Boylston Street. The finish line of the Boston Marathon, and the site of the bombing, is at 755 Boylston at Ring Road. Green Line B, C or D to Copley, or E to Prudential.

There are two John Hancock Buildings in Boston. The older one, at 197 Clarendon Street at St. James Avenue, went up in 1947, and is now better known as the Berkeley Building. It is 495 feet high counting a spire that lights up, and is a weather beacon, complete with poem:

Steady blue, clear view.
Flashing blue, clouds due.
Steady red, rain ahead.
Flashing red, snow instead.

If it's flashing red during baseball season, when snow is not expected (except maybe in April), that means that day's Red Sox game has been postponed. When the Sox won the Series * in 2004, '07 and '13, it flashed red and blue.

The glass-facaded newer building, at 200 Clarendon across from the old one, was completed in 1976 and is 790 feet tall, making it not just the tallest in Boston, in Massachusetts, or in New England, but the tallest in North America east of Manhattan. Green Line to Copley

*

Boston may be, per capita, America's best sports city. Certainly, it's the nuttiest. Games played there, in any of their venues, are not for the faint of heart. But it is a truly great experience to see a game there.

Good luck, and remember: Safety first. Despite Boston's reputation of having several fine medical centers, if given a choice, it's better to be an uninjured coward than a hospitalized tough guy.

Today is my 46th birthday. Here are some of the things I've learned in my 1st 46 years on this planet:

Family always sticks together. Desertion is treason.    Never do anything only for the money. No matter how much it is. No matter how badly you need it. If you need the money that badly, you can find another reason to do it. Anytime someone says, “It’s not about (fill in the blank),” they’re lying. If you have to lie, make it a plausible lie.  It shows you respect the person you’re lying to, and thus raises less suspicion. Three men can keep a secret, but only if two of them are dead.  (From Benjamin Franklin.) It’s never too late to apologize. It’s never too late to forgive. Courage is not the absence of fear, it’s looking fear dead in the eye and saying, “To hell with you, I’m moving forward, and you won’t stop me.” It’s okay to rat someone out if it will save a life, but never if all that will be saved is money. Always give the effort. People will forgive defeat if it looked like you cared enough to try to win. If you can’t win, at least make the winner feel as though his win wasn’t worth it the effort. Better to trust a sincere fool than a smart liar. If people think you’re crazy or stupid, use it to your advantage before they can use it to theirs. (I like to call this the Dizzy Dean Rule.) You don’t need a third drink. Admit it when you’re wrong. Coincidence is what the incurious believe in. Never throw the first punch. Throw the next four. (From Billy Martin.) There’s no shame in a man admitting he’s in over his head. (From Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H.) Never apologize for having told the truth. Never mess with a Scotsman’s golf clubs. Nothing is worth a triple-dog-dare. (A reference to A Christmas Story.) It’s better to be called a coward by an asshole than to be revealed as an asshole by anyone. Love is worth a concession, but no kind of sex is worth making yourself look undignified in public. (A variant of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons: “No woman’s worth crawling on the Earth, so walk like a man, my son.”) Never pick on a rookie when he’s down. If you can keep your head about you while all others are losing theirs, maybe they know something you need to know. (A variant of Rudyard Kipling: “ ...while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you... yours is the world and all that’s in it, and, what’s more, you’ll be a man, my son!”) Be the underestimated, never the underestimator. If life hands you lemonade, drink it before someone turns it back into lemons. Never blame on malice what you can blame on incompetence. (This, and variations on it, are called “Hanlon’s Razor,” and have been attributed to Robert J. Hanlon, Robert A. Heinlein, Bernard Ingham, Napoleon Bonaparte and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.) If the music don’t sound good, who cares what the picture looks like? (From Ray Charles, in a 1984 commercial for Pioneer laserdisc players.) A better vocabulary than your opponent is more intimidating than yelling, but more intimidating still is a properly-placed and properly-timed silence. Sometimes, paranoia is justified. Always look busy, so they won’t know that you’re fooling around. (A variant of George Costanza on Seinfeld: “If you look annoyed, people will assume that you’re busy.”) You don’t have to understand women. You only have to understand one woman. Never remind a woman that you were right and she was wrong. Even if you were right, reminding her of that just makes you wrong-squared. Never talk on the phone in the bathroom. It’s like you’re pissing on the other person’s shoes. Never shut up, or the other side will be the only one heard. Have a heart of gold, but never at the cost of a spine of steel. Never let the desire for perfection interfere with your ability to do good. (Sometimes written as, “Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Originally, “The better is the enemy of the good,” from Voltaire. Also known as “settling for half a loaf.”) Not every person in your party is an ally, and not every person in the other party is an enemy. Corollary: Better to trust a principled member of the other party than an unprincipled member of your own. It’s not the crime that gets you, it’s the cover-up. (Variations of this go back to Watergate.) When a politician resigns his office or announces he’s not running for re-election “to spend more time with my family,” it’s code for, “I did something wrong, and my wife found out about it, and I have to make it up to her.” Forgetting when to keep the truth to yourself can be as damaging as getting caught in a lie. There will be times when you are not the best spokesman for your own opinion. Sometimes a good message comes from a messenger you won’t like. If you're not in favor of government spending for universal health care, you are NOT "pro-life."

Tonight, the New York Knicks will host the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks will play them at the United Center in Chicago on New Year's Day, January 1, and March 23. The Brooklyn Nets will face them in Chicago this coming Monday and on St. Patrick's Day, March 17. (I hope neither team wears green variations on their usual uniforms.)

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler,
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.

And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.

And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.

And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:

Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.

Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,

Bareheaded, shoveling, wrecking, planning, building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
And under his ribs the heart of the people, laughing!

Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
-- Carl Sandburg, 1916.

Sandburg knew. He was right then. He is still right now.

Before You Go. Chicago weather can be unpredictable. This game being played in late December, cold weather can be expected. However, the arena is 3 miles inland from Lake Michigan, so the local wind, a.k.a. The Hawk (not named for the hockey team), which tends to produce "Bear Weather," won't be that much of a problem while you're right outside.

The Chicago Tribune is predicting temperatures to be in the high 40s during daylight, and the mid-30s at night. They're also predicting rain for Monday. That won't present problems during the game, which will be indoors, but you won't be indoors the entire trip. The Chicago Sun-Times backs up its rivals' temperature predictions, but is more optimistic about the chance of rain.

Illinois is in the Central Time Zone, 1 hour behind New York. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.

Tickets. Like their co-tenants at the United Center, the Blackhawks, the Bulls lead their league in per-game attendance: 21,343. Getting tickets to the Bulls isn't as hard as it was when ol' What's His Name was playing for them, but it's still tough, and the law of supply and demand, even for the largest arena in the league, makes them expensive.

However, Bulls tickets are cheaper than Blackhawk tickets, which no one could have imagined before the turn of the 21st Century. Seats in the lower level, the 100 sections, are $225 between the baskets and $130 behind them. In the club level, the 200 sections, they're $130 and $95. In the upper level, the 300 sections, they're $70 and $42.

Getting There. Chicago is 789 land miles from New York. Knowing this, your first reaction is going to be to fly out there.

Unlike some other Midwestern cities, this is a good idea if you can afford it. If you buy tickets online, you can get them for $857 round-trip. O'Hare International Airport (named for Lt. Cmdr. Edward "Butch" O'Hare, the U.S. Navy's first flying ace, who was nevertheless shot down over the Pacific in World War II), at the northwestern edge of the city, is United Airlines' headquarters, so nearly every flight they have from the New York area’s airports to there is nonstop, so it’ll be 3 hours, tarmac to tarmac, and about 2 hours going back.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Blue Line train will take you from O’Hare to the downtown elevated (or “L”) tracks that run in “The Loop” (the borders of which are Randolph, Wells, Van Buren and Wabash Streets) in 45 minutes. From Midway Airport, the Orange Line train can get you to the Loop. Both should take about 45 minutes.

Bus? Greyhound’s run between the 2 cities, launched 5 times per day, is relatively easy, but long, averaging about 18 hours, and is $360 round-trip -- but can drop to as low as $166 on Advanced Purchase. Only 1 of the 5 runs goes straight there without requiring you to change buses: The one leaving Port Authority Bus Terminal at 10:15 PM (Eastern) and arriving at Chicago at 2:30 PM (Central). This includes half-hour rest stops at Milesburg, Pennsylvania and Elkhart, Indiana, and an hour-and-a-half stopover in Cleveland.

The station is at 630 W. Harrison Street at Des Plaines Street. (If you’ve seen one of my favorite movies, Midnight Run, this is a new station, not the one seen in that 1988 film.) The closest CTA stop is Clinton on the Blue Line, around the corner, underneath the elevated Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway.

Train? Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited (formerly known as the Twentieth Century Limited when the old New York Central Railroad ran it from Grand Central Terminal to Chicago's LaSalle Street Station) leaves New York's Penn Station at 3:40 every afternoon, and arrives at Union Station at 225 South Canal Street at Adams Street in Chicago at 9:45 every morning. It leaves Chicago at 9:30 every evening, and returns to New York at 6:23 the following night.
It’s $406 round-trip, about double what it usually is. Then again, this is Christmas week. The closest CTA stop is Quincy/Wells, in the Loop, but that’s 6 blocks away – counting the Chicago River as a block; Union Station is, literally, out of the Loop.
If you do decide to walk from Union Station to the Loop, don’t look up at the big black thing you pass. That’s the Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, which, until the new World Trade Center was topped off, was the tallest building in North America, which it had officially been since it opened in 1974, surpassing the old WTC. If there’s one thing being in New York should have taught you, it’s this: “Don’t look up at the tall buildings, or you’ll look like a tourist.”
But since you’ve come all this way, it makes sense to get a hotel, so take a cab from Union Station or Greyhound to the hotel – unless you’re flying in, in which case you can take the CTA train to within a block of a good hotel. There are also hotels near the airports.

If you decide to drive, it’s far enough that it will help to get someone to go with you and split the duties, and to trade off driving and sleeping. The directions are rather simple, down to (quite literally) the last mile. You'll need to get into New Jersey, and take Interstate 80 West. You'll be on I-80 for the vast majority of the trip, through New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. In Ohio, in the western suburbs of Cleveland, I-80 will merge with Interstate 90. From this point onward, you won’t need to think about I-80 until you head home; I-90 is now the key, and will take you right past Union Station the Loop.

Note that the dividing line between Eastern and Central Time on I-80/90, the Indiana Toll Road, is between Exits 39 (in LaPorte County) and 31 (in Lake County).

If you do it right, you should spend about an hour and a half in New Jersey, 5 hours and 15 minutes in Pennsylvania, 4 hours in Ohio, 2 hours and 30 minutes in Indiana, and half an hour in Illinois before you reach the exit for your hotel. That’s 13 hours and 45 minutes. Counting rest stops, preferably halfway through Pennsylvania and just after you enter both Ohio and Indiana, and accounting for traffic in both New York and Chicago, it should be no more than 18 hours, which would save you time on both Greyhound and Amtrak, if not on flying.

Once In the City. A derivation of a Native American name, "Chikagu" was translated as "Place of the onion," as there were onion fields there before there was a white settlement. Some have suggested that the translation is a little off, that it should be "Place of the skunk." Others have said, either way, it means "Place of the big stink."

Founded in 1831, so by Northeastern standards it's a young city, Chicago's long-ago nickname of "the Second City" is no longer true, as its population has dropped, and Los Angeles' has risen, to the point where L.A. has passed it, and Chicago is now the 3rd-largest city in America. But at 2.7 million within the city limits, and 9.5 million in the metropolitan area, it's still a huge city -- and if you divide the Los Angeles market equally between the Kings and the Ducks, that makes Chicago the largest market in the NHL. If you count Anaheim separately, boosting the Kings' share, then Chicago falls to 2nd lace.

The "Loop" is the connected part of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)'s elevated railway (sometimes written as "El" or "L") downtown: Over Wells Street on the west, Van Buren Street on the south, Wabash Street on the east and State Street on the north. Inside the Loop, the east-west streets are Lake, Randolph, Washington, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson and Van Buren; the north-south streets are Wells, LaSalle (Chicago's "Wall Street"), Clark, Dearborn, State and Wabash.

The city's street-address centerpoint is in the Loop, at State & Madison Streets. Madison separates North from South, while State separates East from West. The street grid is laid out so that every 800 on the house numbers is roughly 1 mile. As the United Center is at 1901 West Madison Street, and on the 3600 block of North Sheffield Avenue, now you know it's on the main east-west axis, and a little more than 2 miles west of State Street and the center of the Loop.

The CTA's rapid-rail system is both underground (subway) and above-ground (elevated), although the El is better-known, standing as a Chicago icon alongside the Sears Tower, Wrigley Field, Michael Jordan, deep-dish pizza, and less savory things like municipal corruption, Mrs. O'Leary's cow and Al Capone. The single-ride fare is $2.25, a 1-day pass is $10, a 3-day pass is $20, and a 7-day pass is $28.
(By the way, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was more likely the result of Mr. O'Leary hosting a poker game in his barn, in which he, or one of his friends, dropped cigar ash, rather than Mrs. O'Leary's cow, knocking a lantern onto some hay.)

Illinois' State sales tax is 6.25 percent, but in the City of Chicago it's 9.25 percent -- higher than New York's. So don't be shocked when you see prices: Like New York, Boston and Washington, Chicago is an expensive city.

Chicago's legendary crime problem has evolved: It's no longer Al Capone-style gangs running things, it's poor kids with guns. So whatever precautions you take when you're in New York, take them in Chicago as well.

Going In. From 1929 to 1994, the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks played at Chicago Stadium, “the Madhouse on Madison,” at 1800 W. Madison Street at Wood Street. The NBA’s Bulls played there from 1967 to 1994. The United Center, which has adopted the nickname, opened across the street at 1901 W. Madison at Honore Street.
Public transportation is a little tricky. You can take the CTA Blue Line to Illinois Medical District Station, and then walk 2 blocks up Ogden Avenue and 5 blocks up Wood Street. Or you can take the Green Line or the Pink Line (no joke: The CTA acutally does have a Pink Line) to Ashland, walk 4 blocks down Ashland Avenue, and then walk 3 blocks down Madison Street. The best way is to take the Number 20 bus, which goes right down Madison.

If you drive in, parking can be had for as little as $5.00. What you don't want to do is park outside of official lots. In a 1992 article, in advance of Chicago Stadium hosting the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals at the same time, a writer for Sports Illustrated suggested that, due to their success having been more recent, Bulls fans were much more likely than Blackhawks fans to say, "I got a great parking space, over in those condos!" Those aren't condos: Those are West Side housing projects.

However you go in, you're least likely to enter from the west side (Damen Avenue). More likely, you'll go in from the north (Madison Street), east (Wood Street) or south (Monroe Street) side. The court is laid out east-to-west.
The United Center has hosted both the Blackhawks and the Bulls since the 1994-95 season, although, due to the 1994 NHL strike, it was January 1995 before the Hawks actually took their new ice for the 1st time. Each team has now won 6 World Championships, and each has won 3 since it moved in. The Bulls clinched at home in 1996 and 1997, the Blackhakws in 2015. At Chicago Stadium, the Blackhawks clinched at home in 1934 and 1938, the Bulls in 1992.

The United Center has become Chicago's top venue for concerts and professional wrestling, and it hosted the 1996 Democratic Convention, at which President Bill Clinton was nominated for a 2nd term. The Democrats had their Convention at Chicago Stadium in 1932, ’40 and ’44, nominating Franklin D. Roosevelt each time; the Republicans also had their Convention there in ’32 and ’44. Elvis Presley gave concerts at the Stadium on June 16 and 17, 1972 -- giving the last of these as burglars were breaking into the Watergate complex in Washington.

Food. As one of America’s greatest food cities, in Big Ten Country where tailgate parties are practically a sacrament, you would expect the Chicago sports venues to have lots of good options. The United Center lives up to this obligation.

The north side of the arena has DiGiorno pizza, a Captain Morgan/Don Julio cocktail bar, Madison Street Eats and a Ketel One cocktail bar. The east side has Chicago Dish pizza, Chicago Burger, and a Goose Island cocktail bar. The south side has Monroe Street Eats and a Smirnoff/Crown Royal cocktail bar. The west side has Leghorn Chicken, a Crown Royal Whiskey Bar and a Sweet Baby Rays barbecue stand. That's just on the 100 Level. The 300 Level has fewer theme stands, but quite a few of them, including Breakaway (in keeping with the hockey theme) and Fast Break (the basketball theme).

Team History Displays. The Blackhawks' banners are at the east, Wood Street, side of the building. The Bulls' banners are at the west, Damen Avenue, side.

Celebrating their 50th Anniversary in 2016, the Bulls have banners for their 6 NBA Championships, a figure matched or topped only by the Boston Celtics (17) and the Los Angeles Lakers (11 -- 16 if you count their Minneapolis years). They also hang banners for their Division titles of 1975, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2011 and 2012. (They have no separate Conference Championship banners, since they've never lost an NBA Finals, going 6-0.)
The Bulls have retired 4 numbers: From the pre-title era, the 4 of Jerry Sloan (now better-known as the former coach of the Utah Jazz) and the 10 of Bob Love; and from the title era, the 23 of Michael Jordan and the 33 of Scottie Pippen. Jordan and Pippen were also named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players. They also have banners honoring coach Phil Jackson, general manager Jerry Krause, and original coach and longtime broadcaster Johnny "Red" Kerr.
Stuff. The Blackhawks Store and the Bull Market -- 2 sides of a large store -- are on the lower level of the arena's west end. They may sell plastic Bull horns. But they probably don't sell bullhorns.

Chicago is a great literary city, and while the Cubs have been seen as the city's most romantic sports, there have been some good books about the Bulls. National Public Radio host and Chicago native Scott Simon's Home and Away isn't solely about the Bulls, but its insider view of Chicago sports, particularly the "Last Dance" season of 1997-98, is interesting. He calls sports "a romance language," and he's right. Lew Freedman recently published Chicago's Big Teams: Great Moments of the Cubs, Bears, White Sox, Blackhawks and Bulls.

Roland Lazenby published The History of the Chicago Bulls in 2013, a jump-start on the team's 50th Anniversary. And Sam Smith, a Brooklynite but a writer for the Bulls' website, covered the Bulls' rise to their 1st title in 1991 in his book The Jordan Rules. He later wrote a sequel, Second Coming: The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan. And Phil Jackson told of his days coaching the Bulls (and the Lakers) in Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.

DVD packages are available for the NBA title wins. The NBA has produced Ultimate Jordan, and The Essentials: Five All-Time Great Games of the Chicago Bulls. There's a pre-Jordan game, Game 2 of the 1975 Western Conference Finals against the Warriors. There's 2 post-Jordan games, a 2009 1st Round Game 6 vs. the Boston Celtics, and a 2011 regular-season game between the Derrick Rose edition of the Bulls and the LeBron James and Dwyane Wade Miami Heat. And there's 2 Jordan games: His 1995 55-point game against the Knicks, and The Last Game, Game 6 of the 1998 Finals against the Utah Jazz.

During the Game. The United Center is on the West Side, but the well-policed parking lots should buffer you from neighborhood crime. Chicago fans can get a bit rough, and they do like to drink. However, if you don't antagonize them, they will probably give you no worse than a bit of verbal. The Knicks-Bulls rivalry has always meant more to Knicks fans than to Bulls fans.

During the Bulls' run of dominance, the player introductions became world famous. Longtime announcer Tommy Edwards was the first to use "Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project in game presentation in the NBA. When Edwards moved to Boston for employment with CBS Radio in 1990, he was replaced by Ray Clay, who continued many of the traditional aspects of the Bulls introductions, including the music. The lights are first dimmed during the visiting team introduction, accompanied by John Williams'Star Wars"Imperial March." Virtually all lights in the stadium are then shut off for the Bulls' introduction, and a spotlight illuminates each player as he is introduced and runs onto the court. The spotlight is also focused on the Bulls logo prior to the introductions. Since the move to the United Center, lasers and fireworks have been added, and with improvements to the arena's White Way video screen, computer graphics on the stadium monitors have been added. These graphics feature the 3-D animated "Running of the Bulls" en route to the United Center, along the way smashing a bus featuring the opposing team's logo.

Traditionally, the players have been introduced in the following order: small forward, power forward, center, point guard, shooting guard. Thus during the championship era, Pippen was usually the first (or second) Bulls player introduced, and Jordan the last. More recently, with Rose's arrival, the guards have been reversed in order, making the Chicago-bred point guard the last player introduced. Although internal disputes eventually led to the dismissal of Clay, the Bulls in 2006 announced the return of Edwards as the announcer.

Jim Corneilson has been the National Anthem singer for both the Bulls and the Blackhawks since 2008. Their mascot is Benny the Bull, and he's been named NBA Mascot of the Year in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2015. Like Phoenix' Gorilla and Charlotte's Hugo the Hornet, he performs trick dunks. The guys dressing up as the Chicago-based Blues Brothers, calling themselves the Bulls Brothers, are long-gone. Tying in with the bull theme, the fans tend to shout, "Olé!"And the familiar soccer song gets played over the loudspeakers: "Olé, olé olé olé, olé... "
After the Game. The neighborhood should be safe after a day game, but after a night game, with all that extra time to drink, it can get a little dodgy. As I said, leave them alone, and they'll probably leave you alone.

