Best: Jets are finally at home

'Did you go to the game Sunday?'' I asked Woody Johnson, one football fan to another, Monday morning.

Innocent enough question, right?

After all, the stadium his team co-owns had hosted its first regular-season game that day, so it wasn't ridiculous to think he might have watched the historic moment from his fancy suite.

Nope.

"What game?'' Johnson deadpanned.

Touche! For the owner, his team and its fans, the real opener of New Meadowlands Stadium surely was not Panthers-Giants, even if the Giants had won a coin toss for the honor.

Not after waiting a half-century for a stadium to call their own.

Well, not exactly their own, but at least they own half of it, which is progress.

"From Day One 10 years ago when I bought the team I said I wanted to do two things,'' Johnson said. "Build a new stadium and put a championship team on the field.

"We finally have the stadium up. We'll see what happens with the other one.''

Johnson said last night's opener would be the moment it all hit home for him. The other events at the stadium, including two Jets preseason games, he said, "Were all warm-ups for this. This is the big day.''

Even after all that waiting, it took a frantic effort to turn the place green in time.

The league gave the Jets the Monday night opener as a consolation prize for not getting the first game. That left about 27 hours between the end of the Giants game and kickoff last night to make it appear as if the Giants never had been there and never would be back.

Stadium workers didn't need that long. CEO Mark Lamping said the process, which under normal circumstances will take two days, was completed in 11½ hours, from 5:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.

"We prefer not to do that every week, though,'' he said.

The most difficult, important and time-consuming task by far was replacing the blue Giants end zones with green Jets ones.

Each end zone consists of 40 individual, 14-foot-by-8-foot trays weighing 1,500 pounds.

They are scooped up by a machine resembling a giant spatula, and replaced by the trays dedicated to the other team. Workers then must carefully groom the seams to make sure they will not affect play.

Much of the rest of the transition involves lighting and other easy tasks, such as removing the panels that cover the Jets' Ring of Honor during Giants games.

(Joe Klecko, a member of the Ring of Honor, told me, "It's Jets Stadium now. It's awesome.'')

But converting the massive Team Store required nearly as much time as the end zones. About 35,000 pieces of Giants merchandise had to disappear and be replaced by Jets stuff.

Finally, voilà! Jets Stadium it was. There even were noticeably fewer empty club seats on the mezzanine level than there had been for the Giants' opener.

Just before kickoff, Fireman Ed Anzalone led his first official J-E-T-S cheer, and off they went.

The prime-time setting added to the raucous mood early in the game, even after kickoff was delayed by lightning in the area.

"I know the Giants got the first game,'' former receiver Wayne Chrebet said, "but for us to get the first Monday night game is special. We put enough money and time in to deserve to get this game.''

To make the opening truly official, the Jets sandwiched quarterback Joe Flacco on the Ravens' first play from scrimmage, causing a fumble and inspiring a huge ovation.

Earlier in the day, Anzalone had said, "It's not Giants Stadium, that's the key. We're going to make it our home.

"After 26 years of being in blue and red seats it's going to be real nice and real thrilling to be able to have our own home. Now it's up to us to take it over.''