By David Levy-Fan Experience Reporter-Football Reporters Online
The Georgia Dome in Atlanta remains a perfectly fine building for professional football. Still a teenager, it is nowhere near long in the tooth. Capacity is enough to accommodate nearly every Atlanta Falcons fan willing to buy tickets.
Arthur Blank, the team owner, craves a new stadium. That seems akin to trading in your car after it has logged only 20,000 miles, but he can well afford it. Blank, the former owner of the ubiquitous American home improvement store chain called The Home Depot, has a net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes, and the franchise value has risen 52 per cent since he bought it in 2002 for $545 million.
But wait. Blank expects the quasi-public agency that operates the Dome and the proposed site of a new stadium to issue bonds that would pay some of the costs. That should be 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, sticking it to taxpayers at the same time that funding for public schools in Georgia is being cut.
This sickness is spreading among NFL team owners. In Minnesota, the Vikings' Zygi Wilf has capitalized on the collapse of the Metrodome's inflatable roof amid a once-in-a-lifetime snowstorm and the fear of the franchise relocating to Los Angeles in his campaign for a replacement stadium. Of course, citizens would contribute to the project. Never mind that Blank might expect Wilf, worth $1.3bn, to pick up their lunch bill.
The shameless nonchalance of these folks who seem detached from reality has generated a shifting of the winds. We have already experienced it here in New York and New Jersey.
The public, which normally sides with management during labor disputes in American sports, is sympathetic toward the players in a stand-off with owners that has pushed the league to the brink of a lockout. In a poll conducted by Seton Hall University, 35 per cent who participated backed the players, compared to 22 per cent for their bosses. This, even though the same study found that most contend the players are overpaid.
Taxpayers are increasingly fed up with being forced to become stadium-erecting partners with Rolex-wearing, yacht-sailing jet-setters. Economists nowadays agree on little, but one belief they share is that public support of professional sports offers almost nothing financially in return.
The Giants and Jets grew tired of their shared arena and convinced the government to pitch in for a new-and-improved one. The old Giants Stadium was torn down despite carrying more than $100m in debt that must be paid off by the good people of New Jersey. Plus, the season ticket holders are also helping flip the bill on the new one with PSL's. Isn't that double dipping? The nerve!
Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, stands complicit in this wasteful building boom. From his office comes a wink-nod promise of the ultimate in ego gratification for owners: host your own Super Bowl! Just throw up a stadium and you will get the big game. How you bankroll it, that's your business.
Which explains why the 2014 Super Bowl was awarded to New Meadowlands in a region where the average low temperature in February is -2°C. Which also explains why 22 of 32 teams have moved into fresh digs or had their existing ones totally made over in the last two decades.
In that time, teams have been blessed with more than $7bn in taxpayer subsidies for construction and renovation, according to the NFL Players' Association.
The players union reports that, on average, taxpayers put up 65 per cent of the financing for those projects. Owners found a way to avoid putting in any money for 10 of them; for nine others, their contribution amounted to less than 25 per cent.
Further driving public sentiment toward the players are reports on the sport's inherent physical risk, particularly for victims of post-concussive syndrome that has ravaged retirees. Fans are looking beyond the average salary of $1.9m and discovering other statistics:
$770,000, the median yearly pay. Three-and-a-half years, the average length of career. Eleven, the average number of players per team on injured reserve this past season.
While many of us might trade places with the players, the figures show that most of them accumulate more aches and pains than enough wealth to last them a lifetime.
For team owners, it is a different story. Admittance into the club all but guarantees going from rich to richer, experienced from the comfort of a stadium luxury suite.
Fine. That is the American way. But those who knock on government doors seeking handouts to finance mostly unnecessary arenas should instead heed the marketing message aimed at customers of Blank's old home improvement stores.
Do it yourself.
