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Shea Back in the Day

HahnSolo Jan 15 2011 07:57 AM

I don't think I'd ever seen video of the football Giants at Shea before... [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je2i4AvNMKE This was from December '75 and you can see the wear and tear on the Shea turf.

Ashie62 Jan 15 2011 09:45 AM Re: Shea Back in the Day

Year before Giants go to NJ I can clearly remember watching Joe Namath blowing out his knee in the infield at Shea in what seemed like an annual event.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 15 2011 09:48 AM Re: Shea Back in the Day

Year before Giants go to NJ I can clearly remember watching Joe Namath blowing out his knee in the infield at Shea in what seemed like an annual event. Here's Namath's comeback game -- November 1971 against the 49ers. Namath returns after missing the Jets' last 20 games. John Facenda refers to Shea Stadium as "the most famous house on Long Island. Shea shingles, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQv06q2UTqo

G-Fafif Jan 16 2011 11:08 AM Re: Shea Back in the Day

Bob Delaney doing the narrating honors on the Jets-Niners game. "Most famous house on Long Island" -- classic. Thanks for directing us to both of these treasures. Love seeing Shea kept busy in its off hours, even if it's a reminder of how dispiriting virtually every Sunday in New York was for a football over the course of a decade. That Giants-Colts game looks like almost every Giants game they played back then, save for the setting and the helmets. "Their best scoring chance..." Yes, one. Then two short years later Craig Morton's in the Super Bowl with the Broncos (and just as effective). And I knew I wasn't imagining that Joe Namath seemed like an "apparition" as Delaney (or his writer) put it. Namath would be in commercials, on sitcoms, the talk of everything, but every time I looked up, it seemed Al Woodall was starting for the Jets. If 1970-1980 taught me anything, it's to never, ever take a Giant or Jet playoff appearance for granted.

G-Fafif Jan 16 2011 11:20 AM Re: Shea Back in the Day

Game footage, opener, 1979, Jets-Browns, Shea still very much in baseball mode. Jets helmet painted on the grass, however. It wasn't until 1978 that the Jets got somewhat favorable terms from the Mets and the city that allowed them to play a home game before the baseball season was over...as if the baseball season in those days wasn't over by May. This would become a very annoying OT loss. But I love that era's uniform and SST logo.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 16 2011 11:48 AM Re: Shea Back in the Day

G-Fafif wrote: Game footage, opener, 1979, Jets-Browns, Shea still very much in baseball mode. Jets helmet painted on the grass, however. That was the first football game I ever attended. One theme for the 1979-80 Jets was fans chanting "We want Matt (Robinson)". This chant gained momentum -- and decibels-- as the season progressed.

G-Fafif Jan 16 2011 12:03 PM Re: Shea Back in the Day Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 17 2011 06:57 AM

Shea Stadium hosted three football playoff games, all of them nailbiters (and frostbiters). Good looks at the old mulitpurpose facility from each. The artsy defensive denouement, courtesy of AFL Films, of the 1968 league championship between the Jets and the Raiders ("A Stunning Prelude"), here. From an NFL Network documentary on the 1969 Chiefs and the only semifinal round in AFL history (and the last AFL game the Jets would play), the Shea home team falls Jetscruciatingly short, ending their reign as defending champs, here. The only playoff game in blue-walled Shea, 1981, highlights spliced together by a Bills fan (opening kickoff and closing moments not for the faint-of-heart), here. For the record, the Jets have hosted four playoff games since moving to New Jersey: 1985 Wild Card (loss to Pats; avenged today); 1986 Wild Card (win over Chiefs; avenging 1969); 1998 Divisional Round (flattening Jacksonville); and 2002 Wild Card Round (arguably Peyton Manning's worst day as a pro/person).

G-Fafif Jan 16 2011 12:09 PM Re: Shea Back in the Day

batmagadanleadoff wrote: G-Fafif wrote: Game footage, opener, 1979, Jets-Browns, Shea still very much in baseball mode. Jets helmet painted on the grass, however. That was the first football game I ever attended. One theme for the 1979-80 Jets was fans chanting "We want Matt (Robinson)". This chant gained momentum -- and decibels-- as the season progressed. It should've been Matt. Not that the rest of his career bore that out, but it should've been Matt. FYI, Kevin Kobel, Andy Hassler and Neil Allen were in Houston that day in 1979, holding off the Astros, 5-4. Losing pitcher -- future 1986 excessive celebrant Randy Niemann. Starting left fielder John Stearns drove in two runs to help the Mets raise their record to 53-79, tamping down their tragic number at 3, with 30 games to go.