Early early 80's. I remember watching the 81 playoff game (I wasn't quite 4 yo yet) but I remember it.
Been going to games since the early 70s, a season ticket holder for 15 or so years. It's all my Dads fault....
i was an army brat...mainly lived in nc which didnt have a team until the panthers came in 95' and i chose the jets in 94'...dad was a cowboys fan and the uncles were dolphins fans so it doesnt make sense at all i am a huge fan of the underdog...and in 94', 95', 96' i couldnt have picked a better team...and who doesnt like the color green i stuck with them b/c i liked keyshaun coming out and was a parcells fan huge pennington fan...if there is a player who fit the underdog mold on the underdog team it is him just became more and more addicted over the years
born into it as well. My father sat me down when I was like 8 and said "son, youre a Jet, Yankee and Ranger fan, dont worry about basketball, it sucks" and thats exactly what Ive been sonce 1980
When I started following the Jets we had a slightly alcholic head case at QB who wasn't that smart but had a rocket arm and a gamblers mentality. They were simply the most exciting team in football at the time and I got hooked. It's probably why I over rate a strong arm, quick release and a go for it mentality over brains and character.
I started going to Jet/Titan Games starting 1961-2.I became a season ticket holder in 1966.Sec 35 upper deck at Shea last row. Now I have seven tix in Sec 228.I still love the Jets and plan on going until I can't anymore. I did have standing room tix for the Giants but when they would not honor them in 1963 I vowed to root only for the Jets. This will be my 42nd season as a season tix holder. Two years ago I spoke to Mr Coangelo if the Jets wanted to do a PR piece about my 40 years as a season ticket holder. He did not seem to care. In fact I don't think anyone in the organization cares about the season tix holders.If I gave up my tix tomorrow they would be gone in 60 sec. I am sure the Jets are not alone in this attitude. It is sad that as we get closer to having a new stadium prices will go up and the organization will be more interested in the "corporate fans". Us older timers will be left by the side of the road. But no matter who owns the Jets or where they play i am a Jet fan for life.
My dad has been a season ticket holder since Shea and I have been a fan for life, except for a short flirtation with the Giants when I was too little to understand the difference (was LT for Halloween in kindergarten). I had been to games earlier and surely watched many on TV with my dad, but my earliest recollection of truly being a diehard Jet fan (ie I spefically recall the game, where I watched it, and with whom) was the Allegre game against the Dolphins to get us into the playoffs in 1991, so that puts me at 16 years.
Standing room at Yankee stadium in the early 60s is the sign of a total football psychopath. I'm not worthy of being called a fan in your presence. I remeber the only place worse than Shea stadium to watch a football game in December was Yankee stadium. The place was a concrete iceberg.
Prior to University, I wasn't even very interested in the NFL - being from Edmonton, Canada, it was hockeyhockeyhockey... In my first year of dental school, my buddies would always talk NFL - and one friend in particular talked about the Dolphins CONSTANTLY. I knew that I hated the Dolphins even though I wasn't a big NFL guy at the time - and it happened that we watched a Jets/Phins game. Needless to say, I cheered against the Dolphins, but ended up really loving the Jets from then on. That was '97... In 2002, we made the trek from Edmonton to the Meadowlands for the regular season finale against the Packers. We wandered around the tailgate listening to and watching the Pats/Phins game - it was amazing - people handing us beers, burgers and brats in the name of the Jets! It reinforced my love for the team with a love for my fellow Jets fans - and to see the Jets win the Division was unbelievable. The great corollary to the story is the two buddies who made the trip with me - one, a Vikings fan who soaked in the atmosphere and had the time of his life - and the other, THE Dolphins fan who got me into NFL and the Jets, pouting and angry as the Phins season turned into crap!
15+ years is WAY too little to be put in the "OLD" category - I'm with champ, Ernie, winston, and jetmike in the 40+ years category. For me the Shea Stadium-Mets-Queens-new kid on the block connection made it an easy choice, and the hiring of Weeb in 1964 and signing of JWN in 1965 gave them immediate credibility.
I'm 18 (almost 19) and I can almost be in the OLD category... My first memories of the Jets are 1993, when I was 5, so I'm almost there...
My theory is that I am a Jets (and Mets fan) since I was born in 1969 when they both won. Besides that I've just been a fan for as long as I remember. Funny thing is that I've yet to see a Jets home game despite growing up in NJ though did get to a few Giants games at the Meadowlands because my uncle had season tickets.
My dad is a Jet fan and we had Joe Namath in the 70s when I started watching football. That did it for me. Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Joe. You fuckers!
I?m a third Generation Jets fan, my grand farther and farther got to see a champion. I have been going to games since I was a young lad. I reached my teens and faded away from the football games for a while (Girls and my own quest to become a football player) Early twenties I watched my boy's but never regained the sprit that my dad taught me. In my late twenties and early thirties I became a farther and got married. I now have the time to fill my soul with the anguish that thruster me away as a youth. I?m stronger now and more suited to deal with the ups and down's that made me drift away from the team. I have a Tattoo of the Jets on my chest where it would be if you were wearing a jersey. Branded for Life and a Jets fan for life!! I guess im servin a 15 to life!
6-10 years. I remember when I was little my dad would be watching the Jets games. And my first football jersey ever was a Glenn Foley, and I all I knew about him really was that he was on the Jets, and that they were/are still my favorite team.
Its my dad's fault. When I was little, he used to turn the sound off on the TV so we could listen to Marty Glickman call the game on radio.
1965....I guess that it makes me one of the oldest..Still rooting(foreverajet in boca ).....I will be 73 this year ...go jets...
