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I saw an ‘Instant Debate’ posted on NFL.com about the immediate future of the Jets franchise and I felt a deep need to chime in. Let me start with a clear assertion. Rex Ryan is a motivator and a game-managing coach. He is not an offensive mind. In fact, his history with Baltimore has trained him to be a classic ground-and-pound guy who is skeptical of the gimmick and unwilling to move forward in that vein unless there is a powerful and charismatic OC pushing the buttons. Last year they did not have that guy and the offense suffered. This year is about a new system and a new team of coordinators. Does that mean new results?

It starts with the players. Unless you are a genius on the scale of Belichick, you aren’t going to win many games with subpar talent. The Jets are loaded with subpar talent. The #1 receiver is best suited for a 2 or even a slot role (he would dominate) and there is nothing behind him. The team needs to look to the draft for a TE and the O-Line is a disaster. I’m not even prepared to address the QB situation. So, what then is the prognosis? The offense will come together incredibly well–provided the QB is not Sanchez. Without him, the team has an attitude of grit and fight and they will put up points in the offense. They will limit turnovers and score perhaps 2 TDs a game. That is not enough to win, so it has to happen on defense. Can it?

No. Not without Revis and a few other holes filled. The Jets once again have no answer at safety–the 2nd most important position on the D. The LB core is decimated, with 3 of 4 starters cut or gone to Free Agency. The D-Line lost the starting NT and the ends remain a question mark. So, without a huge influx of talent the D will buckle and yield more points than it did last season. Now, this could all be fixed with an extremely profitable Revis trade. Mark my words: Any trade of Revis will define both the season and the reign of Idzik. If the team cannot get extreme value for the defacto #1 corner in the sport, there is no reason to trade a guy that shuts down half the field–especially when there is a guy on the other side who can lock up on a receiver and take him out of the game. Imagine, Revis and Cromartie in top form? If the Jets grab the Honey Badger or another potential lockdown corner in the draft they can go 3 corners on 3 wides and pile up against the run with only 1 safety back for support or TE coverage. That is 7 in the box all day against a 3-wide set. That is pain and no-gain for yardage.

That is perhaps a pipe dream. It is also the fulcrum upon which the 2013 season hinges. As they say on NFL.com, Defense wins Championships.

It is a few days before I hit 38 and a few more before my 70’s themed b-day bash. There is much planning still to be done. I need to get a costume, figure out food, figure out music, and consider what the frack to do with the kids…There are several options–most of which involve sending them upstairs to play video games and hop about on an inflatable bounce house. Maybe I can do something with a gift bag or hire a babysitter to hang with the horde of children (I am guessing 12?).

The 70’s theme is the Wifey’s doing. I get the joke: I was born in the 70’s, so lets party like back then. It is doubled when you consider the return of the 70’s in the last few years. I really cannot wait for the 80’s to return.

Some Thoughts:

1. Just saw an incredible commercial that borrowed the Pacino speech from Any Given Sunday (life is a game of inches..) and tied it to some imagery of babies, joggers, and old folks leading into a reveal of workers crafting a Jeep. Nice stuff there. I miss giving the business to commercials. I ought to get back to that.

Enough complaining about the magical, mythical writer’s block and the idiocy that is the NY Jets front office (Revis is about to be traded for a pittance and there is nobody in the draft that is worth the squeeze). No more flim flam about finding my purpose and meaning in writing or anything remotely like that. I want to talk about films. Namely, I want to talk about Jack the Giant Slayer.

The film, directed by Bryan Singer, is a combination of two fairy tales, Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Killer. Beyond that, lead writer Christopher McQuarrie (X-Men, Mission Impossible 4, The Wolverine) has created an interesting connective tissue between the myths and set up possible franchise opportunities with clever clues and item drops. The world of Jack is dynamic, beautiful, and just slightly steampunk-esque. There is a lot here to be happy about–between the quality of actors, acting, and scenery. On the other hand, the 3D leaves a great deal to be desired.

The 3D was blurry near the edges and showed evidence of fractured rendering, which could be the projector but is likely the film itself. 3D is a renewed medium, not a new one, and it is one that is hard to get right.

I encourage everyone to see this film if for nothing more than the fun of it. The movie was a joy to watch.

 

I’ve been back in AZ close to two weeks now and my productivity is dead. Dead on Arrival to AZ really. The full rigor set in about a week ago. So, now I am back to trying to find ways to get right. Under construction I call it. The deal is to figure out the root of the problem and then reconfigure from there. I diagnosed something close to the core: I need to write for myself. This is how it was once upon a time before I became obsessed with getting published and pushing a tiny word-agenda. The agenda is gone, but I still like being in print as much as possible. Now, that doesn’t quite mean writing for myself, but it helps point me towards the why.

 

The more I read the football posts, the more the pundits are convinced that Revis is leaving the Jets this offseason. Recent reports suggest he is headed to Philadelphia. That move would be the ultimate F-U to big blue. Not only would the Jets have unloaded the top defensive player in the NFL, but they would have moved him to a team that would suddenly have the best cornerback tandem in professional sports–a team that has to face the Giants twice a year.

Revis is an Eli killer. His buddy Nnamdi Asomugha was equally effective as a cover corner in years past, save for a hiccup last season as he transitioned to a ‘dream team’ defense that possessed poor leadership and a scheme the players could not follow. This move would allow the Eagles to have two Islands out there and put more men in the box to blitz or to run defend. In other words, this would effectively ruin the Giants’ chance to make the post-season for the next few years.

