All my fam is from New York but i've never lived there...here's mine: I was a little kid living in Colorado rooting for the Broncos (i hadn't caught the Jets bug YET) in 1986 and I vaguely remember watching the Jets/Browns double OT game because my dad told me the Broncos would play the winner of that game. I would visit my cousins in New Jersey every year, and they were all huge Giants fans, and for some reason i couldn't stand the Giants. Especially after the whooped Denver in that Super Bowl a few weeks after the Jets/Browns game. Something caught my attention in that Jets/Browns game...the fight, the bad luck, the hope, the crushing defeat...it was somehow really appealing to me. But I didn't think much about it after Denver beat the Browns and moved on to the SB. But i moved away from colorado in 89, to San Diego, and my attachment to the broncos faded fast. Now that i was "in market for a new team" I wasn't sure where or who my passion would go to. I could never stand the Chargers, and I was over the Broncos. Still hated the Giants. Kinda liked the Saints and Rueben Mayes. I remember spending the 90 and half of the 91 season watching games waiting to see who i wanted to root for. Then came one fateful monday night, i think about halfway through the 1991 season. Jets at Bears. It went into OT, and i saw the same hope, heartbreak, insanity, and crushing defeat that i saw in that Jets/Browns game 5 years earlier. "Man, wild stuff happens in Jets games" I thought to myself. Pat Leahy missing easy FG's to win the game. Fumbles. Big plays. Such a strange mixture of greatness and hopelessness. I guess that formula just speaks to certain people - YOU ALL KNOW BEST - because from that night on, I was hooked. I felt like i had already been a fan for years when the Jets went into Miami on the last day of the 1991 season and won with a late (or was it OT?) FG and went to playoffs. I sat in my uncle/cousins place in new jersey in late dec/early Jan as we did every year, and I watched the Jets fall to the Oilers in a tough one. All my cousins were talking shit, but it only reinforced my love for the team. And it's been that way ever since. Nagle in 92, the 8-5 to 8-8 collapse with Coslet in 93, the fake spike in 94, the Kotite years, the Al Groh collapse, the Favre/Mangini collapse, i watched it all. BUT I also got to see Parcells and the great 1998 team and the amazing, yet frustrating Herm/Pennington saga. There it is again, the mixture of heartbreak and hope. I really don't think any other team's fanbase has experienced this type of roller coaster...such low's mixed with enough high's to keep us from jumping off of a bridge. People outside of our world don't realize/think about how good of a franchise we've been since the Parcells/1998 season. 6 playoff appearances, including 2 wins before this amazing run. 5 playoff appearances in the first decade of the 2000's. only THREE losing seasons this decade!! THREE! That's impressive!! Yet the lows and frustrations have been low and frustrating enough to keep us all in the SOJ mentality. Until now!! I don't need to go into why this moment is so amazing. We all know, and we're all enjoying it, and we all know the Jets can, should and will win this Sunday. This is what being a true fan is all about! Enduring the crap to get to be a part of something like this. No team has more real tried and true fans than the Jets. I've always been proud to be a Jets fan, whether they were 1-15 (and i'd spend all my time telling people how competative they actually were...the games were all close i tell you!) or 12-4, or in between. But nothing has ever been as good as this 11-7, and i've never been more proud. Didn't mean to turn this into a novel...sorry! Hope you enjoyed if you actually read this whole damn thing.
2 reason why I became a Jets fan. 1-When I was a kid, Ken O'Brien was the qb. My name is Bryan and at the time, I was all about the fact he has my first name as his last. 2-Everyone else was a Giants fan. :jets:
How about #42 Bruce Harper. One of my favorite Jets of all time. My wife met him at a resort once and had her picture taken with him. Said he was a super nice dude.
How about Matt Robinson, Good god I am getting up there. I was born a Jet fan dyed in the wool green. But I remember him throwing a td pass over the wrong shoulder to Bobby Jones in the OB in late 70s must have been around 10. I was hooked. Talking running backs remember Marion Barber Sr? how about tight ends Jerome Barkum he set the standard for alot of future tight ends.
