I went to four sporting events, in four different venues, in two days

This is a very fun trip. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports. Sports.

Major League Baseball tries to avoid it, but every year there are at least a couple of days on the schedule where the cities with two teams (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the Washington D.C.-Baltimore area) have both teams playing at home on the same day.

They are rare. They do exist.

Even rarer are the days where it is actually possible to go to both games due to them being played at different times.

In New York, there is generally one of those days per season, and over the past couple of years it has become a tradition for me to figure out when it is and go to it.

This year, there are two such days, and Thursday, April 9, was the first of those days (the other is in late August) and it was my intention to make it happen.

While I made the trip, there were a few last minute audibles called due to some scheduling magic that made it possible for me to attend four sporting events, in four different venues, in two different states, over two days.

Here is how it all came to be, what the adventure was like and some general thoughts on all of it.

This all started off as a belated birthday gift to myself, so I used my credit card points to get a hotel, used my Amtrak points for train tickets, and went for it. My initial plan was to arrive in New York early Wednesday afternoon, choose either a Mets or Yankees game on Wednesday night, go to the Yankees game Thursday afternoon, the Mets game Thursday night, and then return home Friday morning.

In the middle of planning all of this I made a realization that significantly changed all of these plans: The Pittsburgh Penguins were playing the New Jersey Devils, in New Jersey, on Thursday night, and given that it was likely to be a big game for the Penguins, I decided I had to do that. The New York baseball double-header could wait until August. This was now going to be a baseball-hockey trip with the Yankees game Thursday afternoon, the Penguins-Devils game Thursday night, and I would make my Citi Field trip to see the Mets on Wednesday night.

Perfect.

This will work.

But two days before all of this was going to happen, the Mets made an announcement that changed things even more. Due to the extreme cold and wind that was being forecasted for Wednesday night, that game was being rescheduled for 4 p.m. ET Wednesday afternoon. Even better: They were giving out a limited number of complimentary tickets to the game on a first-come, first-serve basis. Because I had just so happened to be looking at social media at the exact moment the announcement was made, I was able to snag one of the free seats.

Could I sneak in maybe six or seven innings of the Mets game and get up to the Bronx in time for the Yankees game? Possibly. But then another idea hit me: Getting from Citi Field to Madison Square Garden is an incredibly easy, 18-minute train ride on the Long Island Rail Road. It is direct. It puts you right at the building. Maybe the Rangers or Knicks are playing at home?

Sure enough, the Rangers were hosting the Buffalo Sabres at 7:10 p.m. ET.

This would also work.

I was able to snag a reasonably priced (for Madison Square Garden) single seat in the 200 level and figured I could watch maybe six or seven innings of baseball, head to the Rangers game, and then see the two full games on Thursday.

The plan was now set:

• Wednesday afternoon: Arizona Diamondbacks vs. New York Mets at Citi Field in Queens.

• Wednesday night: Buffalo Sabres vs. New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.

• Thursday afternoon: Athletics vs. New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

• Thursday night: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center in New Jersey.

This is my journal of the experience.

Game 1: Citi Field (Arizona Diamondbacks vs. New York Mets)

I absolutely love this place, and every time I go back I like it more and more. This is truly one of Major League Baseball’s gems. It just feels like a ballpark. It has charm. Character. You are never out of view from the game, even when you are in the concourse. The food remains unmatched compared to any other stadium or arena I have been to. If you can not find something to eat here, you are simply not trying. It is a skill issue. I would not say it tops my ballpark list, but it is easily in the top-five, and probably in the top-four.

My complimentary seat was in the upper deck directly behind home plate, but there were so few people there I moved down a few rows without any issue.

Not bad for zero dollars spent.

The vibes among Mets fans were not ideal from the start. Starting pitcher David Peterson spent the first two innings getting lit up like a Christmas tree, earning a loud round of boos as the Diamondbacks put up a four-spot in the top of the second inning.

