For weeks I kept using their online 3D seat locater that gave you computerized images of approximately what your view may be. This just wasn’t enough for me since I am spending anywhere from $300-$600 a seat. I even said, “Boy it would be cool if we got to see the views from the new stadium before buying seats”. With that comment came the notice in the mail of a seat relocation date. Pretty cool, wish other things came that simple.

So after leaving work early to battle rush hour traffic in NJ, ugh, we made it to the new stadium. There we met some of the sales department who took us out into the stadium to pick out our seats, but not before we were given hard hats, safety goggles, construction vests, and watched a safety video. I was curious how the views from the second deck were since our biggest complaint at the old stadium was people in front of us standing up or walking down the isle blocking our view. Since the stadium is brand new, obviously it has awesome seating views and space, no more of that just cram them in mentality.

We ultimately chose seats on the endline of the field in the second deck, front row, isle seats, directly above the goal. This gives us a view of the entire field without even having to move our head. Best of all there is no one in front of us and an elephant could be in the isle and it wouldn’t block our view!

After picking the seats we had to wait our turn to make the seat selection official. This made me nervous since they went in priority order which was based on longevity of accounts, and I only had an account since the 2009 season. Luckily no one chose our seats and we got to go to the board and mark off our seats with our little stickers. After that they enticed us with merchandise that was deeply discounted, so we folded and got the stuff we have been meaning to buy. You can’t go wrong with a $70 half-zip pull-over for $20.

Even though Jamie called me a nerd I took some pictures, so enjoy! They will be up on the picture gallery as well. More info on the stadium at www.redbullarena.us

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

When my father booked it he got a free 3-lap ride-along for free, so we gave that to Jamie. She got to ride in a car with an instructor who went around 170MPH for 3 laps. She thought it was awesome and crazy fast. Around the first turn she thought she was going to slam into the wall.

Now I spent around an hour in class watching videos on safety, the track, and how to operate the car. We took a test run in a big van around the track so we could see all the markers we saw on the videos. After getting fitted in the racing fire suit and helmet, I waited my turn to strap in and drive one of those puppies. Well over an hour went by and of course, I was the last person to go. Not fun waiting in 90 degree heat and sun in a fire suit. Anyway, it was absolutely awesome to drive. It’s amazing how much damn power they have. The turns felt sketchy the first few laps, but I got used to them after awhile. I got up to around 8500 RPMs, which is over 160MPH, just amazingly awesome. Needless to say this is probably the best gift I’ve gotten so far, even trumps my first laptop and Xbox.

Click here for more information on the stock car that I drove.
Click here for more information on the driving programs they offer.

Enjoy the videos and pictures from the day.

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The day before vacation I had a soccer game. The soccer game was going great until the last 15 seconds of the game. I went to kick the ball down the line and heard a crack when I put my foot down. I hopped around for a minute then went to the ground because I was in a lot of pain. My team was very supportive and helpful. They stopped the game and came to my side right away. Unfortunately, I could not walk this one off. I had to be helped off the field and into Joe’s car so he could take me to the emergency room. The referee came over and said “I think we’re just going to call the game because there is 15 seconds left”.  I cannot believe the day before vacation  I injure my ankle with 15 seconds left in the game when I have never broken or sprained anything on my body ever before.

Well as it turned out, my ankle was not broken. I had a sprain. They gave me an ace bandage, crutches, and some medicine for pain. Although it was not broken, it was still really inf lammed; my ankle was 3x the size it was normally. I did not get out the emergency room until 2:00 in the morning.

The next day I had a follow up appointment with the orthopedist. He agreed with the hospital’s opinion on the sprain and gave me a walking boot that he requested I wear for 3 weeks. I did not wear the boot for more then 2 days. After the second day, I took my pain medicine and hobbled around Miami Beach.

I am very happy that my leg was not broken and that I did not need a cast!

I got to go in the pool and the beautiful blue ocean!

We also ended up wining the soccer game!

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

We had a little joke going around that the Red Bulls only win at home when Casey and Andrew come. Why? Well they only did win one game at home and it was the last time they came to the game. Unfortunately that did not hold true as the Red Bulls lost again. It was another upsetting loss as they had many, many changes to score. They dominated the filed and once again had much more possession time then the opposing team, but they just could not put the ball in the net.

Oddly there were two penalty kicks, one for each time. Now if you know the game those are kind of hard to come across since you really must to something bad inside the goalie box for those to happen, and no one wants them to happen since its pretty much a guaranteed goal. Each team scored their penalty kick and it turned out to be the game winning goal for Colorado. The player Conor Casey from the Colorado Rapids scored both his goals with headers. All that guy did is head the ball all game, it was interesting to watch considering he took more shots with his head than his foot.

The Red Bulls lost this match 3-2. I’m going to try and nab some season tickets for next year. I’m trying to figure out where I want to sit in their new stadium. Not sure if I want to go to the second level front row so I have nothing obstructing my view or move down closer. Help me choose my seats by viewing them online in 3d here. I’m thinking dead center, mezzanine level, section 226, first row.

