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I know most of you here in Upstate are not New England Patriots fans but I think
that all football fans would enjoy reading about and seeing what a friend of mine
and I experienced on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.
I redeemed points on a Patriots Extra Points credit card for an experience known
as "New England Patriots Reporter for a day".
All pictures can be clicked on twice to get the full-sized version. I know they won't
live up to Dave's standards but I did my best with what I had.
We received a media parking pass and were allowed to park in the media parking
lot right up close to the stadium.
We proceeded to the "media will call" ticket window and received our credentials for the day.
We then met a large group of about 30 people at the VIP tent and proceeded onto
the field of Gillette Stadium! For the next HOUR we were allowed to move about
around the perimeter of the field, take pictures and just take in all the sights!
Some shots of the Baltimore Ravens players entering the field, warming up, etc.
A good shot of Tyrell Suggs, Heap the tight end and QB Joe Flacco:
Some shots of the Patriots on the field, we were on the side where the Ravens
were warming up so we didn't get as many shots. All of Bob Kraft's VIP's got
to watch warm ups on the Patriots side.
A few more miscellaneous shots from on the field.
Cheerleaders! All in pink for breast cancer awareness.
So after an hour on the field, all but 4 of us left the field. Our escort for the day...
Escorted us up to our Press Box seats where we would be taking in the game!
Before we got to our seats we made a stop at the all-you-can-eat breakfast and
lunch buffet. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pastries, bagels, salads, entrees and desserts
along with free non-alcoholic drinks all during the game. At halftime they had
hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn and more desserts. One of the more frustrating parts
of the day was that, because we were in the working press box we were unable
to cheer during the game. It was like watching the game in a library.
Some pictures from the press box.
Our view of the game!
Some other assorted press box shots.
A roster of all the media people and where their seats were, we made the list
(upper left hand corner).
After a GREAT game we were escorted down to the press room to watch the press
conferences live! We saw Belichick, Brady, Gostowski and Deion Branch.
We couldn't take pictures while there were people at the podium but got a
couple of shots. One of the press room and a couple of Steve Burton, one of
the local sports personalities.
After the press conferences, we all wanted to stop at a rest room before leaving
the stadium, while we were waiting for the last person to come out, Tom Brady
walked right by us! We all said "great game Tom!" and he replied with "Thanks
guys". Of course I didn't have my camera out for that!
Finally, a couple of shots of the S with Gillette Stadium in the background.
I've already started saving my points to be able to have this INCREDIBLE experience
again in a few years....I can't wait! It was an awesome day! Great weather
and a HUGE win by the Patriots!
I did not post all the pictures here, there are more in the album if anyone's
interested in checking them out.
Wow, that is REALLY cool Mark! I wonder if other teams offer something like that? Wonder if IndyCar offers something like that? I could be a pit reporter for a day
I clicked this thread expecting to read a thrilling story about the football game - you know, the Hail Mary pass and then the last second goal line defense that saved the game.
What do I get -- a couple of photographs. A picture of a podium with no one speaking. Some long, long, long, really long distance shots of cheerleaders. Big deal! I could hardly see them. We would have had a better view if you stayed home and took the shots off of the T.V. If you think you are going into photo journalism, get yourself a real camera for crying out loud!
Given past big talk about certain credentials, I expected you to be right in the middle of that cheerleader scrum! Then you might have had some pictures that would be worth my while to look at.
This was even worse than those puff pieces put out by Mr. News Editor. Incidentally, he has alot of crap on the Home Page lately. Trying to make a big deal out of nothing again -- the so called 10th anniversary. Reminded me that last year he posted this crappy article on the Home Page about Doug driving all over the Finger Lakes region looking for a cheap bottle of wine. Anyway, I'm
10-19-2010, 08:38 AM
NE Patriots Reporter for a day!
