Your faithful host, George Hahn, here for a brand new live. First day of fall — although the real fall doesn't happen until the 21st, right? Or wait, somebody correct me: is the 21st the first day of autumn, or is that the last day of summer? Or is it the 22nd, the first day of autumn? Because I know the equinox is on the 21st. So somebody school me on that, I can't remember. But anyway, it is the first day of fall 2026 on the social calendar, and it's a beautiful day, by the way. I had a fantastic evening last night, guys, where I partook in a great New York tradition with a friend of mine who's visiting, my dear friend Michael. He's in town for business for the week, and last night we went off to Queens, to Flushing, Queens, to catch some US Open. And wow, did we have a great time. Saw Coco Gauff take the win, in the women's and the men's one. I can't remember the players' names — a German-Russian and an Italian — and the German-Russian was just, like, we went a full set in and the guy was just creaming him, and it wasn't much of a match. So we high-fived. Plus, Michael had to get up early this morning because he has a real job and had to report to work in full suit and tie, I think at 8:00 a.m.
No, I could do that. I could do that. You know, I'm always happy to show up in the morning when there's money involved. I'm just not great at breakfast meetings and stuff. So anyway — thrilling tennis. I mean, that goes without saying, just thrilling tennis. What I really want to dwell on is, and New Yorkers know this, like when you're in Manhattan or even Long Island, at points on Long Island, it is very easy to swing the US Open without a car. Michael happens to be staying very close to Grand Central Terminal, and he said, 'How are we getting out there?' And he was floating the idea of a car. He says, 'You know, should we get an Uber?' And I was like, 'Nah, nah — it's Labor Day. The UN General Assembly is going to be happening, Fashion Week's a-brewing, like, nah, and it's the US Open. Really horrible time to be trying to maneuver around New York City in a car. I think anytime is a horrible time, but that's just me.' But so I — you know, Mike is not — Mike, Michael, excuse me, is not a big city guy necessarily, and he's not a public transit person like myself. And I said, 'You got to trust me on this. We're going to take the subway, and it's the way to go.' And New Yorkers know you take the 7 train to Citi Field, Willets Point, whatever you want to call it, and it's about a 25-minute ride from Grand Central Terminal. You can — the 7 train originates at Hudson Yards, you know, over 34th Street over there at Hudson Yards, and then stops at Times Square, and also there's a stop in Fifth Avenue, which I didn't know until yesterday when I saw the map. Anyway, it picks up at Grand Central, so it was perfect. He literally walked the 30-second walk from his hotel into Grand Central, and I met him there, and boom, there we go. And we were out there, and he was — I think he was impressed. He would not have been this silky had we taken a car. It would be traffic. It would be annoying. Another way to do this is the Long Island Rail Road, which now stops at Grand Central Terminal as well, in addition to Penn Station. So the Long Island Rail Road is a possibility from both directions — if you're coming from Long Island, or if you're coming from Manhattan, it just costs a little more. I don't know how much it is. What is it, like $5 or $7, if you're catching the Long Island Rail Road, LIRR, to Citi Field or Flushing.
And I also forgot how close it is to the 1965 World's Fair site, right? Like the Unisphere is there. I forgot how close it is — you can literally walk right over to it. But anyway, so that was easy. The way to get out there from New York City, from Manhattan, is either Hudson Yards, Times Square, or Grand Central Terminal, and it takes you out to Willets Point, and you're right there. And also, same goes for Mets games if you're going to Citi Field. But New Yorkers know this. So if you're visiting New York, ditch the Uber, rideshare plan. Forget it. Just hop on a subway, be a New Yorker. It's fantastic. So that was great. And I have to say — and also when you get off the train, it's literally right there. Like you literally fall out of the train and you're on that bridge. It feels wobbly, that wooden — that wood bridge that takes you right over to the US Open site. Couple other notes about it: everybody I encountered, everybody we encountered at all points in the US Open experience — from the guy at the metal detectors, to the guys in charge of ticketing, security, just guides just telling you 'please go to the right, please go to the right' or whatever they're saying, to law enforcement, to concessions people, people working food service, to the merch shops, the Ralph Lauren, the Polo store, the US Open merch store, all of this — everybody was so pleasant. Everybody working at the US Open seemed to be in a great mood. I did a little reading up last night, and seasonally, during the US Open itself, seasonal workers — the US Open employs 7,000 people, which is amazing. A huge percentage of that workforce comes from Queens, understandably, because it's literally in their backyard. And everybody I encountered was pleasant. The kids selling Van Leeuwen ice cream sandwiches were sweet. Everybody — and I do like — we went to Arthur Ashe. There was another match happening in Armstrong Stadium, but the whole experience was great. And I just want to sort of give a shout out to the organization of the US Open and the people in charge of hiring and job training. Everybody was pleasant. Everybody seemed to be in a good mood. I'm like, 'What are these people on? I want to connect, like, who's their dealer?' No, everybody was just kind of in a nice mood and efficient. And yeah, so that was a plus — like a noticeable plus. Experientially, they really — at Arthur Ashe Stadium, they really put on a good show. The DJ, the sound, the lights, the animations, the crowds in a good mood.
