Audio By Carbonatix
We are a long way away from MetLife Stadium, but New York transplants don’t plan on trading the Jets anytime soon. And if they did, it certainly wouldn’t be for the Dolphins — not after Dan Marino’s dirty Fake Spike play in 1994.
Over 500 strong, the South Florida Jets Fan Club has called the bar inside Sparez Lanes bowling alley, Hammerjacks, home for the past few years. However, now that the bar is undergoing renovations this football season, this pack of green and white has been uprooted. But they’re not disheartened. If there’s no designated Jets bar for fans to go to, fans will bring their Jets-spirit to any ol’ bar that shows the game and turn it into a makeshift Jets watering hole.
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Hammerjacks has long been South Florida’s established Jets bar. On any given game day, the parking lot outside fills with cars with Jets bumper stickers and inside everyone is wearing the same shade of hunter green. But now that the bar is undergoing renovations, South Florida Jets fans have been forced to find other bars to host them.
“Our place is Hammerjacks in the bowling alley,” board member of South Florida Jets fan club Lindsey Wild says. “We’ve been going there for the past few years but now that they’re doing renovations they can’t host us until probably around play-off time. All other bars we go to will be place holders until they finish renovations.”
As board member for the past four years with Brittany Goldberg, the two have run the club planning events, informing members of upcoming activities, and of course, attending all the games.
“All you need to do is go to the website, sign up, with an email address, and membership is free,” Wild says in excitement. “It’s free we just want to promote the camaraderie amongst Jet fans when watching the game.”
The pair has organized events as Beyond Billiards, a pool hall in the same plaza as their under-construction home base in Davie. But last Sunday the team went to Bokampers in Plantation for the first time, and plan to host next week’s watch party there too.
Bokampers is known to be a Dolphins bar, but with the Dolphins game on Monday, the bar was dominated with Jets jerseys and foam fingers this past Sunday. Fans from as far north as Palm Beach and as far south as Kendall made the worthwhile sojourn to the game.
For a mediocre televised game, Wild and Goldberg can expect over 50 fans to show up, and if it’s a more enticing game that climbs to almost 100. However, if the game is not televised, as many as 200 fans can turn up. The pair has been working tirelessly to find the ideal location that can accommodate their large group, and has the proper TV package.
Highlights of the team include their “Green Out” of Sun Life stadium when the Jets play the Dolphins. Wild and Goldberg organize the tailgate, provide buses to the stadium, and makes sure that everyone sits together inside.
“We love being crazy together,” Wild says of her fellow South Florida Jets fans. “Anyone sees a Jets fan on the street [in South Florida] you stop them, and eventually become their best friend.”
The club hopes to be back at Hammerjacks soon, but until then visit southfloridajetsfanclub.com to find out where they’ll be for the next game.
