Some innocent Jets fan would come on and go...I think the Jets have a good shot this year. Champs response?......"I have been monitoring your posts and have tabbed you as an SLW. I will enter you on my spreadsheet as an SLW that knows very little about football. Please refrain from posting about the Jets as you seem to know very little" Whether he was right or wrong in the end, belittling people because you feel like it is a dick way to post. It could be a kid posting for all you know. I'm glad he's gone.
I don't know about anyone else but I'm guessing you aren't innocent and you probably are an SLW. What makes you think Champ coining someone an SLW was an insult?
Because when asked a million times, he never told anyone what it meant. If you make up initials to call someone, and refuse to tell people what it is....then it's an insult either way.
Which is why it should be Championjets68. Hehe, I went there before. I really enjoyed reading that, but I have different takes on some of those things. Anyway, my Daddy adopted the Jets much like he adopted me, but he never was a Mets fan. Funny how that was and that it didn't cross over. He was a Yankees fan as a kid, grew up in Manhattan, but he hated the Baseball Giants and the Football Giants. Actually his hate for the NY football Giants was legendary. In fact, every time there was occasion for the networks to show Frank Gifford's helmet getting popped into the stratosphere years later on our newfangled COLOR TV, he'd break out a cigar. Hehe, when did that happen, 1960 or 1961? I was born in '64, but my father never got sick of it. And, you left out 'Spartacus'! How could you, and for shame. "I am Smarty Pants!" - as we used to say. Tony Curtis, to this day it's a Holy Moment when Antoninus - "The Singer of Songs" lol - with a Bronx accent says in response to "For whom did you practice this wondrous talent?" - "For da children of my masta whom I taught da classics." I shriek like hell. Who doesn't?!
Anyone else find it kind of sad that a thread with great posts like Winston's and klecko73's gets 300 views, but Kerry Rhodes tweeting like a jackass gets 32,000? We live in strange times my friends.
And let us not forget how we used to mangle "Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang". I hated that movie, but what the frig? I mean, really, just look at that title, will ya? Starring a guy named Dick Van Dyke, no less. You'd never get away with any of it today. "Sh*tty-sh*tty Bang Bang, I love you!" "What did you say?" "Oh, we're just singing..." Heee, they weren't fooled.
My next door neighbor worked for CBS and used to take me to Giant games at Yankee stadium as a kid. My folks are all from Brooklyn and adopted the Mets simply to go to Dodger games and curse the uniform. They became my team as a kid. I moved to Boston years later and lived a block from Fenway park. Al Jackson who pitched for the Mets in the 60's was the Sox pithing coach. I used to go sit in the center field bleachers and talk to him all night about the Mets and root for the Yankees to kick the Red Sox ass just because I was from NY. I never got the love one team from NY you had to hate the other. I always liked the Giants but I found them a little boring as a kid. It was Joe that really turned me onto Football. The guy was an outright rock star and just a gas to watch play. He turned me into a fanatic Jets fan. Loved the colors ever since.
Honestly I think we're in a good position. We have the QB, we have the coach. Even if we don't win it the next 2 or 3 years I just want us to keep beefing up the defense - building up depth each year. I believe that's the foundation for a great team (see Giants, Baltimore, Pittsburgh). We've already taken care of the hard parts in my opinion. It's time to build around. The future is bright boys. :metal:
Big Blocker - I don't want to speak for Winston, but he and are basically saying the same thing. His post was just a bit more subtle and nuanced than mine. I think the key is that *perhaps* that Woody and Mike T have finally caught lightening in a bottle. *Perhaps* they hired the right HC - who comes from an aggressive, defensive background. *Perhaps* they drafted the right QB - who although may not be some physical stud like Stafford, has the nimble feet to side step the pass rush, has enough arm to cut through Foxoboro winters, and has "it" so he won't wilt under the lights of Broadway (Joe) and the pressure of NYC. *Perhaps* they finally have committed to building an offensive line - it is the engine of an offense necessary for any successful driver AKA the QB. Stop wasting time and $$$$ on WRs and RBs - they are a dime dozen and a great offensive line can make Timmy Smith look great for one day or keep a QB upright long enough so that any WR can get open. *Perhaps* they finally realized that with few exceptions, it is defense that ultimately wins championships - that doesn't mean the defense is going to win every battle of every game, but if they are on the field at the key moment, the accumalation of shots against the offense will yield the critical turnover, sack or stop. We can all bash Woody and Mike T alot for many things, but you can't bash them for not learning from their mistakes, nor understanding or even acting on these 4 requirements. Yes they have made mistakes - neither Herm nor Eric was the right HC fit; Vinny, CP nor Favre were the answer at QB; Adrien Clarke is in aisle 4 for clean-up; and the Cover-Who is relegated to the "where are they now" category of defensive playbooks. You may not think it, but actually Woody and Mike T have been pretty ruthless in making changes. Once they have identified a mistake they correct it - relatively quickly in the timelines of the NFL - and move in. They haven't blinked to make the bold move. Guess what??? Trading for Brett Favre was the best thing that Woody and Mike T have done for the Jets in a long, long time. It made us relevant again. It made the team, the fans and the NFL, especially at 8-3, think this team was going for it. Plus for the first time they realized what we have all been saying for a very long time: THIS IS A QB's LEAGUE. THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PLAYER ON THE TEAM IS THE QB. HE TOUCHES THE BALL VIRTUALLY EVERY OFFENSIVE PLAY. YOU NEED A GREAT QB TO WIN A SUPERBOWL. So they tried to catch lightening in the bottle - and it worked for 11 weeks before Father Time caught up. But that was better than seeing CP (who I like as a person and as a player - just his arm is shot) getting us to the inevitable 1 and done playoff appearance because he doesn't have arm for the 20 yd out OR watching Clemens (once again, seems like a nice guy with a great arm, just doesn't have the "it" presence on the field) prove to us for 16 games what we now know after a QB competition and 4 pre-season games: that he can't beat out a rookie top prospect QB. So now we have that rookie QB who may have *it*, we may have the rookie HC who may be the next Weeb or BP, we may have that offensive line that can dominate the game, and we may finally have a defensive scheme that will put our players in the best position to succeed and utilize the exisiting talent. But the bottomline is that we aren't going 11-5 this year, we aren't winning the division and we aren't going to win a play-off game with all these question marks. HOWEVER, I am confident in saying that this year will be a tremendous building block year for our team - kinda like 1997 - when alot of questions are going to be answered. Guess what? The Jets may just start out 0-3 or 0-4, but it wouldn't suprise me to see them rally late in the year. In fact, IF Sanchez is who we think he is, he and they may actually get better as the year goes on. Of course the only thing that could derail the Jets in a few years is a lockout in 2011, which is exactly why I believe as a Jets fan there will be a lockout.
