Dustin Keller, speaking with reporters a few moments ago on a conference call after officially signing his new multi-year contract, sounded as if Thursday and the first day of training camp can't get here soon enough.

"I'm just happy to have everything done and officially be a New York Jet," Keller said. "It's good to get down to real football business."

Of course, he's been doing that to a degree already as rookies really don't get the time off veterans do. The time between the end of minicamp and training camp is when even coaches take vacations, but the Jets rookies spent most of that time studying and working out at Hofstra. But when the veterans report Thursday, Keller said, he'll feel "on par" with them in terms of knowledge.

"I feel pretty comfortable with the offense so far," Keller siad. "I'm feeling a lot more comfortable as far as the ins and outs of it."

Keller said in some ways it's as if minicamp never ended, meaning early mornings, meetings with coaches, weight room sessions and filmwork, with work days sometimes lasting 8-10 hours. Not that he was complaining.

"At first it seems overwhelming but you get used to it," he said. "You realize all these things are making you better."

As for the contract hammered out by his agent Eugene Parker, Keller said it was important for it to be done early.

"I didn’t want to miss out on anything," he said.

Now he won't. Not that Keller thought he would.

"There was never any doubt in my mind this would be done on time," he said.

*And Darrell, that now makes SEVEN posts in three days. I'd say it's time to hit the golf course this weekend, but John Z. might go Kendall on me if I suggest that. Oh, and JayM, I just saw your question about Gholston: no, he is not doing anything with the rookies now. He, by league rule, cannot report for camp until signing.

My work is done here.

Well, not quite. For those who didn't get through on Wednesday's live chat, we'll be doing another one next Wednesday, the day before training camp starts, at 1 p.m. More to come. But not tonight. I need to watch Greta for the latest on Favre. As always, I report, you decide.

"We are developing our PSL plan that we will announce at the end of August," team spokesperson Bruce Speight said late this afternoon.

And there you have it.

Newsday's Neil Best asked Giants co-owner John Mara on a conference call earlier this afternoon if he could envision the Jets deciding NOT to go with PSLs, and this was Mara's response:

"Let's just say I'd be surprised [if the Jets didn't] because they're carrying the same debt we're carrying," Mara said.

If you'd like some leisure reading, this is the letter Mara and Steve Tisch sent to season ticket holders, this was the news release and here is the seating chart, complete with PSL and game-ticket pricing.

I always have a favorite part of these PSL letters - in the Jets survey I noted the just horrendous "a PSL" is like "a taxi medallion" comparison and I'm sure there will be some fine fertilizer spread around in late August - and this was today's winner from Mara/Tisch:

"At a cost of more than $1.6 billion, the new stadium development is the largest 100 percent privately financed stadium project in the United States. As with the other NFL cities that have recently opened new or significantly renovated stadiums, we cannot build these new facilities without the sale of PSLs (Personal Seat Licenses) to Giants Season Ticket Holders."

I'm pretty sure the last part of that sentence should not be accepted at face value, but even if it is true, here's the problem: No poll, to my knowledge, showed New York fans demanding that the Giants or the Jets undertake the most expensive stadium project in American sports history. It's disingenuous to imply that somehow this was demanded by fans and therefore, they should help with the costs.

And the "100 percent privately financed stadium" verbiage should probably be dropped from future literature as well considering PSLs make that kind of not true.

Fifth round pick Erik Ainge and first-round picks Dustin Keller and Vernon Gholston remain unsigned from this year's draft class.

Gazing back was a group that can be best described as a “where are they now” picture for a bunch of people probably picked last for playground games many years before. [Excluding, of course, the Jets PR staff and what seems to be an athletic collection of interns].

We’re talking about the Jets beat reporters from the various media organizations in New York and New Jersey that cover the team on a regular basis, invited to Weeb Ewbank Hall for a day entitled – on the Evite – “Learn defense with Eric Mangini.”

It was a three-hour whirlwind of terminology, charts, film and rapid-fire lecturing/questioning from Mangini, all meant to give those reporting on the team an inside look at what a Jets player experiences almost on a daily basis.

It started with Mangini distributing to each of us an actual playbook. We’ve all seen them in players’ lockers but might be led out in cuffs if ever caught trying to peer inside. Today, we were given a tour through just one section of the playbook, and “tour” is the appropriate word. Size-wise, envision two Manhattan phonebooks bound together. For instance, there were 48 pages on offensive terminology alone. And that was before going through some of the plays, an amalgam of “Xs” and “Ys” and “Zs” running pattern after pattern, page by page by page….