Follow me Twitter @LevysBakeryProd or at LevysBakeryProductions.com
Showing posts with label New Meadowlands Stadium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Meadowlands Stadium. Show all posts
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Poor showing against Titans leaves Sour taste in Giants fan's mouths
Poor showing against Titans Leaves sour taste in Giants’ fans mouths
By Dr. Bill Chachkes-Managing Partner/Executive Editor-Football Reporters Online
It was reminiscent of many trips back from the Meadowlands I remembered as a Teenager in the late 1970’s when my father was still with us. Back then we would wait for the busses outside of Gate D. Now we stand, however painfully, and wait for the train. We had all just watched the Titans throttle the NY Giants, if only on the scoreboard. I wanted to get some fan reaction. Two ladies behind me were in their jerseys and had polish under their eyes. It, and their make-up, was already running.
“Nooo…it was not a very good game” one told profootballnyc.com’s John Fennelly and I.” On seeing our press passes around our necks, another said. “No, this isn’t what I paid for, but I understand that anybody can have a bad day. At least they had more emotion then last week, but maybe too much,” said another. Two young men in front of me recognized my Military lapel pins and told me “we’re in the U.S. Air Force sir. I’m a Medic and He’s a Fireman. We are home on leave, and our Girlfriends’ got us the tickets for today. This was supposed to be the highlight of our trip home from our duty station in Japan.”
A young father with his two boys aged 5 and 8 had brought his children to their first Giants game. “I had hoped they would see a win today, that it would be something they’d carry with them for life. Maybe next time.”
More spoke up as we boarded the train, but no one spoke of 1978 and the plane with the banner that said 15 Years…., or of burning tickets in protest. A day I remember well. As well as the Giants 1986 NFC title game victory over the Washington Redskins by the score of 17-0. Most fans that remember that success, or the 1990 NFC title game against the Vikings, might feel very far away and detached from those teams and times. My Dad would simply say “Peaks and Valley’s, just like life kid, so get used to it.”
I felt for them all today, each and every one of them on line with us at the railhead, at the transfer in Secaucus, and getting off the train in Penn Station. I lived it from 1965 in Yankee Stadium as a 5 year old going to my first game by taking the third avenue “El” from Gun Hill Road , as a young teen going to the Yale Bowl and Shea Stadium, and in the early days of Giants Stadium. I knew the feeling of discomfort and dread these fans were feeling after a loss. I also knew the Emotional “high” of winning. From 1984 through 1990 the NY Giants were the team with the highest winning percentage in professional football. I sat in section 311 for most of those years with my Dad, until his passing in 1987, and with other friends and family after that until I went to the “professional’ side of all things football. I know exactly how he would have described this game’s outcome, in his no nonsense way akin to many professional veteran law enforcers/ex-soldiers like himself. “Plenty of emotion all right, but no focus for it to go to. On the football field it just gets you a loss, but on the battlefield it gets you shot up dead.” I remember going to California with Him for Super Bowl 21. I remember him telling me on the flight home afterwards” now I can Die in peace. Eleven months later we would bury him in His Army Dress Uniform with two tickets to the next game in his pocket, and his cherished 1962 NFL eastern division title football with it’s 12 autographs.
My Dad was also our local Housing development’s “official-unofficial football coach and expert all things Pigskin.” He would have spoken very little on this ride home if he where still with us today. But he would have quickly penned another of his famous letters to Mr. George Young, NY Giants General Manager at that time. Letters that always seemed to gain a hand-written reply by mail, because that was Mr. Young’s style.
He would calmly begin “Mr. Young, Penalties, turnovers, sloppy play, this doesn’t win ball games. I don’t teach it to my son and his teammates and your coaches shouldn’t either” I’m also sure Mr. Young, Mr. Accorsi, or Mr. Reese would all reply in a very similar manner: “ It was a bad day, but it was one bad day.” So tomorrow we move on.