At one point the one old guy sitting behind me sarcastically quipped to his buddy, “I thought I was watching the New York Mets and not the Brooklyn Cyclones.”

It was at this point that I understood why the Mets moved this game to the afternoon, because it was already freezing in the stadium due to the wind whipping in off the water, and I was right in the path of it in the upper deck. It was time to just roam around the stadium and take in different vantage points and see what I could find.

I also realized that my ticket had access to three different clubs throughout the stadium, including something called the Heineken Diamond Lounge. I had never been in there and decided to check it out. When I asked an usher how to get there he immediately became confused and said, “That’s weird you have access to that in a 500 level seat.” But he directed me to it, and when I arrived the usher standing outside of the club shared a similar level of disbelief at how a 500-level seat had access to their area.

I did not dare tell them this was a free ticket from the Mets, so I just rolled with it.

If the Mets want to invite the Hoi polloi in with the cultured elites, who am I to decline their invite?

Plus, it was warm.

It turns out this was their club level section with different concessions, big leather couches, an incredible view of the Manhattan skyline and a bunch of old Mets memorabilia. It was nice.

I already committed to leaving this game early so I could get to the hockey game in time for puck drop, but I still wanted to keep walking around and get something to eat. I will get into this a little more in the Yankee Stadium section, but if you simply want to go to a baseball game and get a ballpark experience where you are not really invested in the game, this is the place to do it.

It is just a great way to spend a summer night, with a beer, some food, and the atmosphere. And if you ARE interested in the game, you still have a great baseball experience as well. Mets fans are heavily invested in the game, even if a little jaded and VERY easily frustrated. The Mets also provide a good product with the biggest damn scoreboard you will see anywhere in the league and good between innings shenanigans. It is just a fun place.

It was also college day so all of the local college mascots were randomly walking around the stadium. I got to high-five the Syracuse Orange and saw the lions from Hofstra.

The only downside to Citi Field is that its location doesn’t really have much immediately near it for pre-and-post-game stuff outside of the stadium. The good news is you are only one or two subway stops away in either direction from pretty much anything you could want in Queens.

If you have not been here, get here. You will not be disappointed. It is also remarkably easy to reach from midtown Manhattan. It is two stops on the Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station, and costs about $5.

The Subway is a little cheaper, but takes an extra 20 minutes.

I ended up leaving in the seventh inning of an 7-2 Mets loss in order to make it to the Garden in time for puck drop.

Game 2: Madison Square Garden (Buffalo Sabres vs. New York Rangers)

It is really hard to emphasize how easy this commute was from Citi Field to Madison Square Garden. It certainly helped that the LIRR was running on time, but I caught a 6:10 train from Citi Field, arrived at Penn Station by 6:30, went up two escalators and was inside the arena by 6:40, and was then in my seat with a beer by 6:50. Insanely easy. Mass transit rules.

This still might be my favorite venue, in any sport, to watch a game. It does not matter what sport it is. It does not matter how big game the game is. Hockey. Basketball. It is all good. It is all an experience.

Every game here just feels like it is a big game, even if it isn’t in actuality a big game. And this game by pretty much any objective definition was not a big game. Sure, Buffalo still had something to play for in its quest to win a division title, but its playoff spot is already secured and the Rangers have known for weeks (and more likely, months) they are not going to the playoffs this season. Even so, there was just a palpable buzz in the building.

It helped that there were a ton of Sabres fans, and I made sure to tell every single one of them that I was happy to see them back in the playoffs. If there is a fan base that deserves some level of success, it is these people. Sitting through the longest playoff drought in NHL history, all while dealing with incompetent ownership, is a chore. It is also something I can absolutely relate to as a Pittsburgh Pirates fan.

Aside from the atmosphere in this place, I just love that every seat feels so close to the ice/floor. The sight lines are superb. I was sitting 10 rows from the top along the side, and I felt like I was still right on top of the action. A similar seat in Pittsburgh, or almost any other building in the league, feels like a mile away. This picture does not do the view justice in terms of how close you feel.