There are no bars or restaurants worth going to in the vicinity. As I said, the parking lots are a buffer zone against the dodgy neighborhood.

If you want to be around other New Yorkers and New Jerseyans, I found listings of 4 Chicago bars where New York Giants fans gather: Red Ivy, just south of Wrigley Field at 3519 N. Clark Street at Eddy Street; The Bad Dog Tavern, 4535 N. Lincoln Avenue at Wilson Avenue (Brown Line to Western); Racine Plumbing Bar and Grill, 2642 N. Lincoln Avenue at Kenmore; and Trinity, at 2721 N. Halsted Street at Diversey Parkway (Brown or Purple Line to Diversey for either Racine or Trinity). Racine Plumbing is also listed as the local bar for Mets and Notre Dame fans.

And I found these 2 which show Jets games: Rebel Bar & Grill, also just south of Wrigley at 3462 N. Clark at Cornelia Avenue; and Butch McGuire's, 20 W. Division Street at Dearborn Street (Red Line to Clark/Division).

Note that all of these are a lot closer to Wrigley than to the United Center. But there are plenty of good places in the city to get a postgame meal, or just a pint.

Sidelights. Chicago is one of the best sports cities, not just in America, but on the planet. Check out the following – but do it in daylight, as the city’s reputation for crime, while significantly reduced from its 1980s peak, is still there.

* Wrigley Field. Built in 1914 for the Chicago Whales of the Federal League, and home of the Cubs since 1916, it is by far the oldest ballpark in the National League, and only Fenway Park in Boston is older among North American major league sports venues.

The Cubs have never won the World Series here, but won 6 Pennants between 1918 and 1945 -- and none since. They've made the Playoffs 7 times in the last 32 seasons (including this year), which is better than some teams have done over that stretch -- but no Pennants. The Bears played here from 1921 to 1970, and won 8 NFL Championships between 1921 and 1963. It hosted the NHL Winter Classic in 2009, with the Hawks losing to the Wings.

If you go, don't watch a game from one of the rooftops on Waveland (left field) or Sheffield (right field) Avenues. What's the point of watching a game at Wrigley Field if you're not in Wrigley Field? 1060 W. Addison Street at Clark Street. Red Line to Addison.

* U.S. Cellular Field. Home of the White Sox since 1991, and originally named the new Comiskey Park, they've made the Playoffs 4 times since, including winning the 2005 World Series. 333 W. 35th Street at Shields Avenue (a.k.a. Bill Veeck Drive), off the Dan Ryan Expressway. Red Line to Sox-35th.

* Site of old Comiskey Park. The longtime home of the White Sox, 1910 to 1990, was across the street from the new one, at 324 W. 35th Street, is now a parking lot, with its infield painted in. This was the home field of Big Ed Walsh (the pitcher supposedly helped design it to be a pitchers’ park), Eddie Collins, Shoeless Joe Jackson and the rest of the “Black Sox,” Luke Appling, the great double-play combination of Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox of the ’59 “Go-Go White Sox,” Dick Allen, the 1977 “South Side Hit Men” of Richie Zisk and Oscar Gamble, and the 1983 Division Champions of Carlton Fisk, Ron Kittle, LaMarr Hoyt and Harold Baines.

The old Comiskey was also where future Yankee stars Russell “Bucky” Dent and Rich “Goose” Gossage began their careers, and where, in the last game the Yankees ever played there, Andy Hawkins pitched a no-hitter – and lost, thanks to his own walks and 3 errors in the 8th inning.

The NFL’s Chicago Cardinals played there from 1922 to 1959, and the franchise, now the Arizona Cardinals, won what remains their only NFL Championship Game (they didn’t call ‘em Super Bowls back then) there in 1947. And in 1979, during what was supposed to be intermission between games of a White Sox vs. Tigers doubleheader, was Disco Demolition Night. Today, it’s called a fiasco, but the sentiment was right: Disco really did suck. But the biggest music event there was the Beatles' concert on August 20, 1965.

* Previous Chicago ballparks. The Cubs previously played at these parks:

State Street Grounds, also called 23rd Street Grounds, 1874-77, winning the NL’s first Pennant in 1876, 23rd, State, and Federal Streets & Cermak Road (formerly 22nd Street), Red Line to Cermak-Chinatown.

Lakefront Park, also called Union Base-Ball Grounds and White-Stocking Park (the Cubs used the name “Chicago White Stockings” until 1900, and the AL entry then took the name), 1878-84, winning the 1880, ’81 and ’82 Pennants, Michigan Avenue & Randolph Street in the northwest corner of what’s now Millennium Park, with (appropriately) Wrigley Square built on the precise site. Randolph/Wabash or Madison/Wabash stops on the Loop.

West Side Park I, 1885-91, winning the 1885 and ’86 Pennants, at Congress, Loomis, Harrison & Throop Streets, now part of the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Blue Line to Racine.

South Side Park, 1891-93, just east of where the Comiskey Parks were built.

West Side Park II, 1893-1915, winning the 1906 and 1910 Pennants and the 1907 and 1908 World Series, the only World Series the Cubs have ever won, at Taylor, Wood and Polk Streets and Wolcott Avenue, now the site of a medical campus that includes the Cook County Hospital, the basis for the TV show ER, Pink Line to Polk.  (Yes, the CTA has a Pink Line.)

Prior to the original Comiskey Park, the White Sox played at a different building called South Side Park, at 39th Street (now Pershing Road), 38th Street, & Wentworth and Princeton Avenues, a few blocks south of the Comiskey Parks.

* Soldier Field. The original version of this legendary stadium opened in 1924, and for years was best known as the site of the Chicago College All-Star Game (a team of graduating seniors playing the defending NFL Champions) from 1934 to 1976.

It was the site of the 1927 heavyweight title fight between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, the famed “Long Count” fight, which may have had what remains the greatest attendance ever for a U.S. sporting event, with figures ranging from 104,000 to 130,000, depending on who you believe. It definitely was the site of the largest football crowd ever, 123,000 to see Notre Dame play USC a few weeks after the Long Count. In spite of various expansions, the universities of Michigan and Tennessee and Penn State still can’t top this. The 1926 Army-Navy Game was played there, in front of over 100,000.

Games of the 1994 World Cup were also held at the old Soldier Field, MLS' Chicago Fire made it their 1st home ground, winning the MLS Cup in 1998; and 13 matches of the U.S. soccer team have been played on the site, most recently a 2013 win over Panama. The U.S. has won 6 of these games, lost 4 and tied 3. An NHL Stadium Series game was played there earlier this year, with the Blackhawks beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1.

Amazingly, the Bears played at Wrigley from 1921 to 1970, with the occasional single-game exception. The story I heard is that Bears founder-owner-coach George Halas was a good friend of both the Wrigley and Veeck families, and felt loyalty to them, and that’s why he stayed at Wrigley even though it had just 47,000 seats for football. But I heard another story that Halas was a Republican and didn’t like Chicago’s Democratic Mayor, Richard J. Daley (whose son Richard M. recently left office having broken his father’s record for longest-serving Mayor), and didn’t want to pay the city Parks Department a lot of rent. (This is believable, because Halas was known to be cheap: Mike Ditka, who nonetheless loved his old boss, said, “Halas throws nickels around like manhole covers.”) The real reason the Bears moved to Soldier Field in 1971 was Monday Night Football: Halas wanted the revenue, and Wrigley didn’t have lights until 1988.

A 2002-03 renovation demolished all but the iconic (but not Ionic, they're in the Doric style) Greek-style columns that used to hang over the stadium, and are now visible only from the outside. It doesn’t look like “Soldier Field” anymore: One critic called it The Eyesore on the Lake Shore.

Capacity is now roughly what it was in the last few years prior to the renovation, 61,500. And while the Bears won 8 Championships while playing at Wrigley, they’ve only won one more at Soldier Field, the 1985 title capped by Super Bowl XX. The Monsters of the Midway have been tremendous underachievers since leaving Wrigley, having been to only 1 of the last 28 Super Bowls (and losing it).

1410 S. Museum Campus Drive, at McFetridge and Lake Shore Drives, a bit of a walk from the closest station, Roosevelt station on the Green, Orange and Red Lines.

* Site of Chicago Coliseum. There were 2 buildings with this name that you should know about. One hosted the 1896 Democratic National Convention, where William Jennings Bryan began the process of turning the Democratic Party from the conservative party it had been since before the Civil War into the modern liberal party it became, a struggle that went through the Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt years before it finally lived up to its promise under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. It was here that Bryan gave the speech for which he is most remembered, calling for the free coinage of silver rather than sticking solely to the gold standard: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." Now a part of Jackson Park, at 63rd Street & Stony Island Avenue. 63rd Street Metra (commuter rail) station.

The other was home to every Republican Convention from Theodore Roosevelt’s in 1904 to Warren Harding’s in 1920, including the 1912 Convention where TR split from the party after being maneuvered out of the nomination to return to office, and his subsequent Progressive Party Convention was also held there.

It was also the original home of the Blackhawks, from 1926 to 1929 and briefly again in 1932. In 1935, roller derby was invented there. In 1961, an NBA expansion team, the Chicago Packers, played there, becoming the Zephyrs in 1962 and moving to become the Baltimore Bullets in 1963 (and the Washington Bullets in 1973, and the Washington Wizards in 1997).

The Coliseum hosted a few rock concerts before the Fire Department shut it down in 1971, and it was demolished in 1982. The Soka Gakkai USA Culture Center, a Buddhist institute, now occupies the site. East side of Wabash Avenue at 15th Street, with today’s Coliseum Park across the street. Appropriately enough, the nearest CTA stop is at Roosevelt Avenue, on the Red, Yellow and Green Lines.

* Site of International Amphitheatre. Home to the Bulls in their first season, 1966-67, and to the World Hockey Association’s Chicago Cougars from 1972 to 1975, this arena, built by the stockyards in 1934, was home to a lot of big pro wrestling cards. Elvis sang here on March 28, 1957. The Beatles played here on September 5, 1964 and August 12, 1966.

But it was best known as a site for political conventions. Both parties met there in 1952, the Democrats in 1956, the Republicans in 1960, and, most infamously, the Democrats in 1968, with all the protests. The main protests for that convention were in Grant Park and a few blocks away on Michigan Avenue in front of the Conrad Hilton Hotel, one of the convention headquarters (now the Chicago Hilton & Towers. 720 S. Michigan).

The Amphitheatre, torn down in 1999, was at 4220 S. Halsted Street, where an Aramark plant now stands. Red Line to 47th Street. This location is definitely not to be visited after dark; indeed, unless you’re really interested in political history, I’d say, if you have to drop one item from this list, this is the one.

* Northwestern University. Chicago’s Big Ten school is 16 miles north of the Loop, in Evanston. Dyche Stadium/Ryan Field, and McGaw Hall/Welsh-Ryan Arena, are at 2705 Ashland Avenue between Central Street and Isabella Street. (Purple Line to Central.)

While Northwestern’s athletic teams have traditionally been terrible, the school has a very important place in sports history: The 1st NCAA basketball tournament championship game was held there in 1939, at Patten Gymnasium, at 2145 Sheridan Road: Oregon defeated Ohio State. The original Patten Gym was torn down a year later -- don't be too hard on them, no one had any idea how important this historical distinction would become -- and the school’s Technological Institute was built on the site. Sheridan Road, Noyes Street and Campus Drive. Purple Line to Noyes.

Welsh-Ryan, under the McGaw name, hosted the Final Four in 1956: Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, soon to be Boston Celtics stars, led the University of San Francisco past Iowa. These are the only 2 Final Fours ever to be held in the Chicago area.

The University of Illinois is in Champaign, 137 miles south of the Loop on Interstate 57.

* Toyota Park. MLS' Chicago Fire have played here since 2006. The U.S. soccer team has played here once, a 2008 win over Trinidad & Tobago. 7000 S. Harlem Avenue, Bridgeview, in the southwestern suburbs. Orange Line to Midway Airport, then transfer to the 379 or 390 bus.

* National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame. Appropriately in Chicago's Little Italy, west of downtown, it includes a state uf Yankee legend Joe DiMaggio.  Other New York native or playing baseball players honored include Joe Torre, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Billy Martin, Vic Raschi, Tony Lazzeri, Dave Righetti, Frank Crosetti, Roy Campanella, Sal Maglie, Mike Piazza, Bobby Valentine, John Franco, Carl Furillo, Frank Viola, Jim Fregosi, Ralph Branca, Rocky Colavito, broadcaster Joe Garagiola, and the last active player to have been a Brooklyn Dodger, Bob Aspromonte, and his brother Ken Aspromonte. 1431 W. Taylor Street at Loomis Street.  Pink Line to Polk.

* Museums. Chicago’s got a bunch of good ones, as you would expect in a city of 3 million people. Their version of New York’s Museum of Natural History is the Field Museum, just north of Soldier Field. Adjacent is the Shedd Aquarium. On the other side of the Aquarium is their answer to the Hayden Planetarium, the Adler Planetarium.

They have a fantastic museum for which there is no real analogue in New York, though the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia is similar: The Museum of Science & Industry, at 57th Street & Cornell Drive, near the University of Chicago campus; 56th Street Metra station. The Art Institute of Chicago is their version of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at 111 S. Michigan Avenue, just off the Loop.

* Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. If you’re a fan of that movie, as I am (see my 25th Anniversary retrospective, from June 2011), not only will you have taken in Wrigley Field, but you’ll recognize the Art Institute as where Alan Ruck focused on Georges Seurat’s painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

Other sites visited by Ferris, Cameron and Sloane were the Sears Tower, then the tallest building in the world, 1,454 feet, 233 S. Wacker Drive (yes, the name is Wacker), Quincy/Wells station in the Loop; and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, 335 S. La Salle Street, LaSalle/Van Buren station in the Loop. (That station is also where Steve Martin & John Candy finally reached Chicago in another John Hughes film, Planes, Trains and Automobiles). The von Steuben Day Parade goes down Lincoln Avenue every September, on or close to the anniversary of Baron von Steuben's birth, not in the spring as in the film.

While the Bueller house was in Long Beach, California, the Frye house is in Highland Park, north of the city. Remember, it’s a private residence, and not open to the public, so I won’t provide the address. And the restaurant, Chez Quis, did not and does not exist.

Nor did, nor does, Adam's Ribs, a barbecue joint made famous in a 1974 M*A*S*H episode of the same title. Today, there are 18 restaurants in America named Adam's Ribs, including two on Long Island, on Park Boulevard in Massapequa Park and on the Montauk Highway in Babylon; and another on Cookstown-Wrightstown Road outside South Jersey's Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base. But only one is anywhere near Chicago, in Buffalo Grove in the northwestern suburbs.

Not far from that, in the western suburbs, is Wheaton, home town of football legend Red Grange and the comedic Belushi Brothers, John and Jim. John and Dan Aykroyd used Wrigley Field in The Blues Brothers, and Jim played an obsessive Cubs fan in Taking Care of Business. Their father, an Albanian immigrant, ran a restaurant called The Olympia Cafe, which became half the basis for John's Saturday Night Live sketch of the same name, better known as the Cheeseburger Sketch: "No hamburger! Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger... No fries, chips!... No Coke, Pepsi!"

Don Novello, an SNL writer who played Father Guido Sarducci, said the other half of the inspiration was the Billy Goat Tavern, originally operated by Greek immigrant William "Billy Goat" Sianis, originator of the supposed Billy Goat Curse on the Cubs, across Madison Street from Chicago Stadium, from 1937 until 1963. At that point, Sianis moved to the lower deck of the double-decked Michigan Avenue, since it was near the headquarters of the city's three daily newspapers, the Tribune, the Sun-Times, and the now-defunct Daily News. Mike Royko, who wrote columns for each of these papers, made it his haunt and frequently mentioned it in his columns.

Novello and Bill Murray, Chicagoans, were regulars at the Billy Goat, but John Belushi later said he'd never set foot in the place, so while the others may have drawn inspiration from it, his came from his father's restaurant.

Sam Sianis, nephew of the original Billy, still serves up a fantastic cheeseburger (he was there when I visited in 1999), he deviates from the sketch: No Pepsi, Coke. It's open for breakfast, and serves regular breakfast food. It looks foreboding, being underneath the elevated part of Michigan Avenue, and a sign out front (and on their website) says, "Enter at your own risk." But another sign says, "Butt in anytime." 430 N. Michigan Avenue, lower deck, across from the Tribune Tower. Red Line to Grand. The original location near Chicago Stadium has effectively been replaced, at 1535 W. Madison Street.

The Tribune Tower is a work of art in itself. Its building, Tribune publisher "Colonel" Robert R. McCormick, had stones taken from various famous structures all over the world: The Palace of Westminster in London, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, the Grand Canyon.  (He must've paid a lot of people off.) These can be seen at near ground level, but the building itself is so grand that it doesn't need it.

The building is also the headquarters of the TV and radio station that McCormick named for his paper: WGN, "The World's Greatest Newspaper," a line that has long since disappeared from the paper's masthead. 435 N. Michigan Avenue. Red Line to Grand.

The Wrigley Building is right across from it, at 400 N. Michigan. The block of North Michigan they're on is renamed Jack Brickhouse Way, and Brickhouse's statue is on the grounds of the Tribune Tower.

You may notice some other film landmarks. The Chicago Board of Trade Building was used as the Wayne Tower in Christopher Nolan’s Batman films. And Chicago stood in for Metropolis in the Superman-themed TV series Lois & Clark, with the Wrigley Building and the Tribune Tower as standout landmarks.

TV shows set in Chicago include The Untouchables, about Eliot Ness and his Depression-era crimebusters; Good Times, set in the infamous, now-demolished Cabrini-Green housing project; the related sitcoms Perfect Strangers and Family Matters (Great shows? Well, of course, they were, don't be ridiculous!); Married... with Children, Fox's longest-running non-cartoon (though the Bundy family was pretty darn cartoonish); the 1990s hospital dramas ER and Chicago Hope; Boss, the current show with Kelsey Grammer as a corrupt Mayor; and The Bob Newhart Show, with Bob as psychiatrist Dr. Bob Hartley.

Nearly every one of these shows was actually filmed in Los Angeles, and the exterior shots were also mostly L.A. sites, so don't bother going to look for them. However, a statue of Newhart is at the Navy Pier, near its amusement rides, between Grand Avenue & Illinois Street at the lake.

*

Every American should visit Chicago. And going to a Chicago Bulls game is still an epic experience, for a Nets fan and especially for a Knicks fan. Have fun -- but remember, be smart, and don't go out of your way to antagonize anyone.

This Tuesday night, the New Jersey Devils will play the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. Since 1995, the Wings have won 4 Stanley Cups, the Devils 3. The Chicago Blackhawks also have 3. The Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings have 2. All the other teams have 1 or none -- including the big squadoosh carried since 1994 by the New York Rangers.

Detroit calls itself "Hockeytown." Maybe in America -- and, being right across the river from Canada, they do get a lot of Canadians coming through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and over the Ambassador Bridge -- but Montreal and Toronto probably think of the term as a joke.

By American standards, no other city comes close. Not New York. Not Boston. Not Chicago. Not the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Before You Go. The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press (or "Freep") websites should be consulted before you decide whether to go. While the game will be indoors, you will be spending some time outdoors. Friday, both day and night, is forecast in the 40s. Most likely, you'll be staying overnight if you go, so let me add that Saturday's weather is set to be in the 50s, but with the likely addition of rain. But Detroit's placement in the Midwest snowbelt probably will not be a problem on this trip.

Since the July 1967 race riot, Detroit has become known as a city of poverty, crime, decay, and poor city services, the kind of place where even Batman would fear to tread. The legendary comedian Red Skelton once said, "In Detroit, you can go 10 miles and never leave the scene of the crime." It's no wonder the RoboCop film series was set there.

There was a Nike commercial a few years back, in which young basketball players were seated, yoga-style, in front of a TV screen, on which their "master," a fat black man with a turban and sunglasses who looked nothing like an athlete, was dispensing wisdom. At the end, after the Swoosh logo was shown, the camera went back to one of the students, who asked, "But, Master, what if we behave badly?" And the Master lowered his shades, looked over them, and said, "You go to Detroit." This was in the early 1990s, when the Pistons had begun to fall from their 1989-90 "Bad Boys" championship teams, and going to Detroit was not a good option in any sport -- indeed, the only Detroit team doing well at the time was, strangely, the Lions, who were then a perennial Playoff team thanks largely to Barry Sanders.

I once saw a T-shirt that read, "I'm so bad, I vacation in Detroit." I have. I'm not saying I'm "bad," or a "hard man," just that I went. I wanted to see a game at Tiger Stadium before it closed, and I did. Newark had a race riot 2 weeks before Detroit's. In May 1999, I saw Detroit, and I realized just how far back Newark had come, by seeing how far Detroit had not.

In the 1950 Census, Detroit was the 4th-largest city in America, after New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, with over 2 million people just within the city limits. "White flight" after the '67 riot has led to the Detroit metropolitan area having roughly the same number of people it had then, about 5.3 million, but within the city limits the number has dropped from over 2 million to just 680,000. The suburbs are beautiful, but the city itself is a hole, and good men (and a few bad ones) have busted their humps trying to get it back on its feet.

