In Which I Look Like a Self-Loathing Jets Fan in ESPN The Mag (Which Sometimes I Am)
One of my favorite movie lines of all time has to be in Ocean’s Eleven, when Linus asks Rusty ‘Are you suicidal?’ to which Rusty answers, ‘only in the mornings.’
I guess ESPN caught me in the morning.
ESPN the Mag has done their annual team fan experience rankings again and they asked yours truly to comment back in March. While the pall of Brett Favre still lingered over the team, and while the Ryan regime was underway, the sense of optimism was slowly growing. With what many consider a good draft, those concerns seem further behind.
Still ESPN asked me to comment on a few areas, most specifically stadium experience & affordability because of their poor ranking, my point was to emphasize the fans and tailgate experience as better than the in-stadium experience.
Here’s the Jets Ranking in the Ultimate Standings, followed by my answer to ESPN.
Last Year’s Rank: 105
Title Track: 91
Ownership: 78
Coaching: 45
Players: 68
Fan Relations: 81
Affordability: 115
Stadium Experience: 113
Bang for the Buck: 107
Tom Brady’s downfall, coupled with a free agent frenzy and some Brett Favre magic, had metro fans dreaming of a Subway Super Bowl last season, or at least a playoff appearance. So pity the 82,540 per game who agonized through a 1-4 finish. Still, don’t pin this sorry ranking entirely on No. 4’s 22 INTs. Misery is part of the Jet fan’s experience. “There’s a reason why, historically, tailgating has been one of the most fun parts of my gameday experience,” says Brian Bassett of thejetsblog.com. “It has to do only with the fans and not the stadium or product on the field. Heading into the stadium and looking up at the name Giants Stadium doesn’t start things off well; the hallways are dank and impassable, the food options are uninspired and overpriced and I’ve attended a lot more losses than wins during my tenure as a fan.” The new $1.6 billion joint stadium, due in 2010, should ease some of the pain, but the price of improvement will come out of fans pockets in the form of $7.75 brew and personally licensed seats (the first 620 chairs fetched $16 million). If that doesn’t drive fans to summon their inner Bruce Banner, management offers financing options at 6.5% or 8%, a vig that Johnny Sack’s crew would call cruel and unusual. Then again, if any fan base can handle cruel and unusual, it’s this one.
Here was my total response.
Although the dread of PSLs hangs over many loyal fans who are season ticket holders, the new stadium will be a welcome change for a lot of reasons, but it’s coming at a high price to fans.
The tide is turning, but there’s a reason why historically tailgating has been one of the most fun parts of my game-day experience … mostly because it has only to do with the fans and not the stadium or product on the field. Heading into the stadium and looking up at the red or blue emblazoned name “Giants Stadium” doesn’t start things off well; the hallways are dank and impassable, the food options are uninspired and overpriced and I’ve attended a lot more losses than wins during my tenure as a fan.
Yes, Favre crashed and burned as an experiment, but I applaud the team for giving it a try. I’m young, but I’ve never felt more electric energy and excitement at a Jets game than I did during the Jets first home game of 2008 against the Patriots.
Now, things are changed, there’s a new coach with a new approach and fans are feeling a lot more optimistic about this new team in their soon to be finished new home.
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Yeah i read that. All true. Giants stadium sucks, the new one is going to suck and sharing it sucks. If we had the plan for the westside stadium approved, we’d be singing to a different tune, even though it would still be $pricey$. But think of this: We are playing in the swamps of NJ (i work nearby it sucks here) when we can play in Queens next to the Mets and OUR FAN BASE, or in NYC. Beers cost 8$, parking lots have been redrawn, i cant fit my Explorer into a spot (IMAGINE TAILGAITING IN A PRIUS!?!?!?), and they cut you off after the third quarter. PSL’s? go ahead and bang on the owners…
It could have been worse. They could have edited it down to read:
…dread … hangs over many
…. loyal fans … will be a welcome change … a lot … high
… the most fun parts of my game-day experience … has only to do with … looking up at the red or blue emblazoned name “Giants Stadium” … the food options are … burned…, but I applaud the … Patriots.
Now, things are changed, and fans are … soon to be … home.
I saw this yesterday and did a double take. I was waiting for you to post about it with the goal being to defend your mood tone and feelings to a team you love. I now see they took your quotes out of contest and am no longer disappointed. As a season ticket holder, I do agree that the stadium is garbage and everyone I know except for my one friend has to come to their senses and realized that the Farve experiment failed. The food is definitely not “fine dining”, but in the end it’s all about the team. Winning cures everything in sports. I like Bassett, applaud the bold decision to bring in #4 because more than anything it connived a sense that winning games was the most important thing to this franchise. Sure the new leadership and the fancy new QB who poses in GQ mags, has brought a kind of new-found-hope to the fans, and I believe that is the first step. The attitude that THIS Jets team is portraying is an encouraging sign, but all I want to see is wins. As I allotted to earlier, winning cures everything, and thats truly all that matters. The new stadium will be nice, but the wins that come inside of it for the team wearing green will be twice as sweet.
True wins do cure everything. I dont know if i would have been able to bear the pain of being a fan of our beloved gang green if it wasnt for parcells and the 97′ season. We ended with a winning record for the first time as long as i was watching.
But, winning may make the wet 5$ hot dog taste less like flavored toilet paper, it will not cure the fact that we share the place with another team. This is the NFL, where $ is abundant. We should have had our OWN place. For OUR fans. In OUR area (nyc or queens/LI).
Obviously I agree that winning cures everything. I WAS a season ticket holder, but gave them up because I got priced out of the upper deck and decided not to pay a PSL. However, I am still as big a Jet fan as ever. If this new team delivers and brings wins, I won’t care about having to give up my seats. All I want is a championship.
you know what our problem is as Jet fans. i think we are the most humble/ arrogant fans in the nfl. I think we would act worse than pat fans if we win a Superbowl and become a dinasty.
If we win a championship i will wear a dress and tell people im paris hilton. I think that jets fans are the OPPOSITE of spoiled with the product on the field AND amenities at the stadium, so im not sure what youre talking about Zartan
I am optimistic about the new stadium, despite the psl situation with our NY JETS FO sticking it to Joe Jet Fan. As Vinny said, the West Side Stadium falling through was a huge disappointment, but years later, I’m looking at the positives. We will not be attending home games at Giants Stadium. We wont be sitting in red and blue seats, and the facility will be the envy of every team in the league… for a year or two. Most importantly, we will hopefully have a great team going into our new home.
And… I guess I’m in the minority here, but I love those Premio sausage and peppers they sell at The Meadowlands. I never miss getting one of those. That’s fine dining in my book!
CALVIN PACE JUST GOT SUSPENDED FOR FOUR GAMES(substance abuse)!
Calvin Pace just suspended 4 games for performance enhancers….
just came across from ESPN
Calvin Pace-LB- Jets Jul. 2 – 3:00 pm et
NFL suspended Jets OLB Calvin Pace for four games.
Pace wasn’t arrested recently to our knowledge, so we’re guessing he failed a drug test of some kind and violated the league’s substance abuse policy. It’s a big blow to the Jets’ defense. Pace is New York’s top pass rusher and early impressions of backup Vernon Gholston’s second offseason haven’t been promising. Pace will be eligible to return in Week 5.
The most electrifying game was definatly when we played GB a few years ago, we blew them out. The crowd was goin crazy, firemen ed was all over the stadium and it was the loudest Jet game I have been to.
This year we need to be just as loud everytime our D takes the field for every home game! Remeber Rex’s Challenge!