After the firing of their head coach and change in ownership last week, the Jaguars were put into an unfamiliar spot, the national media spotlight.
While Jag fans have long claimed to be ignored by the media, few expected the amount of misleading information to be spewed from the mouths of the talking heads at the big networks like ESPN and websites like Yahoo and Pro Football Talk. To combat the “instant Jag experts” that were seemingly born overnight, Jag fans have rallied around a specific cause for the Monday Night Football game tonight dubbed “Jags Facts“…
“Welcome to #JaguarsFacts, a social media campaign happening December 5, 2011 to help the national media know the truth about the Jaguars, our ticket sales, stadium and passionate fan base. No longer will we sit idly by and allow the national media to spread false information as fact, or speculate the truth based on their misguided – and often times hateful, opinions.
It’s time we share the facts – and just the facts – with those who cover the NFL and the team. No longer can we rely on journalists to actually do their job and research statistics and information before reporting it. So we’ll do it for them. The idea is simple: Twitter bomb the national media with the FACTS about our team. Fans will share facts with their favorite (or least favorite) media members throughout the day on Monday, December 5 via Twitter.”
The website has a list of facts that have been researched and confirmed and have asked fans to tweet out using this list of National Media Twitter handles. While some guys like Rich Eisen are taking it all in stride, others like Warren Sapp and Jason Cole are getting down right insulted by fans tweeting them facts and questioning the validity of the tweet rather than doing some good ol’ fashioned truth research.
Regardless of the Jags’ record this year or if the majority of the country sees Jacksonville as not deserving of an NFL franchise, it’s certainly encouraging to see the fans of a small market team rallying together to show the nation and the new owner that fans do care about the team and show up in droves to watch them week in and week out.
Don’t believe me? Check out the #JaguarsFacts hashtag on Twitter right now or read below for a few of the favorites being “Tweet Bombed” to the national media all day today….
- In 2011, #Jaguars have a higher average attendance than the Cardinals, Raiders, Dolphins, Rams, Bucs, Bengals
- Jaguars avg 2011 attendance (62,173) would lift blackout at Seahawks, Rams, Bucs, Bengals, Steelers, Lions, Vikings, Cards, Raiders, Colts & Bears
- In ’11 Jags on avg filled stadium to 92.4% capacity, more than 7 others: Chargers, Browns, Rams, Bucs, Dolphins, Jets, Bengals
- No Jaguars games have been blacked out since 2009
- How many times have the #Jaguars finished last in attendance in the league? If you guessed anything but zero, you’re wrong
- With covered seats, Everbank Field still has a higher capacity than Heinz Field, Lucas Oil Stadium, and Soldier Field
- 2015 would be the earliest Jags could move due to needing 3 consecutive seasons resulting in a loss in profits.
- Here is the Jaguars lease. Facts, not speculation or assumption please. http://t.co/o9FteWPa
- Did you know Chicago is the NFL’s 2nd largest market, yet its stadium holds 5,000 less than #EverBankField?
And if that isn’t enough, for tonight’s Monday Night Football game in Jacksonville, ESPN is refusing to send their on-site crew to the Chargers-Jaguars game. It’s only the second time this season in 13 weeks that ESPN has neglected to send their studio crew of Stuart Scott, Trent Dilfer, and Steve Young to the stadium for the broadcast. Coincidentally enough, the only other time was also in Jacksonville for the Ravens’ visit earlier this season. The Jaguars mascot Jaxson De Ville isn’t taking this lying down…
“So its our 2nd Monday night game of the year and for the 2nd time ESPN WON’T have their sideline set in the building…they will be doing it from their studios….every other Monday night game they bring their pre game/halftime/post game set and crew and do their shows from the field…our first Monday night game was during the World Series so I understood a little….but to NOT bring it this time is simply insulting.”
What kind of message does it send to Jacksonville fans that ESPN doesn’t bother to send their MNF on-site team not once but twice to the same stadium? No wonder Jaguars fans have to feel the need to come together and let their voices be heard.
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