I was around 13 or 14 years old and my father had taken me to Madison Square Garden to watch a New York Knicks basketball game. Attending those games are some of my fondest childhood memories. We had great seats, very close to the action, at mid-quart facing the team benches. The electricity at the games was incredible, like sticking a paper clip into an outlet as child and zapping yourself to the moon. And when we attended the playoff games the energy was bumped up that many more decimals. I used to walk into the arena from the tunnel and goose bumps would form on my arms. Those were wonderful times when America was the world powerhouse and hot dogs still cost 25 cents at Grays Papaya. I recall walking into the Garden that night and taking our seats and low and behold, two sections over to the left and one down was no other than Richard Nixon himself. It wasn't the first time I'd seen big names at the ball games and years later while working for the Knicks I met many but never was I so close to a former President of the United States. Eventually the game started and I became distracted by the rough play of the New York greats. It was still during those golden years when players remained on one team for their entire careers and the rivalries were often bloody and venomous. The games were gladiatorial knife fights and the names bigger than life: Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas, John Stockton and Karl "the Mailman" Malone, etc. At some point during the game I had to use the restroom and I descended to the lower floor lavatory. I did my duty and as I was returning to the seat I figured that maybe I would go over and give the old Nixon a shake and perhaps pick up an autograph to auction off at Sotheby's. Nixon was seated two sections above the ground floor and I began climbing the short two flights of stairs to his seat. He had an entire section cordoned off just for him. I was no more than 15 feet away when I was nearly tackled to the floor by a Secret Service agent in silky gray suit wearing a black ear piece. A large caliber nickel plated pistol was holstered beneath his blazer. A few other Secret Service men seemingly appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the former Commander-in-Chief. I was roughed up pretty good but held my composure and didn't fight back. I figured had I laid a knee to the groin of the bestial blond fellow I would have found myself in a Bronx basement and I wanted to watch the 2nd half of the ball game. There were a thousand tense eyes on me, strangers intrigued and wondering the outcome of the confrontation, I could feel them, hoping to watch good old fashion beat down but it didn't happen. I refused to give the barbarous drunks the satisfaction. I circumnavigated the political retinue and returned to my seat and mini cheese pizza which I always got while at a ball game. New York pizza is the best in the world and Madison Square Garden mini pizzas back then were at the top of the list. They cost an arm and a leg but to a 13 year old it was worth it. Needless to say I didn't get my shake or the autograph but it was some kind of donnybrook and very well may have gone down as Madison Square Garden lore. Well there's a first hand account of my run-in with Richard Milhous Nixon, and the Knicks won! As I think I've mentioned before, I am an avid collector, I've always been. As a youth I collected basketball, baseball and football cards, comic books, seashells (conchologist), books (bibliophile), stickers and postcards, autographs (philography), coins (numismatist), quotations, and small flags from a myriad of countries. I studied flags with an obsession and became so knowledgeable my mother called me a "junior vexillologist." I could stand before the United Nations or Rockefeller Center and name all the countries of all the flags. I still love flags, none more so than Old Glory. These days I am still a numismatist, but also a notaphilist (the study and collecting of paper money) and philatelist (the study and collecting of postage stamps), three lovely hobbies I find fascinating and fun and one perk is that it's not expensive. Some day when I have a lot of time I will dedicate three days, one to notaphily, one to philately, and one to numismatics, all three of which I know a great deal about. Well a rerun of the first round of the Northern Trust Open has begun. Nine players sit tied at the top at -4. Mickelson is Even, Padraig doing great at -3.
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