Task 33- Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (New England Patriots vs. Denver Bronco's)

While I’m not a true die hard fan of football anytime I’m given the opportunity to root on my home town team I jump at the chance. There is nothing like being in the stadium watching a game live and when I was offered Box Seats to the biggest matchup of the year I took them.

The rivalry between Payton Manning and Tom Brady was a hotly anticipated event. The heat of their battle however was nearly extinguished by the blisteringly cold winds that howled through Gillette Stadium on Sunday night. After three, count them, three fumbles early in the first quarter by the New England Patriots the Denver Bronco’s were so far in the lead no one would have ever guess the Patriots would recover.

The second quarter didn’t give Patriots fan’s much hope a comeback against the Denver Bronco’s was possible with them widening the gap to 24-0 by half time.

In the third the New England Patriots rallied and scored 31 straight points leaving a now terrified Denver Bronco’s scrambling to recover. The fourth quarter was evenly matched with game tied at the buzzer.  In overtime a fumble by the Bronco’s Carter left the ball in Patriots possession and Gronkowski scoring a 3 point field goal to win the game.

 

This game was a disaster for both teams each with 6 fumbles. It was Mother Nature who could claim true victory by blowing the ball around like a balloon and clearing the stadium of many of its fans unable to combat the bitter temperatures and 20mph winds by halftime.

 

Task 33- Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (New England Patriots vs. Pittsburg Steelers)

I'll admit im not a huge fan of football but when I was offered a few tickets to the game including Tailgate Party Tickets at the Dana Farber practice facility to took them with out thinking about it.

We arrived early knowing there would be lots of traffic and took advantage of the complimentary food and drink at the Tailgate Party. While we stayed warm indoors the crowds were building at the entrypoints to the stadium. About 30 minute before the game began we decided it was time to get to our seats.

We were lucky and managed to avoid the very long lines by using the Tailgate Party express entrance. Our seats were in the nose bleed section 313 row 4 seats 16 &17 and we had many ramps to climb to reach our seats. It was my frist time at Gillete and I enjoyed the view of the stadium from the ramps and stopped to take a few pictures and panoramics.

Finally we took our seats and settled in for the game. Almost immediately I was happy I wore my thermals since it was in the mid 30's.

The game started with an introduction of several members of the Red Sox, as well as team owner John Henry who were honored in a pregame ceremony; pitcher Jon Lester and the World Series trophy served as honorary captains.

The Patriots came out strong scoring two touchdowns early on but stumbled allowing the Steelers to tie the game. The Patriots had a 24-10 halftime lead, but the Steelers had touchdowns on each of their first two drives of the third quarter to tie the game. After the Steelers rally in the 3rd New England rebounded in a big way in the 4th with 28 points.

It was a run away in the 4th quarter and the Patriots crushed the Steelers with a final score of 55-31.  This amazing finish puts the Patirots at 7-2 and a two-game lead over the Jets in the AFC East.

Their 610 total yards of offense were the third most in franchise history, and for the first time in team history, there were three receivers with more than 100 yards: Rob Gronkowski (nine receptions, 143 yards, touchdown), Aaron Dobson (five receptions, 130 yards, 2 touchdowns), and Danny Amendola (four receptions, 122 yards, touchdown).