Big Monday In The Big Apple

So what's it like on the road with the Thunder? I documented my Monday trip to New York City to give you an idea of what goes on from sun up to sun down, no two trips are ever the same. 

4:00 a.m. - I wake up before my pinball machine phone alarm goes off.

4:38 a.m. - out the door, our two dogs could care less, they were in a deep sleep.

5:00 a.m. - arrive at USAPark at the OKC airport.

5:05 a.m. -  shuttle driver wants to know if OKC can win tonight at New York. I replied "Let's see what Anthony Morrow can do." Driver questioned the high dollar contract for Adams, I said the opponents will continue to pack the paint until they find an outside scoring threat. 

6:00 a.m. - Wheels up! full flight to St.Louis on Southwest. Pilot warns us of the possibilities of a bumpy departure. Thumbs down from this guy.

6:20 a.m. - Giving up on connecting to Wifi. Music iPad saves the ride. 

7:06 a.m. - Wheels down in St. Louis. Where's breakfast?

7:25 a.m. - Ham and cheese omelet arrives.

8:00 a.m. - Pat the plane three times on the right side during entrance, my way of telling the plane that I have faith in you to get me there.

8:03 a.m. - Hey, Wifi works on this ride!

9:05 a.m. - Turbulence! Not fun.

11:33 a.m. (Eastern Time) - Landed at LaGuardia; We actually arrived early.

12:04 p.m. - Hooked up with Uber for a ride to Manhattan.

12:40 p.m. -  Arrived at hotel. Early check-in. Nice!

12:50 p.m. - Stared at bed. Nap? No way! Gotta keep going.

1:15 p.m. - I hit the workout center for about 40 minutes.

2:10 p.m. - Walked to Junior's at Time Square for linguine and meatballs. Shot a music video for my daughter during the six block walk.

2:45 p.m. - Why not? Ordered a piece of cheese cake at Junior's too.

3:15 p.m. - Back in hotel room, working on my 5:00 live report from Madison Square Garden.

4:00 p.m. -  I ate way too much, so back downstairs for 30 minutes on exercise machine.

5:15 p.m. - Walked over to Arena for the game.

5:40 p.m. - Stepped onto the court. Russell was doing his pregame warm-up. Plenty of cameras to capture the moment. 

5:50 p.m. - Shot video of Derrick Rose and Kristaps Porzingis warming up and sent back to News 9 for my live report.

6:12 p.m. - Live report courtside for 5:00 newscast. 

6:30 p.m. - Went into Thunder locker room for a couple of interviews, but was informed they already talked at shoot-around earlier in the day, so no interviews.

6:45 p.m. - Crew from NBA-TV continues to sit and watch me do my thing courtside. 

6:50 p.m. - Taped a report for News 9 and News On Six, for 6:00 newscast.  

7:00 p.m. - Starting taking pictures of Thunder fans in attendance.

7:15 p.m. - Chicken Parmesan and green beans for the media meal. Not that hungry, though. Still not going to pass up a free meal. 

7:20 p.m. - Coffee time!

7:25 p.m. - Walked to media seat two levels up. Not a bad seat. 

7:41 p.m. - OKC wins tip. 

7:45 p.m. - Sabonis hits three.

8:26 p.m. - Russ Alleyoop to Oladipo. Thunder down 49-46.

8:39 p.m. - OKC goes into break leading 58-55.

9:15 p.m. - Russ skies up for his 15th rebound, draws a reaction from the Knicks fans.

9:51 p.m. - Game Over! OKC wins third straight. Enes Kanter crushed the Knicks for 27 points. Time to head downstairs for Billy Donovan's post-game news conference. 

10:43 p.m. - Left Thunder locker room after interviewing Anthony Morrow and Russell Westbrook. Counted around 20 people surrounding Russ when he started to answer questions. Russ was in a good mood. 

10:55 p.m. - Sent interviews back to News 9, isn't technology wonderful? Time now to find a live location in the arena.

11:08 p.m. - Forced to move my live location. A NYC station set up right below me while I was ran to the media room for a stat sheet. They didn't even offer to move, so I did. They didn't even say sorry.

11:26 p.m. - Completed live report.

11:50 p.m. -  Reporter in media room warned me to be careful outside, she was robbed, losing all her equipment (camera, etc.) recently.

11:45 p.m. - Departed Madison Square Garden and walked fast, about 400 yards to my hotel.

12:00 a.m. - Walked to pizza place offering $1 pizza slices, tried one. Good thing I only paid a buck, not very good.

12:15 a.m. - Set cell phone for a 4:15 am wake up, ugh.

12:30 a.m. - Dozed off to sleep... finally.