Busy Season and the Big East Tourney

The past couple of months, we have both been extremely busy with work so we have not had time for much else and we have become really behind on the blog.  A few updates on what we have been up to over the past couple of months (besides work of course).  We did take a night off for Valentine's Day and found a new hot spot for dinner...a little place called The Village Grille in Waldwick which is just a couple of towns over from where we live.  We went there for an unexpecting quiet dinner, but found out that this place is a hidden gem.  It kinda looks like an office building from the outside, but inside is very cozy and has a very nice atmosphere.  To our surprise they have live music on the weekends and on this particular night it was Lonnie Youngblood.  We had no idea who he was, but after his first song we were hooked for the rest of night and after a quick google search on our phone we discovered that Lonnie had some great credentials - including working with Jimi Hendrix and James Brown in the 1960s.  It was a great night with some great food and by the time Lonnie was packing his saxophone up at the end of the night...Katie was heading up to the stage to buy his C.D.

The weekend of March 4th, we bought tickets to the semifinals of the Big East Basketball tournament which was being played conveniently for us at Madison Square Garden.  Our second trip to the Garden, we felt like locals this time amongst all the Big East fans that had traveled to see their team.  There were 2 games to be played on Friday night which started with Syracuse vs. Connecticut followed by Louisville vs. Notre Dame.  There is something about college basketball that brings so much more energy than the professionals - although we didn't really have a favorite team to root for - it was still fun to watch and the atmosphere was very exciting with jump out of your seat moments at the buzzer.  Another high-light of the evening was the new food item we found in the Garden's food court... A Prime Rib Sandwich.  We had to wait in line for nearly 15 minutes but it was well worth the wait.  Much better than the hot-dogs last time.  

On to the games.  We went for the semis over the final because you get two games and the likelihood of seeing a complete dud is far less – you’d hate to feel like you wasted your money going to the Garden.  Well, the final the next night was a good game, too, but we sure got the opposite of 2 duds!  Both games went into overtime!  The first game pitted Syracuse against the #9 seed of the Big East - Connecticut.  Connecticut felt like the better team the whole game, but it was close the whole time.  UConn had a 6-point lead with less than 20 seconds.  I still can’t quite figure out how, but Syracuse somehow actually tied the game.  The crowd clearly came for this game specifically – the Garden was rocking as both teams had a huge contingent of fans!  The Huskies pulled away in OT and the conference tourney MVP Kemba Walker would lead UConn on to beat Louisville for the title the next night.

The next game was Louisville against Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish were blowing out Louisville at first.  They were up by as much as 15 points, however, Louisville fought back in the 2nd half and actually took a lead with 30 seconds left.  ND scored to tie it - and this game went to OT as well.  Katie was wearing green and rooting for the Irish the whole game - except at the end.  You see, it was midnight, and overtime meant we had to catch the 1:00 train instead of the 12:30 one.  Charlie, of course, was happy to see the overtime.  Louisville won in overtime, and all in all we had a really good time down in Madison Square Garden.