Memories-Stories from Schaefer-Sullivan-Foxboro Stadium

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Ive been to quite few games at the old ball yard...

My favorite game that I personally attended...

1 Jacksonville in 1996 the Burnell hail mary games

2 Buffalo in 1996 TNT

3 Pitt fog bowl- you just had to be there

4 Tuna Bowl 1 - There was so much excitement ,it was incredible

5 Pitt game in 1997 - We lost but it was a exciting game...

6 Indy in 2001 - The Brady era begins....

My favorite game I did not go to, was the last game, did not travel because of snow... That to me is the best game in Pats history, with out that game, we would not be so upset that we are not playing today..

 

[italian pat patriot]

We played Bocci(sp) (lawn bowling) in the gravel parking lot.

A great time though!!

i play bocce too sporadically on my summer holidays

 

[italian pat patriot]

some new memories ?

 

[DSal]

My first year with seasons tickets was 1973. It cost me $56.00 for the entire season! Parking was $3.00 and the beer (Schaefer) was absolutely horrible - but we drank it anyway

 

[Patjew]

Some buddies and I went to the last game of the 1992 season. They were horrible (2-14) that year but they gave Miami a good game, narrowly losing it at the end (13-16), as usual. It was so friggin' cold and I was not dressed for it. We bought our tix in the parking lot before the game and started getting hammered at 10 AM. We had seats in 2 sections, one end zone and the other lower level at the 50. By half time we were all in the good section. In the middle of the 4th quarter we got into a rumble with some Fins fans and had to leave early to take my buddy to get his mouth stitched up. We listened to the end of the game on the way to the hospital.

It sounds terrible but that's actually a pretty good memory.

 

[italian pat patriot]

Schaefer Beer exist still today or not anymore ?

 

[DSal]

Schaefer Beer exist still today or not anymore ?

It's been banned - it was rumored to be step #2 in the waterboarding in Guantanamo

 

[Pats726]

Re: Parachute Jumper

I can no longer remember his name, but, one of the half-time shows was a parachute jumper who landed on some giant air cushions. He was fine.
That was during the Sullivan years.
The stadium must have been called Shaffer ( for the beer) at that time.

We had a large group if taligaters and traffic was so bad we arrived at 9:30 for a 1 o'clock game. How well I remember those early morning bloody mary's.

I wonder if that was the MOnday night game against the Colts??? THAT one was memorable for OTHER reasons..

 

[p8ryts]

I remember sitting on the East Side and there was an old timer that used to stand on stadium wall in the front row around the 40 yard line and count off the score whenever the Pats scored. Loved those high scoring games counting out the points one at a time. My kids (NashvillePatsFan for instance) used to think I was crazy.

I remember opening day of the Foxboro Stadium against the Giants in the preseason. I just made it into the parking lot for kickoff, let everybody else out and listened to the kickoff on the radio and finally said the hell with it and left the car right there and went into the stadium. Gridlock.

I remember people walking by our car and moving my hibachi because they thought it was too close to the gas tank. (hmm, maybe they were right, thanks).

I remember losing to the Colts, Monday night, pouring rain, when the Colts scored three times in the waning moments. I still dislike Joe Washington.

I remeber Losing to the Jets 6-3, when they were down to their 4th string QB and only threw the ball about 7 times. The only game I left early except for one other game in DC against the Redskins. They almost came back after I left but that was the last loss before they went on the winning streak.

It's funny how you seem to remember the bad things more than the good things. I could go on and on, Tarver fumbling out of the end zone, OJ killing us, Mike Haynes falling down in the 78 playoff game.

Oh well, they are all positive starting in 2001.

 

[patsfan13]

Re: Parachute Jumper

I remember going to the racetrack when Schaffer stadium was being built for the Superfoot competition. That was how J Smith became our kicker.

An early game against the Jets, played in the remants of a Hurricane either 70 or 71, must have rained 3 or 4 inches during the game. The stadium was a swamp.

 

[BelizePats]

My first Pats game was the Monday night game in 1981 against the Dallas Cowboys. On the drive in to the stadium, a big sign read, "Everybody welcome, except Howard". I had flown down from Toronto with a couple of buddies for my 19th birthday. Tony Dorsett ran all over us and we ended up losing. What I can still picture so vividly are the number of punch ups in the stands. As a wide eyed Canadian kid I was not used to this kind of thing at at sporting event. There was a nasty scrap about two rows behind me and I watched a Mass Trooper wade into the crowd to break it up. As soon as he got to the fight he got punched in the face and knocked out cold. I remember looking at my friend an saying "holy sh!t, they beat up cops here". It was just crazy.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Opening day 1975.....It was an absolute monsoon against the Oilers (think Tenn Titans for the young'uns) and the only score was a Houston fumble return for a 7-0 final. Total offense was less than 300 yards for both teams.
Neil Graff was one of the Pats QBs (with Grogan)and Darryl Stingley returned punts...To this day I don't think I've ever been as soaked as then....


