For Once, a New York Jet Is Destined to Win Something
New York Times · LC · trust 50/100
A House race in Arizona pits Jay Feely, a former Jets kicker, against Amish Shah, a former sideline doctor for the team. Jets fans in the district say it’s a welcome distraction from all the losing.
Listen · 8:32 min Share full article 0 Jets fans watching a preseason game at a bar this month in Scottsdale, Ariz., where two former members of the franchise are running against each other for a local House seat. Credit... Cassidy Araiza for The New York Times By Thomas Fuller
Thomas Fuller, who reported from Scottsdale, Ariz., has been through so much as a lifelong Jets fan.
Tracy Patterson’s old-school Brooklyn accent rang out in the bar in Arizona where a New York Jets fan club had gathered to witness its team losing — again. It was the first preseason game, and the offense had already given up back-to-back interceptions.
“Here we go again,” Ms. Patterson said as she glared at the TV screens in disgust, paid her bar tab and walked out into the reddish-brown desert landscape of Maricopa County.
The fan club meets for every Jets game at the same bar, a masochistic ritual of perennial disappointment. But this season, the heavy burden of being a fan of the Green and White comes with a twist that is proving to be a welcome distraction from the team’s consistent ranking near the bottom of the league.
It has to do with a different type of Jets contest that was set last month. Two people associated with the team — a retired kicker, Jay Feely, and a former Jets sideline doctor, Amish Shah — won their respective primaries and lined up against each other for a U.S. House seat representing the Scottsdale area, on the edge of Phoenix. Mr. Feely is a Republican, and Dr. Shah is a Democrat.
Some are calling it the doc versus the jock. But the political contest also spawned the type of dark humor that Jets fans rely on as a coping mechanism. “The New York Jets are guaranteed at least 1 win in November this year,” wrote one jaded New York sports fan on social media.
In political terms, the race is no joke. At a time when the outcome in so many districts is all but predetermined by gerrymandering, Arizona’s First Congressional District is widely considered a coin toss and a contest that could help determine control of Congress.
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