3/16/2006: It's the day after one of the more fun hockey games Mike's been to in recent memory. Ten goals, 104 penalty minutes, four fights and two goalie pulls. Mike was at The Spectrum last night to watch Hartford demolish the Phantoms, 8-2. Al Montoya didn't get the start for Hartford, but wait until you see the pictures he got of Robert Gherson. Possibly the best shot in tour history.
3/2/2006: Mike's back at hockey arenas after the Olympic break, and he got to see his fourth career shootout last night. The Devils beat the Flyers, 2-1, on the stick of their shootout specialist, Viktor Kozlov. It was Mike's 25th NHL game of the year, he's looking to hit 30 before the year is out.
2/12/2006: After two feet of snow cancelled Mike's trip to a Rutgers basketball game, he can only reflect on the Devils-Islanders game he saw. Mike saw a tight 2-1 contest won by the Islanders that featured an excellent fight between Arron Asham and Cam Janssen.
2/9/2006: Mike's back home after two games in two days. He saw the Devils beat the Lightning and the Rangers beat the Senators. He saw a double goalie pull, a coach get tossed and saw future Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek for the first time. But, he got to meet his favorite player, Henrik Lundqvist. And he's got the picture to prove it.
2/6/2006: Mike's finally got up his pictures from Stevens Night. He's got some great ones from warmups on there, you're going to want to check it out. Two more days until Mike's next stop at Madison Square Garden, where the Rangers take on the tough Ottawa Senators team. Hopefully Dominik Hasek gets the nod.
2/2/2006: One day he meets Gary Bettman, the next he meets Jaromir Jagr. It's just another day in the Great American Sports Tour for Mike. He met Jagr, Michael Nylander, Fedor Tyutin and Ville Nieminen before the Rangers 3-1 win over Pittsburgh. Check out his picture with Ville!
1/31/2006: He shook hands with the commissioner of the NHL; met Jason Ward, Michal Rozsival and Dominic Moore before the game and paid just $20 for his ticket. But that doesn't take away from the fact that the Rangers suffered another heartbreaking 3-2 overtime defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers. That's two 3-2 OT losses to the Flyers that Mike's been to in the past 25 days.
1/29/2006: After scratching yesterday's Rangers game from the schedule, Mike's adding two to make up for it. He'll be attending the 1/30 Flyers @ Rangers game and the 2/1 Penguins @ Rangers game. Hopefully, Marc-Andre Fleury is in net for the Penguins.
1/25/2006: Mike got to see the Rangers beat the Devils at MSG, 3-1 a few days back. But thanks to Mario Lemieux's retirement announcement today, he also got to see Mario's next to last NHL goal back in November. Mike has announced he'll be covering the February 12th Marquette-Rutgers Men's College Basketball game, his first time covering college sports. He also has a huge career announcement planned for the very near future.
1/22/2006: It's a few minutes into the day, and Mike's looking forward to his regularly scheduled Devils @ Rangers contest later tonight. But Mike's also thinking back to his unscheduled trip to yesterday's Islanders @ Devils game. Mike saw his third shootout, with Zach Parise winning it for the Devils in the 5th round.
1/14/2006: Mike's added the following dates to the tour: 2/3 Hurricanes @ Devils, 2/8 Senators @ Rangers, 2/11 Islanders @ Devils and 3/24 Bruins @ Devils. Mike will see the jersey numbers of both Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko retired in separate February and March ceremonies.
1/13/2006: Mike's returned from a surprisingly good NHL game and expectedly God-awful NBA game in the nation's capital. Alexander Ovechkin did not disappoint, scoring his 26th career goal in a 4-3 OT loss to Chicago. However, Gilbert Arenas did disappoint, dropping a whoping 9 points in a 31 point drubbing of Atlanta. Mike did get to meet lottery pick Marvin Williams in the process though, along with 3 others.
1/8/2006: Mike will be attending the Blackhawks-Capitals game on 1/10. But he'll also be making a return trip to the MCI Center the very next day, making his first NBA stop of the year. Gilbert Arenas and the Wizards take on...uhh...well, they take on the Hawks.
1/6/2006: Mike's returned from MSG, where the first tour stop of 2006 saw Mike's beloved Rangers lose a heartbreaker to the Flyers in OT, 4-3. But, Mike's already planning new trips and new memories. Mike will either be attending the 1/7 Hurricanes @ Islanders game or the 1/10 Blackhawks @ Capitals game. After that, he's added the 1/22 Devils @ Rangers contest and 1/28 Penguins @ Rangers contest. Mike's trying to eclipse his personal best of 22 NHL games in one season, and he's well on his way to achieving that goal, with 15 games already in the books halfway through the season.
