Whither Go The Jets?

July 29, 2005

It is impossible to read the coverage of the MTA board meeting held on July 27th and still believe that there is any chance that there will be a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan. Is it technically still possible? Yes, at least until August 31st, but clearly the MTA has moved on in its thinking, and so we are back to square one, as far as the Jets are concerned: Where should the Jets build their nest, or perhaps I should say hangar?

They are in negotiations with the Giants. On one hand, it makes sense. Two teams sharing the costs of what will be a very, VERY expensive building. But...

The Giants base is built around the stadium. It truly is, right now, "Giants" stadium. It is where their in-season practice field is. It is in the Giants best interest to expand their base, which is in conflict with what the Jets need and truly want, which is a home of their own.

A name change alone is not enough. If the stadium is still, in the end, Giants Stadium, no matter what corporate name they tack on over the door, then the Jets will have to look elsewhere. But if not the toxic wastelands of the Meadowlands (an ironically named swamp, indeed, there is no meadow and little land save that created by landfill in the Meadowlands), where...?

About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air...The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour.

That's right, right from The Great Gatsby. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald had it right, all along. We go from the hideous landfill of the Meadowlands to the hideous landfill of Flushing, but hell, it will be OUR hideous landfill. Paint the town green and let's go to Queens.

True, the mass transit in Flushing is awful- better than the Meadowlands, mind you, but still awful- the LIRR line in Flushing, touted as a selling point during the stadium controversy by people who clearly had never actually used the LIRR, is a vestigial line, of no use to the Jets fan base in Long Island except those few in Port Washington- but the American love affair with cars and parking lots will live forever, or at least until we run out of oil. And we Manhattanites will be happy to jam into the #7 el.

There will be no requiem for the West Side Stadium, at least no today. No, today we think fond thoughts of a crowded #7 train Manhattan-bound on a cold winter's eve after the Jets have won their first playoff game in their new home in front of 78,000 adoring fans, including yours truly.

-Tom McMorrow, Jr