Submitted by Joe Dougherty, Nov 26, 2007 17:54

Mr. Barra's article on the Jacksonville Jaguars was welcome. I enjoy seeing out-of-town writers show some interest in our team (I'm a since-day-one season ticket holder) and our community...we're really in a very nice place down here. (I'm also a transplanted Long Islander).

One correction: the Jaguars did not win both games against Indianapolis last season. The Colts won 21-14 at home in September. Jacksonville dismantled them at home in December.

I think folks need a bit of insight into how we got this team in 1993. Jacksonville had a very successful USFL franchise, and has long been a big college football town, but had always been used as a "pawn" location by NFL owners looking to squeeze something out of another town. (Ask anyone in town what they think of Robert Irsay and his stunt to make us think he'd move the Colts here).

When the NFL expanded in 1993, they awarded the 29th franchise to Charlotte, and were supposed to announce the 30th new team that same day. Instead, they postponed the announcement for a month, because some of the candidate cities were struggling to get their presentations up to snuff. Jacksonville was up against some much "sexier" cities, including Memphis (led by a group that included the late Walter Payton), Baltimore and Nashville. Two of those cities now have NFL franchises.

When the teams re-presented in late November 1993, the Jacksonville group had the best plan and was apparently better organized than their rivals. Like other NFL cities, we've struggled to build an identity and to keep backsides in the seats. The team learned a few years ago that the stadium was a bit too big for this small market and adjusted accordingly. The Jaguars still have to compete with two major college programs (Florida and Florida State) that are close enough to affect the discretionary dollars of the average fan. And one can't escape the recent turmoil of personnel changes that have divided a lot of people over the team's direction.

But the national media hasn't been much help, either. Even when Jacksonville hosted the Super Bowl in 2005, creeps like Tony Kornheiser and his media friends found great glee in knocking our town as some kind of Bible-thumping, cud-chewing backwater. I saw lots of big parties go on that week, hosted by people who didn't seem to mind being here, and I'll bet if you ask anyone who attended the game if they enjoyed themselves, you would get a universally positive response. The fact is that it's still relatively cheap to live here, the property taxes are low, the weather is great nearly year-round, there's lots of fishing and boating, you can play golf practically 365 days per year, and the people are pretty terrific. And we have an NFL team in town. Oh, yeah, we also have no income tax.

Maybe the Jaguars are like the city. We sit here quietly alongside the river, living our lives without a lot of fuss and bother. No big superstars live here, and we don't have any on our football team, either. Our quarterback has quietly moved to number four in the league (and that's after missing three games). He throws to lots of different receivers. He has two incredible running backs, one of whom just passed the 10,000 yard rushing mark, which only 21 other men have done, though you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who knows who he is. Our defense has two huge trees clogging the middle, surrounded by a bunch of lunch-pail players who function where they're needed and nearly always get the job done.

So what's not to like?

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