By Dr. Bill Chachkes-Managing Partner/Executive Editor-Football Reporters Online
It was reminiscent of many trips back from the Meadowlands I remembered as a Teenager in the late 1970’s when my father was still with us. Back then we would wait for the busses outside of Gate D. Now we stand, however painfully, and wait for the train. We had all just watched the Titans throttle the NY Giants, if only on the scoreboard. I wanted to get some fan reaction. Two ladies behind me were in their jerseys and had polish under their eyes. It, and their make-up, was already running.
“Nooo…it was not a very good game” one told profootballnyc.com’s John Fennelly and I.” On seeing our press passes around our necks, another said. “No, this isn’t what I paid for, but I understand that anybody can have a bad day. At least they had more emotion then last week, but maybe too much,” said another. Two young men in front of me recognized my Military lapel pins and told me “we’re in the U.S. Air Force sir. I’m a Medic and He’s a Fireman. We are home on leave, and our Girlfriends’ got us the tickets for today. This was supposed to be the highlight of our trip home from our duty station in Japan.”
A young father with his two boys aged 5 and 8 had brought his children to their first Giants game. “I had hoped they would see a win today, that it would be something they’d carry with them for life. Maybe next time.”
More spoke up as we boarded the train, but no one spoke of 1978 and the plane with the banner that said 15 Years…., or of burning tickets in protest. A day I remember well. As well as the Giants 1986 NFC title game victory over the Washington Redskins by the score of 17-0. Most fans that remember that success, or the 1990 NFC title game against the Vikings, might feel very far away and detached from those teams and times. My Dad would simply say “Peaks and Valley’s, just like life kid, so get used to it.”
I felt for them all today, each and every one of them on line with us at the railhead, at the transfer in Secaucus, and getting off the train in Penn Station. I lived it from 1965 in Yankee Stadium as a 5 year old going to my first game by taking the third avenue “El” from Gun Hill Road , as a young teen going to the Yale Bowl and Shea Stadium, and in the early days of Giants Stadium. I knew the feeling of discomfort and dread these fans were feeling after a loss. I also knew the Emotional “high” of winning. From 1984 through 1990 the NY Giants were the team with the highest winning percentage in professional football. I sat in section 311 for most of those years with my Dad, until his passing in 1987, and with other friends and family after that until I went to the “professional’ side of all things football. I know exactly how he would have described this game’s outcome, in his no nonsense way akin to many professional veteran law enforcers/ex-soldiers like himself. “Plenty of emotion all right, but no focus for it to go to. On the football field it just gets you a loss, but on the battlefield it gets you shot up dead.” I remember going to California with Him for Super Bowl 21. I remember him telling me on the flight home afterwards” now I can Die in peace. Eleven months later we would bury him in His Army Dress Uniform with two tickets to the next game in his pocket, and his cherished 1962 NFL eastern division title football with it’s 12 autographs.
My Dad was also our local Housing development’s “official-unofficial football coach and expert all things Pigskin.” He would have spoken very little on this ride home if he where still with us today. But he would have quickly penned another of his famous letters to Mr. George Young, NY Giants General Manager at that time. Letters that always seemed to gain a hand-written reply by mail, because that was Mr. Young’s style.
He would calmly begin “Mr. Young, Penalties, turnovers, sloppy play, this doesn’t win ball games. I don’t teach it to my son and his teammates and your coaches shouldn’t either” I’m also sure Mr. Young, Mr. Accorsi, or Mr. Reese would all reply in a very similar manner: “ It was a bad day, but it was one bad day.” So tomorrow we move on.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Giants Rolle and Cruz to Victory in New Meadowlands Opener
Giants Rolle and Cruz to Victory in New Meadowlands Opener-By Jon Wagner-Sr. Writer At Large-Football Reporters Online
It won’t begin to make up for the awful way in which the New York Giants closed the Giants Stadium chapter of their storied history last season, but two newcomers helped Big Blue open its New Meadowlands Stadium era with a 31-16 preseason comeback victory over their co-tenants, the New York Jets, in the first NFL game ever played in the brand new $1.6 billion stadium on Monday night.