You can watch the highlights of the game here.

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The NY Red Bulls faced D.C. United. First half was dull, 1-0 DC at the end. The Red Bulls came out in the second half and scored two goals within twenty minutes, taking the lead. One was a really cool header goal off a corner kick. Unfortunately in the last two minutes of the game DC tied the game up on a stupid goal that should have never went in. The goalie just watched the ball bounce in the goal, it was truely pathetic for a professional. Now we went into three minutes of extra time due to game stoppage, and guess what, DC scored again on another lame goal, winning the game. I couldn’t believe it, it was like they didn’t even try to stop them.

Maybe the next game they will win, they aren’t so hot this year, 1-4-2 so far. Last year they were the conference champions, go figure. You can watch this game’s highlights here.

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Overall the game was a fun experience. Our seats where almost midfield and half way up the section, so we were able to see almost the entire field without having to move our heads much. I was able to nab the isle seats as well so we were a bit more comfortable. Glad I purchased tickets to four more games. If you want to read up on the match you can here.

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Pricing for the MLS is really cheap, well at least compared to other sports. I got seats near the midfield line, end row seats, mid section for all four games. This should give us a good view of the whole field without too much disturbance. I believe they currently play at the Giants stadium, but they are having their own stadium built as we speak, well read I guess. You can check out the new arena’s website here. They have a web cam to watch the progress.

Can’t wait for our first game, I’ll have a bunch of pictures to show everyone. For now, you can visit the team’s website here.

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I have been to a couple hockey games before with my father, but this was the first time Jamie had ever gone to one. She enjoyed watching the game, so I was very happy. I like the sport, actually my most favorite to watch. It is constant action, not like baseball that takes 40 minutes just to strike out or football that has 15 seconds of game time for every 20 minutes of TV timeouts.

This was my first trip to the Nassau Coliseum though, the other times I went my father got tickets to the New Jersey Devil’s arena, called the Continental Airlines Arena at the time, now the Prudential Center I believe. The stadium was very nice and well kept, crowds weren’t that bad at all considering it was a day off for most people. I just love the highway robbery at the concessions though, but that is everywhere now.

Maybe we can snag some more tickets later in the season. I want to see some other teams play, so we should be able to find some open games. It’s tough getting tickets because these local teams only play the Penguins so often at home. I’m still loyal to my Penguins, even though many years ago they traded my favorite player…now get this, to the team I hate the most (New York Rangers)! Just swell!

The Islanders wound up winning the game in a shootout. For those of you not up to what happens in a tie in hockey, they play a 5 minute period with only four guys on each time (normally five). If it is a tie after that, three players from each team go to a one-on-one shootout with the goalie, whoever scores more wins, if it still ties then it is a tie. Final score after shootout, Islanders 3, Penguins 2. Enjoy some pics from inside the arena.

Scoreboard

Rink before the game, nice and smooth

Shot of stands at Nassau Coliseum

Penguins trying to score

Go Penguings Go!

Waiting for ice girls to finish shoveling the ice

Full rink shot during game

Faceoff down near Pittsburgh's end

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Yes there is always one in hockey!

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Although the season is coming towards its end, I love this half of the fall season. Tymor Park out in Lagrangeville/Union Vale/Amenia (whichever it is) has wonderful scenery from the field. You can hear the sounds of people hunting in the forest in the near distance, bike riders come out of the trails in the woods and the trees are just a great site. If you don’t mind the occasional frost on the bleachers in the morning its a good day. The indoor season has started up, I need to get a camcorder so I can video one of the games in there, pictures through the netting are horrible.

I thought I would just share of the park’s surrounding area with everyone that may not have ever come here before. I need to explore this area some more. I like how its only fifteen minutes from my house now but you feel very far from the city life. Nothing but cows and horses out here.

Go Orange Team, Go!

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Here are some of the surroundings. I love taking landscape photos. It was such a beautiful day out. The EHWSL plays on Tymor Park over in the Union Vale, just outside of Lagrange. It is a very well kept park with 3 baseball fields and a soccer field.

I know I promised some pictures of the game at the Net, but they all came out crappy because the camera kept on focusing on the actual net rather then what was beyond it. Also there was crappy lighting for photos and apparently this camera isn’t very good for fast action. I will take more from inside the actual playing area next week at the last game of the season. They girls did good, another tie. This puts them tied for 3rd. A big step up from last.

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Tonight there is another indoor soccer game at the Net. If I can remember for once I will bring my camera and take pictures. Jamie’s team is actually doing very well this season, so far their record is 1-2-1 and they aren’t in last!! They lost to some tough teams, but even then the scores were very close.

Saturday kicks off the outdoor East Hudson league. To me these are a lot more fun and exciting, probably due to the longer game time and normal size playing field, compared to the fast pace, small indoor turf. It will be good to see some faces that I haven’t seen since last fall. They are opening the league with a round-robin tournament, so all teams will be there. Once again, I hope to have my camera.

I’ll update everyone this weekend with some photos and news.

©2010 Joe and Jamie's Blog. All Rights Reserved.