Futbol in the Garden State

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Editor's Note: This post by Sid.

The level traveled outside of the sports Mecca that we like to call South Philly  for a short trip up the jersey turnpike to NYC and the Meadowlands.  The drive up the turnpike is as picturesque as a  sunset horseback ride through the grand canyon with your head in the horse's ass, between exits 11 and 14 it actually smelled like my head was in a horse's ass. 

From the time of arrival at the Union Square Cafe, the big city did not disappoint.  I arrived at midnight on Saturday and it was a huge relief to know that the bars didn't close for another 4 hours.  My host for the weekend, a Mr. Stephen Mancini, finished work at 2 and we headed to Spring Street for some bar hopping. Great women in NY, also great bars, can't go wrong with that combo.

Sunday morning we were joined by a friend, Noodle, who seemed to know the square footage of every penthouse apartment in the lower east side.  We had an unbelievable brunch at The Stanton Social; the Kobe beef burgers were excellent. Then came the reason for going to the big apple in the first place, Chelsea and AC Milan at Giants Stadium.  The energy level of the fans was huge, it didn't matter who you were rooting for, you cheered at every great play.  This was my first soccer game and hopefully it won't be the last, the level is going to try and make it to Germany for the 2006 world cup next June. 

Giants Stadium was  a very basic venue to watch a sporting event, the views from the seats were good, at one point we were about 6 rows off the field.  The peanuts were way to salty but I guess that's how they like their nuts in jersey. The game ended in a 1-1 tie which was a very weird thing to be a part of, it was almost as if the game was never played.  After the final whistle everyone just kind of quietly stood up and left.

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