I’m really trying to stay caught up on my articles. This is my third written in the last 28 hours. I’m not messing around anymore. Sunday brought the Ravens and their 6-3 record to the Meadowlands. I was fired up for this game. It’s been a long time since Super Bowl XXXV, but I wanted to watch B Jake give Murderin’ Ray Lewis the business. All I needed was to see one of B Jake’s signature pancakes on Lewis and I would be happy.
This week’s special guest was my brother Chris, who was celebrating his 36th birthday. I figured it would be a nice birthday gift for him. Chris told me the night before that he was fired up for this game. When John got back with Uncle Mike, Chris said he hadn’t been to a game in 5 years. It brought back a lot of memories for him from his youth when he would go with Uncle Mike and my grandfather. Back in those days, when security was much more lax than it is now, Grandpa used to make Chris wear a big winter coat with a lot of pockets so that he could sneak bottles of Ballantine Ale in.
I can even remember going with Uncle Mike once and all he brought was a mini cooler with some soda and sandwiches. This was back when you COULD do this. What I didn’t know was he had more sandwiches, soda and beers tucked away in his coat. It was like the scene in the Honeymooners when Norton and Ralph were having lunch and Norton pulled virtually an entire refrigerator out of his pockets.
We actually left about 15 minutes earlier than usual and it paid off.
1) No traffic on Route 3 as Chris states, “I forgot how easy of a commute it is to the stadium” (Yes, I literally live 10 minutes from Giants Stadium. Even shorter with no traffic.)
2) Okay seriously, is there a Giants game today? We haven’t had to stop yet except for the guy in the Civic that never saw the Ford F-250 in his driver side mirror and we almost steamrolled him. (“How did he not even hear it?” ~Chris)
3) John’s not fooling around today, right to Lot 5H, or as I looked to call it Handicapped Lot 1A.
4) It certainly seems like 5H is becoming our new spot.
5) Oh, there I go again with my grilling expertise: chili, burgers, dogs, sausage and peppers, barbeque grilled chicken. (I’m on a roll).
6) Uncle Mike is telling his stories again. Chris is all ears.
7) I love watching Uncle Mike tell his stories. He seems so happy. I would imagine it brings back some great memories for him.
8) “And he’s talking about things from 40 years ago, I don’t know how he remembers this stuff.” ~John
9) What an awesome tailgate. The only downside was the jackasses across the way who just assumed we enjoyed the same music as them and blasted it throughout the whole parking lot. (Oh were they mistaken.)
10) Bumped into a Steelers fan on line for the bathroom. How do I know he was a Steelers fan? He showed me his tattoo on his forearm. (Let’s just say he’s a Giants fan today.)
11) Wow, “New York Groove” is already playing and we haven’t even reached our seats yet. That was a quick score.
12) From what I understand and watching the highlights later, that drive was all about B-Jake.
13) By the way, Chris has
14) Man, it’s chilly. It’s actually not even so much that it’s cold, but rather, the wind is a biting Giants Stadium wind.
15) Come on D, the crowd is behind you!
16) BIG STOP on third down after the touchdown.
17) BLOCKED FIELD GOAL!! HOLY CRAP!!! GO!!! GOO!!! GOOO!!!! AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! (Wow, blocked kicks in football have to be right up there with the most exciting plays in sports. Really any big plays on special teams are.)
18) I’m gonna put it out there right now, Plaxico is on a short leash with me. Get your head out of your ass, Plax.
19) OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH B-Jake just sent Ed Reed for a ride! I don’t understand why any of these guys think they can tackle a 6’5” 265 running back up around his shoulders. .
20) This touchdown was brought to you by Brandon Jacobs. What makes it even better is that the only man standing between him and pay dirt was Murderin’ Ray Lewis and B-Jake destroyed him.
21) Whoa, botched snap on the extra point. Was that Trey Junkin? (Sorry Trey, I had to.)
22) Umm, B-Jake just ran off to the locker room. John thinks it’s just an equipment issue.
23) 10-0
24) Ward now has 3 rushes for 26 yards. They don’t call the Ravens the best rush defense for nothin’ folks!
25) Oh wow, Plax just absolutely abused #31. (See? That’s what I’m talkin about! He’s so good, if only he wasn’t such a douche.)
26) I’m sorry, but Ray Lewis looks fat, old and outta shape.
Guys, suck in the guts, we're the Ravens!
27) Another touchdown for the G-Men….
28) In the bathroom, someone asked where Ray Lewis was. My response, “The real Ray Lewis is in jail!”
