Did the Jets already win the Super Bowl?

Has anyone had their employment terms extended a few years because your company’s owner expects you’ll do a great job, even though you’ve only been onboard a short time? I didn’t think so.

Well, the New York Jets announced yesterday that Rex Ryan, with just one season as head coach behind him, and general manager Mike Tannenbaum, still looking for a first division title after four years on the job, had their contracts extended two and five years, respectively.

Excuse me, but did I just sleep through the second Super Bowl win in Jets history? Did Ryan and Tannenbaum already fulfill owner Woody Johnson and Jets fans expectations that the team, built to win this season, deliver the franchise’s first Super Bowl in 42 years?

The Jets certainly were impressive late last season, winning five of their last six games and two more in the playoffs before losing the conference title game to Indianapolis. Let’s not forget, however, that a stretch in which they lost six of seven games left them with just a 4-6 record by Thanksgiving.

Ryan has gotten a lot of media attention with his bold statements. He certainly is an interesting character, as we’ll find out on the Hard Knocks TV show this summer. Is he a great NFL coach? It’s hard for most New York sports fans to make that judgment after only one season. Johnson seems to think so already, however, and extended Ryan’s contract.

Tannenbaum has also shown a willingness to shake things up and take some risks with free agent signings, trades and cuts. Some, like the Brett Favre signing, didn’t work out. Most recent actions have been taken to get the team back to a Super Bowl immediately. The Jets haven’t done that yet, but Johnson is already rewarding Tannenbaum with a long-term extension.

Perhaps Jets fans and other New Yorkers would enjoy working for companies with owners like Johnson, who reward high expectations rather than performances. Let’s hope Johnson’s confidence and Ryan and Tannenbaum’s contract extensions are justified with a Jets Super Bowl win.

LeBron James, pollo grande

He passed up the opportunity to be a New York hero,
the king of the great city,
perhaps to avoid the pressure cooker.
Instead, he’ll stand for the Heat in Miami,
where it may be a lot cooler than Hell’s Kitchen.

His face won’t be on a large billboard on Times Square,
and he’ll never ride in the Thanksgiving Day parade,
or have a sandwich named after him by an 8th Avenue deli.
But, there will be a new set of jerseys
with his name available for sale,
he’ll be welcomed in chic South Beach clubs…
and the locals may even create a big chicken sandwich for him.

“Is that, is that…James LeBron?” a Miamian will ask.
“He’s so big!”
“Yes, yes, it’s him. I’m going to name a chicken sandwich after him.
I’ll call it the…James LeBron pollo grande.
Maybe he will come in and buy one,
and my sales will increase.”

Why would a budding 25-year-old legend pass up the chance
to play 40-50 games a year at the mecca of basketball?
Would someone with ambition settle for someone else’s place,
and page three of the sports section in his new town?
It’s puzzling to New Yorkers,
but they’re getting over it at a typically fast speed.

Miami is getting over it, too.
It’s not hard when its sports fans don’t get on to it in the first place,
their minds already on Hurricanes and Dolphins.
Except for a few of those cafes and sandwich shops.
“Have a James LeBron pollo grande --
it’s not cheap, but it’s big.”

What this World Cup is teaching us

The interest in this year’s World Cup tells New Yorkers, “The rest of the US is no longer very different from you, as our country becomes more diverse and more interested than ever in events beyond our borders.”

According to published reports, 19.4 million people in the US saw the US-Ghana game last weekend, which made it the most watched soccer match in US television history. Even when the US is not playing, this year’s World Cup matches are averaging almost 5 million viewers.

By comparison, last autumn’s World Series featuring the Yankees and Phillies averaged 19.1 million viewers per game, and this spring’s NBA finals between the Lakers and Celtics averaged 18.1 million viewers. The Stanley Cup finals this spring between the Blackhawks and Flyers averaged about 14 million viewers. Keep in mind that, unlike the baseball, basketball and hockey showcases, none of the World Cup games have aired during prime time.

(If you’re wondering, 27.6 million people in the US saw this winter’s Olympics gold medal hockey game between the US and Canada -- and this winter’s Super Bowl game between the Saints and Colts was the most-watched American TV program ever, drawing 106.5 million viewers.)

For the first 52 games, the number of people watching this year’s World Cup on ESPN was up 58 percent over the last World Cup in 2006, and up almost 10 percent on Spanish-language Univision. Also interesting is a report that the average age of World Cup viewers is 15 years younger than that of the average Olympics viewer – 37 versus 52.

Clearly, New Yorkers who are crowding bars and cafes to watch this year’s World Cup matches, even when the US is not playing, are no longer mainly the “foreigners” who followed past World Cups. They are in the company of die-hard American sports fans at the Jersey shore, in the midwest and on the west coast. That says a lot about New York – and the US – today.