Nothing about Thursday was normal. Not the drive into the city on highways far, far less congested than on a normal New York City weekday. Not the parking lot on 34th Street, which was eerily empty with bored attendants eagerly happy to park one of the few cars that came their way.
Not the streets surrounding Madison Square Garden, where fans attending the four-game quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament usually lead to gridlock on the sidewalks and surrounding bars and restaurants.
And not inside the World’s Most Famous Arena, where the usual crowd of 19,000-plus fans expected for the Garden’s marquee college basketball event was reduced to more of an intimate gathering due to the BIG EAST’s restricted attendance policy due to the coronavirus.