Royalty Tours USA

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Royalty celebrates Thanksgiving and the King's Birthday in Baltimore!

Prince at M & T Bank on Thanksgiving Night
This Thanksgiving was more special than usual because this year it came out on the King's birthday.
With that being said, the most appropriate way to celebrate would be by attending a game live. After all, it's just another day on the calendar.

Four of the last five years on Thanksgiving, we've seen NFL football live on Turkey Day including this one.
Back in 2007, we saw our Jets play in Dallas at old Texas Stadium. The Jets got destroyed but the tradition of being in Big D on Thanksgiving Day made it all worth it.

In 2008, we went to Philadelphia to see the Eagles play the Arizona Cardinals.

In 2010, we were in our backyard if you will as the Jets hosted the Cincinnati Bengals at the New Meadowlands Stadium as it was called then.

This time we got to see history as the Harbaugh Bowl was scheduled in prime time in Baltimore as the Ravens coached by John Harbaugh were taking on his younger brother Jim's San Francisco 49ers. This was the first time two brothers have coached against one another in NFL history.

It wasn't easy to get a ticket for the big game but royalty found a way to make it happen.

We arrived in Baltimore early with intentions of attending a tailgate party courtesy of a guy who's known as "Nib". I met him at the Raven/Cardinal game back on October 30th. He invited me to join in his tailgate party in Lot H.

Unfortunately the King and I needed to find tickets so we could see the game first.

With that being said, we went over to the box office to see if they had anything available. There were 15 people in front of us we were also waiting for a chance to purchase tickets.

While I was on line, the King went to see if he could find something around the stadium.

With my Blackberry in hand, I was able to multi task as I checked Craigslist to see if anybody was heading to the stadium with any extra tickets.

I called and texted a handful of people. Luckily a guy named Julian Toliver who was from Laurel, Maryland contacted me. He said he still had an extra ticket. I told him I'll take it. We worked out a deal and I arranged to meet him in the parking lot at the stadium. True to my word, we eventually met up and did the exchange.
As for getting another ticket, the King had no luck outside. I stayed on the line and my patience paid off as they slowly started selling tickets. I finally got up to the window and I was able to buy another ticket. I got the ticket and gave it to the King so he could go inside.

I waited outside and I met Julian and then I went inside.

Unfortunately we couldn't sit together since it was very crowded.

Before I went to my seat, I went to see Nib to say hello. He told me I missed out on a great tailgate party. He said they had Turkey and Ham. He told me I can come the next time I'm there.

As for the seat I got, I really lucked out because I got to sit next to a young lady named Ally who was a huge Raven fan. I was very impressed with her knowledge of her team. We enjoyed the game and each other's company throughout the night.

As for the game we saw, the Ravens beat the 49ers, 16-6 in the Battle of the Harbaughs, John outcoached his brother Jim.

The Raven defense was ferocious even without their leader Ray Lewis who missed his second straight game as they were in 49ers' quarterback Alex Smith's face all night long. He barely had time to breathe. Terrell Suggs lead the way with three sacks. Cory Redding had a big night as well.

After the game, I met the King and drove back home. This time I got him to work at 3:24AM.

I proceeded to go home to get some sleep before I had to return the car I rented from Avis just before midday.

Stay tuned for the special post that will recap the rest of the long weekend we had.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

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