Fans of NY presents: Max Preston’s Jets Fandom
Being a New York sports fan requires a unique mindset, one that many outside of NY might not understand. Passion runs deep, it’s in your blood. I’ve been a Jets fan my whole life, and in many circumstances, I am the only one in the conversation to represent the team. I’ve had all types of people clown me for being a fan, from teachers to family and friends.
Jet fandom is built on believing that the journey to a championship will be just as sweet as the final destination. Rooting for this team is not something for the faint of heart, as fellow fans know, you have to push through the bad situations and look for the positives even when they are hard to find.
This 2020 season in particular is one of the worst in my many years of fandom because looking for those positives has moved from hard to find to nearly impossible. The team’s ownership refuses to make the right moves for the franchise, more so than past years. For the team to still have believers through that is special; one can hope that those at the organization will appreciate that loyalty the Jets fans hold and reward them with good decision making.
QB Sam Darnold, the face of the franchise, for now.
When the team recently decided to release Le’Veon Bell, that was a pivotal moment of questioning the intentions behind the team and how little they cared for their fanbase. While Bell didn’t live up to expectations from when he first signed with the Jets, he was one of the only players who cared about being part of the change of culture, and was a leader through the turbulence that existed during his stay with the team. Deciding to keep our head coach instead of him was heartbreaking because it showed how little the management cares about putting the best team out there. For all of the 2020 season, the Jets have been the laughing stock of the NFL, and cutting our best player when we can barely score 15 points a game was a gut punch.
The lows of this season even have me questioning my loyalty to the team. It’s a really hard decision to make. When you’re emotionally invested in a team and all you want from them is to be successful, you look for the small things that make you say: “Hey we might not be here yet, but there are pieces in place that will turn this around.” You want to believe that you can be part of the journey from worst to first, because it makes the journey to a championship that much sweeter. However, when it’s clear that from an organizational standpoint, the team doesn’t care about what fans see every day, it makes you question your allegiance. Right now, it’s at a point where being a Jets fan feels like a one way relationship and I can’t support the team in the way I am accustomed to when they can’t even understand why they are so awful in the first place.
With that being said, I have been able to take my passion for sports and fashion to bring joy back into my sports life. I collect and sell vintage sports gear, @prestonvintage, so I have a lot of old Jets memorabilia that bring me back to the times when I had positive associations of the team, I’d say my favorites are my Wayne Chrebet Jersey and Curtis Martin Jersey, two of the foundational players that helped to establish my fandom growing up.