Why would you want to go to Arizona? Well, if you're a Brooklyn Nets fan, they're playing the Phoenix Suns this coming Thursday night. The New York Knicks will visit on March 9.

Before You Go. AZcentral.com, the website for Phoenix's largest newspaper, the Arizona Republic, is predicting low 80s for Thursday afternoon, and mid-50s for the evening. So the legendary Arizona "dry heat" could be an issue. Once you get on the plane, you'll want to ditch your winter coat.

Arizona's infamous Daylight Savings Time issue has been settled, and this isn't the DST time of year anyway. So you'll be on Mountain Standard Time, 2 hours behind New Jersey and New York City. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.

If you're thinking of making a side trip into Mexico, you should know that it's a 4-hour drive at the least. No public transportation. You'll need a passport, and you'll also need Mexican driving insurance, which you might be able to get at the Mexican consulate in New York or Phoenix. In other words, it's not really worth the trip.

Tickets. The Suns are averaging 17,262 fans per home game this season, about 92 percent of capacity. So, despite being Arizona's oldest team (and, if you believe the Diamondbacks' 2001 title was a fluke or a cheat, the State's most successful team), getting tickets will probably not be hard.

Suns tickets are among the cheapest in the NBA. Seats in the lower level, the 100 sections, are $175 between the baskets, and $68 behind them. In the upper level, the 200 sections, seats are $102 between the baskets and $30 behind them.

Getting There. It’s 2,458 miles from Times Square downtown Phoenix. In other words, if you’re going, you’re flying.

You think I’m kidding? Even if you get someone to go with you, and you take turns, one drives while the other one sleeps, and you pack 2 days’ worth of food, and you use the side of the Interstate as a toilet, and you don’t get pulled over for speeding, you’ll still need nearly 2 full days to get there. One way.

But, if you really, really want to... You’ll need to get on the New Jersey Turnpike. Take it to Exit 14, to Interstate 78. Follow I-78 west all the way through New Jersey, to Phillipsburg, and across the Delaware River into Easton, Pennsylvania. Continue west on I-78 until reaching Harrisburg. There, you will merge onto I-81. Take Exit 52 to U.S. Route 11, which will soon take you onto I-76. This is the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the nation’s first superhighway, opening in 1940.

The Turnpike will eventually be a joint run between I-76 and Interstate 70. Once that happens, you’ll stay on I-70, all the way past Pittsburgh, across the little northern panhandle of West Virginia, and then across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, into Missouri.

At St. Louis, take Exit 40C onto Interstate 44 West, which will take you southwest across Missouri into Oklahoma.  Upon reaching Oklahoma City, take Interstate 40 West, through the rest of the State, across the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico, into Arizona.  At Flagstaff, take Interstate 17 South, which will take you into Phoenix.

If you do it right, you should spend about an hour and 15 minutes in New Jersey, 5 hours and 30 minutes in Pennsylvania, 15 minutes in West Virginia, 3 hours and 45 minutes in Ohio, 2 hours and 45 minutes in Indiana, another 2 hours and 45 minutes in Illinois, 5 hours in Missouri, 6 hours in Oklahoma, 3 hours in Texas, 6 hours and 15 minutes in New Mexico, and 5 hours and 30 minutes in Arizona. That’s about 42 hours. Counting rest stops, you're probably talking about 55 hours.

That’s still faster than Greyhound, averaging around 68 hours, including a 1:45 bus-change in Richmond, a 1:15 stopover in Charlotte, an hour's bus-change in Atlanta, an hour's stopover in Birmingham, a 45-minute stopover in Jackson, Mississippi, an hour's stopover in Shreveport, a 1:30 bus-change in Dallas (that's right, changing buses 3 times each way), and a 1:15 stopover in El Paso.

It's $458 round-trip ($398 with advanced purchase), and to get to Phoenix by Saturday morning, you'll have to leave today, by 5:15 PM. The station is at 2115 East Buckeye Road, adjacent to Sky Harbor International Airport. Number 13 bus to downtown. 

The way Amtrak has it set up now, it's so convoluted that I can't even recommend looking it up.

Flights to Phoenix are actually among the cheapest to any big-league city. If you order your tickets now, nonstop flights between Newark and Sky Harbor International Airport, out Thursday and arriving hours before tipoff, and leaving Friday, can be had for under $700. The city's light rail system can get you downtown in 36 minutes.

Once In the City. Of the 4 major league sports teams that call Phoenix home, the Suns are the only ones still using the city's name, rather than the State's name -- apparently from a Native American word meaning "small spring" -- as their geographic identifier. Nevertheless, Phoenix is the capital of the State of Arizona.

Jack Swilling, a Confederate veteran who founded the place in 1867, accepted the suggestion of a fellow settler, an Englishman named Lord Duppa: Since it was on the site of a previous Indian civilization, it should be named Phoenix, for the mythical bird that rose from its own ashes. The city was incorporated in 1881, making it the youngest city in American major league sports.

Home to just 100,000 people in 1950, Phoenix saw huge growth in the 2nd half of the 20th Century, thanks in large part to the growth of the air-conditioning industry, which made living in such a terribly hot place tolerable: 440,000 by 1960, 580,000 by 1970, 800,000 by 1980, and it surpassed the 1 million mark in the early 1990s.

All this made it a target for expansion teams or teams looking to move: The Suns arrived in 1968, the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals in 1988 (after the Philadelphia Eagles had to quash a moving-there rumor earlier in the decade), and the original Winnipeg Jets in 1997 (after the WHA had the Phoenix Roadrunners in the 1970s -- they lost the Roadrunners but got the Coyotes). Today, Phoenix is home to 1.5 million people, with 4.4 million in its metropolitan area.

The sales tax in Arizona is 5.6 percent, but it's 8.3 percent within the City of Phoenix. Central Avenue is the source street for east-west house numbers; oddly, the north-south streets are numbered Streets to the east, and numbered Avenues to the west. Washington Street divides addresses into north and south. A single ride on Phoenix buses and Valley Metro Rail is $2.00, with an All-Day Pass a bargain at $4.00. 

Going In. The Talking Stick Resort Arena is named for a luxury hotel & casino on Native American property in nearby Scottsdale. Previously, it was named the US Airways Center, and the AmericaWest Arena for a previous airline. The Suns and the Arena Football League's Arizona Rattlers have played here since it opened in 1992, and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury since their inception in 1997. The NHL's Phoenix Coyotes (as they were then named) played here from 1996 to 2003.

The arena's address is 201 E. Jefferson Street, 2 blocks from Chase Field, home of MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks, at 401 E. Jefferson Street. Both buildings can be reached on Metro Light Rail via the Jefferson Street & 3rd Street station. The Jefferson Street Garage provides parking for both buildings. Parking can be had for as little as $5.00.
If you're entering from the light rail station or the Jefferson Street Garage, you'll most likely be entering from the east or the north. The court is laid out north-to-south. The seats are purple, in line with the Suns' logo, and so the arena is nicknamed the Purple Palace.


Since the Suns' arena is downtown, it gets far more concert dates than the Coyotes' arena. The reason the Coyotes left the downtown arena in the first place is because its retrofit meant losing about 2,000 seats for hockey (some due to removal to fit a rink in, some due to obstructed views -- one of the nets couldn't be seen), resulting in poor revenue.

The Talking Stick Resort Arena is also a regular host for "professional wrestling," and has hosted fights by Hispanic boxers, including Oscar de la Hoya and the final professional fight of Julio Cesar Chavez.

Food. As a Southwestern city, you might expect Phoenix to have Mexican, Spanish, Western and Southwestern food themes. Which is the case. Tortas del Sol is behind Section 112, and Tortas el Ray at 119. 

Levy Restaurants runs the arena's concessions. Links & Lagers specializes in sausages and sausage hoagies, at 106 and 221. ZZ's To Go serves salad, pizza, sandwiches and pasta at 119. Fractured Prune Doughnuts is at 101, but they serve many flavors, not just prune. BrewMaster's Pub is a walk-in lounge at 119. The Coop specializes in chicken and garlic Parmesan fries. And the arena also features the Coors Light Zone Patio, in the style of a beer garden, with barbecue-style food.

Team History Displays. By far the oldest major league sports team in Arizona, the Suns have some history, and they've usually been at least good. But they've never been great enough to put it all together. They haven't won an NBA title yet, making them the oldest team to have not done so. But they won the Western Conference in 1976 and 1993, and have won their Division 6 times: In 1981, 1993, 1995, 2005, 2006 and 2007. (They reached the Finals in 1976 despite not finishing 1st in their Division.)

Unlike the Suns, the Mercury have won their league -- 3 times, in 2007, 2009 and 2014. They also won the WNBA's Western Conference and made the Finals in 1998.

The Suns have a Ring of Honor in their arena, honoring 14 men, including a whopping 10 retired numbers:

* From the early days, but not making it to 1976: 42, forward Connie Hawkins.

* From the 1976 Conference Champions: 5, guard Dick Van Arsdale; 33, center Alvan Adams; 44, guard Paul Westphal; head coach John MacLeod.

* From the 1981 Division Champions: MacLeod, Adams, and 6, guard Walter Davis.

* From the 1993 Conference Champions: Westphal as head coach; 7, guard Kevin Johnson; 9, forward Dan Majerle; 24, forward Tom Chambers; 34, forward Charles Barkley.

* From the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Division Champions: 13, guard Steve Nash.

* Spanning the eras: Former owner, coach and executive Jerry Colangelo; former coach Cotton Fitzsimmons; and trainer Joe Proski.

In 1999, Suns fans voted on an All-Century Team. Westphal was named as a player on the 2nd Team and head coach of the 1st Team. The 1st Team was Adams, Johnson, Chambers, Barkley, and guard Jason Kidd. The 2nd Team was Hawkins, Westphal, Davis, Majerle, and center Mark West from the 1993 team.

In 2008, Suns fans voted on a 40th Anniversary Team. The guards were Van Arsdale, Westphal, Davis, Johnson and Nash. The forwards were Hawkins, Chambers, Barkley and forward Shawn Marion from the 2000s' Division titlists. The centers were Adams and 2000s' Division titlist Amar'e Stoudemire, recently of the Knicks.

There are 8 people in the Basketball Hall of Fame who are associated with the Suns. Hawkins, Barkley and Colangelo were elected largely on the basis of their time with the Suns. Gail Goodrich was taken by the Suns in the 1968 expansion draft, but after just 2 years was sent back to the Lakers, whom he helped win the 1972 NBA title. Another '72 Laker titlist was Pat Riley, who played just 1 season with the Suns, but it was the 1976 Finals season.

Gus Johnson played for them only in 1972. Dennis Johnson was famously traded by the Seattle SuperSonics to the Suns, even-up for Westphal, and was part of their '81 Division winners, before going to the Boston Celtics and winning 2 titles with them on top of the 1 he won in Seattle. And, already in the Hall when she got the job, Ann Meyers has been a Vice President of the Suns since 2005.

Barkley was the only player named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players in 1996 who had spent any time with the Suns.

Tom Van Arsdale, Dick's twin brother, was a 3-time NBA All-Star, but had his best years with the Cincinnati Royals, before wrapping up his career playing the 1976-77 season alongside Dick. Wearing Number 5 for most of his career, like Dick, he switched to 4 in Phoenix.

Stuff. The Team Shop is located on the ground floor of the north side of the arena. Suns, Mercury and Rattlers merchandise can be purchased there. Perhaps, due to Arizona's Western heritage, you can find cowboy hats with the team's logo on them. It is open from 10 AM to 5 PM on non-game days.

There aren't many books about the Suns, despite nearly a half-century of play. After the 1993 Conference title, Lee Shappell published Phoenix Suns: Rising to the Top with the "Team of Oddities." Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum covered their Steve Nash all-offense-and-no-defense years, and wrote Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns. And in 2013, Howard A. DeWitt published The Phoenix Suns: The View From Section 101.

Since the Suns haven't yet won an NBA title, there's no commemorative DVD package. And their 40th Anniversary passed in 2008 without a team history DVD. Maybe the upcoming 50th Anniversary will change that. The only videos I found about them on Amazon.com were VHS cassettes about their 1993 Conference title season.

During the Game. Wearing Knicks or Nets gear in Phoenix will not endanger your safety. The Suns' biggest rivals are the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs, not either of the New York teams. For the most part, Arizona fans are okay, not making trouble for fans of teams playing the NFL Cardinals, NHL Coyotes or MLB's Diamondbacks, either. In fact, their biggest rivalry is intrastate: The University of Arizona vs. Arizona State University. It's a heated rivalry... but it's a dry heat.

This Thursday's game against the Nets is Throwback Night, and the Suns will be wearing their 1976 jerseys to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of their 1st trip to the Finals.

The Suns hold auditions for National Anthem singers, instead of having a regular singer. Their introduction song is "Zombie Nation" by Kernkraft 400. There's not much in the way of fan chants, except the very ordinary "Let's go, Suns!"

The mascot is Go the Gorilla. He was the 1st NBA mascot to do trick dunks, preceding Charlotte's Hugo the Hornet by years. This makes him perhaps the most famous NBA mascot, unless you want to count Lucky the Leprechaun, and the Celtics didn't have a live Lucky until recently.

After the Game. Phoenix does have crime issues, but you should be safe as long as you stay downtown. It's incredibly unlikely that Suns fans will bother you, and the fact that the Knicks and the Nets aren't rivals to them helps.

As for anything New York-friendly, the closest I can come at this time is a place called Tim Finnegan's, the local Jets fan hangout, but that's 11 miles north of downtown, at 9201 North 29th Avenue. It appears that the local football Giants fan club meets at the Blue Moose, at 7373 East Scottsdale Mall, 13 miles northeast of downtown. I've also heard that Loco Patron, at 1327 E. Chandler Blvd., is a Giants fan hangout, but that's 21 miles south.

I've read that a Yankee Fan hangout is at LagerFields Sports Grill, at 12601 N. Paradise Village Pkwy. W., 14 miles northeast of downtown. Alas, I can find nothing Mets-specific in the area.

Sidelights. Phoenix's sports history is relatively brief, and not very successful. But there are some notable locations.

* Chase Field. The Arizona Diamondbacks have played since their 1998 inception at Chase Field, a retractable-roof stadium, originally named Bank One Ballpark, and having that name during what remains the Diamondbacks' only World Series thus far, 2001. It looks like a big airplane hangar, without much atmosphere. True, there is that pool in the right-center-field corner... but what's a pool doing at a 
ballpark?

Chase Field is at 401 E. Jefferson Street, 2 blocks east of the Suns' arena, and also uses the Jefferson & 3rd light rail station.

* University of Phoenix Stadium and Gila River Arena. The Glendale Sports & Entertainment District, in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, consists of The University of Phoenix Stadium, home to the Arizona Cardinals since 2006; and the Gila River Arena, home to the Coyotes since 2003.

The complex is about 17 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix. The official address of the stadium is 1 Cardinals Drive, and that of the arena is 9400 W. Maryland Avenue. Number 8 bus from downtown to 7th & Glendale Avenues, then transfer to Number 70 bus, to Glendale and 95th Avenue, then walk down 95th. If you drive in, parking starts at $10.

New York Tri-State Area sports fans know the stadium as the place where the Giants derailed the New England Patriots' bid for the NFL's first 19-0 season. The Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles there in January 2009 to advance to Super Bowl XLIII. The stadium is also home to the Fiesta Bowl. (There is an actual University of Phoenix, on the ground, not just on the Internet. But that's not here.) It's hosted 3 matches of the U.S. soccer team.


* Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Grand Canyon State's 1st home to big-league sports, opening in 1965, was home to the Suns from their 1968 arrival until 1992, and to the World Hockey Association's Phoenix Roadrunners from 1974 to 1977.

Elvis Presley sang at the Coliseum on September 9, 1970, and again on April 22, 1973. Early in his career, on June 9, 1956, he sang at a grandstand at the adjoining Arizona State Fairgrounds. (While individual ex-Beatles have performed in Arizona, the band as a whole did not do so on any of their 3 North American tours.)

The Coliseum still stands, and is part of the State Fairgrounds complex. 1826 W. McDowell Road. Northwest of downtown. Number 15 bus to 15th & McDowell, then 3 blocks west.

* Phoenix Municipal Stadium. This ballpark was home to the Phoenix Giants/Firebirds from its opening in 1964 until 1991, and is the current spring training home of the Oakland Athletics, the Diamondbacks' Rookie League team, and Arizona's State high school baseball championship. 5999 E. Van Buren Street, 8 miles east of downtown. Take the Light Rail to Priest Drive/Washington station, then a short walk up Priest. The Phoenix Zoo is adjacent.

* Scottsdale Stadium. This stadium was home to the Firebirds in their last years, 1992 to 1997. Its seating capacity of 12,000, 4,000 more than Phoenix Municipal, was meant to showcase the Phoenix area as a potential major league market. It's the San Francisco Giants' spring training site, and replaced a previous stadium on the site that dated to 1956, used as a spring training home for the Giants, A's, Red Sox, Orioles and Cubs -- sometimes all at the same time.

Because it was the Cubs' spring training home, thus leading to Phoenix becoming "Chicago's Miami," where retirees from the city tend to go (paging Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post & ESPN's Pardon the Interruption & NBA coverage), it was where former Cub catcher Randy Hundley hosted the very first baseball fantasy camp. Those of you who are Met fans, you might remember Randy's furious reaction to Tommie Agee scoring on a controversial umpiring call at home plate at Shea in September 1969. You might also remember Randy's son, former Met catcher Todd Hundley.

7408 E. Osborn Road, at Drinkwater Boulevard, 12 miles northeast of downtown. Light Rail to Veterans Way/College station, then transfer to Number 72 bus to Osborn, then walk 2 blocks east.

* Arizona State University. The University of Arizona is 114 miles away in Tuscon, but ASU is just a 24-minute Light Rail ride, 10 miles southeast of downtown. The station is at 5th Street & Veterans Way, and is 2 blocks away from Sun Devil Stadium and the Wells Fargo Arena (formerly the ASU Activity Center), home to their football and basketball teams, respectively.

Sun Devil Stadium was built in 1958, and ASU still plays there rather than move to the larger, more modern (but well off-campus) University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals played there from 1988 to 2005, and the Fiesta Bowl was held there from 1971 to 2006.

The Dallas Cowboys treated it as a second home field when they played the Cardinals (mainly because there always seemed to be more Cowboy fans there), and won Super Bowl XXX there, when the world learned A) it was possible for the Pittsburgh Steelers to lose a Super Bowl, and B) Terry Bradshaw was a smart quarterback compared to Neil O'Donnell. It also hosted 2 U.S. soccer team matches in the 1990s.

Packard Stadium, opened in 1974, is home to the ASU baseball program, one of the most successful college baseball teams, east of the stadium and arena, at Rural Road and Rio Salado Parkway. The Sun Devils have won 5 National Championships, most recently in 1981. Their legends include Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds, and current MLB stars Dustin Pedroia and Andre Ethier. Notable ASU and Met alumni include Gary Gentry, Duffy Dyer, Lenny Randle, Craig Swan, Hubie Brooks, Paul Lo Duca and Ike Davis.

The US Airways Center, Wells Fargo Arena, University of Phoenix Stadium, and the University of Arizona's McKale Center have all hosted NCAA basketball tournament games, but, as yet, the State of Arizona has never hosted a Final Four -- although the University of Phoenix Stadium certainly could. UA has been in the Final Four in 1988, 1994, 1997 and 2001, winning it all in 1997; but ASU has never gotten any closer than the Sweet 16, in 1995.

* Arizona Science Center. Phoenix is not a big museum center. And while there have been Native Americans living in Phoenix for thousands of years, and Spaniards/Mexicans for hundreds, its Anglo history is rather short. No Arizonan has ever become President (although Senators Barry Goldwater and John McCain got nominated), so there's no Presidential Library or Museum. And it doesn't help history buffs that the city only goes back to 1867, and Statehood was gained only in 1912. But the Science Center is at 4th & Washington, just a block from the ballpark and 3 blocks from the arena. And Arizona State has a renowned Art Museum.

The tallest building in Phoenix, and in all of Arizona, is the Chase Tower, bounded by Central Avenue and Van Buren, 1st and Monroe Streets. That it's only 483 feet, and that no taller building has been built in the city since it opened in 1972, says something about this city, but I'm not sure what. But the city seems to be intent on growing outward, not upward.

Television shows set in Phoenix, or anywhere in Arizona, are few and far between. The High Chaparral, another Western created by Bonanza creator David Dortort, ran on NBC from 1967 to 1971, and is fondly remembered by some.

But the best-remembered show is Alice, starring Linda Lavin as one of several waitresses at fictional Mel's Diner, running on CBS from 1976 to 1985. Although the show was taped in Hollywood (Burbank, actually), that once-famous "14-ounce coffee cup" sign is still used outside a real working diner in Phoenix. It was Lester's, until the owner agreed to change the name to "Mel's Diner" for the publicity. Today, it's Pat's Family Diner, at 1747 NW Grand Avenue, 2 miles northwest of downtown. Number 15 bus to 15th Avenue & Pierce Street, and then walk one block east to Grand, Pierce, and 12th. There are also still-in-business diners in Ohio and Florida that use the same sign design. "Pickup!"

Movies set in modern-day Arizona usually show the Grand Canyon or the Hoover Dam. Notable on this list is Superman: The Movie, in which Lex Luthor destroys the Dam; and Thelma & Louise, in which Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon drive a 1966 Ford Thunderbird into the Canyon rather than be captured by the FBI, enacting a distaff version of Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. National Lampoon's Vacation and Natural Born Killers also used Arizona as a backdrop.

The vast majority of movies set in Arizona have been Westerns, including the 1957 and 2007 versions of 3:10 to Yuma, the 1950 film Broken Arrow (not the later John Travolta film of the same title), Paul Newman's Hombre, Fort Apache (not the later Newman film set in The Bronx), Johnny Guitar, A Million Ways to Die In the West, No Name On the Bullet, and all the films based on the 1881 Earps vs. Clantons gunfight, including My Darling Clementine in 1946, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1957, Tombstone in 1993 and Wyatt Earp in 1994.

If you're a Western buff, and you want to see the site of the legendary gunfight, the official address is 326 East Allen Street, Tombstone, AZ 85638. Reenactments are held daily. Be advised, though, that it's 184 miles southeast of downtown Phoenix, a 3-hour-plus drive, and ain't no Greyhound or Amtrak service, stranger. It's also just 50 miles from the Mexican border.

*

If you go to Phoenix to see the Knicks or the Nets play the Suns, you won't be subjected to Arizona's usual intense heat, and you can probably see a basketball game relatively cheap. Have fun!

Translation from Onepercenterese: If you're sitting on the other side of the walkway on the field level, nicknamed "The Moat," and you didn't pay the exorbitant prices that Yankee management demands, your raggedy ass don't belong there.

This statement is, to borrow a phrase from the 2000s UPN sitcom Girlfriends, classist and egregious.

It's been publicly compared to the excuse that general manager George Weiss used for why he refused to racially integrate the Yankee roster in the early 1950s. Roger Kahn covered the Brooklyn Dodgers for the New York Herald Tribune in 1952, and they faced the Yankees in that year's World Series. In his book The Boys of Summer, about his days covering the Dodgers, he wrote that, during that Series, he interviewed a man he identified only as "the third highest executive." The book was published in 1971, and Weiss was still alive (for another year), so Kahn was probably concerned about being sued for defamation, but since there were only 2 men above Weiss in the Yankee hierarchy from 1948 to 1960, co-owners Del Webb and Dan Topping, Kahn couldn't have been talking about anyone else:

The third highest executive, after three martinis, said he would never allow a black man to wear a Yankee uniform.

"We don't want that sort of crowd," he said. "It would offend boxholders from Westchester to have to sit with (N-word)s." 

In other words, this executive (probably Weiss) thought that having black players would bring in black fans. As if the average black baseball fan in 1952 could afford to sit in the field boxes next to a stockbroker from New Rochelle or an advertising "Mad Man" from Westport. Poverty prevented large numbers of black fans from packing seats near the dugout at Yankee Stadium to cheer on Elston Howard, Hector Lopez and Al Downing from 1955 to 1964 for the same reason there weren't so many doing it for Jackie Robinson at Ebbets Field in 1947. Those fans might get down by the dugout to try to get autographs from Jackie, and later Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe and Joe Black, but when the game began, they sat in the bleachers. The cheap seats. The high cost of tickets (for that era) was the reason the bleachers in baseball parks and the second balconies in sports arenas were sometimes referred to as "(N-word) Heaven."

The weird part is, Weiss only got it half-right: It wasn't the rich guys coming in from Westchester and Connecticut who would have objected. It was the white ethnics from Queens and Lawn Giland and Jersey, particularly the Italians from Essex, Hudson and Bergen Counties in North Jersey, who ended up giving black Yankees a hard time, including poor Horace Clarke, whose greatest crime was to be black and Caribbean (Virgin Islands) and arrive just as the Dynasty had collapsed.

George Weiss was classist and egregious 64 years ago. Lonn Trost is being classist and egregious now. At least Trost hasn't yet been caught being racist.

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Many Yankee Fans, including those with blogs, are having a fit over the Trost/StubHub hissyfit.

I'm not.

Granted, I don't like it. But I'm not making a big deal out of it.

Why not?

For 2 very important reasons.

The 1st is that we already knew this shit. We knew that Trost and Levine, the guys who were essentially responsible for the building and the operation of The House That George Built, were classist and egregious. We knew it from the moment we first heard about The Moat. And it wasn't as though people trying to sneak down and get into the field boxes at the old Stadium weren't chased away by ushers suddenly thinking they were Joe Friday or Andy Sipowicz. (They sure weren't nice cops like Barney Miller.)

Hearing Lonn Trost get classist and egregious over fans who didn't pay exorbitant sums sitting with those who did is like hearing Donald Trump express his monumental ego: It's old news. It's like hearing that Queen Elizabeth likes to wear hats, or that the Mets choked when it counted, or that Don Mattingly's team failed to win the Pennant.

"Dog Bites Man" is not news. "Man Bites Dog," the Mets actually win the World Series, a team with Mattingly in uniform actually wins the Pennant, Queen Elizabeth stops wearing hats, Trump acts humble, Trost says, "Come on down!" like he's the announcer on The Price Is Right? Those stories would be news!

The 2nd reason that I'm not making a federal case out of this is that my blog is about sports, not business. Lonn Trost being classist and egregious doesn't have thing one to do with how the Yankees will play in the 2016 season.

It's not that I'm insensitive to Yankee Fans' concerns about being treated like peasants from a guy whose sole qualification for having his current job is that the now-dead former owner liked him and said owner's sons still do.

But what should we, as Yankee Fans, be concerned with? How about this:

* Whether CC Sabathia will be back to his old self.
* Whether Luis Severino will continue his development as the best young pitcher in New York.
* Whether they, the other starting pitchers, and everyday players like Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira will be injury-free. (Especially now that we know that Teix' heir apparent at 1st base, Greg Bird, is already out for the season with an injury.
* Whether manager Joe Girardi will have finally figured out that how a pitcher is actually doing is more important than what his damned binder says.
* What the other teams in the American League will do.

Compared to those things, Lonn Trost's reaction to Yankee Fans buying tickets on StubHub is of minimal importance, and should be treated as such.

Let's focus on the games.

*

I haven't done a countdown for a while, so here goes:

Hours until Arsenal play again: 5, this morning (7:45 AM), home to Yorkshire club Hull City, in the 5th Round of the FA Cup. This will be the 3rd straight season that the Gunners have played the Tigers in the FA Cup, having beaten them in the Final in 2014 and in the 3rd Round in 2015.
Days until Opening Day: 44, on Tuesday, April 4. At 1:00 PM, the Yankees host the Houston Astros. Some other teams, including the Small Club in Flushing, will start play the day before, but baseball season does not truly begin until the Yankees begin regular-season play. Anyway, a little over 6 weeks.

Days until the 1st Yankees-Red Sox series of the season: 62, on Friday, April 22, taking on the baseball version of The Scum at Fenway Park. Under 9 weeks.

Days until the 2016 Copa America kicks off in the U.S.: 104, on Friday, June 3. A little over 3 months.

Days until Euro 2016 kicks off in France:111, on Friday, June 10.
Days until Arsenal play as the opponents in the 2016 Major League Soccer All-Star Game: 159, on Thursday night, July 28, at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, home of the San Jose Earthquakes. A little over 5 months. Three days later, Arsenal will play C.D. Guadalajara, a.k.a. Chivas, one of the biggest clubs in Mexico, at the StubHub Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, in Carson, California. This will be just 2 years after The Arsenal came to America to play the Red Bulls in New Jersey. I went to that one. I don't think I'll be going to either of these: Even if I could get a game ticket, paying for a plane ticket would be difficult.

Days until the 2016 Olympics begin in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 167, on Friday, August 5. Under 6 months.

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 196, on Saturday, September 3, away to the University of Washington in Seattle. Under 7 months. If that sounds familiar, it's because they also began in Seattle last season, but against Washington State, which plays all the way across the State in Pullman. (RU lost, 37-34.) That game was at CenturyLink Field, home of the Seahawks and MLS' Sounders. This one will be at UW's home of Husky Stadium.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 202, on Friday, September 9, probably away, since, while the 2016 schedule hasn't been released yet, the Big Green opened last season at home.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving game: 278, on Thursday morning, November 24, at the purple shit pit on Route 9. A little over 9 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez' contract runs out: 619, on October 31, 2017. Or at the conclusion of the 2017 World Series, if the Yankees make it. Whichever comes last. A little over a year and a half. A little over 20 months.

Days until the 2018 World Cup kicks off in Russia: 845, on June 14, 2018. Less than 2 1/2 years. A little over 28 months.

This coming Thursday night, and again on Saturday night, March 19, the New Jersey Devils will go to Ohio to play the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This is going to be a difficult trip guide to do, because I've never done one of these for Columbus before. Once this is done, it will leave Jacksonville as the only city with a major league sports team for which I haven't done one.

I didn't start completely from scratch, but it was difficult, for reasons that have nothing to do with the team in question, or the fans thereof. When I do it again next season (if I do, and I probably will), it'll be comparatively easy to update it. But, this time, it'll be a bit of a job.

Before You Go. Columbus can get really hot in the summer, but this game will be played in late February, and, besides, the game will be indoors. The Columbus Dispatch website is predicting mid-40s for Thursday afternoon, and low 30s for the evening, with a chance of rain.

Columbus is in the Eastern Time Zone, so you won't have to set your clocks back.

Tickets. The Blue Jackets are averaging 14,370 fans per home game this season. That's the 5th-lowest in the NHL, ahead of only Florida, Arizona, the Islanders and Carolina. It's also about 79 percent of capacity, and only Arizona (slightly) and Carolina are doing worse.

Which does beg the question: Why did Columbus get an NHL team? Why not Cleveland or Cincinnati, the more proven major league cities? Probably because somebody (probably Commissioner Gary Bettman) though that neither Cleveland nor Cincinnati could support a team by itself, but a team in Columbus, in Central Ohio, would be supported by the entire State. (Or maybe that theory makes no sense, since he let the Minnesota North Stars move to Dallas, when he could have suggested Austin as a way to get fans from Dallas and Houston.)

At any rate, you should be able to walk up to the box office 5 minutes before puck-drop, and buy any seat you can afford. In the Lower Level, the 100 sections, seats are $110 between the goals and $95 behind them. In the Upper Level, the 200 sections, seats are $80 between the goals and $58 behind them.

Getting There. It’s 536 miles from Times Square in New York to Capitol Square in Columbus, and 526 miles from the Prudential Center to Nationwide Arena.

Flying may seem like a good option, although with a destination city as close as Columbus, you shouldn't have to change planes. But you do, in either Philadelphia or Charlotte. And it's a bit expensive considering the distance, at $851 round-trip.

Amtrak does not go to Columbus. Its main train station was demolished in 1979 to make way for the Columbus Convention Center (which is too bad, because it was just 2 blocks from the Arena), and it is now the largest metropolitan area in America that doesn't have Amtrak access.

Greyhound’s run between New York and Columbus is about 14 hours with no change of buses necessary, costing $258, and dropping to as little as $98 with advanced-purchase. The station is at 111 E. Town Street, at 3rd Street, downtown, 2 blocks south of the State House.

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. Take it to Exit 14, to Interstate 78. Follow I-78 west all the way through New Jersey, to Phillipsburg, and across the Delaware River into Easton, Pennsylvania. Continue west on I-78 until reaching Harrisburg. There, you will merge onto I-81. Take Exit 52 to U.S. Route 11, which will soon take you onto I-76. This is the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the nation’s first superhighway, opening in 1940.

The Turnpike will eventually be a joint run between I-76 and Interstate 70. Once that happens, you’ll stay on I-70, all the way past Pittsburgh, across the little northern pandhandle of West Virginia, and into Ohio all the way to Columbus.

If you do it right, you should spend about an hour and 15 minutes in New Jersey, 5 hours and 30 minutes in Pennsylvania, 15 minutes in West Virginia, and about 2 hours and 15 minutes in Ohio. That’s about 9 hours and 15 minutes. Counting rest stops, preferably halfway through Pennsylvania and just after you enter Ohio, and accounting for traffic in both New York and Columbus, it should be no more than 11 hours, which would save you time on Greyhound, if not flying.

Once In the City. Founded in 1816, Columbus, named for Christopher Columbus, celebrates its 200th Anniversary this year. It is easily the largest city in Ohio by population, with about 823,000 people, to a mere 397,000 for Cleveland and 298,000 for Cincinnati. But its metropolitan area has just 2.4 million people, still larger than Cincy's 2.2 million but considerably smaller than Cleveland's 3.5 million, because Cleveland has a much larger suburban area.

High Street is the street address divider between East and West, and Broad Street serving as the divider between North and South. The southeaster corner of High & Broad includes Capitol Square, with the State House. The sales tax in the State of Ohio is 5.75 percent, rising to 7.5 percent in Franklin County, including the City of Columbus.

The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) runs buses, but no rapid transit rail system: No subway, no elevated, no light rail, no commuter rail. The fare is $2.00.

Going In. The Arena is about a mile northwest of the State House, in the Arena District, near the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers, in an area that includes their minor-league ballpark and their Convention Center.

Several bus lines get you there. The official address is 200 W. Nationwide Blvd. Parking is cheap, starting at $3.00. The rink is laid out east-to-west, and the Jackets attack twice toward the east end.
The Arena includes an in-house practice facility, the OhioHealth IceHaus. It was the 1st NHL arena to have this since the old Madison Square Garden, and inspired the building of the AmeriHealth Pavilion as part of the Devils' Prudential Center project.
The Arena has hosted NCAA Tournament basketball, "professional wrestling" and concerts. The husband & wife team of country singers Tim McGraw & Faith Hill played the Arena's 1st event, and British rock legends Paul McCartney and (the surviving members of) The Who have played there within the past year. President Barack Obama held one of his final 2012 campaign rallies, with Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z performing.

ESPN The Magazine declared it “the No. 2 stadium experience in professional sports.” The Ultimate Sports Road Trip rated it the best arena in the NHL, saying, "This newer arena in downtown Columbus is the anchor for the emerging Arena District, already burgeoning with shops, restaurants and hotels. The venue is spectacular, from its nostalgic brick and stone veneer to its sweeping concourses with blue mood lighting and modern amenities. The arena bowl has state of the art scoreboards and surround LED graphics boards which look 21st century high tech. With a separate practice rink built right in the facility, theme restaurants and great food selection, not to mention a raucous hockey atmosphere, this NHL venue is a must see!"

But despite its youth, the Arena already has a tragic history. On March 16, 2002, 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil was struck in the head by a deflected puck during the Blue Jackets' game against the Calgary Flames, dying from her injuries 2 days later. As far as can be determine, she is the only fan in the NHL's nearly 100-year history ever to be killed in a game-related accident. As a result of her death, the NHL mandated safety netting in all its arenas.

Food. Being in Big Ten Country, where tailgate parties are practically a sacrament, you would expect the Columbus arena to have lots of good options. They do not disappoint. Their chain stands include ColdStone Creamery behind Sections 108, 121, 202, 203 and 218; Tim Hortons at 210; Kettle Chipper potato chips at 105; Papa John's Pizza 102 and 226; and that Cincinnati specialty, Skyline chili -- chili over spaghetti -- at 105, 119 and 206.

There are stands for that Midwestern staple, Bratwurst, at 108, 121, 202, 203 and 209; a Sausage Haus at 121; a Baked Potato stand at 105; Burgers at 105, 119, 206 and 222; Hot Dogs at 108, 111, 119, 202, 203, 206, 209, 218 and 222; Chicken Tenders at 101, 119, 206 and 222; French Fries at 105, 119, 206 and 222; Cheese Fries at 229; Popcorn at 108, 121, 202, 203, 209 and 218; Milkshakes at 105; and Mexican food at 217.

Team History Displays. As 1 of the 2 newest teams in the NHL, the Jackets don't have much history. They have no retired numbers. They have just 1 banner honoring anyone, founding owner John H. McConnell. "Mr. Mac" was also the founder of Worthington Industries, a steel company. Kilbourn Street, on the Arena's west side, has been renamed John H. McConnell Blvd. in his memory. The team's parking deck, across the Boulevard from the Arena, is named the McConnell Garage. His son, John P. McConnell, now owns both the team and Worthington Industries.

They have just 1 player from their history who has been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the newly-inducted Sergei Fedorov, who played for them from 2005 to 2008, but is better known as a Detroit Red Wing. (I don't know why they haven't retired his number: It's not like 91 is a popular one.) They have never won their Division in 14 tries (not counting the current season and the never-played 2004-05). They've made the Playoffs only twice (in 2009 and 2014), and won a grand total of 2 Playoff games (both in 2014 against Pittsburgh).

Instead of banners detailing the team's history (which wouldn't take many banners), they have banners of the NHL's other 29 teams. Yes, even the teams that Jacket fans don't particularly like, such as Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago.

Stuff. The Blue Line Team Store is on the north side of the Arena. The usual items that can be found at a souvenir store can be found there, including Union-style Army hats with the team logo on them.

As 1 of the 2 newest teams in the NHL, starting play in 2000 along with the Minnesota Wild, ther aren't any official NHL videos about the Jackets. Don't count on finding many books about them either: The only one I could find on Amazon.com was Erin Butler's entry for them in the NHL's official Inside the NHL series.

During the Game. You do not have to worry about wearing Devils gear in Nationwide Arena. Their rivals are the Pittsburgh Penguins (a reflection of the Browns vs. Steelers and Bengals vs. Steelers rivalries), the Detroit Red Wings (a reflection of the Ohio State vs. Michigan rivalry), and the Chicago Blackhawks (because everybody in the Midwest seems to hate the Hawks, now that they've replaced the Wings as the Midwest's most successful hockey team). They won't bother New Jersey fans, as long as you don't bother them first.

So you may be asking yourself, "I know what a Yellow Jacket is, it's a nasty stinging insect. I know what a Green Jacket is, it's the jacket you get for winning the Masters golf tournament. But what's a Blue Jacket?" The team's name was inspired by Ohio's connection to the American Civil War: Not only were legendary Generals Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman and Philip Sheridan from Ohio, but the State lost a greater percentage of its population in battle than any other (on the non-traitor side, anyway).

Leo Welsh is the Jackets' National Anthem singer. The fans, who call themselves the 5th Line (hockey teams usually have 4 forward lines) like to do the "O-H-I-O" chant made famous at Ohio State football games (and copied by the R&B group the Ohio Players on their song "Fire"), and also chant the team's initials, "C-B-J!"

Prior to the start of the 2007-08 season, the team bought a hand-made replica of an 1857 Napoleon cannon. It is "fired" at home games when the Jackets take the ice, score, or win. Their goal song is "The Whip" by Locksley.

The mascot is Stinger the Yellow Jacket, although his costume was changed from yellow to green because it clashed less with the Blue Jackets' blue jerseys. He wears Number 00, in honor of the team's 2000 founding, and tends to bang on a snare drum.

After the Game. The Arena district is well-policed, and downtown should be safe. Columbus doesn't have nearly the reputation for crime that Cleveland and Cincinnati do.

As for where to go for a postgame meal or drink, an Italian restaurant called Beppa di Bucco is across from the Arena to the east, a Mexican restaurant named Nada to the west, and bd's Mongolian Grill to the south.

The most famous bar, perhaps in the entire State of Ohio, is the Varsity Club, across from the OSU Ice Arena and 3 blocks north of Ohio Stadium. 278 W. Lane Avenue, at Tuttle Park Place. High Street, the eastern boundary of the OSU campus, has been described as "a zoo" on home football Saturdays, although that won't affect you as a visiting hockey fan.

Unfortunately, the most storied Ohio State fan bar of all, Papa Joe's, home of the Saturday morning Kegs and Eggs breakfast, burned down in 1996. The current pizza chain of the same name has no connection, aside from being an Ohio tradition. Retail space, including the current Ohio State bookstore (a Barnes & Noble, of course), is on the site. 1556 N. High Street at 11th Avenue.

I can find no references to places where New Yorkers gather in or around Columbus: The sites that usually list bars for football fans in exile don’t seem to have references to where Yankees, Mets, Giants or Jets fans go when they live nearby.

Sidelights. Columbus may have only the 1 major league team, but it's a decent sports town, and here’s some of the highlights:

* Huntington Park. Just 2 blocks west of Nationwide Arena, at 330 Huntington Park Lane, this 10,100-seat stadium has been home to the International League's Columbus Clippers since 2009. Since moving in, they've won Pennants in 2010, 2011 and 2015, giving them a total of 10 Pennants.

* Cooper Stadium. Opened in 1932 as Red Bird Stadium, and renamed for Harold Cooper, the Franklin County Commissioner and team owner who kept professional baseball in the city in the 1950s, this stadium was one of the most successful ballparks in the minor leagues. It was also one of the largest, seating 17,500 people at its peak, and 15,000 in its last years.

Initially, it was home to the Columbus Red Birds, a farm team of the St. Louis Cardinals (also nicknamed the Redbirds), and to a Negro League team, the Columbus Blue Birds. The Red Birds won Pennants in 1933, 1934, 1937, 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1950.

The Cardinals moved them to Omaha in 1955, and a new team was brought in, the Columbus Jets, a farm club first of the Kansas City Athletics, then of the Pittsburgh Pirates. This led to the stadium being renamed Jets Stadium. They won the Pennant in 1961 and 1965, before being moved to Charleston, West Virginia after the 1970 season. The Pirates restored Columbus as their Triple-A team in 1977, the Yankees took over in 1979, the Washington Nationals in 2007, and the Cleveland Indians in 2009.

The Clippers were a Yankee farm team from 1979 to 2006, infamous as the bad end of "The Columbus Shuttle," George Steinbrenner's pipeline from Triple-A ball to the Yankees and back. As a Yankee farm team, they won IL Pennants in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1987, 1991, 1992 and 1996. All told, Columbus baseball teams have won 19 Pennants.

Cooper Stadium was closed after the 2008 season, but instead of being demolished, it has been converted into an auto racing facility. 1155 W. Mound Street, 3 miles west of downtown. Number 6 bus.

An April 24, 2014 article in The New York Times, showing baseball fandom by ZIP Code, shows that, despite being considerably closer to Cincinnati (107 miles) than to Cleveland (143 miles), the Indians still have a slight edge on baseball fandom in Columbus, on the average having 28 percent to the Reds' 22 percent. The September 2014 issue of The Atlantic Monthly had a similar map, showing that the Browns are more popular in Columbus than the Bengals.

Cincinnati is the nearest MLB and NFL city, while Cleveland is the nearest NBA city. If it had teams in those sports, Columbus would rank 29th in population in MLB, 26th in the NFL, and 25th in the NBA. So don't hold your breath.

* Ohio State. The most famous building in the State of Ohio is Ohio Stadium, or, as ABC Sports' legendary college football announcer Keith Jackson called it, The Big Horseshoe On the Olentangy -- home field of the school usually referred to as "THE... Ohio State University." How big is it? The official seating capacity is currently listed as 104,944, making it the 4th-largest non-racing stadium in the world. 411 Woody Hayes Drive (formerly Woodruff Avenue), 3 1/2 miles north of downtown. Number 18 bus.

Value City Arena opened in 1998, at 555 Borror Drive, across the Olentangy River from the Stadium. The Bill Davis Stadium (baseball) and the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium (track & field) are part of this complex as well.

