Your best Jets practice/game story

[chrisfaceoff]

In light of the video of Adams that has been making its rounds and how awesome it is, do you have a similar memory from a player towards a fan/group of fans?  it got me reminiscing on the one I remember, and will always recall as one of the nicest things I've ever seen happen in person.

 

I have 2.  One funny, and one that has the exact same effect as the Adams video did.

both stories came in 2009:

 

1st one:

 

The practice just ended in Cortland, and fans were in the stadium and started lining up against the wall to hand over balls, hats, jerseys and whatever else to get signed.  Kerry Rhodes was working his way over to my area, and people were throwing the hats and balls down for him to sign, and you hear out from behind "Kerry!  Would you sign my leg?"  I pan over to my left, and there was a guy holding his prosthetic leg in the air waving it like a football.  The face he made of disbelief and shock was fantastic. "I would love to sign your leg, do you need someone to come get it?" he said.  "Nah man this thing's been through hell, I'll throw it, and you catch it"  So he lofted it down, and Kerry signed the leg.

 

Second one is a story I always tell irregardless of someone being a football fan or no.  Just one of those stories that restores faith in humanity and reaffirms that there are just good people in the world who wan to make a kid happy.

It was Family night at Hofstra and practice just finished up, and all the players were around the track signing for the fans, with the top players in the middle of the field for VIPs and season ticket holders.

Jay Feely walked over and was signing and talking to all of us in the area.  Was signing for about 15 minutes when there was a young kid(maybe 6  years old or so) holding out a small soft football reaching as far as he could to give it to him and said "Mr Feely, Mr Feely, would you sign my football?"  Jay said "Of course buddy, is this just for me to sign?" The kid said "Oh no I want to get the entire team"(Clearly there would maybe be room for like 5 signatures total on his ball) So Jay asked his name(I think it was Daniel), so he said "Hold on Daniel, stay here, I'll be right back"  He grabbed one of the actual footballs they used for practice, and ran to mid field, and got Sanchez, Clemens, Thomas Jones, and  few others and came back and gave him the ball and said "Here you go buddy, I got you a head start and got the toughies out of the way for you".  Kid's face lit up like it was Christmas morning, and he was turning away and started running to his parents to show what he got, and all you heard was Jay yelling "Daniel, where you going?  I wasn't done!"  Jay took off his gloves, sweatband, jersey, and cleats and gave them all to Daniel and said "Thanks for coming out to watch us play, I hope you'll be cheering for us all year long" and then he walked back to the building barefoot.  Everyone who watched that gave him the biggest ovation, and thinking of that kid's face always puts a smile on mine.

[ChuckkieB]

I used to go to watch the Jets practice at Hofstra all the time with my dad in the late 70's and early 80's and every interaction that I had with with the players was great over the years which netted me plenty of autographs and a few handshakes and highfives.  One time, though, that was NOT the case.  I was around 10 or 11 years old, practice was ending, and the players were walking off the field and Greg Buttle was about to walk by me.  When he gets to me I say " Hi Greg, how about and autograph?"  His response was "How about a punch in the face, kid!"  He kept on walking and chuckled to whoever he was walking with.  I thought he was joking and would come back and sign the piece of paper that I was holding, but he kept on walking.  It was bizarre.  Two years later, against my better judgement, I tried again.  After practice as he was running off the field I screamed "Hey Greg, do you remember asking me if I wanted a punch in the face?" and without stopping he yelled back "I should have done it!"  So of course, as an adult, despite all the great experiences I had at Hofstra, that's the incident that always come to mind first.  Thanks, Greg! 

 

[southparkcpa]

I remember standing by some annoying kid who was threatened to be punched by Greg Buttles.

 

Ruined my afternoon. @ChuckkieB

[RutgersJetFan]

Jets v Cardinals, 2008. Favre and Warner absolutely lit it up and I have never seen an air show like that live. Football does not get more exciting than that.

But the reason that game is so memorable to me is because during introductions, the piro spire fell on its side and shot a firework into the stands. About 10 feet away from where my dad and I were sitting. Hit an empty seat thank god, but I was only a short distance away from being blinded and very, very rich.

