NY Times "Feel Good" Jets Coverage

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how touchy feely the NY Times Jet coverage has become?

Here is lede from today's story:

The excitement Sunday night in Eric Mangini’s home was palpable. Mangini, the Jets’ first-year coach, felt it as soon as he walked through the door.

Mangini’s 2-year-old son, Jake, was aglow after talking on the telephone with the Sesame Street character Elmo in a conversation that he was told his father had arranged. That made Mangini a magic man in his son’s eyes

I feel like I am reading the Ladies Home Journal. Way too much human interest and not enough football.

The stories would be of interest if there was also a football story as well, but not as only Jet story of day.

Last week we read about Eric Mangold's 300 lbs sister and not enough about Jet game plan.

Just saying I want to see more football. I want to read about the Jet's offense and its ever increasing sophiscation. This week vs Packers they ran more sets than Florida yet there was nothing writen about it.

 

You start dissing Karen Crouse, and Mizzougrad (and a few others) will be all over you.

 

Its not like that has not happend before.

Seriously spnited, what do you think? You if anyone would certainly be qualified to render opinion on this since you have been around NY sports scene for a while.

 

My initial reaction was what the hell is that?

Then I began to wonder about a few other things:
Was Karen at Mangini's house Sunday night?
Did Mangini tell this story is his presser Monday?
There is no indiciation where this info came from. Did Karen go "Albom" on us (not that I think for a minute she'd make stuff up)?
I was just befuddled as to why you'd back into a story that way and where the info came from.

I guess it's striving to be different. I don't know..

 

Jesus, guys, it is December, the season is already long, and it's coming up on Christmas, where human-interest stories, as we used to call them, dominate every part of the paper.
I'd cut Karen and the NYT some slack here.

 

But its been a full season of human interest. The Times has "Waldmanized" the Jets.

Nothing wrong with the stories but do them as feature and not primary Jet story for day.

 

I don't follow the Jets; there's no byline on the excerpt so I don't know who wrote it or anything about the writer other than what's been mentioned here.

It's sappy. Yes, Slappy thinks its sappy. Savvy?

 

But is it sloppy, Slappy?

 

I found it to be more happy and pappy and bursting with love.

 

Not to be silly, but would Sally have written this?

I am with spnited on this--the Elmo story seems like an odd lead here.

 

Karen is a people person. The NYT knew that when it hired her. In fact, that's probably why it hired her. If it wanted someone to give a coaching seminar every day, there was no shortage of candidates. Her approach yielded the Coles/molested story last season, without a doubt the most memorable Jets story in recent years. If you don't like that approach, fine, you have other options, but understand this is probably not a shortcoming on the writer's part but a deliberate attempt by writer and newspaper to go a different way. Your criticism is like saying a team runs too much at the expense of passing -- you could be right, but this was the game plan all along and there are reasons why.

That said, Karen is one of the most decent and hardworking people I've met in this business. It is hard work to gain athletes' trust enough that they let you see into their personal lives. You don't get there by just shoving a tape recorder in their faces after a tough game and asking them about their kids. It requires building trust. And she must be on target because by now the players should know what kinds of stories she pursues.

 

I'm not questiong any of that, Frank
But her's the whole story and I still don't understand what the lede has to do with anything:

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Dec. 4 — The excitement Sunday night in Eric Mangini’s home was palpable. Mangini, the Jets’ first-year coach, felt it as soon as he walked through the door.

Mangini’s 2-year-old son, Jake, was aglow after talking on the telephone with the Sesame Street character Elmo in a conversation that he was told his father had arranged. That made Mangini a magic man in his son’s eyes.

Fans in New York are looking at the 35-year-old Mangini in much the same way after the Jets’ 38-10 victory Sunday against the Green Bay Packers that left the Jets (7-5) with a better record than the Giants (6-6).

The Jets, who many considered would finish at the bottom of the standings, are tied with four other teams for the fifth-best record in the American Football Conference. The Giants, who were widely projected to be a Super Bowl contender a month ago, lost their fourth consecutive game Sunday.

The Giants’ best pass rusher, the injured Michael Strahan, a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, has 132½ career sacks. The Jets have Bryan Thomas, a former first-round pick with 13 career sacks.

The Giants’ quarterback, Eli Manning, is a former first-rounder who has two other N.F.L. quarterbacks in his family. The quarterback of the Jets, Chad Pennington, is a former first-rounder who has had two career-threatening shoulder operations.

The Jets have 1,326 yards rushing as a team. Tiki Barber has rushed for 1,170 yards for the Giants.

The Giants have a coach, Tom Coughlin, who preaches discipline. The Jets, under Mangini, are practicing it.

The Jets do not criticize their teammates in the news media because they know Mangini would fine them. They are not making many dumb mistakes because Mangini makes them run extra laps in practice for every dumb mistake.

The Jets do not have to report to team meetings early to be considered on time, but they do choose to stay late to study so they have the answers for Mangini’s weekly quizzes.

They are constantly striving to impress their coach, who holds nobody’s starting job sacred.

“They are doing all the things we ask them to do,” Mangini said. “And then the players are doing so much more on top of that between the film study, the extra conditioning at practice. It’s all the stuff that they’re doing on a consistent basis outside of what I think is fairly challenging practices that’s helping us to make progress every week.”

In the past four games, the Jets have played clean football, averaging 3.5 penalties. They have been aggressive, converting three of five fourth-down situations. They have been efficient, converting 42 percent of their third downs. And they have been defensively sound, limiting their opponents to 9 points in the first half (and no touchdowns).

They are 3-1 since their bye week, their only blemish a 10-0 defeat to the Chicago Bears a week after the Bears handed the Giants a 38-20 loss on the same Meadowlands field. The Jets have defeated the New England Patriots and the Packers on the road and the Houston Texans at home.

Their four remaining opponents — Buffalo, Minnesota, Miami and Oakland — have a combined record of 17-31. Around the New York area, a jet stream of positive vibrations is gathering force.

“I appreciate the excitement,” Mangini said. “I appreciate the fans’ excitement. I think that’s great. But if we lose track of the next game and get caught up in the other things that are happening, then that’s when you let a game slip away or you let some level of preparation slip away. It really won’t matter what happens outside of this building if we’re not continually focused on the task at hand.”

Mangini does not look at the season as being three-quarters over. “There’s still a quarter of the season left,” he said. “A lot of football. So that’s what we’re focusing on.”