"Being a Jets fan must be a mental illness.
"Jets-a-chosis?
"Fanaticism just doesn't cover it. It doesn't fully explain why tens of thousands would willfully choose to endure the depression that has come with the end of every football season over the past 46 years."
I wrote the above lead for a post that ran on this site more than four years ago after enduring another epic Jets crash in their season finale in Buffalo that knocked Gang Green out of a playoff berth.
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that Larry David would take that half-baked theory to an extreme on Sunday. In David's latest episode of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," His friend Carl, a tortured Jets fan, committed suicide and his final note read, "I can't take any more disappointment."
David immediately interpreted the note's cryptic message.
"The Jets killed Carl … and a little bit of the Knicks," David said.
On its face, mental illness is not even close to a laughing matter, especially in these recent times of heightened awareness. But the idea that anyone could be so despondent over the misfortunes of a football team in which that individual has no real connection, well, I guess that just sounds so absurd.
And leave it to David to pile on the self-deprecating humiliation of rooting for "the (profanity) Jets." A known Jets fan himself, David once called prior general manager Mike Maccagnan before the 2018 NFL Draft to make the case for the franchise to select the Ravens' league MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson--not Sam Darnold.
"One night, (Carl) just woke up and he yelled, 'Watson!'" Carl's widow said in a scene on the show, referencing the Jets passing over Texans star QB DeShaun Watson in the 2017 Draft. Nice tweak.
The Jets have gone past the point where they're beloved losers like the old Cubs. Nine consecutive seasons without experiencing a playoff game. 51 seasons since Joe Namath walked out of the Orange Bowl in Miami with his index finger pointed skyward, the Jets' sole Super Bowl appearance.
Rarely has any fan even been able to feel the anticipation of a "Wait til next year!" end to a season. Next year? They're probably going to be as lousy as they were this year.
"Same old Jets."
For the diehards, the pain accumulation can absolutely mess with their sanity. Fortunately not to Carl's extent, as far as I know, but I need only to look inward at my own behavioral disorders as proof that something's amiss.
Yet, all Jets fans still hope that better days lay ahead. Our latest savior is Joe Douglas, who took over when Maccagnan was axed last June. He is highly-regarded for his talent evaluation skills from prior apprenticeships in Baltimore and Philadelphia. And boy, do the Jets need to add talent. Though they finished their 7-9 2019 season by winning six of their final eight games, all that did was lower their draft slot in April to 11. The over/under on roster turnover should be somewhere between 40-50%. We'll find out soon how Douglas plans to rebuild a broken franchise.
Even if Douglas knocks it out of the park in the draft and free agency this offseason, there's still the question of whether the Jets have the right QB/coach combination in Darnold and Adam Gase. Let's just say I have more confidence in Darnold eventually succeeding than I do with Gase.
In other words, when September rolls around, prepare yourself. Meditate, medicate--whatever it takes to get you through another likely dismal NFL season.
My wife was not amused when she watched the "Curb" episode with me. She has witnessed more than a quarter century's worth of my damage to our familial unit caused by my overreactions to the incompetence of my favorite football team.
I may not be alone in this, but to her, the mental illness mocked in the fictional "Curb" world is all too real.
Follow Steve on Twitter: @SteveLichtenst1
