Green Lantern: Jets Destined For Glory, Infamy, Or Both?
By Jeff Capellini, CBSNewYork.com
NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- It's a war pitting the morality police against the fans who simply don't give a damn.
When it comes to the Jets and public perception, where do you stand?
Be it the Rex Ryan finger incident in Florida, the F-bomb symphony on "Hard Knocks," the decision not to suspend wide receiver Braylon Edwards following his DWI arrest or just the team's extremely outspoken us-against-the-world mentality, the Jets have been in the middle of a storm of controversy for months.
There's no denying the fact that this team is different. The players take their cues from their head coach, but let's not get crazy and think they are all simply followers of one man's sinister plan to take over the universe. The Jets are filled with personalities. Some good, some questionable. But collectively, are they really this group of monsters and malcontents many are making them out to be?
No, not even close.
The critics among us appear ready to drop an anvil on the proceedings. They are just salivating over the opportunity to attack the Jets at every turn. And while I'm not saying they don't deserve criticism for their off-the-field antics, I'm more worried about something else that runs deeper. When the Jets lose, and odds are they will again at least a few more times this season, will the media and haters jump all over them because they think they deserve to lose due to their antics?
I certainly hope not because it just doesn't work that way.
There are many out there who will stop at nothing to defend their moral high ground. They act as if the Jets are this great public embarrassment and should be kept away from fine upstanding citizens. Call me crazy, but I even think they'd consider a public stoning, even at the behest of the dalai lama.
On the other hand you have a whole bunch of people who affirm their allegiance to the franchise regardless of what's reported. They simply don't care what you think. I kind of like these people, though it took me some time to realize I am actually one of them.
One side wants Ryan incarcerated, Woody Johnson stripped of his ownership card and the players hauled off to Rikers Island. The other, however, relishes the Jets' singular mentality and swears the type of loyalty reserved for Tea Party supporters. You know, the ones who are generally despised by everyone but those who are members.
What's the worst thing that can happen if the Jets fail to live up to their own expectations? Will the players be banished from the NFL? Will the franchise be broken up and sold off in parts to the CFL and UFL? Will the fans of New York simply disown them and turn over the keys to the good people of New Jersey once and for all?
Of course not. The sun will rise again in mid-February regardless if this team wins the Super Bowl. And next year, at about this time, we'll all be right back where we started, complaining and praising, screaming and cautioning, questioning and supporting.
I've been on the fence about the whole public perception thing since the beginning of the offseason. On one hand I just wish everyone would just zip their traps and play football, but I've come to realize that's the father with a mountain of bills and no time to himself talking. What I've come to accept is I also have a militant side, the part of me that's sick and tired of being sick and tired when it comes to this football team. I, like many others, am the downtrodden soul who's been through every green and white disappointment known to man.
That guy, I must admit, secretly snickers at all the opinion makers and haters. He loves the fact that so much attention -- be it positive or negative -- is being thrown at the Jets.
Because they are finally relevant.
A wise soul once said there's nothing wrong with being infamous as long as you do it colorfully. These Jets have no shades of gray. To them it's all green all the time. Considering what we've witnessed on the field basically forever, it was time to take a different approach. Tell me again why the Bronx Zoo Yankees and 1986 Mets are so revered? Ah, that's right, they won and in the process did it totally their way.
Now it's the Jets' turn to try and earn the same kind of respect.
Do I hate the fact that stupidity often reigns supreme in the Jets' alternate universe? A little. Do I wish Ryan would pipe down a bit? At times. Do I fear bad karma? Yes, but I'm working on that.
Right or wrong, the Jets have chosen this identity. They've made their beds. They aren't going to change for anyone.
It really boils down to not selling out and letting your good half get in the way. The Jets will either win the whole damn thing to shut up the masses or they will go down in a blaze of R-rated glory. You have a choice: stay on this bandwagon to hell or go root for a team with pansy uniforms like the Dolphins.
There really is no middle ground because, either way, the Jets are going to do and say whatever they want and there is not a person among you who can change that.
The Jets will never be mistaken for "America's team." Hell, they're not even New York's team. Not really. They are their own team and, for the sake of a better term, live their lives and play their games on their own island -- against foes both foreign and domestic. They may have brought this on themselves, but, hey, you have to give them props for staying true to who they are, even if your moral compass screams otherwise.
There's a scene in "Slapshot," one of my all-time favorite movies, where the hated Charlestown Chiefs are on a bus heading to a neighboring city for their next game. There's a crowd gathered outside the arena holding signs that were constructed to ward off the perceived evil spirits that would soon be invading their Utopian middle American town. The crowd is ready to show these miscreant hockey thugs a thing or two about how the "good" people properly behave.
Well, the bus pulls up and every last member of the Chiefs, including coaches, trainers and statisticians, have their bare naked rear ends sticking out windows. The crowd goes dead silent and people start milling around unable to formulate proper sentences of protest. Their rebellion had been thwarted, without so much as one flying fist or utterance of profanity.
If you don't laugh while watching that scene you're simply not a human being, let alone a sports fan.
And I just can't help but imagine the Jets of 2010 doing something similar upon their arrival in at least eight different NFL cities this season.
I kind of like it in a grotesque sort of way.
So please excuse me while I begin putting on the foil for Sunday night in Miami.
