Sunday, October 26, 2014

"Giant" "Leaps" for "Jet" trends

As most of you know, Jim bought me tickets for the Packers vs Panthers game at Lambeau Field last week. Happy Birthday to me!  Right?  Besides the schalacking the Packers gave to "Superman" and his team, some of the best parts of the day was experiencing the field itself. 

Born and raised in NJ, I will always be a Jets and Yankee fan. Yankee stadium is iconic and MetLife stadium with the view of the Manhattan skyline is a great home for both the Jets and the Giants. But these 2 fields have gigantic differences. 

Some differences noticed (in no particular order) 

- Both stadiums need to have a parking permit for season ticket holders.  However, to park at a lot or neighbors yard close to the stadium in Greenbay goes as high as $20.00. As opposed to East Rutherford where you're looking at atleast $40.00 bucks. And good luck parking outside a stadium and having your car safe or un damaged from the trucks driving past looking for the turnpike. 

- Yes, people in Greenbay rent out their lawn for game watchers to park your car and tailgate. Pretty sweet deal!  

- Greenbay is a residential area and then BOOM, this epic old school stadium is smack in the middle of pleasentville. A far cry from the RT4, RT17 and the in flight route of both Newark and Teterboro. 

- Beer is $7.50 at Greenbay.  Enough said 

- Lambeau Field reminds me of an awesome high school stadium. The inside seatings are metal benches with spray paint numbers on them. Keeping in mind that the space in between the seats is barely enough for my butt to sit in. Needless to say, you get very close and personal to your neighbors. You can rent a "bench chair" that has slight cushion and a back, but majority of the people just sit on a blanket to avoid the cold bench. 

- Lambeau Field as I mentioned is like an upscale high school football field. There is no distance boundaries from the first row to the field. You literally could touch a player on the sideline. On the other hand, MetLife stadium has those preventative distances from the field and the seats.  A side note too - the walls for the Lambeu Leap on TV seem extremely tall to me. However, in person the wall is probably only 6 inches taller then me!  Do you know how hard it was to stay in my seat and not try to the leap?  Now seeing it for myself, it's doable!  

- Fans and food. During the game no one  really ate or even drank. It was more of the fans watching and understanding the game. It wasn't what I normally experienced where every 2 seconds you have to get up to let someone out to pee or get food. Instead, you were in a trance watching your team and the sport you love. It was my favorite part of the whole experience. It was nice sitting next to girls who knew what was going on and were true sports fans rather than some I have been around that buy the jersey or go to the game because their boyfriend or family like the tradition or they think the player is cute. This was legitimate interest!  MetLife stadium has this too, but I have to emphasize that very little concession workers came to sell food/drinks. And if they did they just held the product up. (And also understand that I know some of my friends out there do love sports and their team. Not trying to offend those who are true sports lovers)

- Inside Lambeau Field reminds me of Camden Yards with the Baltimore Orioles. Slightly industrial, all open and very cool. 

- MetLife stadium is pretty nice in my opinion. Besides being new, it's comfortable, your views are good wherever you sit, it's clean, and pretty awesome to house 2 NY football teams. 

- Lambeau Field has no glitz or glamour. The grass is a faded green, the "jumbo- tron is not so jumbo, and the announcing system does sound like it is a high school game. However, the fans, the spectators, the players all don't seem to care or need those flashy items. They simply need their RODGERS, their Lambeau Leap and their football. 

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