Luke's Blog

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i wrote a post before the season questioning the Jets pick-up of Brett Favre.  I was wondering if Brett Favre might have a negative overall impact on the team instead of being "the anser".

I thought i would revisit it now.

So we have a 1-2 Jets team.  The one win came over the Dolphins, a team that one 1 game last year and accounted for 2 of the Jets 4 wins last year.  Maybe the NFL could schedule the Jets to play Miami 9 times a year.

Brett Favre's wild cowboy style of flinging the ball has had mixed results.  His hail mary in Miami gave them a score that was the difference maker.  Had that ball not been caught the Jets would probably be 0-3.  His style didn't work so well against the Patriots and Chargers.

Speaking of the Patriots, we know how beatable they should have been for the Jets after watching Miami dismantle them.

I know this is a long season and the Jets can still make the playoffs but Buffalo appears to be the new class of the division.  Meanwhile instead of developing a quarterback of the future the Jets are letting a retiree have some fun at their expense. 

If you have a son or daughter who plays high school sports, we have a new way to highlight them. Our high school sports site, MyFoxLocker.com , is now featuring an Athlete Of The Week for the site and Sports Extra on Sunday nights on Fox 5. You can nominate them on the site.

I'm taking part in the annual City to the Shore MS 150 bike ride this month down in South Jersey.  I did one about 15 years ago on a mountain bike.  Decided to do this one on a road bike.  I've been doing more running than biking until very recently.  I started running on a corporate team for 3.5 milers in central park.  I had never run before so I concentrated on that for a couple of months to get a half-way respectable time in that event so I've been slow training on the bike.  I've been taking spin class a few days a week but not as much road work as I need to so I'll probably be really sore after day 1 leading into day 2.  If you want to donate here's the link:

MS RIDE DONATIONS

It's day one of the Brett Favre "Era" for Gang Green.  I can't help but think this is going to end badly for the Jets.

On paper, this creates a better Jet squad.  It certainly makes the team more entertaining and perhaps a bigger draw than the Super Bowl Champions that share their home.

I just think there is going to be a big chemistry problem on this team and when a 38-year-old quarterback finally starts feeling his age on the field the disappointments will mount.

The Jets need a spark after last year's season, but they don't need something that might very well burn down anything they were building.

What are your thoughts?

I have such a better experience on the new double-decker NJ Transit trains that I've actually changed my commute times in order to ride them.

If you don't ride the Jersey train, I'll give you a little background.  There are 3 classes of trains.

1.  Really old - single level trains with 3 seats on one side, 2 on the other side of the aisle.  Seats so old that you sink into them and feel the springs.  Everything is so dirty that you feel like you need to shower again after reaching work.  Too few seats that people stand in the aisles and in between cars.

2.  Kind of old - single level trains with 3 seats on one side, 2 on the other side of the aisle.  Seats are not as bad and there feels to be a little more room in the cars.  Signs and recorded announcements alert riders about next station.

3. Brand new.  2-level trains with 2-molded seats on each side of the aisle.  A few single seats at end of  upper level of cars.  Standing area inside ends of car.  Signs and recorded announcements.  Clean.  Usually everyone gets a seat.

I ride the Northeast Corridor.  During the morning and afternoon commute we had been subjected to only the trains that fall into category 1.  Then we started getting a few of the category 3 trains sprinkled in.

I will go out of my way to ride these trains because it makes such a difference on my commute.

I was reminded of the way I've tried to forget about as I rode in this morning at a different time than normal.  I got to be wedged in between two people in a middle seat, but at least I got one.

I'm a much happier commuter on a holiday week.  There was light traffic on the way to the train station this morning.  The NJ Transit train was half empty.  There were fewer people on my subway line.

Love it!

I feel like I'm about to jinx the Cubs but I really feel like this team is for real this year.  I like this team better than the one that was 5 outs from the World Series.  I know it's very early in the season to be talking about post-season baseball but this team seems to always find a way to win.

