I went in at 12:25 instead of 12:45 and man i checked out the line from inside the stadium and it was horrendous. Just another reason to stay home.
314 - I kind of agree with you but it's still in my blood to go. I guess it's becoming a gradual departure for me. Since I live so damn close that it is one part of that which isn't a big nightmare factor for me. I now accept missing games here or there when the tickets are hard to get when it's the Packers, Eagles, Steelers, etc. It's only recently where it doesn't seem weird to see them on TV when they're home - since I was always at the game from the time they stopped blacking out home games on local TV. I can still tolerate the experience even when they lose, but I can't always rationalize the financial costs to have that experience. The hassle to get a parking pass each game is tipping those scales.
You get used to seeing them on TV at home, at first I felt I was missing something, now I love watching the pre-game show on SNY and having the Red Zone on my second TV. Fuck it!! How old are you? I am 59. After Sunday I realized that i am getting to old for this.I was completely wiped out between the 10 hrs day and the heat. I went to bed at 8:30 I was so tired and I was so disgusted walking to the car. I told my buddy that i am so gald we DONT have seasons anymore, this shits getting old. They always let us down in the end and its just not worth the effort. The stadium and the $ was the icing on the cake. I am convinced i will die never seeing this team win a super bowl unless Woody sells. F Woody!!!! BTW I live 15 miles from the place so I am close also.
OK, between the two of you I might just go to one game. Ugh. I am an hour drive away if traffic is rolling. The parking thing, what a fiasco. The New Dump is a garbage heap. A couple of times since the POS Palace opened, they blocked the escalators and made us walk on a death march to escalators all the way on the other side of the Stadium to get to the UD. No explanation. It was just too congested, and we weren't even late. Once we got up there, we had to walk all the way back around the Stadium to get our seats. F that place. At this point I miss the madness of Shea Stadium and getting hit in the back of the head with Rheingold caps. And I was only 6. My first concussion. Who remembers when some idiot got into The New Dump with a taser? LMAO.
Just turned 56. I sent away for season tickets when I was 16. They were easier to afford then when I worked at Pathmark as a part time cashier, $72 per seat per year. We'd pop the car over a curb, and park under the bridge along 25A. No permit system in effect. If there was one, I guess that'd be "Pale Yellow Parking". The color of pee 'cause that's what it smelled like. I suppose we paid to park sometimes. I remember there were parking guys directing us into the Marina lots. that had to cost something. $5?
314 and others ,I don't know if we are "older " or just "wiser " now ? We all used to feel the same exact way about our season tickets, we waited for the invoice and we looked forward to when the tickets " finally " arrived in the mail, we were all pumped / stoked and could not wait for the season to arrive. I never had my own tickets at Shea but i went to too many games to count, and I sat upstairs and downstairs in the old place and loved it. The New Place = DUMP. The new rules = ridiculous regarding parking along with the money that Woody and company extorted for the parking passes along with preseason games, not to mention every single REP and their Supervisor and anyone else in that ticket office / Sales department that was and probably still is a lying sack of shit , just made the decision to bail out that much easier. Family and friends to this day cannot believe that I no longer have tickets and they are actually SHOCKED at this . Yes it was in our blood it was a way of life and its "what we did " , Sundays in the fall were accounted for. The first thing I did when the schedule would come out was to check my personal calendar to see what if any family functions that I had that fall that I would NOT be attending because " I HAD A JET GAME " that day ! My wife was just saying to me a day or so ago that she still cannot believe I walked away but Woody Johnson and company made it easy. I miss what it once was and I hate what now is,,,, from the tailgate dwindling to opposing teams fans in the seat next to you it was easy to walk away. I have posted here to many times to count that I have zero regrets and have never looked back and that was NEVER a lie because once I was gone I was gone and although I enjoyed the memories and had great times with family and friends = those days are gone dead and buried and never coming back ! Rant over F U Woody Johnson
When I first got seasons in 1981 the tickets were $11 a piece and Hess did not make us pay for pre-season so my seasons were $88 for 8 games. And parking, don't even remember, but obviously you didn't have to pre-pay. Talk about looking forward to getting my tickets back then, man that note came from the post office to pick up my package, shit I got a chubby. And there was a slab of 8 tickets, 4 slabs for me, each year they had a different background, usually with helmets of both teams. They were really cool looking. And when I tell people I don't have seasons anymore they look at me like I caught a deadly disease. People associate me with the Jets seasons. And then I have to explain to my reasons... long list.. and of course people here and the only ones that really understand why. F Woody!!!
