I am hurting deeply today - I really felt we would break through this year. However I can see that not all is bad in Jet land. We are 32-13 with two trips to the AFCCG in the Rex, Mark, Revis era. Although its tough to keep losing on the doorstep, I have not missed a game since '92, and it feels good to have confidence we will compete year in and year out. Still hurts though - ugh!
The Jets are the only sports team I truly care about. I cannot express in words how much it hurts to see my father's steelers get a chance at a 7th ring...when I'll likely never see the Jets with a shot at one. I was a younger fan once...I thought great things were ahead after Denver 1998. But it only took one half into the 99 season when everything came crashing down. AFC Championship games don't come every year..it could be a long while till we finally get another shot. I don't know how much more of this I can take.
Tho' I'm hurt that we lost yesterday, I D@MNED PROUD to be a NY JET fan and am looking to many years of success. GO JETS!!!!!!!!!
The Eagles come to my mind. Get to the conference title game and keep losing. Since I began following each respective team, none of my teams have been able to win a conference championship since 1999. I've more or less quit investing so much energy into sports and decided that all of my teams will always disappoint. It's apparently not enough that I've spread out my interests across several sports in both the college and professional ranks. They have always disappointed. Being confident in the future is one thing, but actually getting back in a position to win is another. Every time you think that the team is on the way up, Lucy pulls her bullshit on Charlie Brown. For the Jets, it's not a matter of SOJ, which I don't believe in anymore. It's a matter of the competition being too stiff and realizing that being absolutely dominant over a sustained period of time is the only way of maximizing your chance at success, enough to the point where even Peyton Manning can stumble his way into one ring when Jim Kelly couldn't. Teams that just seemingly show up one year and win it all like the 2000 Ravens are the exception. Faced with the prospect of there not being a 2011 NFL season and several pressing issues on the defensive front seven and free agency, this was a major blown opportunity. Next season might be wasted for everyone, which is okay for the younger players who essentially save a year of wear on their bodies, but guys like Jenkins, Ellis, Tomlinson, Richardson, and Taylor may call it a career before there is another season to play. While I do like the core of this team and believe they have great potential with every reason to win a Super Bowl under Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez, I want results, not promises or excuses when a team is good, but not good enough. I can have confidence in the future all I want, but hope in the form of a crystal ball that has never functioned properly isn't satisfying to me at all. The only bright side in all of this is that the Jets may get someone who can actually contribute at DE/OLB instead of wasting a roster spot on Vernon Gholston.
What is worse for you.....losing or not making it this far at all ? When we lost our Super Bowl the hurt was harder than the enjoyment of winning one years later. I guess it's better to at least gotten this far than to never had competed at all.
Great post. This was an very good year, sucks we fell short but the future is bright. The Jets are contenders and will be for years to come.
It was a great year, there were some crazy games to be sure, but we won most of those, we won 11 games, made the playoffs and ended the Patriots season. That's a good season. It sucks to come up short, but only one team is left standing anyway, all we can do is enjoy the ride, and this year was a damn fun one. That's as far as my optimism will take me though. I'm simply hard-wired to avoid the "this is our time", "we're so close," "we'll be on top for years" kind of thinking. I Thought that after the Mud-bowl, thought that before Parcells quit, thought that before Vinny and Chad went down after their best seasons. You never know how long its going to take to get back to greatness.
Great post. Stopping at my grandfather's grave and asking him to make his team tank it for the Jets didn't work. It was worth a shot though anyway. It was ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL to be at that stadium last night. Besides being chilled to the bone and getting "Go Steelers" written on my truck 10 fucking times, and having my Jets magnet & stickers peeled of, you were in a constant state of being hazed. I can handle the razzing and the J.E.T.S sucks chant, but man some guys were definitely out of control. I was in the bleachers at the opposite end of the scoreboard, and was 2 rows in front of a woman with the most annoying fucking voice I have ever heard - it chilled my bones more than the cold. And she would just taunt and taunt and taunt (imaging a Sam Kinison that sounds like Edith from All in the Family That is in no way an exaggeration and is most definitely an accurate description.) The getting hit from behind in the back, head, ass, the bumping and pushing people were doing. And then when trying to get in to the stadium, "Pittsburgh's Finest" beat the shit out of a kid and his elderly father. The kid (early 20's) had a mouth on him and deserved the stick, but his father did absolutely nothing except claim that was his son and ask what the problem was, and they were beating him like he just started a riot against city hall. Felt really bad for both of them when they got tazed. Its kinda funny, but it was sad to be right there and watch it all unfold. I was constantly whacked in the head and body with those fucking towels and hearing the stupid fucking anti-Jets chants. And just when the Jets were on the verge of a comeback, the stadium fell quiet and you could hear the Jets chants. And then 3 and 6. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Steelers fans are so spoiled, they don't even realize it. That was my first, and probably last, road game. I never want to experience that again. Not to mention it was the longest 5 hour ride I ever had in my life. Dead silence in the truck with 4 boisterous guys. That being said - it was still a great season. I'm just hopeful the Jets can get over that hump in the next year or two and get to the Superbowl.
Here's the thing. I get that Ryan says what he believes, but also that he tries to be an effective leader. Much of what he says is, not that there's anything wrong with it, said to have an effect. And at the same time he seems genuinely to believe there is basis for his optimism. So I hear what he says, and I think not only that he believes it, but given his position, his knowledge about the team, I get to thinking he's probably got some real insight here. So he gets me all psyched up, believing in the team, overcoming the doubts I have about the team. Even with that I didn't think it was a slam dunk. Even watching the Chicago Green Bay game, I remember thinking, I don't know that the Jets will beat either of those guys. But then I again thought of Ryan and his self confidence. And felt better about the Pitt game still to be played. I admire people who have the ability to inspire through self confidence. I wish I could do more of that myself. Ryan has that. But I also know every year he goes into as he has this year, which is fine as far as it goes, and I do think it is genuine to him, but then to follow that up with coming up short, it makes going back to the same approach a bit harder to take. At some point if they don't get there before then, it will have the look of foolishness. I hope that doesn't happen, of course, but I also am not prepared to assume the Jets will finally make it next year. I hope they will. But how will Ryan's approach play if they don't? I have a concern about that.
Stars were aligned my ass. 3 road games against Manning, ugg wearing pussy whipped Chowd, and Rothlisbergber, we had a 2nd year qb, what, were a shoe-in this year? The future is bright, time will pass, we're pissed off now but how about some perspective.
