The Jets saga is certainly a surreal one. "The Jets I came to write about," Eskenazi observes, "were like life as Kafka or George Carlin might have pictured it--only more so. They led an existence based in the everyday reality so many of us faced, one of small victories offset by large losses." Dubbing them the most famous bad franchise in sports, he makes a fumblerooski of a case. Other than the 1969 Super Bowl miracle engineered by Joe Namath, the Jets have been constantly sacked for losses. They are the only professional sports team without a single coach who can boast a career-winning record as a Jet. They played in the first game ever suspended due to lightening. The longest play in their history--a 90-yard run from scrimmage--failed to produce a touchdown. Their starting quarterback broke his toe--watching TV. Their star linebacker fell for Sly Stallone's wife. And they're the only pro football team to play its home games in a stadium bearing the name of the other team in town.

Of course, the Jets' losing ways could end with the hand-off of the helm to Bill Parcells, a coach Eskenazi intriguingly characterizes as more obsessed with not failing than just winning. Then again, management--just in time for the 1998 season--did decide to bring the old uniforms back. Yes, the Jets won Super Bowl III in them. But they found ways to lose big in them, too. --Jeff Silverman