Have Game? Will Travel!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Don’t Touch the Rail! Broncos at Raiders

For the fifth time, I attended an NFL game on a Sunday afternoon and then followed that up by attending Monday Night Football. Last night the Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders 41-14 in the most lopsided NFL game I have witnessed since October 29, 2006.

Parking
We arrived at McAfee Coliseum about an hour before game time. The stadium lots were already full so we had to park in the overflow lots on the other side of I-880. Parking Tip: Do not exit at Hegenberger Ave. if you know the stadium parking lots are full. Exit at 66th Ave. or better yet take the exit north of 66th Ave., turn around and take the south bound 66th Ave exit.

Obtaining Tickets
Since we only needed two tickets, we did not buy tickets ahead of time. As we walked across the freeway we negotiated with a couple of scalpers. I offered face value for tickets, but the scalpers would not accept the offer. During the negotiation, one scalper asked for $50 each for tickets that were $36 face value. My Dad thought that price was good so we accepted the offer. The last time I bought tickets at a Raiders game there were no scalpers in the coliseum parking lots. However, as we walked into the parking lot, there were quite a few scalpers who had extra tickets.

The Game
Jay Cutler threw for 299 yards, just missing the QB list of those who threw for 300 yards this week. Since we bought tickets in “Mount Davis” we were far away from the half-time show. However, during half-time two Raider fans were “talking” in a “non-friend” way. Next thing we knew one guy kicked the other in the chest and a 6-8 person brawl broke out. With a lack of security guards in the area, the only reason the fight stopped was that one guy gashed the top of his head and started bleeding all over the seats and the hand rail in between our section.

As the second half started, all the fans in our section chanted “Don’t touch the rail!” to every fan that walked up or down the aisle. I’m not sure if Roger Goodell’s fan policy will have an impact but this is the reason it became policy.

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