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Trevor Reilly's Uber-driving adventure: a bitter Jets fan, a reckless mom, a possible drug dealer

Gas2No99

By Gas2No99
in NY Jets Forum

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Gas2No99

Gas2No99

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Trevor Reilly's Uber-driving adventure: a bitter Jets fan, a reckless mom, a possible drug dealer

FLORHAM PARK — The drunk fireman climbed into Trevor Reilly's junky old cop car. Reilly, the Jets' second-year backup outside linebacker, greeted the man — and started driving and listening. 

On Reilly's cell phone, the modern-day taxi meter rolled. Reilly was driving for Uber, the company/smart-phone app that lets people earn money by using their own vehicles to transport passengers, like a cab. 

Inside the 2005 gray Ford Crown Victoria, the fireman started moaning about the Jets, who tortured plenty of their fans by finishing 4-12 last season. 

"He just talked to me about how [expletive] the Jets were and how he hated the Jets," Reilly recalled. "He was just venting about his sorrows with the New York Jets." 

MORE: Jets Fantasy start/sit for Week 11

Reilly listened to the guy gripe for a few moments. And then Reilly responded as any patient, seen-it-all cab driver would. 

"Yeah, well, maybe next year they'll be better," Reilly said. 

While driving sporadically for Uber from April to June, Reilly never wore Jets gear and never told his passengers he played for the team.

He didn't do this for the money, though he did make about $2,000. Inquisitive by nature, Reilly drove an Uber car to pass the time during idle hours between spring practices — and to conduct a personal social experiment. 

Reilly, whose wife and three kids live year-round at his offseason home in Utah, drove all around northern New Jersey, out toward the Pennsylvania border, and into Manhattan. He picked up the rich and poor, the straight-laced and strange, and collected bizarre stories along the way. 

ALSO: 5 reasons for Jets fans to be pessimistic 

There was the drug dealer. Or Reilly thought he was a drug dealer, at least. Reilly drove the guy from far western New Jersey to a Newark housing project. 

"I'll be back in like five, 10 minutes," he told Reilly. "Then just drive me straight back."

Reilly didn't like how this felt. Maybe this guy just used drugs, and didn't sell, Reilly thought. Either way, Reilly left him there in Newark. 

"I wasn't nervous," Reilly said. "I would've been nervous if I would've driven him back, if we would've gotten pulled over and had some contraband in the car." 

After all, Reilly owned — and still owns — that dumpy Crown Vic. (Alas, it no longer has police lights and sirens on top.) He bought it for $1,500 in New Jersey, because he didn't want to drive his regular vehicle all the way back here from Utah. So Reilly rolls into the Jets' parking lot every day in the Crown Vic. When the season ends, he'll donate it to the Salvation Army. 

Some of Reilly's Uber-driving stories left him shaking his head. Like that terribly misguided woman in Newark. ("That's where most of the stories happen, I feel like," he said.) She wanted to get into Reilly's car with her 2-year-old child, despite having no car seat. That, of course, "is highly illegal," as Reilly said. 

Do that, and Child Protective Services "will take your kid away, if they find out," Reilly said. "That wasn't going to happen." 

Other stories left him curious for more. Like the private jet company executives Reilly drove into Manhattan, while listening to their conversation. 

"They were talking about some pretty heavy stuff," Reilly said. "Crucial decisions about their corporate board that they were going to have to make." 

Some people probably left their Uber rides with stories about Reilly, too. When the Crown Vic's air conditioning broke, he didn't bother getting it fixed, and just continued picking up passengers.

And that unfortunate Russian fellow is likely still having nightmares about Reilly bringing him from the Newark airport to New Brunswick. 

Jets WR Brandon Marshall likes his teams' attitude and discusses the relationship with the mediaNew York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall likes his teams' attitude and discusses the relationship with the media. (Video by John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

"We were in traffic, and I'm driving like a mad man," Reilly said. "He looked like he was about ready to jump out of the car, he was so scared. I almost got us killed a few times. He reported me to Uber on that one." 

Reilly managed to keep his job, such as this was. He stopped driving for Uber in June, though he didn't technically quit. He's still a registered driver. He's just has his status switched to unavailable. 

"I could go out and pick people up right now if I wanted to," Reilly said recently while sitting in the Jets' locker room. 

But the social experiment is complete for now. He had his fill of strange interactions and stories. What, then, did he learn from his experiment, about life lessons and the human condition? 

"I don't know," he said, shrugging. "I don't know if I learned anything in particular." 

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Sperm Edwards

Sperm Edwards

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I think this is my favorite line from the article: "He urinates more times a day than Secretariat on Flomax. And the bowel movements, he says, are three-to-four times a day."

Then they quote Reilly shortly thereafter where he says, "It cleans out all the crap in your system." 

Indeed it does. 3-4 bowel movements a day, every day? Woof!

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CrazyCarl40

CrazyCarl40

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I think this is my favorite line from the article: "He urinates more times a day than Secretariat on Flomax. And the bowel movements, he says, are three-to-four times a day."

Then they quote Reilly shortly thereafter where he says, "It cleans out all the crap in your system." 

Indeed it does. 3-4 bowel movements a day, every day? Woof!

Wait. That's not normal?

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Larz

Larz

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"We were in traffic, and I'm driving like a mad man," Reilly said. "He looked like he was about ready to jump out of the car, he was so scared. I almost got us killed a few times. He reported me to Uber on that one." 

 

well ok then

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Spoot-Face

Spoot-Face

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"We were in traffic, and I'm driving like a mad man," Reilly said. "He looked like he was about ready to jump out of the car, he was so scared. I almost got us killed a few times. He reported me to Uber on that one." 

 

well ok then

Reilly realizes that he's not the hero in that story, right?

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Gas2No99

Gas2No99

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While I like his foresight in seeing the potential danger of driving back that western NJ guy from Newark, it's pretty ****ed up to leave a guy completely stranded in a Newark ghetto. That guy must have pissed his pants when he walked out and expected to see his ride back was gone. 

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joewilly12

joewilly12

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While I like his foresight in seeing the potential danger of driving back that western NJ guy from Newark, it's pretty ****ed up to leave a guy completely stranded in a Newark ghetto. That guy must have pissed his pants when he walked out and expected to see his ride back was gone. 

A guy going to Newark for drugs needs a reality check. 

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SoFlaJets

SoFlaJets

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As for Coples, he's now a Dolphin and I say it all the time, after we moved down to south Florida from NJ, where I worked repairing the exterior of brick buildings as a waterproofer, when I got here there WERE no brick buildings to fix. So I tried insulation in the attics in the summer and then form carpentry and then carpentry before driving a yellow cab. Now for the past 25 years I've been a musician but I always said that cab drivers get more pookie than rock stars-it's just the way it WAS

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