Hey all — R in CT here …

Like the rest of you, I’m absolutely stoked that the start of another NFL season is only hours away. As we sit here on the eve of training camp, I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, with visions of the sugar plumped (aka Kris Jenkins) — sack-dancing in my head.

As a matter of fact, I’m so fired up for football, I’m actually going to be making the long trek out to Cortland to be there for both Friday sessions and the Saturday morning session. Yeah, I’m a football geek like that. Must’ve been all the pep talks by Rex Ryan!

Chances are as you’re reading this, I’m already making my way through upstate New York — of course with Damned Connecticut-inspired side trips to the see the Cardiff Giant and the grave of the Old Leather Man. (The cross-promoting never ends!) If everything goes to plan and I don’t get lost, I’ll get to Cortland tonight, be at training camp tomorrow morning, and have some photos and observations to post during the day.

In the meantime, here are –

The Top 10 Things I’m Looking Forward to Seeing At Training Camp

10. The punter battle — With all the other changes on the team, one thing that seems to stay the same is the team’s inability to find a consistently good punter. Or any punter, really. Ben Graham, Reggie Hodges, Toby Gowin, Dan Stryzinski, Matt Turk, Tommy Parks, Daniel Pope, Tom Tupa and Jeremy Kapinos have all had tours of duty as Jets punter this decade alone — 9 guys in 9 years! If Mike Westhoff is truly a special teams guru (as I think he is), shouldn’t this problem have been solved years ago? Let’s hope this is the year they find a keeper …

9. The return of the Flight Crew — Obviously.

8. Cortland itself — Okay, I know that upstate New York isn’t exactly the most dynamic or exciting place, but I’ve always enjoyed my visits there. No crowds, open roads, pretty countryside … and “the Crown City” seems like a friendly college town. I’d probably go bonkers inside of ten minutes actually living there, but to visit for a few days should make for a nice little vacation. (Plus, I’ve heard great things about Dinosaur BBQ just a short ride up the road in Syracuse!)

7. Looking forward to seeing “Boom Boom Pow” in action — Okay, I’m calling this here and now as the official song for the Jets running backs this year!

You’ve got Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene — the BOOM and BOOM — followed by the POW of my boy, LEON!! Can’t you picture it, the stadium being shook by the thumping bass each Sunday, the crowd getting fired up … everyone is dropping the beat, the Jets are running over opponents one after another. Eventually, there’s Sports Illustrated photo shoot with each of the backs wearing a jersey emblazoned with appropriate moniker (sort of like Snap! Crackle! Pop!).

As the Boom Boom Pow backs “blow up on the spot” (’cause I’m street like that, yo), the defense then co-ops the song as part of their new attitude, and just like “The Super Bowl Shuffle,” a true team-wide theme song is set and it’s off to the playoffs! And then — cut to next year, and when the Jets are hosting that opening game on the first Thursday of the season next year as Super Bowl champs, they have Fergie and the Black-Eyed Peas performing it as they run onto the field! (Okay, not as cool as Ozzy doing “Crazy Train” for the Patriots for the 2005 opener, but still pretty awesome.) And of course, Fergie will be in a Flight Crew outfit, clumsy because she’s fallen in love with TJB!

Seriously though, Thomas Jones is a music producer — he can make this happen, right? And anyone out there who can do a mash up to these three running backs to the song, I encourage you to do it, and send it along before we’re so 2000-late.

6. Hearing Bart Scott with my own ears — A lot of has been made of the (off- and) on-field loquaciousness of the Mad Backer, so I’m looking forward to the show! After all his smack talk during minicamps, I expect him to be especially jacked and jawin’ for the first few training camp practices as the bullets are flying for real now. Let the verbal assault begin!

5. The flashers — One of my favorite moments of my visits to camp the last few years was during one of the first seven-on-seven series when I witnessed — with Bassett standing next to me — Kris Jenkins absolutely destroy Nick Mangold repeatedly. I remember we turned to each other, jaws agape, and just said, “Oh. My. God. This guy is a BEAST!”

I’m looking forward to that moment in the next few days, when during camp, a new player — be it an import like Scott or Jim Leonhard, or a rookie like Shonn Greene or Mark Sanchez — steps up and does something special, or when a lesser-known player like a Marques Murrell starts turning heads. (I remember watching Jerricho Cotchery hauling in a few long passes in training camp in 2006 just before he became a starter and thinking, “Wow, who is this guy? Does anyone else see that he’s really good?”)

Personally, I’m hoping it’s the Invisible Man, Vernon Gholston, active and visible, making big plays in the neighborhood of the quarterback!

4. Rex Ryan in action — His players allegedly would run through walls for him, and everything I’ve seen from the press conferences and read from the beat writers tells me that this guy is the anti-Mangini — a fired-up, spirited, old school ball coach who relies on his team simply lining up and knocking the crap out of opponents. The candor, the confidence, the attitude — all should be fun to see in the (abundant) flesh.

3. The team’s energy and demeanor — I’ve been to the last few training camps under Eric Mangini, so I’m familiar with the tempo, rhythm and feel of his camps and the team during them. Now I’m curious what camp is like under Ryan, how the team reacts to his motivational ploys, and how they play away from their home base at Hofstra. Do they play hard like a pack of rabid dogs, or without having to run penalty laps, are they just going to be dogging it?

2. All the Jets fans — They post YouTube videos that mock and malign us, the national press uses us as a punchline to the “same old” jokes, and football fans around the country tend to think we’re a bunch of drunken Gate D troglodytes. And maybe we are at times, but generally, you won’t find more loyal fans who want to root hard for their team.

After four decades without a championship, there are no frontrunners here (say like in *cough cough* New England *cough*), just dedicated hardcore green-and-white fans. Plus, I just love being around a lot of people who all have the same interest, which is …

1. JETS FOOTBALL, baby! I enjoy the summer and baseball (despite how brutal the Mets have been), but I LOVE the NFL even more, and after seven seemingly endless months, it’s time for the Jets to take the field again! WOOOHOO!!!

So yeah, I’m stoked. And hopefully, I’ll see a bunch of you out there! I’ll be the guy who looks nothing like Bassett.

Enjoy, my friends — our long wait is nearly over!

Filed under: Opinion/R in CT