By DENNIS WASZAK Jr. — Aug. 13, 2014 3:15 AM EDT CORTLAND, N.Y. (AP) — Ed Anzalone never wanted to hang up his helmet. The New York Jets super-fan known as Fireman Ed simply grew tired of the increasing harassment in the stands at MetLife Stadium. Some cursed at him. Others spit on him. Beer was also tossed his way. "It was just guys who decided, 'Hey, we're going to mess with the fireman,'" Anzalone said. The tipping point came on Thanksgiving night in 2012, when the Jets were getting romped by the New England Patriots. Anzalone went to a rest room at halftime and two men confronted him. Sensing a bad situation brewing, Anzalone took off before it escalated. "It was time to go," Anzalone said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "I said, 'If it's got to come to that and we're getting to that point, it's over.'" And just like that, Fireman Ed was no more. The familiar face of the fan base, the leader of the J-E-T-S chant, was G-O-N-E. "I've still got plenty of energy and plenty in my tank, but it was for the best," Anzalone said. "We had a nice time, I had a great run and I didn't want to go out in a negative manner. I didn't want to end up on the front page of a newspaper." Anzalone became a fixture at home games, leading the J-E-T-S chant for 27 years — from Shea Stadium to Giants Stadium to MetLife. He would climb on the shoulders of his brother Frank, and later his buddy Bruce Gregor, silence the crowd of 80,000 and then rock the stadium with the deafening chant that fans all over the NFL came to recognize. "It was an honor and I was humbled by it," he said. "As much as there were haters, there was nine times more love. It was all because I spelled out four letters. If they had me spelling Buccaneers, I would've been out of business." His absence as Fireman Ed has been felt. Anzalone, who turns 55 next month, was approached by the Jets about returning, but declined. The Jets recently announced that they're holding a contest to find eight chant leaders. Season ticket holders are being asked to submit videos of themselves leading the J-E-T-S cheer, and fans will be able to vote for their favorites on the team's site. In a sense, it's a search for the next Fireman Ed. "I'm happy they're doing something because I want to see it go on," he said. Anzalone and his brother are entering their 40th year as season ticket holders, and they still attend Jets games. They sit in a different part of the stadium, though, and Anzalone is no longer decked out in his familiar Fireman Ed garb — his firefighter helmet and, for years, a No. 42 Bruce Harper jersey before switching to Mark Sanchez's No. 6. His absence has angered many fans, who accuse him of quitting on them and the franchise, despite Anzalone writing an open letter published in Metro newspaper in 2012 announcing his reasons for stepping away. "All these years, I never left until there were four zeroes on the clock," he said. "You can't be the leader and leave. You have to stay. So, there was a reason why I left. I didn't quit. That's what bothers me." Anzalone, who once got into it with a Giants fan during the 2010 preseason, thinks the introduction of personal seat licenses — or PSLs — helped contribute to the negativity. "I feel like the fans felt like they were entitled," he said. "It just changed the whole attitude. It was tough." Anzalone, a retired New York City firefighter, grew up rooting for the NFL teams he saw on TV: mainly the Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins. He has caught grief for years about the high school yearbook photo in which he is wearing a Dolphins sweatshirt. That all changed in 1975 when his brother bought Jets season tickets and asked him to come along. "I went to Shea and I just fell in love with them," he said, laughing. "And, I've been suffering ever since." The J-E-T-S chant wasn't started by Anzalone. It was fans in opposite end zones who would chant back and forth. In 1986, an excited Anzalone was running up and down the aisles at a game and trying to get fans fired up in the lower tier when he got on one of the railings. "The next thing I know, I almost fell over," he said. "My brother grabbed me, pulled me back up and says to me, 'Get on my shoulders!' Slowly, as the years went on, it started to build." That's how the legend of Fireman Ed was born, and he became part of the in-game experience. He was even included in an exhibit at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 1999. Visits with sick children and die-hard fans became regular occurrences. "I was very lucky," Anzalone said. "It was a wonderful time." While Anzalone will never be Fireman Ed on a regular basis, he is open to the idea of a cameo appearance — to lead one more J-E-T-S chant. "If the time is right and the fans wanted it and it worked out, I would do it for old times' sake, of course," he said. "I would never turn my back on the Jets. It was never about not loving the Jets. It was about the good of my name. "I love the Jets. It's just in my blood and always will be." http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fire...=NFL&utm_source=SocialFlow&utm_medium=Twitter
If the Jets are lucky enough to host an AFC East Championship game...he should come back for that game.