One of the good men who's tried is Mike Ilitch, probably the most famous American of Macedonian descent, who runs Little Caesar's Pizza, and owns the Tigers and Red Wings. He rebuilt the city's historic Fox Theater, put Little Caesar's headquarters in the building above it, and had Comerica Park built across the street. He, and many others, including Pistons Hall-of-Famer turned major area businessman Dave Bing, who served a term as Mayor, are trying, they really are. But Governor Rick Snyder, a Tea Party Republican, has ordered a State takeover of Detroit's finances. Apparently, he didn't learn the lesson of Hugh Carey, New York's Governor in 1975, who found another way to get New York City's finances back on their feet. In Detroit's case, as in every other place in which it's tried, austerity hasn't worked.

As for you, the potential visitor, the fear of crime should not keep you away. As with Yankee Stadium during the depth of New York's crime wave from the late 1970s to the early '90s, the arena is probably the safest, best-protected place in town.

I should also note that Detroit is a border city. The Detroit River, connecting Lakes Huron and Erie, is one of the few places where you can cross from north to south and go from America to Canada. Windsor, Ontario -- the closest thing to a "South Detroit," making that line in the Journey song "Don't Stop Believin'" problematic -- is considerably safer, and, like Detroit itself, has a gambling casino. If you want to visit, you'll need to bring your passport. You can use either the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel or the Ambassador Bridge.

Tickets. In spite of Detroit's reputation for crime and poverty, and the team's reputation for ineptitude, the Red Wings averaged 20,027 fans per game last season -- a sellout of one of the NHL's largest arenas. Getting tickets will be difficult, and you may have to go to a ticket exchange.

The Wings can afford to have tickets that are not nearly as expensive as some other big clubs charge. Seats in the lower level, the 100 sections, are $138 between the goals, $119 behind the east goal and $108 behind the west goal. In the upper level, the 200 sections, seats go from $56 to $106 between the goals, $45 to $106 behind the east goal, and $35 to $106 behind the west goal.

Getting There. Detroit is 616 land miles from New York, and it's 603 miles from the Prudential Center in Newark to the Joe Louis Arena. Knowing this, your first reaction is going to be to fly out there.

Except... Wayne County Metropolitan Airport is 22 miles southwest of downtown. A taxi to downtown will set you back a bundle. There is a bus, SMART (Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation) bus Number 125, that goes directly from the airport to downtown, but it will take an hour and 20 minutes.

Also, do you remember the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza had a girlfriend, played by a pre-Will & Grace Megan Mullaly (using her real voice, you'd never recognize her as W&G's Karen), and he had to accompany her to a funeral in her hometown of Detroit? "It's kind of an expensive flight," George said. This was not just George being his usual cheap self: At the time, over 20 years ago (wow, it's been that long), it was expensive, more expensive from New York to Detroit than it was to the further-away Chicago.

It's actually cheaper now, but not by much: A check of airline websites shows that, while flights can by had for a little over $500 round-trip, most will be more like $1,300 -- and you'll have to change planes, in either Philadelphia, Charlotte or Chicago. That's right, you might have to overshoot Detroit to go to Detroit.

Too rich for your blood? The news gets worse: There is no good way to get to Detroit, and that's got nothing to do with the city's reputation. Forget the train. The only Amtrak route in and out of Detroit is to and from Chicago, which in the opposite direction.

To make matters worse, you'll have to go to New York's Penn Station instead of Newark's. The most direct route is the Lake Shore Limited, formerly known as the Twentieth Century Limited when the old New York Central Railroad ran it from Grand Central Terminal to Chicago's LaSalle Street Station. It leaves New York's Penn Station at 3:40 every afternoon, and arrives at Union Terminal in Toledo at 5:55 every morning. From there, you have to wait until 6:30 to get on a bus to Detroit's Amtrak station, arriving at 7:35. The station is at 11 W. Baltimore Avenue, at Woodward Avenue, 2 1/2 miles north of Comerica, so walking there is not a good option; the number 16 or 53 bus would take you down Woodward.

In reverse, the bus leaves Detroit at 9:45 PM, arrives in Toledo at 10:50, and then you have to hang around there until the Lake Shore Limited comes back at 3:20 AM, arriving back in New York at 6:23 PM. Total cost: $382. A lot cheaper than flying, but a tremendous inflammation in the posterior.

How about Greyhound? Yeah, ride a bus for 14 hours to Detroit, there's a great idea. (Rolleyes.) Actually, having done it, I can tell you that it's not that bad. Two Greyhound buses leave Port Authority every day with connections to Detroit. One is at 5:15 PM, and arrives at 7:20 AM, with a 1 hour and 35 minute stopover in Cleveland in the middle of the night (but you won't have to change buses, in case you want to stay on the bus and sleep). The other leaves Port Authority at 10:15 PM, and you will have to change buses in Cleveland, arriving 6:50 AM and leaving 7:50, arriving at 11:25 AM. Despite having to change buses, this one is actually faster, taking 13 hours and 10 minutes, as opposed to the single through bus ride, taking 14 hours and 5 minutes.

Compared to most of Detroit, the bus terminal, at 1001 Howard Street, is relatively new and quite clean. It was just about within walking distance of Tiger Stadium, which really helped me in 1999. It's also not a long walk to Ford Field, but I wouldn't recommend this. Better to take a cab, especially if you're getting a hotel. Round-trip fare: $180 if you make an advanced purchase, $276 if you're buying at Port Authority. So Greyhound is also far cheaper than flying, possibly cheaper (and definitely not much more expensive) than Amtrak, and less of a pain than Amtrak.

If you decide to drive, the directions are rather simple, down to (literally) the last mile. You'll need to get into New Jersey, and take Interstate 80 West. You'll be on I-80 for the vast majority of the trip, through New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. In Ohio, in the western suburbs of Cleveland, I-80 will merge with Interstate 90. I point this out merely to help you avoid confusion, not because I-90 will become important -- though it is for "How to Be a Yankee Fan in Chicago" and some other cities.

In Ohio, you'll take I-80's Exit 64, and get onto Interstate 75 North, known as the Fisher Freeway in Detroit. This will take you into Michigan. Take Exit 47 for Clark Avenue. Make a right on Clark, and, almost immediately, a left on Fort Street. Follow Fort Street past the Ambassador Bridge into downtown, finally making a right on Rosa Parks Blvd., which will make a left-hand curve into Jefferson Avenue. The JLA/Cobo complex will be ahead, with the Wings' arena on your right, and a parking deck is to the left.

If you do it right, you should spend about an hour in New Jersey, 5 hours and 15 minutes in Pennsylvania, 3 hours in Ohio and an hour in Michigan. That’s 10 hours and 15 minutes. Counting rest stops, preferably halfway through Pennsylvania and in the Cleveland suburbs, and accounting for traffic in both New York and Detroit, it should be about 12 hours.

I strongly recommend finding a hotel with a good, secure parking garage, even if you're only staying for 1 game.

Once In the City. The city, and its river, were founded in 1701 as Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit du Lac Erie (Day-TWAH, strait of Lake Erie), by Antonie de La Mothe Cadillac, for whom the downtown Cadillac Square and the brand of car was named.

Detroit's centerpoint, in culture and in terms of address numbers, is the Woodward Fountain, where Woodward, Michigan and Gratiot Avenues come together, with Cadillac Square just off to the east. Woodward is the East-West divider.

Once having over 2 million people, making it the 4th-largest city in America, Detroit now has just 680,000 people within its limits. But the metropolitan area has over 5.6 million. The suburbs are nearly all-white; the city itself, nearly all-black. If there is another city on the planet that is so segregated, I'm not aware of it. The sales tax in the State of Michigan is 6 percent, and does not go up in either the County of Wayne or the City of Detroit.

Detroit is a weird city in some ways. It often seems like a cross between a past that was once glorious but now impossible to reach, and a future that never quite happened. (That observation was once made about the remaining structures from New York’s 1964-65 World’s Fair and the Astrodome in Houston.) Art Deco structures of the 1920s and ‘30s, such as the Penobscot Building (the tallest building outside New York and Chicago when it opened in 1928, the tallest in Michigan until 1977) stand alongside abandoned, boarded-up or chained-up stores.

But alongside or across from them, there are glassy, modern structures such as the Renaissance Center, shown in the photo above: A 5-tower complex that includes, at its center, the 750-foot tallest building in Michigan (the tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere), and, in one of its 4 outer towers, the headquarters of General Motors (although the RenCen was originally financed by Ford).

Downtown also has the Detroit People Mover, a monorail system that is part of the suggestion of Detroit trying to get from 1928 to 2028 while jumping over the difficult years in between. Like the Washington and Montreal Metro (subway) systems, the company running it prides itself on the artwork in its stations. It has a stop called Times Square, but it won’t look anything like the one in New York. It has a stop called Bricktown, but it won’t look anything like Brick Township, the sprawling Jersey Shore suburb off Exits 88 to 91 on the Garden State Parkway. The Grand Circus Park and Broadway Street stations are both 3 blocks from Comerica Park.

It’s cheap, only 75 cents, and it still uses tokens, although it also accepts cash. Be advised, though, that it stops running at midnight, except on Fridays and Saturdays, when it runs until 2:00 AM. Bus fare is $1.50.

Going In. Parking at the main deck is comparatively cheap, starting at $8.00. This is a far cry from parking at Tiger Stadium, which usually had people boxed in, resulting in tremendous traffic jams both before and after the game (and, every bit as much as the crime and the condition of the stadium, was why the Lions wanted to get out and built the Silverdome). It also involved local kids being willing to "Watch your car, Mister?" for a small fee. Translation: "If you pay me $5.00, I'll make sure nobody damages your car. If you don't pay me, I'll make sure somebody, namely myself, does."

The address of Joe Louis Arena, until recently, was 600 Civic Center Drive. It was recently changed to 19 Steve Yzerman Drive. Joe Louis Arena has its own stop on the People Mover. So, based on that, and on references I found to traffic around the arena on game nights being nightmarish, leads me to suggest parking your car at your hotel and using the People Mover.
A "cheat" recommended by a Detroit sports blogger: Park for free at the Greektown Casino, play the cheapest slot machine you can find (so they know you gambled, and didn't just use them for parking), and then take the People Mover to The Joe.

The arena's West Entrance was recently renamed the Gordie Howe Entrance, with a statue of "Mr. Hockey" inside. The East Entrance retains its original name. Many people complain that the stairs at these entrances are very steep, and at certain areas on the outside of the arena, are breaking apart.

To make matters worse, it's the same model as the Meadowlands Arena and the Nassau Coliseum: One level of concourse for two levels of seats. There's also not enough bathrooms, resulting in very long lines, and a drop in atmosphere at the starts of the 2nd and 3rd periods, as many fans haven't made it back in time. So get to the arena early and use the bathroom before puck-drop.

In addition to Howe, the arena also has a statue of its namesake, the Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1937 to 1949, who was born in Alabama but grew up in Detroit.

The rink is laid out east-to-west, with the south side bordering the Detroit River. The Wings attack twice toward the east goal -- hence, the more expensive tickets on that side.

"The Joe" is also, even more so that Boston's TD Garden with its Beanpot Tournament, the capital of American college hockey. Every year since it opened in 1979 -- the Olympia did so from 1965 to 1978 -- in the week between Christmas and New Year's, it hosts the Great Lakes Invitational, with the University of Michigan, Michigan State and Upper Peninsula-based Michigan Tech participating every season. The 4-team selection has been rounded out by nearby schools such as Western Michigan, Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State; Midwestern powers like Wisconsin and North Dakota (but never, as yet, Minnesota); and even New Jersey's Princeton. Michigan, the defending champion, has won it 16 times, Michigan State 12, and Michigan Tech 10. Northern Michigan, of Marquette in the State's Upper Peninsula, will be this season's 4th participant. It also alternates hosting the Big Ten hockey tournament with the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, home of the Minnesota Wild.

The Joe also hosted the 1980 Republican Convention, which nominated Ronald Reagan for President. Think about it: An arena named for a black heavyweight champion who knocked out a symbol (however unwillingly) of fascism, in a mostly-black city, with heavy union presence in the metropolitan area (it was, after all the hometown of the United Auto Workers and Jimmy Hoffa), hosting the Republican Convention. Then again, the Democrats held their last Convention in Jesse Helms' North Carolina...

Food. When I visited Tiger Stadium in its final season, 1999, it had great food, including the very best ballpark hot dog I've ever had. Since they're owned by Little Caesars mogul Ilitch, and before that were owned by Domino's Pizza boss Tom Monaghan, food is taken very seriously by the club. This is, after all, Big Ten Country, where college football tailgate parties are practically a sacrament. One would hope that the same would be true of the Red Wings.

Unfortunately, as with entrances and bathrooms, there aren't enough concession stands. To make matters worse, the Wings' website stinks, and so does the one for Olympia Entertainment, which owns The Joe and other venues.

Fortunately, I've seen recommendations from a local sports blogger. Since Ilitch owns the team, there's a Little Caesar’s stand. The blogger says, "One suggestion: Do not place it on your lap while eating in the seats. You will sweat while eating, no joke. Eat at one of the standing, circular counters in the concourse. You cannot miss them. Besides typical stadium food (hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, etc.), there’s also a Buffalo Wild Wings (Section 126) and Hockeytown Grill (126), where chicken sandwiches and burgers are served."

This blogger also recommends Mike's Inside Scoop (named for Ilitch, perhaps?) at Section 112, and sub-recommends cherry-dipped, soft-serve vanilla ice cream cones and banana splits.

Team History Displays. The Red Wings display more banners than any other NHL team. Their Stanley Cup banners are at the Arena's east end, the other championship banners in the middle, and the retired number banners at the west end.

While the Montreal Canadiens (24) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (13) only display their Stanley Cup banners, the Wings also display Conference and Divisional Championships and President's Trophy wins:

Stanley Cup, 11: 1936, 1937, 1943, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008.

Campbell/Western Conference, 6: 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008 and 2009. (Their Finals appearances prior to the Cup's semifinal round being renamed the Conference Finals in 1982 aren't counted as such, and they have not yet won their Conference since being moved to the Eastern.)

Division, 19 (either finishing 1st overall in the NHL regular season or 1st in the Divisional Play era), 19: 1934, 1936, 1937, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011.

President's Trophy (for best record in the NHL regular season), 6: 1995, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.
The Cup banners are white with red lettering, while the others are red with white lettering.

Officially, the Wings have retired 7 uniform numbers. From their 1950s Cups, they retired the Number 1 of goaltender Terry Sawchuk, and the numbers of all 3 members of "The Production Line": Right wing Gordie Howe, 9 (who, as I said, has a statue outside the west entrance); left wing Ted Lindsay, 7; and center Sid Abel, 12. When Abel retired in 1952, their main center became Alex Delvecchio, and this new member of the Production Line eventually had his Number 10 retired.

From their 1990s-2000s Cups, they've retired the Number 19 of center Steve Yzerman and the Number 5 of defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom. These banners are red with white lettering. Yzerman's Number 19 banner has a Captain's C on it.
Not officially retired is the Number 6 of 1930s right wing Larry Aurie, supposedly retired when he hung up his skates in 1939. The current argument is that it's because he's not in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Well, then explain why Number 4 hasn't been retired for 1950s defenseman Red Kelly, the 1st-ever winner of the Norris Trophy for best defenseman, in 1954. Or Number 2, worn by 1940s defenseman Jack Stewart and 1990s defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov. Or Number 3, worn by 1950s defenseman Marcel Pronovost (a former Devils scout). Or Number 8, worn by 1930s center Syd Howe (no relation to Gordie). Or Number 14, for our old pal Brendan Shanahan.

Also not officially retired is the Number 16 of Vladimir Konstantinov, who was paralyzed in a car crash in the aftermath of the 1997 Stanley Cup win. Neither 6 (with 1 exception, for Aurie's cousin Cumming "Cummy" Burton) or 16 has ever been given out to another Wings player.

As I said, the west entrance is named for Gordie Howe, and has a statue of him inside.

Stuff. Not enough entrances/exits, not enough bathrooms, not enough concession stands... The Joe doesn't have much in the way of souvenir stands, either. You may be better off going to a suburban mall, or to Hockeytown Authentics, a store owned by Olympia Entertainment. 1845 E. Big Beaver Road in Troy, next to the Troy Sports Center, 19 miles north of downtown. Car only.

One item sold at The Joe that may be of interest is a funny hat: The Wingnut, a foam red wingnut, with its "tails" marked "left wing" and "right wing." Not as cute as the Green Bay Packers' Cheeseheads, but every bit as manly as those Giants and Jets hard hats.

DVD collections for the 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008 Cup wins are available, as is Detroit Red Wings: A Celebration of Champions -- NHL Original Six Series. As yet, though, no "Greatest Games" series for them.

Dr. John Finley and Wings legend Gordie Howe wrote Hockeytown Doc: A Half-Century of Red Wings Stories from Howe to Yzerman. Specifically about their 1950s team that won 4 Cups in 6 seasons, New York's own "Hockey Maven," Stan Fischler, wrote Motor City Muscle: Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk and the Championship Detroit Red Wings -- published in 1995, after the Devils beat the Wings in the Finals, leaving Wings fans with what one of them called "The 40-Year Itch." About the 1995-2009 Wings Dynasty, Darren McCarty published My Last Fight: The True Story of a Hockey Rock Star.

Charles C. Avison wrote Detroit: City of Champions, telling of how the city produced champion after champion in the Great Depression and World War II: The Tigers winning Pennants in 1934, '35, '40 and '45; the Lions debuting in 1934 and winning the NFL Championship in 1935; the Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup in 1936, '37 and '43; and Joe Louis winning the Heavyweight Championship of the World in 1937 and keeping it until his first retirement in 1948. Back then, Detroit was a city where anything was possible.

The 1930s was also the era when Detroit radio station WXYZ debuted 3 legendary fictional characters: The Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet (said to be related), and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. Now WXYT, SportsRadio 1270, it celebrated its 90th Anniversary this past October.

During the Game. The Red Wings have nasty rivalries with the Chicago Blackhawks and the Colorado Avalanche, but you do not have to worry about wearing Devils gear in Joe Louis Arena. Wings fans may have long memories, but they're over 1995.

When the visiting team's players are announced, Wings fans will shout, "Who cares?" When I first heard this on TV before Game 1 of the 1995 Finals, I thought they were, instead of booing and/or hissing, shouting, "Boo, hiss!" I chuckled. My respect for them went way down when I found out it was the far less witty, "Who cares?" Still, though, it beats following a player's name with, " ...sucks!"

Karen Newman sings the National Anthem. The Wings' goal song is "Hey Hey Hockey Town" by Michigan native Robert "Kid Rock" Ritchie.

During Playoff games only, hanging from the roof is a big purple balloon shaped like an octopus, named Al the Octopus, after Al Sobotka, The Joe's building operations manager, who drives the Zamboni, and whose job it is to pick up any octopi that fans throw onto the ice, a reflection of a tradition that began in 1952, since there were then only 2 Playoff rounds, 8 wins to win the Cup, 8 legs on an octopus. Since it now takes 16 wins, there are 2 Als hanging from the rafters.

Although, officially, you can be thrown out of the arena for doing it, if the Wings are winning late, Sobotka will pick the octopus up off the ice by hand, and swing it around by the legs over his head, driving the crowd wild.

After the Game. With Detroit's rough reputation, I would recommend not hanging around downtown after a night game. If you want a postgame drink or meal, you're better off sticking to your hotel.

Nevertheless, there are some recommendations from local fan websites. The Anchor Bar at 450 W. Fort Street (not to be confused with the Buffalo bar of the same name, which invented Buffalo wings 50 years ago this week), Cobo Joe's at 422 W. Congress Street, and Post Bar at 408 W. Congress Street. The last of these is described as the best post-game Red Wings bar, and a place where the players sometimes drink.

The only bar I was able to find catering to New Yorkers that is within 25 miles of downtown Detroit, and that one just barely, was a Ruby Tuesday restaurant in suburban Roseville. It's also been known to serve as the local headquarters for expatriate Giants and Jets fans. However, I have another source that says that locals who root for the Giants gather at the Town Pump Tavern, 100 W. Montcalm Street at Park Avenue, 2 blocks from Comerica Park. So that might be a good place for Yankee Fans.

Sidelights. For all its problems, Detroit is a great city, not just a great baseball city or even a great sports city. Check out the following – but do it in daylight:

* Detroit Events Center. Soon, much of the information above will be out of date, as the Wings are moving. Their new arena, which will probably have a corporate name early in its history, will seat 20,000, and is scheduled to open in time for the 2017-18 season, meaning the rest of this season and 2 more will be played at The Joe.

In addition to the Wings, it will host the Great Lakes Invitational, rotate with the Xcel Energy Center as host of the Big Ten hockey tournament, and has already been lined up to host 2018 NCAA Tournament basketball games. 2501 Woodward Avenue at Henry Street, across Interstate 75 from Comerica Park and Ford Field. Speaking of which...

* Comerica Park and Ford Field. Home to the Tigers since 2000, the team has seen the good (Pennants in 2006 and '12), the bad (a nosedive that cost them the American League Central Division title in 2008), and the ugly (losing an AL record 119 games in 2003) at Comerica Park. The official address is 2100 Woodward Avenue, but Woodward does not border the park; Witherell, Montcalm and Brush Streets, and Adams Avenue, do. The Lions have mostly been terrible at Ford Field, whose address is 2000 Bursh Street.

The area around Comerica Park (named for a Midwest-based bank) and Ford Field (named for the automaker), at the northern edge of downtown Detroit, is called Foxtown, after the Fox Theater, which, as I said, Tigers/Wings/Little Caesars owner Mike Ilitch had restored.