There was one downer. It had nothing to do with, you know, people working there at all, that I'm going to get to in a second. But, you know, just the experience of — so Michael and I arrived, we kind of walked that main concourse. You pass like the US Open merch store where you can get your picture taken by like, you know, the US Open big backdrop. What else? And then to the left is where like drinks and food are, and a huge sitting area with, you know, tables and whatnot. And I had a hankering for a taco. I had worked out, I hadn't really eaten, and I needed like a — so I had a taco salad, as did Michael, and we sat down at a bench. It was super pleasant, people watching, eating. We weren't in a rush, everything was cool. The weather was so nice, it wasn't too hot, it was easy. Also, getting in with like the ticket on your phone — fantastic. Oh, those rare occasions when Ticketmaster actually shines. And also, yeah, so super pleasant dinner, a quick one, was like a little Chipotle light. I forget where it was. We bought the food, but yeah, and there were good food options as well — like people going there had choices. Some lines were longer than others. Fortunately the long lines were nothing. I was interested. I'm a non-drinker, my friend Michael is a non-drinker, we're both sober. And the lines though for alcohol, like beer and what was the — the big vodka — Grey Goose, I believe, was a sponsor. The line to get a Grey Goose cocktail went all the way to Brooklyn, practically. Like, and I just looked at Mike, I'm like, it's nice to not be drinking — we don't have to deal with any of that. But no judgment on anybody who wants a cocktail. By all means, please enjoy responsibly. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. But — oh, and then like the brand tie-ins are just — I mean, this is like the third year in a row I've been out there, but I never cease to be impressed by like the Cadillac showroom, that sort of pop-up Cadillac showroom, the restaurant pop-ups. Kind of amazing. And I keep — I forget — like next time might be fun to make a reservation at a nice sit-down. I would love to get to know someone who has like a box or a loge, whatever one calls those. That would be really a way to see it. But yeah, it's expensive to go, but like worth it. Really kind of worth it and nice. And you can — American Express is doing upgrades for people, like just choosing couples at random to, you know, move down and have more courtside situations. But super fun experience. And another great thing about Arthur Ashe Stadium is that if it rains, it doesn't matter because we just close up that roof, which is a nice feature.
What else can I tell you? Oh, the tennis was — I mean, I could watch tennis all day in person. I like sports live. I even like baseball live. I like the baseball game experience live. I'm generally not one to watch on TV except tennis. It's the reason I upgraded my Disney Plus to include ESPN, so I could watch the US Open. I even like basketball in person when I'm on the floor, which I was the one time I went to a playoff game. Was it last year with Justin Theroux? It was fun. The Knicks were playing the Philadelphia 76ers, and we had seats on the floor. It was sick, and I was into it. Like, I will get dramatic and emotionally invested and wrapped up, which I did. Yeah. So let's see. Rory — Corey or Rory. Corey. God, I can't even, I have verbal dyslexia right now. Rory Kelch, viewer right now, says, 'Sort of apropos, Forest Hills Stadium had amazing food. Saw Van Morrison there.' Nice. It is nice to see the importance of the food experience make the whole experience a good one, and the US Open seems to really nail that. Like all around, the experience was really good, and they understand down to a science how to move crowds, because it is a tremendous amount of people to move around. I don't know how many that stadium fills — Arthur Ashe is something like how many tens of thousands it — does anybody have any stats on that? Like, how many people does Arthur Ashe seat? It's huge. And really, even in the nosebleeds, not a bad — like you can see everything. Like even the nosebleeds have great sight lines. So it's well designed and it's well executed. So yeah, if anybody has the numbers on how many Arthur Ashe seats, I'd love to know in the comments.
