The Boone Docks

Thursdays are theme days in the music department when the Jets travel so today, blaring on the speakers as we walked out for practice, was Rocky Top ('Wish that I was on ole rocky top,
Down in the tennessee hills...').

After that came a jolt back to the 80’s watching Friday night television as the ole Balladeer himself Waylon Jennings came on with the theme from the Dukes of Hazzard. An odd choice in that the show had nothing at all to do with Tennessee, but more on that later.

*Bubba Franks practiced in full – or looked to; the injury report won’t come out until 4 p.m. – and appeared fluid in catching a couple of passes. Eric Smith and David Harris were missing once again and it seems a slim and none thing on either of them playing Sunday.

* Eric Mangini on the matchup of Kris Jenkins against Titans center Kevin Mawae.

“Any time you put two players of their experience, ability and styles – they are different styles of players – that’s always going to be fun to watch,” Mangini said. “Kevin is very savvy. He’s always been a very savvy guy. To see how he’s going to approach [Jenkins] will be real interesting.”

* Mangini, as he’s talked about a couple times this season, discussed Leon Washington’s long road from his first training camp when he spent much of that first summer at Hofstra running penalty laps.

“It was the fumbling, it was the struggling with the blitz pickup, the route; he was about as in shape as I was,” Mangini said with a smile. “All of those things lead to a very tough rookie camp.”

Rich Cimini from the Daily News asked if Washington’s exposure to Curtis Martin, even though Martin was on his way out, helped the rookie back.

“I definitely think that Curtis helped out,” Mangini said. “Curtis helps out a lot of people whenever he’s around. His focus is rare. I don’t know if he even dated during the season.”

I can relate.

* Anyway, I couldn’t help but notice a Boston College football jersey hanging in Washington’s locker with this note affixed:

“Love Always,
Bob Wischusen”

Curious about the amatory display, I asked both parties about it. Turns out the two had a bet on the recent football game between Florida State, Washington’s alma mater, and Boston College, Wischusen’s. Boston College won, 27-17, last weekend in Tallahassee and, hence, the BC jersey, thanks to the voice of the Jets.

Wischusen said he was required to don a Florida State jersey had the Seminoles won.

Such hard-hitting information is why you read this blog, I know.

* Thomas Jones talked a bit about the season he’s having as he’s leading the AFC with 854 rushing yards and accrued nine rushing TDs to match a career best. His 4.5 per carry average is the second best of his career, behind the 4.6 he had in 2003 with Tampa Bay, but only had 627 yards on 137 carries that season. Jones is on pace to have the best season of his career.

“Honestly, this is my ninth year in the league,” Jones said. “I’m playing this game…I want to win a Super Bowl. That’s why I’m out here doing everything I can to help this team win. So individually I’ve never been one of those people that works for individual statistics. I go out there and play as hard as I can, I work hard during the week to make sure I’m prepared for the game and I let the chips fall where they may. I’m blessed to be having a good year this year, but the main thing is we’re winning football games and that’s what’s motivating me.”

And facing a renown defense like the Titans is motivating the primary cog of the running game, the offensive line.

“Things seem to be going well, so going against the best should be a good test for us,” Nick Mangold said.

Players are very, very much looking forward to Sunday. And for different reasons than they were looking forward to New England. More on that in tomorrow’s Picks Post (I know, I know: that’s a worse tease than the typical Mike Greenberg one on Mike and Mike).

* Before departing for the afternoon, this non-football note: after the Dukes of Hazzard theme song ended, I found myself in a rather heated debate with SNY’s Steve Overmyer (happy birthday, btw, once again to his resplendent producer, Katie Sadler) about where the show was supposedly based. Overmyer swore up, down and sideways that it was in Kentucky because it apparently has a Hazzard County (and it’s with one “Z” I’m just now seeing, the one in Kentucky). Anyway, I said the show, without question, was based in Georgia because of the flag and a lot of the humor that I remembered. Overmyer was convinced he was right because, “I grew up in Indiana,” which I found to be about as relevant as if he had said, "I like baked beans, tin foil and Charleston Chews."

So here’s the final word from the Dukes of Hazzard trivia page on imdb.com:

“The name of the state that Hazzard County was in was never explicitly revealed. However, it was within driving distance of Atlanta, Georgia and in ‘Happy Birthday General Lee’ Boss Hogg tells Daisy she has ‘the best legs in all of Georgia.'"

The glasses have been placed on the bar, courtesy of Boss Hogg. Overmyer, I’ll collect on our bet in Nashville. Cash, please. And with that, I’m out. Speaking of resplendence, Katie Strang fills in for me Friday at The Fort, but I’ll be checking in tomorrow night with the Friday Picks Post.