ed, the Patriots knew nothing about it.Its the last time I plan

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan might have once shared a golf cart, making small talk during an uneventful ride around Washington Redskins training camp 25 years ago or so.The details are fuzzy, but Bowles was a safety in the prime of his playing career and Maccagnan, an eager intern in the front office.I probably checked Todd into training camp, Maccagnan recalled Wednesday.Little did the two know that they would someday share the spotlight as the leaders of the New York Jets new regime — Bowles as coach and Maccagnan as general manager.Although we never really interacted a lot, its kind of ironic our paths have crossed even though we are from two different backgrounds, 40-something miles apart, Maccagnan said at the teams introductory news conference.This is a homecoming of sorts for both Bowles, who grew up in Elizabeth, about 19 miles southeast, and was the Jets secondary coach in 2000, and Maccagnan, whos from Hightstown, about 50 miles south of team headquarters. They both know the history of the franchise, from Broadway Joe making good on his Super Bowl guarantee in 1969 to the failure to make the big game since.Were going to try to build a championship team here, Bowles said. Thats my only job.Funny thing is, Maccagnan thinks theres a good chance the two actually first crossed paths in the late-1970s. Maccagnans father was a teacher at the Peddie School, while Bowles played football at Elizabeth High School. When Maccagnan picked up Bowles from the airport for his second interview with the Jets last week, the two talked about their New Jersey roots.Maccagnan realized that Bowles football team would often have preseason practices at Peddie in 1978 or 79. And thats when it hit the new Jets GM.I actually went out there and probably watched their practices, Maccagnan said, not realizing that 50 yards away, Todd was running around as a junior or senior in high school.Now, theyre on the same team, two Jersey guys aiming to turn around the Jets fortunes after four straight years without making the playoffs.It was just one of those situations that just felt right, Maccagnan said.Maccagnan was hired last Tuesday to replace the fired John Idzik. Bowles was signed a day later to replace Rex Ryan.Ive been at it 15 years now and hopefully, Im making better decisions or good decisions because, yeah, you have to win these games and you have to get to the next level, owner Woody Johnson said. Each of the gentlemen sitting to my left are, in my estimation, the people to do it.And unlike Ryans first brash, headline-making news conference with the Jets in 2009, Bowles offered no Super Bowl guarantees but rather modest goals focused on restoring a winning approach.Were going to be a tough team, Bowles promised, an intelligent team.A few months into his tenure, Ryan declared that he didnt come to New York to kiss (Bill) Belichicks rings. Bowles was asked about those same rings, and managed not to provide the New England Patriots with any bulletin board material.Im going to work on getting my own rings, he said.The 51-year-old spent the last two seasons as Arizonas defensive co-ordinator. Before that, he worked with some of the games most successful coaches — Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs and George Seifert to name a few — first as a player during his eight-year NFL career and then as an assistant coach.As you get older, you evolve and you learn more of the football game, Bowles said. And in 2007, maybe 2007-08, I started to think, OK, Im starting to learn the game pretty good. If I can get some things down, if Im good enough and somebody is lucky enough to see me as a head coach, it was about that time.Maccagnan, 47, had been with the Houston Texans since the franchises inception in 2000, brought on board by Charley Casserly — who Johnson tapped as a consultant in the Jets hiring process. Maccagnan had carved out a reputation as a tireless scout who identified key players for the Texans over the years.People in my profession work their entire career to get an opportunity like this, Maccagnan said. This is my lifes passion, my dream. And to actually have this opportunity, basically 50 miles from where I grew up is truly a dream come true.After that car ride together last week, it didnt take long for Bowles and Maccagnan to feel comfortable tackling a new challenge with the Jets — together.We hit it off, Bowles said, smiling. So, going forward, its going to be a dream working with this guy.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP_NFL Wholesale NCAA Jerseys . -- Another baseball tradition is about to largely disappear: a manager, with a crazed look in his eyes, charging the field and getting into a face-to-face shouting match with an umpire. College Jerseys Outlet . Zimmermann became the National Leagues first 16-game winner, pitching seven solid innings to lead the Washington Nationals past the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 Wednesday night. https://www.ncaajerseys2020.com/ .S. routed Sweden 7-0 Sunday to win its fourth straight title and seventh overall under-18 world championship. Olson earned his third shutout of the tournament and the Americans allowed only four goals in six games to set an International Ice Hockey Federation under-18 record. Cheap NCAA Jerseys Authentic . For one, he still gets to crank the intensity to the max. "I push pretty angry. I ran pretty angry too though, but I have fun doing it," Lumsden said. Fake College Jerseys .com) - Manchester City will face a steep test in the Champions League knockout stage as the English champions