Those Who Lost Their Tailgate Area

Always a difficult question because it very often depends on the following variables:

1) Who we're playing
2) What our record currently is
3) How much hype to this particular game there is
4) What the weather is
5) Whether it's a holiday (like Xmas Eve) or not
6) How much this game means to playoff hopes
7) Add in the parking fiasco and ratchet all of the above up by half and hour

 

I wound up staying home. Rain and preseason games don't mix. And from the looks of the stands on TV, I'm thinking like 10-15k made it there.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine called who went tonight and parked in the satellite lots. It was $25 (!!!) and the bus left him like a mile from the stadium (that's what he said...may have been post-bus biased...). But still...

I actually turned down a parking pass several months ago out of principle. Didn't like the way this was sprung on us at the last second. But there's no way I'll pay $10 more to park in a shitty lot.

 

Im just going to toss this here, hope its ok.

Is there any news about the new stadium?

 

I gotta say I was shocked to see all the construction (or DEstruction) not because of the new stadium, but all that chaos called Xanadu that is over by the arena area. What a mess. The parking situation is horrible. So many of the parking lots are gone! They'd better hope that this Xanadu does better than than movie or the play of the same name.

My prediction for Xanadu: money-losing white elephant money pit. The Jets shoulda built a stadium in Flushing.

 

I came from south NJ into 16W.. and lots 17 and 18, fast fillers, were very much open right up until we went in.

I know it will be different on opening day, but it was not crowded at all tonight.

 

Another interesting fact: the ESPN 1050 tent and road around it are gone.

Looks as if lots 17 and the adjacent one, 13?... have merged, adding more spaces.

The parking spaces themselves seem to be tighter spaced this year too, but that could just be paranoia.

 

ok heres my question to the hard core tailgators....17a etc......i read your posts and hear all the food you guys have and the drinks and tv's and tents and trailors yadda yadda......doesnt that suck gigantic balls when you have to pack that shit up? im a lazy miserable bastard for the most part.....but having to do that would sooooo far outweigh drinking a can of bud and eating koz's wife's penne vodka, i could never do it. you guys are a different beed I suppose

 

I have certainly gotten much lazier as I`ve gotten older. I had done the tailgating thing for more than 20 years. It is not what it once was, for me at least. It became a chore every game. When it becomes a chore to do, it`s time to take a break. I use to pack up one of those 50 gallon drum grills, 48lbs of charcoal, all the prepared foods were done the day/night before, all the utensils, tables, chairs, tarps, condiments, meats, stereo, speakers(and I ain`t talkin bookshelf speakers here), generator and all that other stuff really became unfun to load and even worse to unload.

I have been taking a hiatus from Jets games the last 3 seasons. I had originally planned Jets games to be a family outing thing when I first put my name on the waiting list. It has become unaffordable to do so even for just 1 game let alone an entire season. My kids are 12 and 10 years old now. Perfect ages to start getting them into the Jets. I have 2 girls so it`s a bit harder to do and now the price of 1 game has made it almost unfeasible. So I feel that the next 2-3 years will be my final seasons as a season ticket holder. It will all depend on the PSL fees since I will not be dishing out $20,000 and not have exclusive rights to my seats(Giant fan will also have to pay and NOT have exclusive rights). Talk is that there will be a $5,000 per seat, so I would need to dish out $20,000 at the minimum. Highly unlikely to do so if I don`t get exclusive rights to those seats.

 

there ya go. thats what I was wondering about. all that packing and unpacking...lemme you ask you this...how bout the money? did everyone chip in for the food and such? was there like a set price for everyone? did it get divided up in the parking lot? did you get screwed and end up paying for all the shit?

 

just do like we did and show up at his tailgate and eat their food,get drunk and laugh as they pack up.

 

Personally, I don't know what the big deal is about cooking a meal in a parking lot, but to each his own.

 

What principle?? You got nothing to bitch about you should have kicked down for parking passes.

 

hahaha.....im sure that happens to plenty of people....and Im thinking most of these guys who wake up at 6am to start packing the winnebago up with fuckin half cooked sausages and tins of pasta yadda yadda,,,,their wives must just look at them making 14 trips to the car saying to themselves" look at this fat asshole I married":rofl:

 

no one ever chipped in. Actually, I would never ask for anyone to chip in. People had offered but that was never the point. Just bring your own booze because everyone drank their own thing. People did bring their own food too but it was senseless to have so much food, plus I would never eat anything they brought because I`m on a restricted diet and couldn`t trust anyone. Plus throwing a London Broil into some Italian Salad dressing isn`t my idea of gourmet dining. It was tough enough dining in a parking lot with bad weather here and there as it was. No need for eating crap food.

Yeah, we are Americans and we are fat slobs, but I hated bringing any food home. The Jets usually lost the game more often than winning and I certainly did not want to bring any food home, nor would I want anything to do with BBQ`ing for the next 3 days till my ass cleaned itself out of all that stuff. It wasn`t easy being green from 1988-1997, that was certain. Tailgating can be as cheap as you want or as lavish as you want. I prefer my tailgates to be lavishly simple, meaning quality meats that had lots of love marinated into them. ie: no cheap meat with salad oils. A little love in the preperation of foods goes a very long way. Fresh ingredients is a must. Dollar store condiments were a no-no!. We did pretty damn good. When other tailgaters would come by and ask about the foods we(actually me and another wannabe chef)were grilling because it smelled awesome is the best compliment anyone can get.

Do I miss tailgating since I havn`t been doing much of it lately? Nope, not at all. I would prefer to sit my fat ass on a pub stool in an environmentally controlled room with a few plasma tv`s on and a nice pint of Guinness in my hand and a simple menu to read and a decent bathroom. Nice and comfortable environment is what we need at the stadium. Not more parking spaces. :breakdance:

 

I don't think I'm bitching too much. But like I said, I didn't like the way it was kind of sprung on us. Or at least on me. I get my tickets through a season ticket holder. I'm still on the waiting list. But I think it was after the money for tickets was due...or after I paid, at least...that they mentioned this new parking thing. And if I recall correctly they said pay $150 or park in some unspecified satellite lots whose location was TBD. And decide in like 2 weeks or you're out.

It was just a little abrupt in my opinion, and they could have told us like before we paid for tickets, since I would have just got 1 from my friend this season if I knew in advance. Now I'm going to be selling my extra and taking mass transit.

In truth, I'm sort of ready to move from tailgating to mass transit and bars. Just like going to Yankee games. It will take me like an hour and a half instead of the 20 minutes it would take me to drive, but at least I can drink as much as I want now. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

 

I have mixed feelings about the tailgating,parking,crap.

I tailgate at 16H and have for years. The good part about the parking situation is if people park in the satilite lots and shuttle to the main lot, we might have more people at the tailgate( we get around 200 per game). The bad thing is two many people make it crazy and not as fun. ( the playoff game against the colts we had over 400 people).
I just turned 41 and I am seriously thinking about only going to 1/2 the games unloading the tickets for the others and staying home.... I love game day at the stadium and I have been doing it since Shea, but the ride home gets worse and worse. The 60 inch Sony might make t better to just stay home