The Giant thing does have something to do with it, but 40 years of ineptness wears on you. And not just ineptness - often spectacular ineptness. As for Jets fans being unique in this - you don't think Detroit fans feel the same way? Or Saint fans? or Cardinal fans? Hell, Miami hasn't won in almost as long as us. The fans of those teams are just as critical as Jet fans, and always waiting for the bad thing to happen, because it usually does. A win does not erase years of bad coaching, lousy player selection and crappy play on the field, not to mention the team leaving its fan base and playing in the crosstown rival's stadium. Its really simple - want the negitivity to end? Win a championship (and that goes for any of the teams I listed). Till that happens, negativity will reign.
OK, let me just let it all out. This "40 years of ineptness" mantra is .. amusing. So many Jets fans magnify failures beyond perspective. For the h#ll of it, I finally took a look at the the Jets last fourty seasons (1968-2007). Then I compared it to what I know best, the Packers last fourty seasons . Now, you would this that because 16 of those 40 years for the Packers featured Brett Favre, and the team had the best record in the NFL during that period, with a winning record every season but one, you would guess that the number of postseasons in those 40 years would be much higher for the Packers, right? Bzzzt. The Packers have one more playoff appearance than the Jets. Count 'em yourself. This is a testament to TRUE patheticl football, a.k.a the 1968-1991 Green Bay Packers. Between Vince Lombardi's last flight out of Austin Straubel & Brett Favre's first flight into there, lies a vast, vast, vast expanse of futility, perhaps infathomable to any Jets fan. Other NFL coaches used to get troublesome players in line by threatening to trade them to Green Bay (this is not a joke; it is documented). Anyone and everyone who was a Packer fan for any extended part of 1969-1993 laughs at this so-called Jets "ineptness." You guys have NO friggin' idea. Which is probably why so much of the rest of the world also laughs at this melodramatic "Same Old Jets"-itis. I think this gets to the heart of it. Green Bay brought Brett Favre into the 3rd game of the 92 season, and even though they finished 9-7 and didn't make the playoff -- and the Superbowl win was still four years away -- there was not negativity. There was excitement. "We'll get 'em next year." Even though the Dallas Cowboys spanked us --badly-- out of the playoffs the next three years running, there was very little negativity. Heck, and a few years before when Majikowski took the team to their first winning record in eaons, but still missed the playoffs, there was not negativity then, there was optimism. But you guys seem to have some congenital condition that prevents you from feeling that.
all valid points...i think the self defeatist attitude of the jets fanbase is definitly overblown...saints? bills? cardinals? lions? bengals? there are a lot of teams out there who all in all have it worse then us...i'd be pissed to be a bills, saints, or cardinals fan (barring this year) being a jets fan isnt all that bad ...
Great post. By the way, here are some teams whose fans actually deserve to be negative about everything: Arizona Cardinals: They have ONE playoff win since 1947 (pre superbowl era). They have only qualified for the playoffs 5 times since 1947. That is simply remarkable. Detroit Lions: The Lions have ONE playoff win since 1957 (pre superbowl era). They have only qualified for the playoffs 9 times since 1957. Almost as bad as the Cardinals! New Orleans Saints: The Saints were founded in 1967 and went more than a full decade before ever finishing a season with at least a .500 record and went TWO FULL DECADES before ever finishing a season with a winning record. They have only 2 playoff wins in their entire existence. They have qualified for the playoffs only 6 times. WOW. All teams without a superbowl championship (Not including the teams listed above, who also have never won a Superbowl): Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars (young franchise), Tennessee Titans (Houston Oilers), Houston Texans (very young franchise), Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers (young franchise), Atlanta Falcons, and the San Diego Chargers. These teams have only one superbowl championship, just like the Jets: Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Bucs, St Louis Rams, and the Indianapolis Colts. I did all of this off the top of my head so I could easily be missing a team or two. But hopefully, you get the point. By the way, the Jets have 12 playoff appearances, 4 AFC East Divisional Championships, 7 playoff wins, and 1 superbowl championship.
That's right, and their fanbase reflects it. Have we forgotten the Aints and the fans with paper bags on their heads? Further, fans in Louisiana have always cared a hell of a lot more about LSU (and SEC) football than Saints (and NFL) football. The Cardinals have moved from two cities, and until this year attracted more fans of the opposing team from Texas and California than their own fans to their games. The fans of the Lions have been more angry (remember The Millen Man March?) than defeatist, but they also made the playoffs 6 times in 9 years in the 1990s, so it hasn't been all bad. The media are centered in New York, so this becomes a bigger story for the Jets than for other teams, but it isn't like this hasn't happened plenty elsewhere. As I noted earlier, having the Giants here only magnifies the effect, particularly since they've won 3 Super Bowls and been in a fourth since the Jets were in one. BTW, any notion of a parallel with the Packers is IMO ridiculous. Yes, they were terrible for about 25 years, but at that point they had 11 league championships under their belt, so a "Same Old Packers" mindset would have been idiotic. They are also the quintessential example of a franchise that is a point of civic pride, to the point where they are actually a nonprofit owned by the public. Edit: I will also point out that any comparison with the pre-internet and pre-talk radio era is not appropriate. Looking at the comments on a message board and in calls to WFAN and thinking that that reflects the general fanbase is completely invalid. The vast majority of the Jets' fanbase is like any other team's - they watch the games on TV, they root, they're sad or disappointed or angry if their team loses, and then they don't think much about it until the next game. The percentage of "Same Old Jets" posts on this board is far higher than the percentage of "Same Old Jets" fans in the fanbase.
