THE ONE-MAN JET SET
I support the New York Jets, which is a statement met consistently with a slew of ‘whys?’ and ‘poor yous’. We are perennial losers. The worst team in New York state sports, with a litany of crazy head coaches, terrible luck and bad draft picks, offering us nothing we can hang our hat on.
Except one thing: Joe Namath. After guaranteeing victory in a press conference before he led the Jets to their first — and to this date only — Super Bowl championship, in 1969, Namath ran off the field at Miami’s Orange Bowl with his finger pointing to the sky, declaring, “We did it!” It is considered one of the most iconic images in American sports history.
With shaggy hair, sideburns and pink flared trousers, a lot of New Yorkers felt like Joe Namath was one of them.
It doesn’t matter that Namath, the quarterback, didn’t throw a touchdown all game. This was his team, and at that moment New York was his city. The man was a sex symbol who became an icon. Being around ‘Broadway Joe’ was akin to being in the presence of a Beatle. His fame has been exacerbated by the city that adopted him as its