1975 New England Patriots Statistics & Players - Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[Mogamedogz]

I saw lots of crazy stuff at the old stadium. The one that stands out most, was when some drunk tool beat the piss out of some Dolphins fan at the port-a-john... His buddies were cheering him on, until the Dolphin fans husband came rushing in to save HIS WIFE from the pumbling she was getting.

I'll admit... she did REALLY look like a dude... but damn.


The best game I probably saw there was the Jax game in '96. What a blessing it was that they took Denver out for us that season. The field looked like a swamp for that game.

 

[Mike the Brit]

It's been banned - it was rumored to be step #2 in the waterboarding in Guantanamo

:eat3: Aaargh!

 

[Urgent]

A lot of great memories of the stadium, and depressing memories.

My first year out of college, five friends and I bought four season tickets. We had a draft, where we got to each select one game ticket per round, and then traded them back and forth. Great fun.

The aluminum seats were miserable. They were way too close together. You'd start in seat 18, and then, when the crowd jumped up and sat down, you'd be in seat 19. Then back to 17. If you left to get food or go to the bathroom, your spot would be squeezed out. Each time you sat down you were elbowing for space.

I remember a cold game, sloshing into those under-the-stadium urinal lines and seeing a guy passed out in the bathroom, in the grey-brown slush, face down. That takes some dedicated drinking, to say, hey, this looks like a nice place for a nap.

I remember a Jets game in 1986. After the game, the Sox AL Championship game against the Angels was on. Maybe 10,000, maybe 20,000 fans stayed to watch the game on TV's powered by car batteries in the parking lots. That was the Dave Henderson, Donnie Moore game. By the fourth inning or so, stadium security was riding around in vans announcing that the stadium was closing two hours after the game. Right. It was a beautiful fall afternoon. When Henderson hit that home run, thousands of cars started honking their horns across the parking lots. What a great day.

There used to be fights every game, all across the stadium. Fans would get into it, and a section would turn into a giant pit, flailing at each other. Then another section. Then another. Eventually the Krafts just started ejecting anyone who fought, permanently. However, that fan group was wild. Nothing like the current group. Just screaming for four hours. Before the game. During the game. After the game. It was a long, loud roar. And because we were all jammed into such a small space, it was deafening. Now the stadium is twice the size, with the same number of seats, open end zone and thousands of luxury box seats behind glass, without all the guys who have lost their tickets for behavior or cost. And not just men. There were four women who sat two rows in front of us who brutally cursed the opposing team and fans from start to finish.

I remember that Bledsoe game against Minnesota, huge comeback. That fog playoff game against Jacksonville, where you couldn't see the other side of the stadium and had to await the reaction of the fans on the other side to know what was happening.

We loved Tatupu. We didn't like Eason. We were up and down on Fryar.

Lot of memories.

 

[italian pat patriot]

A lot of great memories of the stadium, and depressing memories.

My first year out of college, five friends and I bought four season tickets. We had a draft, where we got to each select one game ticket per round, and then traded them back and forth. Great fun.

The aluminum seats were miserable. They were way too close together. You'd start in seat 18, and then, when the crowd jumped up and sat down, you'd be in seat 19. Then back to 17. If you left to get food or go to the bathroom, your spot would be squeezed out. Each time you sat down you were elbowing for space.

I remember a cold game, sloshing into those under-the-stadium urinal lines and seeing a guy passed out in the bathroom, in the grey-brown slush, face down. That takes some dedicated drinking, to say, hey, this looks like a nice place for a nap.

I remember a Jets game in 1986. After the game, the Sox AL Championship game against the Angels was on. Maybe 10,000, maybe 20,000 fans stayed to watch the game on TV's powered by car batteries in the parking lots. That was the Dave Henderson, Donnie Moore game. By the fourth inning or so, stadium security was riding around in vans announcing that the stadium was closing two hours after the game. Right. It was a beautiful fall afternoon. When Henderson hit that home run, thousands of cars started honking their horns across the parking lots. What a great day.

There used to be fights every game, all across the stadium. Fans would get into it, and a section would turn into a giant pit, flailing at each other. Then another section. Then another. Eventually the Krafts just started ejecting anyone who fought, permanently. However, that fan group was wild. Nothing like the current group. Just screaming for four hours. Before the game. During the game. After the game. It was a long, loud roar. And because we were all jammed into such a small space, it was deafening. Now the stadium is twice the size, with the same number of seats, open end zone and thousands of luxury box seats behind glass, without all the guys who have lost their tickets for behavior or cost. And not just men. There were four women who sat two rows in front of us who brutally cursed the opposing team and fans from start to finish.

