See the fish above. That’s a Tarpon. I know many of you don’t care because it has nothing to do with football, but it kinda does. I’m going dinosaur hunting down in Belize before camp starts. So give me a week to tell you if they won or not….by the way…..they usually win.
The reason I mention the “BEFORE CAMP starts” comment is, this a funny time of year for me because, we are approaching the 4th of July weekend. The end of June meant you better get whatever trip or recreational activity you wanted to do all off-season out of the way because the the 4th of July was only, right around the corner.
That weekend (July 4th) is the LAST real weekend/holiday you had off and the weekend you said, “I better be ready,” to go to camp and you had to gauge what kind of shape you were in and YOU BETTER BE READY for the upcoming punishment.
We use to have 120 guys in camp and when in Tampa, we had 3-a-days. Yep, in that weather. I’ll tell you a few crazy stories about the heat and the practices in upcoming blogs. Anyway, this time of year was the time you started to get mentally ready for the 2-a-days in Greeley or 3 in Tampa. I use to go down to Tampa a month early and run at noon everyday to get use to the heat and before I left Denver I’d workout at the old IAC on Parker road and hit the sauna and the steamroom getting prepared to go. Crazy what we use to do to our bodies.
Be back in a week to see who won the dinosaur tug-a-war.
Coop
Nice pic Coop!
I can’t imagine doing 3-a-days in Tampa heat. I sure hope this Bronco team straps thier boots on and gets after it like Dawkins is preaching.
Hey Coop, just remember, stay calm, keep your rod up and line tight!
Orange Crush!!!!!!
Hope you have a blast!
Thanks for the insight on how it was, and likely to a degree, still is.
Let’s say, if they win, you owe us a blog that is three times the length of this one! If you win…. Well, how ’bout a blog three times as long as this one? Just kiddin’ – good stuff, always good to hear updates/ thoughts/ memories and how you’re doin’! As Bob Dylan has said, Keep on keepin’ on Mr. Cooper.
Hi guys and dolls, nice catch Coops, (I hope you put the poor thing back in). I hate blood sports, that is why I no longer watch hockey or horse racing, or go fishing. We can all have an opioion, but how many of us will ever be Pat B? So no matter where the Broncos go, I follow. I sit in the “wee apple” and wait to hear the score on a monday knowing that I have no influence whatsoever.
I lost in two cup semifinals this year,( kinda our Confererence games) and it was not nice, but Heh, nobody died, and if Big G spares me there will always be nexy year.
Keep the faith Poocho’s
Tes! and i know I am
hmmm
any body else see that clip with mcd from camp today and get the feeling marshal could be next out the door? if you listen close to the questions asked by reporters they ask him if there are ne lessons he learned from his cutler screw up that he can apply here to fix this 1 way or the other with marsh and he just says no? is he now gonna get rid of our best wr because he doesnt like his attitude?
Coop,
That picture… amaizing! Glad to see there are other outdoorsman/football fans in the world.
I also want to mention that I love hearing about training camp and the work you players actually have to do.
I love reading your articals. Your work is great!
Thanks for the great read,
Jack
No Bloodsport All catch & release…always, the tarpon are my favorite because it like catching a dinosaur on a rope.
Catch and release also like some players of late. The team let go some free-agents already, but honestly, that’s the best thing…move on or elsewhere.
I’ll keep you in suspense till I get back as camps were interesting around the league and I’ll call some of my buddies and see what funny stories they have from camps of past…not that there so different but in the 80′s we hit EVERYDAY.
One quick story. 3-a-days, Tampa, 98 degree’s 98% humidity, like breathing in a sauna. 1:00pm practice. Low on lineman and I go about 150 plays (2 games) with the first and the second team and are dying while doing so….sucking it up…in the zone…playing well and as the day goes on trying to survive. Guys are dropping from dehydration, cramps and a few injuries. We finish with goal line drills, etc.
We get done with practice and now we have sprints and ladders
(. Perkins walks over to me and say’s great job and just go through the motions on the sprints I know what you just went through going with both teams.
