It's been a rough couple of weeks for New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, especially after a bombshell article in a recent publication.
The New York Jets have been the laughingstock of the National Football League for a significant portion of their existence, but especially in the last couple of decades.
Many Jets fans credit or rather blame that fact on owner Woody Johnson, who purchased the team in 2000. New York has not made the playoffs since 2010, the longest active playoff drought in American professional sports and things seem to be moving a whole lot closer to getting worse every year than getting better.
Johnson has become the subject of intense discussion and scrutiny this week when an explosive piece from The Athletic revealed details from behind the scenes anonymous sources including coaches, players, and staffers and gave an inside look at the most dysfunctional organization in sports.
While reacting to the story, famed radio host Dan Le Batard absolutely ripped Johnson and his unserious organization.
"This is a toy and a side business," Le Batard said on Johnson and most owners disconnect from their teams. "This thing is a toy to a Woody Johnson, who while he lives in the shadows, I think most of us know to be a clown. Most of the details that we know about Woody Johnson are not things that say that Woody Johnson is excellent about anything that we know about."
What stings most for New York fans reading the story from The Athletic is the fact that Johnson isn't going anywhere anytime soon. He will undoubtedly have a heavy say in the hiring of the team's next general manager and head coach, two hires that are absolutely critical as the franchise sits at a crossroads that could determine its direction for the next decade.
The fanbase is absolutely starved for a winner, but as long as Johnson is around and constantly meddling in things -- something that isn't going to stop so long as he owns the team -- any success the Jets have will be in spite of their owner and while weathering dysfunction rather than Johnson changing his ways and no longer meddling.
Perhaps one day Johnson will realize that him being directly involved in the day-to-day activities of the team is actively hindering rather than helping the franchise, but as Le Batard said in his rant and pointed out the all-too-common mindset amongst all owners, this is simply a toy for Johnson to play with whenever it suits him.
His business interests are tied up more so elsewhere than they are with the Jets, but the team is something he feels he can control. And don't count on him giving up that control anytime soon.