Once More, My NYJ Malaise Has Begun In the Pre-Season

  Football season is upon us. Well, not exactly. But close enough. Time for a precursor to the 2026 campaign. 

NFL training camps opened in July. This past weekend, the full pre-season slate began. 

Colleges have mostly started their pre-season practices. The rule is that coaching can begin 29 days before the first scheduled game. 

High schoolers in New Jersey have been guided by their coaches since the beginning of August. The scrimmage season commences in earnest this week. Their season runs from August 27, 2026 through the state finals no later than November 29, 2026. 

I feel like higher-level football has bombarded us with preparation for the upcoming season. Which will stretch into January for the colleges and February for the Super Bowl. That game is scheduled for Valentine’s Day, which also coincides with President’s Weekend. Firsts for both. 

Add it up and it can be an eight month cycle for the pros. Colleges which survive to the  CFP Championship game have a six month window. 

Fortunately, most teams never make it to the final date—whether it is in high school, college or the NFL. The grind is already enough as it is. The injury toll and the mental fatigue is worrisome. And for the high schoolers and collegians, there is school to think about. 

So, as you must know by now, I have been a loyal New York Jets season ticket holder since 1977. Thus, the 2026 season makes my 50th season of attending home games at Shea Stadium; Giants Stadium; and now the stark grey Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. 

You might also know that I have decided this will be my last season as a season ticket holder. Realistically, once the season ends, I will have no desire to go to another Jets game—even if, in there highly unlikely event they make it back to the Super Bowl. That would be for the first time since the 1969 season—way before I made the fateful decision to pay good money to see pro football in New York. 

What started out as a loving relationship has soured greatly. In my early years of traveling on Sunday mornings to Queens, fighting loads of Long Island Expressway traffic to and from the game and learning where to park for free, it was an adventure. Partly because the product wasn’t half bad. While in 1977 the team went 3-11 and the 1980 squad produced a 4-12 record, through 1982, the Jets were at .500 or better and made the playoffs twice. 

Mercifully for me, the 1983 season was the last one at decrepit, wind-blown Shea Stadium—a place built for baseball but which had moveable seating that gave an appearance for those in the lower stands, like myself, that you were fairly close to the action. There would be no more nightmarish drives to and from the venue, or parking in Manhattan and taking the 7 train to Flushing packed like sardines with grubby, grumpy patrons who were soused. 

The best thing to happen to the franchise was the move to Giants Stadium. Relocation to the New Jersey Meadowlands made my life a lot less miserable—at least on the roadways. From 1984 to 2000, there were four playoff appearances. In 1998, the Jets actually won the AFC East with a 12-4 record—only to lose in the AFC title game. But also in that span, the team-worst 1-5 record happened in 1996. 

Of course, the ill-fated West Side Stadium where the Jets would have been the prime occupants fizzled on so many levels. Going to Manhattan by train in regular cold weather clothes would have suited me just fine. Being seated indoors would have been a luxury. 

But, par for the franchise, the stadium to end all stadiums never happened. This led to the 50-50 partnership with the Giants for Met Life Stadium and no dome. 

Beginning with 2001, the Jets have made the playoffs six times, losing in the conference championship twice in a row under Rex Ryan. The 2010 appearance in the title game stands as the last playoff game for the franchise to this point. 

Jets ticket holders have been frustrated time and time again. By poor play. By bad coaching. With bad decisions regarding talent. Always with the belief that it can’t remain this bad forever. Chicago Cubs fans can understand; at least they had their prayers answered with the 2016 World Series win. 

Notwithstanding the Cubs’ phenomenon, it doesn’t remove the negativity surrounding the franchise. When the last time the team had a record above .500 was in 2015 with a 10-6 mark and no playoff appearance, cheering for the Jets has become rather dismal. 

I reached my decision to part ways with the Jets because of my dislike of the intense heat in September and the biting cold starting in November. When the team has very little to play for, not only is the market value of the product diminished, but so too is the enthusiasm to spend the day going home once more disappointed.

The fact that my family showed no interest to continue going after this season may have been the final straw. They, like me and my wife, can watch from the comfort of their abodes and be able to turn off the TV set instead of having to navigate the terrors of Route 3 West and the Garden State Parkway South after a treacherous escape from the few exits out of the parking lots surrounding the stadium. 

They would rather spend their money elsewhere and derive greater enjoyment. Believe me, so would I. If I had invested the money spent going to Jets games, I would have easily doubled that six figure amount. 

Yet I chose otherwise. Sanely or not, I have literally weathered my way through to this grand finale. 

There have been a number of players who donned the Green and White who I enjoyed watching. But I always felt that they were playing at a deficit due to poor coaching or management. Which resulted in the plethora of losing seasons that has marked my tenure with the franchise (16-26-7 in terms of winning, losing and .500 seasons in the 49 years I had season tickets).

I have watched prices skyrocket even while the product remained abysmal. I abhor that parking costs so much. And that the NFL and Jets include meaningless pre-season contests as part of the yearly package. 

Which is why I won’t watch the game which don’t count. And it was why, with the temperature at 85 degrees at the 7:00 pm game time on Friday, I elected not to attend. 

