Madison Square Garden is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Opening on February 11, 1968, it is the longest active major sporting facility in the New York Metropolitan area. Madison Square Garden refers to itself in its advertising campaigns as "The World's Most Famous Arena", which is not a bad claim as it is the third busiest in terms of ticket sales, behind only the The O2 Arena, London and the M.E.N. Arena, Manchester.
Through our time in the US we had hoped to catch some big sporting events however it was typical of our luck that wherever we were, the teams would be playing away or had been knocked out of the competition. This was continued by both the NBA and NHL teams in New York.
Our luck did change though with the fact that the Woman's NBA season starts as the mens finishes. Therefore we were able to get tickets to go and see the New York Liberty's at MSG.
It was great to get inside the arena and experience it for ourselves and it was interesting to find out that woman's professional sport is taken seriously over here and very well supported, although they do not receive anywhere near what men get in salaries yet. This resulted in a good atmosphere and a decent standard of game for us to watch.
What was also interesting to see is how patriotic the Americans are as before the game everyone has to stand up as the National Anthem is performed live by a local school choir, which happens at every game at every sport. It is also great to see how much emphasis is placed on entertaining the fans and it is more about the overall experience rather than just the game itself. Before the game starts they had cheerleaders out - but very different from what you would imagine as it consisted of various types of people ranging from obese to old grannies!!! It was hilarious to watch and they actually put on a great performance and got the audience right up for it. In addition, during breaks in play there would be various competitions for kids to come onto the court and play, at half time there was a mini pop idol contest with some more kids, and it was topped off by the last performance of a 10 and 11 year old boy and girl performing an amazing dance routine.
Before going to the MSG we wanted to spend a little bit of time in another one of New York's famous landmarks, Central Park. Again this place is instantly recognisable from the many TV shows and movies that it has been in and it was great to get a brief walk through it and getting to sit and munch a hot dog! We couldn't wait to come back and spend a full day exploring it.
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