Fireman Ed Situation is Microcosm of What the Jets Organization Is

Oct. 8, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Fireman Ed gets the crowd going at the game between the New York Jets and the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

As most everyone knows by now, Fireman Ed has resigned his post as leader of the J-E-T-S chant at MetLife Stadium, effective immediately. We published the letter he wrote last night, enumerating the reasons that Ed is stepping down. On its face, this isn’t a major situation, as the Jets games will still go on without him. However, this is a major tradition that will be no more, and the fact that he stopped because he was being abused by fans is terrible. People actually take out their frustrations about the team on Fireman Ed? What did Ed ever do? All he did was make the game experience more fun, for a team that has spent most of our lives performing quite badly. This deserves anger? I don’t think so. Put your anger where it belongs, on the owner, the GM, and the team.

But you know what the sad part is? This is what the Jets organization is. The aura around the Jets caused this to happen.

Right from the top, the Jets organization puts out a vibe that they are “holier than thou”, better than everyone else. Woody Johnson does his work to make headlines. I think it is pretty obvious that he wants attention, we have no reason to enumerate the different things he has done. Trades he has forced, appearances….he likes the spotlight. Furthermore, when asked questions about what he does, he openly lies. He thinks pulling the wool over the fans eyes is OK. Alone, they are isolated incidents, but put together, it creates an atmosphere of “it’s OK to do whatever we want”. That rubs off on the fans.

Oct. 8, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum walks on the sidelines before the game against the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Mills/THE STAR-LEDGER via US PRESSWIRE

This trickles down to the general manager. How often does he lie to Jets fans? Sometimes it feels as if he does that as often as he breathes. How many times has he said one thing, and the exact opposite has happened? A LOT! The sad thing is, Mike doesn’t think we get it. He does his interviews, and thinks what he is saying is believable. He reads from a script, or it feels that way, and says these lines that are so full of you know what it’s amazing. He tells us that the Jets have an NFL caliber offense. Really? Does he think that the Jets fans cannot read the roster? We know that these are practice squad players. You see? There is an atmosphere that anyone can do whatever they want. It gives the aura that “Their s— doesn’t stink”. That rubs off.

It trickles down further, into the locker room. It’s a free for all, we don’t have to bring up the different incidents. The back-biting, the comments, the fights, …etc. The players know that they can do whatever they want in that locker room. It doesn’t matter what the outside world sees/says, we do what we want to do. “Our stuff doesn’t stink.” We, as an organization are better than everyone else. This is what is shown to the world.

So why wouldn’t fans go after Fireman Ed? The Jets organization feels that everything is fine. They can do what they want, why can’t the fans?

That is what is around the Jets right now. I am not surprised about what happened to Fireman Ed, but I am appalled. This is hat the organization is now, and it is sad.