26
Aug
2010
VIDEO: Jets hogtie rookie Brian Jackson and shower him with love
This clip is from last night’s episode of Hard Knocks, where the Jets veterans decided that DB Brian Jackson needed an attitude adjustment, after mouthing off to coaches and not grasping the playbook. Watch as Kris Jenkins, Jason Taylor, Antonio Cromartie and others hogtie the undrafted rookie to a goalpoast and shower him with icy hot, gatorade, talc, and an assortment of other fluids, then leave him to rot in the sun for a while and think about what he did wrong:
At least Jackson seemed to be a good sport about it.
12
Aug
2010
HBO Hard Knocks: New York Jets, Episode 1
(Photo: Photo: Al Pereira/Getty Images via NYMag.com
Last night, HBO premiered the first episode of this season’s edition of Hard Knocks featuring Rex Ryan and the New York Jets. I took the time to jot down my thoughts during the episode, which I’ve distilled below.
Essentially, this episode was about two things: Rex and Revis. Rex Ryan took center stage as expected and did not disappoint (especially in the cursing department), and Darrelle Revis was the central focus of the episode, despite (or more correctly, because of) his absence from camp.
The fine folks at JetTwit did a much better job breaking down last night’s episode than I ever could, but here are my running thoughts, in case anyone cares:
- If this show were about my favorite team, this intro would get me seriously physically aroused. I think I’m ready for football to start
- Cortland, NY is an awful town … as an alumnus of their rival Ithaca Bombers, I had the displeasure of visiting this beacon of crapitude several times during my college career, and this is not a place you want to spend your summers. But HBO managed to make it look better in 2 minutes of b-roll footage than it ever did during my time there. But I may be biased.
- It’s obvious that the Revis holdout will be big storyline. It must be maddening to have everyone asking about one player when you’re trying to lead a group of 60+ other guys who are all there to do their job
- Rex Ryan doesn’t look to have started shedding much weight yet from the lap band surgery.
- Here’s video of Rex’s opening speech to his players. His goals for the team – all 3 units – is to lead the league in wins. Radical strategy, there. But he’s definitely someone you’d want to play for. Rex is so oddly charismatic, but boy, he sure does say “fuck” a lot (and I mean a LOT – video NSFW for language):
- Rex wears black Chuck Taylors on the first day of camp … apparently this is his thing. And it elicits the “sexy Rexy” chant from a few male Jets fans, and he likes it. Read the rest of this entry »
25
Mar
2010
HBO’s Hard Knocks to feature the New York Jets
Rex Ryan is coming to HBO this summer - with or without the stomach (Photo: William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)
The New York Daily News is reporting that HBO has selected the New York Jets as the subject of their popular reality series “Hard Knocks”, which gives an up-close look into the day-to-day of an NFL training camp. This means that we’ll finally get an answer to the question that has been plaguing NFL fans for a long time now: What exactly does Rex Ryan eat for breakfast???
The Jets issued a statement yesterday, and plan to make an official announcement later today at their team headquarters in Florham Park, NY. HBO’s cameras will travel with the team to Cortland in upstate New York for camp, which begins in July. With players like Mark Sanchez, Darelle Revis, LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Cromartie, there is certainly plenty of potential for characters to emerge, and intriguing storylines to develop.
But certainly, the leading role here goes to Ryan, who has grown into one of the league’s biggest characters in record time, and has displayed a knack for saying exactly what’s on his mind, running his mouth, flipping the bird (and eating whatever’s on his plate) … whether the cameras are rolling or not. And that’s the kind of stuff that HBO is banking on.
UPDATE: It turns out that Rex Ryan recently underwent lap-band surgery to aid in his fight with obesity. What’s that, you ask? From the Huffington Post:
In a lap-band procedure, a plastic band is inserted that encircles a patient’s stomach, effectively shrinking it and curbing their appetite.
I had no idea. I guess that means we’re going to be waving bye-bye to that enormously rotund midsection of his. This is really throwing me for a loop. I mean, no more fat jokes at his expense? That accounts for like 66% of the content on this site.
Apparently seeing video of himself – and more specifically, his stomach – at a hockey game may have had something to do with Rex’s decision to have the procedure done.
