Two Minutes of Hate: New York Jets

Two Minutes of Hate is meant entirely in good fun and if you manage to be offended you're probably an idiot.

The Jets fan base has always fascinated me. The team claims New York as its home, but plays its games in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Somehow both New Yorkers and residents of Jersey are okay with this. I personally can't imagine being happy with the Chargers calling themselves the Arizona Chargers or moving to Yuma and keeping the same name they have now. If I'm missing something here, I'd love to hear it. And would someone please let me know how despite former Dolphins fan Ed leading them in frequent reminders of how to spell the team name at every home contest there are still giblet heads getting it wrong? But I guess that's just the fans of the New York Jets of East Rutherford for you.

Rex Ryan was my pick for Chargers head coach the year Marty Schottenheimer was fired and part of me doesn't want to mock him, but the man hasn't left me much choice. I'd be putting my foot* in my mouth if I tried to claim Ryan isn't a great defensive coordinator, but he's also a blowhard that talks a bigger game than he's capable of walking. His first two seasons he promised championships that he clearly wasn't able to produce. And this year he's even moved on to promising that he would have won championships with teams he hasn't coached had he been given the opportunity to coach them. He's a caricature of himself and one of the easiest coaches in the game to root against.

I'd be remiss if I didn't also take some time to single out the former Chargers who defected to "New York": Antonio Cromartie & LaDainian Tomlinson. The two have little in common other than being former Chargers, current Jets and the target of my wrath.

Drafted by the Chargers with the 5th overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, Tomlinson was the starter from day one and embarked on a Hall of Fame career. Unfortunately, he suffered injury and age-related decline that led to a decline in his role which led to an even more precipitous decline in his attitude toward the team. The one-time face of the franchise ceased to be the focus of the offense, earned the nickname Complainian (and other equally unflattering monikers) and in February of 2010 he was released from the team. He was signed by the Jets where he played well for roughly half the season before he sucked again. I'd have more negative to say, but his recent comments have been rather contrite and damn it, he's still LT**.

Antonio Cromartie is one of the most physically talented players to ever step onto a football field. He's also a bum. You'll rarely get the chance to see someone do less with more than Cromartie. He shies away from contact at an alarming rate for a defensive player and he's one of the least reliable players I personally can recall ever watching play the game. He's a lot like Deion Sanders with less skill, drive and style (a pretty decent cover guy that does nothing else and is completely unlikable).  Oh, and finally I don't have any commentary to offer for this one, but Cromartie has fathered nine children with eight women across six states***.

I blame yesterday's love fest for the shortcomings of this particular effort. Screw you, Crean****. I'll try to do better next time.

*I'm sorry.

**Which is to say he's still a sulking whiner.

***That we know of.

****Or whatever your name is.