The only boner-killer, and this has very little to do with tennis — yes, Betsy, thank you. Betsy asked if I had gotten a question answered before. Yes, I fully understand tennis scoring now, I'm fully versed. There were — halfway through the women's match, which was first, Coco Gauff and what was her name, Ivangh — these three guys sat behind us, came in like an hour late. Like the match started at 7 — well, 7:15 — and these guys rolled in at around 8 or some such, and early 20s, college. Rory with the stats: seating capacity is 23,771. Thank you. Yeah, that tracks. I mean, it's an amazing facility. So an hour into the women's, these three guys came in, sat behind us, like directly behind Michael and me. They had some cocktails. They weren't like — one guy was really up, like he was exhausted, because all they did was talk. All they did was talk. Gab, gab, gab, gab, gab. Very little commentary on the match, to the point where — and I didn't want to start anything — it was irritating. It was irritating me, it was irritating Michael, it was irritating the two nice women who were sitting on the other side of me. I mean, everybody was just like, 'Who the are these guys, and when will they shut up?' They just kept talking as if they were sitting at a bar, and they were British, clearly, you know, in New York for college. And since they were British — three of them were, you know, friends obviously, I think probably rooming together because there was dorm talk. I'm guessing NYU or Columbia, because why else would you come all the way from the UK? So probably NYU or Columbia. And they were so — they could not, would not shut up. Like there was all of this, and we wanted to hear this. One dude, the guy who was directly behind me, passed out.
But hearing these guys drone on — and that really is, and I love an English accent, but these guys held what has to go on record as the most boring conversation between three little bros that you have ever heard, talking about who gives a — it was, I think, another school, dorm life, meeting girls, getting jobs after school. I mean, there was basic young college-age guy stuff, but holy — but the point was they should not have been at a tennis match. They should have been at a bar. And I don't know, I mean, these tickets were not cheap, you know? I'm thinking, did dad buy these tickets? Were they from school? Like, who spent the money to get you guys here so that you could not even pay attention to the match but just talk amongst yourselves, look at your phones, and just never shut up. And it was amazing. I mean, Michael and I were texting each other like the conversation — boring as — boring as — it's amazing anybody ever gets laid. And so what stuck out to me, or one of the things that stuck out to me during this episode, was the complete lack of self-awareness. You know, during the match, particularly during a point, during a volley, everyone is quiet — except these guys were completely oblivious to the silence around them and just kept chatting. The people behind them were quiet. The people to the left, to the right, and us in front of them, we were all quiet. And yet these guys could not, would not shut up. And they weren't speaking in a whisper. They were speaking in a normal — like I'm talking to you right now — they were speaking in a conversational tone. They did, I think, eventually get the message that this was not the place to carry on a conversation, but really they did not belong at a tennis match. They belonged at a bar. Like, they should have just left the stadium, gone downstairs to street level where one of the watering holes was, and just watched the match on a monitor, on a screen, and just had their drinks and just kept talking. Oh my god, guys. Their lack of self-awareness — they're completely unconscious of those around them. It was the verbal equivalent of manspreading. Like, shut up. It's amazing to me. Their parents taught them that everything they say is important. 'We need to make sure that you're heard.' No one ever told them no. No one ever told them to shut up. No one ever told them. And also, like, you would think British are better at not being rude than Americans. Not in this case. It was a little — because Americans are rude, like Americans are annoying and shrill, and yeah, these guys were impressively rude and unself-aware. It was a bummer. I thought, 'Oh, this is the future.' These guys think their conversation — they're completely oblivious to everyone around them trying to watch the match and pay attention to the volley, right? I weep for the future.
Sorry if you're hearing helicopters. The audio filter on Substack does a pretty good job at isolating voice and filtering out everything else, but there are two helicopters above me that I can hear. There might even be a third. So my apologies for the interference if you can hear that. But anyway, young people: have some awareness of your environment. 86 the speakerphone. Know when to shut up. I guess maybe that's the lesson — know when it's time to shut up. No one wants to hear your conversation when everyone — you know, everyone else is on one page, you're on a completely different one. We were in a stadium watching a tennis match intently. These guys were socially, mentally, verbally somewhere else. It was really annoying. Don't be annoying. Awful. Awful. Anyway, have some manners, proceed with courtesy. That's the takeaway. But all in — like, aside from that, it was a terrific experience. Love seeing the tennis in person. You know, it's worth every penny. It's fabulous. I love going there. Yeah. And if anybody who has a box or like courtside seats or whatever and your plus-one or whoever in your party cancels, let me know, because I love going, I love watching that. I don't care who's playing. When I saw it was going to be Coco Gauff, I was like, ah, this is going to be fun — which it was, because she was great. But yeah, I don't care who's playing. I love watching that live. I love the whole experience. It is fun. And if you're in New York, you know, the Open is going on — go get some. Go get some US Open. Anyway, I'm going to shut up. Thanks for hanging out. And again, don't be a pushover, but proceed through your day with grace and courtesy, unlike these three 20-year-old British guys sitting behind us at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Section 330 last night. Awful. You guys are awful. Shut up. No one wants to hear you. Shut up. All right. I love you guys. Let's do it again tomorrow.
