MSG at 50: The Grand Finale

The last episode of "The 50 Greatest Moments at Madison Square Garden" was screened last night at the Garden's Theater, and I-berg and I were on hand for the festivities. An interesting cross-section of mooks, hustlers, ex-athletes and celebrities also made the scene. Evidently, MSG sent out tickets to the event to long-time season-ticket holders, primarily Ranger season-ticket holders it would seem. The back of the theater was a wall of Messier jerseys. In that The Captain himself was on hand, trust me, the natives were restless.

Afterwards there was a panel that included some chick who got grabbed by the Pope at the Garden when she was six, the Irish cop who told Osama to kiss his ass at the Concert for New York, Adam Graves, Mike Richter and Mess, Clyde and Willis, and of course, the one and only Smokin Joe.

For the most part, Frazier was on his game in the panel. Al Trautwig was moderating and Ole Joe held his own, telling some of his stock stories, like how Ali said to him around the third round of the fight, "don't you know you in the ring with God? I am God!" and Joe said, "well God, you in the wrong place tonight." But then Trautwig mentioned that there was a movie in the making about Frazier's life and asked Joe who he thought should star in the lead. At that point, Joe told a story that I think (I think) was about how he is loosely related to a relative of Wesley Snipes, and this particular person likes a drink or two, and would come by a certain bar in Philly where Joe's dad used to sell bootleg liquor, and would ask Joe for a shot on the house, but Joe would only give him half a shot, and that never went over too well with the guy... he kept going, but that was as much as I could piece together. The upshot, I gathered, was that Joe was nominating Wesley Snipes to play him in the movie, and I have to hand it to him on that one - Snipes isn't a bad choice. Anybody got any better ideas?