The names were fitting as free safety Antrel Rolle (expected to play a big role this year) got the Giants rolling with a big pick before Victor Cruz, an undrafted free agent rookie from small school Massachusetts, rallied his new team with three second-half touchdowns to send the Giants cruising to an easy win.
Rolle made a huge early impression in his first game as a Giant after spending five years in Arizona. The former first-round draft pick had a team-leading three tackles in the opening quarter and set up the first score of the game by intercepting Jets’ quarterback Mark Sanchez and returning the ball 59 yards to the Jets’ 1 yard-line.
That set up running back Brandon Jacobs’ 1-yard touchdown plunge on a third straight attempt, to give the Giants a 7-0 lead just 3:11 into the game.
The errant pass returned by Rolle was a continuation of last year’s problem for the right-handed Sanchez, who often wasn’t right when he went left, throwing across his body. A season ago, the majority of Sanchez’s picks came throwing to the left side of the field. Sure enough, Rolle caught a deflected pass that was intended in the left flat for new Jets’ running back LaDanian Tomlinson.
Sanchez and Tomlinson each rebounded very nicely after that, however.
Although Tomlinson amassed only 17 yards on 8 carries, the 31-year-old, new Jet showed that he might still have some gas left in the tank after playing nine years as a San Diego Charger. Tomlinson showed some explosiveness at times and had one nice reception for 14 yards which set up the Jets’ first touchdown on the next play, to tie the game, 7-7.
That score angered Giants’ head coach Tom Coughlin as occasional quarterback/wide receiver/wildcat specialty, sort of utility offensive threat Brad Smith literally walked into the end zone as a completely confused Giants’ defense left Smith wide open on a quick screen pass from Sanchez.
Tomlinson’s contributions were a welcome sign for Jet fans to see. They suggested that the former superstar and first-round pick might have plenty left after his production declined significantly each of the past three seasons.
Smith’s touchdown concluded a 68-yard, 14-play drive in 8:34 during which Tomlinson was a key factor. ESPN’s Mike Tirico joked during the drive that after having just one carry in the 2005 preseason and missing each of the next three preseasons before getting just twelve preseason carries last year, Tomlinson “Played more on [that] drive than he played in the past five preseasons [combined].”
Sanchez meanwhile, was sharp overall, avoiding any further turnovers and finishing a very accurate 13 of 17 for 119 yards while spreading the ball around to several different receivers.
Comparatively, the Giants were just happy that their own starting quarterback, Eli Manning, left the field well enough to play another preseason game after getting injured during his last play of the game, about four minutes into the second quarter.
Manning was supposed to hand off to Jacobs on short yardage in the red zone, but decided at the last moment to throw a fade route to the right corner. The result was Jacobs running into Manning, causing a fumble before Jets’ linebacker Calvin Pace delivered a vicious hit into Manning’s back which made Manning lose his helmet and lunge forward. Manning ended up smacking his forehead squarely against the facemask of Jets’ safety Jim Leonhard and heading to the locker room with a gushing three-inch gash that needed twelve stitches to close.
Fortunately, Manning will be fine, but he may miss some practice time depending on how long it might be before he’s able to again wear a helmet.
The play concluded a fairly tough night for Manning who was just 4 of 8 for 77 yards, 51 of which came on a very nice scamper up the right side by running back Ahmad Bradshaw after Manning avoided a sack and on a broken play, dumped a short “hot potato” type of shovel pass to Bradshaw.
One play after Manning’s injury, the Giants tied the game, 10-10, on a Lawrence Tynes field goal before the Jets grabbed a 13-10 halftime lead on a field goal by newly acquired kicker Nick Folk, who true to his earlier form in Dallas, made three short field goals, but missed when challenged from 46 yards away.
While the Giants’ first string offense failed to run the ball much or get anything going on a consistent basis with the passing game, their reserves stepped things up thereafter.