I remember that Bledsoe game against Minnesota, huge comeback. That fog playoff game against Jacksonville, where you couldn't see the other side of the stadium and had to await the reaction of the fans on the other side to know what was happening.

We loved Tatupu. We didn't like Eason. We were up and down on Fryar.

Lot of memories.

i think it was not an 'easy' place to come for the opposite fans

 

[Mike the Brit]

I think Mike Reiss has been reading your thread, IPTP! There's an interview in the Globe today with Irving Fryar, talking about his son, who is an UDFA with the Chiefs, and his own career with the Pats.

Hindsight will be helpful - The Boston Globe

And, on the blog, a piece called "Old-School Memories".

Old-school memories - Reiss' Pieces - Boston.com

Here's Mike's personal contribution:

'Like most teenagers growing up in New England at that time, the first memory that came to mind was "Squish the Fish" in the 1985 playoffs, followed by the Super Bowl loss. I also vividly remember attending a late-season game in 1992 at Foxboro Stadium, one of the 19,429 in attendance to see a 6-0 loss to the Colts at the tail end of the **** MacPherson era. Times have certainly changed since that day.'

 

[cmasspatsfan]

My first game in the old stadium was the last game of the season against the Rams, Grogan was QB, I remember the Pats needed a TD to win and make the playoffs, Grogan got sacked on 4th down and that was that. It was a cold day and I froze my ass off and my feet were numb by the end of the game.
I went to a lot in between my first and last game there, a couple wins against the Jets, losses to the Dolphins and an OT loss to the Cowboys on a Herschel Walker long run in OT.
My last game was another cold game, snowed a foot the night before and it was still in the stadium, it was a 4 oclock kickoff, I dressed for it but didnt bring anything to sit on, again froze my ass off. They lost to the 49ers
So my first and last memory of the stadium is of me freezing my ass off and them losing.

 

[cupofjoe1962]

I remember Joe Washington scoring 3 touchdowns (passing, receiving & kick return) against the Patriots in a rainstom in 1978.

I remember going to the season opener in 1979 against the Pittsburgh Steelers who won the superbowl the year before. The games was on labor day and the gates opened at noon. There were tons of fights in the parking lot because everyone was drunk.

I remember this huge guy walking by our car with a bloody cloth held to
his head. It looked like he was going for medical assistance. About an
hour later the same guy came back still holding the now dry/bloody cloth
as he ate a cheeseburger with the other hand.

I wonder if he watched the game holding that dry/bloody cloth over his eye.

The game started and there were as many fights in the stands as in the
parking lot. Two guys who were sitting a few rows behind us started fighting
and they were rolling down the bench seats. People were kicking them as
they rolled on past our row down to the next few rows.

The Patriots held a lead over the Steelers 13-6 heading into the final
quarter. Bradshaw connected to Sidney Thornton to tie the game and
send it into overtime.

As the overtime was about to start the same two guys rolled past our
row fighting again. People were kicking them harder this time. The 2 guys
were escorted from the stadium. They must have had a 2 fight and your out rule in 1979.

The Steelers won the overtime coin toss and marched down the filed. Matt Bahr kicked the winning fieldgoal for the steelers in overtime. That was Matt Bahr 1st NFL game.

I will never forget the LA-Beer years.
They decided that the stadium was too out of control They stopped Monday night games in the early 80's and
started serving LA-Beer. It lasted a few seasons before they decided to switch back to real beer.

I remember going to a game against the Rams on Christmas eve in the late
80's. I do not think there were 12.000 people in the stadium.

They were all good times.... even the LA-Beer years....

 

[Hardboiled]

The Tampa Bay -Flutie is Benched game.

My brother and I also refer to it as the Drunk Santa game as some poor dude was so wasted, he was passed out in the first quarter. It was cold-d-d-d-d-d. He was sitting in his Santa outfit to start the game and and slowly ended up sideways on the bench. His buddies put his feet up and he laid there.

I remember my brother was running back and forth on the empty benches behind us with a blanket over him trying to keep warm. (Years later we prepared better for the Tenn playoff game).

During the week, Ray Berry refused to name a starting qb. That sent a signal that Eason was going to start over Flutie. The crowd was all over Eason. MARY...MARY..MARY. Eason threw a horrific interception into the end zone that brought a roar of frozen boos. Pats won a low scoring game and got into the playoffs where I believe they lost to Denver.