Long enough to be a thesis – Jacksonville: We are pretty okay.
You know a sports blogging site has hit it big when a lone Jaguar fan manages to stumble upon it. We are, after all, an elusive bunch. You may think you see one in the corner of your eye around your town but alas… when you turn to look you were obviously mistaken: it was just a tarp covering some seats.
My name is Jeanne. I am a college student. There’s nothing wholly remarkable about me unless you take into consideration that I am a (ohmygod) girl who can spew out random Jaguar special teams factoids. And that in itself becomes a whole lot less remarkable when you realize I have a tendency to have a crush on kickers. I honestly have no excuse for that though. Perhaps my mother smoked while I was in the womb.
However, the fact that I am a college student really is a representation of the Jaguar fan base. I remember when my mom was driving me home from school when WAPE announced that Jacksonville was getting an NFL team. I am pretty sure I knew the Jaguars before I had a full grasp on my multiplication tables. To further that point, I remember making anti-Titan paraphernalia in my Home Economics class in middle school. That was an actual assignment given to the class. There is a point here, though. I am not taking you through this long paragraph just so you can hear my life story. I am some one who grew up not remember a time when the Jaguars weren’t in Jacksonville. And I am only 21.
We get a bad rap as fans. We don’t care enough. Our college teams (Go Gators) come first. We have too many fans of the other team come to our games. We have giant tarps covering ten thousand seats.
But the adults here in Jacksonville (and I am using adults interchangeably with “the people who got cash” here) grew up with different teams. For instance, my father would have named me Danielle Marino if he had it his way. The people who actually grew up with the Jaguars are recent college grads and usually they’re too busy freaking out over the fact that they had unrealistic job expectation. The rest are still in school. And let’s face it, students aren’t your most reliable source of income.
So (what has taken me now six paragraphs to say) what I am really getting at is that I am here to convince you to give us a chance. We aren’t a bad lot. We care a lot (except during Florida-Georgia weekend — then the Jaguars are asked politely to get the heck out of town). We know you heard bad things about the city during the Super Bowl. Despite that, we’re a good crowd. We care about our players. The city itself isn’t all bad. After all, it has enough of a night life for our players to get arrested because of it.
Honestly, we are more of a football city than people give us credit for. I pinky promise.
Great intro and welcome to FSB!
June 19th, 2008 at 7:18 pmWell, well well. Look who comes out of the wood work on a bandwagon from J-ville. Now the Jags have some fans, eh?
Well you do have a former Cowboy running the show.
Good luck.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:42 pmMy bandwagon goes “toot toot”.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:50 pmJeanne,
Nice page, great write up. I hope it grows for you! Can’t wait to see the Jags play, seeing as I missed every game last season, except the Super Bowl (gotta love Ft. Knox).
Great work!
June 19th, 2008 at 7:57 pmI’ve been on that bandwagon since I went to their first game in 1995.
I was there in the stadium at midnight to welcome the team back after we upset Denver in 1996.
I was there when we lost 3 times to the Titans in 1999, the last time being in the AFC Championship game.
I was there when Leftwich had us all fooled he was a good Quarterback.
And hopefully I will be there when we go all the way to the Super Bowl in 2008!
June 19th, 2008 at 8:03 pmVery impressive start Jeanne, too bad your so young, your dad didnt have his way (not that Jeanne isn’t a nice name but I am a Dolphins fan), and I was a kicker! LOL.
June 19th, 2008 at 8:17 pmSeriously though, welcome to the Fan-Sided family…you will love writing about your team.
Welcome to the fam. My Pack have got a game against the Jags this year…looks to be a good one…
June 19th, 2008 at 8:38 pmWelcome to FSB. It’s good to have a true rival of the Colts have a blog on FSB. Not the poser-rivals Tennesee or Houston.
June 19th, 2008 at 9:25 pmWelcome to the family Jeanne! I hope you enjoy every moment. Jacksonville is in my top 10 rankings to start the season. Great first post. Looking forward to many more. Take care.
Scott
June 19th, 2008 at 11:16 pmWelcome to the family Jeanne (and Jag Fans). I have to agree with Brian though…”Danielle Marino” would have been a homerun!
June 20th, 2008 at 4:05 amI seem to recall that in college my friends and I would chant “we don’t completely suck!” at opportune moments; however, I don’t remember why. It would be a good Jag motto, is what I’m saying. Although I also like “we are pretty okay” and “the city itself isn’t all bad.”
All of which is my way of saying “welcome, and we look forward to your contributions!”
June 20th, 2008 at 5:49 amWelcome aboard Jeanne. Your Dad had a good idea but I can see why you might not think so.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:19 am[...] child yesterday, a Jacksonville Jaguars blog by the name of Black and Teal. Looking at just the introductory post, we are in for quite the treat with this one. Well-written, the site has great design, and [...]
June 20th, 2008 at 7:02 amGreat post, Jeanne! Welcome to the fam.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:32 amAwesome start to a potentially awesome blog. Now I can get all my facts straight for my hometown team.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:22 amWelcome to the network. Still have to get through the Bolts in the AFC… if you make the playoffs again.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:00 am[...] Long enough to be a thesis – Jacksonville: We are pretty okay. [...]
June 21st, 2008 at 3:34 pmAMEN…I am a recent college grad that spent the last four years in New England and repped the Jags as hard as I could (both playoffs were a little rough for me but I still talked my trash). Most of my friends in J-ville are starting to buy season tickets as we all start getting jobs, and if I end up here I’ll be an avid season ticket holder next year. GIVE US SOME TIME!
July 1st, 2008 at 10:35 am