Ford Field hosted Super Bowl XL in 2006, won by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final game of Detroit native Jerome Bettis; and the 2009 NCAA Final Four, the only one ever held in the State of Michigan, won by North Carolina, overcoming a "home-court advantage" for Michigan State in the Final. Appropriately, for a city on the U.S.-Canadian border, it hosted a match between the U.S. and Canada soccer teams on June 7, 2011. The U.S. won.

* Site of Tiger Stadium. The first ballpark on the site was called Bennett Park, after Charlie Bennett, a catcher for the NL’s Detroit Wolverines, who didn’t play there. Bennett Park opened in 1896, for the Detroit team in the Western League, which became the American League in 1901. However, the team we know as the Tigers (so named because the orange stripes on their socks evoked not just tigers but the teams at New Jersey’s Princeton University, also called the Tigers) are officially dated from 1901.

After the 1911 season, the wooden Bennett Park was demolished, and replaced with a concrete and steel structure, opening on April 20, 1912 (the same day as Fenway Park in Boston) and named Navin Field, after Tiger owner Frank Navin. He died in 1935, and his co-owner, Walter Briggs, expanded the place to its more familiar configuration in 1938, renaming it Briggs Stadium. In 1961, new owner John Fetzer renamed it Tiger Stadium.

The Tigers played there from 1912 to 1999, and the NFL’s Lions did so from 1938 to 1974. The Tigers won the World Series while playing there in 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984; the Lions won the NFL Championship while playing there in 1952, 1953 and 1957. (The ’52 Championship Game was played in Cleveland against the Browns; the ’53 and ’57 editions, also against the Browns, at Tiger Stadum.) Northwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Street, 1 mile west of Cadillac Square down Michigan Avenue (U.S. Route 12). Number 29 bus from downtown.

* Site of Olympia Stadium. From the outside, it looked more like a big brick movie theater, complete with the Art Deco marquee out front. But “The Old Red Barn” was home to the Red Wings from 1927 to 1979, during which time they won the Stanley Cup in 1936, ’37, ’43, ’50, ’52, ’54 and ’55. In 1950, they hosted Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and Pete Babando’s overtime winner defeated the Rangers. In ’54, they had another overtime Game 7 winner, as “Tough Tony” Leswick hit a shot that deflected off Doug Harvey, the great defenseman of the Montreal Canadiens. (In hockey, the shooter is still credited; in soccer, this would have been officially listed as an “own goal” on Harvey.)

The Olympia was also home to the Pistons from 1957 to 1961, and the site of some great prizefights, including Jake LaMotta’s 1942 win over Sugar Ray Robinson – the only fight Robinson would lose in his career until 1952, and the only one of the 6 fights he had with LaMotta that LaMotta won.

Elvis Presley did 2 shows there early in his career, an afternoon and an evening show on March 31, 1957. (If you think that's a lot for one day, he did 3 shows at the Fox Theater on May 25, 1956.) He returned to the Olympia on September 11, 1970; April 6, 1972; September 29 and October 4, 1974; and April 22, 1977. The Beatles played there on September 6, 1964 and August 13, 1966. (However, it was in the Detroit area -- specifically, on the University of Michigan's radio station in Ann Arbor -- that a disc jockey started the 1969 rumor that Paul McCartney was dead. In a 1989 interview, Paul said, "'Paul is dead'? I didn't believe that one for a minute.")

It was the neighborhood, not the building, that was falling apart: Lincoln Cavalieri, its general manager in its last years, once said, "If an atom bomb landed, I'd want to be in Olympia." It was not a nuclear attack, but an ordinary demolition crew, that took it down in 1987. The Olympia Armory, home of the Michigan National Guard, is now on the site. 5920 Grand River Avenue, corner of McGraw Street, on the Northwest Side. Number 21 bus. If you’re a hockey fan, by all means, visit – but do it in daylight.

* University of Detroit Stadium. Also known as Titan Stadium, this was the Lions' first home, from 1934 to 1937, until what became Tiger Stadium was double-decked. The Lions played and won the 1935 NFL Championship Game there, beating the Giants.

The previous NFL team in the city, the Detroit Wolverines, play there in their lone season, 1928. Built in 1922 and seating 25,000, the University's suspension of its football program in 1964 doomed it, and it was demolished in 1971. The school, now known as the University of Detroit Mercy (it's a Catholic school), has since put a new, multipurpose, artificial turf field on the site. 3801 McNichols Road at Birchcrest Drive. 016 Bus.

* Silverdome. Originally Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium, this stadium was home to the Lions from 1975 to 2001 (after which they moved back downtown to Ford Field), and very nearly became home to the Tigers as well, before owner John Fetzer decided to commit himself to Tiger Stadium. Heisman-winning running backs Billy Sims and Barry Sanders ran wild for the Lions here, but the closest they got to a Super Bowl was reaching the NFC Championship Game in January 1992 – unless you count hosting Super Bowl XVI, 10 years earlier, the beginning of the San Francisco 49er dynasty led by Bill Walsh and Joe Montana.

The Pistons, playing here from 1978 to 1988, had a little more luck, reaching the NBA Finals in their last year there. It seated 80,000 for football, set an NBA attendance record (since broken) of 61,983 between the Pistons and Boston Celtics in 1988, and 93,682 for a Mass by Pope John Paul II in 1987.

In 1994, it hosted 4 World Cup matches, including 1 by the U.S. and 1 by eventual winner Brazil. It hosted 2 games by the U.S. national soccer team, in 1992 win over Russia and the 1994 World Cup draw against Switzerland. Elvis had his biggest crowd ever at the Silverdome, 60,500, on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1975.

It hosted a Don King-promoted boxing card in January 2011, and in August 2010 hosted a friendly between Italian soccer giant A.C. Milan and leading Greek club Panathinaikos – appropriate, considering the area’s ethnic makeup. In 2013, the roof was deflated as an energy-saving measure, and it was decided that, if a new tenant is found, a new roof will be put in as part of renovations.

In March of this year, the owners announced that they would be auctioning off the contents of the facility, including seats and fixtures. In October, it was announced that the building would be demolished over the winter, and that the land would be turned over to Oakland County, Michigan for mixed-use development.

1200 Featherstone Road, Pontiac. Getting there by public transportation is a pain: The Number 465 bus takes an hour and 25 minutes, and then you gotta walk a mile down Featherstone from Oakland Community College. So if you didn't drive in (or rent a car at the airport), unless you have to see everything on this list, or if you're a Lions fan living in New York who has to see it one more time, or if you're a soccer nut on a pilgrimage to all World Cup sites, I'd suggest skipping it.

* The Palace. Home to the Pistons since 1988, they won the 1989, 1990 and 2004 NBA Championships here, and almost won another in 2005. The Detroit Shock won 3 WNBA Championships here, and, as a result, every time a title is won, the address changes: Currently, it’s “Six Championship Drive, Auburn Hills, MI 48326.” However, the Shock moved to Tulsa in 2010, so unless the NBA tries again with a new WNBA team, only the Pistons (theoretically) will be able to change the address to "Seven Championship Drive."

Unfortunately, the 22,000-seat building’s best-known event isn’t a Pistons title or a rock concert, but the November 19, 2004 fight between the Pistons and the Indiana Pacers that spilled into the stands, becoming known as "the Malice at the Palace." Even the WNBA had a rare brawl there, between the Shock and the Los Angeles Sparks in 2008. Lapeer Road and Harmon Road, Auburn Hills, off I-75. Don’t even think about trying to reach it by public transportation: You’d need 2 buses and then a half-hour walk.

Detroit is the largest metropolitan area in North America without a Major League Soccer team. Detroit City FC (Football Club) plays in the 4th tier of American soccer, at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck, a 7,000-seat high school football stadium 5 1/2 miles north of downtown. Number 10 bus. The closest MLS team to Detroit is the Columbus Crew, 204 miles away. However, the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry may complicate that.

* Motown Historical Museum. As always, I’m going to include some non-sports items. Detroit is generally known for 3 good things: Sports, music and cars. The Motown Historical Museum is the former Motown Records studio, which company founder Berry Gordy Jr. labeled “Hitsville, U.S.A.” His sister, Esther Gordy Edwards, now runs it, and it features records and costumes of performers such as the Supremes, the Temptations and the Four Tops. 2648 W. Grand Blvd., on the North Side. Number 16 bus.

* Henry Ford Museum. The centerpiece of the nation’s foremost automotive-themed museum is a replica of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Henry Ford himself established the museum: “I am collecting the history of our people as written into things their hands made and used... When we are through, we shall have reproduced American life as lived, and that, I think, is the best way of preserving at least a part of our history and tradition.”

It contains the fascinating, including early cars and bicycles, Henry Ford’s first car (his 1896 "Quadricycle"), Igor Sikorsky’s prototype for the helicopter, the bus Rosa Parks was riding in when she refused to give up her seat to start the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott, and a Buckminster Fuller “Dymaxion house.” It also contains the macabre, with the chair Abraham Lincoln was supposedly sitting in when he was assassinated at Ford’s Theater in Washington (the theater owner was no relation to Henry); and the chair, and the rest of the car as well, that John F. Kennedy was definitely sitting in when he was assassinated, the back seat of in the 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible limousine he was riding in through downtown Dallas.

Next door to the museum is Greenfield Village, which Ford imagined as a kind of historical park, a more modern version of Colonial Williamsburg – that is, celebrating what was, in 1929 when it opened, considered modern American life, including a reconstruction of the Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory of his good friend Thomas Edison. Ford and Edison were both friends of rubber magnate Henry Firestone (whose tires certainly made Ford’s cars easier to make), and Firestone’s family farm is reconstructed on the site.

Please note that I am not excusing Henry Ford’s control-freak attitude toward his employees' private lives, nor his despicable anti-Semitism, nor his failed union-busting in the 1930s. To be fair, he did give his black auto workers the same pay and benefits as his white ones. But I am recommending the museum. It's a tribute to the role of technology, including the automobile, in American life, not to the man himself. Oakwood Blvd. and Village Road. Number 200 bus to Michigan Avenue and Oakwood Blvd., then a short walk down Oakwood.

* Greektown Historic District. Although Detroit is famed for its Irish (Corktown, including the site of Tiger Stadium) and Italian communities, and has the largest Arab-American community of any major city, its best-known ethnic neighborhoods are Greektown and the Polish community of Hamtramck. New York’s Astoria, Queens has nothing on Detroit’s Greektown, which not only has some of the country’s finest Greek restaurants, but also the Greektown Casino, which is at 555 E. Lafayette Street, at Beaubien Street. Greektown Station on the People Mover.

* Hamtramck. Pronounced “Ham-TRAM-ick,” this city is actually completely surrounded by Detroit. When the Dodge Brothers (who later sold the car company bearing their name to Chrysler) opened an auto plant there in 1914, it became a hub for Polish immigration. However, the Polish population of the city has dropped from 90 percent in 1970 to 22 percent today. And Arabs and South Asians have moved in, making it Michigan’s most internationally diverse city. Nevertheless, if you want the best kielbasa, kapusta, golumpkis and paczkis this side of the Oder, this is the place to go. Hamtramck Town Shopping Center, Joseph Campau Street and Hewitt Street. Number 10 or 34 bus.

* Mariners’ Church. On my 1999 visit to Detroit, I discovered this church by accident, walking past it without realizing it was there until I saw the historical marker. Every March, it holds a Blessing of the Fleet for every person and ship going to sea. Every November, it holds a Great Lakes Memorial Service for those who have lost their lives at sea within the past year.

The most famous of these ceremonies was for the 29 men lost on the iron ore freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. Built and homeported in Detroit, the Big Fitz was commemorated by Gordon Lightfoot, whose 1976 song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” mistakenly, but poetically, called the church “The Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral.” (Edmund Fitzgerald himself was the president of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, which invested in the ship's construction, because it was heavily invested in the ore industry.)

170 E. Jefferson Avenue, at Randolph Street, across from the Renaissance Center. If you're going to visit the church, be careful, because Randolph Street empties into the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

* Spirit of Detroit. In front of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, the city hall named for the 1974-93 Mayor, stands a marble monument with a bronze statue of a kneeling man, the seals of the City of Detroit and Wayne County, and a Biblical inscription, from 2nd Corinthians 3:17: "Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." In his left hand, the 26-foot-high kneeling figure holds a gilt bronze sphere emanating rays, to symbolize God. The people in the figure's right hand are a family group. The statue was dedicated in 1958, 4 years after the Municipal Center opened. In recent years, a large jersey has been placed over it when the Tigers, Pistons or Wings have been in their sport's finals. (As yet, this has never been done for the Lions, who haven't been to an NFL Championship Game since 1957, 9 seasons before they started calling it the Super Bowl.) 2 Woodward Avenue at Jefferson Avenue.

* Monument to Joe Louis. Erected in 1986, on a traffic island at the intersection of Woodward & Jefferson, it is a 24-foot-long arm with a fisted hand suspended by a 24-foot-high pyramidal framework. Since it is a monument to Louis, the great black heavyweight champion, the arm and fist are black bronze.

* Colleges. The University of Michigan is 44 miles west of downtown Detroit, in Ann Arbor.  It is possible to reach it from Detroit by bus, but it will take 2 hours: You can take the 851 bus to the airport, and transfer there to the 787.

Gerald Ford was President from August 9, 1974 to January 20, 1977, and was a graduate of (and an All-American football player at) Michigan in the 1930s. His Presidential Library, and a School of Public Policy named for him, are on the Ann Arbor campus, at 1000 Beal Avenue. However, he is the only President whose Library and Museum are separated, and his Presidential Museum is in his hometown of Grand Rapids, at 303 Pearl Street NW, 158 miles northwest of Detroit. You'll need Greyhound if you want to visit Grand Rapids.

Michigan Stadium is at 1201 S. Main Street at Stadium Blvd. "The Big House" has hosted UM football since 1927. Its peak attendance is 115,109 for Michigan's 2013 win over Notre Dame. This past year, it set new records for highest U.S. attendance for soccer (109,318 for Manchester United beating Real Madrid in the International Champions Cup), and for highest attendance anywhere on the planet for hockey (105,491 for the NHL Winter Classic, the Toronto Maple Leafs beating the Detroit Red Wings).

Adjacent is Crisler Arena, named for Herbert "Fritz" Crisler, the UM football coach from 1938 to 1947, who, in another connection between Princeton University sports and the State of Michigan, had previously coached Princeton's Tigers, and brought his "winged" helmet design with him, making Michigan's "maize and blue" helmets among the most famous in college football. Elvis sang at Crisler Arena on April 24, 1977. The other sports facilities, including Yost Arena (hockey) and Fisher Stadium (named for Ray Fisher, who pitched for the Yankees in the 1910s before they got good and then coached at Michigan, including Charlie Gehringer), are adjacent.

Michigan State University is 88 miles northwest of Detroit, in East Lansing, adjacent to Lansing, the State capital.  Greyhound runs 4 buses a day from Detroit to East Lansing, at 8:00 AM, 12:10 PM, 2:20 PM and 7:40 PM, and it takes about 2 hours. Two buses go back to Detroit, at 3:40 and 5:55 PM. $38 round-trip.

Spartan Stadium, formerly Macklin Field, is at 325 W. Shaw Lane at Red Cedar Road, which is named for the river that bisects the MSU campus. Jenison Field House (the old basketball arena, where Magic Johnson starred on their 1979 National Champions), Breslin Events Center (their new arena), and Munn Arena (hockey) are a short walk away, at Kalamazoo Street & Birch Road.

UPDATE: According to an October 3, 2014 article in The New York Times, UM has a decided, though not overwhelming, advantage in fans in the Detroit area. Only around the State capital of Lansing do you get an edge for MSU.

* Home Improvement.  The 1991-99 ABC sitcom is easily the best-known TV show to have been set in Detroit, with Tool Time's studio being in the city and the Taylors' house in the suburbs, possibly in Bloomfield Hills. But, as far as I know, there were no location shots, not even in the episode in which the Taylors got to see the Lions' annual Thanksgiving game from a Silverdome skybox. So if you're looking for the Taylors' house, you're not going to find it -- if there was ever a house, not just a studio set, it was likely in or around Los Angeles. Other shows set in or around Detroit have included Martin, Freaks and Geeks, Sister, Sister, and 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.

Several films have been set, but not necessarily filmed, in Detroit. Axel Foley, Eddie Murphy's character in the Beverly Hills Cop films, was a Detroit police detective, but most of the film, including the Detroit scenes, was shot in Los Angeles. While RoboCop was set in Detroit, it was filmed in Dallas. (And you thought "Dallas sucks" was just a sports chant.)

Billy Crystal's movie about the 1961 home run record chase, 61*, used Tiger Stadium as a stand-in (with computer-generated help) for the original Yankee Stadium (since the 1973-76 renovation left it looking very little like it did in 1961). Other recent movies set in Detroit include Eminem's Roman à clef, 8 Mile; and Clint Eastwood's retired autoworker vs. gangs film Gran Torino.

* Windsor. Across the Detroit River is Windsor, Ontario. Most Americans know it for Caesar's Windsor, one of 4 casinos in the area.  Like its namesakes in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, it has a Roman theme. It may be only 2 miles from downtown Detroit, but because it's in Canada, where they have things like sensible gun laws and national health care, it may feel like the other side of the world (if not Rome itself). And, because it's in Canada, you'll need a passport.

377 Riverside Drive East. There is bus service available -- less for Michiganders wanting to gamble, more for Windsorites wanting to go to Red Wings games and concerts -- and you can contact Transit Windsor at tw@city.windsor.on.ca.

The Wings' first home was actually in Windsor: They played their first season, 1926-27, at the Border Cities Arena, which still stands, and is now named Windsor Arena. Like a lot of old arenas (this one was built in 1924), it looks like a barn, and so is nicknamed The Barn. It seats only 4,400 people in its current configuration, but it still hosts the University of Windsor hockey team. Its longest-term tenant, the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, now play elsewhere. 334 Wyandotte Street East, at McDougall Street.

*

A visit to Detroit does not have to be a scary experience. These people love hockey. And, while they don't necessarily like the Yankees, they don't have a problem with Devils fans. They love hockey more than most Americans do, and their city should be able to show you a good time.

This Sunday, the New York Giants will travel to Minneapolis to play the Minnesota Vikings. After coming back from 28 points down to the undefeated Carolina Panthers yesterday, only to lose on a last-play field goal, the Giants must win their last 2 games, and then hope that the Washington Redskins lose at least 1 of their last 2, to make the Playoffs.

But the Vikings also need to win to solidify their Playoff position. The winner of this game might not be in, but the loser will most likely be out.

Before You Go. The Vikings do not play in the Metrodome anymore, and even if they did, you would only have been indoors for 4 hours at most. So you should consult the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press websites for their forecasts. They're predicting mid-20s for Sunday afternoon, and mid-teens for evening. Bundle up!

Minnesota is in the Central Time Zone, 1 hour behind New York. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.

Tickets. The Vikings are averaging 52,427 fans per home game. That is dead last in the NFL. But that stat is misleading, since having to groundshare with the University of Minnesota while their new stadium is built on the site of the Metrodome means they have the smallest stadium in the NFL. That 52,427 is a sellout. So getting tickets will be tough.

Vikings tickets are among the least expensive in the NFL. In the lower level, the 100 sections, seats on the sidelines are $130 and in the end zone $90. In the upper level, the 200 sections, sideline seats are $112, in the end zone $60, and at the top of the end zone $35.

Getting There. It’s 1,199 road miles from Times Square in New York to Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis (the spot where Mary Tyler Moore threw her hat in the air in the opening sequence of her 1970-77 CBS sitcom), and 1,196 miles from MetLife Stadium to TCF Bank Stadium. Knowing this, your first reaction is going to be to fly out there.

If you order early, you could get a round-trip flight for a little over $600. More likely, you'll have to pay at least $800. When you get there, the Number 55 light rail takes you from the airport to downtown in under an hour, so at least that is convenient.

Bus? Not a good idea. Greyhound runs 3 buses a day between Port Authority and Minneapolis, all with at least one transfer, in Chicago and possibly elsewhere as well. The total time, depending on the number of stops, is between 26 and 31 hours, and costs $462 round-trip, although it can be dropped to $398 with advanced purchase. The Greyhound terminal is at 950 Hawthorne Avenue, at 9th Street North, just 3 blocks from Nicollet Mall, 2 from the Target Center arena, and from there just across the 7th Street overpass over Interstate 394 from Target Field.

Train? An even worse idea. Amtrak will make you leave Penn Station on the Lake Shore Limited at 3:40 PM Eastern Time, arrive at Union Station in Chicago at 9:45 AM Central Time, and then the Empire Builder, their Chicago-to-Seattle run, will leave at 2:15 PM and arrive in St. Paul (not Minneapolis) at 9:53 PM. From there, 730 Transfer Road, you’d have to take the Number 16 or 50 bus to downtown Minneapolis. And it’s $569 round-trip.

If you decide to drive, it’s far enough that it will help to get someone to go with you and split the duties, and to trade off driving and sleeping. You'll need to get into New Jersey, and take Interstate 80 West. You'll be on I-80 for the vast majority of the trip, through New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. In Ohio, in the western suburbs of Cleveland, I-80 will merge with Interstate 90. From this point onward, you won’t need to think about I-80 until you head home; I-90 is now the key, through the rest of Ohio and Indiana.

