I just need you guys to know this:

[P4E]

I got to watch the Fins-Jets game at the Meadowlands Sunday

...at the 50-yardline,
...behind the Dolphins' bench,
...in Row 9.

I had posted a thread here last week asking for comments/advice on buying tickets at the game. 85intheHall -- a serious Jet fan --
offered some thoughtful advice, which my brother and I followed.

We were able to get tixs for $80 apiece outside the stadium. Face value: $55 each
Location: Lowest level, Row 30, but down beside the endzone

[Ethicists, moralists and persons of strict integrity are advised not to read any further.]

We went in an hour and 20 minutes before kick-off and wandered down to our correct seats. Then we sauntered over to the 50 yardline section (#131) to see our heroes up-close.

It was so great just BEING there that the decision to see if we might be able to STAY there just kinda happened. Seats slowly filled around us, and for the longest time no one wandered up with that all-telling glance between their ticket stubs and the seats we were quickly vacating.

But it WAS an night game, it had threatened rain and/or showered most of the day and the Jets really hadn't been playing that well. We wondered what the chances were that some choice seats might go unclaimed. We had legit tickets, and we figured we'd be outta luck and heading for those seats soon, anyway. So we just played it out.

It got a little dicey as we hadda step over the back of seats twice to stay in play there. (Yeah, -- we had no shame. This was a Dolphins-Jets game, after all.) I'd been unable to persuade my bro to hide his Fins cap, and with our first sheepish, shameless seatback-stepover a bunch of the Jets fans a row or two back started razzing us. All I could do was look at them with desperation and pleading in my eyes. One started calling out to an usher in a pretty damn loud stage whisper, only partially in jest.

I spoke to the guy who seemed to be their leader, and I asked politely for a break. I told him we'd just keep seats warm till someone claimed them. It seemed that once it was established that THEY controlled the situation they eased up on us without any problem.

We hadda step back a row that second time, caught some good-natured grief, and then we got to enjoy a heck of a game. As Fin fans, we sure would have preferred a different outcome. But the coolest thing about the seating situation was the unfolding reality that we were all watching our respective favorite teams in yet another dramatic -- albeit flawed -- battle.

I have to thank the Jets fans for their kind tolerance of a couple Fin fans that they coulda had booted.

I have to thank 85InTheHall for his ticket procurement advice.

And I have to thank the holders of seats 10 and 11, Row 9, Section 131 for opting not to show-up. We owe ya. :)

 

[85inthehall]

Glad to hear it worked out for you....not bad on the price ---
sorry you couldn't see your boys win

 

[P4E]

Not bad is right. lol I figure there were people in the section around me who payed $250, $300 or more for those seats -- the folks who could pay that amount or ten times that amount and not feel it in the least. And unless your singular criteria is the outcome, everyone there pretty much got their money's worth: 12:15 am, less than 3 minutes to go -- and still no reason to leave the stadium. The place was still packed all the way up to the top rows.

And don't worry about the outcome too much. Fin fans get to see their team win alot. Never enough; but alot.

 

[85inthehall]

did you pick up a jets hat to get the tix or go with no team gear at all

 

[P4E]

We didn't have any Jets gear sitting around, so we just showed up before 5pm (as you had advised) and went about the ticket negotiations sans any Dolphins insignia. We were entirely ready to buy and wear a standard-issue hat or shirt each, as the "good-will" value might have made the difference at the margins -- and we woulda done just about anything at that point to make sure we got inside. (As I said before, I'm shameless. :)) But we actually purchased the tix alongside one of the access roads outside the complex, before we saw any team stuff being hawked.

Their were two key things about your advice that worked to our benefit:

1. You were upbeat about the likely availability of tickets, as long as the effort was undertaken early enough. (We hadn't been entirely sure it was worth making the trip; you tilted the balance toward going for it.)

2. I woulda walked right into the trap about showing up in full Dolphin regalia in the midst of enemy territory. You were right -- the folks selling tickets seemed to be just as much Jets partisans as they were profiteers. I have no doubt that some of the purchase opportunities we were offered just wouldn't have come our way if we were obvious Dolphin nuts. It was a sellers' market and their were SCORES of people for sellers to pitch.

Indeed, the guy who presented the best deal at the best price -- the seller we bought from -- was clearly a Jets maniac, and he didn't fit the scalper profiteer profile in the least. Colours -- or lack thereof -- may well have made the difference. :)