Lazy Video Post

A Special Twist on Training Camp

It's 6:00 a.m. Took me three alarms going off and six snooze buttons before I finally woke up. I wanted to get something new for the blog last night, but had nothing on my mind. I figured if I got up 20 minutes early I could have a new perspective, maybe looking forward to a new day and not looking back. Coffee calling my name was the only hope I had for dragging my ass out of bed this early and at least I can sit and gripe with the guys at the breakfast table about how I would run training camp different.

Today (7/29/08) is actually a big day for me. Before practice I think I'm gonna spend about 15 minutes in the ice tube, much better than the coffee for the mornings. I actually depend on the little routine I run through to prepare myself for practice, it will be close to the only time I will have to myself today. Morning practice is going to be the toughest part of the day to get through, although the team has gotten in a pretty good practice groove the mornings still seem to last a long time.

After practice I put together an event with the Redskins charitable foundation. I convinced the rest of the tight end group to join me. We invited 25 kids from the childrens hospital that could make it out to Redskins Park. We will get a chance to hang out with all the kids for a while, hopefully we can at least give them a fun morning. Before they leave I put together a bunch of duffel bags containing PSP's, games, hats, autographs, and some other cool stuff for them to take back to their rooms. I stole the idea from Drew Brees, but I thought it was way cool. By the way, for all the people buying jerseys, shirts and stuff, this is where the money is going. Everyone thought I was lying and taking in some extra cash, but don't worry, I'm putting it to good use so thanks for shopping at our store.

The Redskins will resume with an afternoon practice at 3:00 p.m. This practice has been named 10, 10, and 10. We really use the afternoon for special situations. One set of ten could be for blitz, one for third down, and so on. Every day has been different, but the way it goes is offense runs ten plays then defense runs ten plays. We will run a total of 60 plays. Not a bad way to have an afternoon practice.

I know I'm getting way ahead of myself, but for the night I can say dinner and meet, meet, meet. Football can be like a never ending meeting! I will start thinking about getting back to sleep around 6:00, but it will happen closer to 11:30. Like I said, big day!

Photo Update July 28

The beard winner revealed

Jeff, the beard winner, came out for practice today. He was nice enough to pose with the ladies and provide quite the interview with Christy. Hope it you had fun. Thanks!

Picture Update - Fan Appreciation Day

Fan Appreciation Day

The beard winner has been chosen and notified. Thanks for participating and see his pic here.

I want to say thank you to all the fans who read this blog as well as
everyone coming out to practice. I think the first week has gone great for
the Redskins all around. I would definitely like to invite everyone to
come to fan day tomorrow. We are going to have a live scrimmage and it
should be pretty bad ass. I think the first teams are going to take at
least 20 plays, so fans should get a really good look at what's going on.
When practice ends the entire team will make their way over to the fans to
sign autographs and bullshit with everyone. I have tried to stop every day
at least for 5 or 10 minutes to take some time to sign for people and have
made some autograph observations. Because of this I created a little list
to increase the chances of anyone seeking an autograph. The list is not in
any order, just a couple of my thoughts from signing thousands of things.
Keep in mind I am pretty much giving you the players prospective on this,
whether you like some of the suggestions or not, there pretty much the
facts.

Top ten best suggestions for getting autographs.

1. Wear the players jersey that you want to have signed. I am much more
likely to sign a 47 jersey than anyone else.

2. Be under 12 years old. Yea I know this one's tough, but players would
rather sign auto's for little kids. I know this tip has been utilized by
many weird old man "or" woman, but it is very effective. Also, if you are
a little kid I know how exciting meeting players can be, but screaming
please, please, please, pretty much turns off most guys from stopping.

3. Know something about the player who's autograph you want. If someone tells
me congrats on the wedding or asks how my dogs are doing I will take an
extra second usually to not only sign, but talk.

4. Try to take a position close to the locker room. The further you are
away from the locker room the fewer signatures you will acquire. Every
players ultimate goal is to make it inside, so the closer you stand to that
goal the more players you will come across.

