For months I’ve been asking readers to send me personal stories of Jets fandom, from the comedic to the tragic and everything in between. I left the door open for creative essays, photojournalism and even freaking poetry, and not one of you schmucks could be bothered to submit anything. Oh sure, the first two installments of Fanbytes were great, way back in, like, April, but now it’s July and this blog is about ready to switch into full-on regular season mode. I need stories! Even David from Gang Green Nation has been hounding y’all about this for the past two days and still nothing!

Thanks then to a Twitter friend who tweets by the name of @GONYJETS for taking the time to share a remarkable experience that took place only a year ago. I know a lot of you are down on Kerry Rhodes, and, in many ways, that’s deserved. Yesterday, Kris Jenkins not so subtly inferred that he is a woman. I myself have called him a “cockstain” on numerous instances. But I think after reading our friend’s story, you’ll see that there’s a legitimately good person beneath all that soft play. Have a read:

When you’re sharing a backfield with Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson, you tend to play a lot closer to the box, and when your coach is Rex Ryan, you can usually expect to blitz. A lot. None of this information should be surprising, but it does apply another fold of pressure to already stressed passers, so athleticism is a must in this system, even at strong safety, where the 5’8″ 186lbs. Leonhard notched 3 sacks a year ago, including a gorgeous strip-sack of J.T. O’Sullivan in Week 17 (Rhodes failed to find even one in the regular season). On that condition, most of these players pass, though not without flaws. Leonhard is a bit rough when brought back to play man on tight ends, but he can be vicious once locked upon a target. Pool’s got the tools to cover the field, but he’s not an immensely physical guy. He’ll factor more into pass protection, where he could eventually share time with Donovan Warren, the much (relatively) hyped UDFA from Michigan whom nearly everyone expects will make the active roster, and may well become a starter in 2011. Warren, once thought to be a potential first round pick before some poor offseason performances sunk him, played CB in college, and has the skills in man coverage to become a lesser version of Darrelle Revis, lining up on either side of the field and getting his hands up precisely where they need be to score deflections. Eric Smith, who at this time a year ago was thought of by Rex Ryan as nothing more than trade bait, has proven himself to be a respectable backup at free safety, although it is doubtful that he will ever make the step up to NFL starter. The official Jets website touts Smith’s veteran leadership and communication skills, but it’s really his speed that aids him. He’ll be a far bigger contributor on special teams, I would think. Rex, for his part, seems to have changed his mind about Smith, and now compares him favorably to Ed Reed. I don’t know about that, but when it comes to the Ravens, I am looking forward to seeing him reconnect with his old buddy Anquan Boldin.

If Douglas Adams were A) still alive and B) a Jets fan, he might have this to say to us all: DON’T PANIC.

Of the many negative narratives that have engulfed the Jets this offseason, there is none sillier than the idea that this is a team that “does not take care of its own.” The operating assumption of these foolish meme is that team management has become so fixated on tacking on flashy, expensive cast-offs from other teams (think Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards), that they’ve come to neglect home grown talent raised up through the team system Superficially, this argument appears to make sense. After all, Darrelle Revis, David Harris, Nick Mangold, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Shaun Ellis all came up through the Draft, and are now fighting for restructured contracts and extensions. Meanwhile, the team coldly and callously dealt injured Jets product Leon Washington to Seattle, and handed out pink slips to beloved leaders Thomas Jones and Alan Faneca (who, while not Jets by birth, if you will, had become core members of the team).

This trend – ship out Jones, bring in LT; say goodbye Kerry Rhodes, hello Cromartie – looks really bad. Factor in the ridiculous claim that we are the “paper champions” or “Madden champions” of the league (as though we’ve yet had a chance to prove otherwise), and you get a news story. But does it hold up? Well, if you were to believe absolutely pundit in the world, prior to the mechanization of the current regime, the Jets were soft. We had a long history of losing, a dearth of star players and did not make the moves needed to correct this. A few years ago, Tannenbaum shredded our roster and brought in guys like Faneca, Damien Woody, Kris Jenkins and Brett Favre, and with the exception of the latter, I didn’t hear anyone calling them “mercenaries” then. But now that we’ve grown too big for our britches, now that we’ve got the talent and the leadership to go all the way, idiots like Mike Florio deride the very formula that has brought us success. I don’t believe there is some kind of worldwide anti-Jets conspiracy, but, for now at least, most media outlets seem to enjoy dirtying our laundry and airing it out for us.

Bart Scott does not have a filter. I think we all understand this. The man whose name is usually proceeded in news-writing by adjectives like “loquacious” has been trash talking since he came off the bench for the Ravens in 2005, even in instances when it’s clear to everyone around him that he would be better served by just shutting up. During last season’s miserable nadir, when the team had won only a single game in a month and a half, and it looked as though a team that had started 3-0 was going to conclude the year with seven or fewer wins, there was Bart, still talking up our merits while everyone chuckled. ‘We’re the best defense in the league! We’re the best defense in the league!’ That’s all I heard on the radio while driving to school, and it didn’t take long for me to switch the damn thing right off. Maybe we were the best defense at the league, but such a statement – really, any positive talk about our team on the ropes – felt so out of sync with reality that it was impossible to swallow. They were misguided platitudes; the sort of foolish and undeserved talk spurred on by a blowhard coach who could do everything short of walking the walk.

Things have changed since then, and now that the Jets have everyone’s attention, Bart has only intensified his talk. No longer is he merely promising that we will have the best D in the league – oh no, that one’s a given. What he now insists is that the 2010 New York Jets will rank among the greatest defenses of all time.

Just a couple of days ago, Dolfans were beside themselves. With the notable exception of newly signed linebacker Karlos Dansby, Miami, much like the Pats and Bills, had been a bit on the quiet side of things this offseason. Given their need for an “alpha receiver,” as they have termed it, and a fair amount of defense help, Jeff Ireland and Bill Parcells had done little to bolster their roster. The dirt-cheap acquisition of Santonio Holmes only exacerbated this concern. Why were the Jets being so aggressive and the Dolphins simply sitting on their hands?

No one is talking this way anymore. This morning, after years of intense speculation, Denver’s elite receiver Brandon Marshall finally found a new home, and, moreover, a four-year, $47.5 million extension in South Florida. The Dolphins have seen our dope-fiend and have raised us an egomaniac. Fair enough! Let the AFC East Arms Race commence!