My brother got me this hat and I wore it for last week’s game thinking it might have some luck in it.
It did not.

(Sunday Paper, Year VIII, Issue 2)

Way back in September I told you I was going to try something different this football season:

For the first time in years, I was excited enough about watching the Jets that I wanted to figure out a way to watch their games.

I also decided that since we hadn’t been down to New York all that much over the past couple of years, there was an opportunity to head down there and watch some games while visiting with family.

The Jets season amounted to a disappointment, as 100% of their seasons have been over the course of my life, but it was still a pretty good four months.

Let me recap it a bit.

I’ll start with a quick recap of the premise here: as an out-of-state fan, it can be a difficult (and expensive) proposition to watch the Jets every week: When the Jets are on TV, the Patriots are likely on opposite them, so the game won’t air on local television. And when the Patriots are in prime time, there are probably more appealing game options than the Jets game.

So I’m usually forced to spend a lot of football Sundays at a bar that shows all the games.

Which isn’t the worst thing once in a while, but for a whole season it can get tedious. (And, as previously mentioned, expensive.)

So here’s how I watched the games this season with a quick game-by-game breakdown:

Sun, 9/11, 24-9 loss vs Baltimore: We had recovering COVID cases in the house so I did not make the trip and did not watch this game.
Sun, 9/18, 31-30 WIN at Cleveland: Jets had no business winning this game - an unbelievable comeback, I watched this with my parents and we ate huge Italian subs.
Sun, 9/25, 27-12 loss vs Cincinnati: My brother and I went to a bar and watched this one because my dad wasn’t around. The girls came and spent time with their cousins. Good food, good company, terrible football.
Sun, 10/2, 24-20 win at Pittsburgh: My daughter’s birthday, so I didn’t go to New York. She wanted to go to Boston with a friend so I took her and searched for a place that had the Sunday Ticket. This is how I discovered Yard House. Missed the end of the game because I had to pick her up, but this is when the season started to show promise.
Sun, 10/9, 40-17 win vs Miami: Big win, watched with my whole family on a 3-day weekend getaway. (But the Mets were eliminated from the post-season this weekend. Mixed feelings.)
Sun, 10/16, 27-10 win at Green Bay: Surprising win keeping the good feelings going, watched this one at my parents’ house with my brother and oldest daughter there. Subs from Alba’s - I think I had eggplant parmigiana this time.
Sun, 10/23, 16-9 win at Denver: Watched this one at Yard House. I don’t remember why I didn’t go to New York this weekend. The Jets’ running back got hurt. Bad news.
Sun, 10/30, 22-17 loss vs New England: Oh, I remember. I think I didn’t go on the 23rd because I was going to come down for this one even though it would be on TV at home. I think we ordered from Alba’s again and this time I had a shrimp parm sub because my dad always raves about it. Bad game.
Sun, 11/6, 20-17 win vs Buffalo: Shocking win. I think that’s another reason I didn’t come down for Denver - I was coming down for these two in a row. Maybe this time is when I had the shrimp parm sub. I’m missing a meal here and don’t remember what we ordered.
Sun, 11/20, 10-3 loss at New England: Stayed home and watched this one on my couch and this is when things felt like they might go bad.
Sun, 11/27, 31-10 win vs Chicago: Watched at Yard House after coming back from Thanksgiving in New York. Temporary reprieve from bad feelings.
Sun, 12/4, 27-22 loss at Minnesota: This was on local TV and I watched it on my couch.
Sun, 12/11, 20-12 loss at Buffalo: We made homemade pasta for my dad’s birthday, the quarterback got hurt, and I had to drive back in bad snowy weather. Thumbs down. (At least the pasta was good.)
Sun, 12/18, 20-17 loss vs Detroit: Was able to watch this at home on the couch.
Thurs, 12/22, 19-3 loss vs Jacksonville: Thursday night, home on the couch. Nightmare. That’s an 0-5 record for watching from home, for those of you keeping score.
Sun, 1/1, 23-6 loss at Seattle: Didn’t expect a win here but figured I’d go to New York for one last hurrah. We had some cold cuts and made our own subs.

The Jets needed to win any of those last five games to have a shot at the playoffs…which they didn’t, and which is why today’s game is meaningless and I won’t be seeking it out.

And, as a matter of fact, I don’t know how enthusiastic I am about the NFL after my reservations came back with that scary scene in Cincinnati Monday night.

So I don’t know that I’ll repeat the experiment for next year’s Jets season…but I’ll likely get my hopes up again…as I do 100% of the time.

But watching at home was just like the old days - it has been years since I was able to watch Jets games not by myself….or at least with other Jets fans…and certainly my mom, dad, and brother. The part where I got to see my family and eat good food during the games? That part was great.

I’ll recover over the next couple of months…and then….well, I already have some ideas for baseball season.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

I think I’ll get this space back to what it used to be, just telling you about something I’ve been enjoying lately and may be worth your time to check out.

For this week, I’ve just been enjoying that bit of freedom that comes after a yearly goal, where following what I did in 2022, I don’t have to seek out a movie to watch or an album to listen to and I can just watch what I want, listen to a random song here or there, and read more. So I’ve been doing that.

Notes

*One last Jets note: I’m resisting the temptation to tally up all the gas money driving back and forth to New York and the tabs from Yard House...not because I’m cheap, but because this year if I put in the work I can actually put a number on how much money I wasted on the team. Part of me wants to know - and then I can extrapolate that out over - well, not 40-plus years, but at least ten. And send them a bill. Just kidding. A bigger part of me doesn’t want to know how much money I’ve flushed down the toilet on this team.

*My flight to North Carolina is booked, so I’m ready to run the Wilmington Marathon in just about seven weeks.

*I’m feeling pretty strong at this point in the training. Saturday I did my long run - 14 miles. I’ll do 15 next week, then 17, 18, and 21 before dialing it back a bit before the race. This week’s run took me through some hills that have really been terrible for me in the past, and I felt much better running them, so that has to be a good sign.

*I’m really going to lean in to the hunger I get after these really long runs. Saturday I got a Jersey Mike’s sub, next week I’m already looking forward to the burrito I’m going to eat after I do my long run. (That might be Friday because of some family stuff we have going on next weekend.)

*Did some of my least favorite activities on Saturday, too - took the Christmas tree out to the curb and took down some of the outdoor lights. I still have a couple of things to bring in - I’ll get to them this week probably.

*The social media links are below for you to follow along - especially with that running Instagram, since I have yet to get those other places going again regularly. But you never know when that will happen, so get on board! Thanks for those of you who already do. Much appreciated.