5. If you don't get someones autograph try not to make that player feel
bad that he didn't take enough time to sign everything. So many times I
get "Oh come on," or "It's only one more." If I get boos for not signing
it just makes me want to go inside. When I'm signing I have to pick and
choose where I go and it's impossible to sign for everyone. I really would
like to sign everyone's stuff but I just can't.

6. If you don't have a jersey have something good to sign. Napkins and
sneakers are bad autograph items, balls and posters are much better. The
easier and quicker I can write my name factors largely into my decision to
sign.

7. Stand out from other fans. Not everyone wants to do this, but if there
is a way to become more visible to players you become a much more likely
candidate. Redskins outfits, crazy hats, nudity, anything different makes
a difference. Oh yea, the nudity will probably be a bad choice because
your signing time will be cut down by security. I mean, if there was one
specific player someone could wait till that time, but your probably not
gonna make it long after that.

8. Try really hard to make your way to the front of the line. I pretty
much only sign things right at the fence. If you don't make it to the
front of the line try really hard not to lean all over everyone in front of
you. There's kids and women that really have a bad time if you're a leaner
and players will see problems and move on, thus ruining the chances of
everyone that did make it to the front.

9. Advice and criticism = bad. I know everyone sees something they could
fix or do better, but right when practice ends no players want a part in
that. Even our coaches are going to wait until the evening film to place
their judgement and trust me, we get enough. Great fans just support the
players and coaches get paid to coach the players. It should be left at
that, but in the event someone tells me how I should beat man coverage I
will politely move on.

10. Buy an autograph at the store. I know this isn't as much fun, but
it's a guarantee. The autographs at the store also look much more
professional and come with proof of signatures. Then you could go back to
step nine and say you met the player while still collecting a signature.

Picture Update

Today was one young fans 7th birthday. Happy Birthday Carson!

Also here are pictures from training camp this morning. Theme for today was Cooley fans. Enjoy.

Beard contest phase 1 ends Friday

Everyone who wants to be included in the beard contest please make sure to get your beard pictures in by July 25th before noon. We will be posting the winner of the training camp passes tomorrow along with how to claim your prize. Remember, this phase was for the overall best beard, not the most growth. ZZTop could be a winner here.

Phase 2 is for the preseason tickets and parking to the Bills game. That winner will be chosen on overall growth since the contest started. More details on that later. Thanks and good luck!

Picture Update + 2 really entertaining videos

Thanks Dan. If you want to get the full video check it out here.

Chris also did an interview on NFL Network which was one of the best I have ever seen from Chris. I love team cam, NFL network, and now Rich Eisen too who claims to read the blog, so Rich please comment if you read.

The Cooley Zone: It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt

It's only three days into the season and I have one sore ass body. If five different NFL camps have proven anything to me, it's that there is no way to fully prepare my body to take the beatings of football. I've tried working out twice a day, working out in altitude, racing my dog up and down the driveway, I've even tried sitting on my ass. Whether its preseason rest or work I've felt like dog [excrement] within the first week, progressively getting worse year after year. I think that’s what makes training camp so dreaded by all of us going through it.

Read the rest on Shudown Corner and please tell us what you think.

Also, we are going to give away 3 pairs (6) of tickets to the Redskins Rides car show on August 10 to the first 3 people to guess what my first car was. There will be no hints and I will check back tonight for the winners. Good luck.

Update: Training camp photos from today.


UPDATE!!!

The answer was a Chevy Corsica.
Congrats to our winners Benji, Sean, and PeterG. (Brillo doesn't count because he is out of range and Beandip, well she doesn't need the tickets) Could the three winners please email me on how to claim their prize. tanner@chriscooley47.com

My Top 10 training camp moments

After posting on KSK it got me thinking about some of the better moments from training camp over the years. I guess it hasn’t been all that bad so here are my top 10 training camp moments.

