First Day of Football Fandom: A Critique
Misty gray clouds blanket the sky over Metlife Stadium as fans arrived in droves for Sunday’s Giants game. The football experience seems compelling, though intimidating to say the least. So, I decided that this week I’d attend my first regular season football game, and it was disappointing at best.
Metlife Stadium is massive, bringing in a ton of fans and therefore a ton of traffic. Convenient parking requires a pass, which might as well be the cost of an additional ticket. The tailgate experience is arguably better than in the stadium — with plenty of food and drinks to go around, it’s worth the extra $40 or so.
Though the crowds are huge at Metlife Stadium, there is not a bad seat to be found. The nosebleed sections offer just as much excitement as the lower ones, and a better view of the on-field action. So, if you don’t mind going up a few flights of escalators and stairs, grabbing a last-minute ticket will still put you in a good view of the game. It’s no surprise that, even at the last second, tickets are expensive: $100 a piece makes it hard to justify sitting outside in the rain just to watch a losing team try to regain their former glory.
Big Blue hasn’t been performing to their usual standards. The team, which has previously had a more successful track record than their hometown rivals, the New York Jets, have faced some pretty devastating losses this season, with only one win thus far. Sundays game against the Rams added the seventh loss of the season. Their performance was lazy, inattentive, and aggravating. This is coming from a person who couldn’t care less about the sport, and with nothing on the line: no Fantasy League or pools at bay. It was frustrating for the fans to sit around and watch as their team flopped plays one by one.
Giants fans, though decked out in their bluest gear and wasted on 8:00 AM cocktails, were noticeably doubtful of their team. In fact, during the the third quarter with two touchdowns by the Rams, the crowds started moving out of the stadium. The true few who stayed were able to watch the team score just one more touchdown in the last quarter, making a roundabout total of 17 points against the Rams 51.
So, “Big Blue” is taking on a whole new meaning. Judging by this week’s loss, there’s possibly many a sob-worth Sundays to come this season for Giants fans. This game discouraged regulars who want their team to bounce back and miraculously make it to the playoffs (surely, Jets fans are having the last laugh).
The best part about the game at Metlife was the prior tailgate in the party-packed parking lot, and the overpriced Tostitos nachos from my wet, sky-scraping seats. The rain fell Sunday evening, and so did the hopes for Giants fans, new and old.
