When you're a Jet,
You're the top cat in town,
You're the gold medal kid
With the heavyweight crown!
When You're a Jet You're a Jet all the way....It's something like that with the people I know who wear Green and White and yell a lot and hope a lot and pray sometimes. Fanatic is the perfect word to describe the nuttiness of my relatives and a few of my friends who are Jet's supporters.
Tomorrow the team gets to be the heroes or the goats again. The top bananas or the peels. I will be following along with the passion of someone who cares deeply. Deeply for the fanatics with their antics and the fun loving pokes and jabs that come with competition here in Steeler Country! DEEP in Steeler country. It is not easy to support the Jets here but, boy, is it fun.
Last year at our school we had a day long visit from a Pittsburgh Steeler who spoke to the kids of dedication and hard work. Over the years our halls have been dripping with either the PSU blue and white or the black and gold of that Pittsburgh team. Occasionally someone will don a different jersey and get to hear the jeers. We do have one or two Eagles fans, a smattering of Browns fans (poor souls) and one or two other teams represented by people brave enough to wander around in some other colors and be noticed by kids and staff alike. We have friendly competitions, silly contests and spirit days. We have a head custodian who will show up in fleece Pittsburgh Steelers pajama pants!! All that and just a few loyal Jets fans. very few. You have to be strong to be a Jets fan here.
Now that I think about it you have to be strong willed to be a Jets fan just about anywhere outside of the NYC general area. They have broken many hearts over the years but provided lots of entertainment. I know now that you can watch them live in Colorado with Nick, or at a pub in Ireland with Alyssa and just about anywhere else one of my family should be residing. Here in State College you have to scout out ahead of time what establishment might have enough screens to put their game onto. If you hang around my son after a game they win you will see him completely decked out from the hat, jersey, fingerless gloves and jets beads...yes, he will wear this outfit to school! He doesn't say much; just looks proud. He is the one who might quietly hang a Jets poster on the door of the teacher who is a Steeler's fan. And hang it kinda high since she is short and will have trouble getting it down. It is fun to watch.
My dad is a dedicated fan. My mother thinks football is "the stupidest game ever". She says that about golf, too. But when the Jets win my dad gets phone calls from his sons-in-law and grandchildren to celebrate with him long distance and it makes his day!! For years and years he shared his season tickets with his family. They had so much fun at the NY Jets games (held in New Jersey, which always cracks me up). It is a family tradition to like the Jets, with the exception of one or two who have the audacity to like the Dolphins or the Giants. So, by default, I like them, too. Or more precisely, I like the people who so passionately like the Jets.
Tomorrow evening I will be cuddled up in my Snuggi watching the game of the season and really really really hoping the Jets can trounce the Stillers!(not mis-spelled, that is how some people out this way pronounce it) cause if they don't it will be a long time till I hear the end of it. J.E.T.S. Jets Jets Jets!
Here come the Jets,
Yeah! And we're gonna beat
Ev'ry last buggin' gang
On the whole buggin' street!
On the whole!
Ever!
Mother!
Lovin'!
Street! ................please.
p.s. (pretty proud of myself for the musical theater usage here)
Showing posts with label NY Jets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NY Jets. Show all posts
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Ted v JoePa
The next few days before Christmas are filled with the hustle and bustle of getting ready, buying, wrapping, singing, celebrating, and sometimes stress. The season is everywhere. Songs on the radio, TV specials, glittering lights. It is a red and green explosion all over the world. What some people see as the "most wonderful time of the year" others see as a bit of a gyp. People who have birthdays right before the 25th are always a little bit of an afterthought. I know 2 people who understand that and have for over 8 decades...Joe Paterno and my father. Granted, I dont really know JoePa, although we have met on more than one occasion, but I do know my Dad pretty well and he still feels the sting of being born 5 days before Christmas every year.
