Angry Pope
All Raider
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2006
- Messages
- 8,457
- Reaction score
- 548
Rookies in the line of fire
Guts and determination go only so far during the long, hot weeks of training camp. Stolen wine, wayward farm animals and concentrated coyote urine have also carried players through.
For while NFL training camps come and go, the stories endure.
"I can tell you stuff that will blow your mind," said Hall of Fame Cowboys offensive tackle Rayfield Wright. "The veterans had a whole lot of fun at the rookies' expense."
Starting next week, from Terre Haute, Ind., to River Falls, Wis., to Latrobe, Pa., the annual rites of summer begins anew.
Some of the NFL's biggest names will spend the latter part of July and August packed into tiny dorm rooms, featuring little more than a desk, TV and miniature closet. For roughly three weeks, they'll practice together, eat together, meet together and even shower together -- a long-established regimen that inevitably drives some over the edge.
Assemble 95-100 football players who practice twice a day in often steamy weather, while living in a confined area for about a month, and inevitably there will be some boredom-induced wackiness and fits of anger. Here are just a few slices of training camp life through the years:
Coyote ugly
Recently retired Seahawks center Robbie Tobeck had been around too long to fall for the ol' Flexall-in-the-jock trick. He played along, acting as if his loins were ablaze, but mostly Tobeck was plotting retaliation against analgesic-toting teammate Trent Dilfer.
Tobeck settled on a trip to the variety store near the team's old training camp facility at Eastern Washington University. There he found a bottle of coyote urine. Spread around a garden, the urine's pungent odor repels deer and other grazing animals. Spread around a dorm room, the product turns NFL quarterbacks into high-priced maids.
"The joy for me was later that night, going up to his room and seeing him," Tobeck said. "He had candles and incense burning and he's on his hands and knees scrubbing his floor."
Tobeck pulled off the prank by securing a master key to the players' dormitory. That gave him free reign in Dilfer's room, while Dilfer and the other quarterbacks were in meetings or otherwise occupied. Tobeck used the time well, emptying the bottle everywhere -- under Dilfer's bed, along baseboards, everywhere he could. The stench was strong enough to bother players in adjacent rooms.
"He didn't know what it was at the time," Tobeck said. "He looked up at me and said, 'You got me.'"
-- Mike Sando
Roger Staubach and the sucker punch
If you mention the "sucker punch" to anyone associated with the 1970s Cowboys, it's a good bet they'll know what you're talking about. In fact, Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach, the recipient of that punch, would still like an explanation almost 31 years later.
In August 1976, Staubach and the club's other two quarterbacks, Clint Longley and Danny White, joined the receivers on the upper practice field of the club's training camp facility in Thousand Oaks, Calif. When Longley made a derogatory remark about Drew Pearson after throwing him a pass, Staubach challenged him to a fight. White said he was put in charge of distracting assistant coach Dan Reeves, and according to several eyewitness accounts, Staubach won the fight handily.
On Thanksgiving Day in 1974, Longley, nicknamed "The Mad Bomber," had led the Cowboys to a stunning comeback victory over the hated Redskins after Staubach went down with an injury. Two days after the initial fight, Staubach was putting on his shoulder pads when Longley snuck up from behind and punched him. The impact sent Staubach crashing into a set of scales, and he still has a reminder above his left eyebrow.
Ed "Too Tall" Jones and D.D. Lewis restrained Staubach, and Randy White grabbed Longley.
"Clint looked like Donald Duck the way he was flopping around in Randy's arms," safety Charlie Waters recalled.
When White released him, Longley raced back to the dorm, then promised a radio reporter an exclusive in exchange for a ride to the airport. Longley was quickly traded to San Diego, and he and Staubach haven't talked since.
-- Matt Mosley
All-seeing, all-knowing Cowher
It was Bill Cowher's first year in Pittsburgh in 1992. He was the new guy replacing the legendary Chuck Noll. The long jaw, the scowl and the tough-guy persona would all come later, so running back Merril Hoge and quarterback Bubby Brister wanted to know what they could get away with.
They decided to sneak out after curfew and have a few drinks at a local bar near St. Vincent College, where the Steelers hold training camp in Latrobe, Pa. To avoid the guards at the front of the building, one needed to sneak out a window and run through a cemetery. Most players resisted the temptation because it was too spooky to be in a cemetery late at night. Hoge and Brister, though, decided it was finally time to take the risk.
"A few drinks were worth it," Hoge said.
The two went to the bar and returned to their rooms undetected at 3 a.m. At breakfast the next morning and throughout the early part of practice, Hoge and Brister felt like children who avoided punishment for staying up past their bedtime. They relished the idea of pulling a fast one on the Steelers' new coach, while avoiding the $500 fine that came with breaking curfew.
But their euphoria would be short-lived. While practicing a play the next day, Cowher asked Hoge and Brister to pay the $500 fine. To this day, Hoge does not know how Cowher knew about his transgression. Brister and Hoge were so intimidated, they each gave Cowher $1,500 because they planned to sneak out two more times.