That was nearly $300 thrown away. Like I always have, I rationalize that and the upcoming Giants game at the end of August which I have given to a friend, can be added to the cost per game total by adding another $70. What’s money when you are having a great time, right?

I actually find myself bitter and angry with the way the season is likely to go. The return of Geno Smith to the franchise to be the quarterback does not enthuse me. For that matter, there aren’t a lot of players I have become familiar with because I am so jaded. 

Ditto for Head Coach Aaron Glenn, although I want to hope that his return to where he had success on the field as a player can translate into victories. That was not the case last season.

I know that the New England Patriots made it to the AFC Championship last season. Buffalo with heralded QB Josh Allen will someday break through and win a title. Miami is rebuilding but that means very little to a Jets team’s chances against the Dolphins. It never does. 

The word bleak comes to mind. That’s what the season outlook seems to be. Once more, Jets fans will have to embrace futility. 

Look, there are other franchises starving for wins, too. Twelve have never won a Super Bowl. Cleveland, Detroit, Houston and Jacksonville haven’t even appeared in the final game. At least NYJ is undefeated there (1-0) and that team with Joe Namath at the helm won the franchise’s sole AFL crown before the merger between the NFL and AFL. 

Dallas, a paragon for excellence, having won three titles with Jerry Jones as owner, is in a drought. Not since 1995 have the Cowboys won it all. And Jones was a first ballot inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017. 

Yet what do the legion of Dallas fans have to show for all of Jerry’s machinations? Bupkis. How ‘bout them Cowboys?

I can focus my hostility towards Jets owner Woody Johnson. He can be as fan friendly as he wants. However, since 2000, his teams have repeatedly come up empty. The talent wasn’t there.

I know that the era of Tom Brady at New England alongside Bill Belichick coincided with a lot of down years for the Jets. Brady owns a 30-7 regular season record against Gang Green. At least he is only 1-1 versus NYJ in the playoffs. As opposed to a 7-3 record in Super Bowls. 

I can’t wait for the regular season to begin. I plan on going to an away game this year—something I have never done. That could be fun. 

But I also can’t wait for the season to end, so that I can put this half century of misery behind me and enjoy the rest of my life in different ways. In 2027, if I don’t watch the Jets after another season of disappointment, then that’s okay. A good nap sounds a lot better anyway. 

Right now, there aren’t any national TV games involving the Jets. That’s a big, fat zero. Because the network executives just don’t feel that the talent necessary to attract audiences is there. Even with the Jets playing teams such as the Packers, Bears, Lions, Patriots, Bills, Chiefs and Broncos.

For me, that means that the bulk of the games are at 1:00 until November 22 when the team flies to Southern California to meet the Chargers (a game I might try to go to). A visit to Arizona on December 20 starts at 4:05 (My alternate game to go see NYJ on the road). No home games at dinner time. A small victory of sorts, I guess. 

So the countdown for me with the final season of the Jets is underway. With much antipathy as to the way the past 49 years have gone and with the cloudy forecast in year 50 making things no better. 

With the high schools, I primarily root for the local team, Jonathan Dayton. They aren’t much of a team. At last the new turf field is almost installed in time for the home opener when powerful Governor Livingston High School from Berkeley Heights comes to Springfield. 

I have circled October 16 on my calendar. That’s when my alma mater, Highland Park, plays around the corner from my home. HPHS was a powerhouse before and during my high school years. That is no longer the case. 

At least I can’t lose in that game. One of my teams has to win. 

As for my college teams, Franklin and Marshall is coming off of its first Centennial Conference championship with a stirring win over Johns Hopkins. While the Diplomats just miss the D III Football Pre-Season Top 25, Hopkins is ranked #4 after making the 2025 NCAA Division III semi-finals. 

Very little is going to top my euphoria from the overtime win last November which catapulted F&M to its first ever NCAA appearance. My expectations are low enough that I appreciate where the school stands athletically and academically. I am fine with that. 

Meanwhile, Rutgers has been picked for #16 in the Big Ten. Only Purdue and Maryland are slotted behind Greg Schiano’s Scarlet Knights. Never having enough cash and N-I-L money to compete with the big boys like Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State along with reigning national champion Indiana, a veritable newcomer to the top tier of FBS football, the expectation is for another miserable year with maybe a low-level bowl game if things break right. 

It’s my misfortune that I selected the Jets, F&M, and Rutgers as my teams to root for. One has a record way below .500 (NYJ). F&M has had some really good teams in its history, which dates back to 1887 with a first win over nearby Millersville in 1889. Rutgers’ cumulative record has also dipped below .500, a function of losing over 90 games as a member of the Big Ten. 

I don’t believe I’m going to Piscataway for a RU home game this year. I’m not yet saying no to a road game at Penn State in November—I have not seen the Knights play football away from its New Jersey campus. That’s a bucket list item. 

If I decide to see F&M play at Muhlenberg on October 10, if the weather cooperates, a day in the Lehigh Valley might be in the offing. Otherwise, no trips to Lancaster are planned by us. 

Which leaves me stuck with the New York Jets. Whether I like it or not. There isn’t going to be a New York Knicks-like championship in this team’s 2026 future. There is no one like Jalen Brunson with his magical leadership to make it happen. 

Once more, my NYJ malaise has begun in the pre-season. Maybe it’s the curse that is contained within the precursor that’s the cause.