WATCH VIDEO OF REX’S SOON-TO-BE-TRIM STOMACH AFTER THE JUMP
3
Sep
2009
Open season on offensive coordinators
The Tampa Buccaneers have become the second team in a week to fire their offensive coordinator. Last week, the Kansas City Chiefs dismissed Chan Gailey, who possessed an abundance of experience at the coordinator level (and served as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for a spell). For the Chiefs, experience wasn’t the issue. For the Bucs, from what we’re told by Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud, experience–and lack of it–was the deciding factor in the firing of first-time NFL offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski.
Tampa Bay Head Coach Raheem Morris has shown no fear in making decisions to transform the Bucs.
Jagodzinski was let go today after team officials came to the conclusion that he wasn’t ready to run an NFL offense. Jagodzinski was hired this past winter by the Bucs following two successful seasons as head coach of the Boston College Eagles. After leading the team to consecutive 11-3 and 9-5 seasons, Jagodzinski was fired by Boston College when the team discovered that “Jag” had interviewed for the vacant New York Jets head coaching position. Soon after, he came to the Bucs with high hopes but, according to Stroud, “Sometime during training camp, it became increasingly apparent to Bucs officials and players, that Jagodzinski was not equipped to install and direct an NFL offense… as the preseason wore on, Bucs officials kept a close eye on Jagodzinski and did not feel he had the attention to detail required to remain as offensive coordinator.”
Now, honestly, I feel pretty rotten posting a story about a guy getting fired. That said, the process around “installing and offense” remains fascinating, and after watching Hard Knocks the past few nights, the coaches meetings–in every possible way–prove intriguing. We don’t frequently get a deep look into what these guys do, week to week. The game preparation, the film study, the meticulous preparation (sleeping three hours per day) is obviously intense.
The good news for Jagodzinski? NFL coaches have a tendency to bounce back. There’s no sense that he disenfranchised his peers, or came equipped with a poor attitude. And, like so many young players who find themselves released from their teams over the next 24 hours, there may be a second chance.
8
Jun
2009
Chad Johnson/Ochocinco is not a hard worker
Chad Ochocinco is the epitome of a true team player
The 2008 season was statistically the worst of Chad Johnson/Ochocinco’s career since his rookie year. His 53 catches, 540 yards and 4TDs were almost half of his average seasonal production. So in a recent interview with the NFL Network, Ochocinco was asked to explain his sub-par performance last year.
Here’s what Ochocinco had to say for himself [via Cincinnati.com]:
“I’m not even going to lie to you, I’m going to say it. Last year, the offseason, I didn’t lift one weight, I didn’t run one route, I didn’t exercise. I didn’t do nothing because my focus was on getting out of a situation I didn’t want to be in. I’m not going to lie,” Ochocinco said.
“And the result of my season, whether we as a team did bad or not, that’s what I get. I get hurt in the preseason. I didn’t lift no weights. If I had been on my right regiment, I guarantee you my collarbone, my shoulder wouldn’t pop out of place. The ankle surgery, you know.”
Wow. While Ochocinco might get points for honesty with his answer, it certianly doesn’t help his image as a me-first player. And think of it this way: Ochocinco made $4 million dollars last year, and in return, decided to pout his way through the off-season, which shockingly led to an injury plagued regular season. There’s money well spent in a tough economy!
In the same interview, Ochocinco said that he plans to report to the Bengals manadatory minicamp on June 18th, after skipping the voluntary workouts, and that things between he and Carson Palmer are fine. He still sounds like he doesn’t get it to me. At least we’ll have the HBO Hard Knocks crew on hand to let us see how this all plays out.
Watch Chad Ochocinco on NFL Network
29
Apr
2009
HBO’s “Hard Knocks” Series to feature Bengals
Photo: KissingSuzyKolber
ProFootballTalk.com is reporting (via the Cincinnati Enquirer) that HBO will make the Cincinnati Bengals the subjects of their annual NFL Training Camp reality series, Hard Knocks.
HBO is clearly taking the Real World approach to reality TV, by choosing one of the most dysfunctional teams in the league to create the most potential on-screen drama. Between Chris Henry, Tank Johnson and Ocho-Cinco, there should be more than enough stupidity to keep viewers entertained for at least 20 minutes. Next year we get the Raiders so we can watch Al Davis change his colostomy bag.
To give you an idea of what you can expect, here’s a quick 4-minute recap of last year’s season premiere of Hard Knocks with the Dallas Cowboys (expect a lot more shooting/arrests in the Bengals season):
(Video via Awful Announcing)