1/1/2006: Happy New Year from The Great American Sports Tour! Mike got to see his 27th NHL team, 46th NHL goalie, 54th NHL game and 280th NHL goal. But what was the best thing to ring in the new year? Scott Gomez scoring the first hat trick that Mike's ever seen. I guess he'll need a different New Year's resolution...
12/30/2005: The rumors were true, and they just might be true again tomorrow. But for now, Mike added his 53rd NHL game to his resume with an impressive 7-2 Devils victory over the Capitals. One thing Mike can take away from it is seeing a Caps goalie other than Olaf Kolzig and seeing Alexander Ovechkin score his 22nd career goal, weeks after seeing Sidney Crosby get his 5th.
12/26/2005: Happy Holidays from the Great American Sports Tour! Mike's added two new tour dates: January 5th (Flyers @ Rangers) and also a tentative January 10th date (Blackhawks @ Capitals). There's talk of a Devils game before the year ends, but we'll see if those rumors are true.
12/19/2005: Mike is bad luck for the home team, as they haven't won since November 5th. When the home team is the Rangers, that's not good. Mike saw his first penalty shot goal, Joe Sakic tie Johnny Bucyk on the all-time scoring list and Jaromir Jagr's 800th career assist...all in one game! But the Rangers still lost, 2-1.
12/14/2005: When Mike needs the Rangers to win, they tend to disappoint. Such was the case on Mike's 23rd birthday last night, as his beloved Blueshirts lost on a terrible goal. Mike spent his 23rd birthday watching his 51st NHL game and seeing his 66th different professional team. And, best of all, his dad was on hand to take it all in.
12/12/2005: It's a day before Mike's 23rd birthday, but it's also the rest day in a two games in three days trip. Mike returned from Boston early this morning, having taken in his 2nd NHL game at TD Banknorth Garden and his 50th overall. Mike saw Brian Leetch get a goal and Petr Nedved get...well, he thought it was a goal, but it turned out to be a helper.
12/8/2005: Before heading to Boston, Mike made a trip to New Jersey to see the Devils take on the Flames. It was Mike's first time seeing the Flames in over 11 years, and he got to see Jarome Iginla score twice to get the win. He got some killer pictures of Phillipe Sauve, Miikka Kiprusoff, Martin Brodeur and tons of others that you're just not going to want to miss.
12/2/2005: Another day, another game added to the list. While Mike's sure there will be some basketball trips in the near future, you just can't beat a trip to MSG to see the Rangers, and that's where this trip will take place. December 18th is the date and the Avalanche are the opponents, it should be fun.
12/1/2005: Thanks to the fine folks at Ticketbastard, Mike's got an awesome paper ticket to the Bruins-Coyotes contest on the 11th. He'll be sitting up in section 325...well, maybe. Suffice it to say that he'll try his best to use his time honored tradition of moving down to the expensive seats before the opening faceoff.
11/28/2005: Mike's announcing his return trip to Boston on December 11th, when the Wayne Gretzky coached Phoenix Coyotes take on the Boston Bruins. This will be Mike's third time seeing the Bruins and third trip to Boston. He never got to see Gretz play, so seeing him coach is the next best thing.
11/19/2005: Mike's been sick for a while, and that meant the elimination of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic from the schedule. But Mike's sure to add a hockey game to his slate of games, possibly as soon as today.
11/08/2005: Lemieux scored, Crosby scored and Palffy had a penalty shot. But the Rangers lost, and that's what Mike really cares about. Check out Quite Frankly on ESPN2 tonight at 6:30 for my mug on TV!
11/06/2005: Having seen back-to-back Rangers wins against the Devils, including a thrilling shootout at the Garden, Mike's ready to see Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux for the first time tomorrow. But not before attending a taping of ESPN2's Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, where Magic Johnson is rumored to be the guest. Also, Mike's added the 12/13 Canucks @ Rangers matchup to the schedule, a rematch of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals.
10/30/2005: Mike saw Scott Clemmensen play. Mike saw Scott Clemmensen win. If he sees nothing else cool during the duration of the tour, that's fine. After enduring 24 games with Martin Brodeur between the pipes, including the last 22, Mike finally saw somebody new.
10/27/2005: Mike's schedule just expanded again, with Sabres @ Devils (10/28), Rangers @ Devils (11/3) and Devils @ Rangers (11/5) being added to the tour. If those three games combined add up to the excitement of the Rangers-Islanders game, Mike should feel very fortunate. Either that or if he sees Scott Clemmensen...yeah, that'll make up for it.
