Erik Boland: Inside the Jets

By Tom Rock

It's probably hard for people who covered this team in the past to hear that Laveranues Coles won the award for being the most helpful to the media. When he first arrived here, he was a surley dude. Even he admitted that he's some a long way when we presented him with the plaque (and then took it away a minute later) in the press room just a few minutes ago.

There are legendary stories of Coles' run-ins with my predecesor here, Ken Berger. Apparently Coles once called him "little media man" when they came across each other in the revolving door to the indoor practice facility. Another time Coles asked Ken what he was doing. "Doing my job," Ken said. "That ain't no job, writing paragraphs," Coles said. "Why don't you go down to Jillian's and get a real job."

We sent an email picture of a smiling Coles holding the hardware to Ken. It's true, Ken. I swear.