-- William Bendetson
cont'd...
Guts and determination go only so far during the long, hot weeks of training camp. Stolen wine, wayward farm animals and concentrated coyote urine have also carried players through.
For while NFL training camps come and go, the stories endure.
"I can tell you stuff that will blow your mind," said Hall of Fame Cowboys offensive tackle Rayfield Wright. "The veterans had a whole lot of fun at the rookies' expense."
Starting next week, from Terre Haute, Ind., to River Falls, Wis., to Latrobe, Pa., the annual rites of summer begins anew.
Some of the NFL's biggest names will spend the latter part of July and August packed into tiny dorm rooms, featuring little more than a desk, TV and miniature closet. For roughly three weeks, they'll practice together, eat together, meet together and even shower together -- a long-established regimen that inevitably drives some over the edge.
Assemble 95-100 football players who practice twice a day in often steamy weather, while living in a confined area for about a month, and inevitably there will be some boredom-induced wackiness and fits of anger. Here are just a few slices of training camp life through the years:
Coyote ugly
Recently retired Seahawks center Robbie Tobeck had been around too long to fall for the ol' Flexall-in-the-jock trick. He played along, acting as if his loins were ablaze, but mostly Tobeck was plotting retaliation against analgesic-toting teammate Trent Dilfer.
Tobeck settled on a trip to the variety store near the team's old training camp facility at Eastern Washington University. There he found a bottle of coyote urine. Spread around a garden, the urine's pungent odor repels deer and other grazing animals. Spread around a dorm room, the product turns NFL quarterbacks into high-priced maids.
"The joy for me was later that night, going up to his room and seeing him," Tobeck said. "He had candles and incense burning and he's on his hands and knees scrubbing his floor."
Tobeck pulled off the prank by securing a master key to the players' dormitory. That gave him free reign in Dilfer's room, while Dilfer and the other quarterbacks were in meetings or otherwise occupied. Tobeck used the time well, emptying the bottle everywhere -- under Dilfer's bed, along baseboards, everywhere he could. The stench was strong enough to bother players in adjacent rooms.
"He didn't know what it was at the time," Tobeck said. "He looked up at me and said, 'You got me.'"
-- Mike Sando
Roger Staubach and the sucker punch
If you mention the "sucker punch" to anyone associated with the 1970s Cowboys, it's a good bet they'll know what you're talking about. In fact, Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach, the recipient of that punch, would still like an explanation almost 31 years later.
In August 1976, Staubach and the club's other two quarterbacks, Clint Longley and Danny White, joined the receivers on the upper practice field of the club's training camp facility in Thousand Oaks, Calif. When Longley made a derogatory remark about Drew Pearson after throwing him a pass, Staubach challenged him to a fight. White said he was put in charge of distracting assistant coach Dan Reeves, and according to several eyewitness accounts, Staubach won the fight handily.
On Thanksgiving Day in 1974, Longley, nicknamed "The Mad Bomber," had led the Cowboys to a stunning comeback victory over the hated Redskins after Staubach went down with an injury. Two days after the initial fight, Staubach was putting on his shoulder pads when Longley snuck up from behind and punched him. The impact sent Staubach crashing into a set of scales, and he still has a reminder above his left eyebrow.
Ed "Too Tall" Jones and D.D. Lewis restrained Staubach, and Randy White grabbed Longley.
"Clint looked like Donald Duck the way he was flopping around in Randy's arms," safety Charlie Waters recalled.
When White released him, Longley raced back to the dorm, then promised a radio reporter an exclusive in exchange for a ride to the airport. Longley was quickly traded to San Diego, and he and Staubach haven't talked since.
-- Matt Mosley
All-seeing, all-knowing Cowher
It was Bill Cowher's first year in Pittsburgh in 1992. He was the new guy replacing the legendary Chuck Noll. The long jaw, the scowl and the tough-guy persona would all come later, so running back Merril Hoge and quarterback Bubby Brister wanted to know what they could get away with.
They decided to sneak out after curfew and have a few drinks at a local bar near St. Vincent College, where the Steelers hold training camp in Latrobe, Pa. To avoid the guards at the front of the building, one needed to sneak out a window and run through a cemetery. Most players resisted the temptation because it was too spooky to be in a cemetery late at night. Hoge and Brister, though, decided it was finally time to take the risk.
"A few drinks were worth it," Hoge said.
The two went to the bar and returned to their rooms undetected at 3 a.m. At breakfast the next morning and throughout the early part of practice, Hoge and Brister felt like children who avoided punishment for staying up past their bedtime. They relished the idea of pulling a fast one on the Steelers' new coach, while avoiding the $500 fine that came with breaking curfew.
But their euphoria would be short-lived. While practicing a play the next day, Cowher asked Hoge and Brister to pay the $500 fine. To this day, Hoge does not know how Cowher knew about his transgression. Brister and Hoge were so intimidated, they each gave Cowher $1,500 because they planned to sneak out two more times.
-- William Bendetson
cont'd...