you should ask this to pats fans. they simply would say if they didn't make the playoffs they would stop being fans.
I have been a fan since I was 9 years old. Been through the worst of times and the best of times (minus a SB victory). Would not change it and would never quit on this team. They will return to the promise land and when they do it is going to be so sweet. J!-E!-T!-S! JETS! JETS! JETS! Forever! Woot!
Well my father actually abandoned them a while back because he thought he was going to have a heart attack watching them, which is a good point. For me it would be if they relocated. They would be dead to me.
Again, and I expect you agree, the fact that the Jets ended up where they are today does not mean the WSS was a good idea. There were other alternatives. The fact that Woody was all in on the WSS, did not explore other options, and was left with no other option when the WSS blew up than to go with the Giants is one of the main reasons I hate him so much. Woody's was a classic case of someone who was too in love with the deal to see that it was not only a bad deal, but was not going to happen. Still he kept pushing it, was solely focused on it, and did not understand or care to listen to the arguments against it. Bloomberg was his partner there, but he was looking at the larger picture of bringing the Olympics to NY, which btw I also thought was a purely awful idea. The whole thing was just a bad idea that was not going to happen. It's on Woody.
I think the loyalty is unwavering if the team is loyal to the fans by not leaving for a new fan base.
I wouldn't just stop following them. But I bet I would try to keep up and eventually feel no connection to them. They aren't the New York team I chose and they aren't the Jets. I would drift to being a bitter casual NFL fan waiting for NY to get another franchise that I would probably try to follow and keep up with.
It would be if they relocated for sure. I'd probably be a Chargers fan after that just so I could continue the pain.
Yeah but at the same time don't you inwardly laugh at e.g. someone with a "Dallas Cowboys" New York State license plate holder or some guy wearing his 'nfl authentic' Dallas Cowboy jacket? ....(the front-runner factor aside)
With all due respect brutha' Barcs-beer, it's not so much "loyalty to the land mass" folks are concerned with but for a team that can maintain the respect for it's original lineage along with continuity & the recognition of it's history if it ever undergoes a geographical re-location/name change. Just analyze the Bklyn/lA Dodgers move. Most Bklyn D's fans were p#ssed off with some continuing to follow & root for them. With the realization of the D's appealing more to the LA fan base forgoing it's Bklyn roots , Bk D fans eventually moved on to the Met's (or Yankees) & lost all luv for a team that showed no luv back. You would experience that same pain if the Jet's were to relocate to another part of this country. Especially when you realize that it would not only be cost-prohibitive to attend a home game, but how they just upped & left you to a new locale for more $$$!
I'll always be a Jet fan, but that doesn't mean I'm always a fan of every Jet player. Vick is a scumbag. I'm hoping he gets hurt in training camp - not that unlikely given his long history of injuries. Let him take his $5 million and retire to the dog fighting camps of Hatii. I'm hoping that I'll be rooting for Geno and the Jets all the way to the Superbowl.
Actually, North Dakota would be one of the locations where I wouldn't still mind rooting for the Jets. If they moved to LA there is no way I could root for them, for example, but certain cities that are more low-key (Salt Lake City Jets, lol) I wouldn't mind. However, if they change the name of the team, forget it, it's not the same team anymore. Did Browns fans start rooting for the Ravens? Ha! Doubt it. There would be so much bitterness involved in a move of this franchise. So basically it would take re-location to certain places, or a name change, because then it is just not the same team anymore. Not worried though, because none of this will ever happen.