You may have noticed the site appears a bit different these days.  Unless it’s your first time here in which case you will just have to trust us.

Anyway, this is the debut of a new look for jaythejoke, complete with a wisecracking hot dog mascot clad in the Chicago flag.  He doesn’t have a name yet.  Perhaps that will be a contest.

We’ll be bringing some other new features along in the coming weeks, including a forum that will provide a permanent location for all the musings of our loyal readers.  Please bear with us as we add new goodies and work out the kinks.

In that spirit, please have a look around the new site and let us know if anything doesn’t seem to be quite right to you.  If you have anything to note, please let us know at info@jaythejoke.com.

I can’t really fault poor Jay for yet another rehashed Rex column this morning.

I mean ... I can, but what’s the point?

Honestly, it’s hard to pass judgment on any sports writer this week.  With Super Bowl week officially sending the hype machine into overdrive, just about any angle a writer takes is simultaneously being tackled by five others.

Want to write about the historic meeting of two black coaches in the Super Bowl?  Done.  The fact that we should focus on the men and not their skin color? Done.  The fact that letting Tank Johnson loose in Miami is a little like taking a kid who is supposed to be at fat camp and dropping him off at Krispy Kreme?

Ok, I haven’t seen the Krispy Kreme angle yet.  But the sentiment has certainly been expressed.

Even the “good lord ... so many angles” take that I’m delving into right now isn’t breaking any new ground.

But here’s the funny thing.

I have to read it.

I can’t help myself.  By this point I know every minute detail of Lovie Smith’s upbringing in Big Sandy, the romantic tale of Brad Maynard’s courtship of his cheerleader wife and that “The Lion King” is loosely based on the childhood of Adawale Ogunleye. Truly, my appetite for Bears news, from the most obscure human interest story to Peyton’s plan to attack the Cover-2 defense, knows no bounds.

It’s amazing I get anything done all day.

If every week were Bears Super Bowl week, Chicago would be in serious trouble.  I have to belive office productivity is taking a serious hit this week.  Although not quite as big as the hit it will take on Monday.  Will anyone be working?

Let’s just hope all those “sick” calls are the result of over-celebration.  Let Indy bosses field the calls from fans who are too depressed to leave the house.

Monday January 29th, 2007 is officially Tyrone Briggs day here at Jay the Joke.

When we started this blog over half a year ago, we never dreamt we would have 250 registered members and thousands of unique page views a day.  But thanks in large part to our amazing group of commenters, what started as a cathartic blogspot page has continued to build steam.  Thus, it makes us very proud to see our first “spin-off” blog getting a great deal of attention.

You will find no better way to pass the workday than reading this entry over at Boise Wants Jay, a blog started by our own Tyrone Briggs.  Much like Eric Zorn’s piece that ridiculed Jay’s “columns” about the World Champion White Sox, this entry takes a look through the years at Jay’s stance on Lovie Smith.  It’s a good read.

And happy Tyrone Briggs Day.

Jay didn’t write a column today, so we are turning our attention to a man with far greater literary skillz to tide you over:

This guy’s writing is definitely more… interesting than Jay’s, and I’d take his camouflage boots and mustache over Jay’s pompadour any day.  Throw in some slo-mo snow mobile action and we’ve got a favorite poet.

Here’s an older bonus video (thank us later):

Bears Poet Matthew Ballard Strikes Again [fanhouse]
Lots more poems @ [rhymesandpoems.com]

Well, ten days until the Super Bowl!  It’s crunch time!  The Bears have been working hard for this moment since the 2005 season ended.

They face a big challenge in the Colts, and perhaps nobody has as much work to do as Lovie Smith.  Tony Dungy and he are close friends, and both have a unique insight and familiarity with the other’s coaching style.  The Bears also happen to run the same defense as the Colts, something that will help a well-informed Peyton Manning audible at the line.  Lovie will obviously have to come up with new ways to disguise what Urlacher and his crew are up to.  Ultimately, this game could become a chess match between the two head coaches.

So now that the big game is only ten days away, Jay knows exactly where all efforts should be focused:

This really shouldn’t require a lot of thought. Now that Smith has answered our doubts with a brilliant performance last week, why not just get [a contract] done so the matter isn’t a major distraction during his daily media sessions in Miami?

Contract negotiations?  At a time like this?  It seems like the biggest distraction possible would come if the Bears and Lovie couldn’t work something out.  Why risk that?  How much distraction could come from things as they are now, with Lovie saying: “We agreed to talk about my contract after the Super Bowl” every time his contract was brought up?

This column doesn’t deserve an in-depth ripping.  It was obviously written by a complete imbecile.