Crimson Tide
Anusha and I sadly said goodbye to our friends this morning. They were here for a 4 day visit and after dropping them off at the bus stop, we headed to Borders book store to read. On our way to Borders, we walked past Madison Square Gardens and I took a wrong turn. Upon wandering back, started noticing really tall guys walking by. One, two, three . . . they were all sporting Alabama paraphernalia. A steady stream of coaches, helpers and unusually tall men filed past us.
"It's the Alabama basketball team, Anusha!" I proclaimed. "Go 'bama! Say it with me! Go 'bama!" She didn't. So we just stood there, smiled and watched them all go in.
- Side note: I discovered that they were probably practicing for their semi-final game for the NIT championship.
The Real 'bama
After a leisurely time at Borders, we hopped on the subway and headed back towards home. Somehow, I couldn't find our connecting bus, so we started walking. There were some shops I wanted to stop at anyways. We were getting close to our next bus, and the shops I had scoped out, and were stopped by a police blockade and a small crowd of people.
Behind me, I heard a woman say to a friend, "Yes, we're going to the reception for President Obama tonight."
Huh?? We approach the blockade and I ask someone what's going on. "President Obama is in the Natural History Museum and he's due to come out any minute."
The conspiracy theorist of the group said he heard that it was a plant, that it was not really President Obama.
After 30 minutes of waiting, one, two, three motorcycles took off. Then a herd of about 20 motorcycles started up their engines and drove off in sets of two. Police cars were next. Finally some black cars pulled out of the museum and I thought for a moment I caught a glimpse of Obama with his window cranked open. Three black cars with flags went by, followed by some black vans and an armored vehicle. Anusha and I cheered, we waved, we basked in the fact that, behind one of those darkened windows sat the President of the United States, and we had just seen him. The procession finished, they finally let us through, and we left, happy with our two surprise 'bama sitings.
