Beyond the Byline: A good rant can ease fan frustration

WILKES-BARRE — Fan frustration — it’s everywhere.

No matter what sports team you root for, there are times — probably too numerous to mention — that you have become somewhat frustrated by the lack of quality performance of your favorite team or player.

Sometimes it gets to be just too much, causing you and countless others to lose it.

Take the beloved cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man.

In the infamous words of Popeye, “That’s all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more.”

Such was the case on Dec. 31, when the usually mild-mannered Jasmine Jones and her family attended the Philadelphia Eagles game at Lincoln Financial Field. The Birds were hosting the Arizona Cardinals — hardly a worthy opponent for the mighty Eagles, you would think. Right?

Anyway, as the 2023-24 NFL season winds down, so have the Eagles. They have not had a good end of season, to say the least. But they are headed to the playoffs and the Philly faithful are resilient enough to still believe their beloved Birds will be in the Super Bowl.

So as the Eagles managed to lose to the Cardinals due to what fans considered rather awful play calling. Jasmine Jones rose to her feet.

After two running plays produced negative yardage, Jones stood up and shouted, “What the hell are you doing?”

Jones screamed what every Eagles fan was wondering. Her rant — thankfully the PG rated portion of it, as she said — was caught by the Fox TV cameras and has since gone viral.

Jones — a former third grade teacher in the Berwick Area School District, the United Way of Berwick’s dedicated volunteer, the mother of three young boys — had vaulted herself up to the lofty perch of being the poster girl for Eagles’ fan frustration.

Her photo, video and rant have been all over the Internet, ending up on hoodies, sweatshirts, hats — she is everywhere.

And Jones has handled all of the attention rather remarkably. Check out her interviews with several TV stations. She has become a social media superstar.

And as you can read in today’s Times Leader (see page 1C), Jasmine Jones is an authentic, genuine compassionate human being who has talked the talk and walked the walk, helping kids in her community. She has created programs that provide beds for children and for boys and girls to get free pre-school haircuts.

And Jasmine Jones is an Eagles fan. Like all Eagles fans, she is frustrated. As are fans of other teams, like the New York Giants, or Yankees, or Mets, or (insert team name here). The point is, sports team fan frustration is universal.

Back in the early 1960s, my mom and dad and I, along with my dad’s sister, Betty, and her husband, Uncle Joe, attended a Yankees versus Red Sox weekend series in the Bronx. The first game was Friday night.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, the Yankees were losing 5-2. My dad asked me if I wanted to stay for the 9th inning. we were all tired, but more importantly, Mickey Mantle — my absolute sports hero — was not due up until fifth in the bottom of the ninth.

We decided to leave and head back to the Stadium Motor Lodge. By the time we got to our adjoining rooms, I could hear my Aunt Betty ranting.

“Billy, turn on the TV!” she exclaimed.

So I did and I quickly learned that Mickey Mantle had hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the Yanks a victory.

Aunt Betty was frustrated. So was I. We all were. Who wouldn’t want to see Mickey Mantle hit a game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth?

Since those days of Yankees dominance, being a fan of any New York team has been a struggle — you might say it’s been frustrating.

You also can assume that I left out much of what Aunt Betty screamed during her post-game rant after that Yankees game. Jasmine Jones will understand why.

There have been many frustrating moments for all sports fans. And there can be times when, as Popeye said, “you can’t stands no more.”

Jasmine Jones reached that point on Dec. 31, at the Linc. Her beloved Eagles were squandering away a victory.

It had to be extremely frustrating.

Jasmine let everyone know exactly how she felt.

Good for her.

Go Birds!