“They’re breaking up that old gang of mine” might be an appropriate way of putting it. Except in this case, it’s not exactly a dame that’s coming between Gene and Kevin Kenny’s Big Blue die-hard football fans and their Sunday fun. It’s the new Meadowlands stadium on the horizon, and those prohibitively costly personal seat licenses.

For more than thirty years, Kevin Kenny and his friends have chartered a luxury passenger bus to take them to and from the Meadowlands for all GIANTS home games. That journey once originated from the old COOPER’S ALE HOUSE in the 70’s, but when the bar closed, the group found a new home at Middle Village’s DANNY BOY’S. The parade of red, white, and blue jerseys along Dry Harbor Road on Sundays is almost as much a part of the neighborhood’s autumn rhythms as the parishioners heading to St. Margaret’s just a few blocks up. And for those who actually get to climb aboard and head out to the game, it’s so much more than a tradition now, it’s a veritable rite of passage, an annual ritual, and for a couple of generations now.

Part of that tradition involves some tremendous stewardship on the part of the folks at DANNY BOY’S, who prepare the group’s lunches early Sunday mornings, as well as provide a central meeting place for some of the early birds. “They’re a really good bunch of guys,” notes bartender Olivia Myers wistfully, who makes it a point of attending to the gathering every Sunday morning. (And despite the fact that this “California girl” wears a San Diego Chargers jersey every Sunday (!), suffice it to say that the entire assemblage definitely have a huge soft spot in their hearts for her.)

“The other part of it is our bus driver,” says Kevin’s dad Gene Kenny, who now oversees the entire operation with his son. “We usually have the same bus driver for every trip. Been that way for years now.” It’s a courtesy provided to them thanks to their decades-long involvement with the same charter company, Paradise Trailways out of Hicksville, Long Island. In fact, the Kennys and their entourage almost consider Monroe to be a member of the group at this point, he’s such a part of their Meadowlands experience!

Unfortunately, the weekly trips – which can accommodate up to 54 passengers – are about to take a huge hit, as a large percentage of the group are no longer able to maintain their season tickets, thanks to the combination of a brutal economy and the GIANTS’ insistence that fans pony up thousands of dollars in Personal Seat Licenses, or PSL’s, just for the “opportunity” to continue to pay for their season tickets.

The group are none too happy about it. “I don’t think it’s fair that we’re the ones who have to help pay for a new stadium – they’re the ones making millions of dollars,” noted a member of the group who chose to remain anonymous. “I was gone, out the door – then they actually were able to get me tickets at the last minute,” said another, who also wished not to disclose his name. “Not where I used to sit, but they weren’t even going to do that until I told them I wasn’t going to pay any $*(&%*$&* personal seat license!”

It’s definitely been a tough season for GIANTS fans, to say the least. Despite a promising 5-0 start, the team then suffered four straight losses, and who can forget that closing seconds debacle against the Chargers on November 8th, or their absolute turkey of a performance against the Broncos on Thanksgiving. And yet, with this past Sunday’s win over the Cowboys, the GIANTS have definitely given a lift to their playoff hopes… and to their fans. Which is exactly the kind of hopefulness and determination that keeps folks like the Kennys going – a spirit they’re taking to heart regarding their bus trip, too. Because even if their numbers diminish next year, the Kennys have vowed to keep the tradition alive. “Oh yeah, absolutely,” Kevin Kenny told us Sunday.

“We’ll just get a smaller bus, and see how it goes.”