annual football weekend

[John Grasso]

I just returned from my annual football weekend with my friend who's been a Jets'
season ticket holder since 1968.

Saturday we usually see a college game. This year we watched the US Merchant Marine Academy
play Springfield in an NCAA Division III game, about a 15 minute ride from my friend's
house in Port Washington, NY.

Free parking, free program, free admission, sit wherever we wanted to, inexpensive refreshments,
fans cheering for good plays without being told to cheer. Close game won
when the USMMA went for a two-point conversion in the last few minutes of the game
rather than kick the extra point (which they had made successfully on their previous
touchdowns.) Best part of the game was that there were no tv timeouts and the game
ended in a little over 2 hours.

Sunday we saw the Jets-Redskins, ticket price about $150 each (although my friend treated me).
$40 (each) one-hour bus ride to New Jersey, tv timeouts after
almost every change of possession causing the game to last over 3 hours, being frisked upon entering,
listening to LOUD rap noise when the ball was not in play, being subjected to an endless stream of commercials,
ridiculously overpriced refreshments, and directed by the PA announcer when to cheer and/or
stand up. Worst part was the return bus ride that was bumper-to-bumper nearly the entire
way and took 3 1/2 hours.

Both games were competitive, close until the end and interesting but somehow I think
the Saturday event was the way the game was meant to be while Sunday's was a reflection
of our current culture in which the sports league is only interested in how much $ they can
drain from their fans.

[Reaser]

If you're a football fan then definitely the D3 game is more fun to attend. It's much closer to pure football. I have a couple former teammates/friends who played for D3 schools (including one who won a National Championship) and I was recruited by some D3 schools so we follow the teams in WA/OR pretty closely among my friends and myself.

I mostly think football is best to watch on TV though, miss too much (from the game you'd be at, and miss everything from all the other games) going to games.

Also, always been weird to me when people say they're football fans but don't watch/follow college, high school, etc, football. Just are people that like the NFL and the commercialized product that it has turned into.

Most of my football weekends are the same, this is how this past week went:

Tuesday: Watched college football, then all the football shows from that night (INFL, NFL Films Presents, A season with ND)
Thursday: Watched ATL-NO, college football, WA High School football on the 4 TV's, and listened to a WA High School game on the radio.
Friday: Watched college football and High School football on the TV's, listened to back-to-back WA HS games on the radio.(note: the HS games on TV lasted 3 hours, the HS games on the radio lasted 2 hours, so basically TV adds roughly an extra hour to high school games.)
Saturday: Went to youth football first round playoff game (I helped put together the defense), we won 33-0, it was the early game (youth games only last an hour), was home in time for the 9am kickoffs and watched college football on all 4 TV's from 9am to roughly 11pm when the last game ended.
Sunday: Woke up at 6am for pre-game, watched NFL games on the 4 TV's all day and then all the post-game shows after SNF.

Now MNF today! Football is the best. Though commercials/game length, I think college is worse than NFL right now, some games last forever which is annoying because when the 12:30pm games start there's still multiple 9am games going and I only have 4 screens so ...

[oldecapecod11]

by John Grasso » Mon Oct 19, 2015 6:10 pm

"... This year we watched the US Merchant Marine Academy play Springfield in an NCAA Division III game, about a 15 minute ride from my friend's house in Port Washington, NY."
Ahhh! King's Point, walk in the footsteps of Otto Graham, and no need for the monstrosity that is the Long Island Expressway where the first LOL was used - except it was by traffic reporters that claimed "the L-I-E is L-O-L" (Lots of Luck.)
Reminders of the great rivalries between the USMMA and Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay where the wind off the Cape Cod Canal could result in a negative yardage punt and with Maine Maritime Academy in Castine where, on a rainy day, one could watch the water flow down the mountain and wonder if the road home would be passable.

"... Sunday we saw the Jets-Redskins, ticket price about $150 each..."
Oh for the return to Shea - where a 15-cent subway ride took you back to THE City or one stop to Flushing where you could grab the Long Island Railroad for the ride to Nassau or Suffolk County and the streets were clear a half-hour after the game.
Or better still - to the Polo Grounds where nobody drove and you sat in the shadow of Coogan's Bluff where Bobby Thomson hit the "shot heard 'round the world" and Willie whirled and fired a strike to 2nd after making "The Catch."

"Those were the days, my friend..." but the worst is yet to come.

[oldecapecod11]

by Reaser » Mon Oct 19, 2015 6:55 pm

"If you're a football fan then definitely the D3 game is more fun to attend. It's much closer to pure football..."
And after the game, join friends picnicking on the quad, brush aside a few of the red and gold autumn leaves and sit down with a sandwich and a sasparilla.

