When the Jets and Giants kick off the National Football League’s preseason this Monday, Aug. 16 and inaugurate their new home field, New Meadowlands Stadium , Secaucus resident Joe Testa will be there, he said, “to see history being made.”
A superstitious football fan who wears a “lucky shirt” on game days to send winning vibes to his beloved New York Giants, Testa explained, “They’ll be christening the new stadium. I wasn’t going to miss that! The outcome of this game could set the stage for years. It’ll either be a good omen or a bad omen. Of course, I want it to be a good omen for the Giants.”
The Giants could have used Testa’s lucky shirt back in June when kick returner Domenik Hixon suffered a torn ACL during a team practice on the new field. Hixon will be out for the rest of the season, a bad omen for sure.
From now until 2014 everything the NFL does in East Rutherford will be a buildup to Super Bowl XLVIII.
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Bar scene
That city has a slew of bars that show the games, and fans from all over prepared last week to watch.
“I consider myself to be pretty big Giants fan. But I never went to Giants Stadium,” said Jersey City resident Rachel Stein, who said she will probably head over to Liberty Bar & Grill on 14th Street in Hoboken to watch the game with three friends.
Last week, Liberty bar owner Dawn Kaplan and her staff were finalizing which prizes and other specials will be offered during the NFL season.
Long a popular hangout for sports fans, Liberty attracts baseball, football, and soccer devotees. The bar is also near Manning’s condo.
“Football has a different energy than baseball,” Kaplan said. “People are more engaged in football when they watch it. I think the season is going to be really great this year. Hoboken is becoming more of a football town, I think, because there are a couple of Giants living here now.”
Manning, who lives near Liberty Bar, is even having an impact on local Hoboken lore.
Ray Powers, a Pittsburgh fan and a member of the popular “Steelers in Hoboken” football club that watches games together each week, said rumor has it that Manning once paid an uptown bar owner to keep the growing Steelers club out.
“I love that,” he said. “Our numbers got so big, he supposedly paid to keep us out.”
Will Kelly, the manager at Jersey City’s Skinner’s Loft, said fans are less cutthroat there.
“We’re not a big sports bar. It’s a little more subdued here, I guess,” said Kelly. “I notice that during the football season the crowd tends to be coupled fans. They usually come and camp out on a Sunday afternoon or a Monday night and just hang out and watch the game and cheer. We don’t get too many younger people or guys coming in droves who just want to drink and watch football.”
Fans, he said, come for Skinner’s “nice draft beers” and stay for the games.
Super Bowl coming
Frank Rolle of Secaucus doesn’t have a lucky shirt and won’t be at the new stadium on the 16th. But he believes a win for his beloved Gang Green will “be a sign of good things to come for the team. It could be the start of a long winning streak…How great would it be for the Jets to in the 2014 Super Bowl?”
In May, NFL team owners awarded Super Bowl XLVIII to the New York/New Jersey area and New Meadowlands Stadium. Many local fans would love to see one of the home teams make it to the big game, which will be played in February of 2014.
Strictly speaking, the Jets-Giants preseason opener isn’t really a christening for New Meadowlands Stadium. Bon Jovi did the honors three months ago, and other events have been held there. Just last week, soccer teams from the U.S. and Brazil played an exhibition match at the stadium.
But the Jets-Giants game is the first NFL match to be held in an arena that most people consider first and foremost to be a football stadium, and from now until 2014, everything the NFL does in East Rutherford will be a buildup to Super Bowl XLVIII.
Many fans must park in Secaucus
To park at New Meadowlands Stadium, drivers must have a prepaid parking permit. General admission and one-time parking options have been eliminated.
Ticket holders without prepaid permits will have to park at the lot at the Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station in Secaucus and take an NJ Transit train over to the stadium. Parking rates at the Secaucus lot are $20 on game days and $160 for the season.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.