When I was two years old, East Rutherford, New Jersey became home to Giants Stadium.  Previously, it had been home to a swamp.  Yesterday, a giant metal claw plunged into one of the concrete spiral rampways as they began tearing it down.  Other than my childhood home in Staten Island, New York, no structure has been more important to me.  If you can love a place, I can honestly say, with no reservations, that I loved that stadium.  Actually, I loved the parking lot too, as I spent many a Sunday afternoon eating, freezing, laughing and eating some more prior to, and after, numerous Giants games.  Win or lose, my father and I were always out there, with a group of the best people I have ever had the honor of knowing.  With Giants Stadium being torn down to make way for a new stadium (still built on that swamp), I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on some memories I will always cherish from Exit 16W on the New Jersey Turnpike. 

Actually, the first time I ever entered Giants Stadium had nothing to do with football.  It was the summer of 1988, I was finishing Intermediate School and in all honesty, wasn't looking that forward to High School, when I got to attend my first concert.  At the age of 13, my first concert was an all-day event known as the Monsters Of Rock.  My older sister and her boyfriend had an extra ticket, and offered it to me (despite being a monumental brat to them most of the time).  Five bands (although we actually skipped Kingdom Come, and I've never felt bad about that), a long day of music, for $25.  Seriously.  That's less than the service fees on a concert ticket today!  Hell, the T-shirts were only $13!  Anyway, I had a blast, watching Van Halen, The Scorpions, Dokken and this little band called Metallica (second on the bill), and well, it was a show that changed my life.  However, I've already written about that, so there's no need to go into all those details again.

I actually went to a lot of concerts at that Stadium, from Genesis to the Eagles to several more Metallica shows (this time with them headlining, not as an opening act).  I saw Billy Joel and Elton John on their very first "Face-to-Face" tour, and I sat tenth row center for a performance by the Rolling Stones.  That concert, in particular, stands out to me, since it dawned on me during the show that while thousands in attendance were looking at the video screens, I was actually close enough to be looking at the Stones themselves.  I saw Bruce Springsteen there as well, and if anyone has a right to that building other than the Giants and Jets, it is the Boss.  One of my favorite shows there was a Metallica-Guns N' Roses show, where Axl & Co. put on a spectacular performance ... and Metallica still kicked their ass. 

However, the stadium wasn't built for concerts, it was built for football, and on November 24, 1991, I attended my first NY Giants game.  Now, 1991 was not an exceptionally good year for the Giants (8-8, one year after winning the Superbowl), and as I walked through the parking lot with my Dad, I saw something that has always stuck with me.  It was a mannequin, dressed to look like then-Giants coach Ray Handley, being hung in effigy.  Yep, Giants fans were not happy with him as a coach.  You can ask him all about it.  I believe he mans the drive-thru window at a McDonald's in Hoboken now.  Still, I was glad I attended that game, as it was my one and only opportunity to see Lawrence Taylor, the greatest defensive football player of all time, play live.  And it turns out, I also got to see a Giants victory, as Phil Simms came off the bench (this was when he was passed over in favor of Jeff Hostetler due to Hostetler winning the Super Bowl while Simms was injured), and led the Giants on a game winning drive. 

Now, you have to understand, New York Giants games were always sold out, and the waiting list for season tickets basically meant that if you signed up, there was a chance your great-grandchildren would get seats.  Maybe.  However, through circumstance, my father and I got the chance to obtain season tickets in 1998, and for the next ten years of my life, eight of my Sunday's were spent in Giants Stadium, hanging out with my Dad.  It was also that first year that, purely by accident, I met some of the aforementioned "best people I ever had the honor of knowing."  

It was November 15, 1998 and the Giants were taking on the Green Bay Packers.  Now, you have to understand, I have family members in Wisconsin who are die-hard Packer fans, so whenever Big Blue went against Farve and company, it meant a little more to me and my Dad.  So, for this game, we decided to go out to the stadium early in the morning and spend the day tailgating.  When we entered the lot, there were only one or two other cars around.  We pulled into a spot by a light stand that had a parking lot marker, figuring it would make it easy to find the car later.  It was Lot 8B.  Before we could even get out of the car, an truck pulled up right next to us.  Now realize, there were HUNDREDS of empty spots in this lot, yet this person pulled up right next to us.  

Our reaction (cleaned up for family reading) was:  "What is this guy's problem?"  

We got out of the car, at the same time this little guy got out of his truck, yelling "I can't believe it, I can't believe it!"  He explained to us that he ALWAYS parked in that spot, and always came early enough to make sure he got it.  We were amused by his story, so laughing, we offered to move over one spot and let him have his cherished place.  I should probably mention that, a short time later, we found out that this little guy had told his friend in the truck that he was going to "kick our ass" for taking his spot... until he saw two 6'4" "trees" (as he called us) getting out of the car.  Thankfully, he went with the friendlier tact.  That day, he introduced us to his "Lot 8B" tailgating crew, and over time, me and my Dad introduced our friends and family members to the group.  Members of that group (or "subculture" as we once referred to as), ranging in age from teenagers to retirees, are amongst my very best friends in the world, to the point when I decided to propose to my now-wife, I only told a handful of people my plans... and every single person in that parking lot.  

