Blog

Tomlinson and Friend Team Up on ‘My Wish’

ESPN’s “My Wish” Series will air next week and SportsCenter will have a green tint on Thursday, July 22. LaJerrick Keyes, a 9-year-old youngster who has congenital heart disease, visited the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in June and had an opportunity to take in a Jets OTA practice and spend time with LaDainian Tomlinson.

Six weeks after his birth, Keyes underwent his first heart surgery. Then the Indiantown, Fla., native had another heart procedure last summer. But Keyes got a chance to focus on pro football for a while, watching practice from the sideline and going one-on-one with LT in one of the world’s most famous video games.

“We played Madden 10,” Keyes told tcpalm.com. “They also gave me a helmet and Jets jersey signed by the whole team. I’m a Jets fan now.”

General manager Mike Tannenbaum got his busy summer of negotiating under way when he had LaJerrick sign a replica contract. The Jets also made a locker up for the Warfield Elementary student and gave him the Tomlinson jersey along with some cleats and other goodies.

“It was like Christmas in July!” said Stephanie Porter-King, LaJerrick’s mother. “I was so overwhelmed that LaJerrick got to live one day as a normal child.”

Calvin’s Car Wash

One day before Keyes and Tomlinson share their story, Jets OLB Calvin Pace will be in Bristol, Conn., for ESPN’s “Car Wash.” Pace will appear on a number of ESPN shows and mediums on Wednesday, including SportsNation and NFL Live. If you have a question for CP, he’ll be chatting on ESPN.com with a start time of 2:10 p.m.

“Hard Knocks” Countdown 

In two weeks, HBO Sports will present “Countdown to Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets.” The first episode, a 12-minute special that will serve as an introduction to the series for new fans, airs on Wednesday, July 28, at 11 p.m. ET. If that time doesn’t work for you, don’t fret because HBO will air Countdown 11 times on its main service.

Those other dates and times (ET/PT):

Friday, July 30 — 2:45 p.m., 8:15 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 1 — 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 4 — 7:45 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7 — 9:45 p.m. Monday, Aug. 9 — 3:30 a.m., 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 10 — 10:45 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14 — 11:45 a.m. Monday, Aug. 16 — 3:30 p.m.

BT Teaching in Birmingham

And finally, Alabama–Birmingham product Bryan Thomas, along with a few of his former Blazer teammates and NFL friends, will host his first youth football camp all day Saturday at UAB Field. The camp features a skills competition and a 7-on-7 tourney.