Prior to the Raiders' Week 7 matchup against my perennially middling Jets, Sebastian Janikowski had never kicked a 57-yard field goal. As I was watching the Raiders go three and out in The Signal office, I was celebrating because of the ludicrous, impossible length of the kick.
"Game over," I thought. The Jets had played a stinker, but they were still alive against a terrible, terrible team that had played terribly.
And just like every time in my football-watching life when I have had a remotely positive thought about the Jets, I was wrong. Janikowski drilled it.
The Jets lost to the Oakland Raiders. After all the money we threw at people this summer, after drawing a schedule easier than cheesecake, after winning the Brett Favre lottery, the Jets still stand at 3-3.
So I'm switching sides - turning in my Gang Green card, if you will - and I don't have to go far to find a successful team to root for; I'm going the way of Jerry in Seinfeld episode 11, season six: "The Switch." That's right - I'm going for the roommate: the 2008 Super Bowl Champion New York Giants.
I just feel like I'm wasting my love. I give and I give and I give, and JaMarcus Russell (who is simply a terrible quarterback) outplays Favre.
Now Eli Manning, he's a quarterback I've believed in since the beginning. Well, not since the beginning. More like since the Super Bowl. Honestly though, the guy has a different aura about him this year.
In seasons past, I would watch the Giants in late-game situations when they needed a big drive out of Eli, and you could just tell from the look on his face that he would throw a crippling interception, blow the game and do the "Sad Eli" face.
This season, aside from the Browns game, I watch the Giants in the same situation and that feeling is gone. He looks like a capable, confident quarterback - exactly the guy you want in those situations.
Against the Raiders, Favre just looked old. I can't believe this, but I'm comparing the boyish, even twerpy, Manning favorably with probably the manliest guy to ever line up behind a center. What league is this?
This season was supposed to be different for the Jets. They got Brett, the devil finally collected on his deal with Tom Brady, Thomas Jones has a real line to run behind and the Jets have a .500 record to show for it. In my delusion, I saw a deep playoff run for this team, but as of Week 7, the Buffalo Bills have somehow emerged as the cream of the AFC East. I forgot in my advanced age how this team has let me down year after year, and will certainly continue to do so year after year until I am dead.
I feel like a battered wife.
Maybe I should just forget the NFL altogether. Basketball was always more my sport; no matter how disillusioned I may get with the Jets, I can always look forward to another thrilling season with the New York Knicks.
Myles Ma can be reached at ma5@tcnj.edu.