[jetstream23]

A few good ones...

1986 - Marino vs. O'Brien - Jets 51, Dolphins 45.  I was 12 and it was one of the first games my father took me to.  That's the game that made me a Jets fan.

1999 - Jets playoff win over Jacksonville to advance to AFCCG.

2009 - Road trip to San Diego.  One of the best weekends I've ever had as the wife and I partied with the SoCal Jets club at Henry's bar in downtown SD  on Saturday (remember that @Paradis?) and then the Jets beat the Chargers the next day to advance to the AFCCG vs. Indy.

[Bungaman]

Fall, 1975. I'm in someone's room in my college dorm - someone who had a TV, which I did not.  Of course, I'm alone, watching the Jets play the Dolphins. They are getting murdered. A friend pokes his head in the room, sees they are down big already in the first half, and offers me a bet with a 40 point spread. I decline: "They are worse than that." He goes away shaking his head, thinking I just threw away some easy money. The next day, he thinks I'm a savant, because they lost 43-0.

[#27TheDominator]

26 minutes ago, jetstream23 said:

1986 - Marino vs. O'Brien - Jets 51, Dolphins 45.  I was 12 and it was one of the first games my father took me to.  That's the game that made me a Jets fan.

We watched the 4th quarter and OT of this game in the limo outside the Oriental Manor between the ceremony and reception of my cousin's wedding.  They had to wait for all the groomsmen to announce the bridge and groom.  Needless to say, it caused some tension

[BurnleyJet]

12 minutes ago, Bungaman said:

Fall, 1975. I'm in someone's room in my college dorm - someone who had a TV, which I did not.  Of course, I'm alone, watching the Jets play the Dolphins. They are getting murdered. A friend pokes his head in the room, sees they are down big already in the first half, and offers me a bet with a 40 point spread. I decline: "They are worse than that." He goes away shaking his head, thinking I just threw away some easy money. The next day, he thinks I'm a savant, because they lost 43-0.

Welcome.

[Bocajetfan]

Friend of mine had a contact on the Jets staff and got my boys and I a tour of the facility at Hofstra. Got to watch training camp practice on the field. After practice walked back to the facility with Dennis Byrd, he sat down on the curb and talked Football with my boys for about 15 minuets and signed a football for each of them. When they thanked him for the talk and autographs I became even more impressed with him when he replied “No thank you guys”

[JetsFanatic]

Family night at Hofstra in 2001. My wife and 9 year old daughter are with me. We are sitting in the top row of the bleachers around the field the Jets are going to practice on. The entrance to the field is just a few rows below us. The Jets are lined up to enter the field directly under where we are sitting. If we stand up and look down behind the stands we realize we are right over the team. Herm was going to lead them out. All the fans are yelling down to Herm but he wouldn’t look up. When they finally gave up and quieted down, my little daughter yelled out “ Hello Mr. Jets Coach.” Herm heard it and looked up and waved to her with a big smile. The look on my daugter’s face was priceless.

[nycdan]

Not my best...my worst.

Back in the 90s, a friend of mine doing his fellowship at Lenox Hill told me to come in to meet him one day where he introduced me to a pharma rep.  At the time, there was a high concentration of very hot women serving in that field and this one was no exception.  Turns out she was a Jets fan so it was only a matter of minutes before I invited her to come to a game with me.  Everything was set and come that day in November, I picked her up and off we drove to the Meadowlands.  Now it was really cold, like REALLY cold so during the game there was some huddling for warmth and some good conversation.  The best part was, the Jets were ahead late in the game against the hated Dolphins.  I was pretty sure things were going in the right direction.

Then with 30 seconds left...disaster struck.  If you haven't figured it out by now, it was the infamous Fake Spike game.  The mood was destroyed.  The walk out of the stadium was somber.  The drive home was quiet.  No more warm embraces.  Never saw her again.  So if anyone wants to know why I hate Dan Marino to this day, this is why.  

F-U Dan Marino.

[Billyg]

11 minutes ago, nycdan said:

Not my best...my worst.

