On Saturday afternoon my buddy gave me a buzz and said that he couldn't go to the Jets game yesterday and wondered if I wanted the tickets I was obviously up for it I haven't been to a Jet game in forever and now that the Jets were in the playoff run how could I turn it down. In the past year I've been to a three games including yesterday, so my field of reference isn't terribly large but from what I saw yesterday it didn't have to be to know that we, as a group of Jet fans have nothing on some other teams in the NFL.
First of all I get in the building and am absolutely giddy to see thousands of Jet jerseys from Al Toon to Nick Mangold and everywhere in between. Then I get to my seats and instead of being surrounded by these glorious green and white jerseys, instead I'm surrounded by Bills fans, basically fully encircled, lame.
The atmosphere in Giant stadium yesterday was far from electric and that was what disappointed me the most. When looking around the stadium there were always a ton of empty seats, whether a bunch of people didn't show up or that many people constantly needed to piss or get food, there was never a moment where I didn't see a ton of Red seats across the stadium. This obviously contributed to the fact that the stadium was not very loud, not loud at all actually. Last year I went to a game at Qwest Field in Seattle and there is no comparison, zero, Qwest Field's noise created while the other team had the ball was incalculably louder than Giants stadium yesterday. In addition there were limited well constructed Defense chants, and even the J E T S Jets Jets Jets chant was sparsely used. Instead fans seemed more interested in making paper airplanes with their play books, which is symbolically cool, being that it is the Jets and all, but 4 quarters of paper airplane creation/throwing is entirely less beneficial or enjoyable than rabid chanting.
Instead the Jet fans moans and groans were hard louder than ever. As a fan I find myself more glass half empty and pessimistic than the typical person, but I don't hold a candle to the negativity of some of the Jet fans I was sitting near. People were yelling punt now on third down, or kick a field goal on third down so Chad doesn't throw an interception, it was as if they didn't even like the team. Basically I was sitting around Bills fans celebrating all their big plays while the Jet fans that were around me were non-stop negativity.
Also, there was absolutely no taunting of any Bills fans, I didn't see one bit of it. Last year at the Giants Saints game, right after Katrina, the Giants fans were ruthless to the Saints fans, basically classless, but atleast passionate. I saw/heard no belittling of Bills fans, maybe cause there were so many in our area, maybe cause the Bills ended up winning rather comfortably, whatever the reason it certainly felt that no fan of another team should fear going to Giants Stadium and wearing the team gear for a Jet game. Than at the end of the game you could see Bills fans running up and down aisles across the stadium taunting Jet fans. Superb.
Then in the 4th quarter where everything continued to spiral downward I was entertained not by the football game but one hell of a loser Jet fan. Earlier in the game we noticed that the guy had somehow been able to sneak a bottle of Jager into the building. Well come 4th quarter this fat slob was toasted, tripping down the steps while be escorted by security. Somehow he didn't get kicked out, and he was still getting served, amazing. So he sits down with his beer and bag of chips and I don't think he consumed a single chip instead he chewed the chips and proceeded to spit them on every single person surrounding him, mostly into a girls hair and hood. Classy. Later in the 4th the Bills fan next to me pointed down and this fat guy was just dipping his hand in the Nacho Cheese and licking his fingers, until he eventually gave up on that and decided to guzzle the nacho cheese down his throat by squeezing it out of the cup into his mouth. Then when he was done he threw the nacho cheese off the upper deck, probably onto someones head. Once again class personified.
And don't get me started on the death trap that is Meadowlands parking, the Manhattan stadium would have been the greatest thing ever I would take the train...
First of all I get in the building and am absolutely giddy to see thousands of Jet jerseys from Al Toon to Nick Mangold and everywhere in between. Then I get to my seats and instead of being surrounded by these glorious green and white jerseys, instead I'm surrounded by Bills fans, basically fully encircled, lame.
The atmosphere in Giant stadium yesterday was far from electric and that was what disappointed me the most. When looking around the stadium there were always a ton of empty seats, whether a bunch of people didn't show up or that many people constantly needed to piss or get food, there was never a moment where I didn't see a ton of Red seats across the stadium. This obviously contributed to the fact that the stadium was not very loud, not loud at all actually. Last year I went to a game at Qwest Field in Seattle and there is no comparison, zero, Qwest Field's noise created while the other team had the ball was incalculably louder than Giants stadium yesterday. In addition there were limited well constructed Defense chants, and even the J E T S Jets Jets Jets chant was sparsely used. Instead fans seemed more interested in making paper airplanes with their play books, which is symbolically cool, being that it is the Jets and all, but 4 quarters of paper airplane creation/throwing is entirely less beneficial or enjoyable than rabid chanting.Instead the Jet fans moans and groans were hard louder than ever. As a fan I find myself more glass half empty and pessimistic than the typical person, but I don't hold a candle to the negativity of some of the Jet fans I was sitting near. People were yelling punt now on third down, or kick a field goal on third down so Chad doesn't throw an interception, it was as if they didn't even like the team. Basically I was sitting around Bills fans celebrating all their big plays while the Jet fans that were around me were non-stop negativity.
Also, there was absolutely no taunting of any Bills fans, I didn't see one bit of it. Last year at the Giants Saints game, right after Katrina, the Giants fans were ruthless to the Saints fans, basically classless, but atleast passionate. I saw/heard no belittling of Bills fans, maybe cause there were so many in our area, maybe cause the Bills ended up winning rather comfortably, whatever the reason it certainly felt that no fan of another team should fear going to Giants Stadium and wearing the team gear for a Jet game. Than at the end of the game you could see Bills fans running up and down aisles across the stadium taunting Jet fans. Superb.
Then in the 4th quarter where everything continued to spiral downward I was entertained not by the football game but one hell of a loser Jet fan. Earlier in the game we noticed that the guy had somehow been able to sneak a bottle of Jager into the building. Well come 4th quarter this fat slob was toasted, tripping down the steps while be escorted by security. Somehow he didn't get kicked out, and he was still getting served, amazing. So he sits down with his beer and bag of chips and I don't think he consumed a single chip instead he chewed the chips and proceeded to spit them on every single person surrounding him, mostly into a girls hair and hood. Classy. Later in the 4th the Bills fan next to me pointed down and this fat guy was just dipping his hand in the Nacho Cheese and licking his fingers, until he eventually gave up on that and decided to guzzle the nacho cheese down his throat by squeezing it out of the cup into his mouth. Then when he was done he threw the nacho cheese off the upper deck, probably onto someones head. Once again class personified.
And don't get me started on the death trap that is Meadowlands parking, the Manhattan stadium would have been the greatest thing ever I would take the train...
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