Those people were also important in getting through some pretty horrible seasons as a Giants fan.  In fact, one season, when all hope for a Giants playoff appearance was lost, but we still had games left, the catchphrase was invented, "It's All About The Food" since deciding the menu for the following game's tailgate was more enjoyable than thinking about the state of the team. 

But, every game, no matter what the record was, we were there.  Every game, my Dad and I would walk up to Section 316, Row 31, Seats 5 & 6.  The very last row of Giants Stadium, literally.  So high up, birds were closer to the field than we were.  Still, I would put those seats up against any others in the whole stadium.  We had a perfect view of the field, and more importantly, we could stand the whole game, since there was no one behind us.  We had a great crew in that section as well, and not only enjoyed the game, but looked out for each other as well when you had the occasional inebriated jerk trying to ruin things. I could write some stories about things that happened up there, but I'm starting to think this article is a little bit too long already.  I should point out that I had a rule that I would always stay to the end of a game, no matter how lopsided the score.  "Not until it says 00:00 on the clock" was my motto.  And yes, this resulted in a few games where I was sitting alone while everyone else had gone to the parking lot to drown their sorrows. 

People have asked me if I have a "favorite game" I attended, and it is strange, but not that many specific games stick out to me.  When you're lucky enough to go to so many, I guess they blend together.  I got to see the best seasons of guys like Charles Way, Jesse Armstead, Tiki Barber and my all-time favorite Giant, Michael Strahan. However, a few games do seem to rise above the others.  One took place in 1998, when the Giants had a disappointing 8-8 season.  On December 13th, we played a 13-0 Denver Broncos, with a lot of talk about John Elway leading them to a "prefect year."  Well, the Giants beat them, ending the perfect season, and for some reason, getting to be the spoiler of a perfect season somehow made all the beatings we took the rest of the year seem a little less painful.  Besides, those Broncos fans were snobs.  

Another memorable game, and the biggest party I've ever been a part of was the 2000 NFC Championship, where the Giants spanked the Minnesota Vikings in 41-0 blowout.  It really did just feel like a three-hour victory party for the Giants.  I was so excited following the game, I put together money with intentions of flying out to the Superbowl.  When I couldn't secure a ticket for a reasonable price, I bought a new TV instead.  Given how that Superbowl turned out, I made the right choice.  I still have the TV. 

I guess, like with anything, you remember moments more than actual games.  I remember standing in that stadium, with 60,000 people in dead silence during the singing of the National Anthem prior to the first Giants game after September 11, 2001.  The Giants came out to "New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra that day, instead of their usual AC/DC Hell's Bells entrance theme, and I don't know if I ever heard a louder crowd.  On the flip side, I also remember a squirrel somehow getting into the stadium, and running all over the field during a night game.  Attempts to catch it failed, and while the players would be battling it out on one side of the field, the squirrel would be running into the end zone on the opposite side (and the fans would cheer for it).  

My last season attending every game was 2007, the year the Giants "shocked the world" by going to the Superbowl and defeating the almost-perfect Patriots.  Funny enough, the Giants couldn't seem to buy a win at home that season, picking up most of their victories on the road.  Still, I was there for that regular season finale against the Patriots, the game that gave the team the confidence to make a run in the playoffs that no one thought possible.  

I got to return to Giants Stadium for the Superbowl celebration, and got to walk out feeling like a winner, because MY team was the Superbowl Champions.  It also closed a pretty big chapter in my life.  For a variety of reasons, I was moving out of the New York area, and my days as a season ticket holder were over.  Still, I returned to Giants Stadium two more times, in 2008 and this past season.  Both of those games went into overtime, and both of them were wins for the Giants.  In some strange way, I almost felt like the Stadium wanted to give me "a little more" since I was only there for one game a year. 

The memories remain, and the friends I will have forever, but the house is no more.  I'm sure the new stadium is going to be awesome (it has to be, the 50-yard line sits right where Lot 8B used to)  and I'm sure I will visit it a few times, however, MY stadium will soon be a pile of rubble (well, whatever doesn't get sold off to memorabilia collectors). 

It's funny, when I think of Giants Stadium going up to Football Heaven, I think of a line from the final episode of Cheers, spoken by Norm about his bar stool:

"I love that stool.  If there's a heaven, I don't want to go there unless my stool is waiting for me.  And I'll tell you want, even God better not be on it." 

I feel the same way about Giants Stadium, Section 316, Row 31, and parking lot 8B.

You can write me at BuckWrestling@aol.com.