2009 Schedule

The 2009 schedule was released earlier today and as I was entering it into my personal calendar, a couple of things immediately jumped out at me, given that the tri-state area is home to the largest Jewish population in the United States.

The home opener (game #2), against none other than the Patriots, is scheduled for September 20th - the second day of Rosh Hashana. The next game on September 27th against the Tennessee Titans is also at home - the evening that Yom Kippur begins. And it's not even a 1:00pm game so that people might be able to get home in time to start the holiday. It's scheduled for a 4:15pm kick-off.

There was a public outcry about this situation more than a decade ago and the league has subsequently addressed it by usually scheduling games that fall on these holidays as away games or bye weeks for the Jets and Giants. Clearly with both holidays falling on a Sunday that couldn't be completely accommodated, but to hit one team with this problem for both holidays...well, seems like somebody might have wanted to put come up with another option. And at the very least, couldn't the Titans game be at 1pm???

Not a great way to help the Jets get fans to pay for those PSLs.

Games are played on Christmas when it falls on a Sunday, which frankly, might be something else that should be addressed at some point.

Here's the link to the entire 2009 NFL Schedule.