10/20/2005: Mike's back after seeing the game that everyone was talking about. The atmosphere at MSG was intense, with the Rangers-Islanders game going to a shootout and the Islanders pulling it out on a Miroslav Satan goal. Rick DiPietro made two saves that found their way onto Sportscenter's Top 10, and Jagr picked up yet another goal. Easily one of the best games I've ever been to.
10/18/2005: Mike's returned from MSG after seeing Jaromir Jagr score career goals 542 and 543, Henrik Lundqvist's first NHL shutout and Petr Prucha's first NHL goal. Rangers-Islanders will be intense tomorrow.
10/17/2005: Mike's added three NHL games to the tour schedule, tonight's Panthers-Rangers contest, Islanders-Rangers on 10/19 and Penguins-Rangers on 11/7. Seeing both Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux in November should be very cool.
10/08/2005: When the biggest news isn't that Mike will be attending tonight's Rangers-Devils game, you know it's big. Congratulations to Mike for being named the new host of WDVR-FM's sports talk radio program. The debut show for "The Cheap Seats with Mike Ashmore" is Tuesday, October 11th.
10/07/2005: Mike has just returned from the first Rangers home game since Mark Messier's last NHL game on March 31, 2004. Mike caught a puck, saw a great overtime game, screamed his lungs out and even bought a ticket to the 11/17 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Semifinals for $10. He even walked away with a new Rangers banner and mini Stanley Cup. A very worthwhile trip, if there ever was one...
09/26/2005: First of all, Mike would like to wish his Mom a happy birthday. Secondly, while not the big NHL announcement Mike has planned, he will be heading to an NHL game on October 6th. It's the New York Rangers home opener, and the first meaningful game on MSG ice since March 31, 2004...which turned out to be Mark Messier's last game. Mike was there for that, too.
09/24/2005: To make a long story short, Mike didn't go to Pittsburgh. Stay tuned for some big NHL news coming real soon, though.
09/17/2005: Mike had a banner day yesterday, interviewing three Devil Rays and four Orioles players during his first visit to Camden Yards. He got to talk to former Trenton Thunder pitcher Casey Fossum and former Newark Bears pitcher Joe Borowski. He even interviewed his 11th NBA player, current Tampa Bay pitcher Mark Hendrickson, who played for four seasons in the NBA with four different teams. Mike now only has a few days to prepare for his first trip to Pittsburgh, where he'll be covering his first Pirates game.
09/12/2005: Mike has learned the pitching matchups for the upcoming games he's scheduled to attend. In Baltimore, he'll see Rodrigo Lopez take on Scott Kazmir. Mike's really excited about seeing Kazmir pitch, as he either wanted to see him or Casey Fossum. In Pittsburgh, Mike sees either 2003 1st round pick Paul Maholm or Kip Wells take on Roy Oswalt. No complaints there, either.
09/11/2005: A few days removed from seeing Dontrelle Willis' 20th win and Josh Beckett's first career home run in DC and with Mike's trip to Pittsburgh just 10 days away, Mike has another blockbuster announcement. He'll be headed down to Baltimore to cover the Orioles-Devil Rays game. Former Newark Bears pitcher Joe Borowski now plays for Tampa Bay, so it would be great if Mike could talk to him. And his first trip to Camden Yards is certainly something he's looking forward to as well. As for his trip to DC, Mike had an excellent time and managed to snag 7 autographs and a ball during batting practice. It's a good thing he can't do cartwheels, because being in the house for Rick Short's first big league home run could have led to a broken neck.
09/04/2005: Before Mike heads to Pittsburgh and perhaps another big league city to cover games, he'll be going down to D.C. to take in two big games in the NL Wild Card race. Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett will pitch for the Marlins in two crucial games against John Halama and John Patterson of the Nationals. There's nothing Mike likes more than September baseball, so this trip should be great. Mike leaves Tuesday night and returns Friday.
08/16/2005: In one of the biggest announcements Mike's made yet, Mike reports that he'll be taking a trip to Pittsburgh, PA on 9/21 to cover his second big league team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Astros are in town, so not only will Mike have a chance to interview some of the Pirates, but he can head on over to the visitor's side and chat with guys like Roger Clemens and his old friend, Adam Everett. Let the money saving begin!
08/14/2005: It's been about a week since Mike covered his second big league game, and emotions are mixed. Rick Helling was great, as were Derrick Turnbow and Bill Hall. Ben Sheets? Not so much. Anyways, Mike's trying to make plans to cover a different big league team in September. Who will it be? Stay tuned.
07/26/2005: After unforeseen circumstances prevented Mike from covering his second big league game, Mike has a bigger and better announcement. Not only will he be covering another Phillies game, but he'll also be covering a Triple-A game as well. Mike will head back to the Scranton Wilkes-Barre area to watch the Red Barons take on the Red Wings on July 30th, then watch the big league club one week later when Milwaukee comes into town on August 6th.
