The Trash Talk Vacuum Makes For a Lot of Silly Stories

Sunday can't get here fast enough

As you'd imagine, both of New York's big tabloids are going wall-to-wall with their Jets coverage these days.

For those of us who can remember a time when Jets games barely merited a full game story, let alone multiple columns, it's pretty cool to see them having their moment in the sun. Given the nature of this Jets team, the focus has paid off for the tabloids since there is usually so much entertaining fodder to use as launching pads for memorable headlines, cover photos and the like.

This week hasn't really worked out that way, though. There's plenty of football stuff to chatter about, but there's only so many different variations on someone trying to look smart by recognizing that Mark Sanchez is an awfully important player that one can read before reaching the saturation point. The guys at the News and the Post surely knows this, which is probably why they are reaching far enough into the bottom drawer that it is a wonder they haven't pulled muscles in their back.

The Post splashed exclusive over an interview they did with Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor which naturally grabs the eye. Did he take a page from Antonio Cromartie and call Sanchez an a-hole? Is he cracking wise about Rex Ryan's love of fallen arches? He's talking about former teammate Santonio Holmes, actually, so this must be juicy as a ripe tomato.

"I’m not going to hesitate to lay him out," Taylor said. "No question at all. You know why? Because he ain’t going to hesitate to crack on me if he gets a chance."

You can understand why they went the exclusive banner route. If they'd simply titled the story about the interview "Ike Taylor Plans to Do His Job on Sunday," you probably wouldn't have bothered to read it.

At least this had something to do with football. The News tried to gin up some controversy by airing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's gripe that the Jets play and train in New Jersey while still calling themselves a New York team. Boy, this is some fresh ground we're walking on right here. You know what else is ridiculous? Airport security, the names of the sizes at Starbucks and the way Hollywood movies cater to 12-year-old boys!

The list of people who actually care about this distinction numbers only one, but since Christie is that guy we're all forced to listen. Mayor Bloomberg tried to fire back but you can tell his heart isn't in it. Perhaps if Christie brings up snowstorms he'll get a rise out of the mayor, but he'd actually have to stick around through one of them to use that line of attack.

We're running out of time before this game, people, so let's stop wasting it on nonsense. Or at least start wasting it on nonsense with a higher entertainment value.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.

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