Back in the 90s, a friend of mine doing his fellowship at Lenox Hill told me to come in to meet him one day where he introduced me to a pharma rep.  At the time, there was a high concentration of very hot women serving in that field and this one was no exception.  Turns out she was a Jets fan so it was only a matter of minutes before I invited her to come to a game with me.  Everything was set and come that day in November, I picked her up and off we drove to the Meadowlands.  Now it was really cold, like REALLY cold so during the game there was some huddling for warmth and some good conversation.  The best part was, the Jets were ahead late in the game against the hated Dolphins.  I was pretty sure things were going in the right direction.

Then with 30 seconds left...disaster struck.  If you haven't figured it out by now, it was the infamous Fake Spike game.  The mood was destroyed.  The walk out of the stadium was somber.  The drive home was quiet.  No more warm embraces.  Never saw her again.  So if anyone wants to know why I hate Dan Marino to this day, this is why.  

F-U Dan Marino.

the fake spike is over rated.  they would have scored anyway with 4 shots at the end zone.  the fish had all the momentum at the end of the game.  but sorry you never saw her again. 

[Larz]

Saw a guy take a little weber charcoal BBQ, dump the coals out and put it in his trunk. 

I told him his car was going to catch fire as I walked bye 

He scoffed at me like I was the dummy 

I saw him take about 30 steps then run back to his trunk and take it out 

Yeah bud, I saw ya 

 

[Pcola]

I have two.  First and most recently, took my wife and two daughters to their first home Jets game last year against the Chargers.  My Girls are both grown, 25 & 18 But since we lived in FL or overseas for the past 24 years, we never made it to a Jets home game.

We were spoiled by Phil and his family during the tail gate and Neil Glat stopped by.  I think it was Christmas Eve and freezing but it was an awesome morning.  We also had Primesport tail gate tickets where we ate some more and got to meet SB III hero Randy Beverly.  Then we got to sit behind one of the Chargers safeties Jahleel Addea’s parents.  We gave then he’ll the entire game in a really fun way.  They were great sports and their dang kid ended up with 12 tackles and half a sack.  And they pointed out every single one of them.  It was a great time.

Now for another Jet related experience.  Back in 1994, I was living in Keflavik Iceland and while there I volunteered at the TV/radio station on the Navy base, hosting a sports talk show every Friday afternoon.  The USO sponsored a program that would send NFL players out to the Navy base and of course they scheduled them to appear on my show.  That year, Mark Dennis, an OL from the Miami Dolphins was the visitor.  So of course, As the host of the show, I showed up in my custom Al Toon jersey along with everything else I owned with the Jets on it.  Mark was a great sport.  Luckily it was before the spike game.  

Off the air, I asked him why no matter how great the Dolphins were and how bad the Jets were, the Jets always managed to beat them.  He said that when Don Shula coached against the Jets, he was so uptight and he literally told me that Don Shula butt would tighten up so much that he couldn’t think straight.  Said he was still scarred from SB III.

[slowmoe57]

3 hours ago, ChuckkieB said:

I used to go to watch the Jets practice at Hofstra all the time with my dad in the late 70's and early 80's and every interaction that I had with with the players was great over the years which netted me plenty of autographs and a few handshakes and highfives.  One time, though, that was NOT the case.  I was around 10 or 11 years old, practice was ending, and the players were walking off the field and Greg Buttle was about to walk by me.  When he gets to me I say " Hi Greg, how about and autograph?"  His response was "How about a punch in the face, kid!"  He kept on walking and chuckled to whoever he was walking with.  I thought he was joking and would come back and sign the piece of paper that I was holding, but he kept on walking.  It was bizarre.  Two years later, against my better judgement, I tried again.  After practice as he was running off the field I screamed "Hey Greg, do you remember asking me if I wanted a punch in the face?" and without stopping he yelled back "I should have done it!"  So of course, as an adult, despite all the great experiences I had at Hofstra, that's the incident that always come to mind first.  Thanks, Greg! 

 

That's funny I met Buttle on the Jets cruise several years ago. Was a real nice guy. His demeanor was just the same as he was calling a pre-season game. And I got his autograph without any threats.

