Game Day

My father used to take us to Mets games at Shea Stadium when I was a kid. He grew up in the Bronx but was a Giants fan until they fled New York for San Francisco. Like a lot of people who loved the Giants and Dodgers, rooting for the Yankees was not an option.

Anyway, my dad would generally leave a little early to beat the mob trying to get on the Grand Central Parkway. More than once I heard the crowd roar while walking through the parking lot at Shea.

Yes, he liked to get in and get out quick —so I’m not sure what he would have made of my jaunt to see the Bills beat Miami with my 21-year-old son yesterday. It was a trip that could best be described as nine hours of tailgating, screaming, and jumping up and down sandwiched between nine hours of driving.

The day went sort of like this:

0330 Rise and shine.
0400 Rouse son
0415 Rouse son again
0440 Hit the Thruway
0505 Bathroom break
0537 Bathroom break
0612 Bathroom break
0703 Bathroom break
0810 Bathroom break
0900 Welcome to Buffalo.
0910 Stop at my son’s apartment
0911 Step outside to escape the suffocating stench of stale beer, cigarettes, and questionable hygeine
0920 Depart for Ralph Wilson Stadium
0950 Arrive in Lot 1
1000 Fire up grill
1030 Cook sausage and peppers
1050 Sustain 2nd degree burn to hand
1051-1300 Continue eating, assorted tailgate activities, etc. Yell at random Dolphins fans.
1300 Kickoff
1559 Expound at length over newfound regard for Terrell Owens
1605 Final whistle
1645 Depart parking lot
1646 Get stuck in traffic
1820 Deposit son at apartment (90 minutes to travel 19 miles)
1830 Enter Thruway at Exit 50
2305 Arrive home

If I did this every weekend it would kill me.

7 thoughts on “Game Day

  1. You made it to Buffalo in four hours and 20 minutes including
    five bathroom breaks ? Did you take the thruway or the
    Bonneville Salt Flats?

  2. Oh, yeah! It’s generally accepted that you can max out at 74 MPH on the Thruway. The trip is 288 miles —you do the math! And the bathroom breaks were strictly #1…

  3. LOL@#1 as I was thinking the same thing when I was reading. It was a great game to be at. I usually love having Miami come to Buffalo in December (or as good as dec) so they can freeze. Not so last weekend. They said it was 55 at the game? Glad you had a great time with your boys.

  4. The Bills have been paid a TON of money to play some games at Rogers Centre in Toronto. Except for the $78 million the team gets it’s a lousy deal.

    First of all, playing there stinks. Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo news described the Bills – Miami game there last year like this:

    “The crowd was split about 50-50 in terms of cheering for each team. In fact, it would be more accurate to say it was 30-30, with about 40 percent of the crowd not particularly rooting for either side.”

    Secondly, it’s awful for the Buffalo people because it’s more expensive and 90 miles away —and the tailgating is lousy.

    Third -and you’ll love this, Kate- people from Canada don’t like games in Toronto because for them it’s cheaper and more fun to see the Bills at Orchard Park.

    The Bills are in a fringe market that’s not making the sort of money that other NFL teams make. The big question is if they can survive in Buffalo.

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