The second half show was stolen by Cruz, whose name suddenly became synonymous on national television with Terrell Owens. The Patterson, NJ native from the FCS had the final three scores of the game to become the first NFL rookie with three touchdowns in a preseason game since Owens accomplished the feat in 1998.
Although he got away with an offensive facemask, Cruz made a great one-handed grab of a pass by quarterback Jim Sorgi during a 64-yard sprint up the left sideline to put the Giants ahead to stay, 17-16, in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Cruz added a 34-yard touchdown catch from Sorgi and then a 5-yard touchdown reception from fellow FCS product, quarterback Rhett Bomar, from Sam Houston State.
Cruz finished with game highs of 6 catches and 145 yards and after losing David Carr in the offseason, the Giants might have at least discovered some competency (though it was hard to tell against the Jets’ reserves) with which to back up Manning.
Sorgi, who was brought in to help coach Manning after four years of tutoring under Manning’s brother Peyton, was 8 of 15 for 146 yards and no turnovers to go with his two touchdown passes. And, Bomar, in limited action, was a solid 6 of 7 for 67 yards, with no turnovers to go along with the touchdown throw to Cruz, who is now making a strong push to make the final cut for the 53-man roster to be announced by September 4th.
Defensively for the Giants, fifth-year linebacker Gerris Wilkinson led all players with seven tackles and Big Blue got something out of three of this year’s draft picks. Second-round pick, defensive tackle Linval Joseph and fourth-round pick, middle linebacker Phillip Dillard, each had four tackles, while first-round selection, defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, despite looking bad while getting thrown to the ground on an earlier pass rush, later recorded the game’s only sack.
Don’t expect the outspoken, cocky Jets of head coach Rex Ryan to tone anything down in the trash talk department over a preseason loss. But, for the time being, score one in the New York bragging rights column for the more quiet, sticking to going-about-their-business Giants.
It won’t begin to make up for the awful way in which the New York Giants closed the Giants Stadium chapter of their storied history last season, but two newcomers helped Big Blue open its New Meadowlands Stadium era with a 31-16 preseason comeback victory over their co-tenants, the New York Jets, in the first NFL game ever played in the brand new $1.6 billion stadium on Monday night.
The names were fitting as free safety Antrel Rolle (expected to play a big role this year) got the Giants rolling with a big pick before Victor Cruz, an undrafted free agent rookie from small school Massachusetts, rallied his new team with three second-half touchdowns to send the Giants cruising to an easy win.
Rolle made a huge early impression in his first game as a Giant after spending five years in Arizona. The former first-round draft pick had a team-leading three tackles in the opening quarter and set up the first score of the game by intercepting Jets’ quarterback Mark Sanchez and returning the ball 59 yards to the Jets’ 1 yard-line.
That set up running back Brandon Jacobs’ 1-yard touchdown plunge on a third straight attempt, to give the Giants a 7-0 lead just 3:11 into the game.
The errant pass returned by Rolle was a continuation of last year’s problem for the right-handed Sanchez, who often wasn’t right when he went left, throwing across his body. A season ago, the majority of Sanchez’s picks came throwing to the left side of the field. Sure enough, Rolle caught a deflected pass that was intended in the left flat for new Jets’ running back LaDanian Tomlinson.
Sanchez and Tomlinson each rebounded very nicely after that, however.
Although Tomlinson amassed only 17 yards on 8 carries, the 31-year-old, new Jet showed that he might still have some gas left in the tank after playing nine years as a San Diego Charger. Tomlinson showed some explosiveness at times and had one nice reception for 14 yards which set up the Jets’ first touchdown on the next play, to tie the game, 7-7.
That score angered Giants’ head coach Tom Coughlin as occasional quarterback/wide receiver/wildcat specialty, sort of utility offensive threat Brad Smith literally walked into the end zone as a completely confused Giants’ defense left Smith wide open on a quick screen pass from Sanchez.
Tomlinson’s contributions were a welcome sign for Jet fans to see. They suggested that the former superstar and first-round pick might have plenty left after his production declined significantly each of the past three seasons.
