I have been twice at the Madison Square Garden recently. 

The first time around I was invited, along with my wife, to an NBA New York Knicks vs San Antonio Spurs game. Great seats, we enjoyed the show (since the game was pretty lame). It amazed me how many food stands (from hot dogs to sushi), souvenirs, and paraphernalia stalls there were. Even the popcorn basket had the Knicks logo on it. It was also amazing how many times they made reference to the military. And since it was “Armed Forces appreciation day”, a group of military personnel did a rifle handling show at half time, and carried a gigantic flag. It was a bit scary, if you think about it.

The second time I was invited by IBM to their private booth to watch the Knicks play the Chicago Bulls, a much better game. It is so far up, that sometimes you have to look at the giant screens to see the game. It was far from the amazing Xcel Energy Center private booths in St. Paul, Minnesota (which I enjoyed many years ago and it was already impressive with their use of technology), but there was a full buffet, our own restrooms, screens, and definitely it is the perfect place to do business.

What was even cooler is that we were joined by one of my idols from when I was a pro basketball player: John Starks. As nice and cool as I remembered him.