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The Agony and the Ecstasy of Being a NY Jets Fan
Author Andy L. | Filed Under Miscellaneous
My allegiance to Gang Green goes back to when I was six years old. Growing up in Westchester County, I had two teams to choose from: the NY Football Giants or the NY Jets. I can’t really pin down why I chose the Jets but I imaging it had something to do with the following: my father is a die-hard fan of Big Blue and I am something of a contrarian. Also, I think really fast planes are much cooler than really big people.
Unfortunately, my love for the Jets is unrequited. The Jets are an abusive spouse and their fans are the worst kind of enabler. Week after week, season after season, we come back—cheering, screaming, pleading—for glory. In the 20 years that I have been a Jets fan I’ve felt real hope on only three occasions. The first time was in 1998 when they made a legitimate run, going 12-4 in the regular season and making it all the way to the AFC Championship, where they promptly lost to the Denver Broncos. I didn’t expect much in 2002 when they had a 9-7 regular season, but then they beat the Colts 41-0 in the wildcard game and I thought that maybe there was a chance. Of course, they got trounced the following week by the Raiders, the same team that had crushed my playoff hopes the year before.
And then there was the 2006 season: The year of the comeback. It was Eric Mangini’s first year as head coach, the previous season they had been 4-12 and Herm Edwards had left for Kansas City. All I wanted out of the team was a better season. If they had gone 8-8 I would’ve been happy; at least they wouldn’t have been losers. But they surprised everyone with a 10-6 season, winning 5 of their last 6 games, only to lose in the wildcard round to the Patriots.
I can’t even talk about the 2007 season.
And now here we are, 13 weeks into the 2008 season and the Jets are once again a legitimate team. They are once again dangling hope in front of the fans. But like any true fan of Gang Green, I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop. If the Jets, who currently sit atop the AFC East at 8-4 were to finish the season with an 8-8 record, I wouldn’t be surprised. I would just shake my head, as I have done on so many occasions, and say, “Typical Jets.” I think the feelings of most Jets fans can be best summed up by something a friend and fellow fan said after the Jets squeaked out a win against the Patriots in November, “I wouldn’t be shocked if tomorrow’s headline was, ‘Jets find time machine, go back and lose game’.” That offhand comment sums up what it means to be a Jets fan, a fan of a team that hasn’t won a title since 1969, a team that can always find a way to blow it.
Yet we keep coming back, doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome. For the first time since 1998, I believe that the Jets can make it to the big game and win. Even the loss this weekend to a weak Denver Broncos, while disappointing, does nothing to disuade me from the belief that the 2008 Jets are a championship team. When was the last time the Jets played so well on both sides of the ball? The Jets may very well be the best team in the AFC, and maybe, just maybe, they can give their fans what they have waited almost 40 years for: another glimpse of glory.
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3 Responses to “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Being a NY Jets Fan”
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Should have been a Giants fan
I understand the agony part but where is the ecstasy?
The ecstasy occurs when the Jets show those little flashes of true greatness. Unfortunately, those highs have always been followed by a corresponding low. Still, it could be worse: I could be a Detroit Lions fan.