As Gang Green Turns: It’s a Hard Knock Life

As anyone who has seen this season’s Hard Knocks on HBO can tell you, it probably isn’t the worst place in the world for a football team to get exposure. Yes, you get a weekly dose of Gang Green in all its glory and infamy, with coach Rex Ryan getting a little heat for his language from Tony Dungy and inspiring Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to say he doesn’t watch the show and “hates” the Jets. Is this the way to conduct a preseason or what?

Now we hear reports that on tonight’s episode of the show that we could have a special guest star: contract holdout Darrelle Revis. Is this just a good ploy to spike those viewer ratings or is it a way to finally get both sides to the table? There are always rumors in the world of Gang Green, and there have been plenty of them going around this week that Revis was close to a deal. But then we get alternating stories about the Jets and Revis being about as far apart as the Golden Gate and George Washington Bridges.

A report in the New York Daily News last week suggested that both sides were $40 million apart in the negotiations, and there has been no budging from either side as we reach day twenty-four in Revis’s holdout. That is why these rumors about Revis appearing on tonight’s episode of Hard Knocks, while intriguing to say the least, seem dubious. During this whole time the team has maintained that negotiations are “confidential,” and so we have heard nothing new; that is nothing new except for all the rumblings, grumblings, and gossip that gets dissected on talk radio day after day.

What is interesting to note is that a significant deal was announced regarding All-Pro center Nick Mangold. He signed a seven-year deal making him the highest paid center in the NFL ($57 million). The whole Revis thing looks considerably more disdainful when we note that Mangold came to camp without a deal. While he may or may not have known a deal would be reached, Mangold took the view of the team coming first. Revis is making it clear that he comes first, but maybe tonight things will change in the unreal world of reality TV.

How long can this holdout last? Maybe all season? “Who cares!” the Jets will tell us, courtesy of the tunnel known as Rex Ryan’s mouth. He says that they are confident in Antonio Cromartie stepping up on the left and rookie Kyle Wilson on the right, backed by the less than astounding Dwight Lowery and Drew Coleman. “To the right of them; to the left of them.” Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah, but things have to be considerably better for the Jets without Revis than those Light Brigade guys Tennyson wrote about, right?

So tune in tonight to see if the green really hits the fan: same Gang Green time; same Gang Green station. There could be some genuine fireworks, and even if Ryan doesn’t shoot his mouth off, Revis just might show up. Da-da-da-dum.