Can't We All Just Get Along?

Each of us contributing to Pond Scum Sports has the ability to cover any team, sport, athletic accomplishment or folly at anytime. Clearly, like all sports fans, we have our “specialization areas.” Dan and I are obviously Philadelphia supporters in football. Ray verse towards the New York FOOTBALL Giants, Yankees, Devils, and Knicks (Can he be anymore NJ?). Meanwhile, Kyle lives up to the stereotype that rooting for the Jets automatically makes you a Mets fan.  This is just a small sample size of the PSS pool of fandom. Typically, we steer towards this layout when selecting topics for articles.

However, for today I want to step into the fandom shoes of the one, Kyle Cocchi and take a well deserved stab at the New York Jets. I would say New York FOOTBALL Jets, but can we really say that about them anymore?

Since 2011, my family has been Jets season ticket holders.  Seating licenses and everything baby! Jets games are actually a pretty fun experience, most notably are the pre-game festivities. New York shoots fire in the air as the starting line ups burst from the tunnel  and the entire stadium, led by one individual, screaming the war cry; J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! One of the awesomeness parts of our seat location is being near the same corner as Fireman Ed’s seats. Whenever the team needed a triumphant war cry, everyone in the stands could look to Ed for guidance. Jets fans no longer have this guidance.

Fireman Ed has decided to hang up his helmet and will attend games as a normal spectator. Jets fans have no one to blame but themselves. When asked if his decision was based on the team’s poor play, Fireman Ed would not give the idea the time of day. The Jets have had just as bad, if not worse, seasons then this year.

However, apparently other Jets fans are not so keen in remembering the past and instead would like to stew in the atrociousness of this season. Many fans taking their frustrations out on Fireman Ed. In the NY Metro, Ed provides the reason for him stepping down as a focal point of Jets culture citing fan confrontations as a major indicator. To be honest, I would feel the same way if I was in Ed’s shoes.

Jets fans should be ashamed of how Fireman Ed was/is being treated. He pays to have the chance to cheer his favorite team to victory each Sunday.  He does not pay for the opportunity to be harassed on the concourse, tailgating, restrooms, even at his own seats! When fans start turning on their fellow fans, that’s when we start having serious issues in sports. Before you know it were going to have 49ers fans in Alex Smith jerseys getting into brawls with Colin Kaepernick supporters. It’s stupid and juvenile.

When it all boils down football fans need to ban together for the greater good of their team. No matter if it’s a Super Bowl year or the worse season in franchise history. There will always be fans, through the good the bad and hopefully the ugly. Taking your frustration out on a fellow football fan is the slimiest most ignorant thing a person can do.

Most cases its home team fans versus the visiting team’s supporters. While I do understand this, I no longer condone it.  Everyone at the game is paying to have a chance to see their favorite team play. That’s it. Packer fans at MetLife Stadium aren’t there to rub their cheeseheads in the New Yorkers faces’; they just want the chance to see their team play. Instead, visitors are met with drunken attempts to fight, a slew a profanities in their face, and taunting while in their seats.

 I vividly remember a confrontation from last year’s Philadelphia/New York Giants game at MetLife where a Giants fan got inches from my face, spitting on me, as he told me to “Shut the Fuck Up” and “You don’t know Shit”. Not to mention anytime the Giants did something well, I’d get the “SUCK ON THAT!” remark. Now while I am a loud person, I did not say one word to this fan, but they made it their civic duty to ruin my experience. Of course, I would have the last laugh as Philly pulled out the W. Sadly the victory was not as sweet because said fan decided to slip out unnoticed before the game ended.

Jets fans have taken fan on fan abuse to a whole new level by targeting one another. The Sanchez/Tebow controversy does nothing to help the cause, but this is not enough reason to start launching full out attacks on each other at games.  As a Jets season ticket holder, I can sincerely say everyone is frustrated. From the cheap seats to the richie rich sitting in the $700 a ticket Coach’s Club. However, I’m not laying the verbal Smackdown on the Mark Sanchez fan that sits a row behind us just because I have a Tim Tebow shirt on. We are both at the game hoping the Jets can pull out a victory, can turn the season around, or can at least finish out of the basement of the AFC East.

I feel for Fireman Ed. The same fans that helped him rise to an unofficial figurehead of the NY Jets have decided his fandom must now be corrupt. Before something awful happens, Ed is taking the initiative and stepping down from his role. The Jets organization should take this as a message, the division of the locker room has spread to the fans. Fireman Ed is simply sending a message to the team the only way he can. If the Jets were smart, they would heed Ed’s statement and do something about, for him at least.  However, from my own personal experience with the Jets, I won’t hold my breath.