10. 2004 – 2007 I have never missed one practice. (Can someone find out if that is some kind of record?)

9. 2006 – Short shorts and long hair really come alive.

8. 2007 – I decide that the dorms aren’t for me and I sneak home every night for 2 weeks.

7. 2005 – I get my first case of jock itch.

6. 2007 – Jon Janson brings his RV to Redskins Park in which we drink beers after every practice.

Casey Rabach: "It's kind of just an oasis away from camp....We watch movies, BS,listen to music, nap. You know, whatever." I asked what the nicest amenity was. "Air conditioning and plumbing," he said, calling the bathroom "damn nice....And the generator's nice, and the refrigerator's nice. Yeah, pretty much the whole damn thing's pretty nice."Rabach said regulars include Ethan Albright and Mark Brunell, and that Randy Thomas occasionally stops by. The same Randy Thomas who told me he had never been inside. Bizarre. Also, they've been ordering food from local restaurants, and Jansen gets shipments of donuts and other treats from Michigan. You can watch Lindsay Czarniak's take here, which is what turned me on to this story in the first place. Although "turned me on" may be inappropriate, given the circumstances.

5. Warren “Rennie” Simmons is caught jogging close to nude in Ravens stadium prior to stadium afterwards pronouncing “Sorry guys, that’s my bag.” (my bag = my bad to everyone but Rennie)

4. 2004 - LaVar bombards me with grapes as I botch Hail to the Redskins in rookie hazing. Unfortunately there will be no mandatory singing for the young guys this year. Zorn Rule: No Hazing

3. 2006 – Brunell and I bring a bottle of Fauria’s nutrients (vitamins) to huddle.

It seems that Cooley, quarterback Mark Brunell and tight end Christian Fauria were having lunch after a recent training camp practice. Fauria, especially tired after the hot workout, expressed his fatigue by saying: "I need some more nutrients. "Nutrients? What kind of football player would utter a sentence like that? Cooley and Brunell couldn't help but laugh. "We made fun of him at the dinner table," Cooley said. The next day, during another of coach Joe Gibbs' hard-nosed practices, Cooley walked into the huddle and feigned exhaustion. Right on cue, Brunell produced a bottle of vitamins, wrapped in athletic tape and labeled with the word "nutrients" written in permanent marker. "He pops out about three of them in his hand," Cooley said. "He said, 'Here, I've got some 'nutrients' for you, bro.' So we both took some 'nutrients."' Needless to say, there was laughter all around, all at Fauria's expense.

2. In 2005 we played the Pittsburg Steelers. Before the game Joe Gibbs states “They got Russ Grimm over there. He believes in a lot of the same things we do. It’s going to be tough, smart, and physical.” Luckily I scored a touchdown, we win, and Joe Gibbs his happy.

1. And my all time best moment of training camp came in 2004 – One week before season begins Joe Gibbs names a slow white rookie the starting H back.

Also, here are the pictures from this morning's practice

Welcome Mr. Taylor, now you and LaRon can hit people for $ together.

Chris decided there would be no update today because I think he went to bed around 9:45. So I decided to give you a few things for you to check out while we wait for tomorrow's practice.

First I am very excited that the Skins got Jason Taylor. Not quite as excited as the female Redskins fans but more excited than the other NFC east QB's.


I also wanted to give you guys something exciting since it has been so long since we have seen real football. So this was one of the best I could find of LaRon Landry.

Pictures from today

Practice x2 on Day 2

Two-a-days are the opposite of fun. This morning was alright, the fans were actually great and made practice a little more fun than normal. We have nicknamed our favorite heckler of the day "Yes Sir Man" and if anyone was at Redskins Park this morning they will know exactly who Yes Sir Man was. For those who weren't at practice, Yes Sir was granted his nickname because of his abundant use of the phrase of "Yes Sir." Obviously, but he did have quite a few other gems for the Redskin players. The main victim of Yes Sir was Jason Fabini. He varied his comments from, "This is your 11th year, stop playing like it's your fourth." To plain mean "It looks like you didn't do anything this offseason, hit the weight room." Needless to say Fabini didn't get any "Yes Sirs" or "I see you's." If anyone comes to practice tomorrow or any day for that matter, feel free to heckle Jason Fabini as much as you'd like.

