The new stadium in the Meadowlands hosted its first event yesterday, a lacrosse tripleheader.
The public address announcer asked the sparse crowd to rise. It was a brilliant morning. The sky was blue, sun was out ... and then nothing. There was no Whitney Houston, no Jennifer Hudson, not even an off-key Carl Lewis to belt out "The Star-Spangled Banner." Just silence and awkward glances.
"We didn't really know what was going on so we just kind of looked at each other," said Rose Clay, whose son, Christian, plays for Lawrenceville. "Then one of the women from the Highland Park side started singing and we all joined in."
"It was pretty sad," Rose's husband, Tim, chimed in.
That's kind of a lame way to kick things off. A stadium this hyped should have had some kind of grand opening. It didn't have to necessarily be football. How about a Springsteen or a Bon Jovi concert?
Some nice news though:
"It has less of a Giants feel to it," he said. "It's way too neutral for me. Before it was Giants Stadium, it was about the Giants. This is now called the Meadowlands. It's not the same. It's hard to adjust. I don't think they were thinking of the person who was a Giants fan the last 20 years when they made this place."
It seems like Giants fans are going to have a tough time understanding their team isn't the top dog in this stadium. The Jets and Giants are equal partners.