Frank Mazzola

The New York Jets will open up their training camp on July 24th.

Here are some key position battles to take note of:

Quarterback:

Clearly, nothing has been solved yet in terms of naming a starting signal caller.  I fully expect Kellen Clemens and Chad Pennington to slug it out until the bitter end of preseason where, barring injury, the younger and stronger Clemens will claim the job.

Running Back: 

Thomas Jones and Leon Washington have nothing to worry about as the primary backs.  Neither does Tony Richardson at the FB position.  However, Jesse Chatman and Musa Smith will be competing hard with each other to determine the backup spot.  Look for Chatman to take the lead on this one.

Cornerback:

Darrelle Revis is a lock to start at one corner, but Justin Miller will return from his injury to challenge veteran David Barrett at the other position.  Barrett has the necessary skills and experience to hold the job, but Miller’s physical plays and speed may be too much to overlook.  I’d say Miller gets the nod in this photo finish.

Frank Mazzola

17 minutes.

RAW is a two hour program and, last night, there was only 17 minutes of actual wrestling match action.  That encompasses a grand total of 5 contests.  Disgraceful.

I’m just thankful I DVR’ed the show and was able to utilize the FF button.  I can’t help but feel extreme sympathy for anyone who actually attended this monstrosity.  There was more useless talking done last night than in a handful of presidential debates.  The J.R Farewell speech segment took 22 minutes alone.

Note to Vince McMahon:  Meaningless blather is NOT the way to appeal to new viewers.  All it does is punish those who have been loyal to your company.

Other thoughts from last night’s show:

- Cody Rhodes’ heel turn has to be one of the least interesting transformations in the history of the business.  If he even possessed 1/80th of his father’s charisma, he may have held my attention.  Also, the fact that the bookers decided to showcase the new duo of Rhodes and Lil’ Dibiase in a squash match proves they don’t have much confidence in them to carry the Tag Team Championship ball.

- While I’ve already lambasted the excessive talking, I will admit I did laugh when Edge screamed at J.R “Put that in your blog, Barbeque Boy!”  Inspired stuff from the “Rated R Superstar”

- I also got a kick out Santino Marella’s new porn star ’stache.  His “shut-upa you face” prompted an unplanned giggle from Rey Mysterio. 

- After I watched the Y2J-Kofi Kingston match, I heard the Rock in my head:  “Finally….wrestling has come back…to RAW”.  These two had a well-executed match and I cant wait to see more from the innovative, ultra-athletic Kingston in weeks to come.   

- Shane McMahon was so uncharacteristically under-stated in his announcement about his father’s health, I very nearly believed it…if it wasn’t so damn obvious that his “accident” was the escape route for the failed “Million Dollar Mania” program.

- The sign in the crowd said it all:  “RAW is JR”.  Michael Cole is a poor, poor substitute in my opinion.

- Memo to Jamie Noble:  2002 called and wants it’s tired, unfunny “Redneck Schtick” back.

- Finally, while there weren’t a lot of nice things to be said about last night’s endeavor, I am really happy to see CM Punk finally get the push he deserves.  I even enjoyed watching JBL in that match.  The WWE finally recognized the stale elements of their roster and invigorated them with new challenges.  I hold out hope for the future.

Frank Mazzola

The Chris Baker Soap Opera continues….unfortunately.

As reported by NJ.com, during mini-camp, Baker upped the ante on his embarrassing behavior (all in an attempt to draw sympathy to his contract situation) by parking his red Bentley in the Team President parking spot and then refused to move it.

I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time feeling sympathy for anyone who actually owns a red Bentley.

The Baker situation only illustrates a larger problem affecting the NFL and, to a lesser extent, all of the Sports world:  Immature players who are convinced they are legends are still allowed to perpetrate these types of circuses in order to disrupt their teams (i.e biting the hands that feed them) without fear of repercussion.    What makes this lack of respect even more disheartening is, once they are traded, their childlike behavior is then rewarded with a new contract from some other team.

This sense of entitlement has grown out of control and needs to be curbed now.  The owners of all NFL teams should make a pact among themselves to not honor this conduct in any way, shape or form.  Believe me, players like Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson or Baker are not so irreplaceable that they need to be coddled.  How many rings do those three players share?  Oh, that’s right…none.

I only write about professional athletes.  I was not blessed with an inordinate amount of ability to run fast, lift heavy things or jump high.  However, if I had been, I still don’t think it would give me the right to insult my employers in an overt fashion.

Baker needs to be cut right now.  He may find that he has sullied his reputation and no team will take a chance on him.  Then, he might actually learn his lesson.

Regretably, you’ll see me run a 10 second 100 yard dash before that happens.