A bit late on this recap, but better late than never! I’m pretty sure the NFL likes to truly test my relationship every two years by scheduling the New York Giants and New England Patriots to play against each other. Josh and I agree on a lot in our relationship—especially our shared hatred of mushrooms—but when it comes to NFL-fandom, we don’t agree: I’m a Giants fan, and he’s a Pats fan. (I’m used to it, though, because my dad is a Minnesota Vikings fan, although he’s never set foot out of the northeast.)

When tickets went on sale for this season, I looked on Ticket Master, and some were available, but we’d only be able to afford nosebleeds. Then, because the universe was listening, Josh got a message from a former co-worker saying he was selling some of his season tickets for certain games, and one of them was for the Giants/Pats game. The seats were really good and were a lot cheaper than the nosebleeds I was looking at; the guy was only selling them in packs of four, so we decided to take Josh’s brother and dad with us.

I was originally mad, and actually, by the day of the game, still mad, that it was a Monday night game. It deserved to be a Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. game, but I guess no one cares about what I think. That also meant we had to bundle up for the game. I opted for a long-sleeve shirt, hoodie, winter jacket, fleece-lined running leggings, jeans, two pairs of socks, Bean boots, hat, scarf, and gloves. For the most part, I was pretty warm but could have used another pair of socks. I was just glad the predicted snow coming that week was coming the next day; I didn’t want to be sitting out in the rain or snow for the game.

Josh took the day off from work, and I took a half-day since we were leaving the condo after 2:00 p.m. After picking up Josh’s dad and brother, we were off to Foxborough. We wanted to get there around 4:00 p.m. when the parking lots opened, but after hitting some construction traffic (shoutout Massachusetts DOT for staying on brand), we got there closer to 4:30 p.m., which was still fine. Josh got a parking pass for a certain lot to go with the season tickets, so we parked there and started walking over to Patriot Place.

Gillette Stadium is included in Patriot Place, an area with a bunch of shops and restaurants. Our plan was to eat before the game at Red Robin. It was crowded, but we only had to wait less than 10 minutes for a table. I definitely felt outnumbered in there amongst all of the Pats fans. The guys got burgers, and I got a chicken sandwich.

Shoutout to Josh’s brother for taking pictures of us, and funny enough, throughout the course of the game, three other people randomly asked his brother to take their pictures. We told him he should have started charging people. Josh’s dad also wanted a picture with the new Tom Brady statue, so we waited in an informal line with other fans; I offered to take the picture for them since I didn’t need to be anywhere near Brady.

Once we were inside the stadium, we walked around, heading down toward each of the sidelines while the teams were practicing. I think this is as close as I’ll ever get to Taylor Swift: seeing Jason Kelce on the Monday Night Countdown set. It was pretty cool, though, to see the set up; later on during the game, I kept watching the super tall cameras on the sidelines that a guy basically drives up and down as the game goes on. While we were down by the sidelines, Troy Aiken walked by us up into the stands with a couple of other guys with ESPN badges (probably to get a snack before the broadcast), and then I saw Tommy DeVito’s agent show up in a bright red suit, visiting with people who were on the turf.

While we were walking around the concourse, I kept my head on a swivel in case I saw anyone I knew. Josh joked and said we probably would see someone I know. Lo and behold, I did—the same couple I saw at the Pats/Giants game in New Jersey two years ago. They’re a split-fandom couple like us, but I didn’t think we’d run into them at the game again.

Obviously, and as expected, I was outnumbered in our section; however, there were a few Giants fans around us. I guess this is how Josh felt when we were at MetLife, but whatever—I was just trying to not get jumped or anything. Once the game started, everyone around us started to stand, and I realized that we’d be standing for most of the game. I had to stand so that I could actually see. I guess I stood (and danced) for two hours at the Jonas Brothers concert, so I could stand for 60 minutes of regulation.

Here was the view from our seats! We were, I think, row 35, which actually worked out well because we were only a handful down from the concourse, but we were in the middle, so if we wanted to leave, we had to do the awkward shuffle out in front of the other people. (This is why I always try to buy aisle seats when possible.)

I got videos of the two Giants touchdowns, but I had a feeling it was going to be a blowout, and we had no chance of winning. I asked Josh multiple times if we could just leave, and he said no. The Pats won 33–15, and we did stay until the very last second of the game, unlike others who started leaving before the two-minute warning.

Then we spent 45 minutes waiting to even get out of our parking spot at Gillette before having a three-hour total drive back home, again, thanks to the overnight highway construction. After dropping Josh’s dad and brother off, Josh and I didn’t get home until 2:30 a.m. I messaged my boss and told him the satellite office (since I work from home) would have a delayed opening in the morning; he knew we were going to the game, so he was fine with me starting a bit later in the workday.

Overall, I mean, I’m glad I went. It was a new experience—going to Gillette and going to a Monday night game—but boy was I finally glad to get home and get into bed. I can’t remember the last time I was awake until that early in the morning. Now I can only imagine how terrible traffic was after the Taylor Swift concert two years ago at Gillette.