I know some Outsports members have attended the training camps for some of the teams. I saw that the Cowboys were having their training camp in Oxnard which is only a short drive away. I'm thinking about going this year to see what it's like and take some pictures. I checked their website and they said the admission is free, but I have a couple other questions and want some advice from others who have attended camps before.

Do they allow you to take pictures? Is it better to attend at the beginning of the camps or at the end? Can you usually see much of the practice or are the crowds usually kept away from the field? I'd appreciate any other advice on how to get the most out of attending a couple days.

Also, does anybody know how I can find out other teams that will have their training camp in the SoCal area, near L.A.

I use to go to camp when it was held at the University of Tampa. You could take pictures and get VERY close to the players when they were heading to and from the locker room. The Bucs now conduct camp at Disney. I've heard it's a GREAT facility but haven't checked it out.

I think there is something on espn.com that has the location of all the camps and the dates they report.

Go early when they're still training in shorts and no pads. And go when it's really really hot.

That's what I was thinking maxallen. I'll go one of the first weekends and try to get there early. Then I might go later on when it's close to wrapping up to see some real practice.

Stinger...the Chargers train in Carson, closer to LA than San Diego...they moved from LaJolla up to Carson a couple years ago for training camp...Marty thought they would concentrate and get more done if farther away from home...also a pain for fans too though....you might wanna check them out...

Thanks. I knew the Chargers trained some place near L.A. I'll have to check out their camp schedule. I'll take my camera and try to get close enough to get some good pics.

I've been trying to find pix of Stalin Colinet and found info from Google claiming he plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Went to the team's web site and didn't see his name on their roster of current players.

Has he retired from the game?

When I checked the usual image search engines, no hot shots of him came up, and surely there must be some since he is so studly.

Please let me know who he's playing for these days so I can check that team's minicamp pix of Stalin.

I didn't realize how totally cool going to training camp is. The Titans started their camp this weekend and I was there both days and had a great time. It's not only cool to be standing there just a few feet away from some of the hottest guys on earth, but it's also really neat to see that even the pros have to take the time to work on the very basics just like they'll be doing at some of the high school camps I'll be visiting this week.

The Titans have looked really good thus far. McNair looks great... we're not missing Eddie one bit... only thing I see we need to improve a lot on is defense. This certainly is the best time of the year!

With luck I hope to get out to the Seahawks training camp about 17 miles southwest of here. Never done this and really want to at least once.

Don't forget to take your digital camera with you, puckman!

You could take pix of the football players to share with us here, with captions like, "Wish you were here!"

(Picture moved to Hot Jock Talk, Scenes from Football Off-Season thread)

[ August 02, 2004, 12:06 PM: Message edited by: maxallen ]

I don't know how well training camp is attended by fans of other teams, but the Eagles are certainly having a love fest with their fans especially because of T.O. Today 11,000 fans turned up at Lehigh University to catch the Eagles practice and get autographs. In fact over 300 camped out overnight.

On hits and injuries in camps, Yesterday Parcells went down when a player ran in to him. Meanwhile Coach Bill Cowher playing QB also went down with when rushed by Joey Porter.

On Eagles news yesterday, T.O. went down for almost a minute when Trotter hit him a little too aggressively, he is ok though. Today Brian Dawkins hyperextended a knee will not practice for a week.

11,000??? Wow. The Titans are drawing about 500-1000 every practice. With the Falcons coming to town for a couple days, I'm sure that number will increase somewhat.

I'm not sure of the number of fans that have been to Redskins Park in Ashburn, VA this week, but Gibbs has been trying to run a tight ship. Spurrier pretty much allowed camp to be open all the time. Gibbs closed practice yesterday afternoon, only let select media in for another session, and will close practice to the public entirely on August 12.

Next Monday -- Skins v. Broncos...Hall of Fame game from Canton, OH!