Ray Romano: What It’s Like to be a Lifelong/Long-Suffering New York Jets Fan

Ray Romano does not pretend the Jets are a healthy fan experience. He just keeps showing up. So do his kids. So does the next generation of Romano sad fandom.

Rich asked Romano what he thought of the Jets draft. Romano said he is not a draft junkie. He outsources to his sons. He asked them how the team did. They told him okay. There was no quarterback this year, which is what Jets fans are still waiting on. Romano knows this year was not the year for that. He knows next year is the year. Geno Smith is back, although Romano notes that the Jets had Geno once already and they blew it.

The better story is what his kids are doing with their lives. His three sons, including a set of twins, are adults now. They want to be in the business. They are not yet sure what part of the business. Romano told them to write a script. He would commission it, pay for it, and try to produce it if he liked it. They wrote it.

The script is about two Jets podcasters trying to get their show off the ground. It is about being lifelong, die-hard, sad Jets fans and how that condition seeps into the rest of their lives. Romano confirmed it is a comedy. Rich noted that the comedy classification itself says a lot.

This is where Romano leaned into the lineage. He brought up Larry David's friend on Curb Your Enthusiasm, the one who ended his own life over the Jets and left a note explaining that he could not handle it anymore. Romano remembered the bit cleanly. Then he topped it.

When his twins turned into Jets fans, they put on jerseys to watch the games. Tantrums when they lost. Romano remembered a Monday night game where he could see the loss coming with time still on the clock. He warned them. Guys, no shenanigans if they lose this. The Jets lost. Both kids hit the floor face down. Spread out. Not answering. Romano left the room because he did not even want to yell at them. He came back forty-five minutes later and they were in the same position. They had fallen asleep face down on the carpet in their Jets shirts.

Rich offered the obvious metaphor. Face planting on the ground is a working symbol for the entire franchise. That is the whole point.

Then Rich pulled up the long-running show drop, the teenager outside the stadium yelling I'm not giving up. The show plays it every time the Jets come up. Romano had seen the kid. He recognized himself in the kid.

The segment closed on the cruelest fact in Romano's biography. He became a Jets fan right after 1969, right after Joe Namath. He had no idea what he was signing up for. He had no idea he was going to be afflicted. He just bought in at the peak and has been waiting ever since.