Sean MacDonald, a member of the Club 122, an exclusive group of sports fans who have attended a game in all 122 professional “Big Four” (MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL) venues, ranks MetLife Stadium among the league’s worst venues in his “Ultimate Football Road Trip” sports travel guidebook.
In 2013, MacDonald attended a game in all 32 NFL venues, while driving 20,353 miles over the 17-week season. He added three playoff games and the Super Bowl at MetLife to his impressive journey, making 36 games watched live.
Lambeau Field topped the list, while MetLife ranked 27th for Giants games and 29th for Jets games. The Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis was dead last.
MacDonald sat in the upper deck of Patriots-Jets.
“I found Jets fans to be a bit more, I guess, negative … humorless perhaps,” MacDonald told The Rumble. “I found the fans around me to complain as soon as something bad happened. There’s also a bit more drunkenness and that sort of thing.”
MacDonald stayed for the Giants’ Monday night victory over Josh Freeman and the Vikings.
“The Giants fans were a bit more well off, I thought,” he said. “It seemed like they had nicer cars in the parking lot. The Giants seem to attract sort of the more established fan, older, a little bit more money.”
Another difference: “The Giants have a small room with like the Super Bowl trophy inside and a lot of historical memorabilia,” MacDonald said, “and that’s not available during Jets games.”
Bills fans? “The drunkest in the league,” MacDonald said.
The categories included: parking and transit, location, aesthetics, cost, the fans, food, friendliness of game-day staff, pregame party, and the history on display.
MacDonald found getting in and out of MetLife too problematic.
“I’m personally a fan of stadiums that are in the downtown area,” MacDonald said.
MetLife was not without one important positive, however.
“The grilled cheese sandwich was one of the better things that I had on the trip,” MacDonald said.
Gee helping to strike out cancer
Mets pitcher Dillon Gee is doing his best to help find a cure for cancer.
Gee has joined forces with 108 stitches, a clothing company which has enlisted a player from every MLB team to help raise money for cancer research. Gee will be urging people to buy a “K Cancer” T-shirt to help stamp out the dreaded disease.
“The cause is near and dear to my family,” Gee said. “My older brother, Jared, has been battling leukemia for the last few years. After seeing what he has gone through, it makes what I do on the baseball field so trivial.”
The money raised for Dillon’s shirt will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Jason Motte started the initiative and other players involved include Craig Kimbrel, Evan Longoria, Jon Lester and Cliff Lee. The T-shirts are available at http://www.108stitches.com.
U.S. Open already serving up feast
The U.S. Open is a few weeks away, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a sampling of the great food that will be available in Flushing beforehand.
Monday through Wednesday fans can taste some upcoming menu items as a food truck will make the rounds through Manhattan. Monday starting at noon, it will be in Madison Square Park; Tuesday at noon it will be in Union Square; and Wednesday at 5 p.m., the truck will be at Bryant Park.
Items that will be available are lobster rolls, filet sliders, Hill Country brisket and steak tacos to name a few.
There will also be prizes, giveaways and a special promotion code for discounted tickets for the U.S. Open, which runs Aug. 25-Sept. 8. Fans can also take pictures with life-size cutouts of Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and the U.S. Open trophy.
Gardens gets set for Dream Week
From Aug. 11-15, the Garden of Dreams Foundation, along with partner the Police Athletic League (PAL), will hold its seventh annual Dream Week. The Garden of Dreams will provide 40 children with a week of activities that touches every part of the MSG company, including the Knicks, Rangers, Liberty, MSG Entertainment and MSG Networks. Throughout the week, the kids will be all over New York as they spend time at the MSG Training Center learning basketball drills and ice skating techniques from Knicks, Liberty and Rangers alumni including John Starks, Larry Johnson, Rod Gilbert, Ron Greschner, Kym Hampton and Teresa Weatherspoon.
Other activities include attending a Giants practice at MetLife Stadium, receiving a tennis clinic at the Stadium Tennis Center in Mill Pond Park and touring Radio City Music Hall with the Rockettes. The children will be attend a Liberty game on Tuesday and be a part of the game’s activities, such as singing the national anthem, introducing the starting lineups and helping Mike Crispino call the game for MSG.