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Oxnard Outtakes

August 7, 2008

Killing time in the Phoenix airport, having broken camp yesterday. Here are some of the odder and sweeter moments from Oxnard:

– looking over two days into camp and seeing Duane Thomas and Calvin Hill carrying on about the old days.

– asking Duane Thomas a question, expecting a curt answer and shaking my arm 20 minutes later to keep it from falling asleep cause Duane was still debriefing.

– Watching Erik Williams coach the offensive tackles. His mild-mannered coaching demeanor contrasts his playing style — completely.

– Seeing Adam Jones put an assistant’s son on his shoulders and carry him around after practice. The team could go from being all business during practice to playful minutes after the final drill.

– Standing alone on the far field sideline one morning and seeing Kevin Burnett trotting my way. He stepped past me, nodded, then found a space on the fence where he could, um, phone his attorney.

Needless to say, I didn’t ask for an exclusive.

– Sitting against the fence on the near field and watching Rowdy’s four wheeler whiz past no more than a foot from my knees.

– Looking down the sideline and watching Rowdy miss Brad Sham by the same distance.

– Watching Jason Witten and his son C.J. playing hide and seek in the press tent after practice.

– Watching Reggie Herring and Dave Campo battle for the title of Most High-Voltage position coach.

– Hearing Campo get hoarse by the end of every session and wondering how he got his voice back overnight.

– Hearing the defensive players mimic his hoarse commands.

– Seeing mammoth Marc Colombo cooing over his child after practice. The tot looked like a toy in Marc’s arms.

– Watching the stoic Flozell Adams light up meeting a group of kids after an afternoon session.

– Watching master teachers like Hudson Houck and John Garrett work. There are moments when I circled the field before the scrimmaging began, when it felt like I was walking the halls of a football university, with as many as eight different lessons going on at the same time.

– Listening to the defensive linemen jaw about their rapping skills.

– Walking across the practice field after posting a late story and watching Stephen Jones play touch football with his kids…

More to come. Join Louie and me this afternoon for the latest episode of “The Sports Doctors.” We’ll be joined again by “Outsiders” Dave Halprin of BloggingtheBoys.com and Shango from thedallascowboyshow.com. We’ll give our impressions of camp and set up the Chargers game. That’s 6 pm ET and 5 pm CT. You can hear the live stream right here on blueandsilverreport.com.

Written by Rafael Vela · Filed Under Training Camp | 40 Comments 

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