Agreed. Being here in Arizona you hear the same thing about the Cardinals. And the Jets history is nowhere near as bad as the Cardinals or the Saints or the Lions. However, while this win against NE was important it's only a stepping stone. Nothing is guaranteed and the Jets have to follow up with a convincing six-game stretch. I also, don't agree that this was a top-5 win in the franchises history. Important yes - buit top five is definitely pushing it. Lastly, I really don't think the Giants thing really that big of a deal even though they play in the same building. The Giants / Jets rivalry (due to them being in different conferences) is nowhere near the level of the Ranger / Islander rivalries of years past.
There are a lot of good posts in this thread, and good points about the miseries of other franchises such as the Lions and Cards. But there is certainly something to the fact that this franchise was inept and seemingly cursed from the end to the Namath Era to the Parcells era began. This video has 660,000 views. Why? Because it captures the mismanagement of the franchise and the suffering that Jets fans went through before Parcells arrived.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZxNeFLuY98 I don't see any similar videos for the Lions and the Cards, but maybe somebody should make and up them on YT. I also recommend this book for those interested in taking a trip into the darkside: http://www.amazon.com/Gang-Green-Irreverent-Thirty-Eight-Thirty-Seven/dp/0684841150
The problem is, the Super Bowl III win provides solace only for those of us who were fans at the time. I became a Jet fan in 1977. I never saw Namath play. There have been some good moments in there, but the killer is the way this team snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. I wouldn't want to be a Saint, Brown, or Cardinal fan, but it would be nice to see some sustained success. Forget being the Pats (2000s), Cowboys (1990s), or 49ers (1980s)....I'd just like to be like the Colts of recent years....a perennial contender with a SB win. DbJ
Only one person in history could really understand what its like to be a Jets fan, and thats Jesus Christ when he was being crucified for our sins. Screw the little kids with cancer, they get visited by celebrities all the time, I saw it on tv. It goes Jesus on the cross, then Jets fans.
great post dude. i gotta say i think a lot of the negativity around the jets comes from the location. new york is used to having championship teams regularly. the jets have not had near the success of other new york teams, therefore their failures are blown out of proportion.
I love this article and I am posting the link again: http://www.nypost.com/seven/11162008/sports/jets/agony_of_victory_139023.htm?page=0 Vaccaro is a very cool writer. I emailed him about a column he wrote, he responded to my (nasty) email, and we had a nice correspondence afterwards. (Which is unlike my experience with 90% of the members of this board!) He's a guy who really cares about what he writes. And this time he really hit the nail on the head. I was complaining about this very thing just last night on this exact message board! And for some weird reason, suddenly this board seems to be getting the point!!! Thank you Mike Vaccaro!!! I don't want to get into any negativity with anyone I have ever insulted before, I just hope that all of us Jets fans can enjoy this team. I've been following the Jets for a long time and it's not very often that they've been in contention, much less in first place. I am just enjoying the moment, and I hope the rest of you Jets fans can do the same. And if you ain't a Jets fan? Well, you know where to go... So LET'S GO JETS!!!