From 1956 to 1998, Ohio State played basketball at St. John Arena, across from the Stadium at 410 Woody Hayes Drive. It was at this arena that the Buckeyes played the 1959-60 season in which they won the National Championship. Coach Fred Taylor is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, along with 3 players on this team, although 1 is in as a coach: Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek, and "sixth man" Bob Knight.

It was also at St. John that Elvis Presley sang on June 25, 1974. Early in his carer, Elvis played 2 shows at the Franklin County Veterans Memorial Auditorium on May 26, 1956. Built in 1955, it was demolished in 2015, and an Ohio Veterans Museum is being built on the site. 300 W. Broad Street, on the Scioto River, just across from downtown. (The Beatles played in Cleveland and Cincinnati, but not in Columbus.)

* Indianola Park. Home ground of the Columbus Pandhandles, one of the 1st professional football teams, from 1901 to 1926, before the glut of early pro football doomed them. Along with the Canton Bulldogs, in the 1910s they dominated the Ohio League, one of the NFL's predecessors.

They are best remembered for the 7 Nesser brothers (sons of German immigrants, there were 8, but Pete, 1877-1954, the largest of them, didn't like football and didn't play; there were also 4 sisters): John (1875-1931), Phil (1880-1959), Ted (1883-1941), Fred (1887-1967), Frank (1889-1953), Al (1893-1967) and Ray (1898-1969). Knute Rockne, who did play a little pro football before going back to Notre Dame to coach, said, "Getting hit by a Nesser is like falling off a moving train." In 1921, Ted's son Charlie (1903-1970) played with the Panhandles, marking the only time a father and son have played in the NFL at the same time, let alone for the same team.

The Indianola Shopping Center is now on the site, 3 miles north of downtown. 1900 N. 4th Street at 19th Avenue. Number 4 bus.

* Mapfre Stadium. Opening in 1999, and known until last year as Columbus Crew Stadium before naming rights were sold to a Spain-based insurance company, the Crew moved into this 22,555-seat stadium after playing their 1st 3 seasons (1996-98) before 90,000 empty seats at Ohio Stadium. They won the MLS Cup in 2008, and reached the Final again last year, losing to the Portland Timbers despite playing at home.

The Stadium also hosted the MLS Cup Final in 2001 (San Jose beating Los Angeles), 10 games of the U.S. National Team (including 4 games against Mexico, all 2-0 or "Dos A Cero" wins), and 6 games of the 2003 Women's World Cup (including a 3-0 U.S. win over North Korea).

One Black and Gold Blvd., at 20th Avenue, about 3 1/2 miles north of downtown, near the Indianola Shopping Center. Number 4 bus.

Currently without an NBA team, a May 12, 2014 article in The New York Times shows basketball allegiances in the Columbus area are mixed between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat. Gee, you think LeBron James having played for both teams might have something to do with that?

The forementioned Ohio Veterans Museum will probably be completed in early 2017.

Ohio Village is a recreated 19th Century community, sort of an updated, Midwestern version of Colonial Williamsburg. 800 E. 17th Avenue, at Velma Avenue. Number 4 bus. The Columbus Museum of Art is at 480 E. Broad Street, at Washington Avenue. Number 10 bus. The Center of Science & Industry (COSI) is across from the Veterans Memorial Auditorium site, at 333 W. Broad Street, at Washington Blvd. Number 10 bus. The James Thurber House, home to the legendary author and humorist, is at 77 Jefferson Avenue,at N. 11th Street. Number 6 bus.

Farther afield -- with no public transportation available -- the Armstrong Air & Space Museum is in the hometown of Neil Armstrong, the late 1st man to walk on the Moon. 500 Apollo Drive in Wapakoneta, just off Interstate 75, 87 miles northwest of downtown Columbus.

No Presidents have come from Columbus, but Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley lived there while they were Governor of Ohio. Alas, there was no Governor's Mansion during their times in the office. The Ohio Governor's Residence and Heritage Garden has only been the Governor's Mansion since 1957, and current Governor John Kasich, who is running for President this year, already lived nearby (he'd been a Congressman for the area), and so he only uses it for official functions. 358 N. Parkview, in Bexley, about 4 miles northeast of downtown. Number 10 bus. 

McKinley's historical sites are all in or near his hometown of Canton, and I'll discuss them in my Cleveland trip guides. Hayes' home, Spiegel Grove, and his grave and Presidential Library are in Fremont, 106 miles north of Columbus. Warren G. Harding's hometown of Marion is 51 miles north. Dying in office in 1923, he remains the last President to have lived in Ohio. As with both locations, there is no public transportation to there from any of Ohio's major cities.

The tallest building in Columbus is the Rhodes State Office Tower, named for the longtime Governor who ordered the Ohio National Guard to fire on the protestors at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Completed in 1974, it is 629 feet high, and every bit as ugly as the Administration it memorializes. 30 E. Broad Street, downtown, across from the State House.

While lots of movies have been shot and/or set in Ohio, Columbus hasn't been a popular location for them. There have been 2 TV shows set in Columbus: Family Ties, the 1982-89 NBC sitcom that introduced us to Michael J. Fox; and Man Up!, an ABC sitcom set in nearby Gahanna that tanked and was canceled after 13 episodes in 2011.

*

Columbus may be Ohio's largest city, but aside from being the State capital, it's known for 2 things: Ohio State football, and Ohio State anything else. But a Blue Jackets game could be fun, and it's close enough for a fairly easy New Jersey Devils roadtrip.

This time, I'm pushing my luck, and doing a trip guide for the 1 current building in North America that is home to 3 teams in the NBA and the NHL combined, 1 of 10 to host both sports: The Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Why? Because area teams are all about to go out there. The Brooklyn Nets will visit to play the Los Angeles Clippers on this coming Monday night, Leap Year Day, February 29. They will then play the Los Angeles Lakers the next night, Tuesday, March 1. The New York Knicks will visit to play the Clippers on Friday night, March 11. The New Jersey Devils will visit to play the Los Angeles Kings the next night, Saturday, March 12. The Knicks stay over to play the Lakers the next night, Sunday, March 13.

The Devils play the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, March 14. The New York Rangers will visit to play the Ducks on Wednesday night, March 16, and the Kings on Thursday night, March 17.

The only local team whose meeting away to L.A. is not coming up is the New York Islanders. They already made their L.A. trip for this season on November 12 and 13, losing 2-1 to the Kings but beating the Ducks 4-1.

*

Before You Go. Unlike the Seattle and San Francisco Bay Areas, the Los Angeles area has very consistent weather. It’s a nice place to visit. If you don’t mind earthquakes. And mudslides. And wildfires. And smog.

Check the weather forecast on the Los Angeles Times' website before you, so you'll know what to bring. For the moment, the next several days are projected to be in the mid-70s, and the nights in the mid-50s. In other words, unseasonably warm for us, but normal for them. So you might want to not bring a winter coat to Newark/JFK/LaGuardia Airport/Penn Station/Port Authority. If you're driving in, leave the winter coat in the back seat once you get past the Rocky Mountains.

Los Angeles is in the Pacific Time Zone, which is 3 hours behind New York. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.

If you want to take a side trip into Mexico, it's about 140 miles from downtown L.A. to the Tijuana border station. You will need a passport. GoToBus runs buses from Los Angeles to Tijuana, $30 and 4 hours, 45 minutes each way. If you drive in, you will need Mexican driving insurance, which you can probably buy at the Mexican consulate, either in New York or Los Angeles. For the moment, $1.00 = 18.14 pesos, while 1 peso = 5 1/2 cents.

Tickets.  For some reason, even though they play the same sport in the same building, the basketball teams have different official seating capacities. For the Lakers, it's 18,997. For the Clippers, it's 19,060.

Why the Clippers thought they could sell more seats than the Lakers, I don't know. But, for the moment, they're right: The Lakers are, indeed, averaging 18,997 fans per home game this season, a sellout every game (as has been the case, even in bad times, pretty much since they arrived in L.A. in 1960), but the Clippers are averaging 19,163, 100.5 percent of capacity.

Given the fact that Los Angeles is an expensive city, that the Staples Center was designed to be a showplace for rich Laker fans, that the Lakers are the Western U.S.' most successful sports team (only the Yankees, the Boston Celtics and the Green Bay Packers in the Eastern half of the country surpass them), and that this is Kobe Bryant's final season, and prices for Laker games could be expected to shock you. Especially if you wait until the day of the game, and have to rely on a scalper. So order now.

In the lower level, the 100 sections, seats that are currently still available are $274 between the baskets and $132 behind them. In the 200 sections, seats between the baskets are club seats for season-ticket holders only, while behind them, they're $94. In the 300 level, they'd be $63 between the baskets and $49 behind them, except that they're already sold out.

As you might guess, with their lack of success (until recently), Clippers tickets have a much lower demand, and thus have much lower prices. Seats in the 100 level are $119 between the baskets and $33 behind them. They're $59 in the ends of the 200 level. In the 300 level, they're $86 between the baskets, and behind them, just about a major league sports low of $10.

Capacity for Kings games is listed as 18,230, and they're also averaging a sellout per game. Their 2 recent Stanley Cup wins has put them heavily in demand, as L.A. loves a winner and hates a loser (as evidenced by the Clippers drawing badly until 2013 and fans forgetting the Kings existed between Wayne Gretzky getting traded away in February 1996 and the Playoffs starting in April 2012). Seats in the 100 level are $225 between the goals and $135 behind them. They're $130 in the 200 level. In the 300 level, they're $125 between the goals and $62 behind them.

Getting There. It’s 2,791 miles from Times Square in New York to City Hall in downtown Los Angeles. In other words, if you’re going, you’re flying.

After all, even if you get someone to go with you, and you take turns, one drives while the other one sleeps, and you pack 2 days’ worth of food, and you use the side of the Interstate as a toilet, and you don’t get pulled over for speeding, you’ll still need over 2 full days. Each way.

But, if you really, really want to drive... Take Interstate 80 West across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. Just before leaving Nebraska for Colorado you’ll get on Interstate 76, and shortly before reaching Denver you’ll get on Interstate 70 West. You’ll take that all the way to its end in Utah, where you’ll take Interstate 15 South. You’ll go through a short strip of Arizona before getting into Nevada (where you’ll see THE Strip, Las Vegas), before getting into California.

Assuming you're not going to a hotel first (and you really should), you’ll get off I-15 at Exit 109A, and get on Interstate 10 West, and almost immediately onto U.S. Route 101 North, the San Bernardino Freeway.  Take that road's Exit 3 to State Route 110, the Pasadena Freeway, and that will get you into downtown L.A.

Given an average speed of 60 miles an hour, you’ll be in New Jersey for an hour and a half, Pennsylvania for 5:15, Ohio for 4 hours, Indiana for 2:30, Illinois for 2:45, Iowa for 5:15, Nebraska for 6 hours, Colorado for 7:15, Utah for 6 hours, Arizona for half an hour, Nevada for 2 hours, and California for 3 and a half hours hours; for a total of 46 hours and 30 minutes. Factor in rest stops, you’ll need more like 3 full days. And, remember, that’s just one way. And if you end up using Las Vegas as a rest stop, well, you might end up missing the game and end up, yourself, as as one of those things that “stays in Vegas.”

If you take Amtrak, in order to make the Monday night game, you'll have to leave New York's Penn Station on Friday afternoon, on the Lake Shore Limited at 3:40. You'd reach Union Station in Chicago at 9:45 AM Central Time on Saturday, then leave at 3:00 PM on the Southwest Chief, reaching Union Station in Los Angeles at 8:15 AM Pacific Time on Monday. The Southwest Chief leaves L.A. at 6:10 PM Pacific Time every day, and reaches Chicago at 3:15 PM Central Time 2 days later. The Lake Shore Limited leaves Chicago at 9:30 PM, and arrives back in New York at 6:23 PM the next day. Round-trip fare is $584, so it really doesn't pay to take the train for 64 1/2 hours, as opposed to a plane for 7. Union Station is at 800 N. Alameda Street, at Arcadia Street. Union Station on Metro.

Greyhound takes even longer, about 68 hours, changing buses twice, $614 round-trip, but it could drop to as little as $482 with advanced purchase. The station is at 1716 E. 7th Street, at Lawrence Street. Metro doesn't go anywhere near it, but the Number 60 bus will get you downtown. 

Flights to L.A. will be relatively cheap this time of year, and you might even get a round-trip flight for under $600, if you don't mind changing planes in Chicago or Dallas. The LAX2US bus will take you, as its name suggests, from Los Angeles International Airport to Union Station, taking 45 minutes and costing $8.00; from there, bus and subway connections can be made to downtown. 

Once In the City. Los Angeles was founded in 1781 by Spain as a Catholic mission, and means "The Angels" -- hence that was the name of the Pacific Coast League team, and the subsequent American League team: The Los Angeles Angels. The city continues to grow by leaps and bounds, and is now just under 4 million people, making it the 2nd-largest city in North America, behind New York. (Unless you count Mexico, and thus Mexico City, as "North America" instead of "Central America.")
The metro area has about 18.3 million people, and may soon end up passing New York and all others in that regard. The streets aren't quite north-south and east-west, as, like on the islands of Manhattan and Montreal, they're kind of on a diagonal. The "centerpoint" of the city, where east-west and north-south addresses begin, is 1st Street and Main Street, at the northwestern corner of which is the iconic City Hall. Numbered streets have east-west addresses.

I call the Art Deco, marble-fronted City Hall, at 200 N. Spring Street, and at 453 feet the city's tallest building between 1928 and 1964, "iconic" because it's been used in popular culture many times: You've seen it, even if you couldn't identify it before now.

Its image is embossed on Los Angeles Police Department badges, as seen on the 1951-59 TV series (and its 1967-70 revival) Dragnet. (I can't prove it, but I suspect that show star-creator Jack Webb chose 714 as the badge number for Detective Sergeant Joe Friday in honor of Babe Ruth and his career home run total.) It stood in for the Metropolis Daily Planet building on the 1952-59 TV series The Adventures of Superman. Many other L.A.-set TV series and movies have included shots of it.
The Los Angeles Times is the leading (most-circulated) newspaper in the Western United States, and has long been known for a great sports section. The legendary columnist Jim Murray has been dead for some time now, but if you watch ESPN's Around the Horn, you'll recognize the names of Bill Plaschke and J.A. Adande.

The sales tax in the State of California is 7.5 percent, in the City of Los Angeles 9 percent.

A single ride on a bus or subway is $1.75. A bag of 10 tokens (yes, like Philly and Toronto, L.A. uses tokens, although they also use TAP farecards) is $17.50 (no savings). A 1-day pass is $7.00, and if you're going for more than 1 game, a 7-day pass might help, at $25.

Yes, since 1990, L.A., that most car-designed of American cities, has had a subway. They call it Metro Rail, and it has Red, Blue, Green, Gold, Purple and Expo lines. (Expo? It goes from Los Angeles all the way to Montreal? No.)
Going In. The Staples Center is part of the L.A. Live complex, 2 miles south (well, southwest) of downtown, which also includes, among other buildings, the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Microsoft Theater, and a movie theater. The arena's mailing address is 1111 S. Figueroa Street. (If that address sounds familiar, it's because the L.A. Coliseum is at 3911 S. Figueroa, about 2 1/2 miles south.) It is accessible by Pico Station on Metro Rail's Blue and Expo Lines.

If you drive in, parking is $10 for most events. You're most likely to enter he arena via Figueroa Street, on the arena's east side. The court and rink are laid out east-to-west -- or, more precisely, southwest-to-northeast. The Kings shoot twice toward the (north)east goal.

The arena opened in 1999, and the Lakers, Clippers and Kings moved in immediately. The WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks did not do so until 2001. It's hosted 7 NBA Finals, 3 WNBA Finals, 2 Stanley Cup Finals, 2 NBA All-Star Games (each team acting as the host once), an NHL All-Star Game, the Pacific-10/12 Basketball Tournament, boxing, "professional wrestling,""ultimate fighting," figure skating, the Grammy Awards and the Latin Grammys on multiple occasions, Michael Jackson's memorial service in 2009 (he had been rehearsing there for his tour that his death canceled), and the 2000 Democratic Convention, which nominated Al Gore for President and Joe Lieberman for Vice President.

Just as Yankees-Mets is called the Subway Series (even though a true Subway Series can only happen in a World Series), and Dodgers-Angels is called the Freeway Series, a Lakers-Clippers game is called the Hallway Series, since the Staples Center is the only building in NBA history where 2 teams have groundshared.

Food.  Los Angeles is an international city, and the concession stands at the Staples Center reflect this. But L.A. is also a city where individuality clashes with conformity, and this can be seen in the chain restaurants serving the place:

* California Pizza Kitchen, outside Section 109.

* Camacho's Cantina (Mexican), 117.

* Dave's Dog House (as if there really was such a thing as a "gourmet hot dog"), 102.

* Deli & Dash, 115.

* Goose Island (Chicago-style hot dogs by Hebrew National, and Fritos chips), 108.

* Ludo Bird (a French theme), 119.

* McDonald's (you know what they serve), 114.

* Outtakes (sandwiches), 104.

* Tap Haus (German-style beer & bratwurst), 113 and 118.

* Wetzel's Pretzels (including hot dogs with pretzel buns), 103.

Team History Displays. Despite the Kings' 2 recent Cups, the Lakers are still way ahead here, even if you don't count the 5 NBA Championships they won in Minneapolis. (And you shouldn't, since they had nothing to do with Los Angeles -- but since Minnesota is "The Land of 10,000 Lakes," now you know why a team in L.A. is called the Lakers.)


The Lakers have finished 1st in their Division 30 times since moving to L.A.: 1962, '63, '65, '66, '68, '69, '70, '71, '72, '73, '74, '77, '80, '82, '83, '84, '85, '86, '87, '88, '89, '90, 2000, '01, '02, '08, '09, '10, '11 and '12. And they have reached the NBA Finals 25 times since their arrival: 1962, '63, '65, '66, '68, '69, '70, '72, '73, '80, '82, '83, '84, '85, '87, '88, '89, '91, 2000, '01, '02, '04, '08, '09 and '10.

But, like the Yankees, the Boston Celtics, the Green Bay Packers, the Dallas Cowboys and the Montreal Canadiens, they only post banners of their World Championships, having won 11 in L.A.: 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010. This places them 2nd to the Celtics, and if you do count the Minnesota titles, it's very close: 17 to 16. The Chicago Bulls, with 6, are way behind in 3rd.
The Lakers have 9 banners with retired numbers, plus 2 other banners that I'll get to shortly: 

* From their 1971-72 NBA Championship season: 13, center Wilt Chamberlain; 22, forward Elgin Baylor (their 1st star in L.A., although he retired early in that season and thus didn't get a ring); 25, guard Gail Goodrich; 44, guard Jerry West. Although that team featured a young guard named Pat Riley, who would go on to coach the Lakers to 4 NBA titles, his Number 12 has not been retired.

* From their 1980, 1982 and 1985 NBA Championship seasons: 32, guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson; 33, center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; and 52, forward Jamaal Wilkes. Kareem and Jamaal both won National Championships at crosstown UCLA, as did Goodrich. Unlike Goodrich, they converted to Islam and gave themselves new Arabic names: Kareem was born as Lew Alcindor, Jamaal as Keith Wilkes. The aforementioned Jerry West was the Laker GM who built the 1980s and 2000s dynasties.

* From their 1987 and 1988 NBA Championship seasons: Magic, Kareem, and 42, forward James Worthy.

* From their 2000, 2001 and 2002 NBA Championship seasons: 34, center Shaquille O'Neal, born and raised in Newark, and a Devils fan, although he went to high school in San Antonio. Guard Kobe Bryant, who played on these teams, and on their 2009 and 2010 titlists, will likely also get his number retired. But which number? On the earlier 3 titles, he wore 8; on the latter 2 and to the end of his career this season, he wore 24.

* The Lakers have a single banner honoring 6 Hall-of-Famers from their Minneapolis days: 17, forward Jim Pollard; 19, forward Vern Mikkelsen; 22, guard Slater Martin; 34, center Clyde Lovellette; 99, center George Mikan; and head coach John Kundla. 22 and 34 have been retired for others, but other sports teams (including the Knicks, 15 for both Dick McGuire and Earl Monroe, and the Yankees, 8 for Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra) have retired 1 number for 2 players. And 17, 19 and especially 99 are not commonly worn, making it odd that these numbers haven't been retired.

* They also have a banner with the image of a microphone, for Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn, who broadcast for them from 1961 until his death in 2002. He was famous for his "Chickisms," sayings that have entered the basketball lexicon: Airball, boo-birds, brick, charity stripe, finger roll, garbage time, give and go, no harm no foul, triple-double, and, yes, Chick coined the term "slam dunk."

A team getting beaten badly "couldn't beat the Sisters of Mercy." They had "two chances, slim and none, and slim just left the building." If a shot was particularly bad, he'd invoke his wife: "Marge could have made that shot." If a supposedly easy shot was flubbed, there was "too much mustard on the hot dog." When the fans booed an official's call, he'd say, "Lots of referees in the building, only 3 getting paid."

Despite coming from the Chicago area, he came up with some countrified sayings reminiscent of baseball's Red Barber and Ernie Harwell, and football's Keith Jackson. A player called for traveling "did the bunny hop in the pea patch." Good defense meant they were "on him like a postage stamp" or "covered like the rug on your floor." A player making a clutch shot "has ice-water in his veins." A team missing a lot of shots "couldn't throw a pea into the ocean."

The Clippers have now won Pacific Division Championships in 2013 and 2014, but they've also announced that they won't hang banners for them, just as the Lakers don't hang banners for sub-league titles.

The Kings' banners are at the other end of the arena. It's hard to believe, but in 48 completed seasons (not counting the current one and the canceled 2004-05), they've only finished 1st in their Division once, in the Smythe Division in 1991. And they've never won the President's Trophy for best overall record in the NHL. But they won the Western Conference Championship in 1993 (its last year under the name of the Clarence Campbell Conference), and won the Stanley Cup in 2012 (beating the Devils) and 2014 (beating the Rangers -- making the Kings the only team to beat 2 different New York Tri-State Area teams in a Final, in any sport, except for the Red Sox, who beat the Giants in the 1912 World Series and the Dodgers in 1916).

The Kings have 6 retired numbers, including 2/3rds of their 1970s and '80s "Triple Crown Line": 16, for center Marcel Dionne; and 18, for right wing Dave Taylor. Left wing Charlie Simmer has not yet had his Number 11 retired. Also retired from the 1970s is the 30 of goaltender Rogatien "Rogie" Vachon. But such was the Kings' luck that the only Stanley Cup won by any of those guys were the Cups won by Vachon in 1968, '69 and '71 -- as the backup goalie on the Montreal Canadiens. Perhaps Simmer has not had his number retired because he's not in the Hockey Hall of Fame, as Dionne, Taylor and Vachon are.

From their 1993 Conference Champions, they retired the 4 of defenseman Rob Blake, the 20 of left wing Luc Robitaille, and the 99 of center Wayne Gretzky. That team had some of Gretzky's 1980s Edmonton Oiler teammates, including a pair Hall-of-Famers, right wing Jari Kurri, Number 17; and defenseman Paul Coffey, Number 77; however, those numbers have not been retired.

Also honored by the Hall of Fame, with their Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, are broadcasters John "Jiggs" McDonald (better known around here as an Islander announcer) Bob Miller and Nick Nickson.

Outside the arena, at the Star Plaza, are statues of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Chick Hearn, Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille and Oscar De La Hoya, who boxed in L.A. many times and was a hero of the Mexican-American community. A statue of Shaquille O'Neal has been announced, to be dedicated in the 2016-17 season. West 11th Street, on the north side of the arena, has been renamed Chick Hearn Court.

Stuff. The Team LA Store at the Staples Center not only sells items connected with the 4 teams playing there, but also the baseball Angels and soccer's Galaxy. They also have outlets at Angel Stadium in Anaheim and the Gals' home, the StubHub Center in Carson.

Contrary to its image as a city whose idea of culture is yogurt, there is a Los Angeles literary tradition. Much of it is in the "hard-boiled detective story," as pioneered by Raymond Chandler and his L.A.-based private eye Philip Marlowe. Writers influenced by the city include Nathanael West, Charles Bukowski, James Ellroy, Michael Connelly, Walter Mosley and Bret Easton Ellis. And the Los Angeles Times has produced many fine sportswriters. But as for books about the Staples Center's teams? Uh...

In 2009, the L.A. Times' sports staff compiled The Los Angeles Lakers: 50 Amazing Years in the City of Angels. It's as good a history of the team as you're liable to find, and a year later they released an expanded edition that included the 2010 title.

In 2005, sportswriter and former coach Charley Rosen collaborated with Phil Jackson -- at that point the Lakers' coach, but a member of the Knicks team that faced the Lakers in the 1970, '72 and '73 NBA Finals -- on The Pivotal Season: How the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers Changed the NBA.

In 2014, Jeff Pearlman published Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. Pearlman has also written about naughtiness in sports: The Bad Guys Won! (the 1986 Mets), Boys Will Be Boys (the 1990s Dallas Cowboys), Love Me, Hate Me (Barry Bonds) and The Rocket That Fell to Earth (Roger Clemens). But he also wrote about one of sprots' true good guys: Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton.

The Clippers? Um... In 2013, Josh Anderson published their installment in the NBA's On the Hardwood series. Julie Nelson published the Sparks' edition in the Women's Pro Basketball Today series. And the Times' sports department produced the retrospective Crowning Glory: The Los Angeles Kings' Incredible Run to the 2012 Stanley Cup.

Think the Mets are better than the Yankees going into the 2016 season? Think again.

All of these are dependent, of course, on the players involved staying healthy and no new acquisitions over the course of the season.

1st Base: Mark Teixeira vs. Lucas Duda. Teix is one of the best players of the last 10 years, and proved until his late August injury that he's back to his old form. Duda is... Lucas Duda. Edge, Yankees, solidly.

2nd Base: Starlin Castro vs. Neil Walker. Personally, I'd rather have Refsnyder here, but the Yankees decided (for the 2nd year in a row) that they wanted the proven star at the position (and letting Stephen Drew be that last year was a mistake). The Mets picked up Walker to take the place of the departed Daniel Murphy, but he won't be able to match Murphy, let alone Castro. Edge: Yankees, solidly.

Shortstop: Didi Gregorius vs. Asdrubal Cabrera. At the start of last season, the Mets would have had this, as Cabrera's had a decent career and Didi was unproven. Not anymore: Didi's already better than any shortstop the Mets have ever had, including the vastly overrated Jose Reyes. And Cabrera, at this point in his career, is no Reyes. Edge: Yankees, solidly.

3rd Base: Chase Headley vs. David Wright. When Derek Jeter retired, people who thought they knew baseball said Wright was the new face of New York baseball. Fast-forward to October, and he was in about 7th place to be the face of the Mets, behind their "aces," Murphy and Cespedes. Granted, Headley's not great, but I know who I'd rather have in a key situation. It's not the proven failure Wright. Edge: Yankees, solidly.

Left Field: Brett Gardner vs. Michael Conforto. Gardner faded down the stretch, but he still added power to his speed and defense. And are the Mets really gonna trust a 23-year-old with 194 major league plate appearances to be a starting outfielder? Says a lot about them. Edge: Yankees, in a landslide.

Center Field: Jacoby Ellsbury vs. Yoenis Cespedes. Say what you want about Ellsbury's health, but he's a proven clutch performer with multiple tools. Cespedes is a one-dimensional player, and that one dimension didn't work out in the postseason. Edge: Yankees, slightly.

Right Field: Carlos Beltran vs. Curtis Granderson. Both of them looked done for most of the season. Beltran still has more run-producing ability. Edge: Yankees, slightly.

Designated Hitter: Alex Rodriguez vs., oh, that's right, the stupid National League doesn't use the DH. Edge: Yankees, in a landslide.

Bench: Dustin Ackley, Slade Heathcott, Aaron Hicks, Rob Refsnyder, Austin Romine, Gary Sanchez and Mason Williams (Greg Bird is out for the season due to injury); vs. Eric Campbell, Alejandro De Aza, Wilmer Flores, Dilson Herrera, Juan Lagares, Brandon Nimmo, Kevin Plawecki, Matt Reynolds and Ruben Tejada. Does anybody on the Met bench excite you? If so, you need to drink less coffee. The fact that the Yankees can call on Refsnyder and Hicks bodes well. Edge: Yankees, slightly.

Catcher: Brian McCann vs. Travis d'Arnaud. d'Arnaud is the reason the R.A. Dickey trade isn't a total wipeout in the Toronto Blue Jays' favor. (Well, that, and Dickey hasn't been so hot for the Jays.) But McCann is a better fielder, a better handler of pitchers, and a better hitter. Edge: Yankees, solidly.

Starting Rotation: Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi, CC Sabathia and Luis Severino, with Ivan Nova as the step-in man; vs. Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Bartolo Colon and Steven Matz, with Zack Wheeler as the step-in man. The Yankees only had 1 postseason game last season, but that was due to the hitting stopping. In contrast, in the biggest games they (Colon excepted) have ever seen, the Mets' starters embarrassed themselves in the World Series. The Yankees hit them hard in their regular-season Interleague games. NOT ONE of the Mets' starters would crack a fully-healthy Yankee rotation. "Aces"? The Mets haven't had a true ace since they let David Cone get away after the 1991 season. Edge: Yankees, solidly.

Bullpen: Vicente Campos, Nate Goody, Jacob Lindgren, Bryan Mitchell, Branden Pinder, Nate Rumbelow, Chasen Shreve, Kirby Yates, Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances, and closing with Aroldis Chapman; vs. Antonio Bastardo, Jerry Blevins, Sean Gilmartin, Rafael Montero, Addison Reed, and closing with Jeurys Familia. Bitch, please, did you even watch the World Series? The Mets played 5 games, led in all of them, and blew leads in all of them (including the one they won anyway). The bullpen is the biggest reason the Mets are takeable, if only a team will step up and do it, as the Yankees and the Royals both did last year. Edge: Yankees, in a landslide.

Manager: Joe Girardi vs. Terry Collins. Each manager has won just 1 Pennant. Girardi doesn't know how to handle a pitching staff, whereas Collins won his Pennant last year despite an atrocious bullpen. This may be the Mets' only true edge. Edge: Mets, slightly.

Divisional Opposition: The Yankees have to get past the Toronto Blue Jays (who had no business being in the postseason), the Baltimore Orioles (no real threat), the Tampa Bay Rays (done now that Dirty Joe Maddon is no longer their manager) and the Boston Red Sox (horrible 2 years in a row, but since they cheat and their bosses have money, count them out at your peril; while the Mets have to get past the Washington Nationals (already established chokers, but signed the Mets' best player from last seas), the Atlanta Braves (some Playoff experience), the Miami Marlins (not very good) and the Philadelphia Phillies (a desiccated husk of a once-great team). It was the weak Division that allowed the Mets into the Playoffs. They can't count on winning it again with themselves diminished and the Nats improved. In contrast, the Yankees' only serious challenger is those pesky Blue Jays, and they haven't improved, while the Yankees have. Edge: Yankees, slightly.

Conclusion: Aside from having a manager who relies on his eyes instead of a damn binder, there is no area where the Mets have an edge over the Yankees. None.

The Mets will be lucky that 2 Wild Card berths are available, because they're not winning the NL East in 2016. The Yankees will win the AL East; how they handle Playoff opposition is another matter.

During the 1995 Stanley Cup Playoffs, as the Devils were advancing to a 1st title, there was a rumor that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was going to allow the Devils to be bought by a group trying to bring a team to Nashville, Tennessee -- our team.

When he was interviewed between periods of the clinching Game 4 of the Finals, the Fox interview shown on the scoreboard screen at the Brendan Byrne Arena, a full house of 19,040 Devils fans chanted, "Bettman sucks!"

"Let it be known," Bettman said to Fox (and Devils) announcer Mike Emrick, "that hockey fans are passionate!"

The Devils won the Cup, and stayed. On December 18, 1996, the Nashville Arena, now named the Bridgestone Arena, opened. On June 25, 1997, Bettman granted an expansion franchise to Nashville. On October 10, 1998, the Nashville Predators played their 1st game.

This coming Thursday night, the Devils travel to Nashville, but only for 1 game, to play the Predators. All has been forgiven for the attempt to move the Devils there over 20 years ago.

Before You Go. Nashville is in the South. Not the Deep South, but the Mid-South. However, Tennessee rejoined the Union a long time ago, and you won't need to bring a passport or change your money.

If you were going to a baseball game, or an early-season football game, the heat might be an issue. But this will be at the beginning of March, so even outside the arena, heat won't be a factor. What could be a factor is rain: The website of Nashville's main newspaper, The Tennessean, is predicting thunderstorms. As for temperatures, they're talking low 60s for daylight and mid-30s for night. You might not need a jacket in the afternoon, but you'll need a winter jacket at night.

Nashville, like most (but not all) of Tennessee, is in the Central Time Zone, an hour behind us. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.

Tickets. The Predators are averaging 16,881 fans per home game this season, about 98.6 percent of capacity, a slight increase over last season. Tickets might be hard to get.

Seats in the lower level, the 100 sections, go for $165 between the goalss and $93 behind them. Seats in the upper level, the 300 sections, go for $45 and $32.

Getting There. It's 892 miles from Midtown Manhattan to downtown Nashville, and 881 miles from the Prudential Center to the Bridgestone Arena. So your first instinct would be to fly. This looks like a good idea, since a round-trip flight could cost under $500. The downside: Changing planes in Charlotte. Nashville International Airport is 8 miles east of downtown, and the Number 18 bus can get you to downtown in under half an hour.

You can't take Amtrak: It doesn't serve Nashville. Greyhound can get you from New York to Memphis in a little under 30 hours, for $308 round-trip, although it could drop to as little as $176 with advanced purchase, although you'd have to change buses in Richmond. The Greyhound station is at 709 5th Avenue South, 5 blocks south of the arena.

If you do drive, it's far enough that you should get someone to go with you, to trade off, especially if one can sleep while the other drives. Get into New Jersey, take Interstate 78 West into Pennsylvania. At Harrisburg, get on Interstate 81 South, and take that down through Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia, into Tennessee, where it flows into Interstate 40 West. Take that halfway across Tennessee. Exit 210 is for downtown.

If all goes well, you should spend a little over an hour in New Jersey, 2 hours and 45 minutes in Pennsylvania, 15 minutes in Maryland, half an hour in West Virginia, 6 and a half hours in Virginia, and 2 hours and 45 minutes in Tennessee, for a total of 13 hours and 45 minutes. Given rest stops in Pennsylvania, one at each end of Virginia, and 1 in Tennessee, and we're talking about a trip of at least 17 hours -- each way.

Once In the City. Founded in 1779, and named for General Francis Nash, killed in the Battle of Brandywine outside Philadelphia in the War of the American Revolution, Nashville is in central Tennessee. It is the State capital, home to 627,000 people with a metropolitan area of about 1.9 million.

The sales tax in Tennessee is 7 percent, and within Davidson County, including Nashville, 9.25 percent, even higher than New York's. Address numbers on east-west streets increase away from the Cumberland River, and Broadway separates north from south. The The Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority (NMTA) runs buses, with a $1.75 fare, and the Music City Star, a commuter rail service to the city's eastern suburbs, with a fare double that, $3.50.

Going In. The Bridgestone Arena is downtown, with an official address of 501 Broadway, at 5th Avenue South. Across Broadway, on either side of 5th, are the Nashville Convention Center and the Ryman Auditorium, legendary home of The Grand Ole Opry. If you're driving in, parking can be had for as little as $3.00. Major entrances are at the north and south ends, smaller ones at the east and west.
The Arena, easily identifiable with its sloping roof and its antenna at the north end, opened in 1996, with the generic name Nashville Arena. It was renamed the Gaylord Entertainment Center in 1999, after a locally-based media company that was a minority stockholder in the team. In 2005, Gaylord sold its stock, and in 2007 the arena was renamed the Sommet Center, after Sommet Group, a local company that oversaw software development and payroll services. But Sommet was a company built on fraud, its founder went to prison, and in 2010 locally-based tire company Bridgestone bought the naming rights, and holds them to this day.

The rink is laid out north-to-south, and the Predators shoot twice toward the south end.
The Arena has hosted Southeastern Conference Tournament, Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, and NCAA Tournament basketball -- in each case, both men's and women's. It hosted the Women's Final Four in 2014. The Country Music Association (CMA) Awards have been held there since 2006.

Food. Memphis has a reputation as a city of fine Southern food, particularly barbecue. Nashville, less so: They're known for music first, and food, and everything else, somewhere down the line.

Delaware North runs the concessions. There's a Main Food Court behind Sections 101 and 102 at the north end. Nathan's hot dogs and Dunkin Donuts are served throughout the Arena. Other chains available including Whitt's Barbecue, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Popcornopolis, Nuts About Nashville, Christie Cookies (hopefully not named for a Governor of New Jersey or two) and Dippin Dots. They also serve Bacon On a Stick. The South.

Team History Displays. The Nashville Predators began as an NHL expansion team in 1998 -- only the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Minnesota Wild, and the Atlanta Thrashers-turned-new Winnipeg Jets are newer franchises -- and while they've made the Playoffs in 8 of the last 11 completed seasons, and won postseason series in 2011 and '12, they've never won their Division (though they've finished 2nd 6 times, including last season), and have never gotten past the Western Conference Semifinals.

So they've got no titles of any kind. Nor do they retired any numbers for any player -- nor has any player who played for them yet been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

But they do have 1 banner in the rafters: Honoring the fans as the "7th Man" with a Number 7, which, indeed, is not worn by any current Predators player.
The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame is located at the Arena. No Predators player has yet been inducted.

Stuff. The Nashville Predators Team Store is located on the east, 5th Avenue side of the Arena. The usual team-related gear can be found there.

As one of the NHL's newer teams, there are no NBA Finals DVD packages for the Predators, and books about them are few and far between. In time for the team's 10th Anniversary in 2008, Craig Leipold published Hockey Tonk: The Amazing Story of the Nashville Predators. I wouldn't say their story is "amazing," but as expansion franchises, go, and as Sun Belt hockey teams go, they've done okay.) This past Auturmn, Justin B. Bradford and Pete Weber collaborated on Nashville Predators: The Making of Smashville.

During the Game. Nashville people don't like Memphis people. And Tennessee people don't like Arkansas, Alabama, and Florida people -- holdovers from college football rivalries. And Predators fans really don't like the Chicago Blackhawks and their fans. That's about as far as rivalries go there. They don't have a particular problem with New Jersey. So as long as you don't make any wiseguy remarks about this being a North vs. South game, you shouldn't face anything beyond the usual nonviolent "My team rocks, your team sucks" talk.

Why the Blackhawks? Apparently, during Playoff matchups, Chicagoans buy up a lot of online tickets, make the 475-mile trip, and make nuisances of themselves. Sort of like Ranger fans making the much shorter trip to the Prudential Center. Except the Hawk fans make it worse, but cheering throughout the National Anthem, even when the Preds bring in country music superstars, like Vince Gill, a season ticketholder from Day One.

So the Preds have "In Gold We Trust," asking fans to wear the mustard-yellow (it sure ain't "gold") jerseys, and sing the Anthem along with whoever's singing it, usually some country singer or other (if not always a big star). It works pretty well.

Mike Fisher plays for the Predators. He's married to country superstar Carrie Underwood. If being the 2nd-most famous, and 2nd-best-paid, person in his own marriage (a rare thing for a male major league athlete) bothers him, he doesn't show it in public. Then again, this means that Carrie's married name is Carrie Fisher.

The Predators have the Predators Dancers, and their own Ice Girls -- and they sell cheesecake calendars with pictures of both. Their mascot is Gnash the Sabretooth Tiger -- Nash, short for Nashville, with a G at the beginning, so he can gnash his sabre teeth.

You might want to stay out of Section 303, behind the north goal. Or, rather, Cellblock 303. It's their version of the Section 233 Crazies at the Prudential Center and the Blue Seats at Madison Square Garden. After each opposing player is introduced, they yell, "...SUCKS!" Okay, fairly common, and not as witty as Detroit Red Wing fans shouting, "Who cares?" But when the opposing head coach is introduced, they close with, "And he sucks, too!" That is a little different.

During the team's goal song, "Gold On the Ceiling" by the Nashville-based group the Black Keys, they do the familiar, "Hey: You suck!" After the song finishes, the sound-effects guy pushes a button for the roar of a sabretooth tiger, for each goal the team has scored thus far. The Predator fans yell, "That's one!" and "That's two!" and so on until reaching the correct number, followed by invoking the opposing goalie's name: "Thank you, Schneider, may we have another?" And while we have, "If You Know the Rangers Suck," they have, "If you're crappy and you know it, ice the puck!" Their victory song is "I Like It, I Love It," by Tim McGraw (Tug's son, to we baseball fans).

Oh yeah, there's another hockey tradition they've co-opted, one they probably should have left alone. You know how Detroit fans like to throw an octopus onto the ice? Well, when the Wings came to town in the 2002 Playoffs, Nashville fans responded by throwing that Southern pescatory staple, the catfish, onto the ice. (It probably had nothing to do with the 1966 Lovin' Spoonful song "Nashville Cats," although the Bridgestone Arena was formerly home to the Nashville Kats of the Arena Football League.)

After the Game. If there was an NHL team in Memphis, Nashville fans wouldn't like them. And we know they don't like Chicago. But they've never been known to turn on New Jerseyans. Devils fans shouldn't get any hassling, as long as they aren't the ones to bring it on.

Being in downtown Nashville, there are plenty of places to go for a postgame libation. Just don't call it a "libation" when you're in one, or you might get some funny looks. Robert's Western World, at 416 Broadway, is a honky-tonk famed for cold beer, fried baloney sandwiches and live country bands. Across the street, Rippy's specializes in barbecue. And there are many others.

However, I could find no place in Nashville catering to fans of any Tri-State Area team: Not the Yankees, the Mets, the Giants, and so on... and certainly not the Devils. Besides, Charlie Daniels thinks we went down to Georgia. (Which hasn't had an NHL team since April 2011.)

Sidelights. Nashville is about music 1st, Tennessee State government 2nd, and sports 3rd. But it's a good sports town, even though it's never had an MLB or an NBA team.

* Nissan Stadium. Home of the Tennessee Titans since it opened in 1999, it was known as the Adelphia Coliseum until 2002, simply The Coliseum until 2006, LP Field until last June. The 69,000-seat horseshoe has seen the Titans win the AFC Championship in its inaugural season, and nearly win Super Bowl XXXIV, and Division titles in 2000 (the old AFC Central), 2002 and 2008 (the new AFC South). However, the Titans haven't made the Playoffs since the 2008 season, haven't won a Playoff game since January 2004, and have gone just 5-27 the last 2 seasons.

Tennessee State University, a historically-black school in Nashville, is the stadium's collegiate tenant. The stadium also hosts the annual Music City Bowl. It hosts concerts, including the CMA Music Festival every June.

It's also been a soccer facility, including hosting the U.S. national team in a 1-0 loss to Morocco in 2006, a 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago in 2009, a 1-0 loss to Paraguay in 2011, and a 4-0 win over Guatemala last July. That was game was riddled by operational and logistical issues, and even before kickoff, the Twittersphere exploded with discussions of its inadequacy.

1 Titans Way, across the River from downtown.There's no bus service, but it accessible from downtown by walking across the John Siegenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, which makes for a great visual on Titans gamedays.

* Vanderbilt University. If there was an "Ivy League" for Southern schools, this school, founded by 19th Century railroad baron Cornelius Vanderbilt, would be one of them. It is superb academically, but those high standards have hurt it when recruiting athletes, who tend to go to less stringent schools, thus leaving Vandy, whose teams are called the Commodores after Cornelius' nickname, struggling within the Southeastern Conference in most sports. Their women's basketball team is an exception, but, even then, they are overshadowed by their neighbors in Knoxville, the University of Tennessee.

Dudley Field opened in 1922, but was demolished and replaced with Vanderbilt Stadium in 1981, although the playing surface is still called Dudley Field, for William F. Dudley, dean of the University's medical school and the founder of the precursor league to the SEC.

After leaving Houston following the 1996 season, the plan was for the Oilers to play at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis for 2 years, as the Tennessee Oilers, before moving to the new stadium in Nashville for 1999. But this was a public-relations disaster, as Memphians stayed away from Nashville's team in droves, heedless of the State's name on the team.

