What's the best pro game you ever attended?

[sheajets]

This post made me realize that while I've attended many game...the single greatest one was last years Jets OT win vs. NYG. Before then I'd seen some nice moments (clinching the division vs Green Bay in 2002, beating Cinci to make the playoffs in 2009) as well as some awful clunkers (9-0 clunker loss vs GB in 2010, 10-6 loss to Miami same year)

But very few truly great games. Either blowout wins on our end or sad sack losses. Even saw my share of sad sack wins (vs. Jax in 1995 when we were both cellar dwellers, 13-10 vs KC to end the 2007 season)

[74_75_78_79_]

Ahhh! The first nfl game was the "best."

It was a while ago, November 9, 1952 when I first saw the New York Football Giants.
Little about the game is remembered although I did recall that the Giants won - but did not recall the score, 23-14.
The game had a significance that was lost on everyone then and most forgot in later years.
Two legends, Charlie Conerly and Y.A. Tittle, alternated playing time with each exchange of the ball.
The game was versus San Francisco and Y.A. was the 49ers' QB.
I was hooked - but I could not go to the next game a week later. That was against the Packers and some male relatives from Wisconsin were coming and my Father was going with them. They might have planned to go for
a beverage or two after the game and that was not an affair for the kiddos.
Just as well, the Giants lost.
I had been to Yankee Stadium many times and to the baseball Giants games in the Polo Grounds but there was something magical about football in the shadow of Coogan's Bluff. The place was made for football - much like Harvard Stadium is made for football. Most stadia, like Briggs and Forbes and Fenway and Ebbets, were for baseball, but the Polo Grounds was football - all the way.
Later, the same magic of the place existed with the Titans and, although a Giants' season ticket holder until 1965, Yankee Stadium was just that - Yankee Stadium - built by Ruth, not Hein and Strong, or Stout Steve and Jim Lee,
or even Chuckin' Charlie or Giff or Big Red - just Joe D and The Mick.
Beginning in 1966, it was Patriots' games and one game never seemed to be better than the rest although
a Johnny U TD pass from about the Colts' 10 at Harvard Stadium was a highlight and another was the fire
in the bleachers of Alumni Stadium at Boston College.
Foxborough was a bear - no parking - but the choice of watering holes along Route 1 made apres game as much fun as apres ski, be it the slopes of New Hampshire or the waters of Cape Cod.
The "ride" ended one year in Foxborough when they demanded the purchase of exhibition game tix as part of
the season ticket package.
Paying to watch batting practice has no appeal.
So... no "best" but a lot of good games and good times in great venues.
No apologies either for boring you...

As an aside, I was fortunate to have sideline passes for a couple of Colts' games (NOT the "greatest game" -
was still working for my Uncle Sam that year) and met a woman who was a Baltimore fan - a very nice older lady.
We kept in touch. Later, she wrote and told me she was sad to no longer have season tickets to Colts' games.
She reminisced that the parking charge for her final game was more than the cost of the entire season package
when she first subscribed. She added that when the Mayflower sailed, she would never attend another game.
I suppose she is gone now but I wanna think she still peeks down every now and again.

What a read (and history, and education...)! So Yankees Stadium, to you, was strictly for baseball? Never seen a football game there so I'd be the last to know. New Stadium is fine but why did they have to tear old one down? Re-do it as they did mid-'70s (if Fenway is still going...). Not a Giants fan but wish that they would still share The New Stadium with the Yanks while the Jets and Mets still share the new Shea (and what was your take on the old one as a football stadium); and let (North) Jersey have their own (NJ-named) NFL team at the Meadowlands if possible. Watering holes along Route 1? Done some NE-road-tripping with friends in my day but have a feeling yours were even more intriguing. Already being familiar with the scenery (especially autumn sunset), a football game 'in the shadow' of Coogan's Bluff - I'll take your word - would have to be the best football ticket in NYC, comparable to Harvard. Baseball Giants' move to the West (along with A's to Oaktown) will always seem to be overshadowed by the Dodgers' move as well as their time in the City. FWIW would like to check out a Pinstripe Bowl at the New Stadium some year, especially if it involves Penn St. Wonder if the new Shea will ever host football games if they haven't already? A fellow-Yankee-fan told me a while back that he thinks the new Shea is better than the New Stadium.

[JWL]

What a read (and history, and education...)! So Yankees Stadium, to you, was strictly for baseball? Never seen a football game there so I'd be the last to know. New Stadium is fine but why did they have to tear old one down? Re-do it as they did mid-'70s (if Fenway is still going...). Not a Giants fan but wish that they would still share The New Stadium with the Yanks while the Jets and Mets still share the new Shea (and what was your take on the old one as a football stadium); and let (North) Jersey have their own (NJ-named) NFL team at the Meadowlands if possible. Watering holes along Route 1? Done some NE-road-tripping with friends in my day but have a feeling yours were even more intriguing. Already being familiar with the scenery (especially autumn sunset), a football game 'in the shadow' of Coogan's Bluff - I'll take your word - would have to be the best football ticket in NYC, comparable to Harvard. Baseball Giants' move to the West (along with A's to Oaktown) will always seem to be overshadowed by the Dodgers' move as well as their time in the City. FWIW would like to check out a Pinstripe Bowl at the New Stadium some year, especially if it involves Penn St. Wonder if the new Shea will ever host football games if they haven't already? A fellow-Yankee-fan told me a while back that he thinks the new Shea is better than the New Stadium.

The old Yankee Stadium was really crappy. I was in it one time. The concourses were exceedingly small. The seat I was in was close to the field behind first base. The seat was pointed towards center field. I had to sit sideways to view the pitching.

Shea Stadium was built much later and the concourses were larger. There was a little bit more room to walk. Both Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium were pieces of crap compared to the stadiums that have been built in the past 20 years. Both the Yankees and Mets were due for new ballparks.

Veterans Stadium and RFK Stadium (I was in each of them for baseball games only) also were pretty rotten. The Oakland Coliseum (also was only there for baseball) was slightly better than Veterans and RFK. The men's room I went into had a trough.

"New Shea" is actually called Citi Field. It would never host an NFL game unless there were multiple disasters and either the Giants or Jets had no choice but to play there. If something happened to the antiseptic pile of crap that is MetLife Stadium, I would assume the Giants or Jets would play at Rutgers Stadium (or whatever they call it) on a temporary basis. If that was not available, then maybe Yankee Stadium would be the next stop. However, it doesn't meet the league's maximum capacity requirement.

I have not been to the new Yankee Stadium and don't want to go to it, so maybe it is not totally fair for me to say Citi Field is better, but I haven't heard anyone say Yankee Stadium is better than Citi Field. A lot of the complaints about MetLife Stadium (too big, antiseptic, bland) are also made about Yankee Stadium. Citi Field, on the other hand, doesn't get many complaints. There are seats in the outfield that are obstructed by signs and overhangs. I sat in nosebleeds seats in left field in what was maybe the 4th game in the history of the ballpark. I was able to see maybe a third of the field. On my next trip I made sure to get an unobstructed view seat. The other time I went I was in a luxury suite.