Gang Green: An Irreverent Look Behind the Scenes at Thirty-Eight (Well, Thirty-Seven) Seasons of New York Jets Football... |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Football History > Item 220
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Gang Green: An Irreverent Look Behind the Scenes at Thirty-Eight (Well, Thirty-Seven) Seasons of New York Jets Football...
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by Gerald Eskenazi
Sales Rank: 754653
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$2.85
At Amazon
on 8-5-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 336 pages
Published by: Simon & Schuster October 5, 1998
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0684841150
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0684841151
Book Dimensions:
9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
Weighs: 1.2 pounds
Product Review
Two quick trivia questions: - Which was the first American Football League (AFL) franchise to win a Super Bowl?
- What is the only team since the 1970 NFL and AFL merger never to win a divisional crown?
If you answered the New York Jets to both, you've suffered enough. You're probably too deep into therapy to appreciate how deep into futility veteran New York Times writer and longtime Jets chronicler Eskenazi can descend in this irreverent history.
The Jets saga is certainly a surreal one. "The Jets I came to write about," Eskenazi observes, "were like life as Kafka or George Carlin might have pictured it--only more so. They led an existence based in the everyday reality so many of us faced, one of small victories offset by large losses." Dubbing them the most famous terrible franchise in sports, he makes a fumblerooski of a case. Other than the 1969 Super Bowl miracle engineered by Joe Namath, the Jets have been constantly sacked for losses. They are the only professional sports team without a single coach who can boast a career-winning record as a Jet. They played in the first game ever suspended due to lightening. The longest play in their history--a 90-yard run from scrimmage--failed to produce a touchdown. Their starting quarterback broke his toe--watching TV. Their star linebacker fell for Sly Stallone's wife. And they're the only pro football team to play its home games in a stadium bearing the name of the other team in town.
Of course, the Jets' losing ways could end with the hand-off of the helm to Bill Parcells, a coach Eskenazi intriguingly characterizes as more obsessed with not failing than just winning. Then again, management--just in time for the 1998 season--did decide to bring the old uniforms back. Yes, the Jets won Super Bowl III in them. But they found ways to lose big in them, too. --Jeff Silverman
From Publishers Weekly
Sometime on or about Super Bowl Sunday, January 12, 1969, someone connected with the New York Jets must have made a pact with the devil, for in exchange for the historic 16-7 upset win over the Baltimore Colts, the team (and their loyal fans) has suffered as few franchises have suffered in the history of professional sports. And Eskenazi, the Jets beat writer for the New York Times for three decades, has captured all the humiliation and the lone supreme triumph in a book that will leave the reader either shaking their heads in defeat or laughing out loud at the ineptitude. Part of the expansionist American Football League, the New York Titans got off to a shaky start under the ownership of broadcaster and "bullshitter" Harry Wismer. But in 1963, it passed into the capable hands of Sonny Werblin, who renamed them Jets and gave them uniforms in his lucky green. Werblin soon signed Joe Namath to the famous $400,000 contract and the war between AFL and NFL took off. The AFL was 0-for-2 going into Super Bowl III and the Jets were an 18-point underdog. But with Namath's passing, Matt Snell's running and an unyielding defense, they staged the biggest single upset ever in professional sports. And although the Jets always had a core of all-star players such as Joe Klecko, Wesley Walker and Freeman McNeil, it was all downhill after that. Their futility was epitomized by such hapless coaches as Lou Holtz, Walt Michaels and Rich Kotite; though hope returned with the hiring of Bill Parcells in 1997 and, for once, the future seems bright. This is an in-depth, behind-the-scenes team biography that Jet fans will cherish?though Red Sox and Cub fans should empathize. Editor, Jeff Neuman; agent, Rick Diamond, The Marquee Group.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Reader Reviews
This is a well-written history of the New York Jets. It covers the one great accomplishment (Super Bowl III) and the many failures and disappointments. As a fan you love the team and always get your hopes even though you know they will dash them in the end. This book covers those emotions well.
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Gang Green: An Irreverent Look Behind the Scenes at Thirty-Eight (Well, Thirty-Seven) Seasons of New York Jets Football...
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Price: $2.85
Updated on 8-5-2008.
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