So after topping 32,000 in only 1 home game (the last, 50,677 seeing them beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to finish 8-8), and getting less than 18,000 in 2 of their games (the smallest NFL crowds since World War II, except for the Scab Year of 1987), Bud Adams took the hint, and swung a deal to play in Nashville a year early. Vanderbilt Stadium seated only 41,448 people, making it the smallest NFL stadium since the early 1960s, but they sold it out in 4 of their 8 games. The next year, they moved into what's now Nissan Stadium, and dropped the Oilers name to officially become the Tennessee Titans.

Vanderbilt Stadium is adjacent to Memorial Gymnasium, built in 1952 as a memorial to the servicemen and -women of World War II. It is unique in college basketball (although this was not he case when it opened) in that both teams' benches are behind one of the baskets. Other unusual touches, and its age (there are several Division I schools with older facilities still in use) have nicknamed it The Fenway Park of College Basketball. 210 25th Avenue South, about 2 miles west of downtown. Number 3 bus.

* First Tennessee Park and site of Sulphur Dell. The original home of Nashville baseball is its home once again. Sulphur Dell stood on the site from 1870 to 1969, but the original ballpark faced southwest, so the State House would be in view. This put the sun in the outfielders' eyes. Along with odors from a nearby dump wafting over, and the occasional flooding from the Cumberland River that forced some games to be moved to Vanderbilt University's field, this earned the stadium the nicknames "The Dump" and "Suffer Hell."

This wooden ballpark was demolished, and replaced with stadium of concrete and steel for the 1927 season. It seated 8,500 fans at its peak. But while the new park fixed the sun problem, it did nothing to get rid of the smell from the dump, and the shape of the plot of land forced a short right field fence with a terrace, much like Cincinnati's old Crosley Field and Houston's Minute Maid Park today. When the Yankees visited for an exhibition game, Babe Ruth refused to play his usual position of right field because of the little hill, and was moved to left field.

The team that played there the longest was called the Nashville Vols, short for "Volunteers," as the University of Tennessee (in Knoxville) calls its teams the Volunteers or the Vols, as Tennessee is known as the Volunteer State. They won Southern Association regular-season Pennants in 1901, 1902, 1908, 1916, 1940, 1943, 1948 and 1949; Playoffs for the SA title in 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1949, 1950 and 1953; and the Dixie Series against the Champions of the Texas League in 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1949.

Hall-of-Famers who played for the Vols included Yankee pitcher Waite Hoyt and Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Kiki Cuyler. The 1940 Vols have been remembered as one of the greatest minor league teams. It featured future All-Star pitcher and Yankee World Champion Johnny Sain, former Detroit Tigers pitcher Cletus "Boots" Poffenberger going 26-9, and catcher Charles "Greek" George won the SA Most Valuable Player award. Unlike Sain, George he didn't play much in the major leagues, and after getting called up in 1945 due to the World War II manpower shortage, he punched an umpire during an argument and got unofficially blackballed from baseball. In his case, "Vol" might have been short for "Volatile."

The National Association, the governing body of minor league baseball, ordered that all leagues under its umbrella be desegregated for the 1962 season. Rather than comply, the Southern Association folded. The Vols, who valued staying in business over white supremacy, were inactive for 1962, but started again in the South Atlantic League for 1963. But they lost money, and folded. Like the aforementioned Crosley Field, it was used as a police impound lot, before being demolished in 1969 and being used as parking for State government buildings.

First Tennessee Park, named for a bank, opened on the site in 2015, and the Nashville Sounds moved in. It seats 8,500 people, with grassy outfield seating pushing capacity to around 10,000. It has a view of downtown Nashville. The old address was 900 5th Avenue North, but it's now listed as 19 Junior Gilliam Way, for the Nashville native who wore Number 19 as a Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers player and coach. A mile from downtown, and several buses go there.

* Herschel Greer Stadium. Named for the late former president of the Vols, this ballpark seats 10,300 people, with standing room pushing it to a possible 15,000, which made it one of the largest minor-league ballparks.

From 1978 to 2014, it was the home of the Nashville Sounds, who started out in the Double-A Southern Association, and moved to Triple-A, first to the American Association, and then, when that league was split up, to the Pacific Coast League. (Yes, I know, Tennessee is pretty far from the Pacific Coast.) The Sounds won Pennants there in 1979, 1982 and 2005, meaning that Nashville has won either a regular-season Pennant or a Playoff Pennant 17 times: 1901, '02, '08, '16, '39, '40, '41, '42, '43, '44, '48, '49, '50, '53, '79, '82 and 2005. (Compare this with Memphis' 10 and Knoxville's 3.)

The stadium was easily identifiable by its nod to Nashville being "Music City": A guitar-shaped scoreboard. But as Camden Yards and a series of new ballparks, in both the majors and the minors, rewrote the rules for what a baseball stadium should be in the 1990s, Greer Stadium began to be seen as outdated, and so a new park was built.

With the Sounds having moved out, its future is uncertain. 534 Chestnut Street, about a mile and a half south of downtown. The Adventure Science Center is next-door. Buses 8, 12 and 25 will get you to within a short walk.

The nearest Major League Baseball team is the Atlanta Braves, 246 miles away, with the Cincinnati Reds a little farther away at 272 miles. According to an April 24, 2014 article in The New York Times, baseball fandom in Nashville is set by TV watching: The 3 most popular teams are the Braves, the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, with some people rooting for the Braves and the Reds due to the comparative proximity.

The nearest NBA team is the Memphis Grizzlies, 213 miles away. But Nashvillians don't root for the Grizzlies, because of the inherent Intra-Tennessee rivalry. For those who care about the NBA at all, according to a May 23, 2014 article in The New York Times, they tend to divide their fandom among the "cool teams": The Los Angeles Lakers, the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Former LeBrons, and the Cleveland Once-and-Again LeBrons.

The nearest Major League Soccer team is the Columbus Crew, 383 miles, at least until the 2017, when Atlanta United begin play. But don't expect Nashville to get teams in any of these other sports: The South really doesn't care about soccer, the metro area would rank 28th in population among NBA markets, and it would rank 31st, dead last, in baseball.

* Ryman Auditorium. If country music has a Yankee Stadium or a Madison Square Garden, this is it. The Mother Church of Country Music, a.k.a. the Carnegie Hall of the South, is easily the most 2nd-most famous building in the State of Tennessee, behind Graceland, the Memphis home of Elvis Presley, who performed at the Ryman very early in his career, on October 2, 1954.

Opened in 1892, it began hosting the weekly Grand Ole Opry ("grand old opera") radio show on Nashville radio station WSM in 1943 (though the show had been broadcast since 1925). The Auditorium seats 2,362 people, and with stars announced ahead of time, there were occasions when thousands had to be turned away.

By the 1960s, the building had deteriorated, and complaints about the dressing rooms grew louder: The men had to share a small one, and the women had to use a restroom. Roy Acuff, often called the King of Country Music, bought an adjacent building just so he'd have a decent place to change. And a new house for the Opry was planned. A wooden circle was cut from the stage, and transplanted to the new Opry House, much like home plate or a square of sod is sometimes removed from an old ballpark and put in the new one.

"I never want another note of music played in that building," Acuff said. He had reason beyond his bitterness over the dressing room: He was a major stakeholder in Opryland USA. (He was a bit about the money: In 1948, he was the Republican nominee for Governor of Tennessee. He lost.) But he died in 1992, and, against heavy odds, the building survived him. Ed Gaylord of Gaylord Entertainment bought the building's parent company and had it restored.

The Ryman reopened in 1994, with its main entrance moved from the west side on 5th Avenue to the east side on 4th, plus an addition that included, yes, suitable dressing rooms, and, for the first time in its 102-year history, air conditioning. In 2012, the original stage (all but a small portion of it, left for historical reasons) was replaced as part of new renovations. The Opry has returned every winter, while still broadcasting from its new home the rest of the year. ABC broadcast The Johnny Cash Show live from the Ryman, and Cash -- whose birthday would have been today, February 26, were he still alive -- is among those country legends whose memorial service has been held there.

The revival of the Ryman has coincided with the revival of downtown Nashville, including the construction of the Arena, the Stadium, and the city's first real skyscrapers. 116 5th Avenue North.

* Nashville Municipal Auditorium. While Elvis had many recording sessions in Nashville, after 1954 he didn't give another concert in the city until July 1, 1973, a matinee and an evening show at the Municipal Auditorium.

Opened in 1962, it still hosts concerts and sporting events. It's hosted minor-league hockey, and had the Devils actually moved to Nashville for the 1995-96 season, it's likely they'd have played at the Auditorium for a year before what's now the Bridgestone Arena opened. 417 4th Avenue North, downtown, 3 blocks from the State House.

The Beatles never performed in Nashville as a unit, although individual members did so on their solo tours.

* Grand Ole Opry House. As with sports venues, the Opry decided in the 1960s to leave the city for the suburbs, and create a family atmosphere, even adding an amusement park. Opryland USA opened in 1972, and the Grand Ole Opry House in 1974. The oak circle from the Ryman stage was placed at center stage, and lead singers stand there.

The new theater (no longer so new) seats about 4,000, and had all the amenities that the Ryman did not yet have. I visited Nashville in 1991, before it became a major league sports city, and the group I was with visited Opryland USA and had a great time. But I wanted to see the Ryman. I just wanted to reach out and touch the brick.

Of course, at this time, Camden Yards was rewriting the rules for stadium and arena construction, and cities took back their leadership role from the suburbs. Attendance dropped, and in 1997, Gaylord Entertainment closed the theme park. The Opry House remained in operation, and the Opry Mills shopping mall and the Opryland Resort & Convention Center opened on the site of the park in 2000.

When the Cumberland River flooded in 2010, my first concern should have been for the people -- and 31 people over 3 States died -- but it was for the Ryman. Instead, it sustained only minor damage, while the Arena, the Stadium, and the Opry House all got socked, especially the Opry House. It was able to reopen in 6 months, while the show was broadcast from the Ryman and other Nashville locations. 433 Opry Mills Drive, about 9 miles east of downtown. Number 34 bus.

* Museums. Nashville isn't all about country music, although within a few steps of the Ryman (and the Arena) are museums dedicated to Johnny Cash (119 3rd Avenue S.) and George Jones (128 2nd Avenue N.), and the music in general at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (222 5th Avenue S.).

The Tennessee State Museum depicts the State's history, including the Native America, colonial, early Statehood and Civil War periods. Its collection of Civil War memorabilia is one of the largest. It shares a downtown building with the Tennessee Performing Arts Center -- a boring-looking 1981 building that replaced its former home, the much more appropriate 1929 War Memorial Building. 505 Deaderick Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues.

There are 3 Presidents with connections to Tennessee. Al Gore should have made it 4, and he made enough mistakes that, if he had done any one of them differently, his rightful victory would have been too big to get stolen from him. But, like the 3 who actually did get into the White House, he wasn't born in Tennessee, but rather in Washington, D.C., when his father, Albert Sr., was a Congressman. (Both father and son would serve Tennessee in each house of Congress.) As for the other 3, 2 were born in North Carolina, and the other might have been: Andrew Jackson was born somewhere near the Carolina State Line, and both North and South Carolina claim him.

But the 7th President (serving from 1829 to 1837) and War of 1812 General nicknamed Old Hickory is best known, as far as his residences are concerned, for being one of the founding fathers of the State of Tennessee.

The Hermitage was a plantation he owned from 1804 until his death in 1845. On that property, he and his wife Rachel lived in a log cabin until the main house was completed in 1821. It burned in 1834, and he then had the current house built. Today, conspiracy theorists would have blamed Henry Clay or the Bank of the United States for the fire, even though Jackson himself didn't. (He did, however, blame his political opponents for the smears against both him and Rachel that gave her a heart attack that killed her between the 1828 election and the 1829 Inauguration.)

Aside from George Washington's Mount Vernon and Elvis' Graceland, it's the most-visited former private home in America. 4580 Rachels Lane, in the town of Hermitage, 12 miles east of downtown. It's on a section of the Cumberland River known as Old Hickory Lake. The Number 6 bus gets you to within a mile and a half, and the bus and the walk combined takes about an hour.

The State Capitol, which opened just before the Civil War in 1859, contains the tomb of James K. Polk, 11th President (1845 to 1849), and his wife Sarah. The man who waged the Mexican-American War and gained us a huge chunk of our West, including all of California, he has been hailed as a visionary and assailed as a warmonger and a racist. He chose to serve only one term, and died just 3 months after leaving office, the shortest retirement of any ex-President. Sarah outlived him by 42 years, a record for a Presidential widow, and only Grover Cleveland's wife Frances, at 50 years, had a longer retirement from being First Lady. 600 Charlotte Avenue.

The other President with a Tennessee connection is Andrew Johnson, the 17th, who succeeded to the office on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, and was impeached for a ridiculous reason: He fired his Secretary of War (also Lincoln's), Edwin Stanton, without the permission of the Senate. He believed that law was unconstitutional, and when the aforementioned President Cleveland challenged it in 1886, the Supreme Court said they were both right. For all the good it did Johnson: Surviving his Senate trial by 1 vote, he knew he couldn't get elected on his own in 1868, got back into the Senate in 1874 (welcomed by the men who had tried him with a standing ovation), and died the next year.

He was an unrepentant racist, making it odd that Lincoln would choose him for the Vice Presidency in 1864 (it was because he was the only Southern Senator who stayed loyal to the Union when his State seceded), and he remains a contender for the title of worst President ever, and his hometown of Greeneville is 250 miles east of Nashville. His museum is at 67 Gilland Street. (Charlotte, North Carolina is actually the closest major league city, but it's not close.)

There's actually a 4th President with a minor connection to Nashville: In 2008, Barack Obama and John McCain had the 2nd of their 3 debates at the Black Box Theatre at Belmont University. Compton Avenue at Belmont Blvd., about 3 miles southwest of downtown. Number 2 bus.

Five of the six tallest buildings are in Nashville, only one in the larger city (but not larger metro area) of Memphis. The tallest went up in 1994, but has already changed names with one phone-service company buying out another: The South Central Bell Building, the BellSouth Building, and now the AT&T Building. At 617 feet high, its twin-spired roof has led to the nickname of the Batman Building. 333 Commerce Street.

Many music-themed movies have used Nashville as both a setting and a film location, including biopics of Elvis (Elvis, starring Kurt Russell), Patsy Cline (Sweet Dreams, starring Jessica Lange) and Loretta Lynn (Coal Miner's Daughter, starring Sissy Spacek), all including the Ryman as filming locations. While the current ABC TV drama Nashville is filmed in Los Angeles, the 1975 film of the same title was filmed on location.

*

Nashville is more than history and music, as important as those things are. It's also the home of an NHL team that, while not yet very successful, is usually good, has developed quite a following among people you wouldn't think would take to hockey, and is now another good reason to visit this legendary city.

Say what you want about the New York Rangers, and I've said plenty, but there was a time when they didn't "suck." And they had honored 8 men with retired numbers, and all were still alive.

That is no longer the case.

Andrew James Bathgate was born on August 28, 1932, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He played in the minor leagues for 2 teams whose names would later be borne by NHL teams: The Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League, and the Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League. He debuted with the Rangers in the 1952-53 season, and gave them his all for 11 seasons.

Were they good seasons? For him, yes: In 7 straight seasons, 1956-57 to 1962-63, under a 70-game schedule, he scored at least 26 goals. In 1958-59, he topped out at 40, a big number for the time (a pretty good number now), and won the Hart Trophy as NHL Most Valuable Player. He was named to 4 All-Star Games.

For the Rangers, not so much: In only 4 of his 11 seasons with them did they make the Playoffs: 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1962, never getting closer than within 2 games of the Finals, although they did lose to the eventual Champions in 3 of the 4. In 2 of those seasons, 1953 and 1960, they finished 6th -- and there were only 6 teams at the time.

The Rangers of the Eisenhower and Kennedy years weren't as bad as the worst teams of the post-expansion era, but when goaltender Lorne "Gump" Worsley was asked which team gave him the most trouble, he said, "The Rangers." (He was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 1963, and helped them win 4 Stanley Cups.) Bathgate, Worsley, and defenseman Harry Howell, all future members of the Hockey Hall of Fame, were pretty much the only reasons to watch the Rangers at the time.

The January 12, 1959 issue of Sports Illustrated put him on the cover (didn't jinx him, as it turned out), and the cover story was titled "Andy Bathgate: Is He the Greatest Ranger of Them All?" Perhaps not: Frank Boucher, Captain of their 1928 and 1933 Cup wins, and coach of their 1940 win, probably was, and probably still is.

But Andy deserved to be in the conversation then, and still does now. Howell agreed, saying he was the greatest player ever to put on the team's jersey: "He was our star, our premier player, our marquee attraction, and deservedly so."

*

Andy put his reputation as the holder of the Hart Trophy on the line in a big way. The January 1960 issue of True magazine published an article titled "Atrocities On Ice," with his name on it, but ghostwritten by Dave Anderson, a legendary sportswriter then working for the New York Journal-American. (Working for that paper in 1957, he claimed to have been the last person to leave the press box after the last game at Ebbets Field. He later moved to The New York Times, and is now 86 years old.)

"Unchecked brutality is going to kill somebody," Anderson quoted Bathgate as saying. He specifically cited spearing, the tactic of stabbing an opponent with the blade of the hockey stick. He named and shamed, including future Hall-of-Famers Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Doug Harvey, Tom Johnson and Fern Flaman. He also cited his own Ranger teammate, Lou Fontinato. "None of them," Bathgate said, "seems to care that he'l be branded as a hockey killer." In 2010, 50 years after the fact, Bathgate stood by his story: "Red Sullivan, I saw him speared right in front of our bench and have his spleen punctured."

Howe and Fontinato may have stuck in his mind because, the season before, Howe, the best player in the game but also a feared fighter, and Fontinato, the best-known goon in the game at the time, engaged in one of the nastiest fights that any building named Madison Square Garden has ever seen. Howe left Fontinato with a nose shaped like a crescent moon and red blood pouring down his blue Ranger jersey.

Responders to the article claimed that the Rangers ran interference, and that spearing was used to defend against it. The NHL fined him $1,000 (about $8,000 in today's money), at a time when he was making just $18,000 a year (about $144,000 now, and he was one of the best in the game), but it also changed the rule before the next season. "They still didn't give me my $1,000 back," Andy said. "It burns my ass at times, but you have to stand up for it. Sometimes, you've got to speak up for the betterment of hockey, because someone was going to get seriously hurt."

A few weeks before the True article, Bathgate brought about another change in hockey safety, and this time, it was unintentional. On November 1, 1959, playing for the Rangers at the old Garden, he fired a shot that hit Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante in the face.

Well, the end result was unintentional. The shot was on purpose: "It was deliberate on my part, because of what he did to me," Bathgate said, referring to a poke-check that sent him crashing into the boards, resulting in cuts to his face. "I thought to myself, 'Okay, I can't fight him, because the whole team would jump on me,'" he said, remembering that the Habs had the aforementioned Harvey and Johnson, and such talented hotheads as Maurice "the Rocket" Richard and Bernie Geoffrion.

"So I went into the dressing room and quickly got stitched up... His head was sticking out there, just like a chicken, just so he could see what was going on... It was actually a wrist shot. It wasn't a hard shot, but I tried to give it to him the same as me, and I guess I caught him. It was a shot with feeling in it. It wasn't a blast, and I wasn't trying to score, because the angle was really bad. But his head was sticking out, and I decided, if he wanted to play those little games... "

(In Jacques Plante: The Man Who Changed the Face of Hockey, Todd Denault's biography from which this quote is taken, it just trails off like that.)

Does this make Bathgate a hypocrite because of his complaint against spearing? I don't think so. He had a hard shot, although not as hard as the slap shot that gave Geoffrion, a pioneer in it that inspired the nickname "Boom-Boom." If Bathgate really wanted to hurt Plante with a shot, he could have used a lot more force. He didn't want to end Plante's career, season, or even game: He just wanted to make a point. Message received: Plante never poke-checked him again.

Plante left the ice to receive treatment, and refused to return without the mask he'd designed, but hadn't been allowed to wear. Canadiens coach Hector "Toe" Blake, one of the people who would defend the use of spearing against the Rangers, relented, and Plante became the 1st goalie to regularly wear a mask in the NHL. (A 1920s goalie named Clint Benedict had briefly worn one after an injury.) Plante's confidence restored, the defending Champion Canadiens beat the Rangers, 3-1.

Ironically, Plante would be acquired by the Rangers in the trade for Worsley, each having worn out his welcome with his former team, and he and Bathgate would briefly be teammates. To extend the irony, Worsley would end up being the last NHL goalie to refuse to wear a mask, with the 1974 Minnesota North Stars: "My face is my mask."

*

In 1961, the Rangers named him Captain. In 1964, they traded him to the 2-time defending Cup-winners, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Just the Rangers' luck, he finally won a Cup. In fact, he scored the winning goal in Game 7, past the legendary Terry Sawchuk, putting the Leafs on the board in what became a 4-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

"Finally," he said, "I knew what it was like to win the Stanley Cup, to hold it skyward, cradle it like a baby, and hug it like a loved one."

He was traded to the Red Wings in 1966, and reached another Stanley Cup Finals. He was an original Pittsburgh Penguin in the expansion season of 1967-68, scoring the 1st goal in franchise history, and played a bit longer in the minors. He closed his career as player-coach of the World Hockey Association's Vancouver Blazers in 1975.

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, and the Manitoba and Ontario Sports Halls of Fame. In 1998, in celebration of their 50th Anniversary, The Hockey News named their 100 Greatest Hockey Players, and listed him as Number 58. The next year, he was named the right wing on the Manitoba All-Century All-Star Team.

On February 22, 2009, the Rangers retired Number 9 for him -- having already done so for Adam Graves -- and Number 3 for Howell. Why they waited so long, who knows, but at least they were still alive at the time. They were joined on the ice by the Rangers' other honorees: Graves; 1, Eddie Giacomin; 2, Brian Leetch; 7, Rod Gilbert; 11, Mark Messier; and 35, Mike Richter. Later that year, the team released the book 100 Ranger Greats, and Bathgate came in at Number 8.

To this day, 52 years after he last played a shift for the franchise, he ranks 4th on the Rangers' all-time scoring list with 729 points, behind Gilbert, Leetch and Jean Ratelle.

In retirement, he ran a golf driving range in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, and coached a team that included his grandson, also named Andy Bathgate, who now plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Andy Bathgate died this afternoon. He was 83 years old. As of yet, no cause of death has been released.

Until today, he was a living legend, a reminder of the days when the Rangers were the only hockey team in the New York Tri-State Area, and no one questioned that it should be so. He was a class act, who tried to make the game more of a class act. He should be remembered for his talent and his decency, as a man worthy of the Stanley Cup and the Hall of Fame.

Warning: Contains nasty language, bad grammar, weak punctuation and capitalization, and shorthand, as befitting Twitter.

15 Dec 1956 @EbbetsFieldBum #JR42 refused to play for The Scum, retires as #Brooklyn Dodger. #Legend.

15 Dec 1956 @PoloGrounder37 Fuk him its all about the #SayHeyKid #WM24 #Jints

19 Aug 1957 @StonehamSux Horace you ahole keep #Jints in NYC! Think of the kids

20 Aug 1957 @HoraceStoneham1903 I feel bad for the kids but haven't seen too many of their dads lately

24 Sep 1957 @EbbetsFieldBum Omalley i swear to god if you move #DemBums Ill kill U

10 Oct 1957 @StonehamSux Hahahahahaha #YankeesSuck cant even beat Milwawke

10 Oct 1957 @Yanks17Rings I'll be spending Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. Where will YOU be on Opening Day? Polo Grounds? Oh, that's right...

10 Oct 1957 @StonehamSux kill yrself

5 Oct 1958 @RalphMalph39 Looks like our Braves are gonna beat the Yankees again! "Bushville" my ass!

9 Oct 1958 @MickMan7 Y'all were sayin'?

28 Dec 1958 @Yanks17Rings Baltimore? The Giants lost the NFL title to Baltimore? At home?

22 Aug 1959 @BronxBoy1938 Yanks lost again? To fuckin KC? #StengelOut old man can't do it no more

13 Oct 1960 @ForbesBuc09 MAZEROSKI!

13 Oct 1960 @BronxBoy1938 FUCK YOU CASEY Y U NO START WHITEY IN GAMES 1 4 AND 7 FUCK OFFFFFFFF

18 Oct 1960 @OlPerfesser1890 I guess this means they fired me.

12 Sept 1961 @MickMan7 FU Maris you aint' as good as Mickey or Babe

12 Sept 1961 @Maris9Fan He never said he was. He's a great player. Leave him alone

1 Oct 1961 @FargoGirlPat He did it! My Roger did it! #RM9 #61in61

1 Oct 1961 @ClaireMrsBabe Son of a bitch!

2 Mar 1962 @PhillyWarriorFan 100! My man #Wilt! He actually did it!

2 Mar 1962 @CelticFan1 It really shouldn't count, since it was against the #Knicks.

2 Mar 1962 @MadisonSquareGardener46 DONOVAN OUT

13 July 1962 @OlPerfesser1890 I been in this game 100 years. My amazin #Mets showed me ways to lose I never knew existed before.

13 July 1962 @NewBreedFan62 dont worry Casey were nys team now fuck the yankees

22 May 1963 @MickMan7 Ballgame over! Yankees win! Call Mickey the facademeister! #HowAboutThat

5 Jun 1963 @MickMan7 Oh shit Mickey! Not again!

5 Jun 1963 @NewBreedFan62 ha ha ha mickey WOMANtles hurt again #yankeessuck its all about da METS now

5 Jun 1963 @Yanks20Rings Like you got a player like Mickey.

5 Jun 1963 @NewBreedFan62 we got a BETTER player than mickey WOMANtle we got the DUKE!

6 Jun 1963 @Yanks20Rings You're a moron, Duke Snider is washed up

4 Aug 1963 @MickMan7 Pinch-hit home run after 2 months on the sideline! That's what I'm talkin''bout! #MM7 #Legend #GOAT

2 Oct 1963 @SandysMensch Koufax! 15 Ks!

6 Oct 1963 @NewBreedFan62 ha ha ha stinkees and mickey WOMANtle got swept by #dembums!

6 Oct 1963 @Yanks20Rings You DO know the Dodgers aren't in Brooklyn anymore, right? LA's win does nothing for you. And your Mutts have lost 231 games in 2 years.

24 Nov 1963 @AFLfan1960 POTUS dies, AFL postpones games, NFL doesn't. Shame on you, #Rozelle. RIP JFK 1917-1963

10 Feb 1964 @PaulMacsGirl50 OMG Beatles are so fine I wanna have Pauls baby I just turned 14

10 Feb 1964 @JohnLennonFan45 You do know it wouldn't matter if they weren't also great singers, musicians & songwriters, right?

10 Feb 1964 @PaulMacsGirl50 But they're GORRRRRRRRGEOUS

24 Feb 1964 @PrettyCassius I'm young, I'm handsome, I'm fast, I'm pretty, and can't possibly be beat!

24 Feb 1964 @BigBoxingFan Liston gonna fuck you up (N-word)!

24 Feb 1964 @PrettyCassius If you wanna lose yo money, be a fool and bet on Sonny!

25 Feb 1964 @PrettyCassius I am The Greatest! I'm pretty! I'm a bad man! I shook up the world!

26 Feb 1964 @MuhammadAli1942 New account for a new name. @PrettyCassius is a slave handle.

4 July 1964 @PaulMacsGirl50 Jane Asher is a ho

21 Jun 1965 @MickMan7 That SI cover is brutal. Mickey looks about 50 years old.

21 Jul 1965 @SheaBoy64 $427,000 for Namath? That guy's hella dope, but spending that much money on just one player, I'm afraid, is a hella don't!

15 Aug 1965 @Yanks20Rings Shows how much class #Mets have, letting those longhairs play in their football stadium.

16 Aug 1965 @PaulMacsGirl50 Shut up Beatles are boss they are the greatest band ever we are the greatest fandom ever

9 Sep 1965 @SandysMensch Koufax! Perfect! #4NoHitters

22 Sep 1965 @MickMan7 Minnesota. The Minnesota Freaking #Twins. I can't believe it.

22 Sep 1965 @Yanks20Rings They're a flash in the pan. 1965 was just another 1959, 1940 or 1925. The Yanks will win the Series again next year.

9 Dec 1965 @Yanks20Rings The #Orioles traded Milt Pappas for Frank Robinson? Are they out of their minds?

28 Apr 1966 @LALakers60 FFS when will #NBA clamp down on #Celtic cheating? #Lakers will never win title until they do!

9 Oct 1966 @33rdStreetBirdman World Champs baby! 4 straight! Fuck LA! #FR20 World Champ MVP & Triple Crown!

19 Nov 1966 @SandysMensch Why, Sandy, Why? #Tears #SK32 #Legend #GOAT

19 Nov 1966 @SpartyFanMSU Parseghian had no guts

24 Apr 1967 @WiltChamberlain13 We've done it, #Philly. #76ers #WorldChamps

25 Apr 1967 @SixerFan63 How many women did you screw last night, Wilt?

25 Apr 1967 @WiltNormChamberlain None. But I made love to three.

25 Apr 1967 @SixerFan63 You dog. #Legend #WC13

1 Oct 1967 @SawxFan67 #ImpossibleDream, baby! We're Number 1! Suck it, Yankees!

10 Oct 1968 @CubFan1945 #Tigers beat #Gibson in #Game7. I love it, but I don't believe it!

9 Jan 1969 @Numba1ColtsFan Hey Joe were gonna kick your ass on Sunday

9 Jan 1969 @JoeWillie12 We're gonna win. I guarantee it.

12 Jan 1969 @MayorLindsay J, E, T, S, Jets, Jets, Jets! Now, PLEASE re-elect me!

12 Jan 1969 @JoeWillie12 I told ya so.

1 Mar 1969 @MickMan7 The greatest ever, and he's hanging 'em up. I can't even.

1 Mar 1969 @SheaBoy64 As much as I hate the Yankees, #Mantle is a #Legend. #RESPEC7

12 Mar 1969 @PaulMacsGirl50 I HATE YOU LINDA EASTMAN! YOU CAN'T HAVE PAUL HE'S MINE MINE MIIIINE! BITCH!

8 Jun 1969 @MickMan7 We love you Mickey

8 Jun 1969 @NewBreedFan62 mickey WOMANtle is done he can limp away now its all about amazin METS baby

20 Jul 1969 @SheaBoy64 #ManOnTheMoon! Now, the #Mets are gonna put the #Pennant on the Moon!

21 Jul 1969 @CubFan1945 Nope. Cubbies, baby.

24 Sep 1969 @CubFan1945 What was it Charlie Brown said? AUUGH! Good grief! I can't stand it! My stomach hurts!

25 Sep 1969 @SheaBoy64 Bring your kiddies and bring your wife, guaranteed to have the time of your life! Because the Mets are really sockin' the ball...

16 Oct 1969 @SheaBoy64 The #MiracleOn126thStreet is done! #Mets #WereNumber1

17 Oct 1969 @MayorLindsay #LetsGoMets! #WorldChamps! Please re-elect me!

5 Nov 1969 @MayorLindsay Thank you, New York! #NYC #FunCity #GreatestCityInTheWorld #CityOfChampions

5 Nov 1969 @MickMan7 Since 1956 the Yanks, Mets, Giants & now Jets & Mets have won titles. Still waiting on Knicks & Rangers.

17 Apr 1970 @PaulMacsGirl50 OMG #Beatles broke up I can't even. I hate you Linda! I hate you Yoko! I wanna die

4 May 1970 @MadisonSquareGardener46 Oh shit no! Willis!

4 May 1970 @MasterHaywoodAllen Why does this stuff always have to happen to the #Knicks?

8 May 1970 @MadisonSquareGardener46 If Willis can't play, we're dead. Wilt will eat us alive, Jerry West will hit 30-foot jumpers, Baylor will crush us. Dead.

8 May 1970 @MadisonSquareGardener46 WILLIS!

8 May 1970 @MadisonSquareGardener46 We win! Knicks 113 Lakers 99! #WorldChamps at last! OMG I'm gonna cry

8 May 1970 @EbbetsFieldBum Now you know how I felt in '55.

8 May 1970 @MadisonSquareGardener46 I know rite?

9 May 1970 @PaulMacsGirl50 You know, big brother, I never realized how handsome Elvis is. And what a voice. Maybe I'm getting mature. It sucks.

10 May 1970 @PresleyBoy41 I told ya, he's still The King. #ThankYouVeryMuch

10 May 1970 @SawxFan67 Score! Bobby Orr in OT! #Bruins win the Cup!

19 May 1970 @Yanks20Rings That Munson kid needs to get a haircut. He just doesn't fit the #YankeeWay. You gotta have #Class

29 May 1970 @Yanks20Rings That Jackson kid for Oakland can really hit. Come on Mike Burke, spend some fucking MONEY!

This coming Friday night, the Brooklyn Nets will visit Denver to play the Nuggets. The New York Knicks visit the following Tuesday.

The Nuggets are the 30th and last NBA team for which I had to do a Trip Guide. At the conclusion of this piece, the NBA will be done.

Why did I get the NBA done first, rather than the NHL, whose season ends a little sooner? Because there are 2 NBA teams in New York, and I don't have a preference for either (now that the Nets have abandoned New Jersey). In contrast, while the New York Tri-State Area has 3 teams, I don't like the Islanders and I hate the Rangers, so I only do this for the Devils. If I did it for all 3 teams -- e.g., "The Devils visit Denver on November 17. The Rangers do so on December 1, and the Islanders on January 22" -- the NHL would have been completed first.

At any rate, I still have to do updates of last year's pieces on the Pittsburgh Penguins, and both Florida teams, the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning; and never-before-done pieces on the Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks.

The City of Denver, the State of Colorado, and indeed the entire Rocky Mountain region are still in the afterglow of the Denver Broncos' 3rd Super Bowl win. So they may be in a good mood, which is good for visitors.

Then again, it may be due to legalized pot. Regardless, of all the reasons the trip might be stressful, the locals are not likely to add much to it.

Before You Go. The Denver Post is predicting high 50s for Friday afternoon, and high 30s for the evening. Although the mountain air leads to a lot of snow, no precipitation of any kind is forecast for this week.

Denver is in the Mountain Time Zone, so you’ll be 2 hours behind New York time. And there’s a reason it’s called the Mile High City: The elevation means the air will be thinner. Although the Rocky Mountain region is renowned for outdoor recreation, if you’re not used to it, try not to exert yourself too much. Cheering at a sporting event shouldn’t bother you too much, but even if the weather is good, don’t go rock-climbing or any other such activity unless you’ve done it before and know what you’re doing.

Tickets. The Nuggets are averaging 14,076 fans per game, dead last in the NBA. At 73.5 percent of capacity, they're ahead of only the Philadelphia 76ers and the Minnesota Timberwolves. This has led to talk of the Nuggets, the 2nd-oldest major league sports team in the Rocky Mountain region (only the Broncos are older), having to move, although no plan has been publicly mentioned. Chances are, you can show up 5 minutes before tipoff, and buy any seat you can afford.

Nuggets tickets are among the cheapest in the NBA. Law of supply and demand, I suppose. Seats in the lower level are $128 between the baskets and $53 behind them. In the upper level, they're $28 between and just $20 behind.

Getting There. It’s 1,779 miles from Times Square in New York to downtown Denver. You’re probably thinking that you should be flying.

You can get a round-trip flight for Thursday morning, and buy it today, for a little over $800, depending on what time you want to fly. But it won’t be nonstop. While Stapleton Airport was a major change-planes-here spot for going to the West Coast and Las Vegas, the new Denver International Airport isn’t. You want to fly there, you’ll have to change planes, most likely in either Chicago or Dallas.

Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited leaves Penn Station at 3:40 PM Tuesday, arrives at Union Station in Chicago at 9:45 AM Wednesday (that’s Central Time). The California Zephyr leaves Chicago at 2:00 PM Wednesday and arrives at Denver’s Union Station at 7:15 AM (Mountain Time) Thursday. The return trip would leave Denver at 7:10 PM Friday, arrive in Chicago at 2:50 PM Monday, leave Chicago at 9:30 PM Monday, and get back to New York at 6:35 PM Tuesday. The round-trip fare is $448.

Conveniently, Union Station is at 1700 Wynkoop Street at 17th Street, just 3 blocks from Coors Field. The front of the building is topped by a clock, framed by an old sign saying UNION STATION on top and TRAVEL by TRAIN on the bottom.
Greyhound allows you to leave Port Authority Bus Terminal at 4:00 PM Tuesday, and arrive at Denver at 10:50 AM on Thursday, a trip of just under 45 hours, without having to change buses. That 44:50 does, however, include layovers of 40 minutes in Philadelphia, an hour and a half in Pittsburgh, an hour in Columbus, an hour in Indianapolis, 2 hours in St. Louis, and half an hour in Salina, Kansas; plus half-hour meal stops in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Kansas. Round-trip fare is $422 -- not much cheaper than the train, which is better -- but you can get it for $338 on advanced-purchase. You can get a bus back at 7:10 PM Sunday and be back in New York at 3:50 PM Tuesday. The Denver Bus Center is at 1055 19th Street.

If you actually think it’s worth it to drive, get someone to go with you, so you’ll have someone to talk to, and one of you can drive while the other sleeps. You’ll be taking Interstate 80 most of the way, through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska, before taking Interstate 76 from Nebraska to Colorado, and then Interstate 25 into Denver. (An alternate route: Take the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Turnpikes to Interstate 70 and then I-70 through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado into downtown Denver. It won’t save you an appreciable amount of time over the I-80 route, though.)

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, 2 hours and 45 minutes in Illinois, 5 hours and 15 minutes in Iowa, 6 hours in Nebraska, and 3 hours and 15 minutes in Colorado. Including rest stops, and accounting for traffic (you’ll be bypassing Cleveland and Chicago, unless that’s where you want to make rest stops), we’re talking about a 40-hour trip.

Even if you’re only going for one game, no matter how you got there, get a hotel and spend a night. You’ll be exhausted otherwise. Trust me, I know: Trains and buses are not good ways to get sleep.

Once In the City. Founded in 1858 as a gold rush city, and named for James W. Denver, then Governor of the Kansas Territory, from which Colorado was separated, Denver is a State capital and city of 630,000 people, in a metro area of 3.2 million -- roughly the population of Brooklyn and Staten Island combined. It's easily the biggest city in, and thus the unofficial cultural capital of, the Rocky Mountain region.

Broadway is the main north-south drag, separating East addresses from West. But the northwestern quadrant of the street grid is at roughly a 45-degree angle from the rest of the city, and this area includes the central business district, Union Station and the ballpark.

The sales tax in the State of Colorado is 2.9 percent, however, the City of Denver adds a 3.62 percent sales tax, for a total of 6.52 percent. The Denver Post is a good paper, but don't bother looking for the Rocky Mountain News: It went out of business in 2009. Bus and light rail service in Denver is run by the Regional Transportation District (RTD), and goes for $2.25 for a single ride, and $6.75 for a DayPass.
Going In. The Pepsi Center -- the arena has always had that name since it opened -- is across Cherry Creek from downtown, about 2 miles northwest of City Hall. The intersection is 11th Street & Auraria Parkway, but the mailing address is 1000 Chopper Circle, in honor of Robert "Chopper" Travaglini, the beloved former trainer (and amateur sports psychologist) of the Nuggets, who share the arena with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche. It is 1 of 10 current arenas that is home to both an NBA team and an NHL team.

Chopper was actually a Jersey Boy, albeit from Woodbury on the Philly side. He died in 1999, age 77, right before the new arena opened. Chopper Circle is an extension of Wewatta Street.
Pepsi Center/Elitch Gardens station on the RTD light rail. If you're coming in that way, you'll probably enter from the west gate, the Grand Atrium. If you're driving, parking starts at just $5.00. The rink is laid out east-to-west, and the Avs attack twice toward the east end.
In addition to hosting the Avs and the Nugs, the Pepsi Center has also hosted NCAA Tournament basketball games, the NCAA's hockey "Frozen Four," and the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Food. Being a “Wild West” city, you might expect Denver to have Western-themed stands with “real American food” at its arena. Being in a State with a Spanish name, in a land that used to belong to Mexico, you might also expect to have Mexican food. And you would be right on both counts.

Unfortunately, the team and arena websites don't include charts showing where the concession stands are. The arena website does mention specialty restaurants:

The Shock Top Lodge is a restaurant that seats 325 guests, 250 in the restaurant and 75 at the bar, and is open to all ticketholders.

Team History Displays. The Nuggets' banners are at the east end of the arena, and the Avalanche's banners at the west end. There are also banners for the Arena Football League's Colorado Mammoths -- which, like the Avs, the Nugs, MLS' Colorado Rapids, the NFL's newly-returned Los Angeles Rams, and English soccer's Arsenal Football Club, is owned by Walton of Walmart infamy in-law Stan Kroenke.

Despite the Nugs' long history, which will reach a 50th Anniversary next year, they have not had much success. Starting as the Denver Rockets in the American Basketball Association in 1967, then in 1974 adopting the name of an earlier NBA team called the Denver Nuggets, and joining the NBA after reaching the Finals in the last ABA season of 1976, they've won 17 Division titles: 1970, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1985, 1988, 2006, 2009 and 2010.

They have banners for those honors. But they didn't win an ABA title, and have reached the NBA Western Conference Finals only 3 times: 1978, 1985 and 2009. There are no banners for those.

They've retired 5 uniform numbers. From the 1976 ABA Finalists, there's 40, original Denver Rocket, forward Byron Beck; and 33, guard David Thompson. From the 1978 Conference Finalists, there's Thompson, and 44, center Dan Issel. From he 1985 Conference Finalists, there's Issel; 2, forward Alex English; and 432, for the number of coaching wins in Denver of head coach Doug Moe. No player from the 1990s onward has had his number retired, but the 55 of center Dikembe Mutombo is not currently being worn. Nor is the 7 of guard Carmelo Anthony, who led the Nuggets to the 2009 Conference Finals, and is now with the Knicks.
Thompson, Issel, English and Mutombo have been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. So have forward Spencer Haywod and guard Sarunas Marciulionis, but each of those spent just 1 season with the Nuggets.

English, Thompson, Beck, Issel, Moe and Travaglini have been elected to the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, which is located at the new Broncos' stadium. No Nuggets players were named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, not even Issel, who, at his retirement, had scored more points than any pro basketball player except Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain). But Haywood, Thompson, Issel, and guards Warren Jabali (formerly Warren Armstrong) and Mack Calvin were named to the ABA All-Time Team.

Stuff. Altitude Athletics is located in the Grand Atrium at the arena's west end. It sells Avs, Nugs, Rapids and Mammoths merchandise -- but not the Rams or The Arsenal, as these teams are located nowhere near Denver. They may sell cowboy hats with team logos on them, to tie in with the State's Western heritage.

Being a not-very-successful team, and a not-very-glamorous team, there are no official NBA videos about the Nuggets, and books about them are few and far between. In 2014, Zach Wyner contributed their entry in the NBA's On the Hardwood series. In 2015, Nate LeBoutillier did the same for their A History of Hoops series. Perhaps the upcoming 50th Anniversary will lead to team history books and videos.

During the Game. Coloradans love their sports, but they’re not known as antagonistic. Although the Jets came within a half of derailing a Bronco Super Bowl in 1999 (1998 season), and the Devils came within a game of short-circuiting their Stanley Cup run in 2001, the people of the Centennial State don’t have an ingrained hatred of New Yorkers, despite the 2006 brawl between the Knicks and the Nuggets at Madison Square Garden..

As long as you don’t wear Kansas City Chiefs or Oakland Raiders gear, you’ll probably be completely safe. (But, as always, watch out for obnoxious drunks, who know no State Lines.) And those of you who are Knick fans may want to be warned that Carmelo Anthony, who chose to abandon Denver's loyal fans for the spotlight of New York, could get the heck booed out of him.

Unlike the Avalanche with Jake Schroeder, the Nuggets do not have a regular National Anthem singer, instead accepting auditions. Sometimes, the Nuggets will wear throwback uniforms, including tributes to the old Rockets, and their Tetris-like (but long preceding that game) skyscraper-foreground, mountain-background logo. Like several other teams, the Nuggets received a team-specific version of the group Power Surge's song "Roll With It" for use as a fight song.