Another thing I realized is that I can do anything at training camp and get cheers. I even dropped a ball or two and got nothing but encouragement. I'm pretty sure I also set a team high of yes sirs for the day. I'm thinking about coming out to practice in one of those elephant thongs with the trunk as the package holder. I'm sure widespread applause would ensue. (Sarcasm) Since this isn't in my real tone of voice I come to realize that some people don't pick up on blogger sarcasm very well, so I was just kidding. I actually would like to come up with something elaborate, but the new Zorn regime requires only Redskin issued gear and alterations are not in favor. I thought and I think the general feeling of the team was excitement for a fast start to camp. It was a sharp and relatively quick practice. We watched the film and had a limited amount of errors. Definitely something to build on. On to the afternoon practice.

This is the part of the day where the question always gets asked, "Are we really going to do this again?" We basically practiced like that. It really wasn't that hot, it didn't last as long as the morning, but we lacked quite a bit of focus. Instead of something to build on I felt like it was something that needs worked on. (Skinscast interview)

Other than practice we had a couple injuries that were shitty. Phillip Daniels tore his ACL and Alex Buzbee tore his achilles. They are both done for the year. Getting hurt on the first day sucks. Guys work so hard all offseason to get ready and it basically becomes a waste of their time.
Got back to the place around 6. Meeting from 6:30 to 9:30. Not fun. Enough said. Finally I apologize for any grammatical errors, I'm kinda tired.

Photo credits go to Brian Murphy and Extremeskins.com as always they have the best stuff. For more check out this link.

Noteable: We traded a second round pick next year and a sixth the year after for Jason Taylor. I'm sure everyone knows this, but it's cool were getting a great player. I'm excited to have him.

First day is in the books

Training camp has finally begun. The Washington Redskins first reporting team meeting was today at 4:00. I counted down the hours of freedom, but it really is here. I have to admit its tough coming back. We move into the National Conference Center in Leesburg, VA. every year around this time and I have to say I could smell the place on my drive over. I checked into the same room as I have for the last five years which seems crazy to me. I can call 4218 home for the next four weeks.

As in the first day of anything we started off with pretty much an orientation meeting. NFL security says the same stuff every year. Drinking and driving is stupid, don't let crazy people into your home, and for God sakes don't let anyone talk you into throwing a football game. We moved into a bit about keeping hydrated. No shit you better keep drinking water cause it's a pretty good bet that it's gonna be hot as hell out there. Alternating Gatorade and water is supposed to be the way to go, but I'm gonna try the old school Coke method for the first couple days.

A couple funny notes from our training staff. A player cannot call in sick to work; they will actually have someone come pick you up from your room and take you to the hospital. Also it's a hundred dollar fine for a player who does not record his weight before and after every practice. The player is responsible for weighing and recording them on a little chart. I'm complacent so I'm sure I'll be in debt a few hundred to the Skins...whatever.

We have a bed check every night at 11:00 P.M. Coaches will be roaming the halls and checking everyone's room. Yes, we are all fifteen years old so I guess that is important. I mean, I'll check into the locker room around 6:00 A.M. so it's gonna be pretty hard to go out at night. Bed check?

We broke from our little orientation meeting for a 40 minute dinner. Food is usually pretty good here, but by the end of the month everything will start tasting the same. At least it was good tonight. I decided that I love "Franks Hot Sauce," I covered my entire meal in it, even carrots.

Dinner ended and we we got back at it. More meeting at 6:20 till around 9:20. We got into the playbook for the first time and everything was pretty much stuff we've been running during the off season so we should be pretty damn good at it by now! I ended up with over 5 pages of notes, some obviously more football intense than others, but all in all I thought it was a pretty good meeting.

