My Training Camp Report .. A Different View On It (Plenty Of Pictures)

[Encore]

Hello, I was able to go to Cowboys Camp on 8/7 and 8/8. What a great experience it turned out to be. This was my third straight year attending, and sadly will have to be the final year since they are leaving Cali.

This year I was able to stay at the Marriott with the players like I did last year. The room was $229 for one night to stay in a penthouse. Although a tad bit expensive it's well worth it. Especially when you split it up with three friends.

The Perks are ... Going to watch training camp without having to wait in any lines. Walking into the Lobby and seeing every single player right next to you. Saying Hello to MANY players ... Walking out of the Bathroom to meet Parcells who is walking in. Walking in the parking lot to cross paths with Roy Williams and say Hello. Sitting in the Lobby while Greg Ellis and Chris Canty sit in the next seat chatting away. The perks surely pay for the room.

During the practice I was in a bad position to get pictures. I was next to the DB drills for the most part. I got alot of pictures of that, but nothing to special. But, while standing on the fence I became good friends with Irwin Thompson - DallasNews.com Photographer. He's a great guy and has a good sense of humor on him. Some girls were telling him to bring Keith Davis over to them, but he told her that he's trying to bring himself over to her. He was a nice guy. Also, I meet up with CaliCowboy today and we talked for a good 20 mins. He had a couple stories about himself and Newman ... Newman is all smiles around camp and is a jokester, and by the stories that Cali (Curtis) told me ... All he does is joke around with people. Cali mentioned that he looks to be the best person on the field when it comes down to it. I believe him ... Newman showcases many skills on the practice field. I have to give Props to Cali for doing his best to getting myself and two of my buddies into the VIP. He was looking around for someone and asking around for this man. Finally, the guy showed up and Cali did what he could, but no dice. Cali came over and broke the bad news to me. But, it's alright ... Atleast he tried. Cali's a great guy .. Really glad I was able to meet him.

Ok, On to pictures.. I took a different approach then most. I took some pictures of the Inside of Training Camp ..I took pictures of the room so you can see what the players live in for a month. Plus other Random photo's.

When You Walk Into The Room .. To The Left Is The Kitchen


To The Right Is The TV, Coach, Table


Downstairs Bedroom


Small Stairs To The Second Level


Upstairs Room


Looking Down From The Upstairs


The Building Of Rooms .. We were in Bulding 29


Our View From The Room To The Parking Lot/Back Walk Way To Practice


The Fece .. The Players Room On The Other Side


A Popular Sign Around The Marriott


The Back Of Weight Room/Locker Rooms. The Players Exit To Their Rooms


The Front Of The Weight Room/Locker Room Where The Player Enter The Field


What Rowdy Rode Around


Jerry Jones Cart ... I Had To Take A Quick Picture..


Parcells Being Bothered By All The Reporters On The Other Side Of Fence


Cowboys' Pro Shop On Wheels


A Look At Both Fields


The VIP Area ... Lucky People


Oxnard Finest


Davis Signing My Helmet, and Oxnard PD Making Sure Keith Isn't Shot Again.


Canty Yelled And Seem To Tweak His Knee, But Kept Playing.


Henry Walking To Get A Ball Near Me


Sam Hurd ... Wide Opened and Missed.


Sam Hurd Against Henry. Great Work Ethic From Sam.


Line Of Players Watching 7-on-7


Rector's One Hand Catch In Front Of Me.. Amazing Catch.


Pat Watkins ... So Tall, But Very Agile


Pat Watkins Signing My Card


That's It.

Any questions? Go Head and Ask.

I wanted to give a different view from Camp .. Hopefully I was able to.

[Encore]

Quick Story I forgot. While I was in the lobby hanging around and watching everyone go by. I didn't catch his full name, but a sports agent who's last name I believe was Deenet? I believe he represents Carpenter, Marco, Aaron Glenn .. And a couple other. Anyways, He's waiting in the Lobby for all of these guys to come by and say Hello. Well, He chats with Bradie, Marco, Aaron, and was waiting to see Bobby come by, but he had already long passed but I never spoke up to tell him. Opps? Ha.

