What's the best pro game you ever attended?

[74_75_78_79_]

I 'almost' went to Steelers@Seahawks in '03 (seen Yanks@Mariners a couple times at Safeco). Significance of that game, of course, being last time they would play each other until SBXL, and last time they'd play at CenturyLink (due to unexplained scheduling quirk) until this past season. Would have loved to have experienced a game there. Feel the noise for myself.

[JWL]

I have attended 14 NFL games. Only five were regular season games. None were what you would call exciting but only one was a clunker.

11-21-93> Jets 17, Bengals 12
12-17-00> Lions 10, Jets 7
12-16-01> Jets 15, Bengals 14
12-26-05> Patriots 31, Jets 21
12-30-07> Jets 13, Chiefs 10 (overtime)

[Andrew McKillop]

I've been to a few preseason games, including one at Camp Randall Stadium, but I've only been to one regular season game.

Saints 34 at Packers 27 (9/17/2006) - Somehow I was lucky enough to find a club seat for $50 dollars. Almost $200 dollars below face value at that time. It was a great game but my most vivid memory was the roar from the F-18 flyover. It took me about five minutes to regain my hearing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH7uFIhU49c

As a kid though I went to plenty of NFL training camps. It was the Cheese League here in Wisconsin. My favorite was the Chicago Bears' camp in Platteville. The players were always great about signing cards and spent plenty of time talking to the fans. Ron Rivera had a conversation with me about cartoons! Mike Ditka was one the scariest humans I had ever seen in my young life. I just kept thinking I hope I never have a coach like him when I get older.

[JohnR]

My first game continues to be the best. 1975 Falcons at Raiders. It was significant locally because of of Steve Bartkowski's return the east bay. Turned out to be a tight back & forth contest with 4 lead changes. Both teams ran the ball well, and Pete Banaszak (filling in for Hubbard) rushed for over 100 yds. Blanda had to kick a FG to tie it, then with 2 seconds left in OT he booted the game winner. I sure got my $8 worth!

[Gary Najman]

Speaking of practice, I was in Seattle on July 2007 when the Seahawks had a special practice at Memorial Stadium near the Space Needle. The team came in buses with their uniforms on, the Stadium announcers told what was happening (1st team offense vs. 2nd team defense, per example), then Coach Mike Holmgren spoke with the microphone and said that they would work hard and expected a good season, etc., then they brought tables and the players signed autographs (they didn't allowed photographs to be taken). In all, was interesting and different.

[oldecapecod11]

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.

[Saban1]

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 amazes me most about this post is that the Giants actually lost to the Packers in 1952. Green Bay was terrible in those days.

The Giants had guys like Weinmeister, Rote, Price, Conerly, Landry, Krouse, Tunnell, and a pretty good rookie named Gifford. How could they lose to the Packers?

[rhickok1109]

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 amazes me most about this post is that the Giants actually lost to the Packers in 1952. Green Bay was terrible in those days.

The Giants had guys like Weinmeister, Rote, Price, Conerly, Landry, Krouse, Tunnell, and a pretty good rookie named Gifford. How could they lose to the Packers?

The fact that the Giants had five turnovers probably had something to do with it.

[SixtiesFan]

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.

Is the November 9, 1952 Giant-49er game the one in which Hugh McElhenny runs a long way without his helmet? A film clip is standard in McElhenny highlights. From the box score, he had a 77-yard pass and run play in this game.

[oldecapecod11]

The scope of grade in the lower grandstand at the PG was not very severe. The NYPD had a history of hiring guys who were pretty big and burly so, when these guys leaped to their feet, the youngsters did not get to see very much. The mezzanine and upper grandstand had a much sharper scope. Management tried to prevent as much "leaping" as possible at the higher altitudes.
So, I believe the answer is "yes" although I missed most of it (and some other stuff too) when my Father's group got excited. I do know he did not score. Tittle accounted for all the 49ers scoring and McElhenny and Y.A. were the guys the Giants' fans feared most.
In those days, you could go on the field after the game and exit using the ambulance roll-up gate at the bleacher end of the ballpark. One of the cops was in the Marines with Conerly so we went on the field while they talked.
He was as nice as people say he was and he gave his chinstrap to my cousin and got Eddie Price's for me.
(I was hoping for Kyle Rote's but did not dare complain. Price was a nice guy too.)
I suppose they all are nice when with someone one of them knows and military service has a way of binding people like no other - especially those Semper Fi guys. Although, I must say, other elite groups do the same.
At the PO the other day, I noticed a lapel pin on a guy and asked what outfit he jumped with. He said "the 82nd" (Almost Airborne) and I said it was okay because we learned to be tolerant in the 101st. We had great chat ragging each other and holding up the line for a bit but no one complained.
He left first while I was still at the counter and, as he reached the automatic door, turned and shouted "Airborne."
I shouted back "All the way!"