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

[BigMike]

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.

that was Stephen Starring, now a roofer in Somerville ..notice Grogan though, not really checking the opposing D and calling out the Mike LB like Brady does....wow amateur hour there. Who can forget the old aluminum benches That dump was LOUD on gameday!

 

[BigMike]

This is what it must be like to be a Bills fan now....second rate team, stadium and coaching staff....thank god for Kraft!

 

[Patsrock]

that was Stephen Starring, now a roofer in Somerville ..notice Grogan though, not really checking the opposing D and calling out the Mike LB like Brady does....wow amateur hour there. Who can forget the old aluminum benches That dump was LOUD on gameday!

Starring was not on the 1990 team. Zeke Mowat wore 81 that year.

 

[Patsrock]

Other than the win the following week against Indy. That was the best game the Pats played. And the 24 points was the most the scored in a game that year. The offense was so bad that year they only had 3 games over 300 total yards.

 

[Horace's Ivories]

my one time at Sullivan stadium was at a preseason game against Green bay (I think) where 3 key Defensive guys sustained big injuries (Tippett maybe Veris, Lippett?)

 

[Joker]

Schaefer is the.... one beer to have when you're having more than one...

Uh....no....no it is not....BUT....at least Sherlock Holmes was a big fan......

 

[reflexblue]

my one time at sullivan stadium was at a preseason game against green bay (i think) where 3 key defensive guys sustained big injuries (tippett maybe veris, lippett?)

1990.................

 

[Patsrock]

1990.................

Actually it was 1989.

 

[BigMike]

Starring was not on the 1990 team. Zeke Mowat wore 81 that year.

D'oh thanks.....

 

[goheels22002]

Great video.

I remember what a dump Schaefer Stadium was. The stupid aluminum benches and there was like one bathroom with one toilet so you had to crowd around the guy who needed to pee through the chain link fence. Worst stadium ever.

I also remember tailgating early and drunk guys picking fights on the way to get in. If you told them to eff off, they'd find you and pick a fight in the stands. Fortunately the bouncers were mostly hockey players loved to kick those guys out and then you could get another 3/4" inch of aluminum bench to sit on. A great game was when two guys on your bench got kicked out.

The atmosphere and brotherly love at Schaefer Stadium more than made up for the clueless coaching and the sense of hopelessness that came with going to see a 1-15 team in those days.

 

[Joker]

so yeah...it's a 2-14 season and we're at this game sometime in late October...anyway, there's these really dark ominous clouds hanging over Lot 17 that morning but we don't give a crap...we got tent tops set up, grills out, coolers, tapped kegs...;.all the vehicles lined up in the first row looking out onto RT 1...over there is the sausage and peppers and over here gigantic shrimp ****tails....smoky meats permeate the air...deep guttural cries of "PATRIOTS!!!!!!!!!" split the air every few minutes...footballs whizz by in the air...frisbees clanging into cars out of nowhere....it was tribal...the same crew every game, a good 50 strong in the exact same spot....through decades or so it seemed.

This day we all march into the stadium en masse headed to our seats, my section was 206 at that time...game starts and so does the rain...and we're getting soaked....then suddenly a loud crack...lightening strikes all over the place...metal benches...it starts to sleet...then snow...we're getting murdered by some upper echelon team....stomping up and down on the benches screaming at FG tries,passing the ginger brandy....OBLIVIOUS to everything going on around us....yeah, I think I spent a few days in bed with a vicious cold/hangover after THAT one...still have the photo album somewhere....best days ever.

I was at the stadium when the bathrooms would back up every game and you had to go swimming to take a squirt...ambiance i think they call it..heh...if you ever had to take a dump, well...you had to leave...for real....or else crap in your pants...

 

[PatsFanSince74]

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.

And, it was front page news on the tabloids here when the sophisticated Jets fan practice of shouting at women to expose their breasts at halftime was outed in the media. We are light years better than that and I gather that the Meadowlands is a very different place when the Jets Circus is on the field and the Giants are playing serious football.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

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.

agreed 100%...what i accepted as part of the "atmosphere" in my 20's I see differently with kids of my own...