My favorite will always be 2001 Wayne Chrebet vs. Keyshawn in Tampa. Caught hell from the Buc fans for 57:30 then the comeback finished off with the "Little Flashlight" catching the game winner from Curtis Martin on a halfback option. Bringing the crowd at Raymond James to a shocking somber silence. Fireman Ed in the section next to us led us in a chant. Not only that it was the only time I attended a game with my Father (a Giants fan). It was an awesome post game tailgate.

[joewilly12]

Many for me and my family. 

Training camp at Hofstra walking to wait for players coming out from lunch see a young blonde haired kid standing out by the sidewalk where some fans had already gathered. No one knew who he was until I walked up with my kids and said Chad Pennington how the hell are you, we shook hands took pictures and he signed autographs. 

Wayne Chrebet standing at the barriers my daughter maybe 5 years old waiting patiently to get her visor signed Wayne sees her being the smallest in the crowd lifts her over the barriers signs her visor and allows us to take pictures with him along with all the other kids I had with me that day. 

Vinnie Testaverde walking to camp in the wee hours of the morning me and my family first in the lot we recognize him he signs takes pictures asks why we there so early. He gives my children bananas after they tell him they had no breakfast because my dad likes to get here early. 

Carl Banks when he was a Jets coach riding his bike a bunch of fans said hey Carl how about an autograph. His reply I don't have time for that. Me being young and strong I say good you suck anyway and you are a Giant. He stops and says what did you say and I say you heard me man now get back on your bike and get the the hell out of here as others joined in telling him to hike and he did. 

The Monday Night Miracle I stayed until  the end. 

Walking around Sports Authority waiting for Mo Lewis to show up for an autograph signing in the Jets section and bumping into Mo Lewis who was trying to sneak in. 

Meeting and getting an autograph on a 2x4 and taking a picture with Woody Johnson. 

Tailgating close to the stadium 2 smoking hot women walk up to me and my buddy and ask if they could buy beers, we said you can have a few beers no need to pay for them. Turns out the 1 girl was dating Laverneus Coles and had proof as she was wearing his authentic game issued jersey under her coat. 

My friend a Giants fan he and I tailgating the Jets/Giants game and being interviewed by Penny Krohn and on the TV news twice in 3 years. 

Taking my son to his first game he was 4 Jets/Colts game delayed by thunder and lightning, driving home on flooded highways. 

Sitting in the bleachers at the high school football field 2 blocks from my house with Rex Ryan while his son and my son were attending a football camp and talking to him like we were best friends, then 2 weeks later seeing him at a Toby Keith concert at PNC Arts Center and him asking me if I was following him. 

Many memories many good ones......some more I will think of later. 

[Bungaman]

3 hours ago, BurnleyJet said:

Welcome.

Thanks! I'm a long time fan, now living in VT after stints (growing up in Inwood Heights, NYC), Vermont (in college), then in DC, Athens (Greece), DC again, and now back in VT. 60+ years old, 47 years of ... whatever one wants to call it. :) 

[Paradis]

7 hours ago, jetstream23 said:

2009 - Road trip to San Diego.  One of the best weekends I've ever had as the wife and I partied with the SoCal Jets club at Henry's bar in downtown SD  on Saturday (remember that @Paradis?) and then the Jets beat the Chargers the next day to advance to the AFCCG vs. Indy.

easily one of my favorite memories, period. We had such a great time that weekend. Drinking at henry's cheering the ravens to beat the colts was full of laughs and cheers (some courtesy of Tokyo's nose drinking). then the game? oh god. it was great... remember half time -- you were looking pretty worried... i was like -- dude we got this... don't worry. lol

My favorite was Ihedigbo coming up to us at the end and started doing "the grave dig" for the chargers infront of all us drunken fans... fcking great.  @jetstream23 do you remember that part?

[Paradis]

4 hours ago, jetstream23 said:

A few good ones...

1986 - Marino vs. O'Brien - Jets 51, Dolphins 45.  I was 12 and it was one of the first games my father took me to.  That's the game that made me a Jets fan.