Klecko, I was merely talking about this dark side stuff explaining the long period of mostly mediocrity. I took your previous post to be one that clarified that the real problem has been completely man made, specifically do nothing or meddlesome in the wrong way owners. Leon Hess, a nice man, no doubt, finally took a chance and brought in Parcells, and it almost got the team to the SB. Woody brought in Herm, then Mangini. Imo he bought the team more to focus on the real estate side of ownership, specifically the WSS. He may have learned along the way that he can't just let the team go on autopilot, at least not if he wants to sell PSL's, which of course I am not a fan of. Tanny I am not so down on, but he's hardly the greatest FO/personnel guy in the league. I liked getting rid of Mangini and replacing him with Ryan. But at least the first part was a no brainer at that point. He had to go. How much credit does Woody get for that? Not so much. In any event I hope there is reason to share your optimism, but basically I was merely agreeing with your point that this all has been a man made travesty for the most part. It's fun to talk about Ewbank making a deal with the devil and all that, but that's not the real reason there's been so much mediocrity. Of course.
Klecko-you spoke for a lot of long time fans with this post. Outstanding analysis which of course many here will disagree with who saw Herm as a solid coach, saw Chad post injury as still a guy who could get it done and see the addition of Ryan in year 1 as making all our weaknesses at the defensive point of attack disapear in year 1 and lets mortage the future for a WR now. At the end of the day this team took a giant step backwards when Walt Michaels went off the deep end. Herm outright took apart a rebuilt team one year at a time and Mangini did some good things like reestablishing descipline but in the end I think you nailed it Tannenbaum just didn't think he had it long term. Getting Sanchez in a weak draft class may turn out to be not just a great building block but a turnaround in this teams luck? If we can build that DLine over the next two years and get some depth on the OL and of course Ryan turns out to be the real deal, this team will be something to contend with. It rarely happens over night.
The Jets are like my wife, teasing, teasing, teasing; making me work, work, work, and hope, yet she never cooks the bacon. But for me, as it has always has been, nothing comes remotely close to substitution for the Jets; I will live or I will die with the dream of my Lombardi trophy being polished.
Great posts in this thread. Nice job all. I'd just add that even when it looked like we had something put together there's always a wrench thrown into the works right after the fact. 1968-69: Jets finally a top tier team - Namath's knees. 1981-82: Jets finally a top tier team again - Michaels fired. 1985-86: Jets get back to the top - Decimated by injuries. 1998-99: Jets at the top again - Vinny achilles. Parcells loses heart. 2002-05: Jets climbing right back up again - Chad is an egg back there. 2006-08: Jets on the rise again - Mangenius runs himself out of town. It's all very disturbing because even if Sanchez is great and the Jets go 11-5 next year the history says something will happen and bring us back down again. And yes I agree with everybody who has talked about how poor our organization is. Good teams don't have the consistent ups and downs the Jets have had for 40 years now. It just doesn't happen. I hope Champ is ok and gets back to posting here soon.
I don't agree with that. A lot of people thought that Mangini should be fired, but not a lot of owners have the balls to do what Woody did. He pisses me off for a lot of reasons, but it was a pretty bold move and not just a no-brainer. Jerry Jones has been sitting on his hands with Wade Phillips for years, Dick Jauron should have been shown the door instead of stagnating that Bills team for so long - Mangini did better than both of them as a rookie HC and Woody had his head and went aggressive. What usually seems like a 'no-brainer' move to fans doesn't end up being realistic from an ownership standpoint.
another Winston classic......... Unfortunately 69 was 5 years before my time. Those of us in our 30's don't have alot to hang our hats on aside from the memory of Mookie's ground ball rolling between Bill Buckner's legs.
The Mookie moment is the kind of thing that hooked a generation on Mets baseball. Those magic moments when we are kids make us junkies for life. I was lucky my magic moment for the Jets was the SB but everyone on this board has moment, a player, a play that is etched in their memory and hooked them into being a fan of the Jets for life.
This may be the best thread on TGG. Winston, Klecko, BB, Byz, Br4dway- sincerely a pleasure reading, I mean that.
I admit to not being a Woody fan, but when he does something right, like I think he did bringing Ryan to the team, I say so. Should I have given him more credit for getting rid of Mangini, though? Yeah, Mangini got good results his first year, but his second was piss poor coaching, imo. At least the results were bad, and maybe some want to apportion all the blame elsewhere. I can't see that. So he gets to year 3, and the team brings in Favre and a bunch of other FA's. Things were going well until the end, and imo that was in part because of several poor coaching moves. There was also strong indication he had lost the team pretty much. Given his last two years, it should not have been a tough move to get rid of Mangini.
