It’s official. The two teams headed to the Super Bowl are the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, and Jets fans ought to be hopping on the Giants bandwagon.
Yes, it’s going to be hard to live with, no thanks to Rex Ryan’s predictions, and with the Jets just falling short the last two years.
[caption id="attachment_490" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Tom Brady (12) and Eli Manning (10) shake hands after the Giants beat Patriots, 24-20, on November 6th. Photo by Jim Rogash // Getty Images."]
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But the only people who seem really upset by this upcoming game are the people who drank too much of the Rex Ryan kool-aid. I like Rex Ryan and all that he’s done, but he’s drinking a bit too much of the kool-aid himself. Jets fans, you should know better. Do not believe the Jets will win a Super Bowl until they are ahead on the scoreboard with no time left in the Super Bowl.
Guys, the AFC team playing is the Patriots. The Patriots. The Jets play them twice every year. Even with last year’s playoff victory, it’s been terrible the last ten years. It’s been terrible. Bill Belichick bolting on us, the Super Bowls, the crushes sports commentators all have on Tom Brady.
Now, our would-be Tom Brady looks more like Ryan Leaf than Tom Brady, and an 8-8 season and locker room implosion have left the Jets looking like a joke. And the freaking Patriots, who were supposed to be in decline, are going to the Super Bowl again. Our top receiver, a former Super Bowl MVP, seems to be a locker room cancer who doesn’t respect his quarterback, while their no-name tight end who hangs out with porn stars for publicity stunts has morphed into a big star (and a guy who the Jets couldn’t cover, by the way).
[caption id="attachment_489" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Four years ago, Super Bowl XLII, also between the Giants and Patriots, featured a Giants comeback and this catch by David Tyree (85), who pinned the ball to his helmet. Photo from FTRSports.com."]
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Finally, were there any New England fans prior to 2002? Any at all? New England fans were an endangered species. Now, they’re “back” with a vengeance, and they all love to remind us constantly how good the last ten years have been to them, while the Jets haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1969…in case we’d forgotten. And you know, because they had such a fine winning tradition prior to 2002, and they weren’t any more miserable than we are.
And then there’s the Giants.
First, it’s just so much easier to like Eli Manning than Tom Brady. Eli had to say he was elite, be laughed at, and then go out and prove it. He’s got a wife he met in college and dated forever before finally asking her to marry him, and they have a daughter. The guy does Oreo commercials with his brother. Yes, the cookie. And Toyota commercials. Come on. Toyotas.
Meanwhile, Tom Brady married a supermodel after dumping his pregnant girlfriend. There’s no proof that he’s a terrible father to that child, it’s not a fair claim, and nobody should make it without evidence. But something about Brady just says “jerk” while something about Eli just says, “Nice guy.”
And when it comes to who is more likeable, Tom Coughlin or Bill Belichick...that's not actually even a question, right?
Anyway, here’s the thing about the Jets and Giants. There is no football rivalry in New York. Let’s repeat for those who didn’t hear: THERE IS NO FOOTBALL RIVALRY IN NEW YORK. Not really. Older guys who were around before the merger have got their issues. But everyone else who is having a tantrum, probably born after 1955, needs to get a grip.
This isn’t the Mets and the Yankees, who have played in the World Series against each other and who play each other every year. This isn’t the Islanders and the Rangers, who play in the same division and who have played each other in post-seasons past. This isn’t even the Knicks and the Nets who play each other every season.
It’s the Jets and the Giants. They play each other every preseason and once every four or five years. None of the games they’ve played against each other have ever meant that much. You could argue that the game this year was the most important game they played, and it still didn’t really mean that much. They’re not in the same division, they’re not even in the same conference.
Yes, they play in the same stadium. That isn’t a rivalry. That’s a rental agreement. And all the stuff that has been going on? The bragging rights and the back and forth in the media and the obnoxious twitter stuff and all that? It’s more like roommates playing pranks on each other than a rivalry. There haven’t been any big games to make it a real rivalry, whatever Rex Ryan says.
And while Giants “fans” – you know, the ones you only found out were Giants fans when the playoffs started – have been really obnoxious lately, it’s no worse than the Jets bandwagon the last two years. The Jets bandwagon is the worst. Who even knew they had one? At least true Jets fans will have earned any future glory. And true Giants fans, the ones you’ve known were Giants fans all along, who have lived and died with the team win or lose, quietly supporting the team they were afraid was about to collapse again, are not being loud and obnoxious. They don’t really believe yet either, and they won’t, until the Giants are ahead with no time left on the clock on February 5th.
We’re not so different, Jets and Giants fans. When this season is over, and when the Jets finally do win another Super Bowl, the Giants will have had little to do with it. Just as the Jets have had little to do with this Giants team.
Think about it. If the Patriots win, that will be four Super Bowls in ten years. That will mean more of commentators licking Tom Brady’s boots, more of the New England bandwagon’s smug superiority, more rings Rex refuses to kiss, more of the same for the Jets fans who were here before Rex Ryan and who have had a pretty raw deal for years.
It’s just too much. As one Jets fan I know said, “I’m not just on the Giants bandwagon, I’m driving it.”
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