Though the day was about defense, Mangini started with some basic offensive concepts; for instance a call with “22” indicates a formation with two backs, two tight ends and one receiver [a “21” would be two backs, one tight end and two receivers]. Blocking schemes have their own descriptions as well, ACE and ICE but two examples.

As for defense, Mangini photocopied and handed out to us one defense he wanted us to learn. It was a basic 3-4 front that called for a five-man rush, one safety deep and five players in man coverage.

His teaching of that one defense and the seemingly endless adjustments possible off of it based on the offense’s approach reminded me of a classic scene from Back to School when Rodney Dangerfield’s character, Thornton Melon, is in front of his professors to take a three-hour oral exam.

The stuffy English professor, Dr. Phillip Barbay, says to Dangerfield’s character, Thornton Melon, “I only have one question…”

Pause, while Melon briefly exhales.

“In 27 parts.”

Sigh.

There is a professorial quality – though nothing approaching stuffiness – to Mangini, a comparison made by Jets PR boss Bruce Speight. Mangini, obviously, has an expert grasp of the subject matter but also an ability to put it in “real” terms in order to teach it.

Well, sort of.

Mangini likes to put his players on the spot during – or even before – meetings. One thing he likes to do with rookies is in the minicamp distribute everyone’s picture to a rookie, then call on that rookie the next day to stand up and identify as many players as he can. That's 80-90 players.

Today, after everyone in the auditorium introduced themselves, I heard, “Erik, stand up.”

(My thought at that precise moment: insert the "Oh -- " sentence structure of your choice).

“Turn around and give the names of the other people standing up,” Mangini said, gesturing to the five people, Jets employees that I thankfully knew, who were standing.

He said it quite evenly, though for some reason it made me feel as if I was one of R. Lee Ermy's recruits in Full Metal Jacket. It was a severely scaled down version of what Mangini has his players do but the point is, had Mangini put a family photo in front of me – mine not his – I probably would have had to think hard before answering.

Fortunately, when Mangini started quizzing us on formations and even called a few reporters up to draw up defenses for some offensive plays, he didn't get around to my name in that particular game of roulette.

My thoughts during the exercise and now: how do any of these players keep all this stuff straight, either in games or practice, or a meeting for that matter?

If you’ve read this far, thanks. Something to make you feel good about this season? Well, toward the end of the session, Mangini ran through some game film from his two years on the job and some of this season’s minicamp practices. He several times pointed out the intellect of his linebackers – David Harris and Eric Barton in particular – on certain plays, and from one of the minicamp workouts he highlighted a specific bit of teamwork from the new offensive line. He also singled out Darrelle Revis, running back the film several times in showing the second-year cornerback using near perfect technique at the line in taking Terrell Owens completely out of the play.

Anyway, in terms of the day, which was Mangini's idea, it was instructive and he didn’t seem in a hurry to end it. Overall – counting the mini press conference at the very end he gave for some of our pre-training camp stories that will be coming this weekend – Mangini spent roughly four hours talking and teaching football.

And I never got the idea Mangini’s plan was to humiliate anyone. He certainly could have done that at will had that been the idea. Rather, I think 1.) he wanted to give us a rarely seen look at what his players go through and 2.) teach us something new about the sport we cover.

Mission accomplished on both fronts.

In the end, I was reminded of George Plimpton’s seminal book, Paper Lion. During the writer's time in training camp with the Lions, Plimpton was given occasion to play ever so briefly at quarterback in a scrimmage. Remembering later how the fans in attendance that day gave him a loud ovation after a slew of clumsy mistakes, Plimpton wrote:

“It verified the assumption that the average fan would have about an amateur blundering into the brutal world of professional football. The outsider did not belong, and there was comfort in that being proved.”

NOTE IF YOU’VE READ THIS FAR PART II: Don’t forget - a red ink day, I know, for some of you - the Jets live chat is still scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2 p.m.

Enjoy the All-Star Game.

That time is Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. So get your questions ready and we'll have some real-time dialogue. A Newsday moderator will feed the questions to me and I'll do my best to answer them from my futon. Some of you, I'm sure, will be skipping work for this. As will I.

But seriously folks...

I looked at Wednesday's "chat" schedule and see our media reporter Neil Best is my lead-in as he's doing a chat at 1. Neil has the most widely read blog at Newsday. Tune in at 1 and you'll see why.