They are just about unbeatable at home.  If they win home field advantage they will be hard to knock out.

They hit when it was cold.  That's key in the drawn out playoffs.

Their relief pitching has been very strong.  Marmol and Wood has been impressive in the 8th and 9th.

They won without Soriano.  When he went out for awhile the team kept winning.

Their starting pitching seems to be the only real weak point on this team.  Hopefully a trade near the deadline will add that extra quality starter to the mix.  The other thing is the true injury bug has not hit this team.  If Lee goes down for a considerable length of time it would be bad and if Zambrano's arm gets hurt, forget about it.

Much like George from Seinfeld, I have the goal of the summer of Luke.  It's the dream summer where everything goes perfect.  My perfect summer would be oone with the temperature never hitting 80 degrees.  Much like George, my summer never turns out the way I planned.  I was just hoping to make it a lot further into the summer before seeing triple digits!

Oh well, each summer day brings me closer to the crisp fall evenings with orange leaves blowing in the wind and the smell of a fire in the fireplace.

RIP Harvey Korman... one of my fond childhood memories was watching him, with my mom and dad, on the Carol Burnett show.

 

I finally got to go to the postponed Van Halen show at Madison Square Garden last night.  I did something I wish I had done at the hundreds of concerts I went to when I was younger.  I wore ear plugs.  I've done it for the past few shows I've been to.  It's great to hear the music, have a beer and have a good time and not have to pay for it with ringing ears and added hearing loss.  I went to a couple of concerts when I was a kid that left me with ringing ears for 2-3 days after the show.  That sounds really healthy!  If only I had protected my ears.  Oh well, wisdom is not for the young.

While watching Idol on Wednesday, I couldn't decide if George Michael looked more like Robert DeNiro at the end of Casino or Junior from the Sopranos.  What a mess.

Call me a cynic but I just don't buy the man's story and if it's true it's not worth two million dollars.

In case you have not heard a Gokhan Mutlu of Manhattan is suing JetBlue claiming the pilot made him give up his seat to a flight attendant and sit on the toilet on a flight to New York from California.

According to court papers Mutlu was traveling from San Diego using a standby travel voucher that JetBlue emplyees give to friends.

Mutlu claims he was told a flight attendant had taken the last seat on the plane, but then he was advised she would sit in the employee "jump seat," meaning he could have the last seat but 90 minutes into the flight the flight attendant found the jump seat uncomfortable and the pilot made him give up his seat.  He claims he wasn't allowed to sit in the jump seat because of JetBlue rules and the pilot told him to hang out in the bathroom.

He claims another flight attendant knocked on the restroom door and told Mutlu he could return to his original seat.

JetBlue can't comment on the suit because it could hurt them in court but I'll do the talking for them... it sounds like a load of bull.

I had three invitations from people I know for a new networking site.  I'm not even going to bother to name it.  I had not heard of it before today.  I have no intention to join it.  I'm already in 3-4 other ones.  They are pretty much all the same.  It isn't fun trying to keep up with them as they add new features and must-do items.

Maybe this new site is the holy-grail of networking sites.  I'll wait until 100-million other people decree it and then I will join.  Until then, no thank you.

It's a day many office workers, especially childless people, dread:  Take Your Child to Work Day.

In the ever-growing culture of over-nurturing our youngsters companies allow people to drag their ill-mannered, loud and bored children into the workplace to make everyone see how miserable their home-life has become since they started having babies.

The day was started as Bring Your Daughter to Work Day but someone had to complain that little Johnny was left out so this day of torture was doubled in size.  It's turned into a foundation with an advisory board, Web site and 800-number.  The site is complete with a merchandise section to buy gifts Do we really need all of this?

What exactly are the kids supposed to get out of this?  Maybe they could find out how companies can lose a huge chunk of productivity for the day by distractions that have nothing to do with the office's mission  Maybe they could see how building sanitation workers can work a little harder than normal by having to clean pizza stains off of the wall.

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