Yesterday evening, the Jets won 28-21 over their rivals, the New England Patriots. For players and fans, this victory was all the sweeter after they were badly beaten by the same team in Week 13. Now the Green & White gang advances to the AFC Championship Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on their turf next Sunday, January 23.

We know that lots of our readers are pumped (they’ve actually written to tell us so!). Even the Empire State Building was lit up in green and white lights to cheer the team on.

Joshua Gaines — a self-proclaimed “long-suffering” Jets fan with family in Baristaville — has always been willing to believe that this is the year for his team (except when Richard Todd was the quarterback, when even he thought they never had a chance).

Gaines, who grew up in Great Neck, Long Island (though currently lives in Ohio), fell for the team when he was seven years old and the Jets played at Shea Stadium. It was the year that Joe Namath predicted and delivered victory in Super Bowl 3. He isn’t sure why he decided to honor his team by going on a shaving boycott, but he is now in a razor moratorium for as long as the Jets keep winning. Here’s what he told Baristanet:

Not sure why I started the shaving thing. I was on vacation and stopped shaving, and then the Jets beat Buffalo and I thought, “Maybe that’s the solution?” I actually had a party the night of the last Jet/New England debacle (45-3) and I shaved, and wore all of my Jet stuff, including my Sanchez jersey. The last few weeks, no shaving, no Jet stuff, and no losses! I’ve already invited 60 people over for a Super Bowl Party at my house in Ohio. It’s going to be a pretty hairy summer if the Jets go all the way!

As for why he continues to root for the Jets rather than his local teams, he said “I lived in Philly when the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl in 1981, and I lived in Denver when the Broncos won their two Super Bowls (and I lived in central Ohio in 2002 when the Ohio State Buckeyes won their most-recent national championship), but cheering for those teams is like cursing in a foreign language. You say the words, but you don’t REALLY feel it.”

Are you also adopting ritual behavior or honoring the Jet’s victory somehow? How will you celebrate if they go all the way? Like Josh, are you cheering Jersey from afar? Here’s your open thread…

Graphic image from Wikipedia.

10 replies on “Jets Joy in Jersey (and Beyond)”

  1. “The last few weeks, no shaving”

    I must confess, superstition has gotten the best of me as well. I have never, ever, ever, ever grown a beard in my life. Maybe its a sign. First year as a season ticket holder, and so excited.

    J

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    JETS JETS JETS

  2. HMM…Maybe my mane solution will be to shave my head for the Jets…

    NAAHHH……

    Let’s hope they keep winning without things getting too “hairy” on the playing field.

  3. I wore my jets parka all week long. Even to work.

    Now I have to wear it this week too, and I’m headed to Buffalo!!!

    I’m also sporting my green Mohawk hat. I might look like an idiot, but I want a SuperBowl goddammit.

    I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous for an AFC championship game. It’s almost easier in the years when winning is really a long shot. We already know we can beat Pittsburgh at home. This game is actually winnable.

  4. As a Patriots fan, I have to give the Jets an enormous amount of credit for playing a flawless game. I only wish the Patriots had shown up instead of The Little Sisters of the Poor. The Pats played like they couldn’t wait to get their golf clubs out from behind the snowblowers in the garage. To use a term that most Red Sox fans reserve for the New York Yankees, the Patriots s***ed. Good luck to the Jets against Pittsburgh.

  5. With this level of success I’m guessing that they might even get closer to selling all of the overpriced season ticket packages that they were hawking throughout the season. A sucker born every minutes as they say.

  6. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the game fearing that they would lose in the last moments. I couldn’t relax until the game was actually over!Hopefully no let down for the Pitt game.

  8. I this the NJ Jets or the NY Jets?
    They practice in Florham Park NJ and play in the NJ Meadowlands. Cut the crap with this NY thing, it’s no good. If they refuse to be the NJ Jets, they should change their name to the Tri-State Area Jets. Metro Area Jets? Or Somewhere in the NY Area Jets (God forbid NJ!).

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