"M-E-S-S - Mess! Mess! Mess!"

Is anyone surprised, I mean really surprised at what happened this year after the Jets gave up on Chad Pennington? It may have seemed like a good idea at the time since he couldn't stay healthy, but after some of the foolish moves the Jets have made over the years you just had to know something would go wrong if they let him go. So what happens? Pennington lands on his feet in Miami and proceeds to lead them to one of the most remarkable turnarounds in NFL history from a 1-15 debacle last year to an 11-5 mark, passing the Jets in the standings on the way and then personally eliminating his former employers on he last day of the season - on the Jets' home field, no less.

It was strange how Jets management let it all occur. At the conclusion of last season it was pretty obvious that the Jets were planning on dumping Pennington. But instead of going about it in a sensible manner, the Jets dropped the ball. Again. By going the entire summer and all the way through training camp unable to find a replacement, the Jets backed themselves into a corner. But seeing a chance to compete with the Super Bowl champion Giants on the back page, if not the field, they pulled Brett Favre out of their hat and disguised it as a legitimate shot at a championship. What it really was was a major-league knee jerk reaction for a quick fix for a non-quick-fix team. It actually seemed to be working for a while, but remember, we're talking about the Jets, here. It was only a matter of time before things went sour, and they did in a hurry. So in the end, all the Jets got out of the ill-advised Brett Favre experiment was a badly flawed team that was the worst possible fit for a fading 39-year old Hall-of-Fame quarterback who was looking for one last shot at the Dance. Pennington's success in Miami and the playoff clincher just made it all that much more poetic. It could only happen to the Jets. You can hear the snickers all the way from Green Bay because the Jets and their fans are the ones now saddled with the annual Brett Favre "Will-He-Or-Will-He-Not-Retire" Telethon (Brought to you by your friends in the sports media and their almost unnatural erotic fixation with useless publicity overkill).

At least the New York Knicks (until this season) have had the excuse of having complete idiots running the asylum. But the Jets have been a bizarre puzzle. After all, they seem to keep hiring experienced professionals to run the team on and off the field (At least that's what they tell us). But when every single thing the Jets do keeps backfiring year after year and they continue to make the same mistakes anyway, it's pretty obvious that the Jets have done a much better job of hiding their incompetence than the Knicks have. It's time for a serious re-think of this franchise's brain trust and motivation. Want a real good indication of the Jets' way of marketing themselves? They call themselves the New York Jets, but they play in New Jersey - in Giants Stadium! Yessirree Jim, that's how you create an identity. Jet fans, your loyalty is calling.

The two things the New York Jets are universally known for is Joe Namath, and their 16-7 win over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Ever since then it's been abysmal. Poor drafting, bad teams, some okay teams that went only as far as their inevitable implosions would let them. The biggest ongoing headache for the Jets is their long history of hiring problematic coaches ever since Weeb Ewbank retired in 1974. In '76, for example, they brought in Lou Holtz. Already a successful college coach at the time, he went 4-12, bailed and went back to the college ranks, never to return to the pros. He was followed by:

1977-82: Walt Michaels (39-47-1, 2-2 playoffs)
1983-89: Joe Walton (53-57-1, 1-2 playoffs)
1990-93: Bruce Coslet (26-38, 0-1 playoffs)
1994: Pete Carroll (6-10 - after a 6-4 start - no playoffs)
1995-96: Rich Kotite (4-28)

After Kotite led the Jets to the worst record in the NFL for two straight years, the Jets finally got bold (desperate?) and decided to go after former Giants legend Bill Parcells, who had just coached the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl (where, ironically, they lost to Brett Favre's Packers). There were stumbling blocks, though, as a special stipulation in Parcells' contract prevented him from coaching anywhere else. To get around it, the Jets hired his top assistant Bill Belichick as coach, and Parcells was hired in an "advisory" role. It was a pretty tricky move by the Jets (and impressive, too, considering they never had the chutzpah to do something like this before). Patriots owner Robert Kraft threatened legal action, but NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue struck a deal that had the Jets shipping four draft picks (including a first-rounder) to the Pats for Parcells' rights. Parcells proceeded to pull the downtrodden team up to a 12-4 record in two years and the New York Jets finally looked like they were on their way to the top. However, after an 8-8 record in his third season, Parcells abruptly stepped down, vowing he'd never coach again and after one year as general manager he walked out on the Jets, eventually to wind up coaching in Dallas. Thanks a ton, Tuna. You deserved Terrell Owens.

Meanwhile, back in the swamp, it got worse, as it only does for the Jetsies. After Parcells resigned as coach, Belichick was announced as his replacement. However, Belichick's press conference the next day became one of the most surreal situations ever seen in New York sports. Before taking the podium, he wrote a note on a piece of paper that read, "I resign as HC of the NYJ," and in a rambling speech, he talked about not wanting to be in the shadow of Parcells anymore, his dissatisfaction with ownership, among other things. Kraft, in an act of vengeance, then signed Belichick (after Tagliabue struck another deal that had the Patriots shipping a first-round pick to the Jets for Belichick's rights), and he went on to win three Super Bowls for New England and helped turn the franchise into the closest thing to a dynasty the NFL has seen in years. And what of the Jets? With empty arms having lost both Parcells and Belichick, they reverted to their old ways of hiring questionable coaches, such as Al Groh, Herm Edwards and Eric Mangini (a combined 1-3 playoff record over the same period).

So how could anyone expect the Pennington/Favre saga to end any differently than it did? It was perfect. And what makes it even more perfect is, guess who's the Dolphins' GM? Bill Parcells. You can't make this stuff up (Well, actually you can make this stuff up, but nobody would believe you). The Jets are becoming the Chicago Cubs of the NFL. Their 40-year drought is not even half-way to the Cubbies' Century of Fun, but it sure has all the earmarks of it. If nothing else, the Cubs and other long suffering teams like the Red Sox, White Sox and the New York Rangers had "jinxes" to make it seem like there was a reason for all the failures. A Jets jinx? None to be seen anywhere. Makes it all the more mysterious, doesn't it? Ownership changed a few years ago, but the policies (and the results) remain the same. That is not a jinx. It's just the awful truth.

Jet fans should take a cue from Giant fans. In 1978 the Giants were in the midst of a miserable season (the latest of many at the time) and were a pathetic laughingstock. During a late-season game a small plane flew over Giants Stadium towing a banner that read, "15 years of lousy football - We've had enough." Some other fans publicly burned their season tickets and attendance was falling over 20,000 short of capacity. It got owner Wellington Mara's attention and after a very careful search, Mara brought in George Young, one of the most respected executives in sports, and he, in turn, signed Bill Parcells as the head coach and Bill Belichick, who became arguably the best defensive coordinator in the game for the Giants. The franchise was revitalized on and off the field, they won two Super Bowls and they've been one of the most respected organizations in sports ever since. The Jets have been pretty much the opposite, and a huge irony that bears that out is that it was the Giants, not the Jets, that had the final word on Belichick's Patriots last year.

Winning solves everything, but the Jets are a long, long way from winning anything. The fans, by definition, always have the final say because they buy the tickets. But as long as they keep buying and don't use the power of their attendance dollars by withdrawing, the Jets won't change. And if that's the case, well, lotsa luck over the next 60 years, Jet fans. It's going to be a long, hard road.