How much did the strike of 1987 hurt the Jets?It seems like whenever there is a strike it seems to separate a team. That specific strike they (the owners) forced players to cross the strike, so the player that was hard up for money really had no choice but to cross it. I know that Gastineau rubbed some people the wrong way, but then again Klecko eventually also crossed the line too. You can’t just say that it was Mark who did that. I can kind of see both sides. I can see that players should stand together, but I’m also not standing in a person’s shoes when they have to pay bills and rent and everything. I can kind of see both sides, but I think that strike was the final nail in the coffin because the Jets never had success again in the 80’s after that.
Do you think Gastineau was looking for a way out when Brigitte Nielson got sick and he then retired?
It’s kind of hard to tell with Mark exactly what was going on. I can’t speak for him, but it was really just a shame because if he didn’t step away when he did, there’s not a doubt in my mind that he would also be in the Hall of Fame. He pretty much shot himself in the foot by doing that. I guess he wasn’t thinking clearly or maybe he was too caught up in the Hollywood glitz at the time. It’s hard for me to say if that’s why he stepped away, but it was not a very good move on his part because it cost him going to the Hall of Fame.As a Jets fan, what player did you most want to talk to?
Probably Klecko and Gastineau; I got some pretty cool information from Wesley Walker and Richard Todd. Bobby Jackson had some very cool things to say. Greg Buttle had some cool stories to tell. As a fan of the Jets back then, I can’t really say that I had one specific favorite player. I liked the Jets as a team and it was cool speaking to all the players and hearing their memories. It was also interesting to see what they are doing today. There’s a chapter in the book which talks about what all the Jets players are doing now and it’s a wide range.Were there players, coaches and other figures that were hesitant about the book? Did you have to earn their trust?
I have to say that all the players were a great help. I think by speaking to me, they could tell I was a fan. I’ve written for sites like Rolling Stone so I could give them links to my previous writing and I’ve also done books, so I could also send them links to some of my books so they could see that I was in fact, a writer. I wouldn’t say that they were hesitant. Most of them were pretty forthcoming with their stories. I was definitely pleasantly surprised that everyone was very kind and very forthcoming and suggesting some other people I should speak to for the book and forwarding all their contact info. It was a very good process from beginning to end. Were there times where you struggled between being a fan and being a journalist?
As a fan I always look at the Dolphins as kind of evil. There’s a team that prevented the Jets from getting to the Super Bowl. Speaking to our good friend A.J. Duhe was kind of weird, but he turned out to be a very fun guy. The same could be said for Bob Baumhower who was very kind and very cool. What’s interesting is that both Dolphins and Jets players back then were actually friends, which I didn’t know and couldn’t even fathom. But when you think about it, a lot of these players went to college together, and they’re friends at that point and then they’re drafted by different teams. It was definitely interesting to hear from those Dolphins players and hear their perspective on what it was like playing against the Jets back then.Was that the most surprising thing you learned during the interview process?
That was surprising. There was also the story about Joe Walton taking over the team and how some players weren’t that big of a fan of how he was going about things. Greg Buttle tells some funny stories where he’s pretty honest about things that supposedly went on that he thought weren’t very good. There’s also a chapter about steroids in which some players admit that there was steroid use, some of them say there wasn’t. You’re not too sure who to believe. There are also two chapters where I asked everyone who was their toughest team and who were their toughest players to play against and it was interesting to hear who they picked.Who were some of your favorite interviews?
Greg Buttle had some really great stories; some of the stories he tells about when Joe Walton took over the team are pretty funny. Wesley Walker I felt was pretty honest. He also told some pretty cool stories on what the team was like and how some people got along and some people didn’t and how the team split up after a while. It was also interesting to hear Gastineau’s view on things. He hasn’t really been interviewed much on everything that happened. As a fan, it was interesting to hear him go on record about his viewpoints and what exactly happened.Are there differences between covering music and covering sports?
With my books in the past, the same with this book, I start out with a set list of questions on a piece of paper. As the book progresses with more and more interviews I do, by about midway through I’m not even looking at the piece of paper. I pretty much have the questions stored in my brain at that point. Of course I’m talking about sports instead of rock music. It wasn’t that drastically different. The subject matter was different but it was the same stuff I usually follow for an interview.What do you like about the Oral History format?
What I like most about the format is, before I was even a writer, the thing I liked when reading magazine articles were the Q & A setups, because then you’re really getting the story straight from the horse’s mouth. The problem I have with a lot of books is that you’re having an author tell you his or her viewpoint of what exactly happened. If the author wasn’t there then I’m not the biggest fan of hearing what someone’s take is on something. I’d rather get it straight from the people that were actually there. That’s what I like about the oral history format. That’s what I’ve used a lot for my previous books.I did a book about the grunge bands like Soundgarden and Nirvana called “Grunge is Dead” and that is the same setup. It’s definitely a setup that I use for the majority of my books because I think the reader can get the closest to the actual story as possible without actually being there.
Do you see yourself as a journalist or a historian? Do you see yourself as both or do you identify with one more than the other?
Of the books I’ve done so far, I can honestly say I was a fan of all the subjects I’ve written about. I’m probably a fan foremost and then a writer or I’m just a very lucky fan who is able to speak to all his favorite players and musicians as well.What do you hope people get out of this book?
It’d be good if in the future when people talk about great Jets teams that they start including the ’82 team a little bit more because they made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game and also because of the fact that when I interviewed players from the Dolphins and other teams from that era they all said how certain Jets were feared. Whenever you speak of great Jets teams, you definitely have to include the ’81 and ’82 team. Are there any other projects you’re currently working on?
Right now, I have a couple of projects that I can’t quite confirm just yet. Earlier in the year I did a book about the early days of MTV called “MTV Ruled the World” for which I interviewed members of “The Police,” “Judas Priest,” “Rush,” “Public Enemy,” “Heart,” and also some of the people that started the channel as well as some of the former VJ’s. That’s one of my more recent books and that is also in the Oral History format. You can get that through Lulu.com. If you go to Lulu.com and search for Greg Prato, you’ll find several books that I did for them.Do you think Rex Ryan’s Jets can top the Jets of the 1980’s as a book topic?
(Laughs) I would say yes, but I certainly hope that unlike the Jets of the 80’s that the Jets of today finally go to the Super Bowl and do finally win it. For more information on Greg Prato, click on the following link:
No comments:
Post a Comment