As for other stuff I've been asked about recently: nothing new on the Personal Screw License issue from the Jets [the Giants announced their policy a few weeks ago]. It's all but a done deal and I'm not sure what the organization is waiting for in terms of its announcement. Maybe Mr. Johnson is re-reading (and considering?) the letter I humbly suggested he write to fans regarding PSLs. Also, expect some action on the Jets four remaining unsigned draft picks this week. At the Jets charity golf even in June, Mike Tannenbaum told me the week after July 4 is when contract negotiations really begin in earnest so there should be some news along that front coming soon enough.

Slow news day, I know.

And with that, we'll see if the Mets can win their eighth straight.

So with both our NFL columnist, Bob Glauber, and Giants beat reporter, Tom Rock, on vacation - those two get more vacation time than a retiree - I ended up writing the Brett Favre story in today's Newsday. I won't make you plow through the entire story - I only make you read large chunks of text for certain blog entries: see; Johnson, Woody, letter - but I did address, obviously, the Jets angle of things. From the story:

"The Jets, though not mentioned nearly as often as quarterback-needy teams such as the Bears, Vikings, Buccaneers and Redskins, have been mentioned nonetheless. Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum was unavailable for comment Friday evening; with Favre still under contract, there wouldn't have been much to say, anyway. League rules prohibit teams from commenting on players under contract with another organization.
Favre, who is on the Packers' reserve-retired list but has three years and $39 million left on his deal, is hoping to change that.
It won't be easy.
The Packers have no interest in seeing Favre go to a division rival such as the Vikings or Bears. They wouldn't be keen on getting zero compensation, which would occur if they release Favre, who presumably wants to pick his destination. But a trade isn't automatic because Favre, if he found the team undesirable, could refuse to renegotiate his contract, which would call for a $12.8-million hit against any team's salary cap for this season. Few teams, including the Jets, would want to take that kind of cap hit.
[The] options are basically for the Packers to trade Favre, release him or simply put him on the roster upon reinstatement and require him to report to training camp, which would create an entirely different type of circus."

That was a large chunk of text after all. Anyway, the point is Favre, while in control of his situation to an extent, isn't in total control of it. Nor are the Packers. This divorce could get messy, but don't they always.

I thought Tannenbaum was in a lose-lose situation with Chris Baker but at this point, who wants to be Packers GM Ted Thompson?

And with that, I've been called into Mets duty for today so it's off to the clubhouse at Shea.

“I think every year is as big as the next one,” Smith told me earlier today at Roy Wilkins Park in Queens. “I always approach every game and every season as a big one.”

Smith, along with the Giants Justin Tuck and some 15 RCN volunteers, were hosting a sports camp – where they ran and participated in football drills and talked about the importance of physical fitness – put on by the Southern Queens Park Association, a partner agency of the United Way of New York City. [Smith had some success in getting the group of about 50 kids to partake in a J-E-T-S, JETS! JETS! JETS! chant].

Eric Mangini disclosed during minicamp that the reason for Smith’s limited participation in the minicamp and OTA practices was a sore back.

But, Smith said today, “I’m feeling really good right now and I’m ready to go.”

Most observers had Smith as the team’s third receiver going into the OTAs but many of those same observers – myself included – felt Chansi Stuckey passed Smith with his strong OTA and minicamp showing and Smith mostly relegated to the dreaded exercise bike. Smith, though competitive, had nothing but positive things to say about Stuckey.

“Chansi’s just a great guy,” the good-natured Smith said.

Later, talking about the competition between himself and Stuckey, Smith said: “The competition is going to be there between all the guys. I’m just out there to play my game.”

And what is that game?

Smith flashed another smile.

“Being a playmaker.”

I asked Smith how he has prepared this offseason to become that kind of player and he had an interesting answer. Smith, a quarterback in high school and then at Missouri and occasionally with the Jets, said it takes time to shake that position – more so physically – from the body’s system.

“I’ve seen development maybe even more [this offseason] than in the first two years as far as learning how to play the receiving spot, learning the offense and learning how to take care of my body,” Smith said.

He elaborated on the point.

“When you’ve been used to doing things a certain way and your body is used to dropping back or running in circles or whatever; when you get out at the receiving position, your body has to be able to move and react quickly," Smith said. "The work I’ve been able to do off the practice field on my own [this offseason] has been great.”

Smith, of course, didn't reveal any specifics, but from what we saw of his limited reps this offseason, none involved him lining up as anything other than receiver. I think the Smith option package has been shelved, but we'll see. I base that strictly on my own observation skills, the same ones that told you Jeremy Kapinos had pulled ahead of Ben Graham in the punter battle. About 25 minutes after I wrote that, Kapinos got cut.

