I'm wayyyyyy too young to know much about the Jets time playing @ Shea stadium. But I'm curious, how were they when they did? I remember something really cool I found out. When the Yankees played the Mets @ Shea over the summer (I was at the ESPN Game on Sunday 8 PM). I had great seats, in the green section right above Home Plate. But anywho, my dad pointed out where he had SEASON TICKETS to the Jets when they played @Shea. (His seats were basically nosebleed of todays 1st Base side). I wish he still had memorabila from back then. I'm going to talk to him about his experiences there and whatnot.
The Jets won the Super Bowl in the 1968-1969 season and played at Shea. The years before were nothing to speak about, the years after were miserable, until they returned to the playoffs in 1980-1981.
Jets did not make the playoffs in the 70's. And did not fill the building for most of the 70's I think. They made the playoffs in 81 and 82. They played a playoff game at home at the end of the 81 season against buffalo. (The playoff games in 82 were all on the road--Im not sure about the playoff games in the 60's) The wind swirled there terribly. Many of the videos (especially the 16-15 win over the dolphins) youll notice garbage all over the field. Not a particularly good place to watch a game. http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/past/shea708.jpg http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/past/SheaStadium.htm
What's up with that photo? It was taken during a Mets game, but why the Buccaneers field art? What is the purpose of that site using a doctored photo? It looks like the Raymond James Stadium field. The same phenomenon can be found in a picture of Metropolitan Stadium.
say what you will it was HOME, up until Leon the idiot decided to flush the teams dignity down the toilet and moved us into Giants Stadium as a tennant. the g*d damn champion steelers were treated the same way at three rivers as the jets were at shea! They didn't move in with the eagles, they stuck it out and renegotiated a fairer deal.
It was cold and miserable and the team was usually awful. I went to a couple of games where we sat in the box seats along the first base line, right behind the Jets bench and the crowd actually had to heckle the players to sit down so we could see. I'm not sure how much of a home field advantage the Jets had at Shea.
He's right about the cold part for sure. Shea in the early winter was cold and extremely windy due to the semi-circular design. The swirling winds in that place would make Heinz field feel like Joe Robbie down in FL. The team didn't win alot however, watching the Jets play anybody, then jumping on the old #7 back to Manhattan made it all worthwhile. :up: Besides, back then, it wasn't that hard to bring "anti-freeze" into the stadium. :wink:
Everybody has hit it on what it was like. I will also say, until baseball season was over, there were some incredibly dirty uniforms out there to the point where you could not see a player's name or number, especially when raining. Even on good days the uniforms would get very dirty though. In the fall they sodded the infield, but it was garbage. Sod would always give way. If it rained, the sod would be destroyed. Shea, a tough place to play. The wind was no joke. Very tough to kick in. Even though we are tenants, we are probably better off at The Meadowlands. Much better conditions on an infinitely better field.
Hey look....it's NY Stadium! Nice, but I'm not sure about the name. I think they should call it Hawaii Stadium. If you're going to use another state as your name, at least pick a nice one. http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/future/NYStadium.htm
It was a crappy stadium and cold as heck, with that bitter wind swirling... we were on the lower level last row, and every Sunday before the game, my dad and brothers would drive by the supermarket to find big boxes to put behind us to try and keep the wind out. It wasn't great, but I was a kid, lucky enough to go to a lot of my team's games, so I was in heaven.
The 1960's were actually a very good decade for the Jets/Titans. At the Polo Grounds the first two Titans teams were 7-7. The Titans had a losing record in 1962 and as the Jets were still below .500 in from 1963 to 1966. Things really picked up after the Jets got Namath in 1965, and the team remained in contention for most of the '66 season ending up back at .500 with a 6-6-2 record. . The Jets made steady progress after that finishing with their first winning record in 1967 (8-5-1) and then the Super Bowl year (11-3) and the last AFL East division title in 1969. The 70's were a wasteland for the playoffs, but by 1978, Walt Michael's had turned the team into a playoff contender and we saw an exciting young team on the rise post consecutive 8-8s. I loved Shea because it was a rough place for the opposition to play, rough on kickers. You had the winds off the Bay, the planes roaring overhead, the dirt infield which was great, and the big black scoreboard in one end zone. I wish the Jets could just take Shea back after the Mets leave, and completely renovate it for themselves. Alas, those days are gone.
Like anywhere else, when we were good we had a tremendous home field advantage. The game I remember it coming into play most was the finale of the 1981 season vs Green Bay. Both teams needed to win to get in the playoffs and Green Bay had a prolific passing attack with John Jefferson and James Lofton at WR. They couldn't throw the ball worth a damn in the wind and the Sack Exchange had about 8 sacks of Lynn Dickey. After their first posession the Packers had to punt out of the closed end (from home plate straight out towards the outfield), with the wind coming in. The punt went about 15 yards, we got great field position and Richard Todd hit Wesley Walker with a TD (with the wind) to put us ahead. We never looked back, and I think Shea had a lot to do with shutting them down. Between the wind and our D-line, they never had a chance.
Where the pitchers mound is where the goalpost was planted into. basically we stunk in Shea, we were more 2nd class citizens there than in the current Stadium. We never opened at home and sometimes didn't play a home game until 5 or 6 games into the season. Our win % at Shea is lower than at the meadowlands. I go back to '81 so i only saw 3 seasons of Shea but I loved it and it will always be home no matter how long we play in the meadowlands. I got a chance to go to 1 game at Shea, i have recounted the story many time on here so I'll save you from the boring details but it was the final season at home vs. Buf in 1983.
Great question. I was looking at the pictures and notice the dugouts rotate -- or am i wrong. I dont know how that can be. Maybe its just an optical illusion. The dugouts look now as if they are permanent.
Cool pic, thanks. If I remember correctly, at least in the later years, the goal post was behind home plate. The goal line was just about home plate, the pitchers mound was about the 20 and the back of the infield dirt behind 2nd base was the 50. After the baseball season ended they'd fill sod into the dirt and put bleachers in the spaces behind the home plate end zone created by the sliding seats, and behind the end zone in the outfield. Early in the year you could always see the baseball wall in the background with all the cheesy pennants painted on it. I remember that Buffalo game, too. A beautiful day and a disappointing loss.
Anybody know anything about some story about a half time flying lawn mower exhibition at Shea that crashed into the stands and seriously injured somebody? I don't know where I heard that rumor.
