Should I ditch the Jets?
Dec 22, 2008 1:28:54 GMT -5
Post by Lucky on Dec 22, 2008 1:28:54 GMT -5
So Eric's NBA stance has inspired me. Maybe its time I just give up on the Jets for good.
I've run the idea by some fellow Jets fans and while they weren't encouraging me or joining in they understood my stance. Some Punsters in chat were less understanding and I was accused of being a bad fan and maybe even a frontrunner a few times. So lets see how people feel.
Its simple. I spent 30 minutes trying to remember a moment I was glad to be a Jets fan and I came up with 1. The MNF comeback 6 or 7 years ago against the Dolphins. To the best of my memory that is the one occasion which I genuinely was glad to be a Jets fan. Which isn't to say I haven't cheered along with Jets wins or hoped for a good season with the Jets. But all those other situations where times when I was a Jets fan and I was glad it worked out well in that case. Not moments I was just genuinely grateful that someone else chose to make me a Jets fan as a child.
And so many Jets wins have just come after a week or more of dreading the alternative. This next week seems like the perfect example and a good time to jump ship. Because the upside is winning the division and making the playoffs. Jets weren't expected to do anything like that coming out of last season and any chance in the playoffs is a chance you don't have when you're eliminated. 9 out of 10 times I'll say a fan should be grateful for a winning season and a playoff bid, especially a fan of a team that hasn't had success like that very often or recently.
On the other hand there's the downside. Losing doesn't only mean missing the playoffs it means missing the playoffs at the hands of the hated Dolphins led by Chad Pennington, the QB who was rode out of town on a rail after years of disappointment and frustration. To THINK you upgraded with Favre only to lose the playoff spot to Pennington and the Dolphins in Week 17 would be horrible. And if the Jets do win they can still miss the playoffs if the equally hated Pats win, where beating the Dolphins is what made it possible for the Pats to get in. Despite the Pats having lost their HOF QB at the start of the season but still coming out ahead of the Jets.
Heartbreak isn't guaranteed next week. Then again its not terribly unlikely either. There's a couple of ways for it to go and there's no "easy" loss there. Every way the Jets end their season bad the Jets end their season REAL bad. And that just seems like the Jets. Jets don't have their fate in their own hands because of games they should have won but lost. And if it all works out the reality is that the Jets are a mediocre team with a very flawed QB and a very flawed coach who will probably not do anything in the playoffs. And may very well end up falling to the Pats in the 1st Rd.
Now look. I'm not annoyed because the Jets might make the playoffs without much hope of doing anything. If that was the verdict today I'd be happy to have had this much success and just hope for the best. Its the whole scenario. So many ways it can blow up. That the Jets' failures got them here. That Giants, Pats, and Dolphins fans are all around me glad to feed my dread and ready to rub it in on Sunday. It just feels like what being a Jets fan has been to me. Even with the chance to win the division and make the playoffs its just surrounded by crap and dread.
Some would suggest that this is all about me. That I'm a "bad fan", that I "look for suffering", that I can't be happy and I should be happy with this team. Maybe they're right. It doesn't seem to be worth debating. The real question is, if I define being a Jets fan as a constant wait for the other shoe to drop then why am I a Jets fan? If I don't truly get anything out of them then why suffer with the pain? The Jets could shock the world and win the Super Bowl and I'd of course celebrate. But would it be worth all the BS of this season and the last 10 and what was sure to come next? Never mind that I probably wouldn't even be able to enjoy a Jets' win with all the Giants and Pats fans in my life let alone the Favre hate.
And I root for losing teams. I'm not looking to ditch the Knicks because they suck and will suck for the foreseeable future. I can deal. Its the melodrama and dread I don't like. The Knicks are what they are. There's none of taunting fanbases and crazy storylines and false hope that exists with the Jets. Or at least not enough to overpower what it means to be a fan. Its just waiting for things to turn around and hoping there are some bright spots while you wait. But that's not what its like as a Jets fan. Or at least it isn't to me.
So is it time to cash in and get out? I think I could do it. I doubt I'd pick another team. That wouldn't feel right to me. More than likely I'd just abandon all real rooting interest in the NFL and become a casual fan, maybe jumping on a story or a team from time to time but not being a "fan." I'm told that even this would be a mockery of what it is "to be a fan" and that I'd be wrong to abandon my team at all.
But isn't that sort of insane? An uncle who I don't even talk to anymore bought me a Jets jersey for Christmas 25 years ago so I "must" root for them until I die even if I get no joy from it? A number of people have already told me that, yes, that is the case. That's what I "should" do. But there's so much to this team. The inept management, the rivalries that impact me more than in any other sport, the obnoxious fanbases always present to rub a loss in. I'd just like to enter a Draft without everyone expecting the Jets to fuck up again.
Or maybe I'm just emotional and over reacting after a bad loss. I just know I'm sick of this and sick of being a Jets fan. And if there are "rules" for fandom and ditching teams it seems like "don't like being a fan" is a good reason to ditch your team. And like I said, doing it before Sunday feels right. Because then its not that I ditched my team because we missed the playoffs and had a bad ending. And its not that I stuck with my team when all worked out right. I jumped ship when it could go either way because I decided the gamble wasn't worth it.
So help me make my decision by Sunday. Should I remain a Jets fan and just "stick it out"? Is this all just another sports rant that will pass? Or have I made the case for why I should let it go like a bad relationship I'm getting nothing out of? Even the good things are reaped with issues and I'm only really staying with "her" because it seems like the "right" thing to do.