I’m thinking I’m about to go down (only if someone shoots me) but make it through while kind of seeing myself from outside my body. Weird. I get through and am walking across the street back to the locker rooms and by now I’m thinking, wow, everything I did in the off-season really paid off and I’m in the absolute best shape in my life and feeling pretty good about what I just went through and how I played and my off-season preparation.
Then a cold chill starts running through my body and I’m thinking, hmmm, this is what I’ve heard guys mention that are dehydrated and then my face starts cramping, my legs and my arms and fists, etc and it’s getting a little scary and I tell the guy I’m walking with to go get a trainer as I think I’m having an issue. I try to jog so I can get to the training room faster and that’s a joke. I get just outside the training room as I go into full cramps and fall to the ground as the trainers run over and grab me and drag me into the training room and throw me up on the table and hit both arms with IV’s and one trainers standing over me sqeezing the bags into me as fast as possible in both arms.
Some of that got foggy but I take 4 bags (IV’s)….we use to call it getting bagged…so a 4 bagger. They monitored me for a while to make sure I’m O.K. as we all laughed about what a Superman I thought I was and wasn’t. Being a ole Florida boy and playing in that heat growing up I thought I was immune to dehydration. Goes to show you how tough we aren’t sometimes.
Coop
Catch ya next week with more camp stories. Some may be a little juvenile but remember we were in our 20′s.
LOL!! Coopster you and your stories are a stitch… I love it!!! Anyway, that’s a great picture you got up there… good luck with more of your fishin’ dude!!! Cannot wait to hear these stories about training camp… my sides are ready to split so bring it!! lol
When you said 3-a-days in Tampa I thought you had a typo or something… wow! Glad you survived it, sounds brutal. Hope these guys can get their act together and start playing as a team… already on my last nerve. I really hope Dawkins has a HUGE impact on both sides of the ball and these young players and hopefully him and Champ will be one heck of a leadership duo… something this team desperately needs.
So the Fan Fair was quite something. Only got a few autographs and pics as it was very disappointing how they had the whole thing organized. But my highlight was my first picture was with Stokley… seriously about died!! Such a nice guy and a GREAT picture with him (uh make that two). Then I got 2 pics taken with Torain and Hillis… was sitting on cloud 9 there but then that was it. DJ Williams walked right by me before I got a chance to say anything but I got a picture of him walking by. Okay, so I know this has nothing to do with Coop’s blog but I was just so excited to get the pictures and autographs I did… I had to share it with all of my fellow Broncomaniacs.
I’d go again but they need to seriously find another way to organize it… spent an entire 2 hours… yeah 2 hours in ONE line… ridiculous if you ask me. Was pretty much worth it when I ended up with autographs and in between Torain and Hillis but that was just crazy… should’ve seen how long that line was!! Good thing it wasn’t like a million degrees out there. Alright alright I’m done babbling but it was freakin’ awesome!!! Oh and to top off the bad part of that day… just missed getting Randy Gradishar’s autograph… about shot myself in the foot… still mad about that one, oh well. Alright I promise now I’m done.
With faith…
GO BRONCOS in ’09!!!!
My goodness, Coop, that sounds like what the Rams had to do in the Dick Vermeil era. (the Tampa 3-a-days I mean). In any case, good luck with fishing and I look forward to your columns during the upcoming season. GO BRONCOS!!!
07elway, shoot me a picture of you with one of the players and I’ll post it here on the blog, that will be fun. afccoop@msn.com
O.K. the fish won…but really they didn’t in the overall erspective of a fishery, they are still losing.
The trip was wonderful but the fish-netting that has gone on down there over the years made for poor fishing conditions..maybe the weather maybe not, but there were very few fish to be seen and caught and I’ve been at it a while so I can read a fishery pretty quickly.
Some cuts this past week and now Brandon? It will be interesting to see how this plays out as I had no TV for a week (which was actually kinda nice) had internet sporatically so I didn’t post of reply to this as the satelite connection would often just kick off-line while I was in the middle of a business e-mail (frustrating) and expensive and…well a week out of commissions not a bad thing, if you know what I mean.
I’ll toss up a few old camp stories (like ordering pizza and dropping water on the deliver guys from the 3rd story) as we are right around the corner (getting excited) and I’ve even ordered my Bronco schedules for my real estate clients.