Training camp memories from SI

[SoFlaJets]

Tales from when reporters were actually welcome

Posted: Thursday July 13, 2006 10:43AM;

Training camp was a lot more fun when Weeb Ewbank ran the show for the Jets.

AP

I'll be hitting the training camp in a couple of weeks, but believe me, it won't be the same. In 1966, I became the regular beat writer covering the Jets. Training camp was where you got to know people. You went up to their rooms and talked. You ate at their table. You actually felt that you were welcome. Now you're treated as a pariah. Some clubs put assistant coaches off limits to the press. Players on some teams are only available coming off the field after practice. It's grim.

Just how deep that animosity goes was brought home to me at a Bills' practice last year. It was a blisteringly hot day. Things were swimming before my eyes. I asked a PR assistant if I could have some of the water I saw nearby.

"That's for the trainers," he said. "They wouldn't like it if I gave you any. You'll have to wait 'til after practice."

I remember the Jets used to have a 12-minute run when the players first reported to camp. We had a pool going on the sidelines. The writers put up a dollar a man, and you had to pick the last-place finisher, winner take all. Dropouts didn't count.

So one time the run started, and coach Weeb Ewbank noticed all the action in our section. "Whatcha all doing?" he said and we told him. "Too late to get in?" he said and we said no and took his buck and he picked Randy Rasmussen, the starting left guard.

This was an upset because you seldom picked a regular, not with so many fat free agents around. But after a few laps Weeb had a definite contender in the slow-moving, heavy-legged Rasmussen. He was struggling near the back of the pack as they came around.

"Take it easy, Randy boy!" Weeb yelled at him. "We're not trying to make a miler out of you." Randy finished next to last, 30 yards upfield from fullback Jim Nance. Vinny DiTrani of the Bergen Record took the pot.

I was fascinated by the myriad personalities of the assistant coaches, with whom I shared practically every training-camp dinner. At the first one, they served blueberry blintzes. Wimp Hewgley, the offensive line coach, who was from Nashville, held one up like a specimen. "What the damn hell is this thing?" he said.

"It's a blitz," said Mike Holovak, the backfield coach. "It's good."

"Blitzes, blitzes," Hewgley said, shaking his head. "Hell of a damn way to open a training camp."

[Maxman]

That truly was a different world. Can you imagine a coach today doing that? Betting on who would finish last? That is even beneath Herm's standards.

[SoFlaJets]

what is it about us Jets fans and how we end up hating the head coaches after they quit,leave or get fired anyway?It's a strange phenomenon about us ya know?

[joewilly]

great read...like most everything else though, the coaches cannot be blamed for the change......$$$$$$'s influence in todays sports, speed of travel of info via media are the 2 main factors imo.

[ThunderbirdJet]

That was a different era, when reporters WERE considered to be part of the team. They didn't report eveything they saw back then. That was part of the arrangement. Now, with no such scruples, the writers don't get the access they used to get. And.... who's fault would that be?

[Thor99]

They're pariahs because they clean out the buffet.

[rajensen088]

what is it about us Jets fans and how we end up hating the head coaches after they quit,leave or get fired anyway?It's a strange phenomenon about us ya know?

Most teams fans are like that. Ask most Patriot fans and they'll tell you, take Mangini and take his 26th ranked defense with him.

[Sperm Edwards]

what is it about us Jets fans and how we end up hating the head coaches after they quit,leave or get fired anyway?It's a strange phenomenon about us ya know?

Depends on the HC & depends on the circumstances. Jets have had mostly lousy HC's. All the others - the fans couldn't get rid of them fast enough. Not too many people think badly on Parcells b/c he stayed the 3 years he said he would & turn the franchise around, which he did. Bellichick & Herm are actually rarities b/c they went to another team while still under contract. That doesn't happen often. Both occurred under shady circumstances.

The thing with BB I think has passed most Jet fans just out of sheer respect for what he's done in NE; if they still hate him it's because we ended up with Groh/Herm instead. For me, I think I could only stomach the deal with BB b/c I could somewhat understand it. The guy was about to receive a promotion & big pay raise to go from the NYJ DC to the NEP HC. At the last second, Parcells screwed him over. To compound things, Parcells was staying on as GM & therefore is STILL his boss after screwing him over.

With Herm, it was much more disgusting. MANY fans consider his situation as walking into a cushy situation he had no place getting in the first place, then squandering the opportunity, blaming his coordinators for his own incompetence, then destroying the team, then leaving - in that order. Cap it all off with consorting with another team during the season, while still acting as HC of the Jets. Clearly his mind ("mind") was elsewhere other than coaching the Jets in 2005. That's just the lowest of low.

Parcells did the same thing to NE at the end (except for the destroying the team in the end - Tuna left them with a superbowl team), which is one of the reasons so many hate him so much up there. He was consorting with Hess during friggin' superbowl week & everyone knew it. Then they lost said game. Then he took his premiere coaching staff with him & their franchise RB a year later. Ouch.

I don't think Oakland fans get all teary-eyed when they think of Chuckie either.