Gang Green making inroads on Big Blue

FLORHAM PARK, N.J.

In the Big Apple, the Jets are always second banana.

Hey, don't get mad at me, Jets fans. That's how Sports Illustrated put it, in the headline of a story that included this other blunt observation:

Despite all the excitement, New York remains a Giant town.

Yikes! But face it, such is conventional metropolitan-area sports wisdom, handed down over generations and rarely disputed even by fans of the green and white.

Oh, one other thing: The above story, by former Jets beat writer Paul Zimmerman, appeared in the issue of Sept. 29, 1986, whose cover featured Lawrence Taylor and Mark Gastineau.

That was four Halas and three Lombardi Trophies ago for the Giants, a quarter-century that further has cemented a perception seemingly frozen in amber.

Despite all the excitement over the Jets, New York remains a Giants town. Right?

Unless . . . it's a myth.

Here is the reality: For all of the Giants' longer history and greater success, and despite the Jets' image as inferiority-complex-afflicted also-rans, the balance of power is not as tilted as it appears.

Like it or not, Giants fans, the Jets likely are two victories away from taking over the town. Not forever, but for now.

The closest parallel is the dynamic between the Yankees and Mets, whose histories are similar to those of the Giants and Jets, with an important difference: Unlike the Jets, people under 50 can remember when the Mets won it all.

And when they did, boy, did it change everything.

"We certainly sensed that we were taking over the baseball town,'' Keith Hernandez said yesterday, recalling the tide turning through the mid-80s, thanks to him as much as anyone.

"Our feeling was, 'Gosh, there have been a lot of closet Mets fans and closet National League fans.' I think a lot of people were just awakened.''

That clearly has happened with the Jets the past two seasons. After three decades as a Giants quarterback, TV analyst and New Jersey resident, Phil Simms has noticed.

"I sense it with my friends,'' he said. "I didn't realize there were so many Jets fans . . . When you have success, it breeds new fans. Young people, when they're really getting into NFL football, they're watching it now and saying, 'Wow, these Jets are fun to watch.' ''

I know what you're thinking, Giants fans. In 10 years covering the team, I, too, was guilty of looking at the Jets as the junior varsity.

But the fact is, even with the Jets having failed to make a Super Bowl appearance since 1969, the interest gap between the two teams isn't as great as you might think.

The most objective measure available is TV ratings, and they are a bit of a shock.

In 2010, the Jets edged the Giants, averaging 15.8 percent of area homes in the regular season to 15.7 for Big Blue, ending a five-year streak in which the Giants led.

But in the eight seasons before that, beginning with Bill Parcells' arrival in 1997, the Jets were 5-2-1, surpassing or matching the Giants in every season but 1999 and 2001.

The Giants do consistently lead in merchandise sales, but not always by much. Through the end of the 2010 regular season, the Giants ranked seventh in the NFL, the Jets 10th.

Eli Manning jerseys ranked eighth among individuals, with Mark Sanchez 10th.

"I think it's an old issue,'' Jets offensive tackle and Freeport High alum D'Brickashaw Ferguson said of the Jets' quest to be noticed locally. "Our motivating factor is just that we want to win, and to be the best in the NFL.''

That is, and always has been, the bottom line. As Zimmerman wrote in the final sentence of that long-ago SI story:

New York will never turn down a winner.