That's when the Jets should have built their own stadium. They never should have shared Shea or Giants' Stadiums.
One of the funniest stories my Dad ever told me was back when he had Titans (Jets) season tix in the Polo Grounds. He said he was at games where they would announce the attendance at 15,000 yet, "Son...you could look around and literally count the number of people in the stands."
As much as I hate the Pats and their constant bending and breaking of the rules, the last person who should be critisizing them is Shula. NFL rules required that field to be covered. It poured the night before and Shula did not cover the field because the Jets were a faster team with better skill players than Miami. The mud gave the Fish a huge advantage. It was so bad the NFL considered moving the game to Monday. That was a strike year with only 9 games played and the NFC played its Championship os Saturday and the AFC on Sunday. I think because of the strike and the condensed season that there was only one week between the conference title games and the SB. Plus Shula was on the NFL competition committee (which was also a joke - the Dolphins were always the least penalized team in the NFL) so the game was played under horrible conditions. In any event, I hated Shula after that and still do. Michaels had every right to be pissed and hid firing after that loss likely cost the Jets a SB in the mid 80s because he was a great coach while Walton was a head case.
That's real interesting. Here's Mays' famous over the shoulder catch pic from the '54 world series. CF was 483 feet! Wonder who the guys in the window were-
Here's some cut & paste that explains how that happened - Shea suggested Harry Wismer, a minority shareholder in both the Washington Redskins and Detroit Lions, as a potential New York franchise owner for the new football league. Wismer was willing; he was feuding at the time with the Redskins' principal owner, George Preston Marshall, and realized he would never own the Washington franchise.[3] Wismer, while wealthy, was not nearly as rich as the other potential team owners. Wismer sought a place for his team to play, but was only able to secure the decrepit Polo Grounds, which had been without a major tenant since the departure of the New York Giants baseball team in 1957. The stadium stood on the northern tip of Manhattan, across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium, where the New York Giants NFL team played. Wismer had hoped the Titans could play in the new stadium, to be built at Flushing Meadows in Queens, beginning with the 1961 season, but funding difficulties and legal problems delayed construction. Wismer signed a memorandum of understanding in late 1961, although he was unhappy about the terms, which gave the Mets exclusive use of the stadium until they completed their season, and gave the Titans no revenue from parking. According to team doctor James Nicholas, "The lease that Harry signed cost the team quite a lot. It led to [later team owner] Leon Hess going to the Meadowlands." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_New_York_Jets
Yeah, saw that but that's not an AFL game so I didn't add that in. The AFL only existed for a short time, 1960 through '69. It was an 8 team league that eventually expanded by adding Miami and Cincinati. When those 10 merged with the NFL's 16 teams the owners agreed to transfer Baltimore (Colts), Pittsburgh and Cleveland to the AFL. It balanced out what was now called the AFC and NFC with 13 teams each but it wasn't the old league any more. I was actually disappointed when the Steelers won their Super Bowls in the '70s. Old AFL fans (like me) really did hate the NFL back then. They weren't one of the original 8 teams so I had no reason to root for them. But at least they beat the hated Raiders!
Good memory. If only there had been 2 weeks before the SB that year! That game never should have been played, especially with the rumors about how it happened. Like you said, Shula was a very powerful man in the league. Just another example of the Jets ability to lose in every conceivable way over the years I guess.
Sorry my memory is there was no rule on the tarp until after this game. As for the quickness of the teams that is sheer speculation & since our guy threw the INTs that led to them scoring 2 TDs (Killer Bees) I guess #14 has to the shoulder the blame for the loss in that game
Yeah, I knew that wasn't an AFL, but rather an NFL game. I also remember when the AFL and NFL merged, largely due to the Jets' victory in the SB. I didn't like Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Baltimore joining the AFL. Baltimore was my MOST hated team at that time (along with Oakland). I couldn't stand Johnny U and his buzz cut and high top shoes. He was an old fuddy duddy to me. Earl Morrall was no better. The Jets' SB victory was HUGE for me, not only because I had grown to love the Jets and Joe Willie Namath, but because I hated Baltimore so much. I loved the AFL, but didn't hate the NFL, at least not the Packers. The Vince Lombardi coached Packers were the first pro football team I started rooting for, and I loved both the Packers and the Jets. I still do, just don't post on Packer fan sites or follow them as closely as I have the Jets.
Interesting. More stuff I never knew. So we began with a low-rent owner who really didn't have the cash to provide for the team the way the owner should. Guess we should be amazed and consider ourselves lucky that he was willing to pay for Joe Willie Namath. Wild that he could be a minority stockholder in 2 NFL teams. Is that still possible?
Sonny Werblin owned the team when Namath signed. I'm pretty sure Wismer had divested his stake in the Redskins before he was given the AFL NY franchise.
That's right. I remember Werblin now that you mention his name. Good thing. With Wismer, we probably never would have had Joe or won a SB.
Wismer was a fast talking ex- announcer who parlayed his money into an AFL team. He never had the resources guys like Hunt and Adams had. There are lots of funny stories about when paychecks were handed out the players would sprint to the bank to cash them. The slower ones' checks frequently bounced. Things actually got worse and in their third season the league office took over the franchise, I believe when suppliers threatened to confiscate uniforms if the bills weren't paid. They sold it to Werblin's group which included some investors with deep pockets. He changed the team name and colors and after another year in the Polo Grounds they finally made it into the brand new Shea Stadium. That helped increase attendance- no more of Wismer's attendance numbers of "attendance was 35,000, 28000 of who came disguised as empty seats".
Yeah, there was finally some hope. Wismer was always fighting with someone. After an argument with HC Sammy Baugh in '62 Wismer wanted to fire him but he was too cheap. To try to force him to quit he demoted Sammy to "Assistant Coach In Charge Of Field Goal Kickers".