Just outside Chicago, I-80 will split off from I-90, which you will keep, until it merges with Interstate 94. For the moment, though, you will ignore I-94. Stay on I-90 through Illinois, until reaching Madison, Wisconsin, where you will once again merge with I-94. Now, I-94 is what you want, taking it into Minnesota and the Twin Cities, with Exit 235B being your exit for the University of Minnesota area, and Exit 233A for downtown Minneapolis.

If you do it right, you should spend about an hour and a half in New Jersey, 5 hours and 15 minutes in Pennsylvania, 4 hours in Ohio, 2 and a half hours in Indiana, an hour and a half in Illinois, 2 and a half hours in Wisconsin, and half an hour in Minnesota. That’s 17 hours and 45 minutes. Counting rest stops, preferably halfway through Pennsylvania and just after you enter both Ohio and Indiana, outside Chicago and halfway across Wisconsin, and accounting for traffic in New York, the Chicago suburbs and the Twin Cities, it should be no more than 23 hours, which would save you time on both Greyhound and Amtrak, if not on flying.

Once In the City. Like the baseball Twins, who arrived at the same time (1961), and the subsequent NBA Timberwolves (1989) and NHL Wild (2000), and the departed NHL North Stars (1967-1993), the Vikings are called "Minnesota," because they didn't want to slight either one of the "Twin Cities."

Well, these "twins" are not identical: They have different mindsets, and, manifesting in several ways that included both having Triple-A teams until the MLB team arrived, have been known to feud as much as San Francisco and Oakland, Dallas and Fort Worth, Baltimore and Washington, if not as much as Manhattan and Brooklyn. Minneapolis has about 400,000 people, St. Paul 300,000, and the combined metropolitan area about 3.8 million, ranking 15th in the U.S. -- roughly the combined population of Manhattan, The Bronx and Staten Island -- or that of Manhattan and Queens. Denver is the only metropolitan area with teams in all 4 sports that's smaller. And, despite being the smaller city, St. Paul is the State capital.

"Minneapolis" is a combination of the Dakota tribal word for water, and the Greek word for city. It was founded in 1867 with the name St. Anthony Falls, and, of course, St. Paul, founded in 1854, is also named for an early Christian saint. In Minneapolis, Hennepin Avenue separates the numbered Streets from North and South, and the Mississippi River is the "zero point" for the Avenues, many (but not all) of which also have numbers.

Each city once had 2 daily papers, now each is down to 1: Minneapolis had the Star and the Tribune, merged in 1982; St. Paul the Pioneer and the Dispatch, merged into the Pioneer Press and Dispatch in 1985, with the Dispatch name dropped in 1990. Today, they are nicknamed the Strib and the Pi Press.

The sales tax in the State of Minnesota is 6.875 percent. It's 7.775 percent in Minneapolis' Hennepin County, and 7.625 percent in St. Paul's Ramsey County. Bus and Light Rail service is $2.25 per ride during rush hours, $1.75 otherwise.

Going In. TCF Bank Stadium, designed to look like the old red-brick horseshoe college football stadiums of the 1920s, is on the campus of the University of Minnesota, across the Mississippi River from most of Minneapolis, 3 miles due east of Nicollet Mall and the homes of the Twins and T-Wolves. The official address is 420 SE 23rd Avenue.

Coming from downtown, you would take the Green Line light rail to Stadium Village stop. If you're going by light rail, you're most likely going to enter via the open west end of the horseshoe. If you're driving, you'll be taking I-94 back across the river, to Exit 235B, and probably parking at the enclosed east end of the stadium. Parking can be had for as low as $5.00. This being Big Ten country, tailgating is encouraged.

The stadium opened in 2009, allowing the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers to play home games on campus as they did at Memorial Stadium from 1924 to 1981. Their alumni were sick of playing in the cold, so when the Metrodome opened for the Twins and Vikings in 1982, they wanted in (figuratively and literally). But, even during winning seasons (which have been few and far between since the 1960s), attendance was lousy. So an on-campus facility was built. Unlike most football stadiums, due to solar and wind patterns, the field is laid out east-to-west, and is made of FieldTurf.
Before moving in for the 2014 and '15 seasons, the Vikings played a home game there in 2010, following a snow-caused collapse of the Metrodome roof. The Vikings lost to the Chicago Bears, and it turned out to be Brett Favre's last NFL game. It's also hosted an outdoor game for UM hockey, and this coming February 21, it will play host to the Wild against the Chicago Blackhawks. It hosted a match between soccer teams Manchester City of England and Olympiacos of Athens, Greece.
Memorial Stadium, a.k.a. "Old Memorial," seated 56,000 people, and was across University Avenue from where the new stadium now stands. The McNamara Alumni Center and the University Aquatic Center are on the site. The Vikings had played a home game at "Old Memorial" in 1969, due to a conflict with a Twins Playoff game at Metropolitan Stadium.

Across Oak Street from the new stadium's west end, on opposite sides of 4th Street, are the University's basketball and hockey homes. The Gophers play their basketball games at Williams Arena, a classic old barn built in 1928. Across 4th Street from Williams is Mariucci Arena, home of the hockey team that has won National Championships in 1974, '76, '79, 2002 and '03. Named for John Mariucci, a member of the Chicago Blackhawks' 1938 Stanley Cup winners who coached the Gophers. The arena was built in 1993, after the team previously played hockey at Williams.

Legend has it that 4th Street is the "Positively 4th Street" used as the title of a song by former UM student Robert Zimmerman, a.k.a. Bob Dylan, although, as is often the case with Dylan songs, there is no mention of the title in the songs. Whether the "friend" who's "got a lot of nerve" was a fellow UM student, I don't know. It's also been suggested that the 4th Street in question is the one in New York's Greenwich Village.

Food. Considering that Minnesota is Big Ten Country, you would expect their stadium to have lots of good food, in particular that Midwest staple, the sausage. They don't disappoint.

Named for UM's Gopher mascot, Goldy's Grill stands include hot dogs, bratwurst, burgers, chicken tenders, and... cheese curds. A little touch of Montreal -- poutine in the Land of 10,000 Lakes? I hope not!

The open west end has Jax Cafe, including burgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, cheesesteaks, chili, clam chowder and "Buffalo chips." I hope that means potato chips with Buffalo-chicken-style seasoning! The west end also has Famous Dave's barbecue and Dino's Gyros. The stadium also has Subway, Maui Wowie and ice cream stands.

Team History Displays. There is no display at TCF Bank Stadium for the Vikings achievements. They will wait until the new stadium opens to display mentions of their 1969 NFL Championship (losing Super Bowl IV); their 1973, 1974 and 1976 NFC Championships (losing Super Bowls VIII, IX and XI); their 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2000 NFC Central Division Championships; and their 2008 and 2009 NFC North Division Championships.

Nor are their 6 retired numbers mentioned. Of the 6, 4 are from their Super Bowl teams: 10, quarterback Fran Tarkenton; 53, center Mick Tinglehoff; 70, defensive end Jim Marshall; and 88, defensive tackle Alan Page. They also retired 80 for 1990s receiver Cris Carter, and 77 for 1990s offensive tackle Korey Stringer, who suffered heatstroke and during during training camp in 2001.

At the Metrodome, the Vikings had a Ring of Honor. Presumably, this will be put in place at U.S. Bank Stadium. There are currently 21 individuals honored:

* From the 1960s, but not making it to the 1969 title: Tarkenton.

* From the 1969 NFL Championship: Tinglehoff, Marshall, Page, running back Bill Brown, offensive tackle Ron Yary, defensive end Carl Eller, safety Paul Krause, head coach Bud Grant, general manager Jim Finks, and medical adviser Fred Zamberletti. Interestingly, Joe Kapp, the starting quarterback on this team, has not been honored.

* From the 1973 and 1974 NFC Championships: Tarkenton (who was traded to the Giants and traded back to the Vikings), Tinglehoff, Marshall, Page, Brown, Yary, Eller, Krause, Grant, Finks, Zamberletti and running back Chuck Foreman.

* From the 1976 NFC Championship: Tarkenton, Foreman, Tinglehoff, Marshall, Page, Yary, Eller, Krause, Grant, Zamberletti and linebacker Matt Blair.

* From the 1980s: Grant, Zamberletti, Blair, defensive end Chris
Doleman, linebacker Scott Studwell, safety Joey Browner and
coach Jerry Burns.

* From the 1990s: Zamberletti, Carter, Stringer, guard Randall
McDaniel and defensive tackle John Randle.

* Thus far, no one has been inducted from the 2000s, although
Zamberletti is still with the organization.

Stuff. Since the Vikings are not the primary team at TCF Bank Stadium, they don't have a big team store there, just a few stray souvenir stands. Their main Team Store is, ironically, on the site of their first stadium, at the Mall of America in Bloomington. Whether that store or any of the stands sells horned helmets, the team's symbol and long the symbol of the original Vikings, even though they never actually wore them, you'd have to go to find out.

With an uneven history that, as yet, doesn't include a World Championship, there aren't many books about the Vikings. But that history does include an NFL Championship. Pat Duncan wrote about it in Last Kings of the Old NFL: The 1969 Minnesota Vikings. Star-Tribune columnist and 1500 ESPN radio host Patrick Reusse and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar combined in 2010 to write a 50th Anniversary retrospective, Minnesota Vikings: The Complete Illustrated History.

As for DVDs, the NFL's official History of the Minnesota Vikings came out in 2001, so it only goes up to the team's 40th Anniversary. In 2009, the NFL released Minnesota Vikings: 5 Greatest Games. Except none of the 5 are from their 1970s glory days, which is inexcusable due to the vast library of NFL Films.Instead, they chose a Playoff win over the San Francisco 49ers from the 1987 season, a Playoff win over the Arizona Cardinals from the 1998 season, a Playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys from the 1999 season, Adrian Peterson's NFL record 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers in a 2007 regular season game, and the 2008 Division title clincher against the Giants.

During the Game. Because of their Midwest/Heartland image, Vikings fans like a “family atmosphere.” Therefore, while they don’t especially like the Giants, they will not directly antagonize you. I would advise against saying anything complimentary about the Green Bay Packers, the University of Wisconsin, the Dallas Stars (the hockey team that used to be the Minnesota North Stars) or Norm Green (the owner who moved them).

For many years, a man in a traditional (if historically inaccurate) Viking costume showed up at games at Metropolitan Stadium. In 1994, Joseph Juranitch, born the same year as the team, 1961 -- ironically, in Milwaukee, territory of their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, but grew up in Ely, Minnesota -- took up the mantle, calling himself Ragnar the Viking.

His contract was not renewed for the 2015 season, but he still makes public appearances in costume. He is a security officer for a Twin Cities high school. He was replaced by the foam-costumed Viktor the Viking.

The Vikings hold auditions for the National Anthem, instead of having a regular singer. Their fight song is "Skol, Vikings" -- "Skol" being a variation on "Skål," a Scandinavian word meaning "good health," in effect a toast, equivalent to the Gaelic "Sláinte," the Spanish "Salud," the Italian "Salute," the German "Prost," the Hebrew "L'chaim" or the Slavic "Na zdrowie.""Skol, skol, skol" is also the main fans' chant.

And, in case you're wondering, Minnesota (and, to a lesser extent, the neighboring States of Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota) have a large concentration of people of Scandinavian descent (Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Icelandic), which is why the team was named the Vikings. Just as the Boston basketball team was named the Celtics in honor of Boston's Irish heritage. And teams in places with Native American influence have been named the Kansas City Chiefs and the Florida State Seminoles. But nobody's ever had the guts to name a team in a city with a large Italian population the Paisans or the Godfathers. There's no New York Mensches, either.

After the Game. Minneapolis is a relatively safe city, and the UM campus even more so. As long as you don't go out of your way to antagonize anybody, you should be all right.

If you want to be around other New Yorkers, I’m sorry to say that listings for where they tend to gather are slim. But I have one listing for a place that seems to cater to football Giants fans: O'Donnell's Irish Pub, at 700 1st Avenue North at 7th St.

Another restaurant that may be of interest to New York baseball fans is Charley's Grill, at 225 3rd Avenue South at 2nd Street.  It was popular among visiting players from other American Association cities when they came to play the Millers and the Saints. Legend has it that, when the Yankees gathered for spring training in 1961, they were trying to figure out which restaurants in the new American League cities were good, and someone who'd recently played for the Denver Bears mentioned Charley's. But Yogi Berra, who'd gone there when the Yanks' top farm team was the Kansas City Blues, said, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." Well, someone must still be going there, because it's still open.  (That Yogi said the line is almost certainly true, but the restaurant in question was almost certainly Ruggiero's, a place in his native St. Louis at which he and his neighbor Joe Garagiola waited tables.)

Sidelights. Minnesota’s sports history is long, but very uneven. Teams have been born, moved in, moved around, and even moved out. But there are some local sites worth checking out.

* Site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and U.S. Bank Stadium. Home of the Twins from 1982 to 2009, the University of Minnesota football team from 1982 to 2008, and the NFL’s Vikings from 1982 to 2013, that infamous blizzard and roof collapse in 2010 brought the desire to get out and build a new stadium for the Vikes to the front burner, and it finally led to action. Until then, there were threats that the Vikes would move, the most-mentioned possible destinations being Los Angeles and San Antonio.

The Twins won the 1987 and 1991 World Series at the Metrodome – going 8-0 in World Series games in the Dome, and 0-6 in Series games outside of it. The Vikings, on the other hand, were just 6-4 in home Playoff games there – including an overtime defeat in the 1998 NFC Championship Game after going 14-2 in the regular season.

From October 19, 1991 to April 6, 1992, the Metrodome hosted 3 major events in less than 6 months: The World Series (Twins over Atlanta Braves), Super Bowl XXVI (Washington Redskins over Buffalo Bills), and the NCAA Final Four (Duke beating Michigan in the Final). It also hosted the Final Four in 2001 (Duke won that one, too, over Arizona).

In May 2012, faced with the serious possibility of the Vikings moving without getting a suitable stadium, the Minnesota State legislature approved funding for a new stadium for the Vikings, to be built on the site of the Metrodome and on adjoining land.

In a piece of poetic justice, just as the damn thing was (with considerable ballyhoo) built and completed ahead of schedule and under budget, so did the demolition take place. The people of Minnesota seemed to be proud of its having been built on the cheap and on time, but it served its purpose, to keep the Twins and Vikings from moving for a generation, and now replacement stadiums are achieving the same purpose.

Billy Martin, who hated the place, had the best word on it, though the awkward wording of it may have been inspired in part by his pal Yogi Berra: "It's a shame a great guy like HHH had to be named after it." (Billy's first managing job was with the Twins, at the Met in 1969.)

U.S. Bank Stadium is scheduled to open in time for the 2016 NFL season. It will host Super Bowl LII in February 2018, and the 2019 NCAA Final Four. 900 South 5th Street at Centennial (Kirby Puckett) Place. Metrodome station on Light Rail.

* Target Field. Home of the Twins since 2010, it gives Minnesota's baseball team its 1st true ballpark after a half-century of waiting, rather than the Bloomington ice tray and the Homerdome. The official address is 1 Twins Way, along 3rd Avenue N., between 5th and 7th Streets. It has its own stop on the light rail system.

* Mall of America and sites of Metropolitan Stadium and the Metropolitan Sports Center. In contrast to their performance at the Metrodome, the Vikings were far more successful at their first home, while the Twins were not (in each case, playing there from 1961 to 1981).

The Vikings reached 4 Super Bowls while playing at The Met, while the Twins won Games 1, 2 and 6 of the 1965 World Series there, but lost Game 7 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a shutout by Sandy Koufax. (So the Twins are 11-1 all-time in World Series home games, but 0-9 on the road.) The Vikings were far more formidable in their ice tray of a stadium, which had no protection from the sun and nothing to block an Arctic blast of wind.

In fact, the Met had one deck along the 3rd base stands and in the right field bleachers, two decks from 1st base to right field and in the left field bleachers, and three decks behind home plate. Somebody once said the stadium looked like an Erector set that a kid was putting together, before his mother called him away to dinner and he never finished it. At 45,919 seats, it had a capacity that was just fine for baseball; but at 48,446, it was too small for the NFL.

Prior to the 1961 arrivals of the Twins and Vikings, the Met hosted the Minneapolis Millers from 1956 to 1960, and 5 NFL games over the same stretch, including 4 “home games” for the Packers. (Viking fans may be sickened over that, but at least University of Minnesota fans can take heart in the University of Wisconsin never having played there.)

The experiments worked: The Met, built equidistant from the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul, in the southern suburb of Bloomington, was awarded the MLB and NFL teams, and Midway Stadium, built in 1957 as the new home of the St. Paul Saints (at 1000 N. Snelling Avenue in the city of St. Paul, also roughly equidistant from the two downtowns), struck out, and was used as a practice field by the Vikings before being demolished in 1981.

The NHL’s Minnesota North Stars played at the adjoining Metropolitan Sports Center (or Met Center) from 1967 to 1993, before they were moved to become the Dallas Stars by owner Norm Green, earning him the nickname Norm Greed. The Stars reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1981 and 1991, but never won the Cup until 1999 when they were in Dallas.

The Beatles played at Metropolitan Stadium on August 21, 1965 -- making 1 of only 3 facilities to host an All-Star Game, a Finals and a Beatles concert in the same year. (The others were the Boston Garden and Maple Leaf Gardens in 1964.) Elvis Presley sang at the Met Center on November 5, 1971 and October 17, 1976.

8000 Cedar Avenue South, at 80th Street -- near the airport, although legends of planes being an issue, as with Shea Stadium and Citi Field, seem to be absent. A street named Killebrew Drive, and the original location of home plate, have been preserved. A 45-minute ride on the Number 55 light rail (MOA station).

* Site of Nicollet Park. Home of the Millers from 1912 to 1955, it was one of the most historic minor-league parks, home to Ted Williams and Willie Mays before they reached the majors. With the Met nearing completion, its last game was Game 7 of the 1955 Junior World Series, in which the Millers beat the International League Champion Rochester Red Wings. A few early NFL games were played there in the 1920s. A bank is now on the site. Nicollet and Blaisdell Avenues, 30th and 31st Streets. Number 465 bus.

* Site of Lexington Park. Home of the Saints from 1897 to 1956, it wasn’t nearly as well regarded, although it did close with a Saints win over the arch-rival Millers. The site is now occupied by retail outlets. Lexington Parkway, University Avenue, Fuller & Dunlap Streets.

* Xcel Energy Center and site of the St. Paul Civic Center. Home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild since their debut in 2000, and site of the 2008 Republican Convention that nominated John McCain for President and Sarah Palin for Vice President. The place is a veritable home and hall of fame for hockey in Minnesota, the most hockey-mad State in the Union, including the State high school championships that were previously held at the Civic Center.

That building was the home of the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the World Hockey Association from 1973 to 1977. The Fighting Saints had played their first few home games, in late 1972, at the St. Paul Auditorium. Elvis sang at the Civic Center on October 2 and 3, 1974, and April 30, 1977. The Civic Center is also where Bruce Springsteen and Courteney Cox filmed the video for Bruce’s song “Dancing In the Dark.” 199 Kellogg Blvd. West. at 7th Street.

* Target Center. Separated from Target Field by I-394 and 2nd Avenue, this arena has been home to the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves since the team debuted shortly after its 1989 opening. The T-Wolves have only made the Western Conference Finals once, and are probably best known as the team Kevin Garnett and GM (and Minnesota native) Kevin McHale couldn’t get over the hump, before Garnett went to McHale’s former team, the Boston Celtics.

The Minnesota Lynx also play here, and have become the WNBA’s answer to the San Antonio Spurs, winning league titles in odd-numbered years: 2011, 2013 and 2015. 600 N. 1st Avenue at 6th Street.

* Site of Minneapolis Auditorium. Built in 1927, from 1947 to 1960 this was the home of the Minneapolis Lakers – and, as Minnesota is “the Land of 10,000 Lakes” (11,842, to be exact), now you know why a team in Los Angeles is named the Lakers. (The old Utah Jazz coach Frank Layden said his team and the Lakers should switch names, due to L.A.'s "West Coast jazz" scene and the Great Salt Lake: "Los Angeles Jazz" and "Utah Lakers" would both make more sense.)

The Lakers won the National Basketball League Championship in 1948, then moved into the NBA and won the Championship in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954. In fact, until the Celtics overtook them in 1963, the Minneapolis Lakers were the most successful team in NBA history, and have still won more World Championships than all the other Minnesota major league teams combined: Lakers 5, Twins 2, the rest a total of 0. (Unless you count the Lynx, who make it Lakers 5, everybody else 5.)

They were led by their enormous (for the time, 6-foot-10, 270-pound) center, the bespectacled (that’s right, he wore glasses, not goggles, on the court) Number 99, George Mikan. The arrival of the 24-second shot clock for the 1954-55 season pretty much ended their run, although rookie Elgin Baylor did help them reach the Finals again in 1959. Ironically, the owner of the Lakers who moved them to Los Angeles was Bob Short – who later moved the “new” Washington Senators, the team established to replace the team that moved to become the Twins.

The Auditorium hosted the NCAA Final Four (although it wasn't yet called that) in 1951, won by Kentucky. Elvis sang there early in his career, on May 13, 1956. The Auditorium was demolished in 1989, and the Minneapolis Convention Center was built on the site. 1301 2nd Ave. South, at 12th Street. Within walking distance of Target Field, Target Center and the Metrodome.

