Repost: Heart of Darkness

Given that all pre-server apocalypse posts are gone, I have decided to repost my “centennial” posts. Since I wrote them all originally in Word, with the exception of a few edits, I should be able to repost them in their original form. I guess if I have a tgg.com identity, it is pretty much defined by these posts. So, for that reason, I’ll get them back on the system. I’ll space them out a little so there isn’t a DbJ spam-a-thon on the front page.

Originally Posted Nov 9, 2005

Heart of Darkness

This is my 100th post and I have decided that to mark such a milestone (a personal one….my tenure is short compared to most of you) with a recounting of my Jet Fan history. It is essentially how I got to where I am today. For some (those at or around my age) it will be a familiar tale….peppered with glimpses of hope, fantastic moments, and all too frequent tragedy. For others (the younger crowd) it is a tale of warning….for there is still time left for you….find another franchise or give up on football all together….otherwise 28 years from now, you may be writing a similar post. And with that….

My journey began on Long Island in summer of 1977….I was 9 years old. It was the year I discovered sports. My dad was a mild Met fan and I naturally gravitated toward them. In the fall of that year football began. My dad was not much of a football fan. So on that opening weekend I watched both the Jets and Giants play. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was at one of the most pivotal crossroads of my young life….I was about to make a decision that would change Sundays for the rest of my life. Hmmm….Jets rhymes with Mets and they play in the same stadium….I guess I am a Jet fan. There. It was done. A simple, foolish act of a young boy and I was on a path that would lead me to destinations I could not possibly imagine even in my worst childhood nightmares.

The early years are somewhat of a blur to me. Mostly I remember losing a lot of games and a bunch of names….Todd, Robinson, Leahy, Barkum, Buttle, Gaines, Harper.

My first real game memory was watching the Jets beat the Packers on my grandparents black and white TV in the final game of the 1981 season. I don’t remember the game so much, but I do remember the crowd storming the field after they clinched a playoff berth. The next day on the school bus, a kid name Sal claimed to be the guy hanging from the goal post.

The next memory came one week later….playoff game at Buffalo. I remember this one much more clearly. I believe the Jets fell behind 21-0 (maybe 24-0) early in this game. I sank into a deep depression. I remember saying with much sarcasm after the Jets scored the extra point on their first TD, “wooo…they are on a roll”. I guess that was the first time I ever dabbled with the darkside. Shortly following that TD my parents made me go visit model homes (we were visiting my cousins in Virginia)….I swear to God I will never do that to my kids. I had to listen to most of the rest of the game on the radio. I got back to the TV just in time to see the Jets bid for a comeback end on a Todd INT deep in Buffalo territory in the final minute. Little did I know, the very game I just watched would be repeated many times in my future. It also represented a microcosm of the Jets as a team….disaster….hope….and ultimately tragedy.

Next season (1982)…the strike. What a heartbreak. The good news is we made the playoffs again and even got a couple of wins. Then came Miami…and the mud…and AJ Duhe….a name that still haunts us all. Oh well….there will be other years….and we still have the Sack Exchange (Gastineau, Klecko, Lyons, Salaam).

Well, it wasn’t that easy. We didn’t make it back into the playoffs until 1985. I have very little recollection of this game (against NE)…I guess I was a high school senior and had other things on my mind. I don’t think it was a very memorable game.

Then came 1986. Here is a vivid and wonderful memory. On a Sept afternoon, huddled around a tiny black and white TV in my freshman college dorm room, I watched one of the all-time great battles. Jets-Dolphins….O’Brien-Marino….Wesley Walker. If I hadn’t seen it myself I would have never have believed it. Jets 51 – Dolphins 45 (OT). For one glorious day, it was GREAT to be a Jet fan. The magic didn’t linger. In the playoffs came one of the great Jet meltdowns. What is bizarre, is I know I watched the game in 86….I know I was crushed, but when I watch the replays of this game on the NFL Network I have no memory of seeing it before. The only explanation I have, is that it is like a horrible trauma and I just blocked it out of my mind.

The next few years I was mostly living in California, so I could not follow the team as closely as I would have liked. Then again maybe this was a blessing: Stienberg, Coslet, Nagle, Esiason….these were dark times.