The Nuggets' mascot is Rocky the Mountain Lion, named for the mountain range and one of the indigenous beasts thereof. Like Go the Gorilla in Phoenix and Hugo the Hornet in Charlotte, he is known for performing trick dunks.
After the Game. Denver has had crime issues, and just 3 blocks from Coors Field is Larimer Street, immortalized as a dingy, bohemian-tinged, hobo-strewn street in Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road. But that scene was written in 1947. The Pepsi Center is, essentially, an island in a sea of parking. LoDo (Lower Downtown) has become, with the building of Coors Field and the revitalization of Union Station, a sort of mountain Wrigleyville, and thus the go-to area for Denver nightlife. So you’ll probably be safe.

Across Chopper Circle from the arena is Brooklyn's at the Pepsi Center, a typical sports bar. If you want something a little more substantial, a Panda Express is on the other side of the arena, across Elitch Circle.

LoDo is loaded with bars that will be open after the game, including Scruffy Murphy’s at Larimer & 20th, and an outlet of the Fado Irish Pub chain at Wynkoop & 19th. The Sports Column, at 1930 Blake Street, 2 blocks from the ballpark, was rated as the best sports bar in Colorado in a recent Thrillist article. The only baseball-named place I can find anywhere near Coors is Sandlot Brewery, at 22nd & Blake, outside the park’s right-field corner.

Perhaps the most famous sports-themed restaurant near Denver is Elway’s Cherry Creek, a steakhouse at 2500 E. 1st Avenue in the southern suburb of Cherry Creek. Bus 83L. It’s owned by the same guy who owns John Elway Chevrolet in another southern suburb, Englewood.

About a mile southeast of Coors Field, at 538 E. 17th Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood (not sure why a southern, rather than northern, neighborhood is called “Uptown”), is The Tavern, home of the local New York Giants fan club. Chopper's, possibly named for Travaglini, near the ballpark at 80 S. Madison Street, is said to be home to a Jets fan club.

Sidelights. Sports Authority Field at Mile High, formerly Invesco Field at Mile High, has been the home of the NFL's Denver Broncos since 2001. Everyone just gives it the same name as the old facility: "Mile High Stadium." It includes the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, and the Broncos’ Ring of Fame.

It was built on the site of the McNichols Sports Arena, home to the NBA’s Denver Nuggets from 1975 to 1999, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche from 1995 to 1999, and the first major league team called the Colorado Rockies, the NHL team that became the Devils, from 1976 to 1982. The Denver Dynamite played there from 1987 to 1991, made the Arena Football League Playoffs every season, and won the 1st ArenaBowl in 1987. But the cost of running the team was too high, and it folded.

It hosted the NCAA Final Four in 1990, with UNLV (the University of Nevada at Las Vegas) clobbering Duke. (The University of Colorado, in Boulder, made the Final Four in 1942 and 1955, although it wasn't yet called the Final Four.  No other Colorado-based school has made it, and none has won a National Championship -- not in basketball, anyway.)

When the time came to play the final concert at McNichols, the act that played the first concert there was brought back: ZZ Top. This fact was mentioned on a Monday Night Football broadcast, leading Dan Dierdorf to note the alphabetic distinction of the long red-bearded men, and say, “The first one should have been ABBA.” Which would have been possible, as they were nearly big in the U.S. at the time. However, the fact that the arena only lasted 24 years, making it not that hard for the act that played the first concert there to also play the last, says something about America's disposable culture.

The old stadium was just to the north of the new stadium/old arena. The current address is Mile High Stadium Circle, but the old intersection was W. 20th Avenue & Bryant St. (2755 W. 17th Avenue was the mailing address.) It was built in 1948 as Bears Stadium, an 18,000-seat ballpark.

When the American Football League was founded in 1960, it was expanded to 34,000 seats with the addition of outfield seating. The name was changed to Mile High Stadium in 1966, and by 1968 much of the stadium was triple-decked and seated 51,706. In 1977 – just in time for the Broncos to make their first Super Bowl run and start “Broncomania” – the former baseball park was transformed into a 76,273-seat horseshoe, whose east stands could be moved in to conform to the shape of a football field, or out to allow enough room for a regulation baseball field. The old-time ballpark had become, by the standards of the time, a modern football stadium.

The biggest complaint when the Rockies arrived in 1993 wasn’t the thin air, or the condition of the stadium (despite its age, it was not falling apart), but the positioning of the lights: Great for football fans, but terrible for outfielders tracking fly balls. But it was only meant to be a temporary ballpark for the Rockies, as a condition for Denver getting a team was a baseball-only stadium. What really led to the replacement of Mile High Stadium, and its demolition in 2002, was greed: The Broncos' desire for luxury-box revenue.

At Bears/Mile High Stadium, the Broncos won AFC Championships in 1977, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1997 and 1998, winning the Super Bowl in the last 2 years after losing the first 4 in blowouts.  (They've now won an AFC title at the new stadium, but not a Super Bowl.) The Denver Bears won Pennants while playing there in 1957 (as a Yankee farm team), 1971, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1983 and 1991 (winning the last one under the Denver Zephyrs name).

The U.S. national soccer team played a pair of games at Mile High Stadium in the 1990s, and beat Mexico at the new stadium in 2002 (the only game they've played there so far). While the 2008 Democratic Convention was held at the Pepsi Center, Senator Barack Obama gave his nomination acceptance speech outdoors in front of 80,000 people at New Mile High Stadium.

The Red Lion Hotel Denver and the Skybox Grill & Sports Bar are now on the site of the old stadium. At McNichols, the Nuggets reached the ABA Finals in 1976, and the Avalanche won the 1996 Stanley Cup (albeit clinching in Miami). Elvis Presley sang at McNichols on April 23, 1976.

The new stadium, and the site of the old stadium and arena, are at Mile High Station on the light rail C-Line and E-Line.

Coors Field has been home to the Rockies since it opened in 1995. 2001 Blake Street (hence the team's nickname, the Blake Street Bombers) at 20th Street, 3 blocks from Union Station, accessible by light rail.

The Nuggets, known as the Denver Rockets until 1974, played at the Denver Auditorium Arena, at 13th & Champa Streets, from their 1967 inception until McNichols opened in 1975. It was also the home of the original Nuggets, who played in the NBA from 1948 to 1950.

It opened in 1908, and its seating capacity of 12,500 made it the 2nd-largest in the country at the time, behind the version of Madison Square Garden then standing. It almost immediately hosted the Democratic National Convention that nominated William Jennings Bryan for President for the 3rd time – although it’s probably just a coincidence that the Democrats waited exactly 100 years (give or take a few weeks) to go back (it’s not like Obama didn’t want to get it right the 1st time, as opposed 0-for-3 Bryan).

The Auditorium Arena hosted Led Zeppelin’s 1st American concert on December 26, 1968. It was demolished in 1990 to make way for the Denver Performing Arts Complex, a.k.a. the Denver Center. Theatre District/Convention Center Station on the light rail’s D-Line, F-Line and H-Line.

The Denver area's Major League Soccer team, the Colorado Rapids, plays at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City. The U.S. national team has played there twice, winning both times. 6000 Victory Way. Number 48 bus to 60th Avenue & Dahlia Street, then Number 88 bus to 60th & Monaco. Then they make you walk 10 blocks on 60th to get to the stadium.

The Beatles played Red Rocks Amphitheatre in suburban Morrison on August 26, 1964. It is still in business, and a Colorado Music Hall of Fame is a short walk away. 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, 10 miles west of downtown. Sorry, no public transportation.

Elvis played 2 shows at the Denver Coliseum on April 8, 1956, and 1 each on November 17, 1970 and April 30, 1973. Built in 1951, it still stands, seating 10,500, and is best known for concerts and the National Western Stock Rodeo. 4600 Humbolt Street at E. 46th Avenue, off Interstate 70, 3 miles northeast of downtown. Apparently, no public transportation to there, either.

Denver has some renowned museums, including the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (their version of the Museum of Natural History) at 2001 Colorado Blvd. at Montview Blvd. (in City Park, Number 20 bus), and the Denver Art Museum (their version of the Metropolitan Museum of Natural History), at 100 W. 14th Avenue Parkway at Colfax Avenue (across I-25 from Mile High Stadium, Auraria West station on the C-Line and E-Line).

Denver’s history only goes back to a gold rush in 1859 – not to be confused with the 1849 one that turned San Francisco from a Spanish Catholic mission into the first modern city in the American West. The city isn’t exactly loaded with history.

There’s no Presidential Library – although Mamie Doud, the eventual Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower, grew up there, and her house is now a historic site. Mamie and “Ike” were married there, their son John (a future General, Ambassador and military historian) was born there, and the Eisenhowers were staying there when Ike had his heart attack in 1955. The house is still in private ownership, and is not open to the public. However, if you’re a history buff, or if you just like Ike, and want to see it, it’s at 750 Lafayette Street, at 8th Avenue. The Number 6 bus will get you to 6th & Lafayette.

After his heart attack, Ike was treated at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in nearby Aurora, 12 years after Senator John Kerry, nearly elected President in 2004 and now Secretary of State, was born there. It’s not a Presidential Birthplace, because Kerry narrowly lost. It is now the University of Colorado Hospital. The Fitzsimmons Golf Course is across Montview Boulevard – it figures that Ike would be hospitalized next to a golf course! 16th Avenue & Quentin Street. Number 20 bus from downtown.

Denver doesn't have as many tall buildings as the nation's bigger cities, nor are they as interesting, architecturally. The tallest building in the State of Colorado is Republic Plaza, 714 feet high, at 17th Street & Tremont Place downtown.

The University of Colorado is in Boulder, 30 miles to the northwest. At Market Street Station, 16th & Market, take the BV Bus to the Boulder Transit Center, which is on campus. The ride should take about an hour and 20 minutes. Colorado State University is in Fort Collins, 65 miles up Interstate 25 north, and forget about reaching it by public transportation. The U.S. Air Force Academy is outside Colorado Springs, 60 miles down I-25.  As with Fort Collins, you'd need Greyhound. Unlike CSU, you might not be able to just go there: Some of the area is restricted.  It is, after all, a military base.

A few TV shows have been set in Denver, but you won't find their filming locations there. The old-time Western Whispering Smith and the more recent one Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman were set in old Colorado, but filmed in Southern California.

Probably the most famous show set in Colorado is South Park, and that's a cartoon, so forget seeing anything from that. Not quite as cartoonish was Mork & Mindy, set in Boulder. The McConnell house actually is in Boulder, at 1619 Pine Street. But don't try to copy the opening-sequence scene with Robin Williams and Pam Dawber on the goalposts at the University of Colorado's Folsom Field. You could fall, and end up saying, "Shazbot!"

The most famous show ever set in Colorado was Dynasty, ABC's Excessive Eighties counterpart to CBS' Dallas, starring John Forsythe as Blake Carrington, an oilman and a thinly-veiled version of Marvin Davis, who nearly bought the Oakland Athletics from Charlie Finley in 1978 with the idea of moving them to Mile High Stadium, but the deal fell through. Right, you don't care about Blake, all you care about is the catfights between the 2nd and 1st Mrs. Carrington's: Krystle (Linda Evans) and Alexis (Joan Collins). The Carrington mansion seen in the opening credits is in Beverly Hills, but the building that stood in for the headquarters of Denver Carrington is at 621 17th Street, while the one that stood in for Colbyco is at 1801 California Street.

*

The Denver Nuggets debuted nearly half a century ago, and lived the funky ABA lifestyle before being accepted into the NBA 40 years ago. They've never been great, but have usually been good. A Knick or Net fan should be able to enjoy a visit.

“I’m in hell!” – Morgan Freeman
“Worse: You’re in Texas!” – Chris Rock
-- Nurse Betty

This coming Friday night, the New Jersey Devils will travel to face the Dallas Stars, in what Texas native Molly Ivins – frequently sarcastically – called The Great State.

An example of her writing: “In the Great State, you can get 5 years for murder, and 99 for pot possession.” (I once sent the late, great newspaper columnist an e-mail asking if it could be knocked down to 98 years if you didn’t inhale. Sadly, she never responded.)

If there is one thing that fans of 31 out of the 32 NFL teams can agree on, it's that they hate the Cowboys. Or, as is said from New York to San Francisco, from Seattle to Miami, and especially in Philadelphia and Washington, "Dallas Sucks!"

That hatred is considerably reduced in hockey. Aside from fans of the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings, they don't seem to hate anybody. And aside from the Minnesota Wild, the replacement for the team now in Dallas, nobody seems to hate them. Dallas fans may not like the Devils, especially after the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals, but that was nearly 16 years ago, and not really relevant to this trip.

Before You Go. It's not just The South, it's Texas. This is the State that elected George W. Bush, Rick Perry, Greg Abbott and Bill Clements Governor; Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, Ron Paul and Louie Gohmert to the House of Representatives; and Phil Gramm and Ted Cruz to the Senate -- and thinks the rest of the country isn't conservative enough. This is the State where, in political terms, somebody like Long Island's conservative Congressman Peter King is considered a sissy. This is a State that thinks that poor nonwhites don't matter at all, and that poor whites only matter if you can convince them that, no matter how bad their life is, they're still better than the (slur on blacks) and the (slur on Hispanics).

So if you go to Dallas for this game, it would be best to avoid political discussions. And, for crying out loud, don't mention that, now over half a century ago, a liberal Democratic President was killed in Dallas. They might say JFK had it comin''cause he was a (N-word)-lovin' Communist. (Some people have included Clint Murchison, father of Clint Murchison Jr., the Cowboys' original owner, in the conspiracy theories, due to JFK's interest in eliminating a tax break known as the oil-depletion allowance.)

No. I'm not kidding.  I've never been to Texas, but I've seen enough Texans elsewhere, in actual meetings and on TV, to know that there are some of them who think like this -- and, among their own people, they will be less likely to hold back. So don't ask them what they think. About anything.

At any rate, before we go any further, enjoy Lewis Black's R-rated smackdown of Rick Perry and the State of Texas as a whole.

At least you'll be going in the winter, so you won't have to deal with the usual Texas heat and humidity. Still, before you go, check the websites of the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (the "Startle-gram") for the weather. Right now, they're talking about it being in the high 60s during daylight on Friday, but dropping to the high 40s by gametime. You may need to bring a jacket, but not a winter jacket.

Texas is in the Central Time Zone, 1 hour behind New York. (The exception is the southwestern corner, including El Paso, which borders New Mexico, so it's in the Mountain Time Zone.) Adjust your timepieces accordingly.

Despite Texas' seeming foreignness (and that's before you factor in the Mexican-American influence, which improves things) and its embrace of its treasonous Confederate past, you don't need a passport to visit, and you don't need to change their money.

Tickets. The Stars averaged 17,350 fans last season. This season, it's up to 18,248. That's about 98.5 percent of capacity. Getting tickets will be tough.

In the Lower Level, the 100 sections, seats are $123 between the goals and $89 behind them. In the Platinum Level, the 200 sections, they're $112 between and $89 behind. In the Upper Level, the 300 sections, they're $60 between and $39 behind.

Getting There. It is 1,551 miles from Midtown Manhattan to downtown Dallas. So unless you want to be cooped up for 24-30 hours, you... are... flying.

Usually, flights from Newark, Kennedy or LaGuardia airports to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport are comparatively cheap. Not this week: They could set you back as much as $1,200 round-trip. To make matters worse, despite DFW being a major airline hub -- American Airlines has its corporate headquarters there -- you'll have to change planes, probably in Charlotte, North Carolina. There is Orange Line rail service from the airport to Dallas' Union Station, but it will take about an hour and a half.
Amtrak offers the Lake Shore Limited (a variation on the old New York Central Railroad’s 20th Century Limited), leaving Penn Station at 3:40 PM Eastern Time and arriving at Chicago’s Union Station at 9:45 AM Central Time. Then switch to the Texas Eagle at 1:45 PM, and arrive at Dallas’ Union Station (400 S. Houston Street at Wood Street) the following morning at 11:30. It would be $536 round-trip, and that’s with sleeping in a coach seat, before buying a room with a bed on each train. That would push it close to $2,000.

As with American Airlines, Dallas is actually Greyhound’s hometown, or at least the location of its corporate headquarters: 205 S. Lamar Street at Commerce Street, which is also the address of their Dallas station. If you look at Greyhound buses, you’ll notice they all have Texas license plates. So, how bad can the bus be?

Well, it is cheaper: $458 round-trip, and advanced purchase can get it down to $314. But it won’t be much shorter: It's a 40-hour trip, and you'll have to change buses at least twice, in Richmond, Virginia (and I don't like the Richmond station) and either Atlanta or Memphis.

Oh... kay. So what about driving? As I said, over 1,500 miles. I would definitely recommend bringing a friend and sharing the driving. The fastest way from New York to Dallas is to get into New Jersey, take Interstate 78 West across the State and into Pennsylvania, then turn to Interstate 81 South, across Pennsylvania, the “panhandles” of Maryland and West Virginia, and across the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia into Tennessee, where I-81 will flow into Interstate 40. Take I-40 into Arkansas, and switch to Interstate 30 in Little Rock, taking it into the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, a.k.a. “The Metroplex.” In Texas, I-30 is named the Tom Landry Freeway, after the legendary Cowboys coach.

Once you get across the Hudson River into New Jersey, you should be in New Jersey for about an hour, Pennsylvania for 3 hours, Maryland for 15 minutes, West Virginia for half an hour, Virginia for 5 and a half hours (more than the entire trip will be before you get to Virginia), 8 hours and 15 minutes in Tennessee, 3 hours in Arkansas, and about 3 hours and 45 minutes in Texas.

Taking 45-minute rest stops in or around (my recommendations) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Charlottesville, Virginia; Bristol, on the Virginia/Tennessee State Line; Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock and Texarkana, Arkansas; and accounting for overruns there and for traffic at each end of the journey, and we’re talking 31 hours. So, leaving New York at around 7:00 Eastern Time on Saturday morning, you should be able to reach the Metroplex at around 1:00 Central Time on Sunday afternoon, giving you 2 hours before kickoff.

But it would be better to leave on Friday afternoon, reach the area on Saturday night, and get a hotel. Fortunately, AT&T Stadium is in Arlington, midway between the downtowns of Dallas and Fort Worth. Well before either the Rangers or the Cowboys set up shop in Arlington, Six Flags Over Texas did so, as the original theme park in the Six Flags chain (opening in 1961), and so there are plenty of hotels available nearby. They’re also likely to be cheaper than the ones in downtown Dallas.

Once In the City. Dallas (population about 1,250,000, founded in 1856) was named after George Mifflin Dallas, a Mayor of Philadelphia and Senator from Pennsylvania who was James K. Polk's Vice President (1845-49). Fort Worth (about 800,000, founded in 1849) was named for William Jenkins Worth, a General in the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. And Arlington (375,000, founded in 1876) was named for the Virginia city across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., as a tribute to Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The population of the entire Metroplex is about 6.8 million and climbing, although when you throw in Oklahoma, southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana, the total population of the Cowboys'"market" is about 19 million -- a little less than the New York Tri-State Area, and soon it will surpass us.

Commerce Street divides Dallas street addresses into North and South. Beckley Avenue, across the Trinity River from downtown, appears to divide them into East and West. The sales tax in the State of Texas is 6.25 percent, in Dallas County 8.25 percent, and in Tarrant County (including Arlington and Fort Worth) 8 percent even.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) runs buses and light rail trains. A 2-hour pass costs $2.50, and a day pass is $5.00 local and $10.00 regional (if you want to go beyond Dallas to Arlington or Fort Worth).

Going In. The NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and the NHL’s Dallas Stars play at the American Airlines Center, or the AAC. Not to be confused with the American Airlines Arena in Miami (which was really confusing when the Mavs played the Heat in the 2006 and 2011 NBA Finals), it looks like a cross between a rodeo barn and an airplane hangar. It is 1 of 10 arenas that is currently home to both an NBA team and an NHL team.
The address is 2500 Victory Avenue, in the Victory Park neighborhood, 2 miles north of downtown, at the corner of Houston & Olive Streets. Bus 052 or Green Line to Victory station. If you drive in, parking can be had for as little as $5.00.

Since you're most likely to arrive from downtown, by either car or train, you're likely to enter from the south. The rink runs northwest-to-southeast.
The arena opened in 2001, and has also been the Metroplex's major concert and pro wrestling center. It's also hosted the Big 12 Conference basketball tournament.

Food. Going along with the "Everything is big in Texas" idea, you would think that the Stars' arena would have lots of concession stands and big portions. You would also think they would rely heavily on Southwest and Tex-Mex food. They don't disappoint in those regards.

Going with the Southwest/Tex-Mex theme, they have stands labeled Grill Zone, High Steaks (a play on "high stakes" gambling), Stampede Station, Taco Bueno. There's a basketball-themed stand called Fast Break and a hockey-themed stand called Center Ice. They have a Pizza Hut, and as far as I know they have the only venue in North American major league sports with a 7-Eleven. As for locations within the arena, click this link.

Team History Displays. The Stars arrived in 1993, which means they've now been in Dallas nearly as long as they were in Minnesota. They now have some history. Since their arrival, they have been a Playoff contender more often than not.

The won the Stanley Cup in 1999, defeating the Buffalo Sabres in the Finals. (Before you tell me the goal should have been waved off: I agree, but the game would still have been tied. Even if the Sabres had won, they would still have had to win Game 7 in Dallas. They got screwed out of the game, but it's a stretch to say they were screwed out of the Cup.) They won another Western Conference title in 2000, but, of course, our Devils beat them.

They won the President's Trophy for best overall record in the League in 1998 and 1999; and Division titles in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2006.
The Stars do not hang banners of their Minnesota achievements -- nor should they, nor should any moved team. As the Minnesota North Stars, they won the old Norris Division in 1982 and 1984, and the Campbell Conference in 1981 and 1991, but never won the Cup.

In 2013, the Stars named a 20th Anniversary Team -- only Dallas players eligible. From the 1999 Cup win: Forwards Hull, Modano, Nieuwendyk, Guy Carbonneau, Jere Lehtinen, Jamie Langenbrunner (also a 2003 Devils Cup-winner) and Bill Guerin (a 1995 Devils Cup-winner); defenseman Derian Hatcher, Craig Ludwig, Richard Matvichuk, Darryl Sydor and Sergei Zubov; and goalie Belfour. From after that Cup win: Forwards Brenden Morrow, Stu Barnes, Loui Eriksson and Jamie Benn; defenseman Stephane Robidas; and goalie Marty Turco.

Stuff. The AAC (American Airlines Center) Fan Shops can be found in Sections 100 and 103, on the Plaza concourse. A larger store, The Hangar, is on the south plaza of the arena. These stores may sell Western wear (actual "cowboy" clothing, including oversized Cowboy hats) with team logos in it.

You don't usually think of Dallas having much of a literary tradition -- or of Texans being functionally literate -- but there are a few books about the Mavericks. The sports staff of The Dallas Morning News put together the 1999 title tribute Dallas Stars: 1999 NHL Champs. (I hope the writing inside contains more thought than does the title outside.) Last July, Erin Butler published the Stars' entry in the Inside the NHL series.

The NHL put out an official DVD retrospective of the 1999 Finals, in which the Stars won, so far, their only title.

Yes, I'm doing Trip Guides for Major League Soccer now, starting with the home team, the New York Red Bulls -- my "local club," the team I've supported in theory since they debuted in 1996 as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, and in practice since 2009, right after I finally got into soccer in the Summer of 2008.

New York City F.C.? I'll do one for them when the Red Bulls' 1st trip of the season there comes up.

For anyone reading this who may be British: This post will use American English. A coach is a sports team's field boss, not a long, tubular motorized vehicle designed for getting up to 50 people around town, or from one town to another, above ground: That's a bus. A truck is a truck, not a lorry. If you ride in either one on a freeway (not a motorway), I admit, calling a rest stop a "motorway services" makes more sense than calling it a "rest stop" or a "rest area," but that's what we call them. That thing you ride in to get between floors is an elevator, not a lift. I'll be spelling words like "color" and "flavor" with no U, "realize" won't have an S, and "defense" won't have a C. The last letter of the alphabet will be pronounced "Zee" (although Canada, with its British influence, uses "Zed," and "U" in words like "honour"). And after what our respective countries did in the most recent World Cup, I'm calling the sport "soccer." You don't have to like that, but you do have to live with it.

*

Before You Go. The weather in New York and New Jersey is pretty much the same as for the entire Northeastern U.S. It could be chilly for the March and April games, but in May, it will get warmer. By June, you'll wonder what the hell is wrong with the MLS establishment, playing a summer schedule, where the wearing of that classic soccer accoutrement, the scarf, is insane. By October, the last full month of the regular season, it will start getting cooler.

Specifically, for the season opener on this Sunday afternoon, nj.com, a website for several papers including the Newark-based Star-Ledger, is predicting mid-40s by gametime, but possible snow showers that morning. It could be wet and slushy on the Arena grounds in Harrison.

If you're going for more than just the game, and also seeing New York City, the easier hotels to get into, both for cost and availability, may be in the Outer Boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island) or New Jersey.

New York and New Jersey are in the Eastern Time Zone, so if you also live there, if your team is NYCFC, Philadelphia, D.C., New England, Montreal, Toronto, Orlando or Columbus, the times will be the same; in the Central Time Zone, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas or Houston, 1 hour ahead; Mountain Time, Colorado or Salt Lake, 2 ahead; Pacific Time, Los Angeles, San Jose, Portland, Seattle or Vancouver, 3 ahead.

Tickets. The official seating capacity of Red Bull Arena is 25,000 seats even. In 2015, the Red Bulls averaged 19,657 fans per home game. Although that ranked 12th out of 20 MLS teams in average, and is again of last season (a small one, 236), that's just 78.6 percent of capacity. Only FC Dallas had a lower percentage.

"Derbies," games against NYCFC, Philly, DC and New England, will naturally have greater demand than for games against Midwestern, Western, or Canadian teams, including the opener against Toronto.

In the Lower Bowl, the 100 sections, midfield seats are $84. Corner flag seats are $41. Seats in the North Ward end zone are $41. Seats in Sections 101, 102 and 133 in the South Ward are supporters' sections, complete with standing, singing and foul language permitted, and are just $25. In the Upper Level, the 200 sections, midfield seats are $61, corner flag seats are $41, and end zone seats are $30.

A word of warning: If you buy tickets online or over the phone, the Red Bulls' ticket department will, at many a later date, be very aggressive in trying to get you to buy more. They will e-mail you. They will call you. They will repeat this process. They are relentless. They are polite about it, but they will not give up.

Getting There. Most likely, you're flying. Most likely, you'll be flying into Newark Liberty International Airport. If your hotel is in New York City, a taxi will cost $52 -- each way. You're better off taking the monorail to New Jersey Transit's Northeast Corridor rail line. From there, it's 7 minutes and $8.50 to Newark's Penn(sylvania) Station; half an hour and $13 to New York's Penn Station.

If you want to drive:

* From Philly: Take the New Jersey Turnpike North to Exit 15E, to Interstate 280 West, to I-280's Exit 16. Take the ramp to Harrison Avenue. Turn left, then right on Frank E. Rodgers Blvd. South, going under the underpasses for I-280 and the railroad. Red Bull Arena will be on your left. This should take about 2 hours.

* From D.C.: Take Interstate 95 North to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, and then follow the directions from Philadelphia. About 4 hours.

* From New England: Take any road that gets you to I-95 South, cross the George Washington Bridge, and take the Turnpike South to Exit 15W, then follow the directions from I-280. Depending on where in New England you leave from, it should take anywhere from 2 hours (Connecticut) to 8 hours (Maine). If from Boston, figure on 5 hours.

* From Montreal: Take Autoroute 15 South over the border, where it becomes Interstate 87, first as the Adirondack Northway, then as the New York State Thruway. Take that to the Garden State Parkway, to Exit 145 to I-280. About 8 hours.

* From Toronto: Take the Queen Elizabeth Way to Niagara Falls, cross the border, take Interstate 190 to Interstate 90/New York State Thruway. At Syracuse, switch to Interstate 81 South. At Scranton, switch to Interstate 380 South, then Interstate 80 East. I-280 will split off from I-80. About 10 hours.

* From Columbus: Take Interstate 70 East until it merges with Interstate 76 as the Pennsylvania Turnpike. At Harrisburg, switch to Interstate 78 East, to the Garden State Parkway, to I-280. About 10 hours.

* From Chicago: Take Interstate 90 East until it merges with I-80, then stick with I-80 until I-280. About 18 hours.

* From Kansas City: Take I-70 East across Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and then follow the directions from Columbus. About 22 hours.

* From Orlando: Take Interstate 4 East to I-95, and then follow the directions from D.C. At least 24 hours. About 24 hours.

* From Houston: Take Interstate 10 East to Mobile, Interstate 65 North to Montgomery, Interstate 85 North to merge with I-95 in Virginia, and then follow the directions from D.C.

* From Dallas: Take Interstate 30 to Little Rock, Interstate 40 across Arkansas and Tennessee to I-81, then take I-81 North to Harrisburg to I-78 East, and then follow the directions from Columbus.

From both Texas cities, figure on at least 36 hours. From here on out, at least 2 full days.

* From Colorado: Take I-70 to Kansas City, and then follow the directions from there.

* From Salt Lake City: Take I-80 all the way to I-280, and then follow the directions from there.

* From Los Angeles: Take I-10 East to Interstate 15 North to I-70 in Utah, and then follow the directions from Denver.

* From San Jose: Take Interstate 680 North to I-80, and then follow the directions from Salt Lake City.

* From Portland: Take Interstate 84 East into Utah to I-80, and then follow the directions from Salt Lake City.

* From Seattle: Take I-90 to Chicago, and follow the directions from there.

* From Vancouver: Take Route 99 over the border, where it becomes Interstate 5 South, to Seattle, and follow the directions from there.

Once In the City. The City of New York, which is within the State of New York, has an estimated population of 8.4 million -- making it roughly the same size as London. It was founded by the Dutch in 1624, as New Amsterdam, in the colony of New Netherland. On September 8, 1664 -- there is no planned celebration for the upcoming 350th Anniversary -- the English took it from the Dutch without firing a shot. It was named after the brother of King Charles II, the Duke of York -- later King James II.

When the British occupied Manhattan after driving George Washington's Continental Army out in 1776, they burned it, and this is why there are very few remaining pre-19th Century buildings anywhere in the City (unlike such other Revolutionary-era cities as Boston and Philadelphia). After the British went home, the City's port, and location between two rivers, made it the richest in the Western Hemisphere, and was a big reason why America became a world power over the next 200 years.

New York City is divided into 5 Boroughs: Manhattan (the central island), The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. The City is also part of "the New York Metropolitan Area" or "the New York Tri-State Area," which includes parts of New York State not in the City (such as Long Island, Nassau and Suffolk Counties; and the Lower Hudson Valley, such as Westchester County) and the States of New Jersey and Connecticut.

Aside from your time at the games, most of your time in the City will be spent in Manhattan. North of 14th Street, streets will be a bit easier to navigate, as they will follow the 1811 grid plan. South of 14th Street, you may end up as confused as a foreigner would be in London, as this oldest part of the City doesn't always pay attention to the grid. If you're a comic book fan, there's a running gag that Metropolis, hometown of the optimistic superhero Superman, is Manhattan north of 14th Street on a beautiful spring day; while Gotham City, hometown of the brooding crimefighter Batman, is Manhattan south of 14th street, a few minutes after midnight, on a cold rainy day in November.

In the grid, Manhattan has (almost exclusively) numbered streets running (more or less) east-west, and (mostly) numbered avenues running (more or less) north-south. The numbered streets go up to 264th Street in The Bronx. Brooklyn and Queens also have numbered streets and numbered avenues, but they're a lot more confusing; when someone in New York says, "34th Street" or "5th Avenue," 95 percent of the time, they'll mean the one in Manhattan.

"Lower Manhattan" or "Downtown" is pretty much everything south of 14th Street, including Houston Street (pronounced HOW-stin, not HYOO-stin like the Texas city), which is, effectively, Zero Street. "Uptown" is pretty much everything in Manhattan north of 59th Street, from the southern edge of Central Park upward. "Midtown" is between 14th and 59th, and is where, aside from the games, most of the touristy stuff is.

From the East River to the west-bounding Hudson River, the avenues run: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Lexington, Park, Madison, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th. There is a 4th Avenue, but it only runs from 8th Street to 14th Street, becoming Park Avenue South at Union Square and then Park Avenue at 32nd Street. The outlier is Broadway, which starts at the southern tip of Manhattan (known as The Battery), and remains more or less straight until 10th Street, at which point it curves to (more or less) the northwest, until 78th Street, at which point it straightens out again.

The delineator between the East Side and the West Side is Broadway from 8th Street on down, and 5th Avenue from 8th Street on up.

6th Avenue is also known as Avenue of the Americas, and 7th as Fashion Avenue due to its going through the Garment District. 6th and 7th Avenues stop at 59th Street, where Central Park begins, bordered by 5th and 8th Avenues, and 59th and 110th Streets. West of Central Park, 8th Avenue becomes Central Park West, 9th Avenue becomes Columbus Avenue, 10th Avenue becomes Amsterdam Avenue, and 11th Avenue becomes West End Avenue.

North of Central Park, in Harlem, America's most famous black neighborhood, 6th Avenue resumes as Lenox Avenue, but all 3 are also named for civil rights leaders: 6th/Lenox is Malcolm X Blvd., 7th is Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., and 8th is Frederick Douglass Blvd.

The Subway system is going to sound complicated. I won't go into the difference between the IRT, the BMT and the IND.

There are lettered lines, and there are numbered lines. The 1, 2 and 3 trains have red logos, and go under 7th Avenue until Times Square (42nd Street), then go under Broadway. The N, Q and R trains have yellow logos, and they're the reverse, going up Broadway until Times Square, and then under 7th Avenue, before curving and heading Crosstown to Queens. The A, C and E trains have blue logos, and go under 8th Avenue, although the E curves at 53rd Street and heads to Queens. The B, D and F trains have orange logos, and go under 6th Avenue, until the F curves at 53rd Street and joins the E.

The 4, 5 and 6 trains have green logos, and go under Lafayette Street, then Park Avenue, then Lexington Avenue. Until the much-discussed, finally under-construction first phase of the 2nd Avenue line opens (they say it will be at the end of 2016), this will be the only north-south line on the East Side. The 7 has a purple logo, and runs under 42nd Street to Queens, where, due to its going through several ethnic neighborhoods in that Borough, is known as the International Express (but only runs express trains during rush hours). And the L has a gray logo, and runs under 14th Street to Brooklyn.

Note that some trains are express (2, 3, 4, 5, A, D and Q, only making the most-used stops), while the others are local (making all stops). And don't worry about the G, J, M and S trains, because, most likely, you won't need them. (The G is the only line on the entire system that does not go through Manhattan at all.)

The Subway fare is $2.75. Free transfers can be made from train to bus, or vice versa. However, there's a $1.00 fee for every new MetroCard.

The sales tax in New York City is 8.875 percent. In New Jersey, it's 7 percent.

Going In. There are 3 ways to get to Red Bull Arena by public transit. Neither is easy or fast. The location in Harrison put it within a reasonable walk of lots of serious soccer fans of Portuguese, Central American, Irish, Scottish and Italian extraction in Newark, Harrison and Kearny. But for anyone who doesn't live there, it's hard.

The easiest is to take any means of getting to Penn Station in Newark. From Penn Station in New York, the trip is scheduled (don't laugh) to take 18 minutes, and costs $10.50 round-trip.
From there, you would switch to the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) train, riding it 1 stop to Harrison. This should only take about 3 minutes, but the Harrison station is old and, while in good condition and well-policed, therefore safe, a terrible bottleneck that was designed to serve a town whose population has remained around 14,000 for as long as I can remember, and not to serve a 25,000-seat sports stadium.

Another way is to take the New York Subway's A, C or E train to the World Trade Center (whose new transit pavilion will open in midseason, replacing the current temporary station that's been open since 9/11 recovery operations were underway in 2003), and then switch to PATH. This ride takes 20 minutes.

The last way is to take PATH directly from its 33rd Street terminal at Herald Square (33rd, 6th Avenue & Broadway), a block east of Penn Station, transfer at Journal Square in Jersey City, and take a 2nd train to Harrison. Because PATH reroutes all trains (except the Newark-World Trade Center line) through Hoboken Terminal, doing it this way takes an hour.

The PATH fare is $2.75, just like the Subway's. If you're transferring from the Subway to PATH, the cards from one can be used on the other, but it will be separate fares, not a free transfer, so it's $5.50 each way.

There is another way, and if you prefer the English pubgoing experience, it may be more to your liking. Once you arrive at Newark's Penn Station, you can walk out the east entrance onto Market Street. This is the Ironbound section of Newark, ringed by railroads and the Passaic River. It is mainly a Portuguese neighborhood, but with Brazilians coming in due to the common language. It's got a bit of an old-country touch (Iberia Restaurant was built to look like a castle), but if you're friendly, the people will gladly return that.

A number of bars (we usually don't call them "pubs") on Market Street cater to Red Bulls fans, including MMM Bello's Pub, Titanic Bar and Catas. (R.I.P. El Pastor.) Lots of beer, lots of sangria, lots of glorious meat. (The Portuguese are big on barbecue.) The area also has lots of seafood restaurants and bakeries. It's a special place: It was these people that turned me on to the game after a youth of thinking soccer was "boring" and that people who said, "You don't understand the nuances" were full of shit. They showed me how wrong I was. They showed me just how exciting the game can be.

It's 9 blocks down Market Street from Penn Station to Jackson Street. The walk across the Jackson Street Bridge, over the Passaic River, is a Red Bull fans' sacrament. (This shouldn't be a problem for  you unless you're really afraid of heights.) Once over the Bridge, you will enter the city of Harrison, and the Arena will be on your right. Just follow the crowd. The entire walk from Penn Station down Market, over the Bridge, and into the Arena is a little over 1 mile. It should take about 20 minutes if you don't stop at any of the bars (ha ha).

The official address of Red Bull Arena is 600 Cape May Street, about 12 miles from Midtown Manhattan, 1 mile from downtown Newark, and 150 miles from Cape May. (No, I don't know why the street has that name.) If you're driving in, parking is $10, and tailgating is not permitted.
Upon arrival at Red Bull Arena, entry gates are as follows: Gate A, southwest; Gate B, northwest; Gate C, northeast; and Gate D, southeast. Since the main parking lot is on the west side, most fans will enter through Gates A and B.
The field is aligned north-to-south. The Red Bulls nearly always (but not quite always) defend the south goal during the 1st half and attack in that direction for the 2nd. There really isn't a bad seat in the house, although if you're in the lower level in the south end zone, the fans will set off smoke as the players are introduced, and again after every goal. I once got a nasty headache from this -- making me perhaps the only person unhappy that Thierry Henry had scored a hat trick for my team. (In fact, I only saw the first 2 goals. He scored the 3rd in stoppage time, while I was in the first aid station, drinking the water to swallow the Tylenol.)

The Arena has hosted high school matches between nearby soccer powers Harrison and Kearny, and the Big East Conference Tournament. It's hosted 2 matches by the U.S. men's national team, a 2011 loss to Ecuador and a 2014 win over Turkey; and 3 by the U.S. women's team, a 2011 win over Mexico, and a 2013 win and a 2015 draw vs. South Korea. Other national teams to have played there include Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Peru, Serbia, and Trinidad & Tobago.

Club teams that have played there include Brazil's Santos (who played the Arena's opening game, losing 3-1 to the Red Bulls on March 20, 2010); English clubs Manchester United (who beat an MLS team in the 2011 MLS All-Star Game), Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur; Lisbon, Portugal clubs Benfica and Sporting Clube de Portugal (a.k.a. Sporting Lisbon); French clubs Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyonnais and Montpellier; German club Bayern Munich; Italian clubs Juventus of Turin and Fiorentina of Florence; Mexican club Guadalajara (a.k.a. Chivas); and El Salvadoran club FAS.

The Arena has also hosted rugby, including the Churchill Cup, shortly after it opened in 2010. A week from this Saturday, on March 12, it will host a rugby match between London club Saracens and London Irish (who, despite their name, actually play in Reading, in Berkshire). Only once has the Arena ever hosted a concert, by Dispatch on June 18, 2011.

Food. The Arena has concession stands on its north, east and south side concourses, with the west side taken up mostly by the Bullshop and club seating. Most of the good stands, with the more varied items, such as those catering to local communities like the Portuguese and the Brazilians, are on the east side.

One thing I don't like about the Arena is that all the concession stands are on the lower level. If you're upstairs, in the 200 sections, you'll have to go downstairs to get something to eat. And, unlike at baseball games, there's no roaming vendors.

Team History Displays. Despite 20 years of history, the MetroStars/Red Bulls haven't won much. They've regularly won (and currently hold) the Atlantic Cup, reflective of the annual winner of their rivalry with D.C. United, and won the Emirates Cup on a preseason visit to London to play Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain in 2011 -- as close as Arsenal are likely to get to hosting a testimonial for the man who starred for both clubs, Thierry Henry.

But the only trophies that really count in MLS are the MLS Cup, the league playoff championship, which the Red Bulls have never won, only making 1 Final, losing to Columbus in 2008; and the Supporters' Shield, the regular-season championship, which they've won in 2013 and 2015. They've never won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, America's answer to the FA Cup, reaching only 1 Final, losing to Chicago in 2003. There is no notation for the Shields in the field area.

A banner honoring Tab Ramos, who grew up in neighboring Kearny, hangs from the upper deck in the South Ward, and bears his Number 10, but that number has not been retired, and is currently worn by midfielder Lloyd Sam. Henry's Number 14 has not been retired, either, but is not currently being worn.

An adjacent banner honors the Red Bulls' all-time starting XI, named following their 2010 move from Giants Stadium to Red Bull Arena. Goalkeeper: North Brunswick, New Jersey native Tim Howard. Defenders? Jeff Parke, Eddie Pope, and Mike Petke, who was also the manager who won them the 2013 Supporters' Shield. Midfielders: Ramos, Youri Djorkaeff, Amado Guevara, and Dave van den Bergh. Forwards: Clint Mathis, Jozy Altidore and Juan Pablo Angel.

Stuff. The Bullshop can be accessed from the West Stand during the game, and the outside after the game and on non-game days. Various Red Bull-related items can be purchased there.

There are, as yet, no official team videos, although the 20th Anniversary may change that. The closest we come to having a goo book about the Red Bulls is The Road to Reviving Professional Soccer in New York City, written by Ian Thomson and published just before the Arena opened. Obviously, it couldn't take into account Henry's impending arrival, the international teams and European clubs coming to the Arena, and the expansion to allow NYCFC into MLS.

During the Game. With the dangers of European and Latin American soccer in mind, the Red Bulls organization and the local police will not put up with violence. You will not have to fear for your safety. Opposing fan groups usually make arrangements to have police escorts into the Arena and into their assigned section in the northeast corner of the upper deck. Bottles, cans, fireworks, flares, smoke bombs and weapons are not permitted. Vuvuzelas, the bane of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, are also banned. Musical instruments are also banned, except for the supporters' sections.

The Red Bull ultras -- the Empire Supporters' Club, the Garden State Supporters, the Viking Army and others -- sit in the South stand, a.k.a. the South Ward. (Newark divides itself into "wards," and this carried over into the Arena, even though it's not in Newark.) These are ultras, not hooligans: They will wear costumes, play instruments, chant, sing, and use a lot of profane and even sick humor -- but they will never initiate violence. If necessary, they will defend themselves, and many of them are large, solidly-built individuals, and New York and New Jersey does come with a tough reputation. But if you don't start anything, neither will they.

The Red Bulls do not have an official mascot, although a fan known as Johnny Toro (Spanish for "bull") wears a team jersey, paints his bald head red, wears plastic bull horns, and a bull-style nose ring. He can be found in the South Ward.

They hold auditions for National Anthem singers, instead of having a regular. For the most part, the fans either sing along or respect the silence -- the exception being that, at "the rockets' red glare," the South Ward will shout the word, "RED!"

Some fans refuse the corporatization of the club: They still wear MetroStars jerseys from the 1996-2005 period, and refer to the club by the original nickname "Metro." Some will go so far as to never drink Red Bull. (I won't drink it -- not because I'm against corporatization of sports, although I am, but because I just don't think the stuff tastes good.)

