Kickoff: NY Giants vs the Washington Redskins

CEBU – Less than 24 hours after getting watching Andy Murray slew Juan Martin del Porto, my younger brother, JC and I were headed to the Meadowlands. It was supposed to be a 15 minute trip but on this day, it was like the whole of New York were headed to the Meadowlands to watch the defending Super Bowl Champion Giants against the Redskins. Traffic was really bad but the excitement of finally fulfilling my lifelong dream of watching a football game “live” made the traffic bearable. Around us, we could see people in their Giant’s Blue jersey in their cars. Giant stickers, pennants and anything else Giants-related were pasted on their vehicles.

Approaching the huge stadium, the tailgate party was at full blast to hose of you who don’t know what a tailgate party is, it’s a social event held on and around the open tailgate of a vehicle. Tailgating often involves consuming beer and grilling food like hotdogs. Tailgate parties usually occur in the parking lots at stadiums and arenas before, and occasionally after or during, sporting events and rock concerts. Since the stadium parking area is opened 5 hours before kickoff, fans have lots of time to eat and get drunk before the game. The atmosphere was like Sinulog-like!

Our seats were again at the nosebleed section, and we were one row from the top. Eli Manning looked like an ant but I didn’t care. Going up, we took 3 flights of escalators and near the entrance, it was like controlled pandemonium! Scantily dressed ladies and drunk gentlemen had their voices at a higher decibel. In our section, we were the only people who were not wearing any Giant paraphernalia. Beside me was a septuagenarian couple and I was wondering how they were able to get up this high. Beside the couple was an obviously inebriated Giant fan who was holding two bottle of beers and screaming all the cuss words I cared to hear every time the play was over. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d get a severe case of sore throat after the game!

If you want to understand the nuances of the game, TV is the better medium. Each play is explained in detail and replays are SOP. But in the stadium, replays were hardly done even if there is a big two jumbotrons. However, the difference between “live” and TV is like heaven and hell. I wouldn’t trade my experience for any TV game even if JC paid $180 per ticket when the normal price was $80!

There were two things that stood out in this experience.

During the first quarter, a nerdy looking Redskin fan, sitting in the middle of a sea blue, was screaming lots of anti-Giant noise. He gave the finger to everyone and the whole section screamed at the guy. As the screams died down, one fan stood up, pointed at the Redskin fan and shouted repeatedly, “That guy sucks!” he was soon joined by thousands of fans screaming at the poor guy, “That guy sucks!” If it was me, I’d wish I’d disappear into a black hole forever!

The second experience came during halftime. Giant co-owner Steve Tisch was talking to the 80,000 fans about an anti-cancer program that the Giants was supporting when he was booed the whole time he was on the microphone. It seemed like the whole Giant nation was upon the owner. I was wondering how the fans could do such thing. But then when Supermodel Christie Brinkly, the ex-wife of Billy Joel spoke, the fns were all clapping!

Well, only in New York! – THE FREEMAN