As for the Jets, it is hard to remain a fan if this trade happens. I get the value of Revis. If the trade gives the Jets a fully revamped roster, complete with an offloaded Sanchez, picks (like EJ Manuel), and a player or two, I can understand. That doesn’t mean I have to like it. Now, if there is anything less than a windfall for the Jets in return for Revis, then I am done as a fan. Heck, I might be done with the Jets nonetheless if a trade occurs.

As for the Giants, it is going to be tough going for them on the other end of this possible trade scenario. The G-men have 53 players and perhaps 10 who are good for 16 weeks. The rest are bit players who can catch fire for weeks at a time and tend to fall apart for weeks at a time. This is the situation that befell the team at the end of the season. Coach Coughlin has the unenviable task of balancing those kind of players and streaks in a fashion that allows his team to play well every week. He failed for two weeks this season, and it likely cost the Giants a trip to the Superbowl.

Some Thoughts:

1. Short post yesterday. I just haven’t been in the writer’s headspace that I worked myself into over the break in Denver. I suppose it is the transition back to AZ where my productivity falls to all time lows. I imagine I’d be a beast if I moved back to NYC, but I would probably never see my kids either. When I was watching Californication (TV being another reason why I am having issues) I thought about what it means to be a writer. It means finishing your work, even if that work sucks. I think I moved away from that way of thinking and need to get back there–and need to be more effective in sharing that message through my teaching. My role as an instructor is to be an example. In fact, my role is to be the baddest dude on the planet in terms of understanding and delivering the written word. Not there yet.

Just watched as DeAndre Jordan ends Brandon Knight’s career with a dunk nastier than anything I have ever seen. See, professional sports is about confidence and after that dunk I don’t see Brandon Knight ever being more than a victim. Hell, even his own teammates cringed as they watched him there on the floor. There is no recovering from a humiliation like that–not to the point where you can go up against a player in the same way ever again.

Some Thoughts:

1. The first couple of days of a diet are nothing compared to the overall challenge of the first few months. I am looking at this like an addict. I need to take it one day at a time and remember why and how I am pursuing weight loss in the first place. 

 

When I decided to post my diet plans to the Facebook, I knew it meant that one or two people might decide to care about my loosing weight. If for no other reason than to bet on the chances of my failure (as my wife is likely to do), the public announcement of the action provides a go bell that cannot be unrung. So, here we sit on day two of the diet and I have thought about sugar almost ceaselessly. I realize that sugars are a good part of the reason I’ve hovered around 216 lbs for the past few years. I also realize that 216 is at least 20 lbs from where I want to be.

I told the web 190, and I set the over-under at 198.

Getting near my ideal weight is going to require me to increase the amount of water and vegetables I consume while severely curtailing the sweets. Maybe I’ll grow to like it. Perhaps we really are what we eat (which would have made me junk food over the past decade) and the change in diet will fuel a shift in attitude which will allow me to be happier in my life and more productive in the many avenues upon which I am invested (however, the number of points of investment do point to a reason why productivity has dropped).

How do I do this? I bought a box of Grape Nuts. Call it a replacement for Wendy’s and a way to keep the sweet in my life. I am addicted to sweet taste, so I do need to find healthier ways to include that taste. Likewise, I need to find creative avenues of exercise. Though I have a gym membership, the gym is basically useless to me. I don’t want or effort to use it. Maybe if there comes a day where I am home alone for a week I will go three times. The life schedule I have does not allow for it as of yet.

The good news in all of this is that I started down this path publically. That means I am committed to taking it as far as I can.

36 hours is the sum total of work I have to do over the ‘break’. Maybe it is a break in a way, because I don’t have to wake up early and I can stay up as late as I please. On the other hand, the idea of having work during a supposedly restful spring beak is just amazing. I intend to be a person who takes real vacations and real breaks in the near future. I see some of my friends who have the opportunity to do that now and I want it for myself.

In a perfect world, each spring break is a chance to hit the road or to lounge peaceably in an incredible back yard (that I hope to have). For now it means a bunch of hard work and preparation for a career that is becoming more demanding by the week.

I can tell you that my blogs are up and down right now, following the metronome of my responsibilities. I ‘m thinking tonight will be down. The more on my mind, the less I am able to produce creatively in a mere 10 minutes. The cause of my distraction as of late is the end of life. Not mine, mind you, but so many around me are falling ill and threatening to die. The ages are inconsistent, as are the causes of sick. Still the lips of death touch so many I know.

Open-heart surgeries for children, grievous wounds to young women, car accidents, minor surgeries, strokes… These are meant to come in threes, but the flow is much more severe these days.

Sex sells. It sells incredibly well. What else could make us give a damn about Jodi Arias (I’m still unclear on what she did–murdered her husband, right?), Reeva Steenkamp, and, of course, Natalie Holloway. The killing makes the cases more salacious. Death is the red meat to sex’s fine wine. The meat sustains us, but the sex pleasures us immensely. That is why we find ourselves drawn to the plethora of cases on the news about beautiful dead women and murderers.

Crime creates the pretext for us to show beautiful people in tragic and cautionary situations. The news seems to exist for this stuff.

Some Thoughts:

1. Having a 70’s party and need to find clothing for the event. Double jeopardy, because I am tall. Finding clothes is hard already. Finding 70’s clothes is dang near impossible.

2. No Pope, no problem–though that volcano in Italy is leading some to point to the end of days. Even if that is the case, I have yet to hear conclusive evidence that the Papacy are the arbiters of the ‘proper’ faith. Heck, I’ve yet to hear conclusive evidence that there is a ‘proper’ faith.