The Ultras open the game with a version of Little Peggy March's "I Will Follow Him":

We love ya, we love ya, we love ya
and where you go we follow, we follow, we follow
'cause we support the Red Bulls, the Red Bulls, the Red Bulls
and that's the way we like it, we like it, we like it
Oh whoa whoa, whoa...

Some of their songs do cross the line of appropriateness, however. The 2nd half, in which the opposing team defends the south goal, leads to songs about how the ultras think the goalie "sucks" and is a "pedophile." (The former may be true for some goalies; the latter is probably untrue for all of them.)

Even after the mass shootings of the last few years, they include this one, from British punk band Cock Sparrer:

Take 'em all!
Take 'em all!
Line 'em up against a wall and shoot 'em!
Short and tall!
Watch 'em fall!
Come on, boys, take them all!
Take them all!
Watch them fall!
Take them all!
Watch them fall!

Most New York Tri-State Area teams have another Area team as their arch-rivals, but New York City F.C. -- despite their foolhardy attempt to start a hooligan ruck outside Bello's last Summer -- is not yet there. Their fans hate the Red Bulls more than anyone else, but the RBNY fans think of them as a mere annoyance, using the anti-Chelsea song "You Ain't Go No History."

Some Area teams have a Philadelphia team as their rivals: The Mets vs. the Phillies, the Giants vs. the Eagles, and the Devils, at least secondarily, the Flyers. But the Philadelphia Union are not the Red Bulls' rivals. Their fans hate the Red Bulls more than anyone else, but the Union are an afterthought in Harrison, with the brief exception of this chant: "New York's chillin'! Jersey's chillin'! What more can I say? Fuck Philly!"

And some Area teams have a Boston (or at least New England) team as their rivals: The Yankees vs. the Red Sox, the Jets vs. the Patriots, and, at least secondarily, Rutgers vs. UConn and the Rangers vs. the Bruins. But the New England Revolution are not the Red Bulls' rivals. Their fans hate the Red Bulls more than anyone else, but aside from a few Yankee Fans doing the "Boston sucks!" chant, the Revs are barely on Metro fans' radar.

No, the true rivalry is with D.C. United. While Mets vs. Nationals is only a recent rivalry, Giants vs. Redskins hasn't mattered since the early Nineties, St. John's vs. Georgetown hasn't mattered sine the mid-Eighties, Knicks vs. Wizards hasn't mattered since they were the Bullets in the late Seventies, and the Capitals don't really have a rivalry with any Area team, the "Atlantic Cup" rivalry was forged at the league's beginning, when DCU captured 3 of the 1st 4 MLS Cups, and have since won a 4th. Metro fans call them "The D.C. Scum." D.C. fans call us "The Pink Cows" and always remind us that the Cup count is still 4-0 in their favor.

After the Game. Stadium security and the local police take no chances on allowing English-style, European-style or South American-style fan violence. The escort out given to opposing fans is equal to the one going in, and no tolerance for fan violence, in either direction, is given. You will be safe.

Some fans head back across the Jackson Street Bridge for the Ironbound bars, others in the other direction toward downtown Harrison and Kearny. Most, though, head out, either by car or the PATH train.

Sidelights. Baseball season has not begun yet, but both New York baseball parks allow tours. Yankee Stadium: $25. Citi Field: $13. The former can be reached via the D train on the West Side, and the 4 train on the East Side, both to 161st Street-River Avenue; the latter, by the 7 train to Mets-Willets Point station.

The old Yankee Stadium was home to the Yankees from 1923 to 1973, and again from 1976 to 2008, and to the NFL's Giants from 1956 to 1973. It was on the other side of 161st Street from where the new one now stands. Citi Field replaced Shea Stadium, home of the Mets from 1964 to 2008, the Yankees in 1974 and '75 while the old Yankee Stadium was being renovated, the NFL's Jets from 1964 to 1983, and the Giants in 1975. (The Giants played some 1973 and all 1974 games in the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, far from The City.)

Across Roosevelt Avenue from Citi Field is Flushing Meadow-Corona Park, where the U.S. Open tennis tournament is held every late August and early September, and where the 1939-40 and 1964-65 New York World's Fairs were held. If you saw the Men In Black movies, you'll recognize the Unisphere globe, which is one of the surviving structures from the 1964 Fair.

The name "Flushing" comes from the Dutch "Vlissingen," and, no matter how much the Mets stink, has nothing to do with plumbing, although Citi Field's predecessor, Shea Stadium, was often nicknamed the Flushing Toilet.

The Mets were founded in 1962, to take the place of a pair of teams that moved to California for the reason of greed after the 1957 season: The New York Giants (who played in upper Manhattan) and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Giants moved to San Francisco, the Dodgers to Los Angeles, and have maintained their nasty rivalry to this day, thought separated by 389 miles instead of 14.

The move of the Giants was upsetting to many, that of the Dodgers to many more, as they were the only team that Brooklyn could then claim as its own, and they moved to the untapped market of California, and took their rivals with them. The analogy would not be to Wimbledon FC moving to Milton Keynes. Think, instead, of Brooklyn as New York's answer to the East End (complete with docklands and a distinctive accent), and imagine that, near the peak of their success, West Ham had moved to India -- and took Tottenham with them. (Not Millwall. Millwall would be considered "minor league" by U.S. standards.) Then imagine that Chelsea really did have "no history," and only started a few years after the Hammers and Spurs moved, and started as a joke, until they had a couple of titles, and their fans became obnoxious far beyond what their success had yet earned. That would be the Mets.

At any rate, both the Dodgers' and Giants' former homes were replaced by housing projects. Worth visiting in daylight, but not at night. Ebbets Field, home of the Dodgers from 1913 to 1957, was at 1700 Bedford Avenue at Sullivan Place. Q train to Prospect Park. The Polo Grounds was home of the baseball Giants from 1890 to 1957, the Yankees from 1913 to 1922, the football Giants from 1925 to 1955, the Jets from 1960 to 1963, and the Mets in 1962 and 1963. 2955 Frederick Douglass Blvd. (an extension of 8th Avenue). D train to 155th Street.

Madison Square Garden, home of the NBA's Knicks and the NHL's Rangers, and the site of some legendary prizefights and concerts, allows tours, for $27. This is the 4th in a series of buildings with the name, opening in 1968, on top of Penn Station, after the original Roman-inspired Station, built in 1910, was demolished in 1963. Between 31st and 33rd Streets, between 7th and 8th Avenues. 1, 2, 3, A, C or E train to 34th Street-Penn Station. Across 8th Avenue is the main post office, with its columns inspiring comparisons to the old Penn Station, and a move to make it the next Penn Station is in the planning stages.

(Because of lease issues, the Madison Square Garden Corporation may have to build a new arena in the next few years, despite already having seriously renovated the current Garden both in 1992 and again completing a 2-year renovation job in 2014. Location to be determined.)
The Barclays Center, home of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets since it opened in 2012, and the NHL's New York Islanders since last Autumn, offers tours for $24. 2, 3, 4, 5, B or Q train to Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center. It's built across the street from the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Terminal, one of 3 major rail stations in the City.

The Prudential Center in Newark, home of the NHL's New Jersey Devils since it opened in 2007, is a 5-minute walk from Newark's Penn Station. It does not offer tours.

MetLife Stadium, the home of the NFL's Giants and Jets, does allow tours, but only on Saturdays, for $20. It's in the Meadowlands Sports Complex of East Rutherford, New Jersey, which also includes a horse racing track, and an arena that used to be home of the Devils and the Nets.

This stadium, which opened in 2010, has already hosted a number of matches, including the U.S. vs. Argentina in 2011 (I was there), Brazil vs. Argentina in 2012, and a 2014 Portugal vs. Ireland match. Its predecessor, Giants Stadium, hosted the NFL's Giants from 1976 to 2009, the NFL's Jets from 1984 to 2009, the original New York Cosmos from 1977 to 1985, and several games in the 1994 World Cup.

It is hard to get to, though. On game days, New Jersey Transit runs rail service right there, but if you're going from either New York's or Newark's Penn Station, you have to change trains at Secaucus Junction. Without it being a game day, you may need to have to go to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 41st Street and 8th Avenue (A, C or E train to 42nd Street), and take a NJ Transit bus.

Even harder to get to is the Nassau Coliseum, where the Islanders played from 1972 to 2015, and the Nets from 1971 to 1977. 1255 Hempstead Turnpike, in Hempstead (mailing address Uniondale), Long Island. Take the Long Island Railroad from Penn Station in New York to Hempstead Terminal, then switch to the N70, N71 or N72 bus.

New York leads the nation in, among so many other things, available soccer pubs. You can almost certainly find your favorite team at one of these places, arranged by the weekend's schedule (though the Red Bulls' game may conflict with it), with, in soccer tradition but against North American sports' tradition, the home team listed first:

Tottenham vs. Arsenal, 7:45 AM Saturday: 14th Street is the place to be. Arsenal fans' 1st place is the Blind Pig at 233 East 14th, off 2nd Avenue, but it fills up quickly (you need to get there at least 45 minutes before kickoff, probably more than that because this is the North London Derby), so fans usually go to O'Hanlon's, a block away at 349, off 1st. The Winslow, at 243, also takes spillover. L train to 3rd or 1st Avenue.

Flannery's, at 205 West 14th at 7th, is the latest in a series of Spurs bars, after they got kicked out of Floyd in Brooklyn and Kelly's on the Lower East Side, and O'Casey's in Midtown closed. 1 train to 14th.

There are also 2 Arsenal bars in Brooklyn: Woodwork, at 583 Vanderbilt Avenue, C train to Clinton-Washington Avenues; and the appropriately-named Highbury Pub, 1002 Cortelyou Road, Q train to Cortelyou.

Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Ingolstadt, 9:30 AM Saturday: Frankfurt fans meet at the Football Factory.

Chelsea vs. Stoke City, 10:00 AM Saturday: The New York Blues are one of many supporters' clubs that meets at The Football Factory at Legends, 6 West 33rd Street at 5th Avenue, across from the Empire State Building. D train to 34th Street-Herald Square. Stoke fans meet at Fitzgerald's Pub, 336 3rd Avenue at 25th Street. 6 train to 23rd.

Everton vs. West Ham United, 10:00 AM Saturday: Evertonians meet at Mr. Dennehy's, 63 Carmine Street in the West Village. 1 train to Houston Street. The New York Hammers are one of several clubs that meets at Smithfield Hall, 138 West 25th Street at 7th Avenue. 1 train to 23rd.

Manchester City vs. Aston Villa, 10:00 AM Saturday: Citizens meet at The Mad Hatter Pub, 360 3rd Avenue at 26th Street. 6 train to 28th. Villans meet at the Football Factory.

Newcastle United vs. Bournemouth, 10:00 AM Saturday: Both at the Football Factory.

Southampton vs. Sunderland, 10:00 AM Saturday: Both at the Football Factory.

Swansea City vs. Norwich City, 10:00 AM Saturday: The New York Swans meet at the Football Factory. The New York Canaries meet at George Keeley, 485 Amsterdam (9th) Avenue at 83rd Street. 1, 2 or 3 train to 86th.

Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo, 10:00 AM Saturday: Madridistas meet at Quinn's (the bar formerly known as the Irish Rogue), 356 West 44th Street at 9th Avenue. A train to 42nd.

Paris Saint-Germain vs. Montpellier, 11:00 AM Saturday: PSG fans meet at the Football Factory.

Watford vs. Leicester City, 12:30 PM Saturday: Both at the Football Factory.

Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern Munich, 12:30 PM Saturday: What's become the biggest game in Germany can be watched with BVB fans at the Football Factory and Bayern fans at Smithfield.

Napoli vs. Chievo Verona, 2:45 PM Saturday: Fans of the Naples club meet at the Football Factory.

Sporting CP vs. Benfica, 3:45 PM Saturday: I have been unable to find out where Sportinguistas and Benfiquistas meet, and Saturday is the Derby. Your best bets are going to be either the Football Factory, or the new Nevada Smith's at 100 3rd Avenue (replacing the old one at 74 3rd). L train to 3rd Avenue. Or you could try one of the bars on Market Street in Newark's Portuguese-heavy Ironbound.

Celtic vs. Dundee (not Dundee United), 7:00 AM Sunday: With the Glasgow club's ties to Ireland, there are lots of Irish-themed bars that show their games, but due to cable network demands, they are required to charge an admission fee, usually $5.00 but sometimes more. Jack Demsey's (no P) is just a few doors down from the Football Factory, at 36 West 33rd. D train to 34th-Herald Square. And The Parlour is at 250 West 86th at Broadway. This place fills up quickly, and has more old-country fans than possibly any of these bars, but the burgers and the fries are worth it. 1 to 86th Street.

Olympique de Marseille vs. Toulouse, 8:00 AM Sunday. L'OM fans meet at the new Nevada Smith's.

Crystal Palace vs. Liverpool, 8:30 AM Sunday. Palace fans meet at Smithfield. Liverpool may have more meeting places than anyone in the game. The 11th Street Bar, 510 East 11th Street at Avenue A is the main one, but, like the Blind Pig with Arsenal, it fills up quickly. L train to 1st Avenue.

Carragher's Pub and Restaurant is owned by, yes, Liverpool legend Jamie. 228 West 39th Street at 7th Avenue. A train to 42nd. The Irish American Pub, at 17 John Street at Nassau Street, recently opened its "Boot Room" to Kopites. 4 or 5 train to Fulton Street. In Queens, there's the Starting Gate at 59-10 Woodside Avenue. 7 Train to 61st Street-Woodside. Pretty much any bar that will be open will show this game, because of Liverpool's universal appeal.

Atalanta vs. Juventus, and Sassuolo vs. AC Milan, 9:00 AM Sunday. Juventini and Milanisti both meet at the Football Factory. There is never any trouble between them.

Eibar vs. Barcelona, 10:00 AM Sunday. Cules meet at Smithfield.

West Bromwich Albion vs. Manchester United, 11:00 AM Sunday. Also a club with universal appeal, Man U fans are everywhere. (Like rats, and about as welcome.) The Football Factory claims them, as do Baker Street Pub at 1152 1st Avenue at 63rd Street (4, 5 or 6 train to 59th), Maggie Reilly's at 340 West 29th at 9th (A train to 34th-PennStation), and Bar 43 & Grill at 43-06 43rd Street in Queens (7 train to 40th Street).

Hamburger SV vs. Hertha Berlin. 11:30 AM Sunday. Hamburg fans meet at the Football Factory.

Valencia vs. Atletico Madrid, 2:30 PM Sunday. Valencia fans meet at Smithfield, Atleti fans at Tir Na Nog, 315 West 39th Street at 8th Avenue. A train to 42nd.

Internazionale vs. Parma, 2:45 PM Sunday. Interisti meet at the Football Factory.

River Plate vs. Boca Juniors, 3:00 PM Sunday. El Superclassico may be the biggest, or at least the most passionate, rivalry in sports on planet Earth. Boca fans meet in Queens, at the Boca Junior Steakhouse at 81-08 Queens Blvd. R to Grand Avenue-Newtown. River fans meet at the Football Factory.

At many of these bars, you can pick up copies of First Touch, the area's free weekly newspaper dedicated to the sport.

As for the City's main tourist attractions: If your secondary goal, beyond the primary goal of seeing your team play the Red Bulls, is to see a "Broadway play," I would advise against it, as you may well be very disappointed. Tickets are expensive and not easy to get, and may not be worth it. This is hardly a golden age for Broadway: Nearly every show is either a borrow from London's West End, a stage adaptation of a movie you may already have seen, or a revival of a classic musical featuring performers whose names are not especially well-known. (And are not likely to be, either: Although a few major actors got their start on Broadway, the days when The Ed Sullivan Show -- which helped the Beatles rise to superstardom -- could, thanks to Sullivan's status as a Broadway columnist, raise performers and songs from nearby theaters to iconic status are long gone.)

An NY CityPass will be expensive, but it will save you a large amount if your goal is to cram in as many tourist attractions as possible. You can tailor your pass to the sites you want to see. For example: The $109 version gets you the Empire State Building, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Modern Art, the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island or a Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan Island, and the Top of the Rock observation deck at Rockefeller Center or the Guggenheim Museum. With CityPASS, you'll skip most ticket lines.

As for the museums: While London's are free, New York's are not. They have "donations" -- or "suggested general admissions" -- running form $15 to $22.

The two best-known New York Museums are opposite Central Park from one another, a mile apart. The American Museum of Natural History is at 79th Street and Central Park West (8th Avenue). C train to 81st Street. And the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- a.k.a. The Met, not to be confused with the opera house, the baseball team, or the London police -- is at 82nd Street and 5th Avenue. This stretch of 5th is known as Museum Mile, and also includes, among others, the egg-shaped, Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. 4, 5 or 6 train to 86th Street, 4 blocks down Lexington, and then 3 blocks west to 5th Avenue.

The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is New York's center for classical performances, with several venues, most notably the current edition of the Metropolitan Opera House. 63rd Street and Broadway. 1 train to 66th Street-Lincoln Center. The other major classical venue is Carnegie Hall. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? "Practice, my boy, practice!" The old joke is wrong: Anyone who can afford to rent Carnegie Hall's main auditorium may do so, regardless of level of talent. It's at 881 7th Avenue at 57th Street. 1, A, B, C or D train to 59th Street-Columbus Circle, or F train to 57th Street.

A block away, at 56th Street and 7th Avenue, is the legendary Carnegie Deli, of the giant (and expensive) sandwiches named for legendary entertainers and athletes. Sadly, the similar Stage Deli, a block away at 55th and 7th, closed a few years ago.

The Russian Tea Room, a famous restaurant mere steps away from Carnegie Hall at 150 West 57, is to be avoided: The service is only passable, and the food would be mediocre at half the price. In fact, I would avoid the best-known restaurants altogether. It's been said that New York offers the best cheap meals and the worst expensive meals in the world. So if you have the bucks to blow, and you want to be able to say, "I ate at (fill in the blank: Smith & Wollensky's Gallagher's, Peter Luger's, or wherever else)," go ahead, but you have been warned. (The famous Italian restaurant Mama Leone's has been gone for many years.)

The closest thing you may get to a true British pub experience is the Atlantic Chip Shop, at 129 Atlantic Avenue at Henry Street in Brooklyn. The place is decked out in British memorabilia, and when there's no football or rugby match on TV, they usually have a British film on. 4 or 5 train to Borough Hall, then 4 blocks down Court Street, then turn right on Atlantic and walk 2 blocks. The owners also run the Park Slop Chip Shop, which is closer to a genuine chippy. 383 5th Avenue at 6th Street -- remember, that's Brooklyn's 5th Avenue, not Manhattan's. R train to 9th Street, walk up 4th Avenue to 6th Street, and 1 block over to 5th.

A Salt and Battery is also a good fish and chips place. The fish is top-notch, but they do have what we call French fries, rather than chips. Next-door is another English-themed place, Tea and Sympathy. 112 Greenwich Avenue at 13th Street. 1, 2, 3, A, C or E train to 14th Street.

If your taste runs more to the Scottish, Caledonia Scottish Pub is at 1609 2nd Avenue at 83rd Street. 4, 5 or 6 train to 86th Street. And if you're Welsh, Longbow Pub & Pantry is in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. 7316 3rd Avenue at 74th Street. R train to either Bay Ridge Avenue or 77th Street, then walk a block from 4th Avenue to 3rd.

The Freedom Tower at the new World Trade Center is now open, complete with observation deck, and certified as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. It looks over the site of the original Twin Towers, at Liberty and Greenwich Streets, and expect long lines if you want to visit the 9/11 Memorial. E train to World Trade Center, or R train to Cortlandt Street.

Because of security concerns after the 9/11 attacks, it is no longer possible to tour the New York Stock Exchange building at Wall and Broad Streets. However, it doesn't cost anything to walk down Wall Street, the center of the financial world. 2, 3, 4 or 5 train to Wall Street.

The South Street Seaport area is one of the City's last remaining bastions of pre-Civil War (1861-65) architecture. In fact, one of the reasons John Lennon said he loved New York so much was that it reminded him of Liverpool, especially with the dock areas. However, the Pier 17 shopping center, which had lots of goodies, has been demolished to make way for a new one, supposedly to open in late 2016.

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This is usually where I close the blog post by telling you what a terrific city you'll be visiting, and hoping that you'll have fun.

Well, whatever you might think of your hometown, there is no better city on Earth than New York. While it is very easy for things to go wrong there, if you follow these directions, you should be fine, and be able to enjoy yourself immensely. Good luck.

Believe it or not, I'm about to post a tribute to a Red Sox fan.

Arthur Worth Collins Jr. -- according to current Boston Globe columnist Kevin Paul Dupont, "Bud" was once a common nickname for boys named Arthur -- was born on June 17, 1929 in Lima, Ohio, roughly in the middle of a triangle that would be formed by Cleveland, Detroit and Indianapolis. The family moved to the Cleveland suburb of Berea, and that's where he graduated from high school (Berea High) and college (Baldwin-Wallace College -- it didn't become a "University" until 2012).

After returning to Berea in 1997, he wrote, "I got into the business of newspapers at the far end of the line -- delivering them. I felt important. TV didn't exist, and I was the one bringing around the news. A mute town crier; a non-babbling anchorman. It was a wonderful form of child labor."

After serving in the Korean War, he drove 700 miles to Boston University to study journalism. He never finished, because it became pointless: The purpose of college is to prepare you for a job, and he got one, as a sportswriter at the Boston Herald. "I finished all of my classes in 1955," he said, "but lacked a thesis paper, because I got caught up with my full-time job."

He also became the tennis coach at nearby Brandeis University. One of his players was a native of nearby Worcester, Abbot Howard Hoffman. Yes, Abbie Hoffman. I'm hoping he didn't turn out he way he did because of Collins. How good was Hoffman at the sport? I have no idea: The research for this post was the 1st time I'd ever heard him associated with any sport.

How good was Collins at the sport for which he would become best known, although not for playing it? He called himself a "hacker." (This was before that term was applied to computer skills.) But in 1961, he and Janet Hopps won the U.S. Indoor Mixed Doubles Championship. As late as 1975 (when he was 49), he and Jack Crawford reached the Finals of the senior doubles at the French Open. To put that in perspective: Crawford, an Australian, lost the 1933 U.S. Open in the Final, and only that denied him the Grand Slam. Janet Hopps Adkisson, still alive at this writing, was not nearly as accomplished, getting no closer to a singles title at a major than the 4th Round at Wimbledon in 1959 and 1960, but reached the Final of the mixed doubles at the U.S. Open in 1959.

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In 1963, Collins left both the Herald and the Brandeis job to take a sportswriting job with a real newspaper, the Boston Globe. That same year, the local NET (became PBS in 1968) station, WGBH-Channel 2 -- Remember? "Write Zoom! Box 350, Boston, Mass, 02134! Send it to Zoom!" -- hired him to do tennis commentary. He was similarly modest about his writing and broadcasting abilities, calling himself "a scribbler and a babbler." (Did Walt Frazier copy his rhyming broadcasting style?)

In 1967, the year of the Boston Red Sox'"Impossible Dream" Pennant, Collins ran for Mayor. He lost, although it's hardly a shame, since Kevin White served 4 terms and modernized a city that badly needed it. In 1968, CBS Sports hired Collins to cover the U.S. Open. In 1972, he moved to NBC, which, then as now, had the rights to Wimbledon, the British championship and the sport's defining event.

His "Breakfast at Wimbledon" segments -- necessary because of the 5-hour time difference between London and the Eastern U.S. -- made his wit, his smile, his infectious enthusiasm, his bald head, his bow ties, and his loud pants famous.

Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News was a student as Boston College during Bud's early days at the Globe. (Lupica grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire as a Red Sox fan. If you didn't already, now you know why he hates the Yankees so much.) He said of Collins today, "No media figure in history, in my mind, has ever been as important to one sport as Bud Collins was to the sport of tennis. You can't minimize it. He became the de facto ambassador to that sport as it was exploding in this country. He educated. He entertained."

What Lupica is saying is, what Howard Cosell tried to do for boxing, and what Cosell thought he did for everything he covered, Collins actually did for tennis in America. He taught and explained, without making the reader or the viewer feel like they were starting out knowing nothing, unworthy of his teaching.

He remained with NBC until 2007, and when they let him go at age 78, ESPN picked him up.
He's often been called the 1st newspaper sports writer to also announce his sport on television. "He broke the barrier, the notion that you could be a newspaper guy and they would want you on TV," said Dan Shaughnessy. He was one of many Globe writers who followed Collins onto TV, also including Bob Ryan, Jackie MacMullan and Michael Smith, all of whom were on ESPN well before NBC exiled Collins there.

He didn't just cover tennis. Despite running for Mayor in 1967, he did cover that season's Red Sox Pennant. He also covered the October 30, 1974 Heavyweight Championship fight between incumbent George Foreman and former champ Muhammad Ali in Zaire (Congo), a.k.a. the Rumble in the Jungle. Collins had covered Ali since before he was champ or Ali, when he was still an exciting, if cocky, kid named Cassius Clay, saying things like, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! Ahhhh! Rumble, young man, rumble! Ahhhh!"

Collins never stopped believing in Ali, even during the federal government's vendetta against him for refusing to be drafted. He predicted Ali would win the fight: "A butterfly still floats better than a boulder. Even an old one named Muhammad Ali. And stings a lot, too. Enough to bewilder and hammer a young hardrock named George Foreman." Ali, in his frequently poetic style, said, "You think the world was shocked when Nixon resigned? Wait 'til you see me kick Foreman's behind!" Ali and Collins both turned out to be right.

He married a woman named Palmer Collins, but it ended in divorce. They had a daughter, Suzanna Mathews. For many years, he lived with Judy Lacy, a tennis writer for the Herald, and after she died in 1980, he raised her son, Rob Lacy. He married an English teacher named Mary Lou Barnum, but, like Mathews, she died of a brain tumor. She brought 4 daughters to the marriage, now named Betsy Bartelt, Kristin Hunt, Sharon McMillan and Gretchen West.

In 1994, he married a photographer named Anita Ruthling Klaussen, and it lasted for the rest of his life. She brought a daughter and a son to the marriage, Danielle Klausen and Karl Klaussen, both of whom lived near the Collins' home in Brookline, outside Boston.

Anita knew nothing about sports when she met him, and didn't play tennis. But they went to an art gallery opening on the Back Bay's posh Newbury Street, and she was amazed that "Everybody in Boston seemed to know Bud."

During the 1986 World Series between the Red Sox and the Mets, Bud was covering a tennis tournament in Japan. When he boarded his plane at Tokyo's Narita International Airport, he had just seen, on TV in the airport lounge, Dave Henderson (who died a few weeks ago) hit a home run that gave the Sox the lead in the 10th inning in Game 6. Although he'd grown up outside Cleveland and rooted for the Indians, like so many other transplants to Boston, Bud had given himself over to the Red Sox completely. Now, they were going to win the World Series for the 1st time since 1918, and he was going to miss it. Forget not being in the stadium: He wasn't even going to see it, because he was going to be on the plane!

When the plane landed at Los Angeles hours later, he expected to find people talking about it. Oh, they were talking about it all right, but, knowing who Bud was and where he was from, they kept coming up to him and telling him how sorry they were. He'd been in the air, without today's laptops and smartphones, and he had no idea of what they were talking about. A quick trip to the airport lounge and a look at a TV showed him the collapse, and its exclamation-point error by Bill Buckner.

When the Sox finally won * the World Series on October 27, 2004, Bud Collins was in Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis and saw it live. Indeed, from his birth in 1929 until 2004, 75 years, he had only seen his favorite team win it once: The 1948 Indians. The Indians still haven't won one since then, now 66 years, almost as long as Boston's drought was in 1986. But he lived long enough to see the Red Sox win it * 3 times.

(Yes, I'm putting those asterisks in there. Bud deserved to have his team win honestly. They didn't.)

He was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1994. He collaborated on the autobiographies of Rod Laver and Evonne Goolagong -- both Australians, which shows just how far his reach was, literally and figuratively.

Bud's health declined in recent years, due to Parkinson's disease. Last September, he went to New York for the U.S. Open, and the media center was dedicated and named in his honor. Billie Jean King, for whom the entire U.S. Tennis Center complex in Flushing Meadow is named, said, "Few people have had the historical significance, the lasting impact, and the unqualified love for tennis as Bud Collins. He was an outstanding journalist, an entertaining broadcaster, and as our historian he never let us forget or take for granted the rich history of our sport. I will miss him, and I will always cherish our memories of our journeys together."

Bud died this morning, his wife announced. He was 86 years old.

In 2009, Boston University finally conferred his long-awaited master's degree on him. In lieu of the thesis he'd abandoned in 1955, Thomas Fielder, dean of BU's College of Communication, accepted as a thesis submission The Bud Collins History of Tennis.

Bud not only wrote what amounted to 3 encyclopedias of tennis, he was described by many as a walking encyclopedia of the sport.

They wouldn't have said that if he hadn't also been a friend to them. Millions of people who never had the pleasure of meeting him felt as though he were a friend. Which is a better legacy than any man can ever do for his favorite sport.

This coming Thursday night, the Devils will be in the San Francisco Bay Area, to play the San Jose Sharks.

This could be a bit upsetting to any Devils fans visiting. Not because there's any rivalry with the Sharks, or anything particularly unlikable about either the team, or the arena, or the city, but because the Sharks' current head coach is Peter DeBoer, who guided the Devils to the 2012 Eastern Conference Championship, then proved over the next 2 1/2 seasons that the team got there in spite, not because, of his coaching. (Former Devil Dainius Zubrubs is also with the Sharks now.)

Before You Go. The San Francisco Bay Area has inconsistent weather. San Francisco, in particular, partly because it’s bounded by water on three sides, is the one city I know of that has baseball weather in football season and football weather in baseball season. Or, as Mark Twain, who worked for a San Francisco newspaper during the Civil War, put it, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

The websites of the San Jose Mercury News and the Oakland Tribune, and SFgate.com, the website of the San Francisco Chronicle, should be checked before you leave. For most of next week, they're predicting low 60s during the day and high 40s at night, with rain ending by Tuesday, and probably not affecting you unless you arrive by then.

San Jose, the Bay Area as a whole, and the entire State of California are in the Pacific Time Zone, 3 hours behind New York and New Jersey. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.

Tickets. The Sharks are averaging 16,721 fans per game this season, about 95 percent of capacity and a drop of about 2,000 fans from the season before. Considering this, and the fact that the Devils are not a regional or historical rival, getting tickets should not be very difficult.

Seats in the lower level, the 100 sections, are $88 between the goals and $83 behind them. In the upper level, the 200 sections, they're $56 between the goals and $40 behind them.

Getting There. It’s 2,906 miles from Times Square in Midtown Manhattan to Union Square in downtown San Francisco, and 2,928 miles from the Prudential Center in Newark to the SAP Center at San Jose. This is the 2nd-longest Devils roadtrip, behind only Vancouver. In other words, if you’re going, you’re flying.

You think I’m kidding? Even if you get someone to go with you, and you take turns, one drives while the other one sleeps, and you pack 2 days’ worth of food, and you use the side of the Interstate as a toilet, and you don’t get pulled over for speeding, you’ll still need over 2 full days. Each way.

But, if you really, really want to drive... Get onto Interstate 80 West in New Jersey, and – though incredibly long, it’s also incredibly simple – you’ll stay on I-80 for almost its entire length, which is 2,900 miles from Ridgefield Park, just beyond the New Jersey end of the George Washington Bridge, to the San Francisco end of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

If you're driving directly to San Jose (i.e., if your hotel is there), then, getting off I-80, you’ll need Exit 8A for I-880, the Nimitz Freeway – the 1997-rebuilt version of the double-decked expressway that collapsed, killing 42 people, during the Loma Prieta Earthquake that struck during the 1989 World Series between the 2 Bay Area teams. From I-880, you’ll take Exit 3A, for Santa Clara Street.

Not counting rest stops, you should be in New Jersey for an hour and a half, Pennsylvania for 5:15, Ohio for 4 hours, Indiana for 2:30, Illinois for 2:45, Iowa for 5 hours, Nebraska for 7:45, Wyoming for 6:45, Utah for 3:15, Nevada for 6:45, and California for 3:15. That’s almost 49 hours, and with rest stops, and city traffic at each end, we’re talking 3 full days.

That’s still faster than Greyhound and Amtrak. Greyhound does stop in San Jose, at 70 S. Almaden Avenue at Post Street, within walking distance of the arena. But the trip averages about 80 hours, depending on the run, and will require you to change buses 2, 3, 4 or even 5 times. And you'd have to leave no later than Thursday morning to get there by Sunday gametime. Round-trip fare is $570, but it can drop to $482 with advanced purchase.

On Amtrak, to make it in time for a Thursday night puck-drop, you would leave Penn Station on the Lake Shore Limited at 3:40 PM on Monday, arrive at Union Station in Chicago at 9:45 AM Central Time on Tuesday, and switch to the California Zephyr at 2:00 PM, arriving at Emeryville, California at 4:10 PM Pacific Time on Thursday. Round-trip fare: $673. Then you'd have to get to downtown San Francisco or San Jose.

Getting back, the California Zephyr leaves Emeryville at 9:10 AM, arrives in Chicago at 2:50 PM 2 days later, and the Lake Shore Limited leaves at 9:30 PM and arrives in New York at 6:23 PM the next day. So we're talking a Thursday to the next week's Thursday operation by train.

Newark to San Francisco is sometimes a relatively cheap flight, considering the distance. Not this time: A round-trip flight will cost over $900. You'd have to change planes once on the way to San Francisco, and then taking BART into the city. BART from SFO to downtown San Francisco takes 30 minutes, and it's $8.65. However, San Jose does have its own airport, named for the still-living former Congressman Norman Y. Mineta, and round-trip flights (again, nonstop) can be had for under $700.

If you're trying to get from downtown San Francisco to San Jose, a 48-mile trip, CalTrain takes an hour and a half, and it's $19.50 round-trip to Diridon Station, 65 Cahill Street, 2 blocks south of the arena.

Once In the City. San Francisco was settled in 1776, and named for St. Francis of Assisi. San Jose was settled the next year, and named for Joseph, Jesus' earthly father. Both were incorporated in 1850. Oakland was founded in 1852, and named for oak trees in the area.

With the growth of the computer industry, San Jose has become the largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a little over 1 million people. San Francisco has about 850,000, and Oakland 400,000. Overall, the Bay Area is home to 8.6 million people and rising, making it the 4th largest metropolitan area in North America, behind New York with 23 million, Los Angeles with 18 million, and Chicago with just under 10 million.


Going In. Named the San Jose Arena from its 1993 opening until 2001, the Compaq Center at San Jose until 2002, and the HP Pavilion at San Jose until 2013, the SAP Center at San Jose, a.k.a. the Shark Tank, is easily identifiable by its triangular, "shark-toothed" roof.
The official address is 525 W. Santa Clara Street. If you're driving in, there's plenty of parking, as it's a mile west of downtown, and it's cheap at $9.50. Most likely, someone who drove in would enter from the north or the west gates.

The rink runs northeast-to-southwest. The Sharks attack twice at the northeast end.
The arena also hosts the San Jose Barracudas of the American Hockey League. The Golden State Warriors played the 1996-97 season there, while their arena at the Oakland Coliseum complex, now named the Oracle Arena, was being renovated. The San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League played there, making the Playoffs 16 times, winning 10 Division titles and 4 ArenaBowls: 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2015. And yet, despite being the current holders of the league title, the SaberCats have suspended operations.

In the entire world, only Madison Square Garden, the Manchester Evening News Arena in England, and the Air Canada Centre in Toronto are stadiums or arenas that sell more tickets to non-sporting events, including concerts and wrestling.

If you’re a fan of the TV show The West Wing, this was the convention center where the ticket of Matt Santos and Leo McGarry was nominated.

Food. San Francisco, due to being a waterfront city and a transportation and freight hub, has a reputation as one of America’s best food cities. San Jose's arena benefits from this.

Classix stands are at Sections 103, 113, 116 and 128. These have Nachos, Polish sausage, salad, fruit and snacks. Show Dogs has a specialty hot dog and baked potato stand at 104. Gordon Biersch, at 106, has the classic made famous at Giants games, Garlic Fries.

At 109 and 123, GrillWorks has Philly-style cheesesteaks, burgers, fries, onion rings and sausage. At 110, Sweet Spot has ice cream, cupcakes and cotton candy. At 117 and 127, Rio Adobe has Mexican food. At 118, Le Boulanger has sandwiches, salads and chowder bread bowls. At 120, Panda Express has Chinese food. At 121, Amici's has pizza. At 126, Togo's has deli sandwiches.

In the upper level, at 206, Armadillo Willy's has barbecue. At 210, The Carvery has deli sandwiches. At 220, Sonoma Chicken Coop has chicken dishes. And at 223, Pasta Pomodora has Italian food.

Team History Displays. The Sharks haven't yet won a Stanley Cup, or a Western Conference Championship. In only 3 seasons have they even reached the Conference Finals: In 2004, 2010 and 2011. But they did win the President's Trophy, for best overall record in the League, in the 2009 season. And they've won 6 Division Championships: 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. They have banners reflecting these titles, hanging from the rafters at the northeast end.
Despite celebrating their 25th Anniversary, the Sharks have not yet retired any numbers. Three players who played for them have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but, between them, played less than 5 full seasons for them: Igor Larinoov, Ed Belfour and Rob Blake.

The Sharks have, however, released fan voting for their 25th Anniversary Team: Forwards Patrick Marleau, Owen Nolan, Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo, Joe Pavleski and Mike Ricci; defensemen Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Dan Boyle and Douglas Murray; and goaltenders Evgeni Nabovkov and Arturs Irbe. Marleau, Thornton, Burns, Vlasic and team Captain Pavleski are still with the Sharks.

No players who had yet played for the Sharks, and no players from the Seals franchise, where named to The Hockey News' 100 Greatest Players in 1998.

The Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (BASHOF) is unusual in that its exhibits are spread over several locations. No induction plaques are on display at the SAP Center, and no Sharks have yet been inducted. Nor have any Seals.

Stuff. The Sharks Store is on the south side of the arena, on the ground floor. They also have team stores throughout the Bay Area. These stores include hats with shark fins on them.

The Giants, the A's, the 49ers, the Raiders, and even the Warriors are historic Bay Area sports teams, with 17 World Championships and 25 finals appearances between them. But in a quarter of a century, the Sharks have never been to a Stanley Cup Finals. So there is no video retrospective, and even books about them are few and far between. You would think that the 25th Anniversary would have changed this, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

In 1994, entering their 4th season and coming off 2 awful expansion seasons and a 3rd with an epic 8th seed vs. 1st seed Playoff upset of the Detroit Red Wings, Steve Cameron wrote Feeding Frenzy! The Wild New World of the San Jose Sharks. In 2001, Ken Arnold wrote Decade of Teal: 10 Years With the San Jose Sharks. And, just last Summer, Laura Winters wrote the Sharks' entry in the Inside the NHL series.

During the Game. This is not a Raider game, where people come dressed as pirates, biker gangsters, Darth Vader, the Grim Reaper, and so on. Nor is this a Giant game where you might be wearing Dodger gear. This is a Sharks game. While they're not particularly fond of their fellow West Coasters the Los Angeles Kings, the Anaheim Ducks or the Vancouver Canucks, you will be safe wearing your Devils colors.

The Sharks' game against the Devils will, since they'll be on the road on the 17th, have a St. Patrick's Day theme, with green Sharks hats given away.

The Sharks skate onto the ice through a large shark mouth around the tunnel entrance, to the tune of Metallica's "Seek and Destroy." They have a variation on the "Hey, you suck!" chant by yelling it at the entire opposing team after they're introduced.

They hold auditions for National Anthem singers, instead of having a regular. After years of having "Rock and Roll Part II" by Gary Glitter as their goal song, they wisely dropped the convicted sex offender's song and had new "Hey Song" written and recorded for them by a local group called SixxAM.
The mascot is S.J. Sharkie (S.J. for San Jose), although he looks more like a weird dog than a man-eating fish.

As a Sharks power play begins, the theme from Jaws plays, and the fans move their arms like shark jaws, similar to the University of Florida Gators gesture. When the familiar "Da da da DAT da DAAAA!" is played, instead of "Charge!" the response is "Sharks!"


And, trying to copy the tradition from Detroit of throwing an octopus onto the ice, Sharks fans have taken to throwing leopard sharks, a small variety of the fish, onto the ice.

After the Game. Again, Shark fans are not Raider fans. And the San Jose arena is far from any crime issues. Don't antagonize anyone, and you'll be fine.

If you want to go out for a postgame meal or drinks, across the railroad tracks, Santa Clara Street becomes The Alameda, and at 754 The Alameda is a place with a name that sort of ties into the Sharks' theme: Bluefin Sushi & Japanese Restaurant. If you want something on the go, a Whole Foods is at 777 The Alameda. The Poor House Bistro is just down the block at 91 S. Autumn Street. Henry's World Famous Hi-Life, a renowned Bay Area barbecue joint, is just across the Guadelupe River at 301 W. St. John Street.

There are three bars in the Lower Nob Hill neighborhood of San Francisco that are worth mentioning. Aces, at 998 Sutter Street & Hyde Street in San Francisco’s Lower Nob Hill neighborhood, is said to have a Yankee sign out front and a Yankee Fan as the main bartender. It’s also the home port of Mets, NFL Giants, Knicks and Rangers fans in the Bay Area.

R Bar, at 1176 Sutter & Polk Street, is the local Jets fan hangout. And Greens Sports Bar, at 2239 Polk at Green Street, is also said to be a Yankee-friendly bar. Of course, you’ll have to cross the Bay by car or by BART to get there.

A recent Thrillist article on the best sports bars in every State named as California's the Kezar Pub, at 770 Stanyan Street, opposite the new Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park. Number 7 bus.

Sidelights. The San Francisco Bay Area, including the East Bay (which includes Oakland), has a very rich sports history. Here are some of the highlights:

* AT&T Park. Home of the Giants since 2000, it has been better for them than Candlestick -- aesthetically, competitively, financially, you name it. Winning 3 World Series since it opened, it's been home to The Freak (Tim Lincecum) and The Steroid Freak (Barry Bonds).

It's hosted some college football games, and a February 10, 2006 win by the U.S. soccer team over Japan. 24 Willie Mays Plaza, at 3rd & King Streets.

Bryant Street, 16th Street, Potrero Avenue and Alameda Street, in the Mission District. Hard to reach by public transport: The Number 10 bus goes down Townsend Street and Rhode Island Avenue until reaching 16th, but then it’s an 8-block walk. The Number 27 can be picked up at 5th & Harrison Streets, and will go right there.

* Candlestick Park. Home of the Giants from 1960 to 1999, the NFL 49ers since 1970, and the Raiders in the 1961 season, this may have been the most-maligned sports facility in North American history. Its seaside location (Candlestick Point) has led to spectators being stricken by wind (a.k.a. The Hawk), cold, and even fog.

It was open to the Bay until 1971, including the 1962 World Series between the Yankees and the Giants, and was then enclosed to expand it from 42,000 to 69,000 seats for the Niners. It also got artificial turf for the 1970 season, one of the first stadiums to have it – though, to the city’s credit, it was also the 1st NFL stadium and 2nd MLB stadium (after Comiskey Park in Chicago) to switch back to real grass.

The Giants only won 2 Pennants there, and never a World Series. But the 49ers have won 5 Super Bowls while playing there, with 3 of their 6 NFC Championship Games won as the home team. The NFL Giants did beat the 49ers in the 1990 NFC Championship Game, scoring no touchdowns but winning 15-13 thanks to 5 Matt Bahr field goals. The Beatles played their last “real concert” ever at the ‘Stick on August 29, 1966 – only 25,000 people came out, a total probably driven down by the stadium’s reputation and John Lennon’s comments about religion on that tour.

The Giants got out, and the 49ers have now done the same, with their new stadium opening last year. The last sporting event was a U.S. national soccer team win over Azerbaijan earlier this year, the 4th game the Stars & Stripes played there (2 wins, 2 losses). It has now been demolished, and good riddance.

Best way to the site by public transport isn’t a good one: The KT light rail at 4th & King Streets, at the CalTrain terminal, to 3rd & Gilman Streets, and then it’s almost a mile’s walk down Jagerson Avenue. So unless you’re driving/renting a car, or you’re a sports history buff who HAS to see the place, I wouldn’t suggest making time for it.