Anyways, Parcells walks by and he yells out Coach .. Bill stops and the Agent introduces himself. Bill doesn't seem to care, but he gives him the time. Bill walks into the Bathroom, and when he walks out the Agent has his wife and 4-5 year old daughter next to him. He calls Bill over and wants to Introduce his Wife to Bill. Bill says hello and talks to his Daughter and is real sweet with her. Bill asks why he is here, and he explains to Parcells that he's just waiting to say hello to some of the guys. Parcells says ok and walks away.

Minutes later.. Bruce Mays "The Turk" walks out and is looking for the Agent. Finds him and walks up to him and says "Parcells wants you to leave the Lobby and go outside"

Parcells is being Parcells and Bruce Mays is still doing the tough guy work.

It was a nice story to bring home.

[Nav22]

Any questions? Go Head and Ask.

Watkins is 6'5" and you're looking down at him while he's signing your card. How freakin' tall are you?

[Reality]

Incredible story and pictures Thanks a lot for posting them!!

-Reality

[Cogan]

Sweet post, Encore.

So, you were able to get that close to the facilities & players just because you stayed at the Marriott?? That is sooo cool. Man, you were where so many of us would love to have been. Were there a lot of chicks hanging around the lobby, or staying at the Marriott?..........haha.

Very nice pics. I keep reading about how well Hurd is doing. You seem to have been impressed too. What it is about him that stands out? Parcells mentioned in yesterday's PC that Hurd had a couple of technique issues & BP pointed them out to Hurd. Could you see any problems with his route running, catching with his body, or whatever?

Watkins is REALLY lean, but he still looks solid enough to play in the NFL. His weight seems to be all muscle. How did he look playing deep?

Can you give a list of the players who most impressed you & why?

Thanks again, man. Great job!

[Manster68]

Thank you very much for the pictures.

Much appreciated.

[theogt]

Cool, thanks.

[Kevin]

Awesome pictures, and awesome hotel room. $229 to sit and chat with players, and run into your teams coach in a bathroom. Split 3 ways...sounds like a damn good deal to me.

[Encore]

Originally Posted by Nav22

Watkins is 6'5" and you're looking down at him while he's signing your card. How freakin' tall are you?

Looking at the picture .. It would look like I'm 7' .. I had picked up the camera above my head and shot down. Came out a pretty good picture.

[AdamJT13]

Originally Posted by Encore

Quick Story I forgot. While I was in the lobby hanging around and watching everyone go by. I didn't catch his full name, but a sports agent who's last name I believe was Deenet? I believe he represents Carpenter, Marco, Aaron Glenn .. And a couple other.

Carpenter, Rivera and Glenn all have the same agent as Parcells -- Jimmy Sexton. It must have been some other agent, or some agent's assistant or something. There isn't a registered agent with a name like "Deenet."

Could it have been Craig Domann or Steve Dubin? They both have two players on the team (Domann has Barber and Hannam; Dubin has Procter and Ryan). David Dunn and Pat Dye also have two players each, but Dunn is Bledsoe's agent and Dye is Ware's agent, so I'm sure Parcells knows both of them.

If it was an agent, the only other guy that would seem to fit the mold is Alan Herman. He represents Beriault, Boiman, Fowler and Rector. So he's not one of the well-known agents, and he has multiple Cowboys for clients.

Cool pictures, by the way. How long ago did you have to reserve the room to get it during training camp?

[Encore]

Originally Posted by Cogan

Sweet post, Encore.

So, you were able to get that close to the facilities & players just because you stayed at the Marriott?? That is sooo cool. Man, you were where so many of us would love to have been. Were there a lot of chicks hanging around the lobby, or staying at the Marriott?..........haha.

Very nice pics. I keep reading about how well Hurd is doing. You seem to have been impressed too. What it is about him that stands out? Parcells mentioned in yesterday's PC that Hurd had a couple of technique issues & BP pointed them out to Hurd. Could you see any problems with his route running, catching with his body, or whatever?

Watkins is REALLY lean, but he still looks solid enough to play in the NFL. His weight seems to be all muscle. How did he look playing deep?

