With a pain-wracked history emblazoned with love-hate names like Richard Todd, Vinny Testaverde, Boomer Esiason, Rick Mirer, Chad Pennington, Brooks Bollinger, Brett Favre, Browning Nagle and, God help us, Rich Kotite (the head coach who managed to win four games in two seasons), finding a comic book with a New York Jet on the cover was no easy task, but naturally, “Broadway” Joe Namath was the subject of one of those Personality Comics bios in the ’90s.
The insides of the Namath comic look about as pretty as Colts second-string QB Curtis Painter crying after his first ever NFL play resulted in a fumble and a Jets touchdown. And the result when the Colts play the Jets in the AFC Championship game next week are likely to be just as ugly for New Yorkers, since the Colts are likely to field their actual team this time, and not The Replacements.
But as any other Jets fan reading this know, the term “Jets Fan” is another word for “love/hate” so enjoyment is likely to be fleeting, but we least we had this blog post.
And Joe Namath had his Dingo boots.
I want to be a Dingo Man when I grow up!
I’ve always thought that Browning Nagle was one of the best/funniest names in QB history.
Sorry, Heidi, but if it’s a Jets / Saints Super Bowl there’s only one way I can lean. I’ll root for you guys this week, though!
I am not responsible for this sports/comics post.
Almost all the match-ups for the Super Bowl are intriguing, so CBS must be in hog heaven.
Colts/Saints – Manning vs hometown team
Colts/Vikings – Manning vs Favre
Jets/Vikings – favre bowl
Jets/Saints – ….
The Jets and comics are my two big passions (besides my wife, of course), so it’s fun to see the two worlds collide here. I actually have the Joe Namath comic you mentioned, but I’ve been saving it for when the Jets make it back to the Super Bowl. (Notice I didn’t tempt fate by saying something jinx-like such as “Maybe this will be the year”. D’OH!)
To further your explanation of this star-crossed franchise to the uninitiated, I’d like to offer some quotes from the DVD set “Jets, The Complete History”, which offers these observations regarding “the NFL’s most loyal fans”:
“To be a Jets fan is to have a true heart. It’s watching an underdog team mount the greatest upset in sports history… It’s watching a team rise to greatness and seeing it’s destiny stolen by the fates. To be a Jets fan is to spend each summer dreaming and each fall cheering — believing in men in green and white, and waiting for the next championship to arrive.”
It’s been 41 years since that last championship, with a lot of heartbreaking moments along the way (I’ll add the names “A.J. Duhe”, “Doug Brien”, and “Dan Marino’s Fake Spike” to your list, Heidi). I was born 10 months after their big game, and they haven’t been back since.
For those in the comic world, think the Legion of Substitute-Heroes — combining both the pluck and heroic perserverance of their early tales with the comic misadventures of the Giffen stories (Ironically, KG is a Jets fan also).
If you feel for the underdog and empathize with undaunted dreamers, root for the Jets this weekend.
P.S. Is it just a coincidence that you share the name of one of the Jets’ strangest moments (the “Heidi Bowl”)?
Haha, that wasn’t a Personality Comic – it was by Revolutionary Comics, home of Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics. With art by Marvel Bullpen legend Dick Ayers, no less! That’s how you can tell the difference between Personality Comics and RevComics – Personality put out the crappy ones.
We’re extremely pumped about the big game. We have got a great shootout. I’ll take them Saints in a nail bighter.