To a group of long-time New York Jets fans who enjoy a good party as much as a good football game, their team’s ascent to a second straight AFC Championship game this Sunday poses a potential dilemna: Will this year’s Super Bowl capture their attention more than the announcement of the annual Beyond Thunderdome Award winner?
Huh? The Beyond Thunderdome Award? Let me explain.
The Beyond Thunderdome Award (the mounted lightning bolt and crushed Budweiser can by the Jets Shop pictured on the right) was created shortly after the 1985 movie of the same name by Danny to commemorate the craziest of the wild antics he and Werner, Roy, Bobby and Mike – longtime friends and Jets season ticketholders since 1977 -- indulged in on autumn Sundays.
Every Super Bowl Sunday at Roy and his wife RoseAnn’s annual party, the Beyond Thunderdome Award recipient is announced. The winner proudly accepts the award, thanking everyone for recognizing the zany act that earned them the award from the gang of five, and promises to prominently display the trophy to family and friends during the next 12 months.
My wife Noreen and I earned the award last year for, uh, drowning a bit too much in our sorrow that Giants Stadium would be soon giving way to the monstrosity now known as the New Meadowlands Stadium (yeah, that’s right) in the parking lot before a game. As the first winners outside of the original circle of friends, we proudly displayed the Beyond Thunderdome Award inside our house and at our vacation home. I even carried it to work in New York City one day for a photo session, an act that touched Danny deeply.
What recent recipients like Noreen and I did to earn the award, however, pale in comparison to the acts of those who inspired the award and were the among the first to hoist it proudly. Danny scavenged other tailgaters’ leftover snacks and firewood after kickoff on a cold Sunday to win it one year. Werner, perhaps dreaming of fulfilling his wish to be the lights on a fire engine, fell asleep during a game while his friends tossed food into his wide-open mouth, to win it another year. Roy gave a cranky and overwhelmed parking lot attendant too many pieces of his mind to win it a few years later. Bobby dreamed of his friend Roy while having fun at a park (don’t ask) to win it once.
The Shea Stadium years, which started with all five friends under 30 and single, were the wildest. According to stories, Mike would’ve won the award more than once if it had been conceived by then. Those Jets lost more games than they won, habitually disappointing fans whose memory of the 1969 Super Bowl was still relatively fresh, and Shea Stadium seemed to quickly deteriorate. But, there was still fun to be had. Sometimes, too much. But, the gang of five all survived to tell about it…and create the Beyond Thunderdome Award a few years after the team moved to the Meadowlands.
I got my season tickets in 1996 from an acquaintance of Roy and often joined him and his friends for pre-game festivities in the parking lot. A few years later, the group expanded to include Roy’s nephew Ryan, whose young son almost won the award for appearing to imitate the grownups’ behavior in the back of a pickup truck (again, don’t ask).
Who will win it this year? As the old gang gets, well, older, it’s not always easy to predict. RoseAnn won it a few years ago, when the men were particularly tame, for being such a great Super Bowl party hostess. No doubt, she will be a great hostess again. When the Jets win in Pittsburgh this Sunday and advance to their second Super Bowl in 42 years, the big question will be: Is the Beyond Thunderdome Award in danger of being upstaged by the Super Bowl?
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Upper left photo, Beyond Thunderdome Award winners Bobby, Danny, Noreen, Charley, Werner, Roy, RoseAnn
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