Quotable from the meeting was Joe Bugle, "Weak right 40 gut. Yum! Yum!
How bout that one baby!" This came during our run game installation and obviously it's his favorite play.

Last meeting of the night ended in the tight end room. Attitude, concentration, and effort are the words for camp in our position group. Seems easy enough, at least for now!

So anyway, I'm back in the room, sitting here waiting for a knock. I just hope it's not too hot tomorrow. Yea right!

2008 Beard Growing Contest

Well, only five days before training camp and I've been trying to get in the right mindset, but it's tough! It seems like if I can do something stupid or silly it makes it easier to get through some of the days. I pulled off the long hair, I wore the shorts, there is always a couple sharpie tatoo days but now I'm ready for a new adventure...Greatest facial hair of training camp is going to be this years motif. After leaving Wyoming for my summer vacation I came home with quite a start on my new project. It's been a little over two weeks since I've shaved and I'm as proud as I can be! One thing about my little endeavors is that it is much more fun if I can have a partner in crime, or as many participants as possible. So I've decided to start the Chris Cooley Beard Growing Contest.

Winners will be chosen in two stages. I will personally choose the first winner based on the "Greatest Facial Hair in General." That winner will be chosen Saturday July 26 and will receive two family passes to training camp to share beards with me.

The second winner will be chosen Wednesday August 6. The prize for that winner, and really the grand champion, will be two tickets to the first preseason game at home against the Bills and also a family parking lot pass so the winner can take bearded pictures with me after the game. The consolation prize for the second place winner will be a replathentic jersey personalized by me in anyway.

The rules for the Grand Beard Champion are a little tougher. You can't just have good facial hair to begin with. The winner will chosen based on greatest beard or facial hair transformation. Yes, this means a before and after picture are required (send photos to tanner@chriscooley47.com) . Band members from ZZTop will have no advantage over the competition.

All winners will also be posted front and center throughout the website as proud bearded or mustached supporters of chriscooley47.com. I am very excited to see the many beards! I hope everyone will be as excited about this as me. Good luck!Update: There has been some concern about the contest but the stipulations are what they are. By sending your before picture you are automatically entered in the contest. You do not need to do anything else but let your beard grow! Thanks for those who have already entered.

Cooley/Earnhardt Jr. Part 2

If you happened to miss when Chris wrote about hanging with Jr. in Michigan you're in luck. NBC aired more of that interview tonight (I wonder how many of these gems they haved saved up).

TC: Happy Birthday Chris

Chris, today, on your day of birth I wanted to share some great things that happened this day in history. After each, I will show the emotion I think best describes your feelings about each event.

In 1804, Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton (not cool I guess).

In 1889 Tijuana, Mexico, is founded (God only knows how the world survived as long as it did without TJ).

In 1914 Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major league baseball. (I put this because I feel like you and the Babe could have been close friends).

Wikipedia claims that the biggest news story on this day in 1982 was that Italy defeated West Germany in the FIFA World Cup (I feel the same way as you look but given some time, your birthday will creep up the list).

2008 - Apple Computer's iPhone 3G goes on sale (If only Apple knew what you did to your iPhone).
So Chris, I hope you have a fantastic day and many more to come. Happy Birthday.

TC: Bubba's BBQ : (

So my wife and I spent the last week in Wyoming with family and friends. We did ton's of fun stuff as you have already seen and read. But I am going to let you all know, if you are going to Wyoming, you probably won't get the best of service at a little place called Bubba's.

