THE JETS DON'T PLAY IN NEW JERSEY!

Some say the Jets became cursed when they left Shea Stadium in Queens, borough of New York City, to play in Giants Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Cursed because they don't have their own stadium, playing what one fan called "sixteen away games a year".

Many said this "NJ Curse" would have been broken if they'd have built the Jets they're OWN HOME, something they've never had, back in Queens near Shea, or even on Manhattan's west side. (How COOL would that have been? Picture from the proposed plan below.)

But no, in New Jersey they stay, (they signed a 99 year lease - no joke) and at least now they share their home instead of renting the tiny back bedroom from the lease-holding Giants.

And still I hear the negative cries, even from the Bills fans this past Sunday, that the Buffalo Bills are the only true New York team because they're the only ones who play in New York State, and that both the Jets and Giants should be called the New Jersey Jets/Giants.

On paper, this is seems true. But the world is not made of paper.

Let me break it down...

First of all, what is real are human settlements. New York City is one such settlement. You can go there. You can see it.

The distance from the center of Giants Stadium to the heart of Times Square (what I'm calling the epicenter of New York City and it's boroughs), to the center of the old Shea Stadium (which has been torn down but still exists on Google Maps), is 6.4 miles. (10.2 kilometers).

Distance from Times Square to the beloved Shea Stadium where the supposedly pre-cursed Jets used to play? 7.2 miles. (11.5 kilometers)

So the Jets actually play CLOSER to the heart of New York City than they did when playing at Shea.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=40.765461,-73.959961&spn=0.397842,0.686646&t=k&z=11&msid=118313950579079956559.0004768c6a229b420657f

The other thing is, there's no such thing as the state of New Jersey. Or New York. Or the United States of America for that matter.

If I used my magic (which is considerable) to turn you into a hawk to fly above the tri-state area, you would not see thick black lines marking borders, or pretty color coded "states". You'd see hills and dales and forests and rivers.

Cities and towns, yes. Borders and states, no. They are human constructs that only exist in our minds. Sure these make tax collecting and the execution of human government easier, but that still doesn't make them real.

Thus the Jets don't play in the state of New Jersey. There's no such thing as "New Jersey". They play in a swamp. That's real enough. And closer to the heart of the city they're named for than they used to be.

And the only real borders are the 50 yard line as the Jets move from their half of the field into enemy territory, and their opponents goal line as they cross it for a touchdown.

So begone argument of NY/NJ and "real" New York teams. And lets root for the team we love.

GO JETS. BEAT OAKLAND.

Mark J. Williamson

PS - For more on Jets history - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Jets
(Jets photo from www.theepochtimes.com)