* Minnesota United. Currently playing in the new version of the North American Soccer League, this team will join Major League Soccer in either the 2017 or 2018 season. They currently play at the 10,000-seat National Sports Center in Blaine, 18 miles north of Minneapolis, but plan to move to a 20,000-seat stadium to open in downtown St. Paul in 2018.

* Museums. The Twin Cities are very artsy, and have their share of museums, including one of the five most-visited modern art museums in the country, the Walker Art Center, at 1750 Hennepin Avenue. Number 4, 6, 12 or 25 bus. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is at 2400 3rd Avenue South. Number 17 bus, then walk 2 blocks east on 24th Street. The Science Museum of Minnesota is at 120 W. Kellogg Blvd. in St. Paul, across from the Xcel Center.

Minnesota is famous for Presidential candidates that don’t win. Governor Harold Stassen failed to get the Republican nomination in 1948, and then ran several more times, becoming, pardon the choice of words, a running joke. Senator Eugene McCarthy opposed Lyndon Johnson in the Democratic Primaries in 1968, but lost his momentum when Robert Kennedy got into the race and LBJ got out, then ran in 1976 as a 3rd-party candidate and got 1 percent of the popular vote.

Vice President Walter Mondale was the Democratic nominee in 1984, losing every State but
Minnesota in his loss to Ronald Reagan. In the 2012 election cycle, the moderate former Governor Tim Pawlenty and the completely batty Congresswoman Michele Bachmann ran, and neither got anywhere.

Most notable is Hubert Horatio Humphrey. Elected Mayor of Minneapolis in 1945 and 1947, he became known for fighting organized crime, which put a price on his head, a price it was unable to pay off.  In 1948, while running for the U.S. Senate, he gave a speech at the Democratic Convention, supporting a civil rights plank in the party platform, a movement which culminated in his guiding the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through the Senate as Majority Whip. He ran for the Democratic nomination for President in 1960, but lost to John F. Kennedy, then was elected LBJ’s Vice President in 1964.

He won the nomination in 1968, but lost to Richard Nixon by a hair. He returned to the Senate in 1970, and ran for President again in 1972, but lost the nomination to George McGovern. He might have run again in 1976 had his health not failed, as cancer killed him in 1978 at age 66. His wife Muriel briefly held his Senate seat.

Not having been President (he's come closer than any other Minnesotan ever has), he has no Presidential Library, but there is the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, 301 19th Avenue South, only a short walk from the Dome that would be named for him. Hubert and Muriel are laid to rest in Lakewood Cemetery, 3600 Hennepin Avenue. Number 6 bus.

The tallest building in Minnesota is the IDS Center, at 80 South 8th Street at Marquette Avenue, rising 792 feet high. The tallest in the State outside Minneapolis is Wells Fargo Place, at 30 East 7th Street at Cedar Street in St. Paul, 472 feet.

Nicollet Mall is a pedestrians-only shopping center that stretches from 2nd to 13th Streets downtown. At 7th Street, in front of Macy's, in roughly the same location that Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards threw her hat in the air in the opening to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, is a statue of "Mare" doing that. It was the first in a series of statues commissioned by TV Land that now includes Jackie Gleason outside Port Authority, Henry Winkler in Milwaukee, Bob Newhart in Chicago, Andy Griffith and Ron Howard in Raleigh, Elizabeth Montgomery in Salem, Massachusetts and Elvis in Honolulu. However, the show had no location shots in Minneapolis.

The sitcom Coach, which aired on ABC from 1989 to 1996, was set at Minnesota State University. At the time, there was not a real college with that name. But in 1999, Mankato State University was renamed Minnesota State University, Mankato; and in 2000, Moorhead State University became Minnesota State University, Moorhead.

The University of Minnesota was originally a model for the school on the show, but withdrew its support: Although some game action clearly shows the maroon and gold of the Golden Gophers, the uniforms shown in most scenes were light purple and gold. In one Season 1 episode, the Gophers are specifically mentioned as one of the Screaming Eagles' opponents, suggesting that Minnesota State might have been in the Big Ten. Show creator Barry Kemp is a graduate of the University of Iowa -- like Wisconsin, a major rival of the Gophers -- and most of the exterior shots you see of the campus were filmed there. In addition, the main character, Hayden Fox, was named after then-Iowa coach Hayden Fry. No scenes were actually shot in Minnesota, not even Hayden's oft-snowy lake house.

St. Paul is the capital of the State of Minnesota. The Capitol Building is at University Avenue and Capital Blvd. It's a half-hour ride from downtown on the Number 94 bus (named because most of its route is on I-94).

*

Bob Wood, a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and a graduate of Michigan State University, wrote a pair of sports travel guides: Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks, about his 1985 trip to all 26 stadiums then in MLB; and Big Ten Country, about his 1988 trip to all the Big Ten campuses and stadiums. (Penn State, Nebraska, and soon-to-be members Rutgers and Maryland were not yet in the league).

The Metrodome was the only stadium that featured in both books, although if either were updated to reflect current reality, it would feature in neither. In Big Ten Country, Wood said, “Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't like Minneapolis. How can you not like Minneapolis?... No, Minneapolis is lovely. It’s the Metrodome that sucks!”

Thankfully, the Metrodome is gone, the Vikings will soon play in a new stadium on the site, the Twins also play in a new stadium that actually feels like a ballpark, and, from what I understand, Minneapolis and St. Paul are still terrific cities, including for sports. A Giants or Jets fan should definitely take in a game against the Vikings there.

This is a test, to see if I can now write blog posts on my new smartphone, which I couldn't do on my old one.

I did obituary posts for some of these, but not all.

January 1: Mario Cuomo, 82, former outfielder in the Pittsburgh Pirates' system, Governor of New York 1983 to 1994, father of current Governor Andrew Cuomo.

January 3: Allie Sherman, 91, one of the 1st lefthanded quarterbacks in the NFL, for the Philadelphia Eagles, later an assistant coach on the New York Giants' 1956 NFL Championship, head coach of their team that reached the 1961, '62 and '63 Championship Games, but lost them all, later a studio analyst for CBS Sports.

January 4: Stu Miller, 87, 1958 National League ERA leader, 1961 NL saves leader, 1962 Pennant winner with San Francisco Giants, 1963 American League saves leader, 1966 World Champion with Baltimore Orioles, in 1967 gave up Mickey Mantle's 500th career home run. Named to Orioles' team Hall of Fame.

January 4: Hank Peters, 90, legendary baseball executive, built Orioles' 1983 World Champions.

January 4: Stuart Scott, 49, ESPN anchor, after a public battle with cancer.

January 7: Jethro Pugh, 70, defensive tackle won 1971 and '77 NFL Championships with the Dallas Cowboys (Super Bowls VI and XII), but probably best known for getting blocked by Jerry Kramer to give Bart Starr room to score on a quarterback sneak to win the 1967 NFL Championship for the Green Bay Packers in the "Ice Bowl."

January 7: Jean-Paul Parise, 67, NHL All-Star, his overtime goal sent the Islanders into the next round of the 1975 Playoffs, eliminating the Rangers, also starred for the Minnesota North Stars, father of NHL All-Star (and former New Jersey Devil) Zach Parise.

January 9: Roy Tarpley, 50, starred for the Dallas Mavericks, but banned from the NBA for continued violations of their drug policy. Sued the NBA, claiming his addiction was a disability and thus he couldn't be fired under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The suit was settled out of court, so we still don't know if such a suit is viable. His health was likely compromised even though he eventually stopped using drugs.

January 16: Ray Lumpp, 91, played for the Knick teams that reached the 1951 and '52 NBA Finals.

January 23: Ernie Banks, 83, Hall of Fame shortstop and 1st baseman for the Chicago Cubs. 500 Home Run Club. Number 14 retired. All-Century Team.

January 25: Bill Monbouquette, 78, All-Star pitcher, mainly for Boston Red Sox, threw no-hitter in 1962, briefly with Yankees in 1968.

January 27: Rocky Bridges, 87, All-Star 3rd baseman, member of Brooklyn Dodgers' 1951 close-call team and 1952 Pennant winners, an original Los Angeles Angel in 1961.

January 27: Al Severinsen, 70, pitcher for the Baltimore team that lost the 1969 World Series to the Mets.

January 27: Charlie Williams, 67, pitcher the Mets traded to the Giants for Willie Mays in 1972.

February 1: Ann Mara, 85, widow of Wellington Mara and thus matriarch of the New York Giants football team.

February 1: Udo Lattek, 80, managed Bayern Munich to 6 Bundesliga (German soccer) titles and Borussia Mönchengladbach to 3 others, also won the 1974 European Cup (the tournament now called the UEFA Champions League) with Bayern.

February 2: Dave Bergman, 61, 1st baseman, won World Series rings with the Yankees in 1977 and the Detroit Tigers in 1984.

February 7: Dean Smith, 83, from 1962 to 1997 coached the University of North Carolina to 17 Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season basketball championships, 13 ACC Tournament wins, 11 NCAA Final Fours and the 1982 and 1993 National Championships, winning more games than any coach before him (879), and also coaching the U.S. team to the 1976 Olympic Gold Medal.

February 9: Ed Sabol, 98, elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a "contributor," and it was a pretty important contribution, as he founded NFL Films. Without that, much of the league's visual history might have been lost. If not for NFL Films, we might not have Major League Baseball Productions or the NBA and NHL equivalents.

February 9: Claude Ruel, 76, defenseman whose playing career was ended at age 20 by an eye injury, coached the Montreal Canadiens to the 1969 Stanley Cup.

February 10: Don Johnson, 88, journeyman pitcher who debuted with the Yankees in 1947, although didn't last long enough to get on the World Series roster. One of the last 100 veterans of both World War II and Major League Baseball.

February 11: Ray Hathaway, 98, pitched for the Dodgers in 1945, won 5 Pennants as a minor-league manager.

February 11: Jerry Tarkanian, 84, controversial coach led the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) to the National Championship in 1990 and nearly again in 1991.

February 12: Alison Gordon, 72, became MLB's 1st full-time female beat writer in 1979, covering the Toronto Blue Jays for the Toronto Star from then until 1984.

February 15: Wendell Kim, 64, became the 1st Korean-American to wear a MLB uniform, with the Pennant-winning Giants in 1989. Also coached with the Red Sox.

February 18: Jerome Kersey, 52, All-Star helped the Portland Trail Blazers reach the 1990 and '92 NBA Finals.

February 19: Gary Woods, 60, outfielder who hit the 1st home run in Blue Jays history in their snow-strewn 1977 opener, later a big-league scout.

February 21: Frank Bathgate, 85, played 2 NHL games, both with the Rangers, alongside his brother, Hall-of-Famer Andy Bathgate.

February 24: Gary Sittler, 62, defenseman played 5 games in the WHA in 1974-75 with the Michigan Stags, younger brother of Hall-of-Famer Darryl Sittler.

February 26: Earl Lloyd, 86, became the 1st black player to appear in an NBA game with the 1950-51 Washington Capitols, won the 1955 NBA Championship with the Syracuse Nationals, elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
February 28: Alex Johnson, 72, outfielder, played on ill-fated 1964 Philadelphia Phillies, traded to St. Louis Cardinals for Dick Groat and future broadcasters Bill White and Bob Uecker, 1970 AL batting champion with California Angels, moodiness led him to multiple trades, including time with the Yankees during their 1974-75 Shea Stadium exile.

February 28: Ed Modzelewski, 86, running back led the University of Maryland to an undefeated season in 1951, served in the Air Force during the Korean War, won NFL Championship as a rookie with the 1955 Cleveland Browns. His brother Dick Modzelewski played for the giants.

February 28: Anthony Mason, 49, All-Star played on the early 1990s Knicks, including in the 1994 NBA Finals.

March 1: Jeff McKnight, 52, jack of all trades and master of none for the troubled early 1990s Mets, died from leukemia.

March 1: Minnie Miñoso, Chicago White Sox legend, outfielder should be in the Hall of Fame even if he wasn't the 1st black Hispanic player in the majors, Number 9 retired.

March 2: Dave Mackay, 80, rugged defender led Edinburgh-based Heart of Midlothian to the Scottish league title in 1958; Middlesex-based (not in North London until 1965) Tottenham Hotspur to the 1961 League and FA Cup Double, "Spurs" to another FA Cup in 1962, the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1963, another FA Cup in 1967; managed Derby County to the 1975 League title, and also won 2 Egyptian league titles with Cairo-based Zamalek.

March 13: Al Rosen, 91, member of the Cleveland Indians' 1948 World Champions and 1954 Pennant winners, 1953 AL MVP when he nearly won the Triple Crown, executive who built the 1978 World Champion Yankees, the 1986 NL West Champion Houston Astros and the 1989 NL Champion Giants.

March 23: Nick Peters, 75, covered the MLB Giants for their 1st half-century in San Francisco, elected to the sportswriters' wing of the Hall of Fame.

March 27: Rod Hundley, All-Star with the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, reaching the NBA Finals in 1959, '62 and '63, "Hot Rod" was later a Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Utah Jazz.

March 31: Chuck Bednarik, 89, center and linebacker was a waist-gunner on a World War II bomber, "last of the sixty-minute men," starred on 1949 and 1960 NFL Champion Philadelphia Eagles.

April 1: Eddie LeBaron, 85, 5-foot-7 quarterback may be the only player revered by fans of the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys, All-Pro for 1950s 'Skins, member of their Ring of Fame, 1st quarterback for expansion Cowboys in 1960.

April 1: J.D. Smith, 82, All-Pro running back for the 1950s 49ers.

April 4: Elmer Lach, 97, Hall of Fame center for the Canadiens, won Stanley Cups in 1944, '46 and '53, won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 1945, and the Ross Trophy as leading scorer in 1945 and '48, the last surviving member of the "Punch Line" with Maurice "Rocket" Richard and Hector "Toe" Blake, Number 16 retired.

April 5: Lon Simmons, 91, Hall of Fame broadcaster for the MLB Giants, the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco 49ers.

April 6: Art Powell, 78, receiver was an original New York Jet (then called the New York Titans) in 1960, was a 4-time AFL All-Star for them and the Oakland Raiders, named to the AFL's All-Time Team.

April 6: Dollard St. Laurent, 85, defenseman won the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1958, '59 and '60, and with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1961, making 4 straight Cups, but with 2 different teams.

April 10: Jim Mutscheller, 85, one of the 1st true tight ends, All-Pro helped the Baltimore Colts win the 1958 and '59 NFL Championships.

April 10: Lauren Hill, 19, Mount St. Joseph University basketball player was stricken with brain cancer, became an advocate for research before her death.

April 16: Lee Remmel, 90, saw every game the Green Bay Packers played for 62 years, first as a sportswriter, then as the team's official historian, was elected to their Hall of Fame. One of the few journalists to have covered each of the 1st 49 Super Bowls.

April 17: Jaroslav Holík, 72, hockey player won World Championship with Czechoslovakia in 1972, father of Devils star Bobby Holík.

April 20: Bob St. Clair, 84, Hall of Fame offensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1950s, they retired his Number 70.

April 25: Jim Fanning, 87, 1st general manager of the Montreal Expos in 1969, managed them to NL East title in 1981, the only one the now-Washington Nationals won in Montreal. (MLB officially counts strike-shortened 1981, but not strike-ended 1994.)

April 26: Bill Valentine, 82, former AL umpire, 1st ump to throw Mantle out of a game (in 1954 for arguing a called 3rd strike), umpired the 1965 All-Star Game, was behind the plate for Satchel Paige's last game when he became MLB's oldest player (59) in 1965, and for Tony Conigliaro's beaning in 1967.

April 26: Marcel Pronovost, 84, Hall of Fame defenseman won the Stanley Cup with the 1952, '54 and '55 Detroit Red Wings and the 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs, won 3 more Cup rings as a scout for the Devils.

May 12: Bill Guthridge, 77, longtime assistant to Dean Smith at North Carolina, succeeded him as head coach, led them to the Final Four in 1998 and 2000.

May 14: Earl Averill Jr., 83, catcher, son of a Hall-of-Famer, an original 1961 Angel, in 1962 tied a MLB record by reaching base in 17 straight plate appearances.

May 15: Garo Yepremian, 70, Cyprus native kicked the winning field goal in the longest game in NFL history, putting the Miami Dolphins over the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day 1971. Helped Dolphins win 1972 and '73 NFL Championships, but nearly ruined their undefeated season with a botched field goal attempt late in Super Bowl VII.

May 21: Fred Gladding, 78, notoriously poor hitter even by pitchers' standards (1-for-63, or .016), but is Tigers' all-time winning percentage leader, led NL in saves in 1969 with Houston Astros, mentioned in Jim Bouton's Ball Four.

May 22: Marques Haynes, 89, Hall of Fame basketball player for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1947 to 1953 and again from 1972 to 1979, ran his own team, the Harlem Wizards.

May 26: Walter Byers, 83, executive director of the NCAA from 1951 to 1988.

May 30: Lennie Merullo, 98, shortstop was the last surviving player from the Cubs' last World Series appearance in 1945.

June 3: Clarence "Bevo" Francis, 82, in 1954 played for Rio Grand College, an NAIA school, and scored 113 points, a single-game record that stood for 58 years, was drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors, but chose to get a real job, which, in those days, may have paid more.

June 14: José Ely de Miranda, a.k.a. Zito, 82, midfielder starred for Santos, winning the Copa Libertadores alongside Pelé in 1962 and '63, and the 1958 and '62 World Cups with Brazil (also alongside Pelé). With his death, Pelé and Mario Zagallo are the last living members of the '58 World Cup winners.

June 17: Nelson Doubleday Jr., 81, descendant of Army General (but not inventor of baseball) Abner Doubleday, head of Doubleday publishing house, co-owner of Mets from 1980 to 2002, including the 1986 World Championship, the 1988 NL East title, the 1999 Wild Card berth and the 2000 Pennant.

June 17: John David Crow, 79, running back for Texas A&M was the only Heisman Trophy winner coached by Bear Bryant (he had none at Alabama), All-Pro for the Chicago and St. Louis Cardinals (was with them when they moved in 1960), coached under Bryant at Alabama, later returned to A&M as athletic director, restoring their scandal-ridden program to respectability.

June 21: Darryl Hamilton, 50, good-hitting outfielder whose career including the Mets' 2000 Pennant, killed in a murder-suicide.

June 22: Dick Stanfel, 87, guard won 1952 and '53 NFL Championships with the Detroit Lions.

June 23: Harvey Pollack, 93, played basketball in Philadelphia for Simon Gratz High School and Temple University, statistician for the Philadelphia Warriors from 1946 to 1962 and the Philadelphia 76ers from 1963 until his death, making him the last remaining active original NBA employee, was the official scorer for Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962 and handed him the piece of paper with "100" written on it in the famous postgame photo, coined the term "triple-double."

June 27: Kal Segrist, 84, infielder had brief appearance with Yankees in 1952, Texas Tech's longest-serving head baseball coach.

June 28: Wally Stanowski, 96, All-Star defenseman for the Toronto Maple Leafs, won Stanley Cups in 1942, '45, '47 and '48.

July 2: Charlie Sanders, 68, All-Pro tight end for the Detroit Lions, they retired his Number 88.

July 8: Ken Stabler, 69, quarterback of the 1976 NFL Champion Oakland Raiders, the 1st lefthanded quarterback ever to win an NFL title (in Super Bowl XI), probably the greatest lefty QB until Steve Young came along.

July 12: Mahlon Duckett, 92, 2nd baseman was the last surviving member of the Negro Leagues' Philadelphia Stars, winning a Pennant in 1934.

July 12: Buddy Lively, 90, pitcher for Cincinnati Reds, one of the last 100 MLB & WWII vets.

July 17: Bill Arnsparger, 88, defensive coordinator under Don Shula on the 1968 NFL Champion Baltimore Colts and the 1972 and '73 NFL Champion Miami Dolphins, head coach for the NFL Giants 1974 to 1976, head coach at Louisiana State, defensive coordinator for 1994 AFC Champion San Diego Chargers.

July 19: Rinaldo "Rugger" Ardizoia, 95, pitched in 1 MLB game, for the 1947 Yankees, was the last surviving member of the Pacific Coast League's Mission Reds.

July 26: Leo Reise Jr., 93, son of an original 1926-27 New York Ranger, his making the Detroit Rangers in 1945 made them the 1st father & son to both play regular-season games in the NHL, played in 4 NHL All-Star Games, won Stanley Cups with Wings in 1950 and '52, traded to Rangers, making the Leo Reises the 1st father & son to both play regular-season games with the Rangers. (Lester Patrick's emergency goaltending appearance in the 1928 Stanley Cup Finals and his sons Lynn and Murray playing later allowed them to precede the Reises on both counts.)

July 31: Billy Pierce, 88, 7-time All-Star pitcher, member of the 1959 Pennant-winning "Go-Go White Sox" and the 1962 Pennant-winning Giants. Number 19 retired by the White Sox.

August 1: Enrique "Hank" Izquierdo, 84, part of the Cuban pipeline for the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise, played for their close-call team of 1967, later a longtime minor-league manager and scout. Ironically, considering his name means "left," he was a catcher, and there have been very few lefthanded catchers.

August 2: Jack Spring, 82, pitcher was another original 1961 Angel.

