I've made at least a dozen trips to Giants Stadium over the years, but never knew what was taking place on the pedestrian ramps at Gate D during halftime of Jets games.
New York Times writer David Picker describes a disturbing tradition that has apparently gone on for years, but hasn't yet caught on with the stadium's other tenants.
"At halftime of the Jets' home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, several hundred men lined one of Giants Stadium's two pedestrian ramps at Gate D. Three deep in some areas, they whistled and jumped up and down. Then they began an obscenity-laced chant, demanding that the few women in the gathering expose their breasts."
"When one woman appeared to be on the verge of obliging, the hooting and hollering intensified. But then she walked away, and plastic beer bottles and spit went flying. Boos swept through the crowd of unsatisfied men."
If memory serves correct, this almost never happened at Baylor's Floyd Casey Stadium during the Grant Teaff era. I love that Picker suggests at one point that the Jets might bear some responsibility because of their on-field performance.
He knew he was sitting on a comic gold mine, but his association with "the world's most important publication" kept holding him back. Picker was even threatened by security while reporting this story.
In a moment that makes you proud to be an American, one security guard explained to Picker that he wasn't allowed to intervene at Gate D due to free speech laws.
And honestly, isn't this what our forefathers envisioned? That someday the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority would preserve the rights of men to become ridiculously drunk and chastise women for being prude enough not to expose their breasts at Giants Stadium
Bravo Gentlemen!