Agony of Victory- NY Post AGONY OF VICTORY C'MON, JETS FANS, FORCE YOURSELVES TO ENJOY SUCCESS Mike Vaccaro -says longtime Jets fans such as Fireman Ed should lose the woe-is-me attitude. November 17, 2008 New York Jets fans, consider this a one-man intervention. I have walked the path you walk. I have borne the slings and arrows you have borne. As a lad, presented the chance to go green or blue, I chose green. There was nothing complicated to this choice, you understand: the Jets had Joe Namath on their team, and the GiantsNew York Giants didn't. Namath was cool, he was pals with Bobby Brady, he was on TV more than the Watergate hearings and, one summer, he lived a block and a half away from my house during training camp (and even answered the door once). It seemed a logical choice at the time, because there was no instruction manual available at the time, providing the Surgeon General's warnings against casting your lot with the Jets. No one could know what would lay in store in the coming years: Lou Holtz's fight song, a few thousand Richard Todd interceptions, A.J. Duhe, fake spikes, stupid sack dances, Gastineau roughing the #$#$%*&$ quarterback in Cleveland, Rich Kotite, a thousand games blown because of prevent defenses, "Joe Must Go," "HC of the NYJ," Testaverde's heel, Klecko's knee, Al Toon's skull . . . Well, you know. The List. It is a part of every Jets fan's personal resume, something of which to be equal parts proud and embarrassed, sort of like a tattoo with a hell of a story behind it. It is something of a shield from the cold realities of a football history that could be called star-crossed if you are in a kind mood or Godawful if you're in a foul one. OK. That said . . . Jets fans, it is time to stop this. It really is. Again, I have walked with you. I know the comfort that self-loathing can provide. I know how instinctive it is to want to attack what the Jets did on Thursday. To point out all the shortcomings of the 34-31 victory over the Patriots that the Jets took away from Gillette Stadium, to gripe about the exhausted defense and moan about the conservative offense and bitch about the coaching, of course, because that is the highest sacrament of all in Jetsland. But I have to be honest with you about this, brutally honest, plainly honest. It isn't funny. It isn't charming. It is, in a word, stupid. You aren't a Cubs fan, suffering through 100 years of futility. You aren't a Clippers fan. A few years ago, NFL Films was doing a DVD about the Jets, and they talked to a few media folks who grew up Jets fans - myself, WFAN's Joe Benigno (the capo di tutti capo of the breed), ESPN radio's Jody McDonald - and we did (masterfully, if I may say so) what Jets fans do best: angst on demand, all with the cameras rolling. It was virtuoso stuff. Except at the very end, here came the very clear-minded, dry-eyed voice of reason in the person of the esteemed and ubiquitous football gadfly Peter King. And ol' Pete wasn't about to join in the fun. Nope. He said, quite plainly, that he didn't feel sorry for Jets fans, didn't have any time for their angst or any tolerance for their anxiety, they were, after all, the beneficiaries of the Greatest Football Story Ever Told one forever day in the Orange Bowl. "How would you like to spend your life rooting for the New Orleans Saints?" was the way King summed it up, and within minutes of dispensing that sage piece of wisdom, he immediately received seven additional job offers. Well, he's right. It is especially useful to remember how precious football seasons like this one really are. And even more important to remember something else: THE JETS WON THE GAME THURSDAY NIGHT. The NFL awards no style points. It doesn't grade on a curve. The Pats were missing players? Guess what: It's the NFL, players get hurt. The Jets blew a 24-6 lead, blew a 31-24 lead, held on for dear life? Guess what: It all looks like a line drive in the boxscore. The Jets were lucky to win the coin toss in overtime? Guess what: They were. Are they supposed to hand the win back? When's the last time you denied yourself a poker pot because you really did draw to that inside straight? You want to know what Thursday night was? It was one of the signature wins in franchise history, well within the top 10, likely inside the top five. (And yes: as Jeff Foxworthy might say, you might be a Jets fan if your immediate reaction is to groan how that shows just how many football felonies you have had to endure through the years.) Yet the past few days, on talk radio, in my e-mail inbox, in conversations with green-bleeders, 80 percent of the sentiment is this: It should have been better. The score. The outcome. The performance. The way it all . . . well . . . feels. And that is why this intervention is necessary. Consider this an act of friendship, please. I would do the same thing if you just finished off a Peter Luger's porterhouse . . . and started griping about the spinach. I would do the same thing if you just finished watching "The Godfather" and had a problem with the font of the subtitles during the Sicily scenes. I would never call you insufferable, because I am not like that, and because I once walked where you walk. But I wouldn't argue with Peter King if he said that about you. Mike Vaccaro's e-mail is michael.vaccaro@nypost.com. .
You realize you are proving my point exactly, right? That's right, you don't see fans of this other team acting like this. Even though their experience and frustration have been a magnitude of order worse.
Yes, those memories of the last of those championships, when I was 25 months old, really sustained me throughout my conscious awareness of Packer football, which began about 3-5 years later Again, you're just proving my point. You are saying another team that had two winning seasons and one playoff appearance over two decades is not anything to be frustrated about. You're only proving my point, that you simply don't get it, you're experience is not that different. This is what Peter King has been trying to tell you too.
I agree with EVERY SINGLE STRIKING word he said. As much as I love my JETS. I cannot take our fans sometimes. We have some of the most bleeding heart fans in the world. Now don't get me wrong. No one wants to live by the well at least we won a SB and everything is A - OK. But Jeez, we are 7 - 3 and division leaders for the 1st time in 6 years and because we didn't win the way some people wanted us to win, we should STILL fire the coach. The coach puts a game plan together its up to the players to execute that game plan and we cannot say we don't have the right players for the system anymore. My wife said it best. We could win the SB and the next day someone would bitch and moan that we did not win the SB the right way. It's like a person bitching and complaining you don't love them the way they want you to love them. Are you serious? Get a grip. Maybe this team is finally turning the corner after years of suffering, but like Peter King said, imagine being a Saints fan or even a Lions fan? Or maybe even a Cubs fan? Let's enjoy this ladies and gentlemen, because we all know how quickly things can get lean all over again. :up:
KJ, this the third thread posted on this article, even the thread titles are almost identical. Please check first next time?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/news/2000/03/22/the_curse_timeline/ http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=808649&postcount=1 http://bleacherreport.com/articles/81229-the-detroit-lions-are-suffering-the-curse-ofjoe-schmidt