In spite of the Raiders' return, the 49ers are more popular -- according to a 2014 Atlantic Monthly
article, even in Alameda County. The Raiders remain more popular in the Los Angeles area, a holdover from their 1982-94 layover, and also a consequence of L.A. not having had a team since.
* Kezar Stadium. The 49ers played here from their 1946 founding until 1970, the Raiders spent their inaugural 1960 season here, and previous pro teams in the city also played at this facility at the southeastern corner of Golden Gate Park, a mere 10-minute walk from the fabled corner of Haight & Ashbury Streets.

High school football, including the annual City Championship played on Thanksgiving Day, used to be held here as well. Bob St. Clair, who played there in high school, college (University of San Francisco) and the NFL in a Hall of Fame career with the 49ers, has compared it to Chicago’s Wrigley Field as a “neighborhood stadium.” After the 49ers left, it became a major concert venue.

The original 60,000-seat structure was built in 1925, and was torn down in 1989 (a few months before the earthquake, so there’s no way to know what the quake would have done to it), and was replaced in 1990 with a 9,000-seat stadium, much more suitable for high school sports. The original Kezar, named for one of the city’s pioneering families, had a cameo in the Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry. Frederick & Stanyan Streets, Kezar Drive and Arguello Blvd. MUNI light rail N train.

* Emeryville Park. Also known as Oaks Park, this was the home of the Pacific Coast League’s Oakland Oaks from 1913 until 1955. The Oaks won Pennants there in 1927, ’48, ’50 and ’54.

Most notable of these was the 1948 Pennant, won by a group of players who had nearly all played in the majors and were considered old, and were known as the Nine Old Men (a name often given to the U.S. Supreme Court). These old men included former Yankee 1st baseman Nick Etten, the previous year’s World Series hero Cookie Lavagetto of the Brooklyn Dodgers (an Oakland native), Hall of Fame catcher Ernie Lombardi (another Oakland native), and one very young player, a 20-year-old 2nd baseman from Berkeley named Billy Martin. Their manager? Casey Stengel. Impressed by Casey’s feat of managing the Nine Old Men to a Pennant in a league that was pretty much major league quality, and by his previously having managed the minor-league version of the Milwaukee Brewers to an American Association Pennant, Yankee owners Dan Topping and Del Webb hired Casey to manage in 1949. Casey told Billy that if he ever got the chance to bring him east, he would, and he was as good as his word.

Pixar Studios has built property on the site. 45th Street, San Pablo Avenue, Park Avenue and Watts Street, Emeryville, near the Amtrak station. Number 72 bus from Jack London Square.
* Frank Youell Field. This was another stopgap facility, used by the Raiders from 1962 to 1965, a 22,000-seat stadium that was named after an Oakland undertaker – perhaps fitting, although the Raiders didn’t yet have that image. Interestingly from a New York perspective, the first game here was between the Raiders and the forerunners of the Jets, the New York Titans.

It was demolished in 1969. A new field of the same name was built on the site for Laney College. East 8th Street, 5th Avenue, East 10th Street and the Oakland Estuary. Lake Merritt BART station.

* Cow Palace. The more familiar name of the Grand National Livestock Pavilion, this big barn just south of the City Line in Daly City has hosted just about everything, from livestock shows and rodeos to the 1956 and 1964 Republican National Conventions. (Yes, the Republicans came here, not the “hippie” Democrats.)

The ’64 Convention is where New York’s Governor Nelson Rockefeller refused to be booed off the podium when he dared to speak out against the John Birch Society – the Tea Party idiots of their time – and when Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona was nominated, telling them, “I would remind you, my fellow Republicans, that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And I would remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” (Personally, I think that extremism in the defense of liberty is no defense of liberty.)

Built in 1941, it is one of the oldest remaining former NBA and NHL sites, having hosted the NBA’s Warriors (then calling themselves the San Francisco Warriors) from 1962 to 1971, the NHL’s San Jose Sharks from their 1991 debut until their current arena could open in 1993, and several minor-league hockey teams. The 1960 NCAA Final Four was held here, culminating in Ohio State, led by Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek (with future coaching legend Bobby Knight as the 6th man) beating local heroes and defending National Champions California, led by Darrell Imhoff.

The Beatles played here on August 19, 1964 and August 31, 1965, and Elvis Presley sang here on November 13, 1970 and November 28 & 29, 1976. It was the site of Neil Young’s 1978 concert that produced the live album Live Rust and the concert film Rust Never Sleeps, and the 1986 Conspiracy of Hope benefit with Joan Baez, Lou Reed, Sting and U2. The acoustics of the place, and the loss of such legendary venues as the Fillmore West and the Winterland Ballroom, make it the Bay Area’s holiest active rock and roll site. 2600 Geneva Avenue at Santos Street, in Daly City. 8X bus.

In addition to the preceding, Elvis sang at the Auditorium Arena (now the Kaiser Convention Center, near the Laney College campus in Oakland) early in his career, on June 3, 1956 and again on October 27, 1957; and the San Francisco Civic Auditorium (now the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove Street at Polk Street) on October 26, 1957.

* Levi's Stadium. The official address of Levi's Stadium is 4900 Marie P. DeBartolo Way, after the mother of former 49ers owner and newly-elected Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Eddie DeBartolo. (If you're going to apply to the U.S. Postal Service to make it 4900, why not 4949?) The intersection is Marie P. DeBartolo Way and Tasman Drive. It's 46 miles southeast of downtown San Francisco, 39 miles southeast of downtown Oakland, and 9 miles northwest of downtown San Jose. CalTrain from downtown San Francisco to Santa Clara station. California's Great America theme part is next-door. From downtown San Jose, take the 916 trolley.

It hosts the Pacific-12 Conference Championship Game, and in 2019 (for the 2018 season) it will host the College Football Playoff National Championship.

The NHL hosted a Stadium Series outdoor hockey game there last year ago, with the San Jose Sharks losing to their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. It is contracted to host 1 San Jose Earthquakes game per year, and last year Manchester United beat Barcelona there. It will host games of the 2016 Copa America.

* Avaya Stadium. The brand-new home of Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes, it is soccer-specific and seats 18,000 people. 1123 Coleman Avenue & Newhall Drive; 41 miles from downtown Oakland, 46 from downtown San Francisco, 3 1/2 from downtown San Jose. ACE (Altamont Commuter Express) to Great America-Santa Clara.

This is actually the 3rd version of the San Jose Earthquakes. The 1st one played in the original North American Soccer League from 1974 to 1984, at Spartan Stadium. This has been home to San Jose State University sports since 1933, it hosted both the old Earthquakes, of the original North American Soccer League, from 1974 to 1984. It's hosted 3 games of the U.S. national team, most recently a 2007 loss to China. 1251 S. 10th Street, San Jose. San Jose Municipal Stadium, home of the Triple-A San Jose Giants, is a block away at 588 E. Alma Avenue. From either downtown San Francisco or downtown Oakland, take BART to Fremont terminal, then 181 bus to 2nd & Santa Clara, then 68 bus to Monterey & Alma.

The 2nd version of the Quakes played at Spartan Stadium from 1996 to 2005, but ran into financial trouble, and got moved to become the Houston Dynamo. The 3rd version was started in 2008, and until 2014 played at Buck Shaw Stadium, now called Stevens Stadium, in Santa Clara, on the campus of Santa Clara University. Also accessible by the Santa Clara ACE station.

* Stanford Stadium. This is the home field of Stanford University in Palo Alto, down the Peninsula from San Francisco. Originally built in 1921, it was home to many great quarterbacks, from early 49ers signal-caller Frankie Albert to 1971 Heisman winner Jim Plunkett to John Elway. It hosted Super Bowl XIX in 1985, won by the 49ers over the Miami Dolphins – 1 of only 2 Super Bowls that ended up having had a team that could have been called a home team. (The other was XIV, the Los Angeles Rams losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Rose Bowl.)

It also hosted San Francisco’s games of the 1994 World Cup, and the soccer games of the 1984 Olympics, even though most of the events of those Olympics were down the coast in Los Angeles. It hosted 10 games by the U.S. national team, totaling 4 wins, 2 losses, 2 draws.

The original 85,000-seat structure was demolished and replaced with a new 50,000-seat stadium in 2006. Arboretum Road & Galvez Street. Caltrain to Palo Alto, 36 miles from downtown Oakland, 35 from downtown San Francisco, 19 from downtown San Jose.

* California Memorial Stadium. Home of Stanford’s arch-rivals, the University of California, at its main campus in Berkeley in the East Bay. (The school is generally known as “Cal” for sports, and “Berkeley” for most other purposes.) Its location in the Berkeley Hills makes it one of the nicest settings in college football. But it’s also, quite literally, on the Hayward Fault, a branch of the San Andreas Fault, so if “The Big One” had hit during a Cal home game, 72,000 people would have been screwed. With this in mind, the University renovated the stadium, making it safer and ready for 63,000 fans in 2012. So, like their arch-rivals Stanford, they now have a new stadium on the site of the old one.

The old stadium hosted 1 NFL game, and it was a very notable one: Due to a scheduling conflict with the A’s, the Raiders played a 1973 game there with the Miami Dolphins, and ended the Dolphins’ winning streak that included the entire 1972 season and Super Bowl VII. 76 Canyon Road, Berkeley. Downtown Berkeley stop on BART; 5 1/2 miles from downtown Oakland, 14 from downtown San Francisco, 48 from downtown San Jose.

Yankee Legend Joe DiMaggio, who grew up in San Francisco and later divided his time between there and South Florida, is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, on the Peninsula. 1500 Mission Road & Lawndale Blvd. BART to South San Francisco, then about a 1-mile walk.

The Fillmore Auditorium was at Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, and it still stands and hosts live music. Bus 38L. Winterland Ballroom, home of the final concerts of The Band (filmed as The Last Waltz) and the Sex Pistols, was around the corner from the Fillmore at Post & Steiner Streets. And the legendary corner of Haight & Ashbury Streets can be reached via the 30 Bus, taking it to Haight and Masonic Avenue and walking 1 block west.

San Francisco, like New York, has a Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), at 151 3rd Street, downtown. The California Palace of the Legion of Honor is probably the city’s most famous museum, in Lincoln Park at the northwestern corner of the city, near the Presidio and the Golden Gate Bridge. (Any of you who are Trekkies, the Presidio is a now-closed military base that, in the Star Trek Universe, is the seat of Starfleet Command and Starfleet Academy.) And don’t forget to take a ride on one of them cable cars I’ve been hearing so dang much about.

Oakland isn’t much of a museum city, especially compared with San Francisco across the Bay. But the Oakland Museum of California (10th & Oak, Lake Merritt BART) and the Chabot Space & Science Center (10000 Skyline Blvd., not accessible by BART) may be worth a look.
While San Francisco has been the setting for lots of TV shows (from Ironside and The Streets of San Francisco in the 1970s, to Full House and Dharma & Greg in the 1990s), Oakland, being much less glamorous, has had only one that I know of: Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, comedian Mark Curry's show about a former basketball player who returns to his old high school to teach. And San Jose hasn't had enough that much.

In contrast, lots of movies have been shot in Oakland, including a pair of baseball-themed movies shot at the Coliseum: Moneyball, based on Michael Lewis' book about the early 2000s A's, with Brad Pitt as general manager Billy Beane; and the 1994 remake of Angels In the Outfield, filmed there because a recent earthquake had damaged the real-life Angels' Anaheim Stadium, and it couldn't be repaired in time for filming.

Movies set in San Francisco often take advantage of the city's topography, and include the Dirty Harry series, Bullitt (based on the same real-life cop, Dave Toschi); The Maltese Falcon, starring Humphrey Bogart; Woody Allen's Bogart tribute, Play It Again, Sam; The Lady from Shanghai, the original version of D.O.A., Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, 48 Hrs., and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home -- with the aircraft carrier USS Ranger, at the Alameda naval base, standing in for the carrier Enterprise, which was then away at sea.

The 1936 film San Francisco takes place around the earthquake and fire that devastated the city in 1906. And Milk starred Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, America's 1st openly gay successful politician, elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors in 1977 before being assassinated with Mayor George Moscone the next year.

Movies set in San Francisco often have scenes filmed there and in Oakland, including Pal Joey, Mahogany, Basic Instinct, the James Bond film A View to a Kill, and Mrs. Doubtfire, starring San Francisco native Robin Williams.

*

So, if you can afford it, go on out and join your fellow Devils fans in going coast-to-coast, and take on the San Jose Sharks. Just be nice to your hosts, and ignore Peter Da Bore, and you should be all right.

The New York Red Bulls opened their 2016 season by laying a major egg, losing 2-0 at home to Toronto F.C.

This coming Saturday, they travel to Canada to play the Montreal Impact. They'd better make a bigger impact on the Montreal team than they did on the Toronto one.

Note: From this point onward, I will be using the French name with the accent mark, Montréal, except when using it in the name of teams, buildings and newspapers.

Before You Go. This is Canada, the Great White North, so while the Olympic Stadium will be nice and warm, outside, particularly in late winter, could well be miserable, especially if the wind is blasting off the St. Lawrence River, which is roughly as wide as the Hudson and the Passaic. In other words, brrrrrrrr!
According to the Montreal Gazette website, they're predicting low 40s for Saturday afternoon, and high 20s for the evening. That's well within normal range for mid-winter in New York and New Jersey, so it won't be cold enough for you to say, "Sainte merde!" (That's French for "Holy shit!")

But for the usual Montréal winter weather, you'll have to bundle up! T-shirt, regular shirt over that, your Red Bulls jersey over that, and a heavy winter jacket over that. A hat may not be enough, so make sure your heavy winter jacket has a hood. A scarf, that classic item of soccer fandom, will be more than appropriate, it may be a necessity. Make sure you have good gloves. And earmuffs. As a survivor of frostbitten ears, I am not kidding about this: Your ears will thank you in the middle of subzero insanity. At least no one will ever again (if they still do now) be able to honestly say you haven't suffered for your team!

Being in a foreign country has its particular challenges -- and, yes, for all its similarities to America, Canada is still a foreign country. The French influence makes Québec cities like Montréal and Québec City seem more foreign even than Toronto, the only city and metropolitan area in Canada with more people than Montréal.

Make sure you call your bank and tell them you’re going. After all, Canada may be an English-speaking country (at least co-officially, with French, although Québec is French-first), and a democracy (if a parliamentary one), and a country with teams in America's major leagues, but it is still a foreign country. If your bank gets a record of your ATM card making a withdrawal from any country other than the U.S., it may freeze the card, and any other accounts you may have with them. So be sure to let them know that you will, in fact, be in Canada for a little while.

As of June 1, 2009, you have to have a valid, up-to-date passport to cross the U.S.-Canadian border. You should also bring your driver's license (or other State-issued photo ID). If you don't have a valid passport, you will need a valid photo ID and a copy of your birth certificate. This is not something you want to mess with. Canadian Customs officials do not fuck around: They care about their national security, too.

Do yourself another big favor: Change your money before you go. There are plenty of currency exchanges in New York City, including one on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenue. There are also a few in New Jersey: Travelex has exchange centers at Newark Liberty International Airport, and at 4 malls: Garden Sate Plaza in Paramus, Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth, Menlo Park Mall in Edison and Bridgewater Commons. 

Leave yourself $50 in U.S. cash, especially if you’re going other than by plane, so you’ll have cash on your side of the border. I was actually in Montréal on the day when it most favored the U.S.: January 18, 2002, $1.60 to $1.00 in our favor. As of Monday morning, March 7, US$1.00 = C$1.34, and C$1.00 = US 75 cents.

The multi-colored bills were confusing on my first visit, although we have those now, too:

* The $5 is blue, and features Wilfrid Laurier, Prime Minister, 1896-1911.
* The $10 is purple, and features John A. Macdonald, the 1st Prime Minister, 1867-1873 and again 1878-1891. The nation just celebrated the Bicentennial of his birth (1815). Essentially he’s their George Washington, without having fought a war for independence.
* The $20 is green, and features the nation’s head of state, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
* The $50 is red, and features William Lyon Mackenzie King, the longest-serving Prime Minister, 1921-1926, 1926-1930, 1935-1948, including World War II.
* And the $100 is yellow, and features Robert Borden, Prime Minister 1911-1920, including World War I.

The tricky part is going to be the coins – and you’ll thank me for telling you this, but keep your U.S. coins and your Canadian coins separate, for the simple reason that their penny, nickel, dime and quarter are all the same colors and just about the same size as our respective coins. (To make matters more confusing, as we recently did with our States, they had a Provincial quarter series.)

All coins have Queen Elizabeth’s portrait on the front, as the monarch of Great Britain remains the monarch of all British Commonwealth nations, including Canada. But she’s been Queen since 1952, and depending on how old the coin is, you might get a young woman, or her current 88-year-old self, or anything in between. You might even get a penny or a nickel old enough to feature her father, King George VI. Such a coin is still legal tender, however.

On the backs, the penny has maple leaves, the nickel a beaver, the dime a sailboat, and the quarter an elk. They have a $1 coin, copper-colored, bigger than a quarter, and 11-sided, with a bird on the back. This bird is a loon – not to be confused with the people lunatic enough to buy Maple Leafs season tickets. The coin is thus called the “loonie,” although they don’t say “ten loonies”: They use “buck” for “dollar” the way we would. In fact, the term is connected to Canada: Their first English settlers were the Hudson’s Bay Company, and they set the value of a dollar to the price of the pelt of a male beaver, the male of the species being called, as are those of a deer and a rabbit, a buck. (And the female, a doe.) The nation’s French-speakers (Francophones) use the French word for loon, and call it a “huard.”

Then there’s the $2 coin, or “toonie.” It’s not just two dollars, it’s two-toned, and even two-piece. It’s got a copper center, with the Queen on the front and a polar bear on the back, and a nickel ring around it. This coin is about the size of the Eisenhower silver dollars we used to have. This is the coin that drives me bonkers when I’m up there.

My suggestion is that, when you first get your money changed before you begin your trip, ask for $1 coins but no $2 coins. It’s just simpler. I like Canada a lot, but their money, yikes, eh?

Montréal is in the Eastern Time Zone, so you won't have to fiddle with your timepieces. And while a working knowledge of French will help considerably, it is not necessary: Just about everybody in Montréal understands and speaks English.

And most signs shouldn't be too hard to read, as they'll look like the signs in the U.S. (EXIT signs read SORTIE but look like EXIT signs, STOP signs are still eight-sided and red, etc.) However, from experience, I can tell you this: As Québec is Francophone, if you check your phone messages, your signal may get beamed to a Canadian satellite, and you may hear your message in French. And, if you don't understand spoken French, that could be a problem.

Tickets. Last season, the Impact averaged 17,703 fans per game. That would be about 85 percent of capacity at Saputo Stadium. However, this game is being played at the Olympic Stadium, whose soccer capacity is listed as 61,000. Getting tickets will be easy. We're not talking about a game between the Canadiens and an "Original Six" team here.

Note that these prices are in Canadian dollars. The 300 and 400 levels are closed off, as this won't be a Playoff game. In the 100 level, sideline tickets are $102, corner tickets are $48, and end zone tickets are $37. 200 level tickets are also $37. 

Visiting supporters are put in Sections 238, 240, 242 and 244. These are up a bit, but are midfield seats in both soccer and football. In baseball, they'd be by the left field foul pole. They're $37. If this game were at Saputo Stadium, visiting supporters would be placed in Section 112, the north end zones. These tickets would also be $37.

Getting There. It’s 367 miles from Times Square to downtown Montréal, and 373 miles from Red Bull Arena to the Olympic Stadium and Saputo Stadium (which are both part of the Olympic Park complex). That's in that difficult range where it's a little too close to fly, but too far to get there any other way.

Air Canada runs flights out of Newark Liberty, John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia International Airport, and the flight to Montréal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (named for the city native who was Prime Minister almost continuously from 1968 to 1984, and whose son Justin was just elected to the job) takes about an hour and a half. Book on Air Canada today, but will cost over US$1,300. Most American carriers will cost roughly the same, but getting a nonstop flight will be harder. From the airport, at the western edge of the city, a bus (appropriately, Number 747) will take about half an hour to get downtown.

Greyhound runs 5 buses a day from Port Authority Bus Terminal to Autobus Greyhound, at 1717 Rue Berri at Boulevard de Maisonneuve. (Countries in the British Commonwealth, including Canada, call a local bus a bus and an inter-city bus a “coach.”) The ride averages about 8 hours, and is $124 round-trip -- although an advance purchase can drop it to $108.

In fact, if you don't want to spring for a hotel room, you can leave Port Authority at 12:01 AM, arrive in Montréal at 7:55 AM, leave again at 11:45 PM, and arrive back home at 7:15 AM.

The terminal is big and clean, and you shouldn’t have any difficulties with it. If you made the mistake of not changing your money yet, there is an exchange window there. It's got a stairway leading to the Berri-UQAM (University of Québec at Montréal) Metro station. 1717 Rue Berri at Blvd. de Maisonneuve.

Amtrak, however, runs just one train, the Adirondack, in each direction each day between New York and Montréal, in cooperation with Canada’s equivalent, VIA Rail. This train leaves Pennsylvania Station at 8:15 AM and arrives at Gare Centrale (Central Station) at 7:11 PM, a trip of almost 11 hours. The return trip leaves Montréal at 10:20 AM and gets back to Penn Station at 8:50 PM. And since Saturday night's game starts at 7:00, you'd have to take the trip on Friday to get there on time, and spend not 1 but 2 nights in a hotel.

So, while Gare Centrale, bounded by Rue de la Gauchetiere, Rue University, Rue Belmont and Rue Mansfield, is in the heart of the city, taking Amtrak/VIA to Montréal is not particularly convenient. Especially since the Adirondack, with its views of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain, is one of Amtrak’s most popular routes, and it could sell out. If you still want to try it, it’s $154 round-trip.

If you’re driving, if you live close to the Garden State Parkway, take it across the State Line to the New York State Thruway, Interstate 87. If you live near New Jersey Route 17, take that up to the Thruway. Same with Interstate 287. Once you get to the Thruway/I-87, remain on it through Albany, after which it becomes the Adirondack Northway, all the way up to the border.

When you get to the border, you'll be asked your citizenship, and you'll have to show your passport and your photo ID. You'll be asked why you're visiting Canada. Seeing a Devils vs. Canadiens game probably won't (but might) get you a smart-aleck remark about how the Habs  are going to win, but they won't keep you out of their country based on that alone.

If you're bringing a computer with you (counting a laptop, but probably not counting a smartphone), you don't have to mention it, but you probably should. Chances are, you won't be carrying a large amount of food or plants; if you were, depending on how much, you might have to declare them.

Chances are, you won't be bringing alcohol into the country, but you can bring in ONE of the following items duty-free, and anything above or in addition to this must have duty paid on it: 1.5 litres (53 ounces) of wine, or 8.5 litres (300 ounces or 9.375 quarts) of beer or ale, or 1.14 litres (40 ounces) of hard liquor. If you have the slightest suspicion that I'm getting any of these numbers wrong, check the Canada Customs website. Better yet, don't bring booze in. Or out.

As for tobacco, well, you shouldn't use it. But, either way over the border, you can bring up to 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, and 200 grams (7 ounces) of manufactured tobacco. As for Cuban-made cigars, last year, President Obama loosened the embargo so that you can import up to $100 worth of Cuban-made tobacco per traveler.

If you've got anything in your car (or, if going by bus or train, in your luggage) that could be considered a weapon, even if it's a disposable razor or nail clippers, tell them. And while Canada does have laws that allow you to bring in firearms if you're a licensed hunter (you'd have to apply for a license to the Province where you plan to hunt), the country has the proper attitude concerning guns: They hate them. They go absolutely batshit insane if you try to bring a firearm into their country. Which, if you're sane, is actually the sane way to treat the issue.

You think I'm being ridiculous? How about this: Of the 44 U.S. Presidents -- 9 counting the Roosevelts, Theodore after he was President and Franklin right before -- 7 have faced assassins with guns, 6 got hit and 4 died; but none of the 23 people (including 1 woman) to serve as Prime Minister of Canada has ever faced an assassination attempt. John Lennon recorded "Give Peace a Chance" in Montréal and gave his first "solo concert" in Toronto, but he got shot and killed in New York. In fact, the next time I visit, I half-expect to see a bumper sticker that says, "GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, AMERICANS WITH GUNS KILL PEOPLE."

(Another note about weapons: I’m a fan of the TV show NCIS, which airs in Canada on Global Network TV. If you are also a fan of this show, and you usually observe Gibbs Rule Number 9, "Never go anywhere without a knife," this time, forget it, and leave it at home.  If you really think you're going to need it -- as a tool -- mention the knife to the border guard, and show it to him, and tell him you have it to use as a tool in case of emergency, and that you do not plan to use it as a weapon. Do not mention the words "Rule Number 9" or quote said rule, or else he'll observe his Rule Number 1: Do not let this jackass into your country, eh?)

And if you can speak French, don't try to impress the Customs officials with it. The locals might appreciate that you're trying to speak to them in their primary language, but they won't be especially impressed by any ability to speak it, and any such ability won't make it any easier for you to get through Customs.

When crossing back into the U.S., in addition to what you would have to declare on the way in (if you still have any of it), you would have to declare items you purchased and are carrying with you upon return, items you bought in duty-free shops or (if you flew) on the plane, and items you intend to sell or use in your business, including business merchandise that you took out of the United States on your trip. There are other things, but, since you're just going for hockey, they probably won't apply to you. Just in case, check the Canadian Customs website I linked to above.

After going through Customs, I-87 will become Autoroute 15, which will take you right into the Montréal area. If you're going to a downtown hotel, take Exit 53 to Pont Champlain (the Champlain Bridge), which will take you to Autoroute 10, the Bonaventre Expressway, across the St. Lawrence River and right into downtown -- or, as they say, Centre-ville. If you're going only for the game, and going directly to the stadium, do not take the exit for the Champlain Bridge, but keep going, which will have you on Autoroute 20, and take Exit 8 for Pont Jacques-Cartier, across the river to Avenue de Lorimier.  Turn right on Rue Sherbrooke, which will get you right to the stadium.

If you make 2 rest stops – I would recommend at or near Albany, and count Customs, where they will have a restroom and vending machines – and if you don’t do anything stupid at Customs, such as fail to produce your passport, or flash a weapon, or say you watch South Park (a show with a vendetta against Canada for some reason), or say anything unkind about the late Maurice "Rocket" Richard, the trip should take about 8 hours.


Though that could become 9, because Montreal traffic is pretty bad, though not as bad as Toronto, which is every bit as bad as traffic in New York, Boston and Washington.

Once In the City. Montréal is one of the oldest cities in North America, founded by France in 1642. Seeing a big hill in the middle of the island will tell you where the name came from: "Mont Real,""Royal Mountain." In some instances, things in the city are spelled as "Mont Royal."

With 1.7 million people, Montréal has more people than any American city except New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston. There are 3.8 million people in the metro area.

Since Canada is in the British Commonwealth, there are certain subtle differences. Dates are written not as Month/Day/Year, as we do it, but as Day/Month/Year as in Britain and in Europe. So while we would write the date of the game as "March 12, 2016," they would write it as "7 March 2016." Not 3/7/16, but 7/3/16. They also follow the British custom in writing time: A game starting at 4:00 PM would be listed as 1600. (Those of you who have served in the military, you will recognize this as, in the words of M*A*S*H's Lt. Col. Henry Blake, "all that hundred-hours stuff.")

And every word we would end with -or, they will end with -our; and some (but not all) words that we would end with -er, they end with -re, as in "Bell Centre." Every measurement will be in the metric system: Temperatures will be in Celsius, not Fahrenheit; distances will be in "kilometres" (including speed limits), and gas prices will be per "litre," not per gallon.

Speaking of which: Gas prices will be not just in Canadian dollars, but will be per "litre." So if you see "88.2," which is the current average price I'm seeing online for Montréal, that's not US 82 & 9/10ths cents per gallon, that's C 82 cents per liter. Which works out to about US$3.10 per gallon. So, if you're driving, get your gas here in New Jersey, where it's currently running about $1.57 -- about half as much!

When you arrive, I would recommend buying The Gazette and The Globe and Mail. The former newspaper is the city's predominant English-language paper, the latter is national, and both are liberal enough to suit my sensibilities (or, should I say, sensible enough to suit my liberalism). And The Gazette has a very good sports section, and does a superb job covering the Canadiens, and nearby minor-league, collegiate and “junior” hockey teams no matter what time of year it is.

I would advise against buying French-language papers like La Presse, Le Journal de Montreal and Le Devoir -- The Press, The Journal, and The Duty -- unless you really know French cold. Especially since Le Devoir is the local paper of Québec nationalism and even separatism. If The Gazette and The Globe and Mail are too liberal for you, The National Post may be more to your liking. Either the bus or the train terminal will have out-of-town papers, including The New York Times, and possibly also the Daily News or the New York Post.

Like New York, Montréal is a city of islands, with a main island in the center -- except, unlike Manhattan, you won't cross a State Line (or, in this case, a Province Line) by going over a bridge or into a tunnel. Like New York, Montréal is international and multiethnic: In spite of French being the largest ethnic group, there are significant Irish, Italian and Jewish communities, and, for linguistic reasons, a large and growing community of immigrants from France's former African colonies, and also from its former Middle Eastern colonies like Lebanon, Syria and Iran, places where French is still widely spoken.

Montréal doesn't really have a centerpoint. (Centrepoint? pointe du centre?) To make matters even more confusing, while they have East and West (Est et Ouest) on street names, like Manhattan, the main island is not perfectly north-south. Indeed, it's actually more than a 45-degree angle, so what's east is more north, and what's west is more south. Boulevard St-Laurent, known as The Main in English and Le Main (pronounced "leh man" in French), is the official east-west divider, where the address numbers on each side start at 1, while the river is the starting point for north-south-running streets.

The further west you go in the city, the more likely you are to hear English; the further east, the more likely you will be to hear only French. In fact, in Montréal's East End, you might see several buildings flying only the Provincial flag, the Fleurdelyse, the blue flag with the white cross and the white lilies in the cantons. These people who fly only the Provincial flag, not the red-white-red tricolor with the red Maple Leaf in the center, are separatists, who consider Québec a separate nation and want Anglophone Canada to "Let my people go." The separatist tide has faded since the nearly successful referendum of October 30, 1995, but there is still strong separatist sentiment in the East End, and this increases the closer you get to the Provincial capital, Québec City.

Roger Doucet, an opera singer who sang the National Anthem at Expos and Canadiens games in the 1970s before his death from cancer in 1981, would acknowledge this divide: He would begin the anthem in French, and face the east side of of Parc Jarry, Stade Olympique or the Forum; then, in mid-song, turn and face the west side of the structure, and conclude in English.


Société de Transport de Montréal runs a subway, opened in 1966 and known as “Le Metro,” just like that of Paris. When I first visited, they didn't use tokens or farecards. They used actual tickets. Very small tickets, an inch by an inch and a half. Thankfully, they now use a farecard, called an Opus Card. They charge $3.25 for 1 trip, $6.00 for 2, $26.50 for 10, $10.00 for a one-day card, and $13.00 for an "Unlimited Week-end" running from 6 PM Friday to 5 AM Monday. With the exchange rate, the prices are (especially when you factor in the new-MetroCard fee) roughly comparable to the New York Subway.

Reading the Metro map shouldn't be too much trouble, even if you don't know French. Until 2014, the trains, regardless of the color of the line, were all blue. But, like their contemporaries, New York's "Redbirds," they've been replaced by silver cars.
Just as Minneapolis tried to beat the cold by building a skywalk system downtown, Montréal went in the other direction, creating "Underground Montreal." (In French, La Ville Souterraine.) Every day, about half a million people use this system that has over 20 miles of tunnels spread over 4.6 square miles. They connect things like shopping malls, hotels, banks, office buildings, museums, universities, apartment buildings, the bus terminal, Gare Central and Gare Windsor, 7 Metro stations, and the Bell Centre.

The Provincial sales tax for Québec is 9.975 percent. The legal drinking age in Québec is 18. And if you're staying overnight, and wake up with a craving, and you can't find a Tim Hortons, you can look for a dépanneur. The word means "to help out of difficulty," is sometimes shortened to "dep," and is what we would call a convenience store. Like 7-Eleven or Wawa or Quik Chek. (There's now an eatery named Dépanneur in Brooklyn.)

Going In. I seriously recommend not driving to the stadium. If you did drive to Montréal, leave your car at the hotel's parking deck. Getting to the Olympic Stadium by public transportation is easy. The Green Line goes to Station Pie-IX (pronounced "pee noof," and named for Pope Pius IX), and because of Montréal's cold weather, you can use the Underground City system to walk directly from the subway to the inside of the stadium.
The official address of the Olympic Stadium (or "Stade Olympique" in French) is 4141 Avenue Pierre-de Coubertin. (Since it was built for the 1976 Olympics, the street was renamed for the French baron who founded the modern Olympic Games in 1896.) It's about 5 1/2 miles east of downtown. Parking costs C$12.

The stadium famously looks like a flying saucer. The Olympic Tower, at 574 feet the tallest inclined tower in the world, supports the cables that hold the fabric roof in place.
The stadium, nicknamed the Big O for its name and its shape, and the Big Owe for the massive debt that took 30 years to pay off, was built for the 1976 Olympics, and for baseball's Montreal Expos, who played here from 1977 to 2004. The Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes did so from 1976 to 1986, and again in 1996 and 1997, and have played their Playoff games here since 1998. It was also home to the Montreal Manic of the old North American Soccer League from 1981 to 1983, and the Montreal Machine of the World League of American Football in 1991 and 1992.

Roberto Duran defeated Sugar Ray Leonard for the Welterweight Championship here in 1980, 4 years after Leonard won an Olympic Gold Medal at the Forum. (Leonard got his revenge 5 months later at the Superdome in New Orleans.) Pope John Paul II held a youth rally here in 1984, and many concerts have been held here. It hosted games of the 2015 Women's World Cup, including the U.S. team's Semifinal win over Germany.

A few weeks from now, for the 3rd year in a row, preseason baseball games will be held here, to show current Commissioner Rob Manfred that his predecessor, Bud Selig, got it wrong, and that the city can support a Major League Baseball team.

The field is artificial (naturally, since it's under a meant-to-be-permanent roof), and runs north-to-south.
L'Impact -- or, as fans of Canadian rivals Toronto F.C. and the Vancouver Whitecaps call them, "Limp Act" -- play most of their games at 20,081-seat Saputo Stadium (Stade Saputo), just to the north of the Big O at 4750 Rue Sherbrooke. Despite its Japanese-sounding name, Saputo is a Montréal-based dairy company, which, like the Impact, is owned by Italian-Canadian Joey Saputo. He also owns Italian club Bologna F.C.

Its field also runs north-to-south, and, unlike most outdoor facilities in Canada, is natural grass. The Impact have played there since their foundation in 2008 as a lower-division side, and were promoted to MLS in 2012. Just as the Red Bulls have RBNY II, the Impact have a farm team, F.C. Montreal, as a replacement lower-division side that plays there.

The other food you will want to avoid is poutine. It's French fries topped with brown gravy. Sounds great, right? Not so fast: They also top it with curd cheese. As they would say in the city's Jewish neighborhood, "Feh!" Poutine, along with French fries (they call them patates frites, "fried potatoes," as they know that the item originated in Belgium, not France), is available at McDonald's, but stay away from it. Trust me.

If you're a fan of the film Pulp Fiction, you should be aware that, regardless of what it's called in Paris, in Montréal, a Quarter Pounder with Cheese is called"un quarte de livre avec fromage" Literally, "a quarter of a pound with cheese." Not "a royale with cheese."

Neverthless, the Olympic Stadium has standard stadium food, and, although none of it is great, most of it upsets Canadian stomachs far less than does Bud Selig. One staple of Montréal food that is definitely worth it is viande fumée -- smoked meat sandwiches. Think New York's Carnegie Deli, only cheaper and better. Yum, yum.


Team History Displays. Unlike the Canadiens across town, who never cease to remind you of their unbelievable history (because their present is so hit-and-miss), the Impact don't have much history. They've won the Voyageurs Cup, Canada's equivalent of the FA Cup, in 2008, 2013 and 2014, and lost the Final last year. They reached the Final of last year's CONCACAF Champions League. But that's it.

Montreal native and current head coach Mauro Biello was a forward for the original version of the Impact, who played indoors from 1993 to 2009. His Number 20 has been retired by the club. They've also retired 12 for the fans, "the 12th Man." But there is no display for either these numbers or the Cup wins in the playing area of either Saputo Stadium or the Olympic Stadium.

Stuff. The Montreal Impact Boutique is inside Saputo Stadium, and should be open on matchday even when the game is at the Olympic Stadium. As for the latter, there should be souvenir stands around the concourse.

As a young team, there are no team videos for the Impact. And Amazon.com doesn't seem to have any books about them.

During the Game. You do not need to fear wearing your Red Bulls gear to the Olympic Stadium or Saputo Stadium. Toronto, maybe. Vancouver, possibly. Any other team, no way: Aside from Montreal's international, multiethnic status, and the experience some of their fans may have gotten in Europe, Africa or Latin America, as long as you don't start any rough stuff, neither will they.

Since you’re in Canada, there will be two National Anthems sung. “The Star-Spangled Banner” will probably be sung by about half of the few hundred Red Bulls fans who show up, but “O Canada” will be sung by the home fans with considerable gusto. The Impact hold auditions for anthem singers. Most likely, they will be "insanely hot." 

This coming Monday night, the New Jersey Devils will be in Anaheim to take on the Ducks.

From their start of play in 1993 to 2006, the Anaheim Ducks were officially named the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. I called them the Mighty Dorks and the Mighty Schmucks. Then they changed their name to just the Anaheim Ducks -- and won the next Stanley Cup. Coincidence?

Before You Go. Unlike the Seattle and San Francisco Bay Areas, the Los Angeles area has very consistent weather. It’s a nice place to visit. If you don’t mind earthquakes. And mudslides. And wildfires. And smog.

The Angels’ hometown (well, home County, anyway) newspaper, the Orange County Register, is predicting mid-60s for daylight and low 40s for the evening on Monday. They're also predicting a rarity for Southern California: Rain. (They've been in a nasty drought for 2 years, so they need this.) The region’s (and indeed the Western U.S.’) largest newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, mostly concurs.

Anaheim is in the Pacific Time Zone, 3 hours behind New York. So there will be some clock & watch fiddling.

Tickets. The Ducks are averaging 16,178 fans per home game this season. That's only a little over 94 percent of capacity. Getting tickets should not be hard.

Seats in the lower level are $146 between the goals and $125 behind them. Seats in the upper level are $55 between and $37 behind.

Getting There. It’s 2,791 miles from Times Square in New York to City Hall in Los Angeles, and 2,773 miles from the Prudential Center in Newark to the Honda Center in Anaheim. In other words, if you’re going, you’re flying. A round-trip flight from Newark to Los Angeles International Airport (a.k.a. LAX) can be had for under $900, although you'd probably have to change planes somewhere.

I blew it with this one. The New Jersey Devils made their 1st trip to Pittsburgh in the 2015-16 season on January 26, and I didn't get this down. To make matters worse, The Penguins won, 2-0.

The Devils go back to Pittsburgh to face Sidney Crosby and company on Thursday, March 24.

I like Pittsburgh as a city very much. I admire the Steelers. I respect the Pirates and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. But I loathe the Penguins.

Why? Because I have taste. And because Commissioner Gary Bettman loves Crosby and has fixed games for him.

Before You Go. Pittsburgh is at roughly the same latitude as New York City, so roughly the same weather can be expected. As always, check out the newspaper website (the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) before you head out. They're predicting high 50s for the afternoon and low 40s for the night, with rain late on Wednesday but no more on Thursday.

Pittsburgh is in the Eastern Time Zone, so you won't have to adjust your timepieces.

Tickets. The Penguins are averaging 18,555 fans per home game. That's more than a sellout, and it includes standing-room. This has been the case pretty much since Mario Lemieux arrived over 30 years ago (has it been that long already?), and it will be the case as long as Crosby is around.

Penguins tickets are also insanely expensive. In the lower bowl, you can expect to pay at least $199 between the goals and $110 behind them. In the upper bowl, at least $92 between the goals and $62 behind them.

Getting There. I'm not going to kid you here: There’s only one way to do so, and that’s by car. You do not want to fly, because you’ll end up spending over a thousand bucks and change planes in Philadelphia to go less than 400 miles, and the airport is out in Imperial, Pennsylvania, near Coraopolis and Aliquippa -- it’s almost as close to West Virginia and Ohio as it is to downtown Pittsburgh. Oh, hell, no!

You do not want to take the train, because the Amtrak schedule just doesn’t work. It's relatively cheap at the moment, $156 round-trip. But the Pennsylvanian leaves Penn Station at 10:52 AM, and doesn't get to Pittsburgh's station of the same name until 8:05 PM, after the first puck-drop. And there's no overnight train that would leave at, say, 11 PM and arrive at 8 AM. And going back, the Pennsylvanian leaves at 7:30 AM and arrives back at 4:50 PM. No good.

Greyhound isn’t much better, but at least you have options. There are 14 buses a day between New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal and Pittsburgh, and it's $82 round-trip (though advanced purchase can get it down to $38). Leaving at 6:15 AM on Tuesday will get you to downtown Pitt at 5:55, giving you just enough time to get to a hotel and then get to the arena for a 7:00 start. The Greyhound station is at 55 11th Street, across Liberty Avenue from the Amtrak station.

The only sensible way is by car – especially if there’s more than one of you going and you can take turns driving. It’s 360 miles from the Prudential Center in downtown Newark to the CONSOL Energy Center in downtown Pittsburgh.

Take any highway that will get you to Interstate 78: For most of you, this will be the New Jersey Turnpike (Exit 14), the Garden State Parkway (Exit 142), or Interstate 287 (Exit 21). Follow I-78 West all the way through New Jersey, to Phillipsburg, and across the Delaware River into Easton, Pennsylvania. Continue west on I-78 until reaching Harrisburg. There, you will merge onto I-81. Take Exit 52 to U.S. Route 11, which will soon take you onto I-76. This is the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the nation’s first superhighway, opening in 1940.

You’ll be on it for another 3 hours – Pennsylvania is huge compared to a lot of Northeastern States. The political consultant James Carville, who got Bob Casey Sr., father of current U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr., elected Governor in 1986, says, “Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with Alabama in the middle.” He wasn’t kidding: Between Philly and Pitt, it is very, very rural, hence the nickname “Pennsyltucky.” It certainly explains the State’s love of football: The Philadelphia Eagles, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penn State and high school ball.

You’ll take the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Exit 57, the signs showing I-376 and U.S. 22 – the same Route 22 you might know from New Jersey, which I-78 was designed to replace – and the sign will say “Pittsburgh.” Check this photo.

There will be several exits on I-376, the Penn-Lincoln Parkway, into the city of Pittsburgh. Most likely, if your hotel (which I hope you’ve reserved before you left) is downtown, you’ll take Exit 71B, “Second Avenue.” If you're not staying over, and just going for the game, take Exit 72B for Boulevard of the Allies. Make a right on Gist Street, then a left on Fifth Avenue. The arena will soon be on your right.

From North Jersey, you will probably need almost 6 hours just for driving. I recommend at least 2 rest stops, preferably after crossing over into Pennsylvania around Easton, and probably around either Harrisburg or Breezewood. So the whole thing, assuming nothing goes wrong, will probably take about 8 hours.

In other words, if you're driving in just for the game, and leaving right thereafter, you should leave New Jersey at 10 AM to arrive by 6 PM, and then leave at 10 PM to arrive back home around 6 AM. Again, I recommend getting a hotel and staying over. After all, you're not going to be in much shape to go to work on Wednesday morning, so you might as well ask for two days' off.

Once In the City. Pittsburgh has, by American standards, a long history. It was settled by the French as Fort Duquesne (Doo-KANE) in 1717, and captured by the British in 1758, and renamed Fort Pitt, for Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder. The General who captured it, John Forbes (for whom the Pirates' former park Forbes Field would be named), was a Scotsman, and he intended the town that grew around it to be named "Pittsburgh" -- pronounced "Pitts-burrah," like the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

From 1891 to 1911, the H was dropped from the city's name, and this was reflected on the Pirates' uniforms, which sometimes read "PITTSBURG," as seen on the famous 1909 "T-206" baseball card of Honus Wagner. But the Germanic "Pittsburg" went back to the Scottish "Pittsburgh," while keeping the Germanic pronunciation. (There is, however, a town named Pittsburg, with no H, in Kansas.)