August 3: Mel Farr, 60, Pro Bowl running back for the Detroit Lions, along with teammate Lem Barney sang backing vocals on Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." Brother Miller and sons Mel Jr. and Mike also played in the NFL.

August 9: Frank Gifford, 84, running back was the 1st great tailback in the University of Southern California tradition, then starred with the Giants, including their 1956 NFL Championship, later became the 1st man elected to a sport's Hall of Fame as both a player and a broadcaster. I recently found out that Len Dawson of the Kansas City Chiefs was the 2nd -- and each wore Number 16 for his team, and had it retired by them.

August 15: Bud Thomas, 86, shortstop played 14 games for the 1951 St. Louis Browns, 1 of the last 20 surviving players for that team (1902-53).

August 22: Lou Tsioropoulos, 84, member of the University of Kentucky basketball team that won the 1951 National Championship, Number 16 retired, won 1957 and '59 NBA Championships with the Boston Celtics.

August 24: Cumming "Cummy" Burton, 79, right wing for the Detroit Red Wings in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a cousin of 1930s star Larry Aurie and thus was allowed to be the only player in team history other than Aurie to wear Number 6, later a sportscaster.

August 24: Ronald "Chico" Maki, 76, right wing played for Stanley Cup-winning Blackhawks in 1961.

August 27: Darryl Dawkins, 58, thunderous dunking center for the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets, reached the NBA Finals with the Sixers in 1977.

August 28: Al Arbour, 82, defenseman won Stanley Cups with the Red Wings in 1954, the Blackhawks in 1961, and the Maple Leafs in 1962, coached the Islanders to their 4 straight Cups from 1980 to 1983, coached and won more games than anyone in NHL history except Scotty Bowman (who coached him on the St. Louis Blues' Cup Finalists of 1968, '69 and '70), his 1,500 games led to a banner with 1500 standing in for a retired number banner for the Isles, Hall of Fame.

September 5: Gene Elston, 93, Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Houston Astros.

September 6: Barney Schultz, 89, knuckleballing reliever, helped Cardinals win 1964 World Series, despite giving up a walkoff homer to Mantle in Game 3.

September 8: Joaquín Andújar, 62, pitcher won 1980 NL West title with Houston Astros and 1982 World Series with Cardinals, but best known for his epic meltdown in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series.

September 8: Tyler Sash, 27, safety was a member of the Giants' 2011 NFL Champions, winning Super Bowl XLVI, but left the NFL due to substance abuse issues and died from an accidental mixing of prescription drugs.

September 12: Alex Monchak, 98, played 19 games at shortstop for the 1940 Philllies, one of the last 100 MLB & WWII vets, coached under Chuck Tanner in Chicago, Oakland, Pittsburgh and Atlanta, including with the 1979 World Champion Pirates.

September 12: Ron Springett, 80, goalkeeper for Yorkshire club Sheffield Wednesday, was England's starting goalie in the 1962 World Cup, also selected for '66 and won a winner's medal but didn't play.

September 13: Moses Malone, 60, Hall of Fame center led the Houston Rockets to the 1981 NBA Western Conference Championship and the 76ers to the 1983 NBA Championship, Number 24 retired by the Rockets, Number 2 retired by the Sixers.

September 16: Bob Cleary, 59, member of the U.S. Olympic hockey team that won the Gold Medal on home ice, beating the Soviet Union along the way -- in 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, not in 1980 in Lake Placid, New York.

September 17: Milo Hamilton, 88, Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves, where he called Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th career home run, and also for Astros.

September 19: Todd Ewen, 49, right wing won Stanley Cup with 1993 Montreal Canadiens, later made well-regarded coaching videos, committed suicide after years of battling depression.

September 22: Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra, 90, the only veteran of both MLB and D-Day, 3-time AL MVP, the only 10-time World Series winner, the greatest catcher who ever lived, the only man to manage both the Yankees and the Mets to Pennants (in 1964 and 1973, respectively), Number 8 retired by the Yankees, All-Century Team, quote machine and all-around wonderful guy. His legend ain't over even now that it's over.

September 28: Carlos Diaz, 57, reliever pitched with the Mets in 1982 and '83.

October 2: Harold Schacker, 90, pitcher was the oldest living Jewish former MLB player, 1 of the last 100 MLB/WWII vets, and 1 of the last 13 living Boston Braves (1871-1952).

October 4: Neal Walk, 67, the player the Phoenix Suns chose when they lost the coin flip for the right to select Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in the 1969 NBA Draft, also an original member of the 1974-75 New Orleans Jazz, Number 41 retired by the University of Florida.

October 7: Harry Gallatin, 88, 7-time NBA All-Star, reached 1951, '52 and '53 NBA Finals with the Knicks, later played on the Pistons' 1st team in Detroit in 1957-58 and coached the Knicks in 1965-66.

October 8: Lindy Infante, 75, among the coaches fired after the Giants lost the "Miracle at the Meadowlands" game in 1978, but was offensive coordinator for 1981 AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals and for 1986 and '87 Cleveland Browns teams that nearly reached Super Bowls, later head coach of Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts.

October 9: Dave Meyers, 62, forward won National Championships at UCLA in 1973 and '75, named Most Outstanding Player of 1975 NCAA Tournament, played with Milwaukee Bucks, sister Ann Meyers was also a UCLA basketball star.

October 10: Garry Hancock, 61, outfielder was one of the backups who had to fill in for the injury-plagued 1978 Red Sox as they failed to hold off the Yankees, whose reserves kept them in the AL East race.

October 11: Dean Chance, 74, 1964 Cy Young Award winner with Angels, pitched 1967 finale for Twins against Red Sox, took lead into 6th inning but was beaten.

October 15: Neil Sheridan, 93, appeared as a pinch-hitter in 1 game and a pinch-runner in another for the 1948 Red Sox, 1 of the last 100 MLB/WWII vets.

October 17: Howard Kendall, 69, midfielder on Liverpool-based Everton's 1970 Football League Champions, managed them to the League title in 1985 and 1987, the FA Cup in 1984, and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1985.

October 19: Fleming Mackell, 86, center won the Stanley Cup with the 1951 Maple Leafs, also reached the Finals with the 1957 and '58 Boston Bruins.

October 25: Philip "Flip" Saunders, 60, head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Wizards, and was coach of the T-Wolves again when he died of cancer.

October 29: Luther Burden, 62, guard played for the Knicks from 1976 to 1978.

October 30: Norm Siebern, 82, 3-time All-Star outfielder helped the Yankees win the 1956 and 1958 World Series.

October 30: Mel Daniels, 71, won ABA Championships with the Indiana Pacers in 1970, '72 and '73, closed his career with the 1976-77 New York Nets, later coached the Pacers in 1988.

November 11: Scotty Stirling, 86, GM for the Raiders in their AFL days and the ABA's Oakland Oaks, also an executive in the NBA with the Knicks, the Golden State Warriors, and for 27 years with the Sacramento Kings, later claimed to be the inventor of fantasy football, saying he regretted not copyrighting the idea.

November 12: Márton Fülöp, 32, Hungarian goalkeeper for several English teams, including Tottenham, had to retire due to cancer.

November 16: Bert Olmstead, 89, left wing won Stanley Cups with the Canadiens in 1953, '56, '57 and '58, and with the Maple Leafs in 1962.

November 21: Ken Johnson, 82, pitched no-hitter but lost game for 1964 Houston Colt .45's (Astros).

November 26: Guy Lewis, 93, Hall of Fame basketball coach at the University of Houston, reached the Final Four in 1967 and '68 with Elvin Hayes, and in 1982, '83 and '84 with Hakeem Olauwon and Clyde Drexler, but never won a National Championship.

November 28: Gerry Byrne, 77, left back starred for Liverpool F.C., winning the League title in 1964 and 1966 and the FA Cup in 1965, named to England's team that won the 1966 World Cup but didn't play in the tournament.

December 1: Jim Loscutoff, 85, bruising forward for the Boston Celtics, won NBA Championships in 1957, '59, '60, '61, '62, '63 and '64, wore Number 18 but asked that it not be retired, so is representing on the Celtics' retired number banners by "LOSCY," they later retired 18 for Dave Cowens.

December 8: Gustavo "Gus" Gil, 76, Venezuelan infielder was a member of the ill-fated 1969 Seattle Pilots, as mentioned in Ball Four.

December 10: Dolph Schayes, 87, forward led the Syracuse Nationals to the 1955 NBA Championship, later coached them as they moved to become the Philadelphia 76ers in 1963, elected to the Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, father of All-Star Danny Schayes.

December 11: John Williams, 53, like fellow NBA All-Star Rod Hundley nicknamed "Hot Rod," starred for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

December 13: Phil Pepe, 80, longtime Yankee beat writer for the World-Telegram & Sun and the Daily News. One of the best writers on the subject of baseball, he also published several books.

December 14: Glen Sonmor, 86, left wing played 28 for the Rangers from 1953 to 1955, later coached the Minnesota North Stars to the 1981 Stanley Cup Finals, became a broadcaster for University of Minnesota hockey, awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for service to hockey in America.

December 17: Hal Brown, 91, pitcher was briefly a Yankee in 1962, a member of the Orioles' team Hall of Fame.

December 19: Dickie Moore, 84, Hall of Fame left wing won Stanley Cup with Canadiens in 1953, '56, '57, '58, '59 and '60, set record of 96 points in 1958-59 season (stood for 7 years), Number 12 retired, later ran the construction company that preserved the Montreal Forum and converted it into a shopping mall and movie theater.

December 19: Jimmy Hill, 87, midfielder for London soccer team Fulham, rebuilt Coventry City as manager, worked to abolish English football's maximum wage, longtime media personality in the game.

December 20: George Burpo, 93, briefly pitched for the Reds in 1946, 1 of the last 100 MLB/WWII vets.

December 23: Don Howe, 80, right back for West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal, played for England in the 1958 and '62 World Cups, assistant coach helped Arsenal win the 1971 League and Cup Double, managed West Brom, returned to Arsenal as assistant coach on their 1979 FA Cup winners, managed them 1983 to 1986, assistant coach for England at World Cup in 1986, '90 and '98.

December 26: Jim O'Toole, 78, pitched for Reds' Pennant winners in 1961, member of their team Hall of Fame, ended his career after being cut by Pilots in 1969, as stated in Ball Four.

December 27: Dave Henderson, 57, All-Star outfielder, his home run powered the Red Sox to victory in the classic Game 5 of the 1986 AL Championship Series against the Angels, his home run put the Sox ahead in the 10th inning of Game 6 of the World Series, nearly making him the greatest hero in Red Sox history, but then... Helped A's win 3 Pennants and the 1989 World Series.

December 27: George "Meadowlark" Lemon, 83, perhaps the most famous of all the Harlem Globetrotters, played for them from 1955 to 1980, formed his own team, Meadowlark Lemon's Bucketeers, became an ordained minister, Hall of Fame.

December 29: Frank Malzone, 85, 6-time All-Star and 3-time Gold Glove 3rd baseman for the Red Sox in the 1950s and '60s. He was in the press room at Fenway Park when Bucky Dent hit that home run, and Phil Rizzuto told Bill White, "I let out three Holy Cows, and I thought Frank Malzone was gonna bite me on the ankle!

Here are the 9 major league sports teams of the New York Tri-State Area, ranked in ascending order of current dysfunction:

And, of course, it would come down to this: In order to make the Playoffs, the Jets have to win against a team coached by their former head coach, Rex Ryan.

Can it get more Jets than that? Only if they lose. But the Bills haven't done so well in the 1st season of their "Rexperiment." We shall see.

Before You Go. Buffalo is located on the Niagara River, between Lakes Erie and Ontario. As a result, it is known for cold weather, and it faced a particularly nasty snowstorm last winter. Orchard Park, the suburb in which the Bills' stadium squats, is right on Lake Erie, and while it's slightly more inland than downtown Buffalo, the wind is actually worse at that spot.

The Buffalo News (I know, not an imaginative name for a newspaper, but it's the only daily the city has left) is predicting temperatures for Sunday afternoon to be in the mid-30s in daylight and the low 20s at night. Bring a winter jacket and gloves. It's snowing in Buffalo as I type this, so the ground could be tricky as well, meaning you may want to wear boots. With the wind Buffalo gets (they're predicting 15 miles per hour at gametime), you might also want to bring earmuffs. Monday is expected to be even colder, so unless you're getting out of the area late Sunday night, take everything I've said in this paragraph very seriously.

Buffalo may be considerably to the west of New York City and New Jersey, and it is, geographically and culturally, more of a Midwestern city than a Northeastern one. But it is still in the Eastern Time Zone, so you won't have to fiddle with your timepieces.

However, since it is on the Canadian border, and there are tourist attractions nearby (including Niagara Falls, which now has legalized gambling as well as its natural wonder, the falls itself), you might want to bring your passport, as they'll send you back over the border without one. Right now, the exchange rate really favors the U.S.: US$1.00 = C$1.38, while C$1.00 = U.S. 72 cents.

Tickets. In spite of its passionate fan base, the Bills averaged only 96 percent of capacity last season -- 70,034 fans out of 73,079 seats. (It was 80,020 until wider seats were installed in 1998.) This is largely due to the Bills not having made the Playoffs in this century. Seriously: Their last Playoff season was 1999, their last Playoff game "The Music City Miracle" defeat to Tennessee in January 2000, their last home Playoff game in January 1997 -- at the end of Bill Clinton's 1st term as President.

No team in the NFL has gone longer without making the Playoffs; in all the big 4 North American sports, the only team that has gone longer is the Winnipeg Jets, who haven't made it since 1996 -- and they had a good excuse, not even existing from 1996 to 2012. (The Toronto Blue Jays hadn't made it since 1993, but did so in 2015; the Kansas City Royals since 1985, but have now won back-to-back Pennants.)

With the Bills still being the sports team in Western New York, tickets may still be hard to come by. Fortunately, they have among the least expensive tickets in the NFL. Seats in the lower level, the 100 sections, are $94 and $83 along the sidelines, and $62 in the end zones. The 200 sections are all sold-out club seats on the sidelines, but the end zone seats are $62. In the upper level, the 300 sections, seats are $83 and $72 along the sidelines, except for $52 seats at the back.

Getting There. It's 375 road miles from Times Square to Niagara Square in downtown Buffalo, and 358 miles from MetLife Stadium to Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park. Buffalo is one of those cities that's too close to fly to, but to far to get there any other way.

You would think, being so close, nonstop flights would be available. But most major airlines make you change planes in out-of-the-way cities like Philadelphia and Charlotte. But it's cheap, at least this weekend: You can get an American Airlines flight for $311 round-trip. You might be able to get a nonstop flight from a smaller airline; but, remember, it's like the difference between the major leagues and the minor leagues. If you do fly in, the Number 24 bus will get you from Buffalo Niagara International Airport, 11 miles northeast of downtown, in about 50 minutes.

Amtrak's Maple Leaf, its New York-to-Toronto service, leaves Penn Station at 7:15 AM, and arrives at Buffalo's Exchange Street Station at 3:14 PM, just under 8 hours later (if it's on time). Its return trip leaves Buffalo at 1:05 PM and arrives at Penn Station at 9:50 PM. However, for tomorrow, it's sold out. There is, however, another Amtrak train, the Empire Service, leaving Penn Station at 10:20 AM and arriving at Exchange Street at 6:24 PM. The Maple Leaf going back on Monday afternoon at 1:05 is still available. It's $187 round-trip. The station is at Exchange & Washington Streets, just 3 blocks north of the arena.

Greyhound runs 12 buses a day from New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal to Buffalo. Getting the 7:00 AM bus will allow you to arrive in Buffalo at 3:45 PM, giving you plenty of time to do something (possibly getting a hotel) before going to the arena. Round-trip fare is $204, but it can drop to $182 with advanced purchase. The terminal is at 181 Ellicott Street at Eagle Street, just 7 blocks north of the arena.

If you do drive, get into New Jersey to Interstate 80, and take it all the way across the State. Shortly after crossing the Delaware River and entering Pennsylvania, take I-380, following the signs for Scranton, until reaching I-81. (If you’ve driven to a game of the Yankees’ Triple-A farm team, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, you already know this part.) Take I-81 north into New York State. (If you’ve driven to a game of the Mets’ Double-A farm team, the Binghamton Mets, you already know this part.) Continue on I-81 past Binghamton and to Syracuse, where you’ll get on the New York State Thruway, which, at this point, is I-90. Continue on the Thruway west, past Rochester, to Buffalo.

Once in the area, take I-90 to U.S. Route 219/Southern Expressway South, to State Route 179/Milestrip Road West, to Abbott Road South. Once you cross over U.S. Route 20, the stadium will be on your left.

With 2 rest stops -- I recommend on one side of the Delaware or the other, and another around Syracuse -- you should be able to make the trip in about 7 hours.

Okay, so the Jets weren't supposed to win 10 games this season, and weren't supposed to go into the last game of the regular season with a win-and-you're-in chance for the Playoffs.

But once they did so go in, they should have made the most of that chance.

Instead, Same Old Jets. So they don't add to this list.

Note: This includes Playoffs to get into the Playoffs, and finishing first in single-division leagues that didn't have Playoffs.

Note also that this is somewhat misleading, since it's a lot easier to make the Playoffs in the NBA and the NHL -- especially in the NHL prior to 1979.

1. New York Rangers, 55 since their founding in 1926: 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1948, 1950, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. But only 4 Stanley Cups.

2. New York Yankees, 53 since their founding in 1903: 1921, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015. 27 World Series wins.

3. New York Knicks, 42 since their founding in 1946: 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2011, 2012, 2013. But only 2 NBA Championships.

4. New York Giants (football), 32 since their founding in 1925: 1927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1950, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011. 8 NFL Championships, including 4 Super Bowl wins.

5. New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets, 26 since their founding in 1967: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2014, 2015. But just 2 Championships, both in the ABA.

6. New York Islanders, 23 since their founding in 1972: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015. 4 Stanley Cups.

- Brooklyn Dodgers, 15 in their existence from 1883 to 1957: 1889, 1890, 1899, 1900, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956. Technically, 4 World Championships, but only 1 World Series win.

8. New York Jets, 14 since their founding in 1960: 1968, 1969, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010. Only 1 Super Bowl win.

9. New York Mets, 8 since their founding in 1962: 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2015. Only 2 World Series wins.

*

In my lifetime, December 1969 onward:

1. Rangers, 33: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. But just 1 Stanley Cup.

2. Knicks, 32: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2011, 2012, 2013. Just 2 NBA Championships.
4. Yankees, 24: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015. 7 World Series wins.

5. Islanders, 23: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015. 4 Stanley Cups.

6. Devils, 21 (remember, they didn't arrive until 1982): 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012. 3 Stanley Cups.
7. Giants, 15: 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011. 4 Super Bowl wins.

8. Jets, 13: 1969, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010. No Super Bowl wins. (They won Super Bowl III on January 12, 1969, making them World Champions for the 1968 season.)

9. Mets, 7: 1973, 1986, 1988, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2015. Just 1 World Series win.

*

Since October 2000:

1. Yankees, 12: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015. 1 World Series win.
6. Jets, 6: 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010. 2 trips to the AFC Championship Game, but no Super Bowl apperances.

7. Islanders, 6: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015. Haven't even made the Eastern Conference Finals.
9. Mets, 2: 2006, 2015. Just 1 Pennant, no World Series wins.

*

Last Playoff appearances:

1. Mets, November 2015. Just happened.

2. Yankees, October 2015. Just happened.

3. Rangers, May 2015. Last season.

4. Islanders, April 2015. Last season.

5. Nets, April 2015. Last season.

6. Knicks, April 2013. 3 seasons ago.

7. Devils, June 2012. 4 seasons ago.

8. Giants, February 2012. 4 seasons ago.

9. Jets, January 2011. 5 seasons ago.

This coming Wednesday night, the New York Knicks travel to Miami to take on the Heat. The Brooklyn Nets, who went down there on December 28 and won, go back on March 28.

This post should have been up before either team visited this season, but, due to circumstances beyond my control, it had to wait until now.
Before You Go. Miami is in Florida. It's frequently hot, even during the winter season. And it's frequently rainy. The game will be indoors, but you will be outdoors at several points in your trip. So dress lightly, wear a hat, keep hydrated, and you should probably bring an umbrella.

The Miami Herald website, showing a lack of proofreading, is predicting the following for Wednesday: "Rain likely. High 72F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfaill near half an inch." You read that right: Rain is both "likely" and with a "100 percent" chance. Plus wind. It's going to be lousy weather. At least it won't be cold.

Florida is a former Confederate State, and parts of Miami sure seem like a foreign country. But you won't need to bring your passport or change your money. And it's in the Eastern Time Zone, so you won't have to fool with your timepieces.

Tickets. The Heat averaged 19,712 fans per home game last season, a sellout. LeBron James is gone, but Dwyane Wade (when you've won 3 NBA Titles, you can spell "Dwayne" any way you want) is still there. Throw in the 1990s Knicks-Heat rivalry, and getting tickets may be hard. Although it might be easier for a Nets-Heat game down here.

Dolphins tickets are freakin' expensive. In the Lower Level, the 100 sections, seats go for $325 on the sidelines and $295 in the end zone. In the Upper Level, the 300 sections, they're $165 on the sidelines and $150 in the end zone. The 200 sections are Club Level, and, truly, prohibitively expensive, so don't even consider them.