I'm a new poster...first time here.....and will be glad to tell you my story of being a fan of the Jets... I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa and was a huge fan of the 70's Steelers........in their great decade. Now live in Charlotte, NC During the 70's I went to college not far away from Pgh, in Beaver Falls, Pa. .....Geneva College. Beaver Falls is Joe Namath's home town.......also he played football in HighSchool for the Beaver Falls Tigers who played all their games at our college field.......... He was a legend around campus and his folks still lived in town at the time..........a few times I visited the local hospital to see some friends while in college. One time we bumped into Joe in the hallway who was visited family there.......when we told him we were college students there he was just great to us shooting the breeze about growing up and playing on our field. I've been a Jets fan ever since........... Also Curtis Martin was as Pittsburgh native (Peabody HS) and played for the Pitt Panters......I loved following him while he was with the Jets. BTW........during my senior year I saw Beaver Falls High School play their final game of the year on our field against a team from Aliquippa...........and Aliquippa had this running back that every time he touched the ball gained 10 plus yards..........Beaver Falls was undefeated that year up to this game which they ended up losing.....45 to 3.... The running back? A kid named Tony Dorsett....... BTW.........Two other Alliquippa alumni you might know?....Mike Ditka......and a pretty good defensive player for the Jets by the name of Darrell Revis who like Curtis Martin also went to Pitt as well....... Go Jets! :martin:
My parents bought me a Glenn Foley jersey when I was a little kid. I honestly didn't know who he even was, but I think that's what did it for me. Plus, my dad is a Jets fan, so I think it was cool to follow in his footsteps (although, he's a Mets fan, and I'm a Yankees fan).
Grandpa was a LONG time jet fan and other half of my family was giant fans soo when i was about 8 i said to myself "If the Giants win the Superbowl ill be a Giant fan and If the Ravens win ill be a Jet fan" , and low and behold I became a Jets fan :up:
Well my uncle was a big Joe Namath fan, but he's a Giant fan. Anyway my dad use to work near Shea Stadium (Thank God he was already a Yankee fan) when the Jets use to play there. He would sometimes get free Jets stuff and he went to a few games. My big sister went to Hofstra so I got to see them do training camp. She was able to get me Wayne Cherbet's autograph. My parents signed me up for a junior Jets club and I got to run kiddie drills and got autographs by New York Jets legends: Curtis Martin, Chad Pennington, Dave Herman, and James Dearth (I'm not kidding)
I got a Beaver Falls High School T-shirt for my birthday last year. Had no idea what it meant till my wife told me Joe Namath went there and thats the reason she got it for me....Now thats a cool wife!!!
My dad took me to see the Bill vs the JETS in the rockpile in 1968 ( War Memorial Stadium ) in Buffalo ( We live in WNY ) ... I was about 10 at the time and just getting into football and loved everything 'bout Broadway Joe ... Was hooked after seeing him in person ... Actually got down to the first row and saw him coming out to start the game up close ... Well I've bled green since that day
I was born on Long Island, but spent my elementary school years living in Florida. My dad was a casual NFL fan, and really didn't root for a specific team. However, my uncle and my older cousin (also living in FL as transplanted Long Islanders) were big-time Jets fans. Since I looked up to my cousin and he was my best buddy, I became a Jets fan pretty easily. These were the days before the NBA and MLB had teams in FL, so it was all about pro (and college) football when I was like 8-12 years old. The family moved back to LI in the mid-80's, and I'd like to think that my passion for the Jets rubbed off on my friends growing up. All of 'em are Jets fans. Suckers!! haha
"I got a Beaver Falls High School T-shirt for my birthday last year. Had no idea what it meant till my wife told me Joe Namath went there and thats the reason she got it for me....Now thats a cool wife!!!" hehe.......Ace........that is a wife who has done her due diligence... Lemme see now....that baby would be orange and black tigers right? Larry Bruno was Joe's HS coach in those days..........we knew Larry just from hanging out with my college football team buddies. When I was a freshman there were some seniors on our team that came from BFHS who played with Namath then....... Lot's of Namath stories around campus those days......... Pretty cool stuff...........and when you consider along with Joe Namath.......that other HOF or SuperBowl QB's from Westen Pa include....Jim Kelly, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Johnny Unitas, George Blanda and Jeff Hostetler and that they all lived with 40 miles of Pittsburgh there must be something in the water.....
