JETS FANS UNITE! These Jets fans, who were in Cortland for training camp, have company across the Atlantic. Founder Mark Teece and lead writer Rich Wilhelm work for nyjetsoverthepond.com — a website devoted to all things Gang Green. (The Post-Standard /Landov)
If you’re looking for a website that offers a unique perspective on the Jets from either side of the pond, with regular visitors from more than 35 different countries, then you should do some site-seeing at nyjetsoverthepond.com.
It was founded 15 months ago by Mark Teece, a 32-year-old Jets fan who lives in Stoke-On-Trent, England.
In an email to the Rumble. Teece writes:
“Whilst most fans in the UK had fallen in love with Bears, Cowboys, 49ers and whoever was popular during that moment in time, I was still without a team to follow, I just enjoyed watching the NFL.
“Before the beginning of the 2000 season, I picked myself a team based on the following: I wasn’t going to follow the popular, successful teams, the bigger, so-called powerhouses of football, I wanted an underdog, someone I could cheer on, and say, ‘Yeah I’ve seen the tough times I know what it means to be a fan of this team’,” he added. “I became a Jets fan. It was a great draft with [Chad] Pennington, Shaun Ellis, John Abraham, [Antony Becht], plus the Monday night miracle. I was hooked.”
Lead writer Rich Wilhelm, who hails from Point Pleasant, works at a homeless youth shelter at the Ocean’s Harbor House homeless youth shelter in Toms River. Wilhelm, 24, credits the Jets for helping save his life:
“I am not the kind of person who believes in the supernatural but on the night of Dec. 7, 2006 something happened that I just cannot explain,” he writes. “On my way home I was stopped at a red light behind a truck. My car was at a complete stop and out of nowhere my Jets bear who I called my copilot fell to the ground. As I leaned down to pick it up I was struck 70 mph by another truck. When the truck hit me I was driven underneath the truck in front of me. Surprisingly the front of the car received as much damage as the back.
“My car was demolished with only my seat and the passenger seat intact. If I had not reached down at that moment I would have been cut to shreds by the shattered windows all around me,” he added. “The only glass not broken was the passenger side which is where the bear fell. As if that was not weird enough, after the crash I noticed that an angel that was connected to my sun visor had been dislodged and landed right next to the bear. When I went to get the belongings out of my car everything was there besides the bear and the angel.
“I was not mad they were gone because in a sense I am sure they served their purpose. There is a chance that something Jets related may have saved my life that night and my passion for the team grew stronger than ever.”
What do English fans think of Tim Tebow?
“The majority of fans really like him as a person, [the way he comes across, both off and off the field],” Teece writes. “I’d say that as a QB, the numbers would reflect that the majority of fans know that he’s not a number one QB, in terms of accuracy, etc., but they acknowledge him as a useful weapon that when used in the right system, he could be very effective. All in all the divide is similar to the one in the USA, I’m ashamed to admit there is also a team Tebow and team Sanchez divide.”
Teese can be reached at newyorkjetsoverthepond@gmail.com or markteece@gmx.co.uk
Amazin’ Merengue
If Jordany Valdespin (below) is as proficient in judging musical talent as he is in hitting pinch-hit home runs, fans should have a great time at Friday’s Merengue Night concert at Citi Field. The concert will be held after the 7:10 p.m. game against the Astros.
Valdespin, a native of the Dominican Republic who has set the Mets record with five pinch-hit home runs this season, has seen all four of Friday’s performers sing in person. They are Sergio Vargas, Raymond & Miguel, Juliana, and El Batallon.
“They sell out every time I see them in the Dominican,” Valdespin said. “They are all great groups and the fans will love them. I know I’ll be in the dugout watching after the game.”
This is Citi Field’s first Merengue Night after the Mets were 9-3 on Merengue Night in the 12 years the event was staged at Shea Stadium.
Glory-ous book on ’72 hoop loss
U.S. men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski confirmed after the Olympics that he won’t try to coach the U.S. to a third consecutive gold medal at the 2016 games in Rio — and maybe that’s a good thing. According to a terrific new book by New York writer Mike Brewster called “Stolen Glory,” the only other U.S. coach to attempt the trifecta was haunted for the rest of his days by the attempt.
In 1972, 68-year-old Hank Iba coached the U.S. in Munich after leading the Americans to victory in Tokyo and Mexico City. “Stolen Glory” recounts the gold medal contest in which the Soviet Union beat the U.S, 51-50, in a disputed basket at the final buzzer. Not once, not twice, but three times the Soviets were allowed to inbounds the ball after time had apparently run out.
Iba, already retired from his long time coaching job at Oklahoma State, had to live with the loss, the first for U.S. men’s basketball in Olympic history.
“In all those years after it was over, he never talked about it,” his son, Moe Iba, said in the book. “It was the biggest disappointment of his life to see the way the game ended for the players and the U.S.”
Brewster and his co-author, Taps Gallagher, spent more than a year researching the book and interviewing every player on the team. Gallagher, an attorney, is active in petitioning the IOC to award duplicate gold medals to the U.S.
“Being involved in this project, you can really feel the sense of injustice on the part of these players,” Brewster says. “The clock read :00 and the U.S. players were headed to the locker room as gold medal winners. A game doesn’t really get more ‘over’ than that.”
In the NBC post-game show after Sunday’s gold medal game, Doc Rivers suggested that 76ers coach Doug Collins, who had sunk what would have been winning foul shots against the Soviets, would make a good fit to succeed Krzyzewski. No doubt that will come up over a few beers next weekend in Lexington, Ky., where the ’72 team is gathering for the first time on its 40th anniversary.
Golden ‘Dreams’ coming true
The Garden of Dreams Foundation’s Dream Week featured 40 youths from the Children’s Aid Society’s Dunlevy Milbank Center adorned with their own gold medals by U.S. men’s basketball 2012 gold medalist Carmelo Anthony, 2000 gold medalist Allan Houston and former Knick and 1948 U.S. men’s basketball gold medalist Ray Lumpp in their own Olympic-style closing ceremony. … Michael Strahan hosted a pre-draft Fantasy Football party Wednesday at Bounce Sporting Club.