With this long history, a great architectural diversity, and a dramatic skyline with lots of neat-looking skyscrapers, Pittsburgh looks like a much bigger city than it actually is. While the metropolitan area is home to 2.7 million people, the city proper has only 306,000, having lost over half its population since the nearby steel mills, coal mines, and other factories closed starting in the 1970s.

The reduction of blue-collar jobs led people to take comfort in their sports teams, especially in the 1970s. Either the Pirates or the Steelers made the Playoffs in every year of that decade, both of them did so in 4 of those 10 years, and the University of Pittsburgh (or just "Pitt," though they don't like that nickname at that school) had an undefeated National Championship season in 1976. The Pirates won 2 World Series in the decade, the Steelers 4 Super Bowls in 6 years.

Calendar year 1979, with spillover into January 1980, was an annus mirabilis, in which the "Steel Curtain" won Super Bowl XIII in January, the "Bucs" (or "Buccos," or "Lumber Company," or "Family") won the World Series in October, and the Steelers then went on to win Super Bowl XIV, with the Pirates' Willie Stargell and the Steelers' Terry Bradshaw being named Co-Sportsmen of the Year by Sports Illustrated and the city government advertising itself as the City of Champions.

The the ABA's Pipers were gone early the decade, but the city got a fictional basketball team because, in 1979, it was considered cool enough to film a sports movie there: The astrology-inspired The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, starring Julius "Dr. J" Erving.

(It was also at that time that, in order to ride the Pirates/Steelers bandwagon, the NHL's Penguins switched their colors from navy blue and yellow to black and gold, but it was several more years before they became a championship contender.)

While the loss of industry did mean a sharp, long-term decline, the financial, computer and health care industries opened new doors, and Pittsburgh is very much a now and tomorrow city. And they love their sports, having won 14 World Championships in 19 trips to their sports’ finals (which gives them a .737 winning percentage in finals, the best of any city of at least 3 teams) -- and that doesn't count the 9 National Championships won by Pitt football, the Negro League Pennants won by the Homestead Grays (10) and the Pittsburgh Crawfords (4), or the 1968 ABA Championship won by the Pipers.

Pittsburgh has numbered streets, moving east from Point State Park, where the Allegheny River to the north and the Monongahela River to the south merge to become the Ohio River -- hence the name of the former Pittsburgh sports facility, Three Rivers Stadium. North-south streets start their numbers at the Monongahela, and increase going north.

There is a subway system in the city, and it's free within the downtown triangle. But outside that area, a 1-zone ride is $2.50, and a 2-zone ride is $3.75. A 75-cent surcharge is added during rush hour, thus said subway fare is not free at that time. These fares are the same for city buses, although they're never free within the downtown triangle.

The sales tax in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is 6 percent, and Allegheny County (including the City of Pittsburgh) pushes it to 7 percent.

The old Pittsburgh Press, once the 2nd-largest newspaper in Pennsylvania behind the Philadelphia Inquirer, went out of business due to a strike in 1992, before the city's remaining daily, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, brought it back in online form in 2011. That strike gave Richard Mellon Scaife, the current head of the legendary Pittsburgh metals and banking family, a chance to turn a local suburban paper into the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, spouting his right-wing fanatic views. It may be that the P-G brought back the Press to give the city 2 liberals voices against the 1 nutjob voice.

Going In. The CONSOL Energy Center -- the 1st word always in ALL CAPS -- is right downtown. The official address is 1001 Fifth Avenue. It was built across Centre Avenue from the Penguins' previous home, the Civic Arena, now demolished, and its address of 66 Mario Lemieux Place has been stricken from the U.S. Postal Service's records.
If you're driving in, parking is remarkably cheap for a big-league sporting event: It can be had at most nearby lots for as little as $6.75. You're most likely to be going in by the south (Fifth Avenue) or west (Washington Place) entrances.

The new arena seats 18,087 for Penguins and other hockey games, including the 2013 NCAA Championships (a.k.a. the Frozen Four); and 19,000 for basketball, for college tournaments and, in the unlikely event the NBA returns to Pittsburgh, the pros. Just as the Civic Arena hosted the Beatles on one of their North American tours, its successor opened with a concert by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney on August 18, 2010.  It's been rated one of the country's top concert venues.

The building and opening of this arena means that, for perhaps the first time in franchise history, the Penguins' long-term future in Pittsburgh is secure. The rink is laid out north-to-south. The Penguins attack twice toward the north end of the arena.
Food. Pittsburgh is a city of many ethnicities, and most of them love to eat food that really isn’t good for you: Irish, Italian, Polish, Greek, and African-Americans with Soul Food and Barbecue. (Yes, I did mean to capitalize those last two. The styles deserve it.)

Primanti Brothers, the famous Pittsburgh deli chain that puts French fries on sandwiches, has a stand at Section 119. Chef's Carvery serves sandwiches outside 107. Stack, at 108, also serves sandwiches. SH Smokehouse, a barbecue stand, is at 205. A bar called the Miller Lite Brewhouse is outside 207 and overlooks the city's skyline. Highmark Healthier Choices is at 103, 106, 113, 116, 206, 211 and 230. Dairy Queen is at 105 and 234. Pizza Hut is at 107, 120, 212 and 232. Nakama Express serves Japanese food at 101, 105 and 111. Burgatory serves burgers, fries and shakes at 206. Pastries A-la-Carte is at 102.

Pierogi nachos, a Pittsburgh specialty, are served at stands all over the arena. And, just to show you that Pittsburgh is a civilized city, there are Dunkin Donuts stands at 109, 118 and 212.

Team History Displays. Because the Penguins are the arena's only major tenant, their championship banners are hung over center ice: The 1991, 1992 and 2009 Stanley Cups; the 1991, 1992, 2008 and 2009 Conference Championships; and the Division titles.
As the Devils do, the Penguins hang their retired numbers along the side. In their case, 1 on each side: 21, Michael Briere; and 66, Mario Lemieux. Most likely, the 68 of Jaromir Jagr will be retired when he retires from hockey -- which he will do, eventually. And, of course, the 87 of Sidney Crosby will also go up there.
The Penguins have a team Hall of Fame, but I don't know where the display is at the arena. The 18 current members are:

* From the pre-Cup years, 1967 to 1990: General manager Jack Riley, center Syl Apps Jr. (son of the Toronto Maple Leafs legend), right wings Jean Pronovost and Rick Kehoe, defenseman Dave Burrows and goaltender Les Binkley.

* From their 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup Champions: Team owner Edward J. DeBartolo (father of the former San Francisco 49ers owner), longtime front office executive Elaine Heufelder (one of the few women with her name stamped on the Stanley Cup), general manager Craig Patrick (of hockey's first family, grandson of Lester Patrick), head coach "Badger Bob" Johnson, center Mario Lemieux, right wing Joe Mullen, defensemen Paul Coffey and Ulf Samuelsson, broadcaster Mike Lange, organized Vince Lascheid, and locker room attendants Anthony Caggiano and Frank Sciulli.

In 2003, a Pittsburgh Penguins Millennium Team was announced, displayed in a mural that was moved from the old arena to the new one: Johnson, Patrick, Binkley, Burrows, Kehoe, Pronovost, Lemieux, Jagr, Coffey, Samuelsson, later coach Herb Brooks (also head coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that featured later Penguin Mark Johnson, Badger Bob's son); and, also from the 1991 and '92 Cups, goalie Tom Barrasso, center Ron Francis, defenseman Larry Murphy, left wing Kevin Stevens and right wing Mark Recchi.

So far, no members of their 2009 Cup winners have been elected to either group. And, as I said, Jaromir Jagr has not been. Oddly, neither has center Bryan Trottier, a star from the Islander dynasty who played on then Pens' Cup winners and has been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Nor has Scotty Bowman, director of player development for the '91 and '92 Cups and head coach for the '92 win, replacing Johnson.

Lascheid was the organist at Three Rivers Stadium and the Civic Arena. Much like Gladys Goodding at Ebbets Field and the old Madison Square Garden, and John Kiley at Fenway Park and the Boston Garden, Lascheid was the answer to a trivia question: Who was the only man to play for the Pirates, the Steelers and the Penguins?

In 1998, The Hockey News named its 100 Greatest Players. In spite of their still being active, they named Lemieux, Jagr and Coffey. And a statue of Leimeux stands outside the new arena.
Stuff. The PensGear store is on the ground floor, on the northwest corner of the arena, on Centre Avenue. Smaller souvenir stands are all around the arena.

There aren't many books about the team. Right after the 2nd of the back-to-back Cup wins, Dave Molinari published Best In the Game: The Turbulent Story of the Pittsburgh Penguins' Rise to Stanley Cup Champions. As for their more recent triumph, Andrew Podnieks wrote Year of the Penguins: Celebrating Pittsburgh's 2008-09 Stanley Cup Championship Season.

Highlight DVDs from the 3 Stanley Cup seasons are available. The NHL also produced a Pittsburgh Penguins: 10 Greatest Games video, but it was released before the 2009 Cup win. Not surprisingly, the 1991 and 1992 Cup clinchers are included. Also unsurprisingly, there are no games in the set from before Lemieux arrived in 1984.

The set includes Lemieux's 5-goal-3-assist Playoff game against the Flyers in 1989, another 5-goal game from Number 66 clinching their NHL record 16th straight win in 1993, their 4-overtime Playoff epic with the Washington Capitals in 1996, Lemieux ending his 2nd retirement to score against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2000, Darius Kasparaitis' overtime winner against the Buffalo Sabres in a Playoff Game 7 in 2001, and, to your dismay and mine, 2 games against the Devils: The 1991 Playoff clincher and a 2006 game with Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, none more than 20 years old, all scoring to beat our boys.

During the Game. If you were a Flyers fan going into the CONSOL Energy Center, or a Cleveland Browns fan or (a little less so) a Baltimore Ravens fan, going into Heinz Field to face the Steelers, you might be in a bit of trouble. But as a Devils fan going into CONSOL,you’ll be fine. You can wear your Scarlet &Black gear without fear of drunken bums physically hassling you.

They're certainly not going to hurt you if you don't provoke them. Just don’t say anything bad about Lemieux or the Steelers, and you should be fine. And, for God’s sake (not to mention that of its inventor, the late Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope), do not mock or deface The Terrible Towel, that great symbol of Steelerdom. You might not see any at a Penguins game, but they take that particular item very seriously, even pointing out that other NFL teams have lost after mocking it, leading to the phrase “The Curse of the Terrible Towel.”

(The Cleveland Indians are in the American League, Pittsburgh doesn’t have an NBA team, and Cleveland doesn’t have an NHL team, so the Steelers-Browns dynamic doesn’t cross over into any other sports, the way Yankees-Red Sox becomes Jets-Patriots or Knicks-Celtics or Rangers-Bruins – or Mets-Phillies becomes Giants-Eagles or Rangers-Flyers. Being put in a separate Conference, let alone Division, and being mostly terrible since coming into existence, Ohio’s NHL team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, doesn’t generate much heat from Penguin fans. Even Penn State-Ohio State isn’t that big a rivalry. Pitt-Penn State is another story, as is Pitt-West Virginia, “the Backyard Brawl.”)

The Penguins mascot is named Iceburgh, and he looks nothing like either of the logos the team has worn over the years. Indeed, he looks more like something you'd find on The Muppet Show than at a hockey game. Like N.J. Devil, he wears Number 00.

Jeff Jimerson sings the National Anthem for the Penguins, and did so in the 1995 film Sudden Death.
The Penguins' goal song is "Kernkraft 4000" by Zombie Nation, replacing "Song 2" (a.k.a. "Whoo Hoo!") by Blur. Pens fans have a habit of remembering that they're also Steeler fans and singing, "Here we go, Steelers, here we go!" during their games. (It's been known to happen at Pirate and Pitt football games, too.) As far as I can tell, the Pens don't have a postgame victory song, but I don't think the current Pirates would mind if they adopt the 1979 Bucs' anthem, "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge.

After the Game. There are several sports-themed bars near the arena, many of which date to the glory days at the Civic Arena. Souper Bowl is at 5th & Washington, while Tailgaters is at Centre & Crawford. However, the amount of establishments around the arena is limited by the parking lot where the old arena used be on the north, and the Catholic (and therefore, at least officially, discouraging of drinking) Duquesne University campus to the south.

South of downtown, across the Monongahela River on the South Shore – or, they say in Pittsburghese, the Sou’side – is Station Square, an indoor and outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment complex. This is a popular gathering place, although as New Yorkers you’ll be hopelessly outnumbered. When I first visited Pittsburgh in 2000 (I saw the Pirates hit 4 homers at Three Rivers but lose to the Cards thanks to a steroid-aided mammoth blast by Mark McGwire), there was a restaurant with a Pittsburgh Sports Hall of Fame at Station Square, but as far as I can tell it is no longer there.

North of downtown, where the Monongahela and the Allegheny come together to form the Ohio, where PNC Park and Heinz Field are, across from where Three Rivers Stadium used to be, is Jerome Bettis' Grille 36, named for the Steeler legend and his uniform number. It's at 393 North Shore Drive.

Carson City Saloon, at 1401 E. Carson Street, is said to be a Jets fans' bar. Bus 51. So is the William Penn Tavern, at 739 Bellefonte Street in the Shadyside section of town. Also in that neighborhood is the area's top Giant fans' bar, The Casbah, 229 S. Highland Avenue. Bus 71 for the WPT and the Casbah.

When I did this piece last year, I was told by a local that the Brillo Box was owned by a New Yorker, but, not having been to Pittsburgh since, I cannot confirm this. And one source I found to back it up calls it a "hipster" place. If "yinz" (Pittsburghese for "youse") want to take your chances, it's at 4104 Penn Avenue at Main Street. Bus 88.

Sidelights. Pittsburgh has a long and storied sports history, if a real hit-and-miss one. As I said, the Civic Arena was across the street from the new arena, between Bedford Avenue, Crawford Street, Centre Avenue and Washington Place. The official mailing address for "the Igloo" in its last few years was 66 Mario Lemieux Place.
Built in 1961 for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, it had a retractable roof before additional seating made such retraction impossible. It hosted the American Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Hornets from then until 1967, and then the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins until 2010. It was officially known as the Mellon Arena from 1999 to 2010, when the naming rights expired.
The Pittsburgh Pipers, later renamed the Pittsburgh Condors, played there, and won the first ABA Championship in 1968, led by Brooklyn native Connie Hawkins. (He would be named to the ABA's All-Time Team.) The Beatles played there on September 14, 1964. Elvis Presley sang there on June 25 & 26, 1973 and December 31, 1976. It was demolished in 2011.

Pittsburgh hasn't had professional basketball since the Condors moved in 1973. If it did, its metro area would rank 22nd in population among NBA markets.

On May 12, 2014, the New York Times printed a story that shows NBA fandom by ZIP Code, according to Facebook likes. The Consol Energy Center is 134 miles from Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, but don't let that fool you into thinking that Pittsburghers toss aside their NFL-bred hatred of Cleveland to support the Cavaliers, not even to root for the returned LeBron James: They seem to divide their fandom up among 4 "cool teams": The Chicago Bulls, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. The Philadelphia 76ers, only 309 miles away? Forget it.

* PNC Park. The Pirates opened this 38,362-seat ballpark, which opens to a spectacular view of downtown Pittsburgh, on the North Side in 2001. It took them until 2013 to reach the postseason there, but they've now done so in 3 straight seasons. 115 Federal Street at 6th Street. Metro to North Side Station. Or you can walk there from downtown. over the 6th Street Bridge, now renamed the Roberto Clemente Bridge and painted Pittsburgh Gold.

Exposition Park, home of the Pirates from 1891 to 1909, was nearly on the site of PNC Park. The first home of the Pirates, Recreation Park, was roughly on the site of Heinz Field.

This was also the site of the 1st football game played by an openly professional player. Yale University star William "Pudge" Heffelfinger was paid $500 (about $12,800 in today's money) to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, and scored the game's only points in a 4-0 Allegheny win. (Under the scoring system of the time, a touchdown was 4 points.)

There are historical markers in the complex for both Exposition Park (as one of the sites, along with the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston, of the 1st World Series) and Recreation Park (as the site of the 1st professional football game -- though the 1st all-professional game was in 1895 in nearby Latrobe).

* Heinz Field. This is a far better palace for football than the concrete oval Three Rivers Stadium was. It has a statue of Steeler founder-owner Art Rooney outside, and, on gameday, 68,400 Terrible Towel-waving black and gold maniacs inside.

The Steelers hosted the AFC Championship Game in the stadium's 1st season, 2001 (losing it to the New England Patriots, and again in 2004 (losing to the Pats again), 2008 (beating the Baltimore Ravens) and 2010 (beating the Jets).

A 2007 ESPN.com article named it the best stadium in the NFL, tied with Lambeau Field in Green Bay. It also hosts the University of Pittsburgh's football team. In 2014, it hosted a soccer game between defending English champions Manchester City and Italian giants AC Milan. On New Year's Day 2011, it hosted the NHL Winter Classic, but the Penguins lost 3-1 to the Washington Capitals. 100 Art Rooney Avenue.

Three Rivers' address, famously, was 600 Stadium Circle, and that location, which has (like the Civic Arena's 66 Mario Lemieux Place) been stricken from postal records, was between Heinz Field and PNC Park. It was there that the Steelers won the 1971 and 1979 World Series (actually, they clinched in Baltimore both times), and the Steelers reached 5 Super Bowls, winning 4.

* Senator John Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman Street at 12th Street, a couple of minutes’ walk from Union/Penn Station and Greyhound. It includes the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, open daily from 10 AM to 5 PM. (Senator Heinz, of the condiment-making family, was the first husband of Teresa Heinz Kerry, who nearly became First Lady in 2004.)

* Forbes Quadrangle, intersection of Forbes Avenue and Bouquet Street. This set of buildings, part of the University of Pittsburgh campus, was the site of Forbes Field, home of the Pirates from 1909 to 1970 and the Steelers from 1933 to 1963.

Included on the site is the last standing remnant of Forbes Field, part of the outfield wall, with ivy still growing on it. (Wrigley Field in Chicago wasn’t the only park with ivy on its outfield wall.) Where the wall stops, you’ll see a little brick path, and eventually you’ll come to a plaque that shows where the ball hit by Mazeroski crossed over the fence to win the Series.

Home plate has been preserved, in Wesley W. Posvar Hall, named for the longtime UP Chancellor. An urban legend says that, if it was in its exact original location, it would now be in a ladies’ restroom; this isn’t quite the case, but it’s still at roughly the same spot.

If you’ve ever seen the picture of Mazeroski in mid-swing, you’ll recognize the Carnegie Museum & Library in the background, and it is still there. If you’ve ever seen a picture of a Gothic-looking tower over the 3rd-base stands, that’s the Cathedral of Learning, the centerpiece of UP (or “Pitt”), and it’s still there as well. A portion of the wall, including the 406-foot marker that can be seen with the Mazeroski ball going over it, was moved to Three Rivers and now to PNC Park.

Pick up the Number 71 bus at 5th Avenue at Ross Street, and it will take you down 5th Avenue to Oakland Avenue. From there, it’s a 2-minute walk to the Quadrangle and Posvar Hall.

* Petersen Events Center, at Terrace Street and Sutherland Drive. The home arena for Pitt basketball, it was built on the site of Pitt Stadium, where they played their football games from 1925 to 1999, and where the Steelers played part-time starting in 1958 and full-time starting in 1964 until 1969. Part-time from 1970 to 1999, and full-time in 2000, Pitt shared Three Rivers with the Steelers, and they’ve shared Heinz Field since 2001.

Pitt Stadium was home to such legends as Dr. Jock Sutherland (a dentist and football coach), Marshall “Biggie” Goldberg, Mike Ditka and Tony Dorsett. If you’re a Giants fan, this is where they played the Steelers on September 20, 1964, and Giant quarterback Y.A. Tittle got clobbered by the Steelers' John Baker, resulting in that famous picture of Tittle kneeling, with blood streaming down his bald head, providing a symbolic end to the Giants’ glory days of Frank Gifford, Sam Huff and quarterbacks Charlie Conerly and Tittle. The Petersen Center is a 5-minute walk from Forbes Quadrangle.

* Roberto Clemente Museum. A fan group tried to buy Honus Wagner's house in nearby Carnegie and turn it into a museum, but this is the only museum devoted to a single Pittsburgh athlete. Clemente wasn't the 1st Hispanic player in the major leagues (white Cuban Charles "Chick" Pedroes played 2 games for the Cubs in 1902), nor was he the 1st black Hispanic (Minnie Minoso debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1949).

But he was the 1st to really take hold in the public imagination, to the point where later Hispanic stars wore Number 21 in his honor, and there is a movement to have the number retired throughout baseball as was done for Jackie Robinson (but it is not likely to succeed). 3339 Penn Avenue at 34th Street. Bus 87 to Herron Avenue.

Pittsburgh has never hosted an NCAA Final Four. Duquesne University reached the 2nd Final Four (not that it was called that back then) in 1940, and Pitt did so in 1941 -- no Western Pennsylvania school has done so since.

In fact, Pittsburgh has never been a big basketball city: The Pittsburgh Ironmen played in the NBA's first season, 1946-47, and only that season, and are best known now for having had Press Maravich, father of Pistol Pete, play for them; and the ABA's Pittsburgh Pipers, later the Pittsburgh Condors, won that league's first title in 1967-68, but that was it. The most successful Pittsburgh basketball team may well have been the Pittsburgh Pisces in The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.

The University of Pittsburgh is on the town's East Side. Penn State is 139 miles to the northeast in State College. West Virginia University, Pitt's other big rival, is 76 miles to the south in Morgantown. Greyhound provides service to State College, Megabus to Morgantown.

The U.S. Steel Tower, at 7th & Grant Avenues, is the tallest building in Pittsburgh, at 841 feet -- although there are 3 buildings in Philadelphia that surpass it for the title of tallest building in Pennsylvania. Built in 1970, it surpassed the 1932-built Gulf Tower, on the opposite corner from U.S. Steel.

There haven't been many TV shows set in Pittsburgh. Mr. Belvedere, starring Christopher Hewett as a butler to a family led by a sportswriter played by ballplayer-turned-broadcaster Bob Uecker, was set in nearby Beaver Falls, hometown of Jets legend Joe Namath, but it was filmed in Los Angeles. The most notable TV shows actually taped in Pittsburgh, at the PBS station WQED-Channel 13, were Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Fred Rogers was from Latrobe, and in spite of his show's success, he never moved the taping to New York or Hollywood. He notably had Steeler receiver Lynn Swann on his show, to show that even a big tough football player (or, at least, a graceful wide receiver) could love ballet (which explained how Swannie got such nice moves in the first place). A statue of Mr. Rogers, sponsored by TV Land, is near Heinz Field, as is one of Steeler founder-owner Art Rooney.

A lot of movies have been shot in Pittsburgh, due to its varied architecture. Many have had sports scenes. You may have seen the 1994 version of Angels in the Outfield, which involved the team then known as the California Angels. The original black-and-white version came out in 1951, and the downtrodden team they featured was the Pirates, and there's some nice shots of Forbes Field in it. Some nice shots of Janet Leigh, too. (Jamie Lee Curtis' mom -- no, unlike in some other films such as Psycho, Janet doesn't flash any skin in this one, but now you know why Tony Curtis married her, and where Jamie Lee inherited the goods.)

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh was a very silly, very Seventies movie, with Julius "Dr. J" Erving playing for the good guys and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar playing for the opposition. Sudden Death had Jean-Claude Van Damme trying to stop an assassination attempt at the Stanley Cup Finals. Both featured the old Civic Arena. Van Damme also filmed Timecop in Pittsburgh.

While most of The Dark Knight Rises was filmed in New York (with a few CGI bridges added to the skyline to create the atmosphere of the fictional Gotham City), and its 2 predecessors were filmed in Chicago, the football game scene was filmed at Heinz Field, with the fictional Gotham Rogues wearing Steeler black & gold. (They even made up a fake website for the team, including the Rogue Rag, a takeoff on the Terrible Towel.) Real-life Steeler legend Hines Ward returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown as Bane's bomb collapsed the field behind him, and playing the opposition's kicker was real-life Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

The scene where Gary Oldman goes to Matthew Modine's house to prepare for the final assault may also have been filmed in Pittsburgh, although the row-house style resembles Philadelphia. Some of the movie was filmed in Newark, but that street doesn't look like any part of Newark I've ever seen. You'd have to get as far south as Trenton to see Philly-style rowhouses in New Jersey, but then they've got 'em all along the Delaware River, in places like Bordentown, Burlington and Camden. Maybe it's a Pennsylvania thing.

One of Tom Cruise's first big films was All the Right Moves, a high school football movie set in Pittsburgh. He returned to Pittsburgh to film Jack Reacher. A movie with more life in it, the original 1968 Night of the Living Dead, was filmed in Pittsburgh. Its sequel Dawn of the Dead was filmed at the Monroeville Mall in the eastern suburbs, and the concluding chapter Day of the Dead back in the city.

Gung Ho, with Michael Keaton, spoofed the decline of Pittsburgh industry. Flashdance, with Jennifer Beals, turned the declining Pittsburgh dream on its head. Boys On the Side seemed to wink at it. And Groundhog Day starts in Pittsburgh before moving east to Punxsutawney. However, those aren't sports movies. (Although, with Jennifer Beals, Drew Barrymore and Andie MacDowell in them, there may be some heavy breathing.)

*

Pittsburgh is a terrific city that loves its sports, and CONSOL Energy Center is one of the best of the new hockey arenas. Hopefully, the Devils can muss up "Cindy" Crosby and his teammates. And win the game, too.

Prior to the 2011 season, I did the Top 10 Yankees by position. There's not a lot of update required as to stats, but I have tweaked these entries a little bit, expanding some entries and adding some honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions

Jack Chesbro, 1903-09. The 1st ace of the team that was officially renamed the Yankees in 1913, he went 128-93 for the New York Highlanders, 198-132 overall. In 1904, he won 41 games, the most of any pitcher in any single season since the pitching distance was extended to 60 feet, 6 inches in 1893. He's in the Hall of Fame.

Russ Ford, 1909-13. No relation to Whitey, he didn't become a big-league regular until he was 27. But in 1910 and '11, he won 48 games. The Yankees lost him to the Federal League in 1914, and didn't take him back when the Feds collapsed 2 years later. His career record was 99-71, 73-56 as a Yankee.

Carl Mays, 1919-23. He already had a reputation as a nasty guy and a bad teammate before the afternoon of August 16, 1920, when he hit Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman in the head with a pitch, from which Chapman died, so people wanted to believe he hit Chapman on purpose. He spent the last 50 years of his life denying it, pointing out that the ball came off Chapman's head right back to him, leading him to think Chapman had actually hit it, so he threw to 1st base. Mays was a jerk, but he wasn't a headhunter. We're not talking about Pedro Martinez here.

He was one of many players that Red Sox owner Harry Frazee let go to the Yankees in the 1920s, including with Babe Ruth. In just 4 1/2 seasons with the Yankees, he went 80-39, including 26 wins in 1920 and 27 in 1921, for the Yankees' 1st Pennant. He was also on the staff of the 1922 Pennant and the 1st World Series win in 1923. Had there been a Cy Young Award then, he would probably have won it in 1920, definitely in 1921. But he wore out his welcome, and was sold to the Cincinnati Reds in 1924, and went 20-9 with them -- the Yankees could have used him that year, as they finished 2nd to the Washington Senators.

Overall, he went 207-126 for his career. He batted .268 lifetime -- a decent average, a great one for a pitcher, in any era. If not for his date with ill destiny, he might have been elected to the Hall of Fame. But it will likely forever be held against him, because the Hall's caretakers don't want to have fathers explain to sons that this Hall-of-Famer killed somebody, even accidentally. (Never mind the dirty play and/or bigotry of some already in the Hall.)

Wilcy Moore, 1927-29, returned 1932-33. Not baseball's 1st great relief pitcher -- Fred "Firpo" Marberry of the Washington Senators beat him to that title by a few years -- but the 1st great Yankee reliever. He didn't make his major league debut until just before turning 30. But as a 30-year-old rookie in 1927, he went 19-7, led the American League with a 2.28 ERA, and had 13 saves, then a major league record.

He wasn't nearly as sensational in 1928 and '29, and was traded away. He was reacquired in 1932, and helped the Yankees win the World Series for the 3rd time (with him, the 5th time overall), before playing out the string in 1933. His career total of 49 saves sounds like a single season for a great closer today, but things were different back then.

Spurgeon "Spud" Chandler, 1937-47. He didn't make his major league debut until he was nearly 30 years old, but he had a very good half a career. He didn't even make his professional debut until he was 24, but in 1932, between Classes B and A, went 12-1.

He became a mainstay for the Yankees' farm club, the original Newark Bears, before finally getting called up to the big club. He went 14-5 for the 1938 World Champions, then battled injuries, but from 1941 to '43 he went 46-13, including 20-4 with a major league-leading 1.64 ERA in 1943, winning the World Series and the AL Most Valuable Player award.

He went off to war for 2 years, then went 20-8 for a not-so-good Yankee team in '46, and in '47 had a 2.46 ERA which would have led the AL had he pitched enough innings to qualify. But age and injury caught up with him.

His career record was 109-43, for a sizzling winning percentage of .717, making him the all-time leader among pitchers with at least 100 major-league decisions. His Number 21 has not been retired, and if it ever is, it will be for Paul O'Neill.

Eddie Lopat, 1948-55. One of the "Big 3" of the late Forties and early Fifties, along with Allie Reynolds (see below) and...

Vic Raschi, 1946-53. Steady Eddie and the Springfield Rifle backed up the Superchief to form as good a 1-2-3 punch as any baseball team has ever had. They didn't have the longevity of the 1990s-2000s Atlanta Braves of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, but they won more in that less time. And they far outclass the early 2000s Oakland Athletics "Big 3" of Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson.

Between the 3 of them, they went 364-169 for the Yankees. The Yankees always managed to find the 4th starter necessary to fill out a Pennant-winning rotation: Tommy Byrne in 1949 and '50, Tom Morgan in '51, Cincinnati Reds veteran Ewell Blackwell in '52, and a returning from the Army Whitey Ford in '53.

Lopat wore Number 30, Raschi Number 17. Neither has been retired.

Mel Stottlemyre, 1964-74. Talk about bad luck: He was the right kind of pitcher, for the right team, but he arrived at the wrong time, at the end of the Mantle-Berra-Ford Dynasty; and, due to a rotator cuff injury that could probably have been properly repaired with today's medicine, left at the wrong time, just before the Jackson-Munson-Guidry Dynasty could begin.

But he's the best pitching coach of recent times (rest in peace, Johnny Sain, Mel's predecessor as such), having put together the staffs of both the 1980s Mets and the 1990s Yankees. For his pitching and his coaching, he was honored last year with a Plaque in Monument Park. Like Lopat, he wore Number 30 as a player. He wore Number 34 as a coach, because Willie Randolph was also on the staff and was already wearing 30 when Mel returned to The Bronx.

Albert "Sparky" Lyle, 1972-78. Along with Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter and -- to Sparky's dismay -- Goose Gossage, redefined the role of the relief pitcher in the Scintillating Seventies. In 1977, he became the 1st AL pitcher to win the Cy Young. He wore Number 28, which has not been retired.

Don't give him a cake on his birthday. Unlike late 1950s Yankee prospect turned early 1960s Met joke Marv Throneberry, the problem is not that he would drop it.

Jim "Catfish" Hunter, 1975-79. A Hall-of-Famer, and a Yankee for 5 years, but he was only really available for 2 and parts of 2 others: 1975, '76, the first half of '77 and the second half of '78. I love the guy, but, in all honesty, I couldn't put him on this list. He wore Number 29, which has never been retired.

Dave Righetti, 1981-90. "Rags" came to the Yankees in the 1978-79 offseason, in the trade that sent Sparky to the Texas Rangers. He was named AL Rookie of the Year in 1981, helping the Yankees win the Pennant. He pitched a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox on the 4th of July 1983.

He was converted into a reliever, and set a record of 46 saves in 1986. (It's still a record for AL lefthanders.) He saved 252 games (a career record for lefties later broken by John Franco), 224 as a Yankee. He never became the great pitcher everyone hoped, though. He wore Number 19, which has never been retired. Bob Turley, the 1st Yankee to win the Cy, in 1958, also wore 19.

The San Jose native grew up as a San Francisco Giants fan, and has been their pitching coach since 2000. He has now helped them win 3 World Series, after neither he nor the Giants (in San Francisco, anyway) had ever won one before.

Jimmy Key, 1993-96. Here's another guy who's probably kept out of the Top 10 due to not being in Pinstripes long enough. But, along with Paul O'Neill and Wade Boggs, he was one of 3 big 1992-93 acquisitions that signaled that the rebuilding was not only underway, it was succeeding. He started and won Game 6 of the 1996 World Series that finished the job of bringing the Yankees back -- though it was his last game for the team.

He went 186-117 for his career, 48-23 for the Yankees. He's not in the Hall, but maybe he should be. He wore Number 22, which has not been retired.

David Cone, 1995-2000. He wouldn't make either the Mets' or the Yanks' all-time starting rotation, but put the two of them together and you have one of the great New York pitchers of all time. He went 81-51 for the Mets, 64-40 for the Yankees, and 194-126 overall.

Every year he was with the Yankees, they made the Playoffs. He helped win the 1996, 1998, 1999 and, despite an awful season, 2000 World Series. After several close calls (including some before he was a Yankee), he finally pitched a no-hitter on July 18, 1999, and it was a perfect game.

He's now a Yankee broadcaster, and should be in the Hall of Fame. (He is now eligible.) At the very least, he should be in Monument Park. His Number 36 has not been retired.

David Wells, 1997-98 and 2002-03. His tenures were brief. His performances were memorable. He wasn't perfect (except on May 17, 1998), but he was a winner. He went 18-4 in 1998, and saved the Yankees' bacon in the AL Championship Series against Cleveland, and also won Game 1 of the World Series against his hometown San Diego Padres. He went 68-28 as a Yankee, 239-157 overall. He's also eligible for the Hall, but not in. He wore Number 33, which has not been retired for anyone.

Orlando Hernandez, 1998-2002 (with a brief comeback in 2004). El Duque wasn't with us long, but he'll be long remembered. Because he had to defect from Cuba -- the joke was that he worked for the 2 most demanding bosses in the Western Hemisphere, Fidel Castro and George Steinbrenner -- he didn't appear in a major league game until he was 32 (although he said he was 28).

He went 90-65 for his career, 61-40 as a Yankee, and was an integral part of the 1998, 1999 and 2000 title teams. His story (as unreliable as it sometimes was revealed to be), his windup, his fun-loving nature and his dependability (he won his 1st 8 postseason decisions) made him a very popular Yankee.

Mike Mussina, 2001-08. He helped the Yanks win 2 Pennants, made several other postseason appearances possible, and won 20 games at age 40. He went 123-72 for the Yankees, 270-153 overall.

A classy guy, but his dates of arriving and leaving do kind of make him the Don Mattingly of pitchers. Still, put his work for the Baltimore Orioles and the Yankees together, and he should be elected to the Hall of Fame. He is now eligible.

CC Sabathia, 2009-present. His 1st 4 years in Pinstripes were superb (74-29), but his last 3 showed the effects of overwork and his drinking (23-27). Hopefully, 2016 will be a bounce-back season for the Big Fella. Overall, he's 97-56 for the Yankees, 214-129 for his career.

I will not give an Honorable Mention to Roger Clemens (1999-2003, 2007), even though his statistical performance deserves it. The pitcher does; the man does not.

10. Herb Pennock, 1923-33. The Boston Red Sox had him before that, and after that. Too bad for them. He was another of the players that Frazee let go to the Yankees in the 1920s. He won 241 games, 162 for the Yankees, only 62 for the Sox. He helped the Yankees win their 1st 4 World Series (1923, '27, '28 and '32). Had there been a Cy Young Award in his time, he might have won it in 1923, '24, '26 and '27.

The Philadelphia-area native, known as "The Knight of Kennett Square," started his career with the Philadelphia Athletics, and ended his life as general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. Sadly, in that role, he was a major and enthusiastic part of the Phillies' hideous attitude on race relations.

Nevertheless, his pitching made him a deserving member of the Hall of Fame. The Yankees have never put him in Monument Park, nor retired a number for him. He played in the era before numbers were worn, then, when it was a new phenomenon; and, like most players at the time, he didn't have a regular number, wearing 11, 12 and 16 at various times.

9. Rich "Goose" Gossage, 1978-83. His bulk, his fearsome stare (later augmented with a nasty "biker mustache"), his blinding speed and his willingness to pitch inside made him the 1st truly intimidating modern reliever.

The native of Colorado Springs honed his craft (I love that expression) with the Chicago White Sox, then spent 1 year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, giving Yankee Fans a taste of what was to come by pitching in that retina-burning Pirate black-and-gold uniform at the old Yankee Stadium in the 1977 All-Star Game.

In 1978, he got off to a rough start in Pinstripes, but straightened out to become the 1st pitcher ever to throw the final out of a Division Title clincher (the AL East Playoff against the Red Sox, a.k.a. the Boston Tie Party), a Pennant clincher (Game 4 of the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals) and a World Series clincher (Game 6 against the Los Angeles Dodgers).

Unfortunately, bad trades and injuries -- including the plane-crash death of Thurman Munson in 1979 -- made 1978 his only ring season, although he was sensational in helping the Yankees win the 1981 Pennant. He moved on to help the San Diego Padres win a Pennant in 1984. He's finally in the Hall of Fame and Monument Park, although the Yankees have not yet retired his Number 54.

8. Waite Hoyt, 1921-30. The Brooklyn native was the 1st native New Yorker to be a Hall-of-Fame quality Yankee -- unless you count another Brooklynite, Willie Keeler, who was already at that level before he became an original 1903 New York Highlander.

Hoyt was another player that Frazee sent to the Pinstripes, like the Babe. Hoyt knew how important the Babe was, particularly to ballplayers' salaries: "Every kid, when he goes to bed at night, should say, 'God bless Mommy, God bless Daddy, and God bless Babe Ruth.'"

He won 237 games, 157 as a Yankee. He was a member of the Yankees' 1st 6 Pennant winners (1921, '22, '23, '26, '27 and '28) and 1st 3 World Champions (1923, '27 and '28). Had there been a Cy Young Award in his time, he, rather than Pennock, almost certainly would have won it in 1927 and '28. He appeared in the 1931 World Series for the Athletics, and was still a pretty good pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the mid-1930s. He finished his career with his hometown Dodgers. He later became a beloved broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds.

Hall of Fame. He is not in the Yankees' Monument Park, but the Reds elected him to their team Hall of Fame. He was another player who was with the Yankees at the time numbers were first used in 1929, and wore both 11 and 12, neither of which is retired for him.

7. Allie Reynolds, 1947-54. Known as the Superchief, for his Native American heritage and a fastball that reminded a sportswriter of the fast "Super Chief" train of the Santa Fe Railroad, it was his blessing to arrive in The Bronx just as the Yankees were embarking on a great new era.

But it was his curse to arrive 30 years too soon to become one of the great relief pitchers ever. He had the talent, and he had the mentality: He could have out-Goosed Rich Gossage. He was tough, and he was mean. He once went to 3 balls and no strikes on a batter, and hit him with the 4th pitch, telling the media after the game, "If I'm gonna put him on, I might as well hurt him."

But he was good enough to justify the faith of manager Casey Stengel, who wasn't afraid to pitch him every 4th day and often bring him in for relief duty in between. He went131-60 as a Yankee, 182-107 overall. He's not in the Hall of Fame, but if Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance could be elected together, then the Yankees'"Big 3" of this period -- Reynolds, Eddie Lopat and Vic Raschi -- deserve consideration for the same.

In 8 seasons with the Yanks, he was a member of 6 Pennant winners, winning the World Series every time. In Game 1 of the '49 Series, he outdueled Don Newcombe and rode a Tommy Henrich walkoff homer to win, 1-0. In 1951, he pitched 2 no-hitters, the only Yankee to do so in a career, let alone in a single season. He could have won the Cy Young Award in 1949, and would have won it in 1952.

A back injury forced him to retire, and his energy investments in his native Oklahoma meant he didn't need the Yankees' money. He was the 1st great Sooner for the Yanks, before Mickey Mantle and Bobby Murcer. And while his Number 22 has not been retired, he does have a Plaque in Monument Park. (Lopat and Reynolds do not.)

6. Andy Pettitte, 1995-2013. (Well, 1995-2003, 2007-10 and 2012-13.) "Average Andy"? No way. The native of the Houston suburbs went 219-127 as a Yankee, 256-153 overall, for a career winning percentage of .626. Twice, he won 21 games in a season despite pitching in the Five-Man Rotation Era. He won more games as a Yankee lefty than any pitcher except for the one at Number 1 on this list. He was an All-Star at age 24 and at age 38, which shows remarkable consistency. So does having an ERA+ of 156 at 25 and 148 at 40. He struck out more batters in a career than any Yankee pitcher: 2,020, 2,448 counting his time with his hometown Houston Astros. (Clemens and Phil Niekro notched their 3,000th with the Yankees, but not all with the Yankees.)

He won 7 games in Division Series play (6 for the Yankees), 7 in the League Championship Series, and 5 in the World Series, including the 1998 and 2009 World Series clinchers (at 26 and 37), for a total of 19 postseason wins, the all-time record (18 of those for the Yankees, 1 during his Astro sojourn).

He'll be eligible for the Hall of Fame in January 2019. His Number 46 has been retired, and his Plaque is in Monument Park.

5. Vernon "Lefty" Gomez, 1930-42. He came from the Yankees' unofficial "farm system" relationship with the Pacific Coast League's San Francisco Seals, and went 189-102, although his last solid season was at age 32.

In 1934, he went 26-5, and those 26 wins have not been matched by any Yankee pitcher since. (Don Newcombe's 27 in 1956 mark the only time any New York-based pitcher has matched or surpassed it since. Whitey Ford didn't do it, nor did Ron Guidry, nor did Tom Seaver, nor did Dwight Gooden.) He probably would have won the Cy Young Award in 1932, '34 and '37. He holds the record for most career World Series games won without losing any, 6-0.

Hall of Fame, Monument Park. He wore Number 11 for most of his Yankee career, although the number is not retired, not for him or for anyone else.

4. Ron Guidry, 1975-88. The Lafayette, Louisiana native preferred "Gator" as a nickname to "Louisiana Lightning" and "the Ragin' Cajun." (To be fair, the latter is the name of the teams at his alma mater, now named the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.) But the way he pitched, a better thing to call him would be "Sir."

He holds the Yankee record for most strikeouts in a season (248 in 1978) and a game (18 against the California Angels on June 17 of that season). He went 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA that season, including 3 2-hit shutouts in September, one of those being in the 3rd game of the 4-game Fenway Park sweep known as the Boston Massacre.

The 25th win was, of course, in the Playoff against the Sox. He also won Game 4 of the ALCS (the Pennant-clincher) and, though exhausted and far from his best (and with serious help from Graig Nettles putting on a fielding clinic at 3rd base), Game 3 of the World Series. Naturally, he won the Cy Young Award; that Jim Rice of the 2nd-place Red Sox got the MVP that season is a travesty: If ever a pitcher was "the most valuable player in his league," it was Ron Guidry in 1978. Not since Lefty Grove went 31-4 for the 1931 Philadelphia Athletics has a pitcher had a more dominant season. (And the A's lost that World Series.)

Guidry had one flaw: He had the worst pickoff move I have ever seen. I remain convinced that he wrecked his arm with all those pickoff moves. He had his last good season at age 34 (22 wins in 1985, a total no New York pitcher -- Yankee or Met -- has reached since), and was done at 37.

But his career record is a sparkling 170-91, with a 119 ERA+ and a 1.184 WHIP. He was 5-2 with a 3.02 ERA in postseason play, including 3-1 with a sizzling 1.69 in the World Series, helping the Yankees win it all in '77 and '78 and the Pennant in '81. He will probably never make the Hall of Fame, not even through the Veterans' Committee, but the Yankees have retired his Number 49 and awarded him a Plaque in Monument Park.