Our waitress, Peanut, refused to do anything that a restaurant patron would expect a waitress to do, i.e. refill drinks (after 22 minutes Chris refilled his own in the kitchen), bring a salad bar plate, or anything else a hungry young man would want from a waitress. No lie, we entered the restaurant at 3:12 pm and got our food at 4:35. I mean, I could have ate Super Potato Ole at Taco John's (greatest meal ever) ten times before Peanut even turned our order into the cooks. Being how well nourished Peanut was, I wouldn't be surprised if she ate our food, ate another tables food, then turned our ticket into the cooks, it took that LONG. It is a good thing however, that when our food did come out it was warm and cooked to perfection. Props to the cooks at Bubba's just not the service. Peanut needs to find a different field of work.
We left Bubba's and went straight to Wal-Mart to buy more cards. This certainly brightened the day seeing that we got 6 different Darren McFadden's. What more could you ask for in a box of cards? Speaking of cards we would also like to thank all of you who have responded to the card post. Especially those who offered to send cards. You guys are great. What we did the rest of the night you can read about tomorrow on Shutdown Corner.

Update: We sat front and center over the shoots Saturday night of the Cody night rodeo. I found myself rooting for the bulls all night. ESPN Xtreme bulls drew a sellout crowd of 5,000 and no bull could have been extreme enough for me. Fact is, put me in any environment with a Cowboy and I’m gonna root against them. I just don’t like Cowboys!

Feels Good to Feel Good

It's Independence day, BE FREE!!! But since were in Wyoming think about saying it in a drawn out and slurred, but kinda awesome way. For the 4th I took a trip with my brother and the two wives over the hill and through the woods. Oh yea we had my Dad and his girlfriend for the tag along duo. Our entourage started out in Powell Wyo. and headed into the great wide open, figuring we'd just go for a freedom drive.

Into the mountains we thought we might do a little fishing, but were sorely disappointed to find the usually cool running creeks were raging rivers. Not an ounce of fishing was done. Tanner (my brother) tied some string on the end of a stick with a worm and caught some craw fish, but that was stupid and didn't last very long.

After the fishing concept ended we designated our time completely to tourism. I grew up in Wyo. and always spent a lot of time here, but I have to say it's completely bad ass. I spent July 3rd boating on a lake in 100 degrees and then the 4th climbing a ski slope. The mountains are unbelievable. I just couldn't believe its July and I'm taking pictures of Christy and Kirst in 15 foot snow drifts!

Our family drive continued over the Beartooth mountains into Red Lodge Montana. We got into an intense game of radio trivia, or "name the artist." I am unbelievable at knowing who is singing on the radio. From country to rap singers, my game is so well rounded that I am hard to beat. Tanner and the girls teamed up against me in a match to 20, but really stood no chance as I coasted to victory.

Everyone was starving and we cruised into Bogart's bar for some pizza and buffalo wings. I swear our waitress was Flo from Dumb and Dumber, I may be mistaken, but she was at least a cousin. 24 wings, four pizzas, a couple pitchers and a tip under 100 bucks!! I love Montana!

We finished up the trip and headed back to Powell for the fireworks show. We guessed almost every family in the town was headed to the fireworks as we followed the mile long procession of headlights into some field outside of town. We mocked what Powell could do for a fireworks show performance as stray explosions burst around the surrounding area. Then to everybody's surprise an outstanding array of light was upon us. I know that sounds dumb, but really for a little town we got an amazing show.

Being free started as a big joke for the car ride, but we all felt happy we live in a country where we can spend a day as a family doing whatever we want.

Chris C: Proprietor

We are having fun in Wyoming and found some nice hats!

The Cooley Zone: Collecting cards and selling them on eBay

http://http://onthedlpodcast.com/Blog_Podcast/Blog/Entries/2008/7/11_Chris_Cooley_talks_Blogs_and_Skins_on_the_DL.htmlAbout a month ago I was wandering around a sports memorabilia store, PSGameGear, in the Dulles Mall. I got bored and found myself at the front of the store where the football cards are at. I hadn't opened a pack since I was a kid, so I thought it would be fun if I could pull my own card. I bought about 10 and let the opening begin. Ten minutes and $70 later I was out of luck -- no Cooley cards! I was a little disappointed, but in that 10 minutes I'd become addicted to a hobby that consumed my life as a 12 year-old.

Read the rest over on Shutdown Corner and tell us what you think.