CBG - I feel EXACTLY the same way, but you omitted one detail - All of the cool kitchen magnets they used to send along with the tickets! My personal fave was the football-shaped one. I believe it was 1995 (and what a season THAT was) I'm still going most weeks because of our tailgating friends. And, I support the team 100% which I can not help but do. We're afflicted. Back to the topic. The stadium sucks. Someone a few posts back (maybe it was you) mentioned the ramps. Possibly the worst ramp system since the Roman Coliseum (where if you took the wrong one: Lion food) The very first game, preseason vs Giants in 2009, I made the horrible mistake of taking the ramp all the way down from 301. Thought I'd never reach the bottom. Never attempted again. Another near fatal error for me occurred two year later when I led everyone I was with into the stairwell from the concourse, assuming we'd go up one level to join the escalator parade after one level. WRONG! We had no option but to climb the stairs all the way to the top. Wow, were my friends PISSED at me. They need to put defibrillators in there, and oxygen masks. Last but not least was the time in year one when the areas between escalators were so packed, a serious scare occurred as escalators packed with exiting fans, deposited them into a standstill of humanity. I don't know how no one got trampled. It was SCARY. This is why they close them off now, and they only have one escalator operating instead of two. Woody. Marra, and Tisch narrowly avoided serious lawsuits. Yes, there could have been a death. I doubt any of those guys (I think Tisch is dead now) have ever set foot in these areas of the stadium. YET, after year one, the stadium won architectural awards and of course the crook Goodell awarded them a Super Bowl in recognition of their complete and utter fleecing of us fans. Thank you very much, Peace out.
Gotta say it for the 99923892832th time, when they built Metlife all their attention was focused on "luxury" and "exclusive" areas and they paid no attention to any detail of the 95% of the fans that is their bread and butter. Ramps, parking, elevation, shading, everything was a complete afterthought
I cannot believe after ALL THIS TIME and all that is documented that the Stadium they built IS THIS Dump / warehouse !!!!! BTW that we still share with the Effing Giants after years of bitching that we needed our OWN place / stadium = F U for that also Woody !!! How about that first night game against the Ravens that was delayed due to ridiculous weather ? Everyone and their mother that had seats upstairs in gods country was trying to find shelter or cover from the rain in the concourse but guess what ? = Due to the lou vers or slats or what ever you call those ridiculous metal vents that are open and on the stadium ,EVERYONE and I mean everyone was getting soaked in the concourse ! Even the concession stands and the venders working them were drenched ! I remember when I took my FIRST tour ( I took 3 ) of the new place the guys was pointing at this and that and telling me how wonderful everything was including the PSL'S but I stray,,,,I look at the guy and said " what about these metal vents or dampers are they motorizied ? They have to open and shut right ? " He looks at me and says " No they stay like that ,thats how they are " -------> I said to him " thats gonna be fun on a windy day or when the weather is bad " = fast forward to the Ravens and opening night and the game gets delayed I think an hour and a half some people actually left and went home due to it being a work night and WE ALL GOT SOAKED not to mention the Ravens set the tone and we lost ! Thanks again Woody-----PS = I never looked back with a single regret and THANK GOD I DID NOT BUY A cockammay PSL.
I had forgotten about the soaking we took that day. (But I don't think it was the Ravens game, it was the next one) After that day they put up those tarps for the end zone areas that were the most exposed. They're still there. I look at them as I drive past the stadium. I don't think it's rained that hard since that day, but it was an eye-opener at the time. Another engineering marvel of the place - that won an architecture prize. Got one more - one game I had upper Mezz seats and my wife decides to take a walk to visit her girlfriend who had seats in one of the corners. 25 minutes later she returns. I ask: "So how's Jill?" My wife says: "I don't know. It's not possible to get over there." I'm thinking "What???" Now we we know, that from some areas of the stadium you actually have to completely leave, then re-enter the stadium. You can't 'ring' the mezzanine level.
Heh heh, we're in full bitch-mode now. Probably my fault. I will say that this stadium is far less painful in the lower bowl, where you only need to rely on a single escalator ride. It's the only level to sit in, if you can pull it off.
Yep, it was $5, but at least the knishes and the half burnt soggy pretzels from the King Kullen carts were good!
My "aftermarket" pretzel purchases ended the day I stayed late for a post-game tailgate at the Meadowlands and saw all the pretzel vendors with their shopping carts gather to dump their unsold merchandise in a van. Can't prove they were going to another event to sell the same ones, but just the way they handled them made me never buy one again. EVER. Some things you just don't want to know... Come to think of it, I haven't seen those guys around in years.
I don’t think I’ve had a kinsh since Shea and after reading lodge I won’t ever have a pretzel. Don’t want to get political but just like I never though I would miss George Bush I never thought I would miss giant stadium
Thang God I did not buy a cock a mammy PSL !!!!!!!!!!! Todd Bowels just reassures me of my decision each time he coaches---> but not to derail this thread so = F U Woody !
This. I can't give this team my heart and soul, even if we get the talent to be a playoff contender, as long as this man is our head coach. Last night was the final nail in the coffin for me. I am done with this guy. And I bet the jets retain him. F Woddy
I saw 17a before the game in the tunnel going over 120. That dude brings it every game. He is pumped. He saw me and gave me a big hug. Not sure if knew who I was or just likes hugging jet fans. F Woody. F Bowles. F Mac
