Family, Friends and Football: A Weekend of Football

To say I had a full football weekend would be an understatement.

I broadcast the Toms River North-Howell game on Friday as the Mariners rolled to another impressive victory. Saturday we headed to Piscataway to see Penn State play Rutgers and met with the families of my daughter’s friends along with a bunch of my son’s friends as well as my brother, his girlfriend and son. Our group was 30 strong!

The weather during the afternoon was perfect with temperatures well into the 60’s and for the most part surrounding Rutgers’ fans were much friendlier than a couple of years ago.  Geoff Brown, who was for many years the General Manager of the Lakewood BlueClaws stopped by. He is now the Assistant Athletic Director in charge of marketing and was beaming over the success of the outdoor wrestling match with Princeton Saturday morning which drew over 16,000 fans in Rutgers Stadium.

While talking with him Athletic Director Pat Hobbs made his way over to our area as he was visiting many of the tailgate lots wishing everyone well (yes even the Penn State fans).

As you probably know the warmth of the afternoon was quickly replaced by cold and rain as a weather front came through at the end of the first quarter.  Eventually it became heavy rain and hail and by the time we left the temperature had dropped nearly 30 degrees and it was snowing.

Penn State would win the game 39-0 and I won’t add to the misery for Scarlet Knight fans but I did think the atmosphere was great and the fan support for the home team was impressive despite their poor record.

I got just over five hours sleep and then was up early to meet another group of friends at 7:30 in the morning as 11 of us traveled in a Winnebago to MetLife Stadium for a morning tailgate and then the Giants-Bears game.  Great time but I spent most of the second half in the Chase Club watching through glass windows and on TV as the wind and cold was just too much for me.  I did go back outside for the final five minutes as the Giants secured their fifth straight win and then it was back into the motorhome and eventually the trip back home.

Family, friends and football.  Sounds like a Thanksgiving preview.