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FOR USE AS DESIRED NFL TRAINING CAMPS OPEN NEXT WEEK “Huddle up!” With that command and others like it from Davie, Florida to Napa, California, NFL football returns with the opening of 2004 training camps next week. “The most important thing is to get those pads on and start hitting people,” says the Washington Redskins’ rejuvenated new/former head coach JOE GIBBS, returning to the NFL after a 12-year absence. The Redskins (veterans and rookies) and New England Patriots (rookies only) are first into camp this Sunday, followed by the Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Rams on Tuesday, July 27. As far as where those camps are, many coaches – but not all – subscribe to the theory that it is best for clubs to stay and train at the home base they use during the regular season. Twelve teams will do so this year. The “throwback” philosophy of coaches like BILL COWHER of the Pittsburgh Steelers and BRIAN BILLICK of the Baltimore Ravens says that if it’s called a training camp, let’s go away to camp! “I think it’s important that you establish camp away from your regular training facility,” says Billick, whose Ravens this spring extended their agreement with McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland through 2010. “This is a perfect location for us because it is a camp mentality.” Home or away, nobody in the NFL enjoys training camps more than the fans. Many plan vacations around the training schedule of their favorite team. Those teams, in turn, have made their camps into “events.” Training camps are not just for the players:
Fans in Jacksonville – which hosts Super Bowl XXXIX next February 6 – will not be the only ones able to see the Jaguars up close this summer. NFL Network will follow the Jaguars in camp from start to finish in an “NFL reality series” entitled Inside Training Camp: Jaguars Summer that will provide an all-access, behind-the-scenes look at an NFL training camp in action. The series will debut on Wednesday, August 11 at 9:00 PM ET/PT on NFL Network, and air for the next four Wednesday nights through September 8. “Players bring their ‘A’ game to practice every day when there’s a film crew around,” says Del Rio. There will be plenty of TV crews around the NFL during the summer. Eleven preseason games will be broadcast on national TV and the remaining 54 games on the schedule will be televised locally and on NFL Network either live or on tape delay -- the first time in history that every NFL preseason game will be available nationwide on television. The first preseason game will be a memorable one. It will mark Pro Football Hall of Famer Gibbs’ return to the NFL when his Redskins take on the Broncos in Canton, Ohio on Monday night, August 9 on ABC at 8:00 PM ET to conclude the annual festivities of Hall of Fame weekend. Gibbs will become only the second coach – after PAUL BROWN with Cincinnati in 1975 – to coach in the Hall of Fame Game after he was inducted into the Hall (in 1996). The game will come after the annual three-day NFL Youth Football Summit that brings 150 youth and high school coaches and administrators from all 50 states to Canton for intensive discussions on topics vital to the sport, and after the induction of the Hall of Fame class of 2004 on Sunday. The 2004 class is made up of – for the first time in the Hall’s history – players who were all first-round draft selections – BOB BROWN, CARL ELLER, JOHN ELWAY and BARRY SANDERS. So the NFL is ready to “Huddle up!” The fans are ready for fun. The players are ready for…work. And they better be ready. “You can’t afford,” says a refreshed Joe Gibbs, “to come to camp and be out of shape.” ************************************************************************************************************************************* FAMILIAR SURROUNDINGSOne NFL team – the Dallas Cowboys -- will encamp in a new training site this year, in Oxnard, California. Many clubs will return to familiar venues where they have spent their summer months for years. The NFL training camp longevity king? The Green Bay Packers will return on July 29 for their 46th consecutive summer at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin. The longest active training camp tenures:
************************************************************************************************************************************* 2004 NFL PRESEASON NATIONAL TELEVISION SCHEDULE(All times Eastern)
|
|
TEAM |
SITE |
LOCATION |
ROOKIES |
VETERANS |
Baltimore |
McDaniel College |
Westminster, MD |
July 29 |
July 29 |
|
Buffalo |
St. John Fisher College |
Pittsford, NY |
July 31 |
July 31 |
|
Cincinnati |
Georgetown College |
Georgetown, KY |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Cleveland |
Cleveland Browns Training Facility |
Berea, OH |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Denver |
Paul D. Bowlen Memorial Centre |
Englewood, CO |
July 27 |
July 27 |
|
Houston |
Houston Texans Practice Facility |
Houston, TX |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Indianapolis |
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology |
Terre Haute, IN |
August 1 |
August 1 |
|
Jacksonville |
ALLTEL Stadium |
Jacksonville, FL |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Kansas City |
University of Wisconsin-River Falls |
River Falls, WI |
July 29 |
July 29 |
Miami |
Dolphins Training Center |
Davie, FL |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
New England |
Gillette Stadium |
Foxboro, MA |
July 25 |
July 29 |
|
NY Jets |
Hofstra University |
Hempstead, NY |
July 29 |
July 29 |
Oakland |
Napa Valley Marriott |
Napa Valley, CA |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Pittsburgh |
Saint Vincent College |
Latrobe, PA |
July 30 |
July 30 |
San Diego |
Home
Depot Center |
Carson, CA |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Tennessee |
Baptist Sports Park |
Nashville, TN |
July 30 |
July 30 |
NFC
|
TEAM |
SITE |
LOCATION |
ROOKIES |
VETERANS |
|
Arizona |
Northern Arizona University |
Flagstaff, AZ |
August 1 |
August 1 |
|
Atlanta |
Furman University |
Greenville, SC |
July 28 |
July 28 |
|
Carolina |
Wofford College |
Spartanburg, SC |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Chicago |
Olivet Nazarene University |
Bourbonnais, IL |
July 28 |
July 28 |
|
Dallas |
Marriott Residence Inn |
Oxnard, California |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Detroit |
Detroit Lions Training Facility |
Allen Park, MI |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Green Bay |
St. Norbert College |
DePere, WI |
July 29 |
August 1 |
|
Minnesota |
Minnesota State University |
Mankato, MN |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
New Orleans |
New Orleans Saints Complex |
Metairie, LA |
July 29 |
July 29 |
|
N.Y. Giants |
University at Albany |
Albany, NY |
July 29 |
July 29 |
|
Philadelphia |
Lehigh University |
Bethlehem, PA |
July 27 |
July 30 |
|
St. Louis |
Western Illinois University |
Macomb, IL |
July 27 |
July 28 |
|
San Francisco |
San Francisco 49ers Complex |
Santa Clara, CA |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Seattle |
Eastern Washington University |
Cheney, WA |
July 29 |
August 1 |
|
Tampa Bay |
Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex |
Lake Buena Vista, FL |
July 30 |
July 30 |
|
Washington |
Redskins Park |
Ashburn, VA |
July 25 |
July 25 |