Any casual reader/follower of The Fantasy Force knows that I’m a New York Jets fan. Amazingly so I haven’t been a Jets fan my whole life. It all started in 2009. I finished my first semester in college and football (and fantasy) season was on the horizon with a star studded NFL rookie class. I enjoyed playing and watching the game so much that I figured it would be even better if I personally invested myself in a team.
And so began a hypothetical season of The Bachelor with me and my 32 potential matches. I had always been a fan of Ladanian Tomlinson in high school so the Chargers were in. The Texans were still new enough that I could root for them and still feel like I got in on the ground floor. And then there were the local teams. The Giants were there, had their guy at QB, playmakers and personalities were bountiful. And last there was the Jets…
The team had not been great and they were dumping then Head Coach Eric Mangini (cue the “Mangenius” Sopranos scene). Word was they were the favorites to land Ravens defensive mastermind Rex Ryan. The trash talking swagger master was going to bring along some of his Baltimore field lieutenants as well like Bart Scott.
The decision was made before I knew what happened. I was a Jets fan. From the, “I’m not here to kiss his rings” press conference I knew I made the right decision. With a monstrous offensive line, Thomas Jones, and a star in the making in Mark Sanchez, everything was great. Oh and that defense, it was everything we were expecting. True smash mouth football. They’d hit you and while you were getting up they’d tell the nearest microphone just how hard they hit you. And the coach was the first guy to do it!
Well it’s not 2009 anymore, and yet it is all over again. I said I wanted to go through the ups and the downs of rooting for one team. And that’s certainly what’s happening. I lost my once ascendant QB last year but it was all fine because I still had the top guy.
Now it’s Black Monday, when head coaches around the league clean out their offices (which my guy did before anyone else because he’s an overachiever).
What made me choose this team is gone. And while I’ll always root for the Jets I’m also going to be a Rex Ryan fan for life as well. It’s bittersweet, it’s sport, it’s life.