Lamar Thames

I see where former Florida Times-Union publisher Carl Cannon is trying to revive the fortunes of the Jaguars, the pro football team that he helped bring to Jacksonville in the early 1990s.

Good for him. I hope it works. I would hate to see the Jaguars move to another city. It may take longer than anyone anticipates at this time, however, to solidify the fan base and ensure that doesn’t happen.

There are a myriad reasons why it will be a monumental effort. Here are just a few in my humble opinion:

1. It’s the economy, stupid! A lot of Jaguar fans have been hit hard by the economic slowdown and that has struck a tremendous blow to the ticket-buying public, despite what some of the so-called financial experts say. The true-blue Jaguar fans are middle-management types and blue-collar workers, groups that have been especially impacted by the economy. I know because I am one of them. My wife and I were season-ticket holder from the very start — until this year. Without a job and our retirement nest egg in shambles, it has been hard for us to justify spending upwards of a grand per year to continue supporting the Jags. And I know we are not alone. An acquaintance of mine has gone through five different jobs in the last two years and is currently unemployed. No more Jags tickets for him either.

2. Corporate support is lagging! The Times-Union and Winn Dixie were both big-time supporters of the Jaguars in the beginning. Not so much now. Both companies are suffering mightily and it is even debatable at this point if they will ever return to their former prominence. No Jaguar tickets for them, either, I would guess.

3. Too much too soon! We were all over-joyed when Morten Andersen missed that field goal in the final seconds of the last game of the 1996 season, allowing the Jags to beat Atlanta and get into the playoffs. Then the unparalleled success for a brand new team through the rest of the ’90s raised our expectations of being a Super Bowl contender forever. But noooo! That didn’t happen and it doesn’t look like it will happen any time soon. The reasons? An unmanageable salary cap situation, trades, untimely injuries and too many poor draft choices have brought us to the current malaise in the fan base.

4. Divided loyalties! The success of the Jaguars coincided with the rise in the fortunes of the Florida Gators, that beloved college team just 90 miles away. And when the Jags hit the skids in the early 200s, the Gators rejuvenated themselves with the hiring of Urban Meyer and the recruiting of Tim Teblow. The Gators’ continued success combined with the Jags slide and the economic bust put too much stress on entertainment dollars in Northeast Florida. Loser: Jaguars.

5. Pride of the Jaguars declines! This is hard to put into words, but let me try to explain. Early on, the Jaguars were blessed with a core of high-quality players who were also high-quality citizens, i.e. Tony Boselli, Mark Brunnel, Jimmy Smith, Tom McManus, etc., etc., There just didn’t seem to be too many bad apples on the team and fans liked that image. (OK, Jimmy turned out to have a drug problem, but we didn’t know that then.) We were proud of their accomplishments and work in the community. Northeast Florida residents are basically conservative, religious and hard-working. They wanted their team to reflect the same kind of values. Unfortunately, that just hasn’t happened in the last decade with the above-mentioned poor draft choices and free-agent acquisitions being either busts (Byron Leftwich or Jerry Porter, anyone?) or of questionable character (Khalif Barnes and Matt Jones). We just don’t like to see our ticket dollars being spent on players who don’t like Jacksonville or would rather snort coke than play football. Those kinds of people don’t reflect well on our community.

6. Jack Del Rio has to go! It won’t happen this year, but I think Del Rio is no longer the right person for this job. Early on, Del Rio was a good fit for Jacksonville , mainly because he wasn’t Tom Coughlin. The fan base had tired of Coughlin’s dictatorial style and relationship with the media. Del Rio was a handsome, fresh face who related well with both the community and the media. Somewhere along the way, that changed and he became antagonistic toward the media, which is his main avenue of contact with the fans. Losing will do that to you. He is no longer endearing to the fans and when you lose them, you lose support. The hiring of Mike Smith as general manager appears a step in the right direction. Now get us a coach we can respect and relate to.

All that being said, what else can the Jags do to rejuvenate ticket sales? You’ve heard it here before — draft Tim Tebow. Simply put, he will put fans in the stands. He won’t give us a guaranteed Super Bowl contender, but it will be another step in the right direction.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?