Scoreboard Gourmet

UCONN Upset in First Round of Tourney; Damn You, San Diego

From ESPN.com.... (San Diego's) De'Jon Jackson hit the biggest shot in school history -- a long jumper with 1.2 seconds left in overtime -- and 13th-seeded San Diego beat No. 4 seed Connecticut 70-69 Friday in the first round of the NCAA's West Regional.
"The thing I put on the board: Don't let them get a sniff that we're two equal teams," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "We allowed them to believe that it wasn't going to be what everybody said it was going to be."

Instead, UConn is heading home much earlier than expected. The Huskies (24-9) hadn't lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament since 1979 and never during Calhoun's 22 seasons.

Ohmygod. Why were TFMJ and I watching "Two Days in April" instead of the game? I didn't even really like "Two Days in April" -- I kept wondering how these schools could allow those kids to (a) play in the Senior Bowl and (b) graduate when they spent their entire final semester in Florida at pre-NFL-draft training camp? the filmmakers neglected to mention anything about, you know, class.
Didn't I even care about the bet I had on UConn?
Interesting side note: I was able to bet on the Men weeks before the Tourney, but not on the Women, even though the Women are better. That's dumb.
Disclaimer: Bet was placed in Vegas where betting is legal. Betting is fun, by the way. That's all I'm saying.

Do I have to support Georgetown now?

Madison Square Garden Juice and Water Bottle Tops

Because I obviously only order juice and water so that I can throw the bottles at the court, the good people of MSG will not give me bottle tops.
And by 'good people' I seriously mean good people. The vendor, not wanting to break rules but understanding how annoying it is to have two uncapped bottles, gave me two condiments cups to use as caps. I love her.
It was a great idea that worked until TFMJ kicked my water bottle.

Apple and Eve Cranberry, Apple, or Orange Juice at MSG costs $4.

Terra Chips at Madison Square Garden

Do they really sell Terra chips at the Garden? We haven't seen them.

But we did hear a funny and confusing thing about those Combo Sabretts things. One of the concessions counters was Sold Out when we tried to buy one. Wow, I said, are they that good? Two vendors shook their heads 'no'
Pretty bad, in fact, they told us.
That's excellent. Selling out something gross.

back to the point of this post - have You had Terra chips at MSG?

Draft Beer and Pretzel Rods at Madison Square Garden

It's appalling that I have not yet written about the best food-related concession item at Madison Square Garden - the beer mug with a pretzel rod.

the vendors don't walk around with these beauties, of course, but it's worth getting up for.

draft beer choices at MSG: amstel light, harp, heineken, pilsner urquell (pictured), stella, yuengling, labatt blue, sam adams, bass, bud, bud lght, michelob light. $8.25

people DO sleep at sports events

remember when I arrogantly claimed that no one sleeps at sports events? well, I stand corrected. forgive me.

and also forgive me if this kid is under 18. I really am not into exploiting children. and I will take this photo down if You think I should. in my defense, I think he's a St. John's student. and in his defense, the ex-Redmen were losing 14 - 41 to Georgetown at the half.

Madison Square Garden's Popcorn Rules

I can't believe I haven't told you the story of the Popcorn Confiscation at MSG.

I'd popped some popcorn at home, lightly salted it and bagged it. I carried the warm and sort of melting bag onto the subway. it smelled so good people were staring and salivating.
TFMJ met me and we went into the Garden. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to hide the popcorn. It just didn't seem like a big deal.
well, I was wrong. it IS a Big Deal to bring in your own popcorn, presumably because they sell popcorn.

anyway, the security guard felt surprisingly bad about taking my popcorn, especially after I told him he must not throw it away but, instead, should eat it himself. it's organic, I told him. with a little sea salt.
he was into it. I'm pretty sure he ate it because when we were walking away he showed the bag to another guard and did not toss it in the trash.
I hope he enjoyed it.

Coney Combos Sabrett Hot Dogs at MSG

um, what is this? Sabrett hot dogs stuffed into a potato knish; nothing to do with Combos, the delicious pretzel+cheese combo people, by the way. has anyone had one? is it the best thing that ever happened to a hot dog, as advertised? 

I saw the sign as we exited a St. John's game at Madison Square Garden. The concessions were closed but I squeezed my head under a gate and asked where I could find the Coney Combos Hot Dog Treat.
"Do you guys sell those Coney Combos Hot Dogs?" I asked one of the women cleaning the counter.
"Yes," she said.
"Holy cow," I said. "Are they good?"
"They're okay," she said, looking through a pile of soon-to-be-trash foil-wrapped goodies, presumably to show one to me.
"How much do they cost?" I asked.
"Ma'am," another woman addressed me. "We're closed."
"Oh I don't want to buy one," I said. "I'm just wondering how much they cost."

$4.75 for a Coney Combos Sabrett at the Garden.
TFMJ and I are uncertain about the kosherness. it certainly has the vibe (knish + beef hot dog), but we think it's not.

PapaJohns.com Bowl

The PapaJohns.com Bowl (formerly known as the Birmingham Bowl) is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game approved in April 2006 and played annually at the 71,594-seat Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama (That's UAB's field)

Why oh why oh why does Papa John's want to be known as PapaJohns.com? TFMJ thinks they're trying to draw attention to the fact that PapaJohns.com is a big deal; people already know about Papa Johns, now they need to know about the 'valuable' web site. Can you believe they have locations all over the world? Yikes.

The bowl has a four-year agreement with Conference-USA to match a representative of that conference against an opponent from the Big East Conference.

The PapaJohns.com Bowl is December 22nd at 12pm. Buy Tickets here.

Price Variations at Multi-Sport Venues?

Two night ago, listening to the Police, drinking a beer out of a Knicks cup, I noticed New York Liberty logos all over MSG. Cool, huh? And did you know they have Guinness at MSG? $7.75. And 24-oz sodas were $4 when we were there, which we think was a mistake.
Do prices at MSG change based on event? I went to St. John's-UConn last year and am pretty sure my beer cost the same as it did at a Knicks game. I haven't seen the Rangers play in years. This is Scoreboard Gourmet confessions, I guess.
Anyway, what I was thinking is maybe I should have a new category: Venues. Or, shared sports venues. Obviously the single-sport-team venues don't need to be part of that. Right? p.s. the NYLiberty mascot is a dog? that's not funny.

The Liberty are home again August 12th when they play the Detroit Shock at 4pm.