Great news, I was weighing how heavy of a coat to wear on my 12/29 early morning flight, with a concern of being too bulked up. I am leaving the regular gameday under 20 degeree game coat at the the T2 ramp in my car, and going light!
The next decision is on whether to bring a bag or not. The plan now is to dump a small bag at the hotel desk on the upper east side and jump back into the subway and take the 4 to Yankees stadium. This will cost me 20 minutes.
The 3rd decision will be if it worth $99 to hit the official Gopher party at noon for the buffet and four drink tickets. My guess is no, so I'll be on my own for an hour before I go into the Stadium. I went to a game at the old Yankee Stadium back in 2002 and recall some unique stuff around the stadium, including a very old bar with a bowling alley inside it right by the train platform. I will figure out if that place is still there.
The last issue is what to do post game. A good plan might be to stay sober enough to head south on the train, then walk over to Central Park, south towardsTimes Square, back east on 42nd, then back to the upper east/ mid town area. Maybe do one tourist thing like to to the "round table" bar at the Algonquin, or sit on a bench at Bryant Park.
All I know as, sure as shit, it will be more interesting that downtown Phoenix, and the weather will not be much worse than the Phoenix weather last year.