I've run the idea by some fellow Jets fans and while they weren't encouraging me or joining in they understood my stance. Some Punsters in chat were less understanding and I was accused of being a bad fan and maybe even a frontrunner a few times. So lets see how people feel.
Its simple. I spent 30 minutes trying to remember a moment I was glad to be a Jets fan and I came up with 1. The MNF comeback 6 or 7 years ago against the Dolphins. To the best of my memory that is the one occasion which I genuinely was glad to be a Jets fan. Which isn't to say I haven't cheered along with Jets wins or hoped for a good season with the Jets. But all those other situations where times when I was a Jets fan and I was glad it worked out well in that case. Not moments I was just genuinely grateful that someone else chose to make me a Jets fan as a child.
And so many Jets wins have just come after a week or more of dreading the alternative. This next week seems like the perfect example and a good time to jump ship. Because the upside is winning the division and making the playoffs. Jets weren't expected to do anything like that coming out of last season and any chance in the playoffs is a chance you don't have when you're eliminated. 9 out of 10 times I'll say a fan should be grateful for a winning season and a playoff bid, especially a fan of a team that hasn't had success like that very often or recently.
On the other hand there's the downside. Losing doesn't only mean missing the playoffs it means missing the playoffs at the hands of the hated Dolphins led by Chad Pennington, the QB who was rode out of town on a rail after years of disappointment and frustration. To THINK you upgraded with Favre only to lose the playoff spot to Pennington and the Dolphins in Week 17 would be horrible. And if the Jets do win they can still miss the playoffs if the equally hated Pats win, where beating the Dolphins is what made it possible for the Pats to get in. Despite the Pats having lost their HOF QB at the start of the season but still coming out ahead of the Jets.
Heartbreak isn't guaranteed next week. Then again its not terribly unlikely either. There's a couple of ways for it to go and there's no "easy" loss there. Every way the Jets end their season bad the Jets end their season REAL bad. And that just seems like the Jets. Jets don't have their fate in their own hands because of games they should have won but lost. And if it all works out the reality is that the Jets are a mediocre team with a very flawed QB and a very flawed coach who will probably not do anything in the playoffs. And may very well end up falling to the Pats in the 1st Rd.
Now look. I'm not annoyed because the Jets might make the playoffs without much hope of doing anything. If that was the verdict today I'd be happy to have had this much success and just hope for the best. Its the whole scenario. So many ways it can blow up. That the Jets' failures got them here. That Giants, Pats, and Dolphins fans are all around me glad to feed my dread and ready to rub it in on Sunday. It just feels like what being a Jets fan has been to me. Even with the chance to win the division and make the playoffs its just surrounded by crap and dread.
Some would suggest that this is all about me. That I'm a "bad fan", that I "look for suffering", that I can't be happy and I should be happy with this team. Maybe they're right. It doesn't seem to be worth debating. The real question is, if I define being a Jets fan as a constant wait for the other shoe to drop then why am I a Jets fan? If I don't truly get anything out of them then why suffer with the pain? The Jets could shock the world and win the Super Bowl and I'd of course celebrate. But would it be worth all the BS of this season and the last 10 and what was sure to come next? Never mind that I probably wouldn't even be able to enjoy a Jets' win with all the Giants and Pats fans in my life let alone the Favre hate.
And I root for losing teams. I'm not looking to ditch the Knicks because they suck and will suck for the foreseeable future. I can deal. Its the melodrama and dread I don't like. The Knicks are what they are. There's none of taunting fanbases and crazy storylines and false hope that exists with the Jets. Or at least not enough to overpower what it means to be a fan. Its just waiting for things to turn around and hoping there are some bright spots while you wait. But that's not what its like as a Jets fan. Or at least it isn't to me.
So is it time to cash in and get out? I think I could do it. I doubt I'd pick another team. That wouldn't feel right to me. More than likely I'd just abandon all real rooting interest in the NFL and become a casual fan, maybe jumping on a story or a team from time to time but not being a "fan." I'm told that even this would be a mockery of what it is "to be a fan" and that I'd be wrong to abandon my team at all.
But isn't that sort of insane? An uncle who I don't even talk to anymore bought me a Jets jersey for Christmas 25 years ago so I "must" root for them until I die even if I get no joy from it? A number of people have already told me that, yes, that is the case. That's what I "should" do. But there's so much to this team. The inept management, the rivalries that impact me more than in any other sport, the obnoxious fanbases always present to rub a loss in. I'd just like to enter a Draft without everyone expecting the Jets to fuck up again.
Or maybe I'm just emotional and over reacting after a bad loss. I just know I'm sick of this and sick of being a Jets fan. And if there are "rules" for fandom and ditching teams it seems like "don't like being a fan" is a good reason to ditch your team. And like I said, doing it before Sunday feels right. Because then its not that I ditched my team because we missed the playoffs and had a bad ending. And its not that I stuck with my team when all worked out right. I jumped ship when it could go either way because I decided the gamble wasn't worth it.
So help me make my decision by Sunday. Should I remain a Jets fan and just "stick it out"? Is this all just another sports rant that will pass? Or have I made the case for why I should let it go like a bad relationship I'm getting nothing out of? Even the good things are reaped with issues and I'm only really staying with "her" because it seems like the "right" thing to do.