NYC Conquers Hurricanes & the Heat

I suppose I should firstly mention something about Hurricane Sandy, however, I don't have much to mention as we were very lucky to be largely unaffected. Our only real experience with the storm amounted to sitting in the apartment listening to the wind howling for several hours and being stuck at home.

All public transportation, including subway lines, buses, and railways, were shut down beginning Sunday at 7 pm. There is still no subway access below 34th St. in Manhattan, and several other lines are down in other areas. Cars wishing to cross the bridge into Manhattan are required to have at least 3 passengers, in an effort to cut down traffic. Those who made it to work in the city this week spent hours and hours commuting. Fortunately, I was able to work from home for the entire week - though I'll be paying for it in extra hours next week.

Most Floridians (initially, including myself) scoffed at the immense amount of news coverage and fear surrounding the storm. However, we were clearly in the wrong.There are still 2.7 million people across 15 states without power - that's 2,700,000 homes that have been powerless (and very cold) for 6 days and counting. The total damages will rack up somewhere between $30 and $50 BILLION - making this storm second only to Katrina on the list of costliest storms to hit the east coast. There were 106 deaths in the United States, plus 2 in Canada and 67 in the Caribbean. Sandy was nothing to scoff at.

This post isn't all doom and gloom, however. Last night we went to the Knicks season opener versus the Heat at Madison Square Garden, after randomly deciding to buy tickets the night before. The energy in the arena was unreal, and unlike anything I've ever experienced.

I think my favorite moment was towards the end of the 4th quarter (after the Heat gave up and pulled Lebron off the court) when the fans chanted insanely loudly for Rasheed Wallace until he was put in the game (for the first time since the 2010 Finals with the Celtics). Naturally, he hit a 3...it was magical.

As a side note, the Magic really need to get the same t-shirt guns as the Knicks...those suckers were shooting shirts into the upper bowl, and some even hit the ceiling.

Here are some pics and a video of the players being announced:

Carmelo paying tribute to Sandy victims before the game

National Anthem

Tip Off

Some of the celebs in attendance

The courtside DJ meant business

Domination