I miss Fireman Ed but I don't blame the drunk Jets fans that were giving him shit. I just wish Ed had thicker skin and smashed drunk dudes in the face. I hope he comes back.
They probably need him back or someone new to take the place to get the crowd hyped. The new stadium doesnt hold the same juice as the old one did. Probably never will. Id bring back "Giants Stadium" if it meant the same type of crowd. Went to 2 games since Metlife opened and both were dead crowds from the start. And they were divisional games too. Didnt help that both were losses but still.
Lol fuck that asshole, he acted like a bitch and quit for shit he took wearing a Sanchez jersey, and now all of a sudden when the Jets are looking for a new fan to lead the chant he wants to be head cheerleader again. They should make him wear a Gholston jersey on Thursdays, a Kyle Brady jersey on Monday night, and a Blair Thomas jersey on Sunday. Fucking whiney bitch.
Can anyone explain why fans were giving him shit in the first place? I get it that now Ed is probably fishing for attention -- I'm sure there is some $$$ to be had from being the chant guy, but why before?
I got no hate towards the dude, but he made a choice.... sorry your 15 minutes is up. A conference call with the AP, seriously? The sad part is that the stadium is full of non-jet fan panty wastes that need a specific individual to tell them to make noise. That chant was around way before Ed was......Woody needs to buy a DeLorean with a flux capacitor & find the 2 brothers in Klecko jerseys from 315 and give em free tickets, at least they threw out candy to everyone
Won't argue about the old stadium generally being louder, but Metlife has had some great crowds- see last season vs. New Orleans. Don't know how it was in person, but on TV, that was one of the loudest Jets crowds I've heard in recent years... maybe the loudest in the new stadium, without thinking about it too thoroughly.
Fans were giving him shit because they were angry about Sanchez sucking, and he was a neat target to direct their hate towards. Did he deserve it? Not at that moment, but suck it up, you're the super fan, the guy that gets all kinds of perks including tickets to all away games. But he twatted it up because he thought he was above being treated like regular fans, who take shit at every game. He had his chance to suck it up and be bigger than the angry drunk fans and he gave up. He didn't create the chant, and over the years, he really wasn't very good at choosing the right times to lead that chant. Fuck him. He's gone. Find somebody who understands that you don't lead an all stadium chant while your offense is on their first snap.
Queue the very opinionated TGG members talking shit about a guy who was on our side. I never understood the hate for him, he just lead a chant for Christ sakes. It's not like he trolled the stadium wearing a Brady jersey. AND don't act like you never did the chant with him either. I am just ashamed people in our home stadium treated him like shit.
Im sure its gotten loud for some games. But its nothing like it was. I had season tix from 00-02 and those were some loud years. Atleast the brass knows this considering they are giving season ticket holders credits or points for being loud this season. Maybe it will entice some people.
I have no hate in me for Ed, and I don't blame him for stepping down when he did. He didn't owe anybody anything, he didn't have to take shit like that if he didn't want to, and he didn't. he was a figure and a neat gimmick, but really just a fan that for whatever reason headed a tradition. I don't see how one can get angry at him, is there any indication he was a jackass or something?
And really what does it say about jets fans that the first thing they do in a bad game is go heckle another guy for being a figure? I'll never stop rooting for the jets, but man us fans can be insecure assholes sometimes...
install a F22 Raptor engine in the endzone. That'll fire the crowd up. It also won't walk away like a bitch.
It was a handful of fans that heckled him. Maybe he didn't like being heckled. Fine. He also didn't have to take the handouts and perks included with being Jets Superfan. But he did. Now he doesn't get that, and thankfully the Jets are looking for someone to rally the crowd to make things difficult for the other team to hear their QB, instead of the other way around. He wants his perks. If they do let him back, he needs to be forced to learn when to do the chant and when to go get a beer.
I think Players/Coaches on the sideline should construct the chant before kickoffs. Having Rex do it on opening kickoff would certainly fire the crowd up. Perhaps the player who scores the TD should traditionally start to be the one who does it for the crowd before a kickoff.