1999 - Jets playoff win over Jacksonville to advance to AFCCG.

2009 - Road trip to San Diego.  One of the best weekends I've ever had as the wife and I partied with the SoCal Jets club at Henry's bar in downtown SD  on Saturday (remember that @Paradis?) and then the Jets beat the Chargers the next day to advance to the AFCCG vs. Indy.

hey - now that we have a QB again -- maybe we finally get to do another playoff road trip in the not too distant future!

[7561526667]

So many to choose from!

Best game memories at Shea:

* Being at the Jets-Raiders AFL championship game. Was only 6, my family had season fix from when the Jets started playing at Shea. I thought this was the way every season ended. Silly yout'

* Watch Joe Willie return to the field against the 49ers in '72. Our season fix were upper deck section 10, about half way up. First time I ever felt Shea rock, Namath almost brought the Jets back from being 3 TDs down, almost pulled it out.

* Bobby Howfield kicking 6 fgs against the Saints, with the last one at the gun to win the game 18-17.

* Being at the first home MNF game against the Vikings, with the Jets winning 14-7. The game mostly sucked, but what I remember most was I've never seen so many wasted humanoids at a game. I saved one drunk's life as I caught him just as he stumbled by me in my row. I had aisle seats, so if I didn't grab him, he would've tumbled down about 15 rows.

* Being in the midst of the upper deck sections who originated the J-E-T-S chant.

So many more, but I'll stop there.

My favorite training camp story was when my summer day camp went to Jets training camp. Backstory: there was a bar in my neighborhood in Jackson Heights called the Captain's Cabin. After home games, many of the Jets used to go there. My dad knew the owner, so he would call us when they were there, and I got to see many of the Jets all the time, including Namath. So when we got near Joe Willie to ask for his autograph, he looked at me and said something like, "hey, you're the kid from the bar!" I got his autograph, and for the rest of the summer, I was known as the kid who knows Joe Namath. ?

[Gastineau Lives]

13 hours ago, #27TheDominator said:

We watched the 4th quarter and OT of this game in the limo outside the Oriental Manor between the ceremony and reception of my cousin's wedding.  They had to wait for all the groomsmen to announce the bridge and groom.  Needless to say, it caused some tension

Any Oriental Manor story is ok with me. 

[southparkcpa]

For me...it was the 2008 Brett Favre invasion to Tennessee. The city was electric as all the Favre fans from Tenn, Miss etc invaded the city and rooted for the JETS!

Tenn was 10- and we were 7-3 and beat them hands down.

That entire weekend was electric. Nashville bars FILLED with Jets jerseys, the JETS chant everywhere.

[JustInFudge]

As a kid, we used to go to Hostra for practice all the time.  My Pops was good childhood friends with the Director Player Personnel back in the mid-late 80's.  He used to get use on the practice field.  It was pretty awesome.  I can remember my brothers fielding punts at practice (I was too small).  The other memorable moments; Gastineau refusing to sign autographs me and my brothers.  My dad hated him since that day.  The best moment?  When we were in the cafeteria eating with the team, Klecko stole an ice cream cone out of my brothers hands and made him arm wrestle him for it back.  Klecko's arm was the size of my brothers head.  It was hilarious.  He was such a good sport. I was literally born in a Klecko jersey so this really one of the coolest stories me and my family share with the Jets.  

Game??? I dont really have a great game experience other than Marvin Jones hitting on my girlfriend at the JN tailgate a few years back.  Other than that?  When the Jets played the Jags in Jax and the Jags were up 21-0 in the first 5 minutes of the game...I thought I was going to have to fight an entire section of Jags fans...and I live in Jacksonville!!!....so maybe more of a bad game experience.  

 

 

[CrazyCarl40]

When the Bills/Jets game got snowed out a few seasons ago and moved to Detroit, we couldn’t get any of our Buffalo folks out of the city to cover the game so they flew me out of Albany to help coverage. Got to be on the sidelines with my camera shooting pregame warm up stuff. The game itself was a disaster and the death blow to Rex Ryan. But it was still pretty cool. Had to sit next to a beat writer on the plane back to Albany. That was interesting. 