29) I went for a walk during the half and for the second time in two weeks, I encountered the smell of weed. Maybe it’s because I never smoked it, but what is the point to getting baked at a sporting event?
30) The Dolphins are up 7-5. What the hell is going on here? And please tell me that Chad Pennington and/or Ronnie Brown or involved.
31) Speaking of Chad, Mike made a great point over email to me yesterday…“I would just like to mark the moment in time where you owned Chad Pennington, Jeff Garcia and Sage Rosenfels on your team at the same time. You just entered Mike Rupp level of Alex Smith, Trent Green and Daunte Culpepper QB Hell.” (I would also like to point out that this is a season that also included Matt Hasselbeck and J.T. O’Sullivan as starting QB’s for the Boozers. I should have kept Drew Brees over Rudi Johnson. I stink!)
32) D-FENSE!! D-FENSE!!! D-FENSE!! (Even Uncle Mike was chanting!)
33) With the Giants up 20-3, Joe Flacco made a nice play, buying time and finding a wide open LeRon McLain at the Giants 10 yard line, who high stepped his way into the end zone to cut the lead to 20-9, pending the extra point. McLain then did a goofy, I’m a tool, everyone look at me dance. What LeRon forgot to mention is that his team was still down two scores and this drive was the first time they were able to move the ball on the Giants defense since the first quarter. Looks like somebody needs to learn the rules of touchdown dancing.
34) For some reason, I can’t log into Sportline on my phone. (What the crap!?!?)
35) Eli just got picked. Looks close, and Tom Coughlin will challenge. This would be huge if it’s overturned. This is a good time to mention that Coughlin has the best challenge percentage in the league. He just showed again why. Giants retain possession.
36) After a Giants punt, Flacco’s pass is deflected off of his receiver’s hands into the waiting hands of Aaron Ross who streaks 50 yards for the touchdown just as Chris was criticizing Ross for playing too far off the line. (It’s officially a party in Giants Stadium right now.
37) Bradshaw just broke one for what could have been a score, but was caught from behind. Upon seeing the replay after the game, he made Ray Lewis look like an amateur. I mean Ray Ray didn’t know if he was going left or right, then just fell like a ton of bricks. (Side note, Plax missed a block on the eventual tackler. Nice work Plax.)
38) A Tynes field goal in the 4th makes it 30-10. Looks like John Carney’s days as the Giants kicker are numbered.
39) Chris and I just noticed something. After the field goal, I guy came out and changed Tynes’ shoe. So apparently he wears two different shoes depending on the situation. And he has a shoe guy. Now, imagine if we had this in our workplace. I could have shoes that I wear in my cube, then different shoes for when we have meetings. And I could have a guy change them for me. I think I need to start making more comparisons between the professional athlete’s workplace and my own.
40) For the third time in the last 4 posts, I will say it, “Jump Around” by House of Pain is a timeless classic. Chris agrees.
41) So I just got a text from Carol, my Godmother. Actually, it was from her husband’s phone, but it said “Why did you call John’s phone at 4:30 am and there were indians speaking?” I know for a FACT I was not drunk the night before the game and that I was sound asleep at 4:30 in the morning. That HAS to be an old message. I need to call and talk to her about that.
42) Nice use of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes’ “Havin’ a Party” during a TV time out.
43) Just to show how laid back the crowd was towards the end of this game, we did a Potvin sucks chant. Awesome.
In the end, it was just an old fashioned beatin’ the Giants put on the Ravens. Sure it’s been almost 8 years since they smoked the Giants in the Super Bowl and there is barely anyone left on either side, but any time Ray Lewis looks bad, I’m happy. And he looked BAD. Sure he got an interception that Eli basically handed to him. But other than that, he couldn’t tackle, he couldn’t run and on Ahmad Bradshaw’s 50+ yard run, he made Ray Ray look silly.
And so the Giants go to 9-1, 6-0 at home and the Bavaro jersey is now 8-0. It was great to get to hang out with Chris during the game. Being that he lives 45 minutes away and is extremely busy at his job, we don’t get to see much of each other. I’m happy now knowing our game plan to tackle the PSL will result in us probably spending more time together. I think Chris had a great time too, especially with Uncle Mike before the game. His stories will keep everyone entertained. This move to buy these tickets was probably the best decision I’ve made in a long time. (Next to the Mets 7-pack, of course!)
Next up, 3910 returns to the blog as he’ll be Game 7’s special guest when the Eagles fly into the Meadowlands, for the 3rd Breezer-Coupee Giants-Eagles game, interrupted only once by the 2006 season. Now, I think we can call it tradition.
