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Jets Archives
The Super Bowl is a few days off but sports fans have already been gorging on pre-game banalities. However, this was a good piece on the ugly history of the New Orleans Saints. If the Jets hadn't been born, the Saints would probably be the football cousins of our Mets. Former Jets beat writer Peter Finney conjures up 43 Saints memories - one for each year of the team's existence. Number 33 occured at our old home: 33. When the Saints beat the Jets at Shea Stadium in Week 15 in 1980 to
avoid a winless season, it started snowing as they marched down the
field for their game-winning TD. For Saints fans who thought hell would
freeze over before they would win a game - well, it did.
Congratulations to the Jets, who tonight gave us the second best win in their franchise history. If the sports gods have a sense of humor, they will let the scrappy Jets through the AFC championship portal to face the Nordic Vikings and their currently un-retired ex-Jet QB in The Who Superbowl. I wonder if the Colts will rest their starters next week. A Jets memory at Shea that didn't happen at a football game - It was at the Mets/Rockies first game in April 1993, which was the first professional game ever for Colorado. The Jets had also just signed Boomer Esiason, an event the guy in front of me celebrated by drinking about 15 Big Beers and screaming "WE GOT BOOMER" repeatedly throughout the first few innings. Each beer resulted in one less garment of clothing on Boomer's fiercest drunk fan, until he was escorted from the building. We never heard from him or Boomer again. BTW Boomer picked the Chargers today before the CBS telecast. Jets/Shea memories here.
The Mets sent out this notice to season ticket and plan holders. The interesting thing isn't the game but that all the premium clubs will be open at Citi Field for this event...
EXCLUSIVE TICKET OFFER TO FIRST-EVER PRO FOOTBALL GAME AT CITI FIELD NEW YORK SENTINELS HOST LAS VEGAS LOCOMOTIVES WEDNESDAY NIGHT, NOVEMBER 4
The United Football League debuts this fall with the promise of exciting, traditional football played by talented professional athletes, including the rising stars of tomorrow, and an entertaining game experience. In its "Premiere" Season, the fledgling UFL will field four teams - the New York Sentinels, Florida Tuskers, Las Vegas Locomotives and California Redwoods.
In the first-ever pro football game at Citi Field, the New York Sentinels will host the Las Vegas Locomotives on Wednesday, November 4 at 7 p.m. As a Mets Season Ticket or Plan Holder, we are pleased to offer you an exclusive opportunity to purchase tickets for the November 4 game at 20 percent price discounts, with per-ticket fees waived, before sales to the general public. With this special offer, your ticket prices start at just $16.
For the Sentinels, led by head coach Ted Cottrell, this will be their only 2009 appearance at Citi Field. Please note that, for this game, all premium Citi Field club spaces will be open and accessible for your enjoyment.
The Shea Stadium memorabilia auction continues.
View the latest items here.Alot of this stuff is interesting only to aficionados of the finer points of Shea (like the sophisticates who frequent this blog). I had no idea a Nathan's hot dog bin cost over $200 or I would have gotten a job at Shea last season and swiped a few. Meanwhile, the Mr. Met no smoking sign is now worth at least $590 in the current auction. I bought one for $100 last year. I am an investing genius. I think the flags are the coolest thing of interest to non-Shea fans. The old football team flags are now on the block. Some examples here:
Only $160 for the Chargers flag, less for the Bengals. Makes a nice gift for true fans of those teams. It's not like any of them will be getting a CHAMPIONSHIP flag anytime soon anyway...
The Giants are a complicated team. They are the New York Giants, but play in New Jersey. It is Giants Stadium, but the Jets live there too. Manning was a hopeless cause until he suddenly won a Superbowl and became a sage veteran. But one thing is never complicated: if you are a Giants fan, you will get gouged for tickets. Deeply gouged. The Giants announced their seat licensing program for the new stadium yesterday and it is impressive. To be honest, they did do a nice job creating a great Web site, NYG2010.com, where they very clearly explain the new pricing strategies, seating charts, etc. The stadium doesn't open for over two years and they already have a clear communications plan and migration strategy for ticket-holders. It should come as no surprise to Giants ticket holders that it will cost them alot of money to get into the new stadium. Go to "Seating allocation" then "Pricing and seat views" for a sharp interactive map of costs and locations. The seat licenses (a one-time fee to hold your seat) start at $1,000 each for 26,179 upper-deck seats and
rise to $20,000 apiece for 4,162 lower-level field seats. According to the New York Times, " Between the highest and lowest prices that fans must pay for the rights to keep their season tickets are fees that range from $4,000 each for 10,905 mezzanine seats above each end zone to $12,500 each for 3,052 mezzanine club seats overlooking the sidelines.
The Giants are selling licenses to every seat in the $1.6 billion stadium they are building with the Jets, and will generate about $367 million if they sell all 78,448 licenses. After taxes, about half the revenue will go to paying the Giants’ stadium debt." Of course, people are mad. Folks who have held Giants tickets for decades are getting squeezed for every dime. Putting aside the debate about ridiculous ticket prices and the absurdity of personal seat licenses, the Giants are at least offering long-time fans a chance to downgrade their plan and get a seat somewhere in the new stadium. A similar offer has not been extended to long-standing Met season ticket holders and Citi Field opens in nine months.
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That was the same Sunday there was a silent 10-minute vigil for John Lennon in Central Park, six days after his murder. The two events are conflated for me.
Steve Serby wrote in the Post the next day that given what had just happened to the Jets, this frozen piece of turf shall forever after be known as Shame Stadium. He may have also labeled the Jets the Ets after losing to the Ain'ts.