Regardless, there’s a long list of intriguing stories to follow when training camp starts July 24 and Smith is certainly on of them.

And with that, feel free to continue to the spirited David Barrett discussion on the previous post, or this one, or wherever.

Randy Beverly: “I’m really sad that they’re leaving because when you think of the Jets, you think of Hofstra. The two go together. We see it as a Long Island team and Hofstra being the home for the Long Island team.”

Marty Lyons: “If you look at New York now, the two teams that carry New York in front of them, the Jets and Giants, are both in New Jersey. The only team in New York is Buffalo.”

Wesley Walker: “It’s a disappointment for me because I will always remember Hofstra and it’s just different.”

But tonight’s winner for speaking boldly about the move goes to John Schmitt, a Hofstra graduate and center for the Super Bowl team.

“In all honesty, I think it sucks that they’re leaving,” Schmitt said.

That made me really want to ask Schmitt about the prospect of PSLs, but I didn't.

Not that the night was about bitterness or acrimony. Far from it. Players received a nice ovation before the game on the field and spoke glowingly about playing at Shea, particularly the unique dimensions of the field and the acoustics provided by LaGuardia that sometimes threw off the opposition. Hofstra was just one topic, one that many former players happen to feel passionately about.

Walker, incidentally, said a good deal of players were upset when they found out that the 1983 season would be the team’s final one at Shea. Players, however, were discouraged from voicing their true feelings.

“We were told to say certain things and that’s one of the things I regret where we couldn’t just say what we really felt,” Walker said.

Good thing current Jets players are encouraged to be much more open.

I was actually going to ask Walker about the knee injury that cost him the final seven games of the 1979 season but the Jets PR man on duty tonight, David Tratner, quickly interceded.

(Tratner, completely free of charge after the Mets 7-0 victory, suggested "Mets honor Jets by scoring touchdown," as a headline for tomorrow's papers. Simply Amazin')

A-Rod and Madonna???

Watching Newsday's Bob Glauber on ESPN this morning, I was reminded of someone else who had peaked 20 years ago. Ah, we kid because, well, just because.

Also, a quick thanks once again to all of you for keeping this blog lively, informative and, of course, amusing, while I was gone. And with that, vacation is over, the golf clubs are put away – sort of – and it’s back to work, if you want to call it that.

Thejetsblog’s Brian Bassett, the real link king who never misses a Jets-related story on the Web, found one this morning from Knoxville, where Chad Pennington conducted his annual youth football camp. Pennington didn’t say anything different from the OTAs or minicamp regarding the competition for the Jets starting job. And, as always, everything he says is with class.

Some of Pennington from the aforementioned story: “It’s part of professional athletics. There are always critics, there are always people asking questions, and you know, Coach (Eric) Mangini has decided to have a quarterback competition again, so as a professional I can either respond in a negative way or respond in a positive way, and it's my responsibility to respond the right way. I'm going to go up there with a good attitude and work extremely hard and fight for the starting job because I enjoy playing the game, I enjoy being on the field with my teammates, and that's my goal.”

While many of you have expressed concern about having an unsettled quarterback situation heading into training camp, you can take heart in this: regardless of how it plays out, the competition will not devolve into something that divides the locker room. Pennington won't let it and Kellen Clemens won't, either. Clemens' stated admiration for Pennington is not just lip-service. There will not be any of the back-biting and undermining that sometimes occurs in these situations, and while both players desperately want to win the job and the loser will be extremely disappointed, he will not be divisive. And, yes, we'll be talking about this 100 more times but let's face it, the quarterbacks are the No. 1 story of training camp. Not Chris Baker.

Later, I'll have some stuff from Jets Night, which is this evening at Shea. Among the former Jets attending: Wesley Walker, Marty Lyons, Greg Buttle, Emerson Boozer, Randy Beverly and John Schmitt. Too bad something never got put together that would have had the Jets playing one final time at Shea...

Anyway, the Jets this afternoon waived receiver/returner Ashlan Davis, running back Justin Valentine and defensive back Kenny Patton. All three were undrafted free agent signings this offseason.

Good discussion, by the way, underneath the fish girls post. Nice job this past week covering everything from my choice of vacation destination to the Jets free agent pickups to the Favre rumors. And Mr. Green T, no secrets to share from Cleveland. It is a football town, but right now the hot topic is last year's Cy Young award winner getting shipped to the Brewers. And with that, carry on.