 

[PatsFanSince74]

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.

i don't think you have to worry too much there. I don't see this Franchise returning to the bad old days, even if they aren't playing at the end of January every couple of years.

there won't be another Belichick/Brady in Foxboro for a long time, since they come along as rarely in the history of a franchise as Brown/Graham, Lombardi/Starr, Walsh/Montana, Noll/Bradshaw or Landry/Staubach, BUT, the Krafts seem to be fully committed to keeping the product on the field, in the stands and with the Brand at a high level.

I think that Gillette will be sold out and the Patriots competing to win in the Division and, hopefully, beyond that, for a long, long time.

 

[Bigfatcat999]

heh, I remember the sports broadcasts with Bob Lobel. in the 90's he always looked like he was taking shots of Pepto Bismol mixed with Jack. A look on his face like 'Oh, Gawd. Do I have to do this again? Why can't we get that new black guy to do the sports broadcast? I DON'T WANT TO LIVE!!!!!!!!!!'

Also could also go along with his divorce...

I think the 00's was God's way of telling old Bob, 'Yes, yes, I do love you.'

 

[CheeseMonkeys]

I was born in 1991, and unfortunately I couldn't watch football in the womb.:verycool:

Really makes you appreciate the team that stands before us today though!

 

[bresna]

Cool video. Seeing Irving Fryar get knocked out cold was freaky too. I bet he was back out there for the next series.

I'm surprised there weren't more fights considering all the cheering you hear when the Dolphins made a play. It sounded like there were a lot of Dolphins fans there.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

In ROD we tRUST! Oof.

Never going to wax poetic about that stadium and the lax security. There was good reason Foxboro was banned from hosting MNF for 15 years. Definitely not going to wax poetic about Victor Kiam's stewardship.

Still, the Grogan Pats (when not the Eason Pats), those red uniforms (or white as they often wore at home) and playing in Shaeffer/Sullivan/Foxboro stadium were the team that got me hooked. For that reason alone they'll always have a spot in my heart...

...even the 1990 edition :bricks:

Regards,
Chris

 

[Patjew]

Couple of things struck me:

People were still REALLY excited to be on camera back then.

Lots of the crowd looks the same now as it did back then, exept then it was skinny and ugly.

I always thought of Grogan as such an old man. Weird to think that I'm older now than he was then.

 

[RichardHead]

Just a few random thoughts about the old stadium....

I still remember being about 5 years old and my Dad driving me down to the racetrack in Foxboro (or Foxborough as it was known back then) to see them building this brand spanking new stadium right on Route 1 (and yes, it was pretty damn close to the road compared to where Gillette sits today).

I heard the stories from an older friend who remembers tailgating before the game, walking in to watch the first half, leaving at half-time to drink more, AND THEN BEING LET BACK IN TO WATCH THE SECOND HALF!

Some might remember when they installed the first video scoreboard there, because they were in a land dispute with the track owners they had to use a helicopter to fly it in and lower it into place, the track wouldn't let them drive across their property.

Only went to a handful of games in the 80's, remember one game against the Packers when there were more Cheeseheads than Patriots' fans. Also remember being up in the 300's when a bunch of EMT's had to carry a guy out on a stretcher after a fight.

Later in its history the men's rooms didn't back up quite as much, because they had Port-a-potties inside the stadium, weird to think that as you walked through the concourse you'd see them lined up against the chain-link fence.

Having just come back from Buffalo from one of my many trips to Ralph Wilson Stadium I can say it was like a trip back in time, in so many ways it's like the old Foxboro stadium (narrow concourse, dumpy parking lots, benches, even though they have backs on theirs).

The highlight for me in the old stadium had to be the Snow Bowl win against the Raiders (last game every played there), I still remember falling forward into the people in front of me straining to see if the kick was going through the uprights, it was snowing so hard you could barely see the refs put their arms up when it was good!

I'm older now, take my kids to games and don't miss alot of the crap from the old days...but this video was a nice...almost got a bit teared up