This Is How I Took Flight

This Is How I Took Flight

In my 18 years of life, I’ve never watched or followed professional sports. To be more brutally honest, the only games I have seen are those during the FIBA qualifier games in which Puerto Rico was playing against other countries to earn a spot in the World Cup. So, you can believe me when I say that it caught me and my friends by surprise and off base when I joined the dysfunctional family of the New York Jets. My curiosity for the Jets started when I met this kid, Alexander, during a university summer program we were both participating in. From my perspective, he was a hard-core fan who breathed, dressed, and lived as a J-E-T-S follower and I was determined to be friends with him. At first, I would try to make fun of him by saying things like “Aren’t the Jets supposed to be the worst team in the NFL?” or “Bro, I’m sorry you have to live a life like that.” Interestingly enough, I was saying all of this to him without any actual knowledge about who or how bad the Jets as a team were. I was probably repeating things I’d heard before and as I later learned, I was not completely wrong about it. It was not until the fall semester of classes began that we started to hang out more and expand our friend group. As more people joined our circle, the conversation also moved from our normal talk to more general things, like football and the Jets. Naturally, I was lost in that discussion! As so, I was determined to stay engaged with Alex and get to know him better, so I started to watch some Jets games with him, but if I’m being honest, I was not completely following up on what was happening in the game, but I kept watching it anyways. I became more interested in the Jets out of boredom. It was fall break weekend, and I was staying alone in my room as traveling back to Puerto Rico for four days was not possible. There were literally no guys on my floor to hang out with that Sunday afternoon, so I went to Streeme and pulled up the Jets vs. Dolphins game just to learn more about the sport and at least have something to talk about for the week. I was not ready for what was about to happen. The Jets were having one of the best games since the start of the season against the Miami Dolphins, who had just lost their star QB Tua Tagovailoa. However, that didn’t factor in my decision to watch or talk to my friend about the game.

Alex: ARE YOU WATCHING HERMANO BREECE THE FUCKING BEAST

Me: I AM BROTHER IN-CRE-DI-BLE

Alex: I’m geeked The Jets are fucking back The Jets are over 500

Me: Slow down w the stats … I’m not there yet.

We just kept texting for a while, and I ended the conversation by saying “I guess I picked a good day to start watching the Jets.” Indeed, I did start watching the Jets and following them on all my social media accounts at a great moment. Still, it did not feel right at the moment to call myself a “fan” of the team as I was missing key information and experience to be at that level. Two weeks later, I fell prey to the Jets for the first time. I was entering a Lids store at American Dream mall and checked out the Jets apparel. I ended up spending almost $75 on a hat and a long sleeve shirt. I spent the rest of that Sunday morning wanting to cry because I couldn’t believe I had spent that much money on those two things just to wear them on Sundays. Later that day, transferring between subways in New York City to finish some pre-winter shopping on my way back to campus, Alexander texted me on Snapchat inviting me to the Patriots and Jets game that next weekend. Initially, I was extremely excited as I had never been to a live football game. Then, after telling him that I was more than happy to go with him, panic and disbelief filled my head. I spent that entire week watching football games, YouTube tutorials on how to play football, and film on the Jets and its QB. I had to be sure I could watch a game without some announcer telling me what was happening. I mean, in the end, I was going to a football game with one of the most passionate guys I’ve ever met, so I wanted to feel the same enthusiasm and pride he was having. Not only was it my first time watching a live football game but also my first encounter with the tailgate culture. The game started and I couldn’t have been more excited. During the first half of the game, the Jets were winning, and we had hopes of winning the game. The atmosphere was all about the “J-E-

T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS” chants, and the first and third down announcements (which I still say when I watch the games on TV). I was tweeting about the game and taking pics and videos. Painfully, we lost the game. We were all in some type of “funeral vibes” and I was so depressed. My first-ever Jets game that I attended ended 22-17–with the Patriots winning. We all knew we could have won that game, but now we just wanted to escape the New Jersey traffic and be back at Fairfield. No one in the car talked on our way back. That night I did two things: I ordered a Sauce Gardner jersey and uploaded an Instagram post showing pictures of that day with the caption “Yes, I’m a Jets Fan.” That weekend with my friend and brother taught me what being an actual Jets fan meant and I was ready to commit to it (even when my bank account had, and still has, a different opinion).

MEET THE AUTHOR

Julian Nazario Martir is an 18-year-old student at Fairfield University studying Digital Journalism and International Studies. Born and raised in the capital of Puerto Rico, Julian has lived through many interesting and challenging events that inspired him to pursue journalism as an extracurricular activity and now as his college major. Events like the landfall of Hurricane Maria in 2017 and the sociopolitical unrest of 2019 on the island motivated him to merge his passion for reporting with politics. Julian hopes to become a political and Latin American reporter for one of the national news organizations in the United States.