Jack Kemp

Backpacks for Life, the charity I'm involved with that helps homeless veterans in the New Jersey-New York area and beyond, held a fundraising and tailgate party in the parking lot of MetLife Stadium this Veterans Day Sunday, as the New York Jets were about to face the Buffalo Bills. There were over one hundred other tailgate parties, both individual and those created by organizations. Without knowing the exact location, I got off the bus from New York City and started my search on a nice and sunny, mid-fall day.

Now tailgate parties at a major NFL stadium cam be a literal pain in the neck. I know this because  someone playing catch in the parking lot hit the back of my spine just above my shoulders with a soft throw of a football. Earlier, when I first arrived at the stadium, I saw an official looking Jets Fan Bus - a meetup point for Backpacks For Life, and thought "this will be easy to find." Not quite. After walking down a long line of tailgate parties extending from the bus, being offered roast beef and having my requests to have someone use their cell phone to call the contact number for BFL denied, I trudged on through the sea of tailgate parties that resembled ancient Roman army campfires. About twenty minutes or so later I spotted a mini-tent flying a Jets flag with a U.S. Marine Corps Anchor and Globe flag directly below it. I figured the people there would help me. I was right.

When I explained to two women standing next to a small group of the Marines in camouflage jackets about my plight, wanting to find a veterans' charity listed on the business card I showed them, one of the women got out a smartphone and called - but got no connection. They even used the www.backpacksforlife.org website to send an email to co-founder Brett D'Alessandro, all to no avail. I thanked them for their efforts and they offered me a cold beer - which I took - before I continued on my search.

Trudging on further, past a row of buses to now widen the circle of my search, I eventually found the mini-tent of Backpacks For Life and met up with Brett and once again met his parents to catcht up with recent events with everyone. Brett solved the mystery of why I couldn't make a cell phone connection with him earlier. He had been on an appearance at Fox News which resulted in BFL getting a flood of phone calls. This, I suspected, filled up his voice mail minutes 'til there were no more. You can see why the Fox News spot got such a response by watching that video here.   Alexa Modero, Backpacks for Life's co-founder, was out of town attending a wedding this day.

Brett and his family were also selling t-shirts and caps and there were also representatives of Hotseat were there selling stadium warming seat pads. Looking around, I heard loud rock music blaring from speakers and saw the accompanying party provided by participating businesses and also the Jets fan "magical" bus. And there was a barbecue with hamburgers, hot dogs and even an entire roasting pig - head and all - turning on a mechanical spit.  Beer was supplied by Hoboken Brewing, a young craft beer company located just across the Hudson River from New York City. Talking to the brewery's co-owner, Andrew Zebrowski, I (and others) were offered a choice of two types their brews. I drank their coconut-infused blonde ale as we talked about his family and mine. I'll just say here that he also named his young son Jack.

Shortly after the game started, as Brett and his family literally folded their tent and packed up to leave the MetLife Stadium parking lot, I said my goodbyes to everyone and started walking the distance across the outside width of the stadium parking lot back to the bus stop. That's when I got hit with football in the back of the neck. It was a mild incident. No apologies were asked for and none were given.

But the Jets had a much bigger pain in the neck that day, losing to the Buffalo Bills 41-10. You could say that New York won that day, the Buffalo Bills being the only team with a stadium in New York State. I guess those Jets fans that prayed and wished for New York to win should have worded their their requests more precisely. But these gatherings in the parking lot of MetLife Stadium were not full of English teachers, not by a long shot. I don't think English teachers would have offered a complete stranger such as myself free roast meat and beer.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:01 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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