I walked by Madison Square Garden last night to get to the PATH and had to pass through full on Messier MANIA. (They were retiring the Number 11 tonight – and so there was an enormous celebration going on at the Garden). Along with the normal rush-hour foot-traffic – there was a manic THRONG filling the streets, heading to the Garden. There were murmuring scalpers, people frantic to get tickets … the neon sign above the entrance to the Garden had a huge announcement: ‘CELEBRATE THE CAPTAIN’ – and I swear to God – 90% of all of the people I saw were wearing Messier jerseys. It was pretty wonderful. Not just that – but the feeling in the air around the Garden … It kind of can’t be described. You just knew that something HUGE was going down there – even without all the Messier jerseys and the flashing neon. It was a buzz, a frenetic excitement that seemed to even live in the molecules of air … It was that present.
We then watched the whole tribute on TV at the bar we were at – which was really fun. Messier was just BARELY holding it together. The guy was in tears from almost the beginning of the tribute.
It was really really cool to watch. You would get these long shots of the entire Garden standing on its feet – pretty much everyone in Messier jerseys – and you just get goosebumps looking at it.
Alex Nunez has a great post up about Messier. Not to be missed.
You are too cool, Sheila. Thanks. And I wish I was out at a bar in the vicinity of the Garden last night. What electricity. You could feel it even if you were just watching on TV like me.
So I’m assuming this Messier was a pretty good basketball player?
(My roommate at Navy was a huge Islanders fan and like many Islander fan was SO obnoxious about it, I became a BIG Messier fan when he was an Oiler… Thank God, they finally beat the Islanders in 84 after 4 (5?) years of “ISLANDERS!!”)
Stu Scott and Neil Everett were gently making fun of Messier’s tears last night on SportsCenter. At first I thought it was funny — they said he was ALMOST in Dick Vermeil territory — but after a while it started to bother me. A man who cries AT BEING HONORED is a pussy? Who WOULDN’T cry, for God’s sake?
(Of course, this is coming from a woman. A woman who cries at friggin’ Johnson & Johnson commercials. So, take it as you will.)
Lisa, Stuart Scott making of Messier’s tears removes any and all doubts that he is, in fact, a complete hack a-hole.
And Neil who? ;)
Ummm, that would be “making fun of…”
Ugh.
I think it’s perfectly understandable that he would get all choked up. It was like a THIS IS YOUR LIFE episode …
Have those sports casters ever had 10,000 FECKIN’ PEOPLE cheering for them? Do they have any idea what a Love Bomb of that magnitude feels like???
Then again, I am a woman, and Blue Crush makes me sob uncontrollably, so take it all with a grain of salt.
I think it was more that he, like Dick Vermiel, tends to get emotional ANYWAY, so they were sorta like, “Here he goes again! Hahahahahahaha!”
Member that funny scene in Jerry Maguire with the weeping athletes on the talk show? LIke – the talk show host famous for making athletes weep? hahahaha
Oh, hockey. I thought/hoped maybe this was an astronomy post. Carry on.
Rob – why?? I don’t get it … Is “Messier” an astronomical term? Please illuminate me! :)
Yes, it is. Big time, particularly for us amateurs.
Look
Named after Charles Messier. The first several pages of a Google search of Messier will be about the astronomer, not the hockey player (Please, I have nothing against hockey).
Anyway, for a real fun night, try a Messier marathon
Hope I didn’t geek you out.
I love being geeked out! I had no idea!
So what’s the big deal with “Messier” stars? Did he just locate so many of them or something? I love the idea of a Messier marathon.
They’re all naked eye or binocular objects that were interesting to him. The Orion Nebula, for instance, is his 42nd object or M42. The Andromeda galaxy is M31 and its smaller companion is M32. I don’t really know/remember how the numbers were arrived at but they are all interesting things to see in binoculars or especially, a telescope. I’ve never observed them all in one night but I’ve had a blast trying a few times. My best is 86 on a clear night all by myself here at CrabAppleLane (December 1990).
So cool!!!
It really is. I emphasized that I was by myself that night because to be a true Messier Marathon geek, you have to have someone with you so you can confirm each other’s sightings. I’m fairly confident in my sightings and I’m also fairly confident that it’s probably the best I can do from here with my skill level. I salute anyone who has sighted all 110 in one night. That must be awesome.
Fascinating.
I’m also a bit envious because you just can’t really see stars where I live. When I go home to my parents house – the brightness of the night sky literally takes my breath away.
I moved out of the city partly to indulge my astronomy hobby. The city lights of New Orleans drown out all but the brightest objects. The New York area, actually pretty much the entire eastern seaboard from Washington to Boston, drowns out just about everything but the moon and planets. I can see the Milky Way on any clear night here but I have to drive 15 miles to get a pizza. I guess every point of refuge has its price. Apologies to the Eagles.
One of my favorite little linguistic factoids is that the Latin roots of the word “disaster” are “dis” – separation from – and “astr” – star. So “disaster” is “separation from the stars”.
Sometimes I reflect on that in my city-dwelling life – where I just can’t see the damn stars!! What a loss to humanity – I mean, how wonderful – progress and all that … but “separation from the stars” is a disaster indeed.
Okay, back to the hockey playing Messier – thanks for this post! I didn’t even know it was happening ’til I caught some clips of the retirement of #11 on t.v. and totally started sobbing, which I never do, even at Johnson&Johnson commericals. I don’t even like hockey, but I grew up in Edmonton in the ’80’s, during the heyday of the Oilers and Gretzky and Messier . . . love Messier. My gf, who’s from Texas, looked at the blubbering mass of me like she should call the white coats.
Anyway (sniff), thanks for making me relive it all over again. Ha ha! I just cast my vote for you over at the BoBs. Love your blog!
roro – awesome!! Thanks so much for visiting my blog and voting for me. :)