were drawn with Barcelona on Monday.PHOENIX - This is not a story about Super Bowl Media Day. Thank God. This IS a story about the story of Super Bowl Media Day.Its a story about the media covering other media pretending to cover players and coaches for the Patriots and Seahawks, who, in turn, will pretend to shed light on the issues of the day while also taking videos with their iPhones, clowning with credentialed reporters dressed up as superheroes and dodging the occasional wedding proposal. (See, Tom Brady, 2008.)Tickets for Tuesdays annual Super Bowl Media Day extravaganza are available for $28.50 — really — and have been since 2012.All of which leads to a few journalistically significant questions: Namely, if the players and coaches dont really want to do it — yes, thats you, Bill Belichick and Marshawn Lynch — and if were almost certain they wont say anything newsworthy beyond a few takes that might generate a was-it-or-wasnt-it-trash-talk debate, then why does the NFL insist they talk? On Media Day or any other day?Its not so much that anyones really expecting any great insight, said Bob Thompson, the pop culture guru at Syracuse University. Its not that were expecting the athletes to deconstruct what happened in ways that will open new venues of thought for us. But theres still that desire to see them respond, to see them with the helmet off and see them doing something that looks off the cuff. I think everybody, even the most cynical people, would miss it if it went away entirely.The history of Media Day, and mandatory player availability, actually has deep roots and has played a key role in making the NFL Americas most popular sport and the Super Bowl its most-watched TV program.The first news-making quote of Super Bowl week came in 1969 when Joe Namath guaranteed his New York Jets would beat the Baltimore Colts, even though the Jets were from the upstart AFL and were 18-point underdogs.He first uttered the famous words at a Miami Touchdown Club banquet, three days before the game, then expanded on them while lounging by the pool at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. Neither rendition was widely reported.Only after New Yorks 16-7 win did the quote become legendary.As the years passed, the NFL realized it would be better to move all these interviews — all these chances to make history — to a more official setting: And so, a media day on the Tuesday before the game was created.By the mid-80s, media day became MEDIA DAY. These days, there are upward of 2,000 reporters, cameramen, brides and sock puppets credentialed for the interview-fest — one hour for each team, counted down on the big scoreboard above, just like the game.It is, at best, entertainment disguised as journalism, though not all of it is worthless or totally unmemorable. Ray Buchanan wore a silver-spiked dog collar. Chris Culliveer got into hot water when he dissed gay people.dddddddddddd And there was, of course, the question asked of Doug Williams: How long have you been a black quarterback? though the question wasnt asked precisely that way.Underneath all this fun and games, the NFL has spent decades honing a strict interview policy designed to keep the mikes in front of these players, virtually all season long.Even when they dont want the attention.Exhibit A is Lynch, the Seahawks running back, who has been fined $100,000 over the last two years for not making himself available for interviews. When he has made himself available, the sessions have turned into farce, with Lynch answering every question with some version of , Thanks for asking, while the reporters come up with new, weird ways to bait a man they know will not respond.Earlier this month, a Seahawks fan petitioned the NFL to leave Lynch alone, saying the league should do something to stop the media bullying.Theres a great deal spoken in his silence, too, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll explained.Whether Lynch shows up for Media Day — hed be risking an almost certainly unprecedented fine — and what he says figures to pass for some of the biggest news of Media Day. And if he says anything at all of interest, it could, at least for the news cycle, bump Deflategate off the top of the ticker.Speaking of which, Belichick called an impromptu news conference Saturday to address their role in the deflated-balls controversy once and for all. Essentially, he claimed, the Patriots knew nothing about it.Its the last time I plan to talk about it, he said.Brian Billick, who coached the champion Ravens in 2000, played the same sort of game the Monday before the Super Bowl, reaming the media for its refusal to let go of murder charges against Ray Lewis that were dismissed.As much as you want to do this, we are not going to retry this. Its inappropriate, and youre not qualified, Billick said.It was one of the very few times a coach used any of his five hours behind the microphone during Super Bowl week to say anything unexpected or interesting.A calculated move, he called it. I wanted everyone to come after my ass, he said this week, reflecting on the moment.As I always said, Ill fill up your notebook, Ill give you the 30-second sound bite, Billick said. But Im not obligated to tell you anything.But Belichick is no Billick.The Patriots coach almost seems to delight in being unforthcoming, cantankerous and un-entertaining. Its a sure thing hell spend his hour at Media Day with zero intention of saying anything about anything anyone might want to know about, particularly Deflategate.It doesnt mean the media wont try. Perhaps through a marriage proposal.It is, after all, Media Day.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '