EAST RUTHERFORD The somber of reading of victims names at Ground Zero on Sunday morning gave way to a far different atmosphere in the parking lots of MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
By 4 p.m., thousands of Jets fans and hundreds of Cowboys fans had their tailgating barbecue setups in place. Fans threw footballs, tossed beanbags and passed around beers just like usual.
Some fans wore silly green helmets or costumes, and the majority wore Jets jerseys just like usual.
The musical selection blaring from boom-boxes included George Thorogood s I Drink Alone, Van Halen s Jump, and Lynyrd Skynyrd s Free Bird not Lee Greenwood s Proud to Be An American or Toby Keith s Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).
In fact, there was little evidence from a walk through the lot that this was a special day at all except for the flags.
A handful of special flags commemorating 9/11 were in evidence, including one flown alongside an American flag and Jets flag by John Lumba, a North Arlington . Lumba said he wasn t bothered by the fact that most Jets fans were back to normal Sunday, even though he spent much of the fateful day 10 years ago at Ground Zero. Lumba who arrived in a green-and-white recreational vehicle said he thought it was right for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to fall on the day of a Jets game. That way, he said, way fans could gather for a massive, collective ceremony.
But he was also not disturbed that the Jets were scheduled to play on a Sunday night.
The calendar says it s Sunday, and Sunday s a football day, Coughlin said. It s not the Jets fault what happened 10 years ago.
However, John Acampora of Monroe Township said the National Football League should have found a way to keep fans in the areas of the country most affected by 9/11 from having to decide whether to attend a game on the 10th anniversary.
There should ve been no sports at all today it s a day of mourning, Acampora said.
Acampora, a season-ticket holder since the Jets days at Shea Stadium, said that he noticed something unusual about the tailgating scene.
I think there are more American flags around here than usual, said Acampora.
Acampora s friend, Gary Allen of Staten Island, N.Y., said the presence of a bomb-sniffing dog checking each car at the entrances to the stadium s lots made him feel safer, not more fearful.
However, fans who were only a mile away from the stadium as of 4 p.m. faced waits of more than 2 hours from several directions in large part due to those elevated security measures.
Another longtime season-ticket holder, Gary Berger of Elmwood Park , said he did not consider staying away from the stadium due to the national security alerts.
If we live in fear, then they win, Berger said.
E-mail: brennan@northjersey.com Blog: northjersey.com/brennan
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