04/29 — Shea Stadium has always been an element-al football venue. Monday's heavy afternoon rains, which forced an indefinite postponement of Jets Night at Shea festivities, was one more reminder of that.

Super Bowl III cornerback Randy Beverly remembered how "really cold" and "pretty windy" it could get, especially when he compared his most favorite Shea game as a Jet, the 1968 AFL title victory over Oakland, with the "low point" a year later, the '69 AFL title loss to Kansas City.

Wesley Walker reflected on the often brilliant September sun.

"I still remember beating the Dolphins, 33-20," in the 1978 season opener, Walker recalled. "I had two touchdowns, and I remember catching a ball that I didn't even see — it was in the sunlight — and it was like 'How'd I ever catch that?' "

Kenny Schroy, who wasn't free to attend ceremonies in any event (he was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Monday night), also fondly recalled those winds off Flushing Bay and a certain moisture problem inside the stadium.

"You heard so many who people who didn't like going to Shea Stadium, but I could've cared less if the bathrooms were overflowing," Schroy said. "I loved Shea with its open end and the winds swirling. Quarterbacks hated it because it held the ball up sometimes, and the most difficult thing to do was to catch kickoffs and punts, which I did a little bit. But I loved the place."

And Emerson Boozer, who did make the early, rainy scene Monday, hearkened back to the cold and windy weather at a different spot on the calendar.

"I have lots of memories of the Mets here," the venerable fullback said. "We'd come back in early April or May, when it was cold and chilly, when you knew best to dress, to wear a sweater or a jacket. I'd sit in the stands and watch a young Mets team. Koosman, Seaver, Grote, Ed Charles come to mind, Cleon and Tommie.

"They were exciting and you could see them coming on — the same as the Jets. We were growing as well."

That was one of the main points of getting these former stadium mates together one more time. Yes, Shea Stadium will be gone after this Mets season concludes — the Citi (Field) is already rising up majestically behind the fences in left and center field — and the Jets and Mets shared the Queens field for 20 seasons, from 1964-83.

But more than that, they honed their teams to championship edges in 1969, the calendar year when the Jets won Super Bowl III and the Mets won the World Series.

The teams have already tentatively rescheduled a new Jets Night at Shea, which we will announce as soon as the date is firmed up. And when the event is finally staged, we'll have more stories from more Jets who called this structure home.

But on Monday, the early arrivers offered their praise for a place that wasn't perfect, had to be shared and had those plumbing issues.

"The championship game here against the Raiders, yes, that was it, that was the nail in the coffin," Boozer said. "We played well, [Daryle] Lamonica led them back and took the lead late."

But after Joe Namath-to-Don Maynard put the Jets ahead, 27-23, Boozer said, "Lamonica makes a very costly error throwing that [wind-aided?] backward pass that no one covered, other than our guy, Ralph Baker.

"That game stands out big in my mind. That was the pathway to Super Bowl III for us."

"This is the only stadium I played in. Everything that happened to me happened here," Beverly said. "I enjoyed my time playing here. I have no bad feelings toward this field or this stadium at all. The people who worked here were tremendous. We got to know them, interact with them, they cooked for us. We were all just one big happy family back then."

"I had a lot of catches in this place, some that nobody would even know about but that I remember in my heart," Walker said. "I'm really honored just to be a part of this situation. It's a compliment."

Someday soon, when the weather is less inclement, we'll all get together with Wesley, Randy and Emerson and their former Shea teammates and offer some more compliments.