Tickets in the 100 Level can be purchased for as low as $140. In the 300 Level, as low as $65. In the 400 Level, as low as $20. In each case, though, be prepared to pay a bit more.

Getting There. It’s 1,283 miles from Times Square in New York to downtown Miami. Knowing this distance, your first reaction is going to be to fly down there. This is not a horrible idea, but you’ll still have to get from the airport to wherever your hotel is. If you’re trying to get from the airport to downtown, you’ll need to change buses – or change from a bus to Miami’s Tri-Rail rapid transit service. And it is possible, if you order quickly, to find nonstop flights, lasting 3 hours, for under $500 round-trip.

The train is not a very good idea, because you’ll have to leave Penn Station on Amtrak’s Silver Star at 11:02 AM and arrive in Miami at 5:58 the next day’s evening, a 31-hour ride. The return trip will leave at 8:10 AM and return to New York at 11:00 AM, “only” 27 hours – no, there’s no time-zone change involved. Round-trip, it’ll cost $386. And the station isn’t all that close, at 8303 NW 37th Avenue. Fortunately, there’s a Tri-Rail station there that will take you downtown.

How about Greyhound? There are 5 buses leaving Port Authority every day with connections to Miami, only one of them nonstop, the 10:45 PM to 7:30 AM (2 days later) version. The rest require you to change buses in Richmond and Orlando. (This is not fun, but, since New York to Miami should be straight down and back up I-95, it's also pointless. Resting the passengers, changing the driver and refueling the bus all make sense; making passengers change buses, twice, doesn't.)

The ride, including the changeovers, takes about 33 hours. Round-trip fare is $438, but it can be cut by more than half to $198 with advanced purchase. The station is at 4111 NW 27th Street and, ironically, is right across 42nd Avenue from the airport. It’s worth the fact that it’ll cost twice as much to simply fly down. Plus, going from New York to Miami on Greyhound, you might be reminded of the end of the movie Midnight Cowboy, and nobody wants to be reminded of that.

If you want to drive, it'll help to get someone to go down with you, and take turns driving. You’ll be going down Interstate 95 (or its New Jersey equivalent, the Turnpike) almost the whole way. It’ll be about 2 hours from the Lincoln Tunnel to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, 20 minutes in Delaware, and an hour and a half in Maryland, before crossing the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, at the southern tip of the District of Columbia, into Virginia. Then it will be 3 hours or so in Virginia, another 3 hours in North Carolina, about 3 hours and 15 minutes in South Carolina, a little under 2 hours in Georgia, and about 6 hours and 15 minutes in Florida before you reach downtown Miami – maybe a little under 6 hours if you get a hotel near the stadium.

Given rest stops, preferably in one in each State from Maryland to Georgia and 2 in Florida, you’re talking about a 28-hour trip.

Once In the City. A lot of people don't realize it, because Miami is Florida's most famous city, but the most populous city in the State is Jacksonville.  However, while Miami has about 425,000 people within the city limits, there are 6.5 million living in the metro area, making it far and away the largest in the South, not counting Texas.

Because Florida is so hot, and air-conditioning didn't become common until the mid-20th Century, Miami was founded rather late by the standards of the East coast, in 1825, and wasn't incorporated as a city until 1896. The name is derived from the Mayaimi tribe of Native Americans. Miami Avenue is the east-west divider, Flagler Street the north-south.

The Herald is the only major newspaper left in the city, but the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale should also be available. And, considering how many ex-New Yorkers are around, you might also be able to get the Times, the Daily News, or, if you're really desperate (or really conservative), the Post.

The sales tax in Florida is 6 percent, but it's 7 percent within Miami-Dade County. Since 1984, Miami has had a rapid-transit rail service, Metrorail, and a downtown-only smaller service, Metromover. Both above-ground, sort of like Chicago's El and the Detroit People Mover, if they were in the same city. The fare for the Metrorail and the Metrobus is $2.25.

Going In. The American Airlines Arena opened on Millennium Eve, December 31, 1999, with a concert by hometown heroes Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine. Two days later, on January 2, 2000, the Heat played their 1st game there, beating their geographic rivals, the Orlando Magic.

The arena -- sometimes called the Triple-A or the A3 -- is located downtown at 601 Biscayne Blvd. (U.S. Routes 1 & 41), between NE 6th and 8th Streets. It's across Port Blvd. from the Bayside Marketplace shopping center (not exactly their version of the South Street Seaport) and the Miami outlets of Hooters, the Hard Rock Café and Bubba Gump Shrimp. It can be reached via the Freedom Tower station on Metromover. If you're driving in, parking can be had for as low as $9.00.

Since moving in, the Heat have won the NBA Championship in 2006, 2012 and 2013, and also reached the NBA finals in 2011 and 2014. The '06 and '11 Finals were confusing because they played the Dallas Mavericks, whose arena is named the American Airlines Center.

Since the arena is essentially on a pier on Biscayne Bay, you will almost certainly be entering from the west, along Biscayne Blvd. The court is laid out east-to-west.
The NHL's Florida Panthers, who formerly shared the Miami Arena with the Heat, could have waited to move in, but instead play their home games closer to Fort Lauderdale, and have never played at the A3. Nor have NCAA Tournament games ever been played there. (Indeed, despite Miami's decent history of high school and pro basketball, their college hoop history is weak, and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg is the only Florida building ever to host a Final Four.) The building opened with that Gloria Estefan concert, and continues to host concerts, including one by Janet Jackson this past September.

Food. With a great Hispanic, and especially Cuban, heritage, and with all those ex-New Yorkers and ex-New Jerseyans who know their basketball and their food, you would expect the basketball team in Miami to have great food at their arena. Here's a guide from the arena website:

They have separate banners for their NBA titles and Conference titles, but 1 banner for every 4 Division titles.
The Heat are unique in major league sports in 2 ways regarding retired numbers. One is that they've retired a number for a player who not only never played for the team, but, unlike the New Orleans Pelicans (7 for the Jazz' Pete Maravich), never even played in the city. They've retired Number 23 for Michael Jordan. Another is that they've retired a number for an athlete who played in the city, but not in that sport: 13 for the Dolphins' Dan Marino.

The 2 retired numbers of players who actually played for the Heat are 10 for guard Tim Hardaway and 33 for center Alonzo Mourning. Hardaway played for the Heat teams of the 1990s, while Mourning not only played for them then, but returned in time for their 2006 title.

Mourning and guard Gary Payton, who was only with the team for 2 seasons but 1 was the 2006 title season, are the only Hall-of-Famers who have played for the Heat. Shaquille O'Neal, who also played on the 2006 team, has not yet been elected, but he almost certainly will be, and his Number 32 is not currently being worn, so it might be retired. Presumably, Wade's Number 3 and LeBron James' Number 6, which is not currently being worn, will be retired after they hang up their sneakers.

In another unique distinction in the NBA, the Heat hang banners for their Olympic Gold Medalists: Hardaway, Mourning, Wade, James.
O'Neal was named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, but that was before he ever won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers, let along started playing for the Heat. No other Heat player was so honored.

Stuff. The Miami HEAT Store (apparently, the ALL CAPS is official) is located on the ground floor of the west end of the arena, along Biscayne Blvd.

Tom Coughlin resigned as head coach of the New York Giants today, at the conclusion of a 2nd straight 6-10 season, and a 4th straight season missing the NFL Playoffs. It's for the best, and probably a year or two too late.

But he's a Hall of Fame-worthy coach, and a good man -- in spite of being a Red Sox fan.

Where does he rank in the pantheon of New York Tri-State Area head coaches? I first did this list on October 8, 2010, now over 5 years ago -- and Coughlin has added a Super Bowl win since.

Top 10 Best Managers & Coaches In New York History

Eligibility: Has to be with a major league team. If I go to colleges, that means I have to go out to the suburbs and consider Rutgers, Princeton and Army... and they really don't feel like "New York teams." So, sorry to legendary basketball coaches Clair Bee of Long Island University, Nat Holman of City College of New York, Howard Cann of New York University, and St. John's University coaches Joe Lapchick, Frank McGuire and Lou Carnesecca. And I won't even consider a manager/head coach unless he won at least one World Championship in his sport.

Honorable Mention to those New York Tri-State Area head coaches who didn't make this list despite winning World Championships:

* Miller Huggins, Yankees, 1923, '27 and '28.
* Bucky Harris, Yankees, 1947.
* Ralph Houk, Yankees, 1961 and '62.
* Joe Girardi, Yankees, 2009. (He still has a chance at another.)
* Davey Johnson, Mets, 1986.
* Earl Potteiger, football Giants, 1927.
* Steve Owen, football Giants, 1934 and '38.
* Jim Lee Howell, football Giants, 1956.
* Frank Boucher, Rangers, 1940.
* Mike Keenan, Rangers, 1994.
* Jacques Lemaire, Devils, 1995.
* Larry Robinson, Devils, 2000.
* Pat Burns, Devils, 2003.

Dishonorable Mention to Leo Durocher, Dodgers 1938-48 and Giants 1948-56. True, he led 2 New York baseball teams to Pennants (the 1941 Dodgers and the 1951 and '54 Giants) -- something only Yogi Berra has also done (the 1964 Yankees and the 1973 Mets) -- and helped the restore the Dodgers from a joke franchise into a powerhouse.

But that was much more due to the maneuverings of executives Larry MacPhail and Branch Rickey. And we now know that Durocher cheated to get the Giants the '51 Pennant. To say nothing of how he turned coat from Dodgers to Giants. One does not simply do that. Besides, there was only room for one libertine New York baseball manager on this list.

Dishonorable Mention also to Billy Martin, Yankees 1975-88 (on and off). He was an alcoholic, a womanizer, a free-spender, an umpire-baiter, a lunatic and a paranoiac -- everything Leo the Lip was. But Billy the Brat had less to work with. True, he had Reggie Jackson -- against his will -- but he never had a Willie Mays.

And he still led the Yankees to the 1976 Pennant and the 1977 World Championship. With 1 more good starter, who knows, he might've gotten the Yankees at least the Division Title in 1985.

The relationship between Billy and Yankee owner George Steinbrenner has been likened to that between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton: They couldn't live with each other, but neither could they live without each other. Who knows what Billy could have done if George had simply let him manage.

10. Gil Hodges, Mets 1968-71. He only managed 4 seasons, and only once in his career (including his earlier managing job with the Washington Senators) did he ever win more than 83 games in a season. But that was in 1969. A "miracle"? Not with Gil Hodges around. It shouldn't shock anyone that the even-tempered Hodges outmanaged the hotheaded Earl Weaver in the 1969 World Series.

Gil died of a heart attack, on the eve of his 48th birthday, and on the eve of the 1972 season. I wonder how Met history might have been changed had he simply still been alive on June 15, 1977 (he would've been just 53), and had been able to protect Tom Seaver from M. Donald Grant. Maybe it wouldn't have made a difference, because, once Mrs. Payson was no longer around to protect anyone, Grant probably would've fired Gil anyway. Face it, if he could trade Seaver...

9. Tom Coughlin, Giants 2004-16. (Well, the 2004 season to the 2015 season.) Throw in being the inaugural head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars from 1995 to 2002, and he's had just 2 NFL jobs in 21 season -- an astounding run in today's sports.

An assistant to Bill Parcells (who is on this list) on the Super Bowl XXV winners, he had also been head coach at Boston College, including the occasional home game at the old Foxboro Stadium. And then he goes and upsets the Foxboro-based New England Patriots in 2 Super Bowls. A quarterback at Syracuse University, and a quarterbacks coach at Syracuse and BC, he helped make a Heisman Trophy winner out of Doug Flutie, a pro quarterback out of Glenn Foley, one of the best passers of the 1990s out of Mark Brunell, and the most successful (if not, yet, the greatest) quarterback in New York history out of Eli Manning.

Did I mention the 2 Super Bowl wins? Let's put that in perspective: Only Owen (1934 and '38), Parcells (1986 and '90) and Coughlin (2007 and '11) have coached New York teams to 2 NFL Championships. (Weeb Ewbank won 3 World Championships in pro football, but 2 were in Baltimore.) And while Owen beat the '34 Chicago Bears and the '38 Green Bay Packers, and Parcells beat the '86 Denver Broncos and '90 Buffalo Bills -- in each case, no mean feat -- Coughlin had to beat the Patriots, who were much more favored than the teams that Stout Steve and the Big Tuna beat.

Coughlin's record as an NFL head coach is 170-150. 102-90 of that is with the Giants. The 68-60 with the Jags is a little misleading, as he coached them as an expansion team, but look at his 1st 2 seasons: 4-12, then 9-7 and upsets away to Buffalo and Denver to reach the AFC Championship Game. He's 12-7 in the postseason, including 8-3 with the Giants. 5 Division titles, 4 Conference Championship Game appearances, 2 NFC Championships, 2 World Championships. He belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Coughlin is the greatest coach in Giants history. But he is not the greatest coach in New York football history. More about that later.

8. Joe McCarthy, Yankees 1931-46. They called him "a push-button manager," and the fact that he inherited Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez prevents him from rising higher on this list.

Then again, Marse Joe always knew which buttons to push. The Yankees won the Pennant under his leadership in 1932, '36, '37, '38, '39, '41, '42 and '43, winning the World Series in all but '42. Seven World Series: No manager has ever won more. In postseason play, his teams were a whopping 29-10, including sweeps in '32, '38 and '39.

7. Joe Torre, Yankees 1996-2007. Another "push-button manager"? Unlike pre-1969 managers, Joe had to through not just 1 round of postseason play, but 2; and unlike 1969-93 managers, he had to go through not just 2 rounds, but 3. He won 17 postseason series, more than any manager ever. (Bobby Cox? 12.) He was 17-8 in postseason series and 76-47 in postseason games. He won 6 Pennants and 4 World Championships.

And he raised the Yankee legacy higher than anyone had before. Sure, some of his moves (particularly with pitchers) seemed baffling, especially later on in his career. But "Clueless Joe"? As Joe McCarthy would have said, "My God, man, you were never that!"

6. Lester Patrick, Rangers 1926-39. The Rangers' head coach for their 1st 2 Stanley Cups (1928 and '33) and general manager for their first 3 (add 1940), he built the team that boxing promoter and Madison Square Garden big kahuna George "Tex" Rickard founded. (Again, "Tex's Rangers.") The Silver Fox had already been a sensational player, as had his brother Frank Patrick, but both men -- sometimes together, sometimes not -- made their biggest marks in suits rather than sweaters.

His greatest achievement came in Game 2 of the 1928 Stanley Cup Finals, when Lester, at age 44, had to substitute for his injured goalie Lorne Chabot. He volunteered, having played the position only once in his life, and not having played at all in 12 years (he had been a defenseman), and he allowed just 1 goal as the Rangers beat the Montreal Maroons in overtime and went on to win their 1st Cup.

He stepped aside for his former best player, Frank Boucher, and watched as Boucher led them to the '40 Cup. Put it this way: The Rangers didn't win a Cup without either Patrick or Boucher being involved until the franchise was 68 years old. But as glorious as Patrick's career was, he wasn't the best hockey coach in Tri-State Area history. That would be...

5. Al Arbour, Islanders 1973-94. Arbour, who had been a pretty good player as well, took a 2nd-year expansion team, got it to the Stanley Cup Semifinals in only their 3rd season (beating the Rangers in the process), and built a force that dominated the division then named for Patrick from 1978 to 1984, eventually reaching 5 straight Cup Finals and winning 4 straight Cups -- in each case, still a unique achievement for an American hockey team. From April 1980 to May 1984, he won 19 straight postseason series -- a record for any coach, and for any team, in any sport, anywhere in North America.

He stepped aside after the 1986 season, but came back 2 years later, and in 1993 got them back to the Conference Finals. Under Arbour as head coach, the Isles have won 31 postseason series; with all others, they've won 1.

Having coached 1,499 NHL games, on November 3, 2007, at the request of Islanders coach Ted Nolan, Arbour returned to coach his 1,500th. At age 75, he became the oldest man ever to coach an NHL game. The Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3–2, giving Arbour his 740th win. The 739-win banner honoring him was brought down from the Nassau Coliseum rafters, and was replaced with one with the number 1500. More even than Denis Potvin, the late Al Arbour was the New York Islanders.

4. Bill Parcells, Giants 1983-90, Jets 1997-99. He didn't just win games, he saved the reputations of franchises. Both the Giants and the Jets were jokes when he stepped in. So were the Patriots when he stepped in there. (1993-96. At the time, that was not the job for a man with a heart condition -- but he hasn't had heart trouble since.)

He got the Giants to win Super Bowls XXI and XXV, stepped aside for health reasons, took the Patriots job, got them into Super Bowl XXXI (but didn't win), and then saved the Jets from the 4-28 Rich Kotite disaster, getting them to the 1998 AFC Championship Game -- and they were leading John Elway and the Broncos at the half at Mile High Stadium. The Broncos' talent won out, but the Tuna had brought Gang Green back from the abyss, as he had with Big Blue.

3. William "Red" Holzman, Knicks, 1967-82. Boston Celtics fans will say that their own Arnold "Red" Auerbach was the coach who invented modern pro basketball, but then, Auerbach was also the general manager who got the players, not just the coach who led them. Not having that kind of control, Red, a student of Clair Bee at LIU, became the model for all NBA coaches who followed him.

Before him, the Knicks had been 0-for-3 in NBA Finals. With him, they won 2 out of 3, beating Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and the Los Angeles Lakers in 1970 and '73, losing to the Lakers in '72. Keep in mind, the Knicks were the last of the "old" New York teams to win a World Championship; even the Mets and Jets, less than 10 years old at the time, had beaten them to it. That's what made 1970 so special. In '73, on the way to the Finals, they became the 1st team ever to beat the Celtics in a Playoff series Game 7 at the Boston Garden.

A very good player in the 1940s and '50s (winning a title with the 1951 Rochester Royals, the team now known as the Sacramento Kings), he understood teamwork like few coaches ever have. He taught it to his players, leading with respect rather than fear like a Vince Lombardi would. He made a work ethic something to embrace rather than something to consider drudgery.

And, still, his teams added sizzle to their steak. The 1970 Knicks, along with the 1955 Dodgers and the 1969 Mets, are probably the 3 most beloved single-year sports teams in the City's history.

2. John McGraw, Giants (baseball) 1902-32. More even than Connie Mack, the Little Napoleon was the defining baseball manager of the 1st 1/3rd of the 20th Century. A star 3rd baseman with the National League version of the Baltimore Orioles in the 1890s, he took his win-at-any-costs attitude to the Polo Grounds, and turned the Giants from the worst team in the majors at that point to the best in just 2 years.

He won Pennants in 1904, '05, '11, '12, '13, '17, '21, '22, '23 and '24. He remains the only NL manager to win 4 straight, and 1 of only 2 to win 3 straight, and he did that twice. He won the World Series in 1905, 1921 and 1922.

Playing on those 1921 and '22 Giants was an outfielder, a decent player, who studied the master well. Eventually, the student became the master of all of baseball.

1. Charles "Casey" Stengel, Dodgers 1934-36, Yankees 1949-60, Mets 1962-65. The Ol' Perfesser didn't do too well managing in Brooklyn. Nor in his next job, with the Boston Braves. He missed a few games after he was hit by a cab, and a Boston sportswriter named the driver as the man who did the most for Boston sports in 1943.

Casey had a young Warren Spahn at the time, and had Spahn at the end of each man's career with the 1965 Mets. Spahn said, "I'm the only man who played for Casey both before and after he was a genius." And no matter what kind of genius he was, he could do nothing with the early Metropolitans, except promote them and make them lovable losers: "Come and see my Amazin' Mets! I been in this game 100 years, but they've shown me ways to lose I never knew existed before!"

But while he brought fans to the Mets, he brought championships to the fans the Yankees already had. They were in a transition when he arrived in 1949, with the stars that McCarthy managed starting to age -- and some of them, such as Joe DiMaggio, Tommy Henrich and Phil Rizzuto, didn't exactly like Casey or his managing style.

But he took control of the transition, and got his own guys in: Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Billy Martin, and, of course, Mickey Mantle. Remembering McGraw's platoon style, lefty hitters against righty pitchers and vice versa, he had guys who were starting half the time and pissed off at him the other half, so they were always trying to prove him wrong by playing great when they did play -- thus proving both sides right.

He managed 12 seasons in The Bronx, winning 10 Pennants to tie McGraw's record (and break Mack's American League record), and won 7 World Series to tie McCarthy's record. He won the World Series in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1953, making the Yankees the only MLB team to win 5 straight. He won the Pennant in 1955, the Series in 1956, the Pennant in 1957, the Series in 1958, and the Pennant in 1960 before being fired, allegedly due to his age (70, although others have managed that long, and well, including Torre.)

When Casey was hired after the 1948 season, a lot of people, remembering him as a player, and as manager of the Dodgers and Braves, called him "a clown." As the late Newark Star-Ledger columnist Jim Ogle, long the director of the Yankees' Old-Timers Day proceedings, said, "Well, the clown did pretty well. He won 10 Pennants in 12 years, and he made the Yankee legend and mystique grow volumes." More than at any other time in their history, under Huggins, under McCarthy, under Houk, under Martin, even under Torre, these were "the lordly Yankees."

Was Casey Stengel the greatest baseball manager ever? The greatest game boss in New York sports history? Yes, and yes. That's my opinion. The facts to support this opinion? As the man himself would say, "You can look it up."