In 1994, I moved back to the East Coast (Northern VA) and was hopeful that young Pete Carroll would be bring this team to the promised land. In a game I remember well, the Jets were 6-5, leading the Dolphins, and about to put themselves into position for a division title. Then…collapse….capped with “The Fake Spike”. I remember feeling numb when it happened. You can point to many events in Jet history as the single worst moment, but in my estimation this was the one that changed the fortunes of this franchise forever. There were the immediate impacts: Season spiraling out of control, Head Coach fired, and Rich Kotite hired. But there was also a lingering demon that has haunted this team to this very day….I believe this is the very moment that Same Old Jets (SOJ) was spawned.

The Kotite years followed. I’m not sure how to describe this house of horrors….perhaps Bubby Brister Shovel Pass will suffice.

Then came Parcells. Was he the savior we had been waiting for or just another false prophet? Difficult to say for sure. Clearly, he brought instant credibility and accountability to the team. But he left the team in a strange state. The weird thing about the Parcells years is that as much success as it brought, even his great coaching skills could not shake the SOJ booger from the collective Jet finger. Need proof? Leon Johnson Halfback Option Pass, AFC Title Game Meltdown (I have a great story about why I hate my mother-in-law related to this game…I’ll save that one for post 200), Vinny’s Achilles, and Rick Mirer.

What followed Parcells’ resignation as head coach was perhaps the most bizarre 24 hours in Jet history: The Bill Belichick Day. Hired one day and then the next he resigned as “HC of the NYJ”. Hmmmm….what ever became of him?

In came Al Groh…call me nuts, but I liked the guy. He was a dick (but I like that in a coach) and he kinda reminded me of Harvey Keitel (both in looks and voice). In my opinion, that year contained 2 of the best wins in my Jet memory: 1) Wayne “Flashlight” Chrebet scoring the winning TD against Keyshawn “Star” Johnson; and 2) The Monday Night Miracle. Each was wonderful in it’s own way. But alas, even those great victories were for naught, due to a horrific SOJ collapse….three consecutive loses to close the season. The season finale (Christmas Eve) at Baltimore may have been the quintessential Vinny Testaverde game…great plays mixed with crushing INTs. Coal in every Jet fans stocking….WHY DO YOU MOCK US SANTA!?!?!? Adding insult to injury….days later Al Groh dumps the team for UVA.

Ah…then came Bradway and Herm and the all-star coordinators: Hackett and Cotrell. For a first year coach, Herm and company did OK. Week 17 against Oakland was a gutsy win with as clutch a kick as any Jet has ever made. In 2002, Pennington gave us all hope. Week 17 was AMAZING. The Jets needed NE to beat Miami and it looked like it would never happen, but miraculously it did. Later that afternoon Penny dismantled GB to vault us to the playoffs. The Playoff win against Indy the following week may have been the most complete game I have ever seen them play. Again, the house of cards came tumbling down in Oakland. But it was OK….next year we are DEFINITELY going make it to the SB.

What happened the following pre-season was one of my worst memories. I was half-watching the Redskins pre-season game when I heard the announcer say, “Here is some BIG injury news about the Redskins opening day opponent”. I froze and started praying to myself: “Not Pennington, Not Pennington, Not Pennington”. Of course we all know how that turned out.

Everything that followed (up through the present) is well chronicled on this site, so I won’t go into too much detail, but in my estimation, the Herm led Jets have firmly entrenched themselves in SOJ lore. Just a few incidents that stand out in my mind: mid-game switch to Pennington in Philly, Botched OT FG attempt against the Giants, Collapse Featuring ANOTHER HB Option INT Against Ravens, 2004 Week 17 St. Louis Loss (and playoff back-in). This season is of course littered with disasters, miscalculations and heartbreak.

So where does this leave me? Well, the strange thing about my journey (despite the horrors I have witnessed) is that my passion for this team has grown every year. I liken the Jets to heroin. No matter how bad it gets, I still want more. I know it is slowly destroying me, yet I return every year CONVINCED this will be the year we win it all.

So, turn away if you can. For me it’s too late. For I have only one destiny…DeathByJets.

 

Boy...you guys were digging deep in the archives to find this.