The Death of a NY Jets Fan

So what did it? What was the final straw, the final nail in the coffin? Without Miss Cleo around for guidance, I'm going to do my own prognosticating and predict a Dolphin win in what should be the last game as head coach for Eric Mangini and the New York Jets.

Assuming this is a done deal, I've already bought my Dolphins hat and Dolphins T-shirt. Notice how I no longer refer to the Dolphins as—Fish. The reason for doing this is simple as I have gone over it in detail during my previous articles. More on that later in this article. For those of you new to this series, here is a brief explanation...

I've been a fan of the NY Jets since I was about seven or eight years old. If you do the math, that would mean I just missed out on the Jets' only Super Bowl, a few years earlier. That would mean that I have been suffering way too long but still hung in there throughout the decades.

The embarrassment and misery of being a Jets fan during those times are well documented. Good times? There were a few, very few, but I still hung in there. I always had hope for next season and looked forward to the NFL draft each year, our Super Bowl.

I was able to take a punch in the stomach with Kotite, or a shot below the belt with Edwards and I still hung in there. My dedication to the team I love and fanaticism were still true but there were chinks in the armor now.

Players can be replaced and upgraded each season. If a player can't perform well, he gets replaced in the draft, from the bench or through free agency, but the same doesn't hold true for NY Jets coaches. Herman Edwards passed all the blame for his incompetence on to his coordinators and had them both replaced. When he ran out of coordinators to blame, Edwards was exposed for his shortcomings and was soon gone and shipped off to KC.

Now we sign an inexperienced, young head coach in Eric Mangini. We all know that he got the job predominantly because he was under Bellichik's wing. Mangini was made to look good because of his head coach's brilliance and mastery of the game. Signing Mangini was also, at the time a damaging blow to New England and the coach who spurned them. Fast forward to the season finale.

Mangini is in the same position that Herman Edwards was in. He's primed to blame his coordinators for the Jets inability to win the division or a wild card while sitting at 8-3 before collapsing down the stretch. A collapse not seen since we were 10-1 before losing the last five. At least at that time we were decimated by injuries but Walton was still fired.

The only chance for Jets fans is for the Jets to lose against Miami, forcing a change at the top, the root of the problem. A win against Miami does nothing but push the Pats into the playoffs while saving Mangini's job. I for one believe that to be the worst-case scenario.

As a fan for so many years I can see the writing on the wall. Mangini will stay, the Jets will still be mediocre at best and there will be no winning a Super Bowl in the near or not so distant future, if at all.

On to the players... As a Jets fan, can you truly name 11 players that you absolutely love on the Jets? When I was younger, I loved the whole damn team. Can you say that now? I've taken polls amongst fellow Jets fans and they were hard-pressed to come up with even five players that they would even buy a jersey of. That's sad.

So why am I starting this series of articles on "The Death of a Jets Fan"? Simple, Edwards and Mangini killed me. They killed my spirit and ripped out my heart. The team I loved so much is no longer there.

The Website I built from scratch back in 2002 is for sale and my allegiance is up for grabs. Call me a fair weather fan, call me a band wagon jumper, call me what you want but I did my time. I served my sentence. I have been rehabilitated and ready to get back into society. I have been living in South Florida for the last six years where the local team is the Dolphins.

They are young, hungry, and Parcells is running the ship. Pennington, one of the classiest Jets who ever played the game, is at the helm. The players I hated like Jason Taylor is gone and I can now watch home games in person. The time is now to make this move and stop rooting for the green jerseys and start rooting for the home team.

The experiment begins tomorrow when I put on my Dolphins shirt and hat and root hard against the Jets. Now don't get me wrong, I will always have a special place in my heart for the Jets, but it's time to move on and if rooting against the Jets guarantees Mangini getting fired, then it's a win-win for everyone! I have no clue if I can do this. I've never rooted against my team before, but this is no longer my team, is it?

Check back here on Monday or over at MyGridIronSpace.com for the results of my first experiment on whether it's possible for a lifelong fan to turn on the team that beat him to death.