With their win on Sunday over the Chargers the Jets earned the right to play the Colts in the AFC Championship. Needless to say I couldn't be more pumped about this fact but having said that if I was asked as a fan if I consider this season a success I would have to say no.
Were there a lot of positives that have come out of this season already? Yes, but when it comes to sports there is only 1 way to judge success and that is by championships won. If the Jets don't win the SuperBowl then this season wasn't a success.
This of course is only my belief and maybe I am expecting too much or maybe fans of other team expect so much less which rubs off on the team itself and allows them to label seasons where they didn't win it all a "success."
This is my main problem with Leaf fans.
In a recent article I chirped Leaf fans for cheering Curtis Joseph like he was some sort of hero when he never won anything for them. I got a tonne of emails about this and had people telling me I was a moron because Joseph led the Leafs to the playoffs in 4 straight seasons and is 4th all-time in regular season wins.
My response was simple: how many Stanley Cups did he win and how many Vezina trophies did he win?
The answer is 0.
Here is a man who never won a single award and never won a Stanley Cup. He won a lot of regular season games but was never good enough to take his team to the Cup Finals and win it all and was never the best goalie in the league. Therefore his career can be deemed impressive but not successful.
If you asked Joseph what his 2 goals were going into his NHL career I am 100% positive his response would be to win a Stanley Cup and a Vezina award. He achieved neither and I am sure that will bother him until the day he dies.
Yet Leaf fans will give him a standing ovation and treat him like a God simply because he took them to the playoffs.
When did the most stories franchise in hockey allow its expectations to sink so low? When did it become OK to simply just make the playoffs?
A sad day for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans really.
It isn't just the Leafs that have this problem however as in every major sport there are certain teams that have become so terrible and so downtrodden that they feel like making the playoffs is a success, or in severe cases having a winning record is a success.
Let me tell you right now that going 43-41 in the NBA is not a "successful" season. That is not good enough and should never be considered good enough under any circumstances. If fans start to believe that meager accomplishments like a winning record are good enough then the players will believe it as well and then everybody just starts aiming for mediocrity.
Back to the Jets.
While their current season may not be a success if they don't win the SuperBowl there are still a lot of positives to build on.
Mark Sanchez has done as well as anybody could have hoped for a rookie quarterback and a 3-4 defense that lost its nose tackle (Kris Jenkins) and still was ranked #1 overall is always a good thing. Revis emerged as the top shutdown corner in the league and Shonn Greene stepped up big time after Leon Washington went down.
So there were good things to talk about about unless they bring home the Lombardi trophy it will have all been for not.
This is the one thing I like about Yankees fans. They expect to win every year and are thoroughly disappointed if they don't. They may be obnoxious douchebags who are for the most part bandwagon fans but at least they don't settle for merely making the playoffs. Fans from other teams could learn something from them.
In the end it all comes down to how you as a fan define success. Do you define success by championships or by meager accomplishments? Do you judge players based on awards won or meaningless statistics like 'wins in the regular season?'
I refuse to settle for 2nd place and I don't think other people should be happy with 2nd place either. In the immortal words of Herm Edwards, "you play to win the game!"
Preach Herm. Preach
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