[bostonmajet]

Jets playing in the Polo grounds, played the Giants (I think) and Joe Namath hobbled into the end zone for the TD (same end of stadium we were sitting at)  

[Losmeister]

opening day 1978

new unis my first game

didnt have tix, game sold out, pops boughts calped tix ( who knew about THAT whole deal, not me, i was 11)

beat the fins, todd to walker x2

[Bruce Harper]

I used to go to watch the Jets practice at Hofstra all the time with my dad in the late 70's and early 80's and every interaction that I had with with the players was great over the years which netted me plenty of autographs and a few handshakes and highfives.  One time, though, that was NOT the case.  I was around 10 or 11 years old, practice was ending, and the players were walking off the field and Greg Buttle was about to walk by me.  When he gets to me I say " Hi Greg, how about and autograph?"  His response was "How about a punch in the face, kid!"  He kept on walking and chuckled to whoever he was walking with.  I thought he was joking and would come back and sign the piece of paper that I was holding, but he kept on walking.  It was bizarre.  Two years later, against my better judgement, I tried again.  After practice as he was running off the field I screamed "Hey Greg, do you remember asking me if I wanted a punch in the face?" and without stopping he yelled back "I should have done it!"  So of course, as an adult, despite all the great experiences I had at Hofstra, that's the incident that always come to mind first.  Thanks, Greg! 
 

What a d-bag!


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[jetstream23]

15 hours ago, Paradis said:

easily one of my favorite memories, period. We had such a great time that weekend. Drinking at henry's cheering the ravens to beat the colts was full of laughs and cheers (some courtesy of Tokyo's nose drinking). then the game? oh god. it was great... remember half time -- you were looking pretty worried... i was like -- dude we got this... don't worry. lol

My favorite was Ihedigbo coming up to us at the end and started doing "the grave dig" for the chargers infront of all us drunken fans... fcking great.  @jetstream23 do you remember that part?

Ah, good times!  A lot of drinking was done that Saturday!

 

 

[UntouchableCrew]

My favorite game memory was the Jets/Colts Wild Card game back in 2002. Only Jets playoff game I've been to, went with my dad. It was a total rout -- 41-0 they just destroyed Peyton Manning. I don't think anybody in the stadium sat down the entire game, the whole thing was like one big celebration, the stadium was absolutely rocking.

[Paradis]

54 minutes ago, jetstream23 said:

Ah, good times!  A lot of drinking was done that Saturday!

 

 

 

Amazing.

[#27TheDominator]

My first game.  October 22, 1972. Joe Namath was 5 for 16.  Seems like a bad day for the passing game, but those 5 completions went for 228 yards.

19 hours ago, Pcola said:

We were spoiled by Phil and his family during the tail gate and Neil Glat stopped by.  I think it was Christmas Eve and freezing but it was an awesome morning.  We also had Primesport tail gate tickets where we ate some more and got to meet SB III hero Randy Beverly.

Was he a good guy?  I knew his son from Italy.  He played at UCLA and coached in the Italian and Swiss leagues.  Kid is a great guy.

[Pcola]

5 minutes ago, #27TheDominator said:

My first game.  October 22, 1972. Joe Namath was 5 for 16.  Seems like a bad day for the passing game, but those 5 completions went for 228 yards.

Was he a good guy?  I knew his son from Italy.  He played at UCLA and coached in the Italian and Swiss leagues.  Kid is a great guy.

Randy was awesome.  Seemed really humble and let my oldest daughter and I get several pictures and autographs.  

[ljr]

Shea - Gate D

[jgb]

Went to training camp last summer. Was sitting on top bleacher. Hack overthrew a handoff and hit me in the head, knocked me off the back of the stands. I think I got CTE.

[peebag]

2 minutes ago, jgb said:

Went to training camp last summer. Was sitting on top bleacher. Hack overthrew a handoff and hit me in the head, knocked me of the back of the stands. I think I got CTE.

I think you're mistaken.  Hack only threw towards the ocean.