The Geno Smith/Ikemefuna Enemkpali fight: Why being a Jets fan is like being Charlie Brown in the 'Peanuts' cartoon

Being a Jets fan is really like being Charlie Brown, without the cool and jazzy Vince Guaraldi soundtrack, that is. It's just all about the misery. The latest drama happened today, when Ikemefuna Enemkpali broke QB Geno Smith's jaw with a sucker punch. What a Jet (or Charlie Brown) thing to happen!

But that's life as a Jets fan. No matter how much you hope things will get better, Lucy is going to pull the football from you at the last minute. Your baseball team is going to lose horrifically. You will embarrass yourself in front of the little red-haired girl. The tree will eat your kite. All you will get when trick-or-treating with your friends is a rock.

No wonder Squawker Jon acts like Eeyore. He roots for the Jets!




As for myself, I always say I am a New York football fan. I have a rooting interest in seeing both the Jets and the Giants do well, but I am not a fanatic for either team the way I am with the Yankees. (Oh, and I hate the New England Patriots as much as I do the Red Sox!)

Anyhow, this fight reminded Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen -- and myself -- of another infamous fight between teammates. This happened in 1979, and destroyed the Yankees' chance of winning three World Series in a row. That April, Goose Gossage and Cliff Johnson, who were friends, took teasing a little too far, and ended up having a naked shower room fight. Gossage got his thumb broken in the fight, and the Yankees' season was basically over before it barely had begun. Ron Guidry even briefly did bullpen duty that year to fill the void that Gossage's injury left on the team.

There is also a Texas tie to the Jets' fight. Enemkpali reportedly had beef with Smith over the QB not showing up at Enemkpali's football camp in Pflugerville, Texas, just outside of Austin. The linebacker reportedly paid for Smith's $600 airfare, but the QB never showed up due to somebody close to him dying in a motorcycle accident.  And IK wanted his money back from Geno.

At any rate, though, Enemkpali doesn't sound like the sharpest knife in the drawer. ESPN's Ian O'Connor notes that when in college, the football player punched somebody he said he didn't realize was an undercover cop, even, though, as O'Connor notes:

The incident report from the Lincoln Parish Sheriff's Office in Ruston, Louisiana, quotes a police officer who arrived on the scene describing the cop who would be assaulted by Enemkpali, Hezekiah Perry, as wearing a hat and shirt marked by the word "Police," and as verbally identifying himself as a police officer. No, that description does not match up with anyone's definition of "undercover."

As Charlie Brown would say, good grief!