07/10/2005: From his lower level seat behind the plate, Mike watched a pitchers duel, as the game was scoreless into the 9th inning. The Phillies won it, 1-0, on the ever exciting sac fly. Then, Mike returned to Bridgewater to see the Somerset Patriots clinch the first half title with a 4-3 win in 10 innings on bases loaded walk. What a day!
07/07/2005: Mike has learned that the pitching matchup for the 7/9 Phillies-Nationals game will be Cory Lidle vs. John Patterson. This is good, considering Mike's seen Livan Hernandez all three times he's seen the Nationals. Weather permitting, that game will be the first of a doubleheader, as Mike will return to Bridgewater to cover an Atlantic League game.
06/24/2005: Mike took in his 9th big league game this year, watching the Mets pull out a 4-3 squeaker over the Phillies. Mike had standing room only tickets, but that's cool, because Mike stood on the lower level just a few feet away from people who had paid $35 for seats. And don't worry, Mike blew plenty of cash at Harry the K's anyway.
06/21/2005: Sure, it's a little ways away, but Mike is proud to announce that he'll be covering his second big league game on July 14th when the Florida Marlins come into Philadelphia to play the Phillies. If he doesn't get to see Dontrelle Willis pitch or get to interview him, the trip will be a colossal failure.
06/08/2005: Surprise! Mike covered his very first Major League game in conjuction with getting his dad tickets to the game as a birthday present. The Texas Rangers took on the Philadelphia Phillies, and Mike had an awesome time. He interviewed Kevin Mench, Jimmy Rollins and Endy Chavez. He sat in the Phillies dugout, chatted with Jim Thome and mingled with Harry Kalas. The big leagues are where Mike wants to be, that's for sure.
05/28/2005: It's a few days after Mike checked out the Big East Tournament over in Bridgewater. The Big East Tournament? Wasn't Mike there in March? That was the basketball tourney, this was the baseball tourney. Mike saw all four teams in action; St. John's, Boston College, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh.
05/18/2005: The wait to cover a Major League Baseball game will have to be a little bit longer, as unforeseen circumstances prevented Mike from covering the Cardinals-Phillies game. Mike was, however, able to keep his Atlantic League commitment and interview his 79th MLB player, so it wasn't all bad.
05/11/2005: Mike's back home after working an 11:05 start at a Patriots game. But, of course, the real news was Mike's first trip to Yankee Stadium in eight years. He saw Chien-Ming Wang's first MLB win, saw Robinson Cano's solid game and Bret Boone's 1000th career RBI. All of that for $12 from a 6th row seat in right field. Not too shabby.
05/10/2005: Mike has been up since 1 AM yesterday morning. He just got home at 7:30 this morning. So what's he going to do? Leave at 11 to go to a Yankees game, of course...because that's what Mike Ashmore does. Mike's trip to Fenway was one of the more unbelievable experiences ever. He met Mark Bellhorn, Johnny Damon and Barry Zito and stood on top of the Green Monster. He ate a Fenway Frank, saw the Sox win and sat front row late in the game. A+.
05/06/2005: Mike has learned the pitching matchups for the games he's going to. On May 9th, Mike will see Danny Haren (OAK) vs. Tim Wakefield (BOS). On May 10th, Mike will see Aaron Sele (SEA) vs. Chien-Ming Wang (NYY). Mike covered Wang when he was with Trenton last season but did not see him pitch.
05/05/2005: Mike has announced that he'll be covering his very first MLB game in Philadelphia on May 18th when the Cardinals take on the Phillies. So many players to talk to, so little time. I think he'll do just fine.
05/03/2005: Mike's taken a break from "official" Tour events thanks to the Atlantic League season starting, but things will start up again in a week, with Mike going to Fenway Park on May 9th and Yankee Stadium on May 10th for one of the coolest and most insane doubleheaders ever. Mike will be in section 39 at Yankee Stadium and in section 4 at Fenway Park. Hooray outfield!
04/19/2005: The Mets set a franchise record with 7 home runs, and of course Mike is there. Mike sits lower level and sees Mike Piazza's 380th career HR.
04/18/2005: 4 sports, 4 games, 2 days. Never mind the triple, Mike's done the quad. Mike is tired and glad to be home, but interviewing a Conn Smythe winner, ex-NFL QB and NBA 6th Man Award winner isn't so bad.
04/15/2005: Mike has fully recovered from his traveling, and is ready to go back to his "regular" routine. This, of course, involves up to 6 games in 5 days, including a non-sanctioned trip to Trenton for a Double-A baseball game he's covering. The Nationals home opener? Amazing. Simply put, amazing.