How I survived Jets Nation on Thanksgiving
As a long-time football fan, I never thought I would have such an amazing opportunity as I did on Thanksgiving day. I had the pleasure of attending the Patriots Thanksgiving game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The whole experience was overwhelming, especially since it was my first-ever Patriots game. Going into Jets Nation as a Patriots fan was a little terrifying at first. When we sat in our seats I was surrounded by green. And there I was…sitting there with my Rob Gronkowski jersey on…all alone.
This is me at my seat for the game. Nice seats, right?
Right before the game started, a Patriots fan walked into our row and sat three seats away. It was a sigh of relief knowing I wasn’t alone. Then more Patriots fans started to file into some rows in front of me. While the blue jerseys did not outweigh the green ones, I felt better knowing I wouldn’t be alone cheering on my boys.
Once the game started, it was very intense in the stadium. Jets fans were cheering and yelling. I sat there quietly at first, as did most of the Pats fans around me. When Steve Gregory intercepted the ball, it was a complete reversal. Patriots fans, including myself, were jumping up and down, cheering, and giving high fives. It was then that I realized you don’t need to know any of these other fans personally. The fact that you are all Patriots fans watching the game in the Jet’s stadium automatically brings you together like you’ve been best friends for years.
So how amazing was my seat? Well, I was on the corner of the end zone, which was conveniently the end zone that the Patriots scored 35 points in during the second quarter. Talk about the perfect place at the perfect time.
This is the touchdown pass to Wes Welker. You can see Brady all the way on the right about to throw the ball and Welker on the left near the end zone.
Gostkowski kicking the extra point.
Even the entire row of Jets fans behind me was very nice. We chit-chatted the whole game, mostly about how Mark Sanchez was awful and needed to get out of the game. I feel bad that the fans hate their quarterback so much. According to Jets fans, as much as they don’t like Tim Tebow either, they wanted him in the game. They were also pretty convinced that a monkey could play better than Sanchez that night.
Just the adrenaline rush alone from the Pats demolishing the Jets was enough for me. It was almost midnight and I was wide awake. My boys had just won the best game of the season, and I was going home a happy football fan.
Jets fans, on the other hand, spent the train ride being upset and talking about what the team should have done to win the game. Admittedly, I would have like the Jets to put in Tebow. It may have made for a more exciting game as far as the score was concerned. Jets fans wanted it too. All night long they were chanting for Tebow to play.
Maybe this will be a learning experience for the Jets. For our sake, let’s hope they learned nothing.
