Skip to main content

friday night lights: training camp recap



i had a great time in latrobe yestday, at steelers training camp.  actually, i wasn't at camp at all, but at the high school where each year the steelers do one night practice there under the lights in front of a packed house.  it is sort of a fan-appreciation night, with all the players signing autographs for 15 minutes (i got shawn suisham, charlie batch, and troy polamalu's among others!), and several steelers alumni returning for the evening.  in fact, much to my surprise, i got to see the retirement ceremony of aaron smith, marvel smith, willie parker and joey porter, who were all officially retiring as pittsburgh steelers.  it was great to see them there.  if you don't believe that the steelers are the premier sports franchise , check out this article, in particular joey porter's comments at the end of the article from the perspective of a player who left the steelers to play for two other teams. 

once practice began, it was great to see all the players, all my old favorites and so many new guys.  after stretching, i was lamenting that i wouldn't get to see chris hoke do his traditional 'hokie pokie,' but instead the whole team starting clapping and trai essex did some kind of crazy dance, joined in by willie colon.  all the players were smiling and laughing, as was the whole stadium, and it was a fun moment of levity to start practice. 

then the business began.  there was backs on backers (which was hard for me to see since it was on the opposite side of the field from me, but it looked like lawrence timmons was an absolute beast out there, just running guys over), there were field goal drills, punting drills, and some good situational football stuff (2 minute drill, i think).  ben didn't participate in the 11 on 11's, but did most of the other drills, and it didn't look like they were sparing him many throws, as he participated in a drill with all the quarterbacks and coach todd haley in which they tried to throw a football into a garbage can about 25 yards away.  ben and batch were the only ones to sink one.  when they did, the crowd really cheered.  i had never seen that drill before. 

i also enjoyed the one-on-one battles between WRs and DBs on a variety of routes.  i always liked to imagine myself as a wide receiver, so those drills were most interesting to me for that reason. 

the whole session was indeed "spirited," to borrow one of tomlin's favorite words, and it certainly looked to these eyes like running the ball has become a big priority as many of the offensive plays during 11-on-11s were runs.  it was great to be there, great to fellowship with a great turnout of steelernation, and great to "feed my fever" with my annual pilgrimage.  even though i didn't get home until very late, it was well worth it.

clicking on the image below should take you to a picasa slideshow of about 100 or so of my favorite pics from the trip. 
training_camp_12

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

bad haircuts (for a laugh)

everybody needs to laugh.  one good way i have found to make that happen is to do a simple google image search for 'bad haircut.'  when you do so, some of the following gems show up.  thankfully, my 9th grade school picture does NOT show up.  otherwise, it would certianly make this list!  please laugh freely and without inhibition.  thank you and have a nice day. 

happiness is dry underwear

we started potty training jack on thursday. we followed a program called POTTY TRAIN IN ONE DAY, which, by the way, i think is kind of crazy. i mean, if someone were to offer you a book called, "ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE IN ONE DAY" i don't think you would take it seriously. and yet here we are, trying to accomplish an equally daunting task in one 24-hour period. it is intense. the day is shrouded in a lie because as soon as your happily diapered child wakes up you tell him that it is a big party. we had balloons and streamers and noisemakers and silly string - all the trappings of a legitimate party. but it is most certainly not a party. it is a hellishly exhausting day. as soon as jack got out of bed, we gave him a present: an anatomically correct doll that wets himself. jack named him quincy. several times quincy successfully peed in the potty and even had an accident or two in his "big boy underwear." he also dropped a deuce that looked and smelled sus

the crucifixion of Robert Lewis

  "the crucifixion of Robert Lewis" mixed media collage with leaves, acrylic paint, and found objects by gregory a milinovich october 2023 this october i was invited to participate in a three day trip which was called a "pilgrimage of pain and hope."  while that may not sound super exciting to many of you, it actually really intrigued me.  i am the kind of person that wants to feel big feelings, and i am drawn to the deep places, so  i was interested in traveling to the scranton area, where the trip was planned, to see what it might look like to be a pilgrim that was wide-eyed and listening to the pain and the hope in the stories of others.   this trip included hearing the stories of immigrants to the northeastern pennsylvania area, and the work in the coal mines that many of them did.  it included hearing from folks who are working for housing justice and equity in downtown scranton.  it included hearing from those indigenous people who first inhabited that land.