I ended up making friends with the Rangers fans sitting around me, and was really curious to hear their thoughts on the first year of the Mike Sullivan era. To my surprise, everybody seemed pretty patient with him and not putting the blame on him for the way the season has gone. There was a consensus belief that the roster is the problem, and not him.

“He’s got a bit of a leash right now.”

“Winning in the Olympics helped. We know he’s good.”

I thought the funniest thing I heard was how much better the Rangers looked after they started playing the young guys, mostly because not playing young players was one of the biggest criticisms of him during the second-half of his Pittsburgh tenure.

He also does not have much choice right now.

Sitting off to my left was a classic old-school New York sports fan. I wish I had gotten his name, but I never thought to ask. He spoke in the most stereotypical, authentic New York accent that you could imagine and told me about the memorabilia store he used to own. He also went on about every single one of his favorite 1970s New York Rangers players, specifically goalies Ed Giacomin and Gilles Villemure. While acknowledging that Giacomin was at one point his favorite player, he eventually started to love Villemure “even though everybody lived and died with Giacomin.”

I just KNOW this guy calls into WFAN at least twice a week to talk about Aaron Judge or Jaxson Dart. I loved his energy.

After the second period he brought me back a hot dog with like six packets of mustard and insisted that I take it as his treat.

It was $1 hot dog night so he was only out a buck, but the gesture actually meant a ton to me. It was one of the nicest things a stranger had done for me in …. I have no idea how long.

The game itself was actually really good given how bad the Rangers have been this season. They took a 3-2 lead into the third period and were carrying the play at times, only to give up three third period goals on their way to a 5-3 defeat.

The night ended with the way every Madison Square Garden night should end: With a walk across eighth avenue to NY Pizza Suprema for a regular slice.

Game 3: Yankee Stadium (Athletics vs. New York Yankees)

I mentioned in the Citi Field section that it is a great place to go to a game if you do not actually care about the game. The stadium itself can be an attraction. This place is the exact opposite.

You are not here for the stadium.

You are not here for the food.

You are not here for the cool vibes of a summer night with your friends.

You are here to watch nine innings of baseball with a laser focus.

And there is nothing wrong with that. That is just the vibe you get here. The stadium itself is functional. I have described it before as the Heinz Field of baseball stadiums. Just a soul-less, concrete fortress that is built to house the event and do nothing else. No frills. Nothing fancy.

Citi Field is a ballpark.

Yankee Stadium is a stadium.

There is a difference.

That does not mean the Yankee Stadium is a BAD experience. Because it absolutely is not. You are just relying on the game itself and the fans to provide the atmosphere. And for the most part, they do. Especially if you sit out in the bleachers which can easily take on Roman Coliseum vibes based on the opponent and how the game is going.

Whenever I go to Yankees games I always make sure to come with my good Yankees friend, Jayson Buford (check out his site and all of his work; he’s good at what he does), and grab a pre-game beer at our meeting spot (it is a “if you know, you know” place, and it is not my place to spill the beans on that) before heading in. We ended up spending nine innings discussing everything baseball related, from why Konnor Griffin was willing to sign a nine-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, to how Bernie Williams was the most underrated of the great 1990s and early 2000s New York Yankees teams.

And honestly? That is what a Yankee Stadium experience is meant to be. You are there for baseball. Nothing else. Nothing else matters at that point.

You go to Citi Field for the vibes.

You go to Yankee Stadium for the baseball.

Which brings me to what might be my biggest complaint with the stadium: For as much of a baseball purist place as this is and tries to be, the constant sound effects and noise that are pumped in through the PA system in between pitches is unlike anything I have ever heard in a stadium. It is like they gave the Game Ops people a D.J. 3,000 and they are determined to use every inane sound effect they can during every single game. It is relentless and never-ending. Somebody make it stop. Somebody make the change.

