Royalty sees Giants play "First Game" at New Meadowlands Stadium

Giants vs. Panthers

Royalty was in the House

Today was the "First Game" at the New Meadowlands Stadium between the Giants and the Carolina Panthers.

Ironically these two teams played against each other in "Last" Giant game that was played at

Giants Stadium back on December 27, 2009.

Yours truly had the privilege of seeing that game as well. In matter of fact, that was the third time I saw the Carolina Panthers finish the home schedule at Giants Stadium. The Giants lost all three of those games as follows:

On December 28, 2003 the Panthers beat the Giants, 37-24!

On January 8, 2006 the Panthers shut out the Giants in the Wild Card game, 23-0! 

On December 27, 2009 the Panthers closed Giants Stadium for the Giants by embarrassing them, 41-9!

 Was today going to be different with me in the house? 

The answer is yes. A new building and a different result. The Giants opened their new digs in victorious fashion though it wasn't pretty, 31-18!

This was a very sloppy turnover and penalty filled game. The bottom line the Giants defense rose up as the game wore on. As a result, the Giants overcame Eli Manning's 3 interceptions and they lost their tight end Kevin Boss on the first drive of the game shortly after he caught the first pass of the season on the Giants first play from scrimmage for 11 yards and a first down. He wound up being carted off the field a few plays later and he didn't return to the game.

On the bright side for the Giants, their wide receiver Hakeem Nicks caught 3 touchdown passes of 26, 19 and 5 yards respectatively.  

As for the Carolina Panthers, quarterback Matt Moore threw 3 interceptions of his own. All of them were caught in the end zone for touchbacks. Deon Grant, Terrell Thomas and Kenny Phillips got credit for those INT's.

In addition, in the second half of the game he was running for his life as the Giant defense forced him into a number of sacks and pressures. 

Furthermore, both punters had a rough day in this game too.

Jason Baker of the Panthers couldn't even punt the ball thanks to a botched snap that resulted in the Giants getting the ball back with great field position with 4:30 left in the 3rd quarter when the Panthers were still hanging around only down by one point, 17-16. That drive ended with the Giants scoring another touchdown that put the game out of reach for the Panthers. 

Matt Dodge of the Giants had a punt blocked that wound up going through the end zone resulting in a safety for the Panthers late in the game to cut the lead from 15 to 13. That's the way it remained as the Giants won ugly, 31-18!

As for the game experience, I always prefer to see a sporting event live. In the past, I've taken the bus from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan to the Meadowlands for $10 round trip.

Today I decided to give the NJ Transit train service a try. By doing so, that way was $10.50 round trip to go from New York Penn Station to Secaucus Junction where you need to transfer to the train to the game which leaves from track H and takes you right to the Met Life gate where I needed to enter today to get to my seat. 

My seat was located in section 225B row 5 seat 23 which was in the end zone as you can see in the picture above. So by taking the train to the game everything worked out well for me.

I saw my co-worker Brian LaMotta who was at the game a few sections away in 224B. It was nice to see a familar face in the crowd.

In addition, I did get to go upstairs before the game to visit a friend, Jess Geller, whose a long time Giant season ticket holder. Jess sits in section 319 row 21. He said he loves going to the game because of the crowd and more importantly he gets to reunited with his family and friends that sit in his section. 

I told him that's the best part of going these days. In this day and age, it's all about the money. Real fans are being priced out. That's where royalty comes in and I try my very best to make sure that I'm not left out in the street. The same goes for those who want to deal with me.

If you have the will, royalty will help you find the way.

If and when you need my assistance, please let me know.

Thank you for reading. 

Yours truly,

Gary Herman