by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It is not easy when you’re outnumbered something like 100 to 1.
That was the dilemma of Jacksonville Jaguars’ fans on Sunday, those who were fortunate to get a ticket to see their team beat the New York Jets 26-20 in overtime.
“The whole allotment of 500 tickets was sold,” said a Booster Club member. “That doesn’t always happen.”
The lure was a trip to New York City — the skyline is visible from Giants Stadium — and the Booster Club and assorted others made the trip.
“We saw a lot of the city,” said another booster, who came up Thursday. “This isn’t Indianapolis.”
Jack Croft was part of the Booster Club members and said he didn’t anticipate problems from the notoriously bad-host Jets fans, who were about 77,000 strong to the Jaguars’ 700 or so.
“Not where we’re sitting nosebleed,” he said, pointing to the upper reaches of Section 338, which would be in the Northeast corner of the upper deck at Alltel Stadium, except that Giants Stadium is a deck higher.
Other Jag fans had better seats because they got them through other sources and one was recent Wolfson High grad Greg Backs, who proudly wore his No. 7 Byron Leftwich jersey. His brother, Jeff, was in a No. 28 Fred Taylor shirt and the two were dots of black in a sea of New York Jets green as they waited to go into the stadium.
The Jets fans had been unkind to them: “You couldn’t print the names I’ve been called.”
Another Leftwich jersey stood out in the end zone. It belonged to a most unusual fan, Mike Kogel of Harrison, N.J.,who has never been to Jacksonville.
“I was 10 years old when they started (in 1995) and I liked them right away,” he said. “It may have been the colors, or maybe it was something new.
“I catch grief all the time. I’m a big fan. This is the third time I’ve seen them play here but I feel like I know them.”
A pair of longshoremen, William Merriman and Raymond Sablon, came up to visit a New York Jet pal, George Mims.
“We go to a bunch of games,” said Sablon. “We got friends all over.”
“Nice place to come and we’ve been treated good,” said Merriman. “Fans are pretty good all over. We’ve been to Indianapolis this year and we’re going to St. Louis. It’s our hobby.”
Sablon pulled off his jacket to reveal a Fred Taylor No. 28 jersey.
“The only bad comment was from a guy who saw my shirt and said, ‘That’s the best shape that Taylor’s ever been,’ referring to the running back’s history of injuries.
“All I could do was laugh,” said Sablon.