Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

oldecapecod11 wrote: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.

74_75_78_79_ wrote: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.