3. Charles "Red" Ruffing, 1930-46. Red Sox fans can't blame Frazee for this one, since he sold the team in 1923 and died in 1929. It was subsequent Sox ownership that traded Ruffing to the Yankees in 1930, for Cedric Durst and, probably more important in that first full year of the Great Depression, $50,000 cash. It seemed like a good deal for the Sox at the time, as Ruffing went just 39-96 for some terrible teams... although his ERA+ was a not-particularly-bad 92.

As a Yankee, Ruffing went 231-124, with a 120 ERA+. He was a member of 8 Pennant winners (1932, '36, '37, '38, '39, '40, '41 and '42) and 7 World Championships (winning the World Series in all but the last of those). Had there been a Cy Young Award in his day, he could have won it in '38 and '39, and possibly also in '32 and '36.

He remains the winningest righthanded pitcher in Yankee history -- in fact, of all the righthanders in New York baseball history, only Christy Mathewson has won more. (373 -- Tom Seaver won 311, but "only" 198 as a Met.)

Hall of Fame. He mostly wore Number 15 for the Yankees, but that number has been retired for someone else. He was honored with a Plaque in Monument Park in 2004, well after his death.

2. Mariano Rivera, 1995-2013. I seriously considered putting Mo in at Number 1, especially since I've seen his entire career, whereas the other serious candidate for Number 1 is someone I only saw on old films. I just couldn't do it. Not even for the Panamanian Strongman. The Silent Assassin. The Sandman. The man who, like 1930s-40s Yankee outfielder Tommy Henrich, could have been nicknamed Ol' Reliable.

The all-time leader in ERA+, 205 -- meaning his career ERA, 2.21, is 105 percent better than that of the average pitcher between 1995 and 2013. WHIP 1.000 -- that's right, he averages exactly one hit and walk combined per inning, and that's the lowest for any reliever ever, the lowest for any pitcher in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era, and 2nd all-time behind only Addie Joss with 0.968.

The all-time leader in saves, with 652 -- to give you an idea, even after 2 generations of relief pitching being important, there are only 4 other pitchers who even have 400 (Billy Wanger 422, John Franco 424 is tops among lefties, former all-time leader Lee Smith 478, and former all-time leader and still National League leader Trevor Hoffman has 601). The closest active pitcher is Francisco Rodriguez, and he's got 386 at age 33. Mariano has 42 more saves in postseason play. No total of win-saves -- the number of saves a relief pitcher has of wins of a particular starting pitcher -- is higher than that of Pettitte and Rivera: Together, they total 77 in the regular season, and 11 more in the postseason.

Lowest ERA in postseason history, 0.70 -- this against the Edgar Martinez/Alex Rodriguez/Ichiro Suzuki Mariners, the Juan Gonzalez/Ivan Rodriguez Rangers, the Rafael Palmeiro Orioles, the Chipper & Andruw Jones Braves, the Manny Ramirez/Jim Thome Indians, the Tony Gwynn Padres, the Nomar Garciaparra Red Sox, the Jason Giambi A's, the Luis Gonzalez Diamondbacks (okay, that didn't work out so well), the Troy Glaus/Garrett Anderson Angels, the Joe Mauer/Justin Morneau Twins, the Manny/David Ortiz/whatever other steroid freaks they had Red Sox, the Ivan Rodriguez/Miguel Cabrera Marlins, the Cabrera/Magglio Ordonez Tigers, the Victor Martinez/Grady Sizemore Indians, the Vladimir Guerrero/Kendrys Morales Angels, and the Josh Hamilton/Michael Young Rangers.  Against that, he averages an earned run every 13 innings.  That's counting Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, and Games 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS.

He is the most important player for the Yankees from 1995 onward -- even more than Derek Jeter. Without Mo, the Yankees might not have won any Pennants since 1981; with him, they have won 7 so far (1996, '98, '99, 2000, '01, '03 and '09) while winning 5 World Series (1996, '98, '99, 2000 and '09).

His Number 42 has been retired, although he hasn't yet been give his Monument Park Plaque. Like Pettitte, he will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in January 2019. And, on top of everything else, he's a Hall of Fame human being as well.

1. Edward "Whitey" Ford, 1950-67. They called him "The Chairman of the Board" and "The Money Pitcher," and a man would have to be those things to rank ahead of the great Mariano Rivera.

Born in Manhattan, raised in Queens, he has the best career ERA of any starting pitcher in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era, 2.75. (Best among active pitchers is Clayton Kershaw with 2.43, but with at least 10 seasons, it's Adam Wainwright with 2.98.) Whitey also has the best winning percentage of any pitcher with at least 300 decisions, 236-106 for .690. (Kershaw leads active pitchers with .671.)

Whitey's 236 wins also make him the winningest pitcher in Yankee history, in spite of Casey Stengel's tendency to not only throw him against the tough teams of the era, but also to hold him back a day, or move him up to throw him on short rest, against said teams. As good as the Yankees were, Whitey raised their winning percentage.

The Cy Young Award was not established until 1956, right after Cy Young died, and it did not get awarded in each league until 1967, Whitey's last season.  He won the both-leagues award in 1961 (25-4), and if it had been in place when Whitey started, he would have won it in the AL in 1955, '56 and '63.

He missed 2 seasons due to serving in the Korean War, but still won 11 Pennants (1950, '53, '55, '56, '57, '58, '60, '61, '62, '63 and '64) and 6 World Series (1950, '53, '56, '58, '61 and '62). He holds a slew of World Series records including 10 wins (against 8 losses, also a record). His 33 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings are still a World Series record, although no longer a postseason record.

Hall of Fame, Number 16 retired, Monument Park. But the greatest tribute Whitey could have received came from my Grandma. A Dodger-turned-Met fan, she hated the Yankees of the Forties and Fifties. Hated Joe DiMaggio. Hated Mickey Mantle. Hated Yogi Berra. Hated Billy Martin -- and hated him even more as a manager, because he was a "hothead." (Her word, and quite accurate.) Really, really hated Casey Stengel. But there were 2 Yankees she loved: Phil Rizzuto and Whitey Ford. She loved them because they were little guys but tough, and always seemed to come through when the spotlight was brightest. The fact that, like her, they came from Queens might have had something to do with it.

This list will have considerably fewer Honorable Mentions than that of the Top 10 Yankee Pitchers. And that's a good thing, since it reflects the luck and longevity the Yankees have had with their catchers.

Honorable Mention: Pat Collins, 1926-28. Just as the 1990s Chicago Bulls were the weakest at the most important position in basketball, center (although not that weak, as Bill Cartwright and Luc Longley were good, just not sensational), so, to, were the 1926, 1927 and 1928 Yankees, often called the greatest team in baseball history, weakest at the most important position: Catcher.

Collins, Benny Bengough and Mike Gazella were the catchers who bridged the gap between Wally Schang, who got old in 1925, and Bill Dickey, who wasn't ready to take over as the starter until 1929. Collins, who came from Sweet Springs in western Missouri, played the most of them.

Honorable Mention: Aaron Robinson, 1943-47. Here's a neat little trivia question: Who wore Number 8 on the Yankees between Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra? Here's another: Which Robinson played on the winning side of the 1947 World Series? Not Jackie. The answer to both is Aaron Robinson.

He came up for 1 game in 1943, then back up to become the starter in late 1945. In 1946, he batted .297 with 16 homers and 64 RBIs in only 100 games. But he tailed off in 1947, and it was clear that Yogi was the catcher of the future, so he was traded. But he was the starting catcher on a Yankee World Series winner, and, so far, there's been only 8 other human beings, living or dead, who could truthfully say that.

Honorable Mention: Brian McCann, 2014-present. He's played just 2 seasons with the Yankees, with 49 home runs and 169 RBIs, but a .232 batting average and an OPS+ of just 101. Good guy, good power, good defensive catcher, but not yet one of the Top 10 Yankee Catchers.

10. Jake Gibbs, 1962-71. The best quarterback the University of Mississippi has ever had -- aside from those named Manning -- he chose baseball because he could make more money. But he didn't get more than a cup of coffee in the majors until 1966, and was only the starter in '67 and '68.

His hitting stats aren't really worth mentioning. He was there mainly for his defense. He probably would have been better off if he'd gone to the NFL -- or the AFL, which was a possibility at the time. (He was drafted by the NFL's Cleveland Browns and the AFL's Houston Oilers.) Still, somebody has to round out the Top 10. Gibbs wore Number 41.

9. Rick Cerone, on and off 3 times 1980-90. The Newark native was brought in from the Toronto Blue Jays for Chris Chambliss in order to replace Thurman Munson, and helped the Yankees win the AL East in 1980 (he actually finished 7th in the MVP voting) and the Pennant in '81. But that was it, and he never again had more than 300 plate appearances in a season. His main number was 10.

I remember listening to Max Kinkel's All Night Radio show on WCBS-FM one night in 1987 (it was a music show, but he talked about sports a lot), and he was talking to someone about the Yankees, ripping Mark Salas, saying, "To me, Salas just could not call a game." The caller said that Cerone, then in his 2nd go-around, could, and Max said, "Well, Cerone can call a game, but Cerone can't throw the ball!" Sad, but true.

After his playing career, which also included a stopover with the Mets, Cerone, a Newark native and a graduate of Seton Hall University, was one of the founders of the reborn Newark Bears minor-league team.

8. Joe Girardi, 1996-99. Speaking of the Mets, as we all know, in nearly 54 seasons, no Met pitcher has ever thrown a no-hitter. (Don't tell me Johan Santana did: That was a fraud, and you know it.) But a few Mets-to-be and lots of former Mets have. Girardi caught 2 such no-hitters, by Dwight Gooden on May 14, 1996 and a perfect game by David Cone on July 18, 1999.

The Peoria, Illinois native was one of the cornerstones of the Yanks' 1996 revival, including a triple off Greg Maddux that started a 3-run rally that won Game 6 of the World Series and the Series itself. Considering that he was known for his defense, usually capable of 40-50 RBI per year but no more than that, and that he was built like the stereotypical old-time catcher and not expected to run well (though he did steal 13 bases in '96), I said at the time that hitting a triple off Maddux in the World Series was the baseball equivalent of Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson.

He guided the Yanks' pitching staff until Jorge Posada was ready, and it surprised no one when he became a big-league manager. He kept a Florida Marlins team starved of payroll near .500 most of the 2006 season, got the NL Manager of the Year award, and got fired for his trouble. Named Yankee manager in 2008, he led them to the 2009 World Championship.

He started off wearing Number 45, then switched to 25 when Cecil Fielder arrived. When he was hired as manager, he wore 27 to remind the team of its goal of a 27th World Championship. He led them there. He then switched to 28, but he's been stuck on it, now into a 7th season. As much as anything else, this is due to his pitching mismanagement. Let's hope that 2016 is the year he throws away the binder and starts using his eyes to determine whether a pitcher should stay in or be relieved.

7. Mike Stanley, 1992-95. He grew up in Fort Lauderdale, where the Yankees then had their spring training camp. At first, it looked like he was going to be a big part of the Yanks' 1990s revival, batting .305 with 24 homers and 85 RBIs for the 1993 squad that hung close to the Blue Jays until mid-September. He hit .300 again in strike-shortened '94, and made the All-Star Team in '95.

But he was granted free agency, and the Yankees didn't lift a finger to re-sign him, a move that left some Yankee Fans (like me) quite puzzled, and some very angry. The Red Sox jumped at the chance, and he gave them a very solid season and much of another before a rare trade between the teams briefly brought him back in 1997. (The trade was ultimately a wash, the only other player worth mentioning being Tony Armas Jr., who the Sox soon put in the trade that brought in Pedro Martinez from the Montreal Expos.)

The Yanks may have known what they were doing, though: They got Girardi, they had Posada on the way up, and while Stanley was still productive until 2000 (he then retired at age 37), Girardi was a little younger, Posada considerably so.

6. Wally Schang, 1921-25. He came from the Buffalo area, and came up with the Philadelphia Athletics in time to play in the 1913 and '14 World Series, winning the former. But Connie Mack's breakup of his dynasty sent him to the Red Sox in 1917, where he won another Series in 1918. Harry Frazee's breakup of his dynasty meant that Schang was one of those who, in large measure, made the 1921-28 Yankees an extension of the 1912-18 Red Sox.

He helped the Yankees win their 1st 3 Pennants and their 1st World Series in 1923. He batted .300 6 times, but only twice with the Yankees. Trading him to the St. Louis Browns in 1926 looks like a bad trade, but the Yanks got a pretty good pitcher for him, George Mogridge.

Schang wrapped up his career with the Detroit Tigers in 1931, and that's the only season that he wore a uniform number. Interestingly, it was the number that Bill Dickey was already making synonymous with Yankee catchers, 8.

5. Elston Howard, 1955-67. Like the man he replaced behind the plate, he was from St. Louis. Why is he so low on this list? Actually, due to Yogi already being there, Elston, the 1st black Yankee, was mainly the Yankees' starting left fielder until 1959.

But then he became the best catcher in the game. He was the 1st black man to win the AL's MVP award, in 1963 -- this after several had won it in the NL. Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were hurt much of that season, and Elston carried that team, helping Whitey Ford to win 24 games and young Jim Bouton to win 21.

With the Yankee dynasty having collapsed, Elston was traded to the Boston Red Sox in 1967, and helped them win their "Impossible Dream" Pennant. It's a very strange thing to look at that World Series highlight film and see Ellie in a Red Sox uniform, standing with Roger Maris in a Cardinal uniform.

In 1969, he returned to the Yankees as the AL's 1st black coach. His death due to a heart ailment in 1980 probably prevented him, at the rate George Steinbrenner was hiring and firing, from becoming New York's 1st black manager, a distinction that would later go to Willie Randolph with the Mets. The Yankees have still never had a black manager, but they retired Ellie's Number 32 and dedicated a Plaque to him in Monument Park.

4. Thurman Munson, 1969-79. In 1970, his first full season, he won the AL's Rookie of the Year. In 1976, he won the MVP. Thanks to Derek Jeter, the 1996 ROY, having been robbed of the MVP in both 1999 and 2009, and possibly also in 2006, Thurman remains the only Yankee ever to win both of those awards. (There was no ROY until 1947, denying guys like Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio, and Mantle's 1st season was troubled.)

In spite of injury after injury, the first man trusted with the Yankees' official Captaincy since Lou Gehrig put together 3 straight seasons, 1975-77, of at least a .300 batting average and 100 RBIs. That streak ended in '78, but he led the team to its 3rd straight Pennant and back-to-back World Championships.

The thing I love the most about Thurman is that, at the moment when the Yankees most needed a home run from him, he hit the longest home run of his career. It was Game 3 of the '78 ALCS, bottom of the 8th, trailing 4-3 to the Kansas City Royals, and Doug Bird hung a curveball, and Thurman sent it 470 feet into Monument Park.

Sadly, the next person enshrined in Monument Park would be Thurman himself, the victim of a plane crash on August 2, 1979. George Steinbrenner, his fellow native of the Cleveland area, immediately ordered the retirement of his Number 15 (which had also been worn by Yankee greats Red Ruffing, Tommy Henrich and Tom Tresh), and a year later his Plaque was ready.

3. Jorge Posada, 1995-2011. There are those who say that Posada wasn't a very good catcher. Many of those will say that Mike Piazza of the Mets and Jason Varitek of the Red Sox were better. These people are fools.

A Puerto Rico native of Cuban descent, Jorge is a legend. He caught David Wells' perfect game on May 17, 1998. He hit from both sides of the plate with power. He hit home runs in World Series games. His double ended the big 3-run rally that tied up Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS and set up Aaron Boone's Pennant-winning homer. He's raised a bundle of money for charity. And he's married to Laura Posada. This last factor cannot be discounted in discussing Jorge's greatness.

He has his Plaque in Monument Park, and his Number 20 has been retired. Sorry, Bucky Dent.

2. Bill Dickey, 1928-46. The man from northeastern Louisiana ook the title of "greatest catcher ever" away from Mickey Cochrane, and was, unusually for a catcher, one of the 10 best hitters in baseball for much of his career. He was not on the roster of the 1928 World Series, but helped the Yankees win 8 Pennants (1932, '36, '37, '38, '39, '41, '42 and '43) and 7 World Series (losing only in '42).

He was Lou Gehrig's best friend on the team, and played himself in the film The Pride of the Yankees. (So did Yankee teammates Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel and Mark Koenig, and sportscaster Bill Stern.) That scene where a teammate questions Gehrig's effort as the disease that will later bear his name is overtaking him, and Dickey punches the guy out? That really happened.

After Gehrig's illness-forced retirement in 1939, there was no official Yankee Captain until Munson, 37 years later. But Dickey was very much an unofficial captain, leading the Yankees to their 106-win season in '39, the Joe DiMaggio streak season of '41, and taking them to the '43 title when several players, including DiMaggio, Tommy Henrich and Phil Rizzuto, were off fighting World War II. (Dickey himself went into the service for the next 2 seasons.)

He came back in '46, briefly replaced Joe McCarthy as manager, and was one of Casey Stengel's coaches from 1949 to '60. His greatest accomplishment may actually have been making Yogi Berra an even better catcher than himself: As Yogi said, "Bill Dickey is learning me all his experiences."

1. Lawrence "Yogi" Berra, 1946-63. In 1944 and '45, the U.S. Navy had, arguably, the 3 greatest catchers in baseball history: Cochrane, whose playing career was over; Dickey, who had a little baseball left in him; and Yogi, who was on one of the boats during the Normandy invasion of June 6, 1944, and became the only man to be a veteran of both D-Day and Major League Baseball.

It's hard to look at Dickey's offensive stats and say that Yogi was better, but Dickey played in a hitter-friendly era, while Yogi played in a pitcher-friendly era. Yogi won 3 AL MVPs, in 1951, '54 and '55. Somebody once argued that, due to his hitting and his handling of a pitching staff that was constantly changing and yet constantly winning, Yogi might be the most valuable player the Yankees have ever had.

And, like Dickey, Yogi became sort of an unofficial captain, particularly from 1956, when Rizzuto was unceremoniously and callously released, and 1961, when new manager Ralph Houk began to insist that Mantle take more of a leadership role -- not as a slap against Yogi, but more in order to make Mickey finish growing up, and it wasn't entirely a fool's errand.

Nobody won more Pennants than Yogi: 14 (1947, '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '55, '56, '57, '58, '60, '61, '62, '63 and '64). Nobody won more World Series: 10 (1947, '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '56, '58, '61 and '62 -- in all of sports, only Bill Russell in basketball and Henri Richard in hockey have 11). He still holds the records for most World Series games, at-bats and hits.

In 1972, Yogi was elected to the Hall of Fame. Dickey had been elected in 1955. Upon Yogi's election, the Yankees retired Number 8 for both men. (Dickey wore 33 as a coach while Yogi was the catcher.) In 1988, both men were awarded Plaques in Monument Park.

And Yogi was a good manager: He got the Yankees to the 1964 Pennant, and the Mets to the 1973 Pennant. Not only did he have to make both teams come from behind in the process, but it made him the only manager ever to take both teams to the World Series. (I will Broadway Joe Namath guarantee you that there will never be another in my lifetime.) He lost in Game 7 both times, but there's no shame in losing a World Series to Bob Gibson and Lou Brock -- or to Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter, for that matter.

Today, people my age and younger know Yogi only as an elder statesman of baseball and as the guy who said funny things, often in TV commercials. They're not old enough to remember him as a manager, let alone as a player. But he was one of the true greats of the game, well before he became known for his "Yogi-isms."

As the man himself might have said, He was a living legend, until he wasn't anymore. He's still one of the game's greatest legends, although he never would have told you so himself. He was a special guy, in so many ways.

The photo at top -- Dickey, Berra (then a coach), Howard (ditto) and Munson (then the starting catcher) -- was taken on Old-Timers' Day 1977.

I did this one in 2011, and have updated it 5 years later.

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya, lads and lasses. I’m not one bit Irish meself, but that won’t stop me from doing a St. Patrick’s Day-themed blog post.

I was going to do a Top 10 Irish Baseball Players, but, realizing just how much the Irish once dominated the game, that would have become a Top 100. So I’ll simply salute some sons (and one daughter) of the Emerald Isle who are in the major sports’ Halls of Fame and played for local teams.

In baseball, there are: Yankees Miller Huggins, Joe McCarthy, Bill Dickey, Whitey Ford (though Paul O’Neill is not in the Hall of Fame and almost certainly never will be); Met (before he was great) Nolan Ryan; New York Giants John Montgomery Ward, Michael Francis “Smilin’ Mickey” Welch, Tim Keefe, Amos Rusie, Jim “Orator” O’Rourke, John McGraw, Joe McGinnity, Roger Bresnahan (a.k.a. the Duke of Tralee), George “Highpockets” Kelly and Bill Terry; Brooklyn Dodgers Larry MacPhail, Branch Rickey, Arky Vaughan and, reluctantly, Walter Francis O’Malley; Dodger and Yankee Willie Keeler; and Larry’s son Lee MacPhail, who was a Yankee executive before succeeding fellow Irishman Joe Cronin as President of the American League.

Among New York Tri-State Area football players, there aren’t many. Although the Giants were founded by Tim Mara and run by him and his son Wellington Mara (whether current owner John joins his father and grandfather remains to be seen), and had Ray Flaherty; Fordham had Tim and Wellington Mara and George McAfee. The Jets? Well, they have very few HOFers of any ethnicity (Joe Namath is Hungarian), but their all-time leading scorer is placekicker Pat Leahy.

Basketball used to be loaded with fine Irish players, to the point where the first truly great team, in the 1920s, was a New York-based squad called the Original Celtics. Yes, they were called “Original” long before anyone knew the pro game would one day be dominated by the Boston Celtics – who, of course, were run by Englishman Walter Brown and a German-Jewish Brooklynite named Arnold “Red” Auerbach.

The Original Celtics had Nat Holman, who would later coach City College of New York (CCNY) to the 1950 NCAA and NIT Championships – the only such “double” that ever has or ever will be won unless the rules change; and Joe Lapchick, who went on to coach at St. John’s and lead the Knicks to 3 NBA Finals.

Another early pro team from New York, the Brooklyn Visitations, had Queens native Bobby McDermott, who would later star for the Fort Wayne Pistons. CCNY’s, and therefore Holman’s, great rival was Howard Cann of New York University (NYU).

The aptly-named Edward S. “Ned” Irish was the founder and first general manager of the Knicks. Among the players Lapchick coached, at St. John’s and/or with the Knicks, were the brothers Al and Dick McGuire: Al would later coach Marquette to the 1977 National Championship and become a broadcaster; “Dick the Knick” would become one of the Knicks’ worst coaches, but then their best scouting director and help build the 1970 and ’73 NBA Champions, the latter having former Cincinnati Royals legend Jerry Lucas.

Lapchick would be replaced at St. John’s by Frank McGuire – no relation to Al or Dick – and, when Frank went on to greener (or, rather, bluer) pastures at the University of North Carolina (1957 National Champions), Lapchick would return.

Frank McGuire, and then Dean Smith (no connection to New York and I don’t think he’s Irish) would coach Billy Cunningham, born in Brooklyn, raised in Long Beach, Island, who is not only the only coach to win both an NCAA and an NBA title, but, as far as I can tell, has more coaching victories than any human – male or female, living or dead, high school, college or professional. Unless you want to count the Harlem Globetrotters, but I think they more or less “coach themselves.”

Among the other New York Tri-State Area natives in the Basketball Hall of Fame are Ernie Blood, who coached Passaic High School’s “Wonder Five” to the longest winning streak in the history of U.S. high school basketball in the early 1920s; Brooklyn native Billy Cunningham, who later played for one of the Philadelphia 76ers’ NBA Championship teams and coached the other; Chuck Daly, who briefly coached the Nets; Anne Donovan, a Ridgewood, New Jersey native who starred at Virginia’s Old Dominion University, coached the WNBA’s New York Liberty and now coaches Seton Hall University’s women’s team; NBA Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy of Stamford; and referees Pat Kennedy and David Walsh of Hoboken, and John J. O’Brien of Brooklyn.

The Hockey Hall of Fame is loaded with Irish-Canadians, but how many of them were involved in New York-area teams? The most important of all was Lester Patrick, the man who built 3 Stanley Cup winners with the New York Rangers. (Don’t laugh, the Rangers didn’t suck back then.)

His sons, Lynn and Murray “Muzz” Patrick, played for that team and also went into management; Lynn’s son Craig Patrick is in the Hall, but didn’t have much to do with the Rangers. Babe Pratt, Bryan Hextall Sr. and Neil Colville played for those Ranger teams and are in the Hall, but Neil’s brother and teammate Matthew “Mac” Colville is not. Later Rangers who are would be Harry Howell and Lorne “Gump” Worsley.

Mervyn “Red” Dutton ran the New York Americans and briefly served as NHL President. “Bullet Joe” Simpson played for the Amerks; however, in spite of his nickname, Amerks star David Schriner was a Russian whose family immigrated to Canada, and he was nicknamed “Sweeney” after a semipro baseball player in Calgary where he was growing up. Of course, the man who built the New York Islander dynasty, Bill Torrey, is of Irish descent and is in the Hall.

There is 1 Devils player already in the Hall who is Irish, and he wasn't a Devil for long or during the team's best years: Brendan Shanahan, whose 4-year tenure did include the 1st Playoff season of 1988. The late Pat Burns, who coached the team for only 2 seasons but 1 was the 2003 Stanley Cup season, was also Irish.

Every year, the Devils play at home on St. Patrick's Day, and play in their 1982-92 uniforms with the green trim. And, it seems like every time they do, Czech native Patrik Elias, the team's all-time leading scorer, scores, leads them to a win, gets named the game's 1st star, and comes out onto the ice wearing one of those cheap plastic green derby hats, and waves it to the crowd, feeding on the "St. Patrik" theme.

There are a lot of Irish and Irish-American boxers in the Boxing Hall of Fame, but a surprisingly low number of them are from the New York area. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are James J. Braddock, who went from Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan to the Hudson County docks to the heavyweight title from 1935 to 1937; and 1920s middleweight champion Mickey Walker, “the Toy Bulldog.”

Jack Dempsey, that era’s heavyweight champ, was from Colorado, but did seem to get adopted by New York, as did the black Alabama native and Detroit-trained fighter Joe Louis (who, as the “Cinderella Man” stories don’t tell you, ended Braddock’s reign as champ rather painfully).

And, as an Arsenal fan, let me also salute the following Gunners: Republic of Ireland natives Liam Brady, Frank Stapleton and John Devine; Northern Ireland natives Terry Neill, Pat Rice, Sammy Nelson and Pat Jennings; English-born Irish Gunners Bob McNab, Ray Kennedy, David O'Leary, Terry Mancini (those last 2 were born in England but played internationally for the Republic), John Hollins, Lee Dixon, Andy Linighan and Martin Keown; and Scottish-born Irish Gunner Eddie Kelly. (Bobby Duffy, included in the photo below, appears never to have played a senior game for the club.)

Indeed, when Arsenal won the FA Cup in 1979, with Brady, Stapleton, Rice, Nelson, Jennings and O'Leary playing, and Neill managing, they were known as "The Irish Connection."

In spite of his first name, Gael Clichy of the 2004 "Invincibles" is a black Frenchman, and is not from Ireland or of Irish descent.

*

So, Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and, whether you’re Irish or not, celebrate well, but not too hard.

Honorable Mention to Ellsworth Tenney "Babe" Dahlgren, 1937-40. Part of the Yankees' 1920s and '30s San Francisco connection, hewas only a starter for 2 seasons, but 1 of those was the 1939 World Championship season. After a bad 1940, manager Joe McCarthy dumped him. He actually got better after the Yankees got rid of him, including an All-Star season with the 1943 Philadelphia Phillies. But the Yankees started winning again, so they didn't miss him.

Still, he'll forever be remembered, albeit not for any particular feat, rather simply taking the place of Lou Gehrig on that sad day in Detroit, May 2, 1939.

Honorable Mention to Johnny Sturm, 1941. Due to World War II and a subsequent injury, this was his only season in the major leagues. But it was a World Championship season.

Honorable Mention to John "Buddy" Hassett, 1942. Known as the Bronx Thrush for his home Borough and his fine singing, he was a 3-time .300 hitter, twice for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was the Yankees' starting 1st baseman in 1942, winning a Pennant (something Don Mattingly never did) and batting .284. But he went off to war, and never played in the major leagues again.

Honorable Mention to Nick Etten, 1943-46. He had 107 RBIs for the 1943 World Champions, led the AL with 22 homers in 1944, and led with 111 RBIs in 1945. But when the good pitchers came back from The War, he wasn't as good a hitter anymore. He played his last big-league game shortly before his 34th birthday.

Honorable Mention to George McQuinn, 1947-48. A 6-time All-Star, twice for the Yankees, he was the 1st baseman on the only St. Louis Browns team to win a Pennant, in 1944. He was released by the Philadelphia Athletics before the 1947 season, because he was about to turn 37 and had batted .225 the year before. He looked done. This was the kind of decision that led to the A's moving after 1954.

The Yankees took a chance on him. This was the kind of decision that led to the Yankees dominating baseball for a generation, as they had in the previous generation. McQuinn batted .304, hit 13 homers, drove in 80 runs, and helped the Yankees win the World Series. He tailed off in 1948, was released, and retired, but, for 1 year, he and the Yankees were good for each other.

Honorable Mention to Joe Collins, 1948-57. The Union, New Jersey native was the starter on 4 World Championship teams: 1950, '51, '52 and '53. He then served as a backup to Moose Skowron. He was a good fielder who might have won a Gold Glove had the award been established a few years earlier, and had a little power.

Tommy Henrich, normally a right fielder, played the most games at 1st base for the Yankees in the 1949 World Championship season, including catching a popup for the final out in the Pennant-clinching finale against the Boston Red Sox.

Honorable Mention to Bob Watson, 1980-82. He was only a Yankee for 2 seasons and the start of a 3rd, but he batted .307 in '80, his only full season in The Bronx, and was the general manager who built the 1996 World Champions.

10. Johnny Mize, 1949-53. He put up big numbers for the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants before being acquired by the Yanks, and, at age 36, most people thought he was done. Manager Casey Stengel thought otherwise, and the Big Cat was an All-Star twice more, with a 116 OPS+ as a Yankee. (That's well below his career OPS+ of 158, which got him, albeit belatedly, into the Hall of Fame.)

The Georgian was with the Yankees 5 seasons, and they won the World Series all 5. He wore Number 10 as a Cardinal, 3 as a Giant before going off to World War II and 15 after coming back. As a Yankee, he wore 36, and was probably the best Yankee to wear the number until David Cone.

9. Wally Pipp, 1915-25. He's remembered today as the man whose headache -- possibly as a result of getting beaned in those pre-batting helmet days -- allowed Lou Gehrig to step in and not miss a game for 14 years. This led to anyone thinking about asking for a day off to worry about "getting pipped." It's not fair, because, by the standards of his time, Pipp was a very good player.

The native of Grand Rapids, Michigan led the American League in home runs in 1916 and '17 -- albeit, in those last few years of the Dead Ball Era, with 12 and 9 homers in those seasons. He led the AL with 19 triples in 1924, his last full season as a Yankee. He batted .300 3 times and just missed 2 others. He hit 311 doubles despite playing his big-league last game at age 35 and in the parks of the time, most of which had faraway center field fences. And, yes, he helped the Yankees win the 1921 and '22 Pennants and the '23 World Series.

The truth is, he was in a nasty slump when Gehrig began his streak on June 1, 1925, batting only .244 after having been at .321 on May 11. He wasn't benched because of a headache, or a concussion, or a fractured skull, or whatever version of the story you heard; the condition, whatever it was, apparently came later. No, he lost his job because he wasn't getting it done.

After that season, the Yankees sold him to the Cincinnati Reds (which was odd, because interleague transactions were rare in those days), and he had 3 more productive seasons in the majors and one more in the high minors with the 1929 Newark Bears (meaning, in a 30-team MLB, he almost certainly would have played well in The Show).

His lifetime batting average was .281, he had 6 seasons of at least 100 RBIs (5 with the Yankees), and had there been an All-Star Game in the 1910s and '20s, he probably would have played in 8 or 9 of them. He is worth remembering, and for his presence, not just his absence.

8. Chris Chambliss, 1974-79. The 1971 AL Rookie of the Year came to the Yankees on April 26, 1974, in a controversial trade that sent 4 party-boy pitchers to the Cleveland Indians. With Watergate in the headlines, some called the trade the Friday Night Massacre. But it was a great trade: None of the guys going to the Indians did much for them, while the Yankees got Chambliss and Dick Tidrow, a versatile pitcher without whom the 1976, '77 and '78 Pennants would not have been won.

Nor would they have been won without Chambliss, who grew up in Oceanside, California. He gave the Yankees their first really reliable 1st baseman since Moose Skowron. (Say what you want about Joe Pepitone, but "reliable" is not an adjective that comes to mind.) You need 17 homers in a season? You need 90 RBIs? You need a good glove at 1st? Chambliss was your man.

He was an All-Star in 1976, and he gave the season its exclamation point on October 14, hitting a home run to win Game 5 of the ALCS and the Pennant over the Kansas City Royals. He also hit a home run that tied Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, setting up The Reggie Jackson Show. Speaking of Reggie, he was in the ABC booth for that '76 ALCS, assisting Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell, and he said it was a shame that there was no MVP award for the ALCS at the time. Chambliss batted .512 with 2 homers and 8 RBIs, meaning that if the award had been in place, he might have won it even without his capper. Overall, he batted .282 as a Yankee, and his career postseason average was nearly identical, .281. He hit 185 homers, 79 as a Yankee.

The Yankees sent him to the Toronto Blue Jays after the 1979 season, to get Rick Cerone to fill the catching void caused by the death of Thurman Munson, while Watson came in to play 1st in 1980 and '81. But the Jays foolishly traded Chambliss to the Atlanta Braves for outfielder Barry Bonnell, who did nothing in Toronto. Chambliss helped the Braves win the NL West in 1982 (their only postseason appearance from 1969 to 1991), and forged a friendship with manager Joe Torre that led to being hired as Torre's hitting instructor when he managed the St. Louis Cardinals and later the Yankees.

His Number 10 has been retired by the Yankees, albeit for Phil Rizzuto. But he should be remembered as a fine player, and not just for one amazing moment, a hot bat on a cold night in The Bronx.

7. Joe Pepitone, 1962-69. The Brooklynite played his last big-league game at age 32. He said that once his father, his biggest fan, died, he began to lose interest. Clearly, he was one of these guys who was more interested in being a star than in being a great athlete. He knew he'd blown it: He titled his memoir Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud.

He sure could have. After a cup of coffee in '62, the Yankees traded Moose Skowron to make room for him, and at first it worked. He was an All-Star the next 3 seasons, helping the Yankees win Pennants in '63 and '64, hitting a grand slam in Game 6 of the '64 Series.

But that was his high-water mark, and he was only 24. Despite 3 Gold Gloves and 219 homers (166 as a Yankee), Joe played himself out of baseball, and I don't mean on the field: Times Square when he was with the Yankees, Rush Street when he was with the Chicago Cubs, and the Ginza in his brief, scandalous (over there, anyway) tenure in Japan. His post-baseball life has had its difficulties as well. He now lives on Long Island, and has kept his nose (and liver) clean for about 20 years.

Fast facts with which you can amaze your friends: Like John Lennon, Joe Pepitone was born on October 9, 1940, made his "big-league debut" in 1962, was a huge star by 1964, but left his "group" in 1969. Too bad Joe never found his "Yoko": He's been divorced 3 times.

But at least he's alive, which is not true of John, and back in the good graces of Yankee management, for whom he does public-relations work. He will never get a Monument Park Plaque, or Number 25 retired in his honor. But he's doing okay now, and that's not something that could always be said of him.

6. Jason Giambi, 2002-08. Okay, the Giambino, shall we say, had help. Unlike those lying and cheating bastards David Ortiz, Mark McGwire, Ivan Rodriguez and Luis Gonzalez, all of whom contributed to Yankee postseason defeats (and Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez, who did not, and Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, who never even got the chance), Giambi was man enough to admit it and stop.

He hit 440 career home runs, 209 with the Yankees. He helped the Yankees to the postseason 6 straight times, and his 2 homers kept the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Roid Sox long enough for the alleged Curse of the Bambino to work one last time. (Unless you count that 13-inning dance of death of July 1, 2004, featuring Derek Jeter flying into the stands -- and I don't count it as part of The Curse.)

He hit at least 30 homers in 5 Yankee seasons, and had 100 or more RBIs in 3. He's a 5-time All-Star, 3 as a Yankee. He flopped in the '03 World Series (.235) and the '06 ALDS (.125), but overall he's got a .911 OPS in postseason play.

He'll never make the Hall of Fame or Monument Park, and his Number 25 stands a much better chance of being retired for Teixeira than for Giambi (or Pepitone), but it's unfair to call Giambi's tenure in Pinstripes a failure. After all, he was better over those particular seasons than Tino Martinez was.

5. Mark Teixeira, 2009-present. The man from the Baltimore suburbs will be 35 shortly after Opening Day, and has had 7 full seasons in Pinstripes. But don't be shocked that I have him so high on this list. The 1st 3 were fantastic seasons. In 2009, he led the AL with 39 homers and 122 RBIs, batting .292. In 2010, he dipped to .256, but still hit 33 homers with 108 RBIs. In 2011, he dropped to .248, but hit 39 homers with 111 RBIs. He;s battled injuries ever since, although, as in 2009, he was having a monster year with Alex Rodriguez hitting behind him, until he got hurt and missed the last quarter of the season.

He's hit 191 of his 394 career home runs as a Yankee. His 3 100-RBI seasons with the Yankees makes 8 overall. His OPS+ is 124 as a Yankee, 129 overall. And he's won 5 Gold Gloves, 2 as a Yankee. It's too early to say that he'll get Number 25 retired, a Plaque in Monument Park, and election to the Hall of Fame. But I wouldn't bet against any of those.

4. Bill "Moose" Skowron, 1954-62. A 6-time All-Star, he hit 211 home runs (165 as a Yankee) in spite of playing his entire career in pitcher's parks, particularly as a right-handed hitter in the pre-renovation Yankee Stadium, with its 402 feet to straightaway left, 457 to left-center and 461 to center. In spite of those dimensions, Moose still hit 28 home runs in 1961 -- joining with Roger Maris' 61 and Mickey Mantle's 54 to produce 143 home runs, still the highest total ever by 3 teammates. He was also a great fielder for a big man.

The nickname "Moose" had nothing to do with his size: As a kid, he got a crewcut, and someone said it made him look like Benito Mussolini. He kept the crewcut for the rest of his life, although in his old age his hairline had receded to the point where it looked right.

He won 8 Pennants (1955, '56, '57, '58, '60, '61, '62 and '63 -- the last after being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers to make room for Pepitone) and 5 World Series (1956, '58, '61, '62 and '63 -- 4 with the Yanks, 1 with the Dodgers). He is also one of the few players to hit World Series home runs for both leagues, including a grand slam in Game 7 of the '56 Series against the Dodgers in the last postseason game ever played in Brooklyn.

Moose was elected to the National Polish-American Hall of Fame -- that's for all walks of life, not just sports. Na zdrowie, Moose. I have another reason for liking him: We share a birthday, December 18, albeit 39 years apart.

3. Don Mattingly, 1982-95. Only Number 3? This is the New York Yankees. We are about winning World Championships. Saint Donald Arthur of Evansville never even won a postseason series. Donnie Regular Season Baseball.

But if I'm going to be completely fair, I not only have to say all of that, but I have to say all of this: The guy did more than anybody in those years to get the Yankees in a position to win, and, talk of mythical sports-related curses aside, it wasn't his fault that it didn't happen.

His 145 RBI in 1985 are the most by a Yankee since Joe DiMaggio in 1948. His .352 batting average in 1986, although not enough to win the AL batting title as his .343 was in 1984, is the highest by a Yankee in a full season since Mickey Mantle in 1956. (Paul O'Neill batted .359 in strike-shortened 1994.) His 238 hits in 1986 are a Yankee record (breaking the 231 by Earle Combs in 1927). He's probably the best-fielding 1st baseman in Yankee history (although see Wally Pipp above), winning 9 Gold Gloves.

No, he never won a World Series, a Pennant, or even a postseason series. And he was far from, as Michael Kay of the YES Network puts it, "the most popular athlete in New York history." But Don Mattingly earned his Monument Park Plaque and the retirement of his Number 23.

Does he belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame? His lifetime batting average is .307. His OPS+ is 127. He was a 6-time All-Star and, as I said, a 9-time Gold Glove. But he had just 2,153 hits and 222 home runs. He had 14 stolen bases -- in his entire career. As Yogi Berra would have said if he'd thought of it first, Even when he could run, he couldn't run.

On its Hall of Fame Monitor, on which a "Likely HOFer" is at 100, Baseball-Reference.com puts Mattingly at 134, meaning he should absolutely be in. But that measures peak performance. On its Hall of Fame Standards, which is geared more toward career statistics, and at which the "Average HOFer" is at 50, he comes in at 34, thus he falls well short.

Its list of his 10 Most Similar Batters is as follows: Cecil Cooper, Wally Joyner, Hal McRae, Kirby Puckett (the man who gave him the nickname "Donnie Baseball"), Will Clark, Magglio Ordonez, Jeff Conine, Tony Oliva, Matt Holliday and Keith Hernandez. Only Puckett is in the Hall, although Oliva and Hernandez, his New York contemporary to whom he is so often compared (right down to also having his career cut short by a back injury), arguably should be; while Holliday is still active and could get himself into consideration. The others all fall short. So does Mattingly: He is not a Hall-of-Famer, neither in fact nor in evidence.

2. Tino Martinez, 1996-2001, with a brief comeback in 2005. The Bamtino ahead of Donnie Baseball? Blasphemy! No, it's not, and I'll give you 4 reasons why: 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. In 1997 -- oddly, not one of the Yanks' Pennant years -- he had 141 RBIs, and his 44 homers were the most by a Yankee between Roger Maris (and Mickey Mantle) in 1961 and Alex Rodriguez in 2005.

The Tampa native hit 339 home runs, 192 as a Yankee. And he hit 2 of the most dramatic homers in Yankee history, the grand slam that won Game 1 of the 1998 World Series, and the homer that sent Game 4 of the 2001 Series to extra innings.

Tino will never make the Hall of Fame. Baseball-Reference.com lists his "10 Most Similar Batters" as Lee May, Gil Hodges, George Foster, Paul Konerko, Boog Powell, Joe Adcock, Jack Clark, Willie Horton, Norm Cash and Derrek Lee. Konerko has a shot at the Hall, and Hodges should be in, but none of the others ever will be.

Tino was the 1st player of the Joe Torre Dynasty to get a Monument Park Plaque, although his Number 24 remains in circulation. (At this point, it certainly won't be retired for Robinson Can.) As much as anyone else, he was one of the guys who got the Yankees over the hump in 1996, and kept them there into the dawn of the 21st Century.

1. Lou Gehrig, 1923-39. When Major League Baseball and MasterCard held the balloting for the All-Century Team in 1999, Gehrig got the most votes. Even more than Babe Ruth.

How do you briefly sum up the greatest baseball player to actually come from New York City? (He grew up in Harlem, when it was still full of white German immigrants.) Said All-Century Team. Hall of Fame. His Number 4 was the 1st to be retired in all of baseball. A Monument -- not a Plaque -- in Monument Park. He was the 1st Yankee to win the Triple Crown. Illness stopped him just short of 500 homers and 2,000 RBI.

His brief callup in 1923 did not allow him to play in that year's World Series, but he played for the Yankees in 7 World Series (1926, '27, '28, '32, '36, '37 and '38), winning all but the first and as Captain for the last 4 of those. Moreover, when people think "Yankee Captain," the first name that comes to mind is not Derek Jeter or Thurman Munson, it's Lou Gehrig.

That's almost certainly due to the film The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper. The film doesn't really hold up well: Cooper looked like Gehrig, but didn't sound like him, and had never played baseball in his life, while it's not really a movie about a baseball player, it's a love story between Lou and Eleanor (played by Teresa Wright), and the leading man's job happened to be that of baseball player.

But the story is timeless, because Lou was timeless. The Iron Horse still runs, if only in our memories. A person would have to be about 85 years old now to have seen him play. But because of the movie, and because the Yankees have been so good at presenting their history, this man who died 75 years ago this June is still with us. Lou Gehrig lives.