These two men have a lot in common. Ted and Joe were both born in Brooklyn, Dad on the 20th and Joe on the 21st of December 1926. They are sons of immigrants from Italy who stepped onto Ellis Island and made NYC their home. The two grew up during the great depression and the war to end all wars. Both married and stayed married to one woman. Both have children and many grandchildren. Both are great men. They remind me of each other more and more when I hear them speak. The Brooklynese never really leaves their speech patterns, they are sometimes brash, outspoken, bright and funny. When Joe loses his temper on the sidelines I see my father's gait and recognize the flailing arms and disgusted facial expressions. Ted and Joe both tend to calm down quickly, too. They are loving and giving men. Joe gives millions of dollars to build a library, Dad gives whatever he can, not millions but many thousands, to those of us who have occasionally needed it.
On his birthday I try and make sure my Dad gets a card, at least. If I go to visit on the holiday I usually bring him 2 presents, a birthday and a Christmas present. He is thrilled that he gets birthday presents even to this day. When he turned 80 we burned a CD for him with the most popular song from each decade, the 20s to the 00s. It was fun to listen to and appreciate the changes the world and he have seen and echoed in music. Think about the comparison of "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" and "Hips Don't Lie"!
My father may not have won 400 football games but he has accomplished so much. He served his country, built a home and supported his family with only a high school education. He started a business when he was 50 and ran it successfully for almost 30 years. He traveled the world with my mother, reveled in the lives of his children and grandchildren, and charmed many a woman young and old with his smile and personality. He is well read and smart. He knows facts and dates and names like you cant believe and is my mother's answer man, even if she now has to shout the questions. He gives wonderful hugs and tends to kiss us twice each time he greets us. He is fun and tireless. Ted is a devoted husband who took care of my mothers every need though her bouts with cancer and her open heart surgery. He is amazing! He even shared his Jets tickets with his family until this year and now he even has a facebook page!!
Monday is the 20th and Tuesday the 21st, a few days before the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child, and red letter days for Ted and Joe! Happy birthday to them both and may we all celebrate more with them in the years to come on the football field (go Jets, go Lions!)and off.
These two men have a lot in common. Ted and Joe were both born in Brooklyn, Dad on the 20th and Joe on the 21st of December 1926. They are sons of immigrants from Italy who stepped onto Ellis Island and made NYC their home. The two grew up during the great depression and the war to end all wars. Both married and stayed married to one woman. Both have children and many grandchildren. Both are great men. They remind me of each other more and more when I hear them speak. The Brooklynese never really leaves their speech patterns, they are sometimes brash, outspoken, bright and funny. When Joe loses his temper on the sidelines I see my father's gait and recognize the flailing arms and disgusted facial expressions. Ted and Joe both tend to calm down quickly, too. They are loving and giving men. Joe gives millions of dollars to build a library, Dad gives whatever he can, not millions but many thousands, to those of us who have occasionally needed it.
On his birthday I try and make sure my Dad gets a card, at least. If I go to visit on the holiday I usually bring him 2 presents, a birthday and a Christmas present. He is thrilled that he gets birthday presents even to this day. When he turned 80 we burned a CD for him with the most popular song from each decade, the 20s to the 00s. It was fun to listen to and appreciate the changes the world and he have seen and echoed in music. Think about the comparison of "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" and "Hips Don't Lie"!
My father may not have won 400 football games but he has accomplished so much. He served his country, built a home and supported his family with only a high school education. He started a business when he was 50 and ran it successfully for almost 30 years. He traveled the world with my mother, reveled in the lives of his children and grandchildren, and charmed many a woman young and old with his smile and personality. He is well read and smart. He knows facts and dates and names like you cant believe and is my mother's answer man, even if she now has to shout the questions. He gives wonderful hugs and tends to kiss us twice each time he greets us. He is fun and tireless. Ted is a devoted husband who took care of my mothers every need though her bouts with cancer and her open heart surgery. He is amazing! He even shared his Jets tickets with his family until this year and now he even has a facebook page!!
Monday is the 20th and Tuesday the 21st, a few days before the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child, and red letter days for Ted and Joe! Happy birthday to them both and may we all celebrate more with them in the years to come on the football field (go Jets, go Lions!)and off.
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