The Yankees ended up losing a surprising pitcher’s dual, 1-0, while managing just a single hit. A’s starter Jeffrey Springs took a no-hitter into the seventh inning until Ben Rice ripped a single to right field to end it. When the game got into the sixth inning I was kind of starting to root for the no-hitter, even if I would have never said that out loud in the bleachers.

Hey, sometimes you have to just cheer for the rare thing.

The only other Yankees hit of the day was the Yankee Stadium D.J. for playing Broadway by the Goo Goo Dolls at the end of the game, which seems like a fitting song for a New York team to play following a tough defeat. Great pull by the D.J.. Strong choice.

Game 4: Prudential Center (Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New Jersey Devils)

This ended up being the game I was anticipating the most, simply because of the fact I was not expecting to see a Penguins road game in New Jersey on this trip. Add in the fact it was a potential playoff clinching game for the Penguins and it was an even bigger deal.

Getting to this game was the one transportation headache I had in getting to these games, mostly due to the timing of it. I was trying to leave New York Penn Station during rush hour, which is every bit as bad as you could imagine it to be in terms of crowds and people. But just as I was arriving there was a 5:40 New Jersey Transit train boarding for Newark Penn Station, and I not only managed to get on it, but also find an open seat. But as soon as I sat down the conductor came in and informed everybody that all trains leaving Penn Station were on a 40-minute delay due to a previously disabled train on the tracks. This was going to make getting to the game on time a bit of a challenge. The delay only ended up being about 10 minutes. That helped.

My partner in crime for this game was Dan Hopper (from The Only Pittsburgh Sports site) and we ended up getting two seats, 16 rows from the ice, in the end the Penguins were going to shoot at twice. We paid $60 for them, which turned out to be a huge steal. Not only due to how good the seats were, but also because tickets on the second-hand market skyrocketed in the days leading up to the game given how big the game would be for the Penguins. They clearly created a demand on the secondary market, and Penguins fans showed up.

We also met up after the first period with another Twitter follower and Penguins fan (@dante_rebello) for a beer and hockey talk.

On my train over to Newark from Penn Station, there were at least 15 Penguins fans on my car alone. When you got off the train at Newark Penn Station it was a pretty good 50/50 split in terms of which team’s jerseys you were seeing.

Again: Penguins fans showed up.

So did the Penguins. At least after an early surge from the Devils in the first seven minutes. Then Bryan Rust scored a goal on the Penguins’ first shot on goal of the game thanks to an incredible feed from Egor Chinakhov, and they started to take over. Each Penguins goal produced a crowd pop that sounded not too far off from what you would hear at a home game, and things really started to reach their peak midway through the second period when Tommy Novak and Chinakhov scored a pair of goals just 10 seconds apart.

When Evgeni Malkin scored on a net-front scramble mid-way through the third period to re-establish a two-goal lead, the Penguins fans started to know the playoffs were there. Erik Karlsson’s empty net goal with three minutes to play, making it a 5-2 lead, completely secured it.

Aside from the game, I really love the Prudential Center. I have been there several times but it was always for a work experience, and never to actually sit in the stands and watch a game. It is not only a beautiful building, it is also incredibly easy to navigate, enter, and exit. It is also easily accessible by mass transit from Manhattan by NJ Transit or the PATH train. If you are in New York and want to see a hockey game, this is a great, cost-effective alternative to Madison Square Garden (and easier to get to than the New York Islanders).

Devils fans were also, for the most part, incredibly chill. Even the guy sitting directly in front of us that had a customized Devils jersey that said “Terminayda” on the back (I believe that is New Jersey speak for: Terminator). I did not get a glimpse of what number the Terminayda wears.

This was the one game I actually had something of a rooting interest in, and it ended up being the highlight of the trip. The trip itself was incredible. I am still planning on doing the August double-header for the Mets and Yankees, which should also be happening around the U.S. Open tennis tournament (I am guessing first-or second-round action for that). Sounds like an amazing opportunity to do it again.