"... I mostly think football is best to watch on TV though, miss too much (from the game you'd be at, and miss everything from all the other games) going to games..."
Love of football and love of a woman are best enjoyed one at a time. Eddie Robinson was a fine example of that.

"... Also, always been weird to me when people say they're football fans but don't watch/follow college, high school, etc, football..."
The high school game is football in its purest form. They've left behind the "participation trophy" nonsense and are beginning to learn about life.
A friend has a grandson who was fortunate enough to play both football and soccer two high school seasons. He was rather highly recruited and is now at NC. My friend, who was not a football guy, was amazed at the difference between a mid-week soccer game where a few dozen soccer Moms shouted "whoopee" and a Friday night football game where a few thousand fans screamed the boy's name when he came on the field to kick a FG.
Much better than a bunch of lemmings being told to twist and shout at a pro game.

"... Though commercials/game length, I think college is worse than NFL right now, some games last forever which is annoying because when the 12:30pm games start there's still multiple 9am games going and I only have 4 screens so ..."
Matt, you need one of those studio-type trailers where you can monitor every channel. You could get by with a 14- or 16-footer - one wall with the screens and the other with a dozen-or-so theater-type seats. The best part is that you could go on the road and some cute little cheerleader could drive and tow while you relaxed and watched.

[Reaser]

The high school game is football in its purest form. They've left behind the "participation trophy" nonsense and are beginning to learn about life.
A friend has a grandson who was fortunate enough to play both football and soccer two high school seasons. He was rather highly recruited and is now at NC. My friend, who was not a football guy, was amazed at the difference between a mid-week soccer game where a few dozen soccer Moms shouted "whoopee" and a Friday night football game where a few thousand fans screamed the boy's name when he came on the field to kick a FG.
Much better than a bunch of lemmings being told to twist and shout at a pro game.

Absolutely on high school football. My favorite level of football, easily. Was soccer and football both during the fall? I've seen that it's like that some places; here soccer is in the spring (so you pick from baseball, soccer or track ... I went to football camps myself), my friend played soccer and was backup kicker for our team, not counting players' families the ONLY people in the stands for the home soccer games were four of us who were friends with him.

Matt, you need one of those studio-type trailers where you can monitor every channel. You could get by with a 14- or 16-footer - one wall with the screens and the other with a dozen-or-so theater-type seats. The best part is that you could go on the road and some cute little cheerleader could drive and tow while you relaxed and watched.

That's exactly what I need.

[oldecapecod11]

by Reaser » Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:20 pm
"...Absolutely on high school football. My favorite level of football, easily. Was soccer and football both during the fall? I've seen that it's like that some places; here soccer is in the spring (so you pick from baseball, soccer or track ... I went to football camps myself), my friend played soccer and was backup kicker for our team, not counting players' families the ONLY people in the stands for the home soccer games were four of us who were friends with him..."

Yes; it was - and it was quite surprising. In Massachusetts, a child cannot play more than one sport a season -
in fact, he cannot even practice with the next season's sport.
A baseball coach was heard to be rooting for the hockey team to be knocked out of the post-season tournament so the baseball players
could participate in pre-season games. Needless to say, it created a little mess.
Some of this was posted and discussed in the "old forum" which, as we know was trashed by the exorcists.
It was surprising to learn that some states do allow a child to play with two teams - IF the coaches agree to permit it.
This is so in both the Carolinas.
Perhaps it is permitted at the collegiate level as well. Think of Necessary Roughness - which takes the matter on a third track.

[Reaser]

Yes; it was - and it was quite surprising. In Massachusetts, a child cannot play more than one sport a season - in fact, he cannot even practice with the next season's sport.

Same here, can only play one sport at a time and can't practice the next sport until the current season has ended. Since in football we were always in the playoffs I missed the beginning of basketball season (practice) ...

[rhickok1109]

Yes; it was - and it was quite surprising. In Massachusetts, a child cannot play more than one sport a season - in fact, he cannot even practice with the next season's sport.

Same here, can only play one sport at a time and can't practice the next sport until the current season has ended. Since in football we were always in the playoffs I missed the beginning of basketball season (practice) ...

Jim Brown played THREE spring sports--lacrosse, baseball, and track--in his high school days.

On one celebrated occasion, he trotted from a lacrosse game to the track, where he won the high jump with a single attempt while wearing his lacrosse uniform, and then trotted back to the lacrosse game.

[oldecapecod11]

Dick Schaap once remarked that the most frightening experience of his life was Jim Brown bearing down on him on a break-away.
(Schaap was a lacrosse goaltender at Cornell.)

[rhickok1109]

Dick Schaap once remarked that the most frightening experience of his life was Jim Brown bearing down on him on a break-away.
(Schaap was a lacrosse goaltender at Cornell.)

I must have played against Schaap!