Aug 13th 2008 12:40PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Giants, AFC East, NFC East, NFL Fans
Though I’m a Saints fan, I’m proudly born and raised in northern New Jersey. Some of my best memories involve being an impartial observer at Giants Stadium. I haven’t been to many other football stadiums across the country, but the ones I have been to didn’t have the same environment. The type of environment that can only come about when you build a gigantic structure in the middle of a swamp and surround it with nothing but parking lots in which to get plastered. Or as I like to call it, “a winning formula.”
But fans of alcohol and boobs, mourn: rules are going to be a lot stricter at the stadium this year.
It’s part of a greater league-wide initiative to improve fan behavior, but that initiative might never have happened if the stadium’s Gate D didn’t get so much publicity last season for an ancient tradition in which men gather at halftime of Jets games to, um, gently persuade women into lifting their shirts. I find that behavior reprehensible!
Now, on top of less tailgating time and stricter penalties, the stadium will hang banners at the gates to block the view. The stadium is also thought to have the most aggressive cut-off time, not selling beer after halftime.
Which is great and all, it’s good for the league to be proactive in creating a good fan experience for everybody. And it might work in most other stadiums, but probably not in New Jersey, where trouble is not only our charm, it’s our chief export.
