Camping Time Almost Here … Weekend Cup O’Chiefs

In less than a week, the first of 32 NFL training camps will open. The Browns rookies must report next Friday, getting an extra week of work ahead of the Cleveland veterans. That makes them the kickoff team for Camp ‘09.

There figures to be a lot of conversation in the next month or so about the necessity anymore for NFL teams to have training camp as we’ve come to know it over the years. The whole tenor of camps has changed considerably, moving from a place to get a roster in shape, to a place to try and mold a team together.

Players don’t show up at training camp to get into shape anymore. Those that do probably won’t be around very long. With the off-season programs and OTAs, a lot of work has already been accomplished in preparation for the regular season.

There will always be training of some kind for players before an NFL season, but camps will continue to evolve and may disappear with a new labor agreement and a longer regular season schedule.

Right now the league’s 32 teams are split evenly when it comes to whether they stay home for training or leave their facility.

The Chiefs are among the 16 teams that travel, and they have the longest trip of any of those teams going to Wisconsin. Fourteen of the clubs that leave home are on college campuses. Oakland trains out of the Napa Valley Marriott in Napa, California, while the Cowboys will go from Dallas to San Antonio to work inside the Alamodome.

Next year, the Chiefs plan to cut their travel significantly if the folks at Missouri Western can get the necessary facilities built in St. Joseph.

The rest of the traveling teams are Arizona, Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, Cincinnati, Green Bay, Indianapolis, Minnesota, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Not sure it means anything, but the last four Super Bowl winners – Steelers, Giants and Colts – all still have traditional training camps, away from home and on college campuses with players living in dorms. There are still plenty of “old school” types in the league who believe taking the players away, limiting distractions, sharpening focus and beginning the process of team chemistry is vitally important.

There are others who disagree. Take Redskins coach Jim Zorn. His team will train at their facility in suburban Washington and Zorn has already told his veterans they can go home every night, rather than stay in team housing with the rookies.

If the league succeeds with its desire to add one or two more regular season games to the schedule by taking away pre-season games, it will become very interesting to see how teams will handle camps. If as part of the increased schedule, the NFL Players Association demands major restrictions on camps, there’s a very good chance that owners will ignore their football people and agree, if it means more money from television for more real games.

There are too many owners with too much debt these days. They are truly businessmen, not sportsmen.

It was 30 years ago that teams would go to training camp for five or six weeks. Now, teams are in camp for generally three weeks.

Five years from now the whole concept of training camp could be obsolete. That will be too bad because there’s something very neat about a professional team landing in a small college town for training. Maybe you have to be from a small town to understand, but in this day where athletes are isolated from the fans, it’s a great tradition.

Like the kids in Green Bay who ride their bikes to Packers practice and then lend them to players who ride them back to the locker room. Or the fans that will pack the hillsides the ring the Steelers practice field at St. Vincent College in Latrobe and cheer every big hit and groan on every dropped pass.

I’ve always laughed that although he passed away in 1978, Norman Rockwell is alive and well. He lives up in River Falls, enjoying the small-town life and strolling over to Ramer Field every once in awhile to watch the guys in red and white practice.

Like NFL seasons that end before Groundhog’s Day, training camp may soon be just a memory.

The first full squad that will report is Buffalo, as the Bills will begin on July 25th. They will face the Tennessee Titans in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton on August 9th.

The last teams that will report for the start of camp go on August 2nd: Miami, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Carolina and the New York Giants.

There are 10 teams that will have their rookies in early for at least a day to get them ready for what’s ahead of them: Baltimore, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, New England, New York Jets, San Diego, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Francisco.

Here’s the dates and locations for the league’s 32 camps:

AFC

NFC

 NOT EVERYBODY SOLD ON CASSEL’S BIG CONTRACT

Over at SI.com, former NFL player-now pundit Ross Tucker thinks the Chiefs made a mistake signing QB Matt Cassel to a six-year, $63 million deal. While plenty of other commentators around the country have given a thumbs up to the deal, Tucker thinks isn’t biting from that apple:

“It makes you wonder what the hurry was for the Chiefs, who already had an emerging young signal caller in place in Tyler Thigpen. Why not wait until the end of the season before giving Cassel a long-term deal? Yes, the contract numbers might have increased if Cassel proved his worth but how much more would they have had to pay than the $63 million over six years ($28M guaranteed) they are already doling out? And wouldn’t that extra money be worth it if it meant having the peace of mind that Cassel could get the job done with your franchise?”

if you want to read more, or if you want to tell Tucker you disagree.

FROM OUT OF THE SHADOWS WE HEAR FROM BAM

From out of nowhere this week came the voice of Bam Morris.

Yes, that Bam Morris, the guy who came to the Chiefs as a reclamation project after serving 90 days in jail on a marijuana conviction. The Bam Morris who said he’d learned his lesson and changed his life after that episode ended what was a promising career with the Steelers. The Bam Morris that in 1998-99 was the team’s second leading rusher.

The same Bam Morris that was arrested by federal authorities and pled guilty to a pair of drug trafficking charges while he was a member of the Chiefs. From late 1999 through July of 2004, Morris spent time in several prisons in the federal system and in Texas.

Since his release, he’s not stumbled again in the last five years, or he hasn’t gotten caught. Morris says his second visit to jail changed him.

“There are two things in prison you can learn – how to become a better criminal, or how to turn yourself around,” he tells Yahoo.com. “I could’ve said, ‘(Blank) it, I’m gonna be a number for the rest of my life’ and just be in and out of jail.’ I decided I didn’t want that.

“I said to myself, ‘I (screwed) up. I’m gonna have to do this time. All my life, everybody got me out of everything, but can’t nobody get me out of this jam. This one I’m gonna have to do myself.’ And I finally got to focus on me. I would be up till 3 or 4 a.m. thinking about some of the choices I’ve made … like, ‘Damn, dude, what was you thinking?’ ”

. The theme of the story is Morris talking about Michael Vick, who is scheduled to be released from federal custody on Monday.

SIGNINGS & MOVEMENT AROUND THE LEAGUE

JAGUARS – signed fifth-round draft choice WR Jarrett Dillard.

LIONS – signed sixth-round draft choice RB Aaron Brown.

PATRIOTS – signed second-round draft choice DT Ron Brace and fifth-round G George Bussey.

SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

July 18

Born on July 18, 1935 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi was FB Bo Dickinson. He was a member of the original Dallas Texans, playing in 28 games over two seasons (1960-61) with the team. Dickinson ran 106 times for 406 yards and four TDs and caught 17 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns. He played five seasons in the AFL, also working for Denver, Houston and Oakland.

Born on July 18, 1942 in Greenville, Mississippi was WR Gloster Richardson. He was the team’s seventh-round choice in the 1965 AFL Draft out of Jackson State. After two years on the injured list and taxi squad, he ended up playing four seasons (1967-70) for the Chiefs, appearing in 52 games with 28 starts. Richardson caught 62 passes for 1,358 yards and 12 TDs with the Chiefs, averaging 21.9 yards per catch. He also played with Dallas and Cleveland.

July 19

Born on July 18, 1951 in Charlottesville, Virginia was TE Walter White (right). He originally came into the NFL as a draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1975 out of Maryland, but was released and claimed by the Chiefs. White spent five seasons in Kansas City, appearing in 63 games with 37 starts. He caught 163 passes for 2,396 yards and 16 touchdowns. His best season was 1976 when he caught 47 passes for 808 yards and seven scores.