Almanac Travel: Travel Shorts NYC #14 – The New York Jets at Metlife Stadium
Brooklyn Sunday 7thSep 8pm. Just returned from a big day at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey about twenty mins bus ride from Manhattan. Watched the NY Jets beat the Oakland Raiders 19-14 in pretty hot conditions.
Metlife is the new home of gridiron for both the Jets and the Giants. It’s bigger than Etihad but nothing like the MCG. Probably 60,000 capacity and state of the art. It sits out in an area not unlike between Altona and Werribee, a sort of industrial wasteland where the Altona baseball stadium is. They have built a massive carpark because they are still working on getting the train travel happening which is why we took the bus.
It was the opening game of the season and the carpark was packed with SUV’s and Utes, all huge and guzzlin’ down gas quicker than they could pump it from Iraq! Speaking of which they did another “let’s celebrate our military” patriotism exercise during the game. All hands on heart and Stars and Stripes belted out in unison.
This was the most testosterone fuelled, boozy crowd I’ve seen since the rugby league state of origin. You had to hand it to ‘em. They loved the sound of their own voices and there was a large group of corn fed, white undergraduates who looked like they hadn’t stopped drinking from the night before, that would not shut up! One of them in particular had the most punchable head I’ve seen for a while, and even the queen of passiveness, Lynda, encouraged me to smash him as he came up the stairs!
Anyway the game and the atmosphere were excellent however this game just doesn’t stack up to our indigenous Aussie rules. There are significant long breaks during the game, presumably for TV ads and it loses its momentum. There are forty cheerleaders, drummers, fireworks, all sorts of rev ups on the big screen, but the reality is that the football doesn’t hold a candle to our game. NFL is much more a TV game in terms of viewing as the action is quite confined and there is so much padding, helmets etc it’s difficult to appreciate the skill from the bleachers.
Got back to Brooklyn and had the best Indian food EVER! Both Lynda and I were like a couple of labradors lying on our backs getting scratched after we finished! Magnificent. Tomorrow is effectively our last day in NYC so we are thinking a trip into Queens out of respect for The Costanzas in Seinfeld, maybe some Long Island and end up paying one last visit to Central Park before we leave. Quick tip:
- Walk on the right hand side of the pavement, and if you are going to take a photo, get out of the way first! It’s a massive pet hate for New Yorkers.
Hope you had a great weekend. Lots of love Willow and Lynda
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About Ian Wilson
Former army aircraft mechanic, sales manager, VFA footballer and coach. Now mental health worker and blogger. Lifelong St Kilda FC tragic and father to 2 x girls.
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Nice work Ian.
That stadium has around same capacity as Optus but looks bigger.
“One of them in particular had the most punchable head I’ve seen for a while”
This made me laugh out loud!
Go Giants.