E-Boland & Gang Green

By Tom Rock

Ducked into NYC yesterday for the Chad Pennington taping of “Centerstage”, but before that I spent some time with Jets center Nick Mangold, who was taking part in a promotion for Reebok’s “Run Easy” campaign. The pairing originally made little sense to me … if you are going to pick a pro athlete to be a spokesman for running easy, who better than a 300-pound offensive lineman??? That, it turns out, was exactly the point the Reebok people wanted to convey, that running doesn’t have to be grueling and anyone can run and adopt a healthy lifestyle at their own pace. Even comedian Jim Breuer of SNL fame was on hand to lend his support. Goat Boy in ‘Boks. Fun stuff.

Mangold looks great, even bigger than during his rookie season. Maybe he’s been swiping some of the food from D’Brickashaw’s plate this offseason. Anyway, he seemed a little upset with the Jets about drafting another player from Michigan. I kid, of course, but the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry is nothing to joke about for the Buckeyes and Wolverines. Mangold, one of the funniest Jets, laughed it off.

We spoke about him watching this year’s draft as a fan. He said last year he was anxious with his obvious personal stake in the process, but even the two or three years prior to that he said the draft weekend was an intense time because he was trying to learn as much about what happens and why it happens as possible. I guess I never thought about it that way, in terms of guys watching to learn what will eventually (hopefully) happen to them. Goes to show why Mangold fits the Jets mold for preparedness and studying.

Anyway, he said it was nice to just have it on the TV in the background. Now that he’s a Jet, he said, the draft isn’t the center of his life. “Oh yeah, the draft, that’s this weekend,” he said, relaying his thoughts from last week. Of course, eight or 10 years from now, when the Jets or whatever team Mangold is playing for drafts two offensive linemen in the first round, he’ll be paying attention. That’s the circle of life in the NFL.

A few other notes from my visit with Nick:

He and his wife bought a place on Long Island and spent the off-season here.

He said the acquisition of Thomas Jones is exciting, and that a lot of players have already cozied up to the new RB to ask about his Super Bowl experiences from last year. He said that the players didn’t swarm Jones, but pretty much each of them has gone up and introduced themselves. I guess only sportswriters attack in packs.

He didn’t recall Michigan LB and Jets second-rounder David Harris much from their meetings in the annual Blue and Red grudge match. But, he said, he doesn’t remember much about his college days, which seem like a lifetime ago. “People were asking me questions about people coming out this year, Tony Gonzalez (the TE from Ohio State, not the future HofF TE for the Chiefs), and I couldn’t remember much about them,” he said. “We spent every day together in college a year ago, and now it seems like it was 10 years ago.”

He said he’s been working on his “explosiveness” this off-season. He said watching film of the top centers in the league showed him that they all have a lightning-quick first step, and he’s been focused on improving his.

And, he said he is excited about mini-camp and training camp, but at this time last year he was “terrified” at the prospect of showing up as a rookie. Now, of course, it’s someone else’s turn to be terrified.

As for the Pennington taping, I won’t be a spoiler. But I will say that Chad was very engaging and entertaining. It’ll be worth watching for the moments when he jokes about wanting to put on boxing gloves and punch out Mangini (at least I think he was joking), about him growing up in Tennessee and Marshall, and some interesting advice that Broadway Joe once gave him regarding, of all things, penmanship. He also spoke kindly of Randy Moss, now a Patriot, and shed some light on Moss’ behavior and actions. But during a word-association game at the end, there was hardly a sliver of hesitation when Michael Kaye asked what teams he dislikes the most. Just happens to be Randy’s new team.

After the interview, Chad stayed for about 15 minutes and took questions from the audience (a Q&A portion fo the show was scratched for time). Then, after that, Cimini and I were able to grab him for a few quick questions. I reported most of what he said about Randy Moss in today’s paper. Sounds like Chad really wanted his Marshall buddy to come to the Jets. He was asked about the possibility of Keyshawn, and he was a little less committed to the idea. “Whatever Coach Mangini and Mike want to do,” he said. Penning was drafted by the Jets in 2000, the year after Keyshawn’s final season with the Jets, so they were never teammates. Or, have not yet been teammates. One never knows.