The dust has finally settled over New York City, there are no more time outs left to use, the clock has unfortunately hit zero, and the final score was 24-19. The season is over and with it the dream of a city is placed on hold for yet another season. The National Football League's New York Jets nearly pulled off what they as an organization have not been able to do since the 1969-1969 season with Broadway Joe Namath. They came close to beating three of the NFL's best quarterbacks and their teams, as they nearly made it to one of the biggest sporting events in the United States, the Super Bowl. This year's New York Jets caught the attention and imagination of not only the New York metropolitan area, but their character, grit and determination made them the team to watch, love and hate across the country.

In two years under the helm of Rex Ryan, the Jets have managed to make back to back appearances in the AFC Championship game, which is not bad for a perennial underdog. Though they have spent many years in the shadows of New York's other and more successful NFL team, the New York Giants, they have managed to forge themselves a huge fan base and a storied past. The Jets winning Super Bowl III in 1969 helped to mold the National Football League of yesteryear into the National Football League we know and love today.

In honor of this year's New York Jets team and the Jets teams of the past, we here at the New York Public Library would like to salute you on your accomplishments both past and present. So if you have a New York Public Library card, bleed green and white, randomly chant J-E-T-S.....JETS, JETS, JETS, and names like Namath, O'Brien, Glecko, Martin, Ewbanks, Chrebet, Gastineau, Ryan and Sanchez interest you, stop by a local New York Public Library branch and take home one of many great books about an amazingly great team.

Available for hold or pick up at your local branch:

• 100 Things Jets Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Bill Chastain
• Crash of the Titans: The Early Years of the New York Jets and the AFL by William J. Ryczek
• Gang Green: An Irreverent Look Behind the Scenes at Thirty-Eight (well, thirty-seven) Seasons of New York Jets Football Futility by Gerald Eskenazi
• Namath: A Biography by Mark Kriegel
• Namath by Joe Namath

Available to be viewed at various research libraries:

• The Long Pass; The Inside Story of the New York Jets from the Terrible Titans to Broadway Joe Namath and the Championship of 1968 by Lou Sahadi
• Broadway Joe and His Super Jets by Larry Fox
• Countdown to Super Bowl by Dave Anderson
• Jets: Broadway's 30-year Guarantee by New York Daily News

See also Billy Parrott's blog post about The Heidi Game.