Smith’s touchdown concluded a 68-yard, 14-play drive in 8:34 during which Tomlinson was a key factor. ESPN’s Mike Tirico joked during the drive that after having just one carry in the 2005 preseason and missing each of the next three preseasons before getting just twelve preseason carries last year, Tomlinson “Played more on [that] drive than he played in the past five preseasons [combined].”
Sanchez meanwhile, was sharp overall, avoiding any further turnovers and finishing a very accurate 13 of 17 for 119 yards while spreading the ball around to several different receivers.
Comparatively, the Giants were just happy that their own starting quarterback, Eli Manning, left the field well enough to play another preseason game after getting injured during his last play of the game, about four minutes into the second quarter.
Manning was supposed to hand off to Jacobs on short yardage in the red zone, but decided at the last moment to throw a fade route to the right corner. The result was Jacobs running into Manning, causing a fumble before Jets’ linebacker Calvin Pace delivered a vicious hit into Manning’s back which made Manning lose his helmet and lunge forward. Manning ended up smacking his forehead squarely against the facemask of Jets’ safety Jim Leonhard and heading to the locker room with a gushing three-inch gash that needed twelve stitches to close.
Fortunately, Manning will be fine, but he may miss some practice time depending on how long it might be before he’s able to again wear a helmet.
The play concluded a fairly tough night for Manning who was just 4 of 8 for 77 yards, 51 of which came on a very nice scamper up the right side by running back Ahmad Bradshaw after Manning avoided a sack and on a broken play, dumped a short “hot potato” type of shovel pass to Bradshaw.
One play after Manning’s injury, the Giants tied the game, 10-10, on a Lawrence Tynes field goal before the Jets grabbed a 13-10 halftime lead on a field goal by newly acquired kicker Nick Folk, who true to his earlier form in Dallas, made three short field goals, but missed when challenged from 46 yards away.
While the Giants’ first string offense failed to run the ball much or get anything going on a consistent basis with the passing game, their reserves stepped things up thereafter.
The second half show was stolen by Cruz, whose name suddenly became synonymous on national television with Terrell Owens. The Patterson, NJ native from the FCS had the final three scores of the game to become the first NFL rookie with three touchdowns in a preseason game since Owens accomplished the feat in 1998.
Although he got away with an offensive facemask, Cruz made a great one-handed grab of a pass by quarterback Jim Sorgi during a 64-yard sprint up the left sideline to put the Giants ahead to stay, 17-16, in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Cruz added a 34-yard touchdown catch from Sorgi and then a 5-yard touchdown reception from fellow FCS product, quarterback Rhett Bomar, from Sam Houston State.
Cruz finished with game highs of 6 catches and 145 yards and after losing David Carr in the offseason, the Giants might have at least discovered some competency (though it was hard to tell against the Jets’ reserves) with which to back up Manning.
Sorgi, who was brought in to help coach Manning after four years of tutoring under Manning’s brother Peyton, was 8 of 15 for 146 yards and no turnovers to go with his two touchdown passes. And, Bomar, in limited action, was a solid 6 of 7 for 67 yards, with no turnovers to go along with the touchdown throw to Cruz, who is now making a strong push to make the final cut for the 53-man roster to be announced by September 4th.
Defensively for the Giants, fifth-year linebacker Gerris Wilkinson led all players with seven tackles and Big Blue got something out of three of this year’s draft picks. Second-round pick, defensive tackle Linval Joseph and fourth-round pick, middle linebacker Phillip Dillard, each had four tackles, while first-round selection, defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, despite looking bad while getting thrown to the ground on an earlier pass rush, later recorded the game’s only sack.
Don’t expect the outspoken, cocky Jets of head coach Rex Ryan to tone anything down in the trash talk department over a preseason loss. But, for the time being, score one in the New York bragging rights column for the more quiet, sticking to going-about-their-business Giants.
