Wanna Know What It Was Like At Sullivan Stadium in 1990?

[juxtapoz15]

I love watching clips from back before NFL merchandise became a big thing. Its interesting seeing people just dress in whatever they had in their closet.

 

[InRodWeRust]

Wow my first season as a Pats fan! I have have to watch this when I get home! I'm dying to see if I can find the famous "Goads Toads" banner on the sideline stands

 

[reflexblue]

Great quality video

Lots of names that bring back memories

Clean stadium no advertising.

Its LOUD like it should be, i think they weeded all the loud rowdy fans out You don't hear cheering like that today.

Ever since the razor opened and replaced them with a Total family atmosphere, which is ok in moderation.

 

[Tunescribe]

Its LOUD like it should be, i think they weeded all the loud rowdy fans out You don't hear cheering like that today.

Ever since the razor opened and replaced them with a Total family atmosphere, which is ok in moderation.

It was loud back then because the stadium was right on top of the field. Gillette still gets loud when it really matters. (Notice on the video that it seems louder when the Pats are about to score -- Grogan has to keep waving his arms for the crowd to shut up.)

 

[Hebeill]

It was loud back then because the stadium was right on top of the field. Gillette still gets loud when it really matters. (Notice on the video that it seems louder when the Pats are about to score -- Grogan has to keep waving his arms for the crowd to shut up.)

I have attended only a couple of pats games all in the seventies, but one of the beauties of the old stadium was the proximity of the fans to the field, thats missing. I can remember some of the games in the ninties and early 2000's where the fans were so loud it was just a wall of sound, a howling sound that just drowned even the announcers out. I don't hear that anymore, its not just the fans its the accoustics of Gillette.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

I think they weeded all the loud rowdy fans out

They have weeded out the fans who went because $20 could them in the door and get them a beer or two as well, with a little left over for gas money!

 

[PatsFanSince74]

They have weeded out the fans who went because $20 could them in the door and get them a beer or two as well, with a little left over for gas money!

If it had only been just a "beer or two...," but it was a lot more for too many, on top of whatever they had before the game.

Like others here, I miss the noise and, if the word can be used here, "intimacy" of the old place (but not the "seats"). I'm 6'4" and could hold my own when lubricated fans got to fighting and didn't mind the cursing, but I never would have brought my kids there.

I guess, like a lot of things in life, it's a trade off.

 

[SoCal Bong]

I'm only 5 minutes in but I love it! Being in Hawaii and under 21 at the time (so I couldn't get into sports bars yet), I didn't get to see many games on TV so my first flashback when I see names like Marv Cook and John Stephens is that this was pretty much the roster for Super Tecmo Bowl. Fascinating!

 

[patman52]

Loved it and like many of you kept looking for people I knew.

I enjoyed the game experience much more then. Look how much younger the crown was. I didn't mind the drunks (as I was one of them). Very seldom any kids or women and most times since there was only 2/3 of the capacity those with kids or sensitive wives/girlfriends could easily find a good spot away from the rowdies.

The team sucked that year and before and after, I remember tailgating and thinking that "think we can win one today" . Vs now that i feel the team insults me personally every time they lose.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Actually, it was called Foxboro Stadium by then. I don't miss those crowds at all. Fights breaking out every few minutes, people smoking cigarettes, women getting harassed by drunks ... That stadium environment was at its best a few years later after Kraft bought the team. It brought some civility but the place was still packed and rockin'.

Agreed (and I was going to point out the name change but didn't want to spoil the fun).

The introduction of Sunday civility is another thing that the Krafts have done that has turned the Pats into a class act; you can have fun and make a lot of noise without getting so loaded that you can't see straight. Even in that clip, there's at least one fight in the stands. It was always just a few idiots who caused the trouble, but it kept a lot of people away and gave the place a mixed reputation.

 

[SoCal Bong]

I just sent the links to Steve Grogan. If he has any comments about it I'll be sure to share them here.

 

[upstater1]

Grogan, my hero!

I think that was Stephen Starring with the big catch early.

I was in college in 1990 and didn't have many opportunities to catch games, but as soon as I got my driver's license in 1984, I caught maybe 2 games a year in Foxboro driving up from New Haven. The only game I got to see live while in college was maybe in 1987 or 88 when Dallas and Herschel Walker visited. It was miserable, 40 degrees and raining. I caught pneumonia at that game, froze as I took a cold MBTA train back to Boston.

 

[Tunescribe]

Agreed (and I was going to point out the name change but didn't want to spoil the fun).

The introduction of Sunday civility is another thing that the Krafts have done that has turned the Pats into a class act; you can have fun and make a lot of noise without getting so loaded that you can't see straight. Even in that clip, there's at least one fight in the stands. It was always just a few idiots who caused the trouble, but it kept a lot of people away and gave the place a mixed reputation.

I think we take a lot for granted now. There remain stadiums in the NFL that are nasty and downright dangerous environments -- the Chargers' Qualcomm being one.

 

[bunuel]

"Grogan's Medicare Fund" with a Solo cup attached is my favorite sign.

 

[Tunescribe]

"Grogan's Medicare Fund" with a Solo cup attached is my favorite sign.

The only QB I've ever seen wear a neck pad.

 

[everlong]

people smoking cigarettes

Ya they weren't smoking cigarettes........at least not exclusively. The first time I ever went to a game without a parent I was only 16 in the fall of 1984 and saw them play the Colts. We stopped at the package store on RTE1 and bought a couple of bottles of vodka and they weren't carding anybody. Every few minutes in the stadium you could smell pot coming for a different direction. At the time it was cool and added to the show but I'm glad there's none of that now so the kids can go.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

The best thing about that team were the uniforms....I absolutely loved them!.....


the flying Elvis will always take a back seat to Pat Patriot despite the success wearing the Elvi

 

[#56300ex]

That is freakin cool to watch. Thanks OP for sharing that.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

It was loud back then because the stadium was right on top of the field.

Definitely part of it. Gillette only holds about 8,000 more people than Schaeffer/Sullivan/Foxboro, but has a footprint that's three times the area of its predecessor.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I think we take a lot for granted now. There remain stadiums in the NFL that are nasty and downright dangerous environments -- the Chargers' Qualcomm being one.

It'll be interesting to see what happens once the Golden Days are past.

Right now it is easy to enforce civility because the Krafts have a huge hammer because:

• The team is good.
• The place is virtually sold out on season tickets.
• There is a huge season ticket waiting list.
• Demand is such that you can sell your season tix for big bucks if you want to, so season tickets are valuable as a commodity (you can sell at a hefty profit) and are also valuable at a pure fan level (you get to see a good team).
• If you fight, etc. they will revoke your season tickets -- a rather costly punishment.

When the Golden Days are past and (if) the place is no longer sold out on season tickets, it'll be interesting to see if things stay as civil, since the "hammer" will be significantly weakened.