It’s one thing to watch the Giants and Jets play bland, uncompetitive games. Still, it’s quite another to hang around to see how each coach answers questions during his post-match press conference.

As someone who follows this tedious visualization pattern, we often ask ourselves the following question: Masochist or moron? We’ll go with the latter.

During the SNY Jets postgame session, soft-spoken Robert Saleh tries to keep hope alive and spread the whole gospel about rookie quarterback Zach Wilson’s progress. Sad Sack Saleh often looks drained and exhausted. He has little reason to smile. At least his answers are realistic.

Then there’s Joe Judge. The Giants coach has often said that he wants his team to represent and respect the blue-collar masses of this region.

No matter the type of loss, Judge is always energized, final and in control. Judge talks about a good game until he slips into what appears to be a scripted illusion. Or maybe his eyes are just more educated than the rest of us.

Like after Sunday’s Sominex Serenade in Miami. Needless to recap the Giants’ 20-9 loss to the Dolphins. We don’t like to fall asleep while writing. The judge, wide awake, saw things differently. At least that’s what he said during his post-match TV session on MSG.

“I saw a lot of things in the way we play, a lot of things that are going in the right direction,” Judge said (actually).

The judge might as well have been Eli Manning shooting double birds on camera.

If the judge delivered the illusion to protect his players, so be it. If he wanted to be a little wiser, that’s cool too. If he was trying to scam the assembled laptops and cameras, that’s part of the game everyone gets paid to play.

What’s glaring here is that Blue Collar Joe decides to treat his beloved “constituency” like fools. He showed them no respect. They watched – at least as much as they could stomach – the Giants mail it out and later the coach talks about “going in the right direction? The judge has often said that he does not call players publicly. This is no excuse for not presenting a realistic view of what happened on the pitch on Sunday.

Kudos to those in the media who pushed back after Judge delivered his Miami Malarkey. No doubt they’ll be watching closely if the Giants lose to the Chargers on Sunday. Will Judge, speaking as if he knows he’ll be back next season, move on to another crazy spin job?

Or will he seek to protect what remains of his credibility by playing fair?

It’s his choice. Nevertheless, Judge should know this: he is not fooling anyone.

Stephen A. Smith put away his Knicks pom poms last week and tore Tom (Do No Wrong) Thibodeau’s club to shreds.

Smith, not distracted by Obi Toppin’s dunk between the legs, snapped his shots after smashing a Knicks cap on the set of ESPN’s “First Take.”

“Wake up,” yelled SAS. “You are an below average team.”

SAS could have added another item to its blacklist. The team’s style of play, or lack thereof, doesn’t inspire the 565,000 Comcast subscribers in New Jersey and Connecticut enough to pressure the cable giant to restore MSG Network, the Knicks’ television home, on his system.

Comcast dropped MSG in September. When it comes to the MSG/Comcast dispute, the Knicks’ gaming brand isn’t exactly must-watch TV.

Requesting a subscriber to see a player or team can sometimes resolve cable car conflicts. In 2012, during the heyday of Jeremy Lin and “Linsanity”, MSG Network was kicked out of Time Warner Cable and in the midst of a carriage dispute. Subscriber demand was so high for Knicks and “Linsanity” hoops that MSG/TWC were forced to sit down at the negotiating table. The two parties eventually agreed to a multi-year deal ending the outage.

Judging by his enthusiasm, local baseball media and anyone else paid to talk about sports are urging the Mets to hire Buck Showalter. Heck, they might as well be lobbyists for the Showalter Corporation.

Showalter’s candidacy comes at a time when the Hot Stove is on ice due to lockdown, both football teams are in the bathroom, and basketball/hockey isn’t producing massive amounts of sizzle. There’s plenty of space, air and ozone to get Showalter talking and trying to convince the Mets to hire him.

Nothing wrong with that unless — as ESPN-98.7’s Michael Kay pointed out — Mets boss Steve Cohen and/or his chief baseball operations officer, Sandy Alderson, decide they don’t want to be seen. as being influenced by the media, seen as two executives who made decisions based on the opinions of columnists or Gasbags radio.

The flip side of this theory is the fact that it’s hard to get the sports media here to agree on anything. As for Showalter, they walked in step. So if Cohen/Alderson hire anyone other than Showalter, there will be a big backlash. Maybe Cohen thinks of himself as a contrarian guy who wouldn’t care about statics, but any new Mets manager not named Showalter would have a major media hill to climb before he even started.

Jim Kaat waited many moons for his ticket to Cooperstown to be punched by the Golden Days Era Committee. Kitty will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in July.

Now he shouldn’t have to wait much longer to enter another wing of the Hall.

Those making the call should do whatever it takes to honor Kaat with the Ford Frick Award and finally recognize him as one of the greatest baseball voices in the history of the game. While we don’t apologize for his remark “Get it 40 acres,” which he made during an October game, Kaat in many ways deserves broadcast enshrinement. Other than his ability to analyze or tell a story, Kaat simply didn’t give voice to put viewers first.

In fact, he put the viewers first.

When he worked here for Yankees TV shows on MSG and YES (1995-2006), Kaat was hampered by George Steinbrenner’s micromanaging elements of shows on YES. When Steinbrenner had a beef with Don Zimmer and ordered YES cameras not to shoot the bench coach sitting next to Joe Torre in the dugout, it was Kaat who revealed Steinbrenner’s edict in 2003 He didn’t have to call Steinbrenner, but He was the right thing to do.

Kaat was fearless, fair and always friendly. His love and respect for the game came out of every microphone he worked on and still works.

How long before YOUR Gasbags start talking about the NFL Draft? As it stands, the Jets have picks 4 and 5 in the first round and the Giants have picks 6 and 7. Will these four picks be sponsored by FanDuel?…

CBS’ Tony Romo harassed Jim Nantz, again, during a dramatic Steelers-Ravens point. As Baltimore prepared to deliver a final side kick attempt, Romo began asking Nantz if the Ravens could pull it off. Romo “emphasized” those remarks with an unintelligible jive and off we went. For viewers, Romo becomes a nuisance…..

SNY’s “Baseball Night in New York” team demonstrates how to do an engaging half-hour show during a lockdown. If you need a fix of current baseball news (there’s some with player video), tune in……

Despite annoying reviews of his hair by Kay and Peter Rosenberg, glad to see Don La Greca is still letting his Freak Flag fly.

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MAN OF THE WEEK: BOB ARUM

To survive and thrive in the boxing business. The legendary promoter turned 90 on Wednesday. His acerbic style still works. His company, Top Rank, continues to represent the best fighters. Arum has boosted the careers of legends Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Oscar de la Hoya and others. He also created the classic line: “Yesterday I was lying. Today I speak the truth.

DWEEB OF THE WEEK: JETS/GIANTS

Bring professional football back to New York! (Forget Buffalo for a moment.) The two stadium-sharing teams enter Sunday’s games (Saints-Jets, Giants-Chargers) with a combined 7-17 record. The ineptitude is only surpassed by a soporific style of play. Don’t worry, they will be selling hope and subscriptions in 2022.

DOUBLE SPEECH

What Zach Wilson said, “We’re currently working on something bigger than that.”

What Zach Wilson meant, “I’m taking a mulligan this season.”