Can you give a list of the players who most impressed you & why?

Thanks again, man. Great job!

It's really a great perk to stay at the Marriott. You get to see all the coaches walking around. The Dallas Media Walking around. The wifes and families walking around. It's a very relaxed feel at the Marriott after practice. No Autographs are aloud during this time, because this is their private area and it's out of respect. I followed the rules, but others didn't and the Players still hooked them up, but they were talked about afterwords. But, sitting in the Lobby the players walk past you to get their food and meetings are in one of the rooms past the Lobby. Every single Cowboys player would walk past you and say Hello. Well worth it.

The Rules are strict somewhat and you must walk around with a guest pass on with your name, so the works and secuirty knows you with the Marriott. Without it you are asked to leave.

Sam Hurd runs a really clean route. May not be listed to have top speed, but does really well pulling away from the defender. What stands out the most to many people about Hurd is his work ethic. 8/7 and 8/8 he stayed 30-45 Mins after practice and trained with TO (Well ... as much as TO can practice) TO would have him do a couple drills with him. He is doing whatever he can to improve himself. He isn't in a hurry to the locker room like most the team. That along speaks volumes about this kid. Parcells had him in place at #1 while Crayton was in the #2 slot on Monday when Glenn wasn't out on the field. Another thing that points out that Hurd is doing everything he can to be seen.

Watkins Looked to move the hips really well and boucne around. Pat has some real good speed for his side and seems to bait QB/WR somtimes. He has such a long stride that he catches up to most people right away.

I wish I was able to see more of the players and could rate them, but I saw mostly the DBs. I'd see all the players when they did 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 near us, but that wasn't to much.

[Encore]

Originally Posted by AdamJT13

Carpenter, Rivera and Glenn all have the same agent as Parcells -- Jimmy Sexton. It must have been some other agent, or some agent's assistant or something. There isn't a registered agent with a name like "Deenet."

Could it have been Craig Domann or Steve Dubin? They both have two players on the team (Domann has Barber and Hannam; Dubin has Procter and Ryan). David Dunn and Pat Dye also have two players each, but Dunn is Bledsoe's agent and Dye is Ware's agent, so I'm sure Parcells knows both of them.

If it was an agent, the only other guy that would seem to fit the mold is Alan Herman. He represents Beriault, Boiman, Fowler and Rector. So he's not one of the well-known clients, and he has multiple Cowboys for clients.

Cool pictures, by the way. How long ago did you have to reserve the room to get it during training camp?

None of those ring a bell. I was doing my best to listen to their convo to catch his name, but I guess I was wrong. lol. Denit, Deenet .. I thought it was somthing like that. But, He was looking to see "His Guys" which were Marco, Arron, and Bobby. He might've mentioned someone else, but I missed it. He did have a long chat with Bradie James about a contract or money. I can hear them talking about Witten for alittle bit and some sort of money. Of course.. They are 10-15 feet from me, and Im doing best to stretch my ear. lol.

As for the room ... It was much harder this year to get a room. Last year it was pretty simple to get the room. This year we had to cut through alot of tape to get it. The Marriott was trying to sell most rooms in a 4 day package with the price of $800 +. I love the Cowboys ... but 800 seemed steep. We called and they wouldn't budge on one room. The reservation lady said the computer won't allow her to set only a 1 day visit. So, I had called the GM of the Marriott and same story. Finally we called the Marriott's Regional Manager and finally this man aloud us a one day stay. In the end, they wanted to make as much money as possible. Even though I'm a paying customer they said they make more money on the package. Well, like I said.. We got the room after we kept implying we were a PAYING CUSTOMER. So finally they aloud the 1 night. Even though .. as I walked around last night.. There we plenty of open rooms with no guest. If they'd just allow people to come in for night.. I bet they'd all be full.

Also, We had called and tried to reserve a room the day the training camp schedule was released. I should've done it a year ago, but I wanted to shoot for going a day they had 2 practice day followed by one practice. This way I'd be able to go to the room between practice other then.. already had checked out and was waiting the hours for the practice to start again.

In the end.. it all worked out.

[Reality]

Originally Posted by AdamJT13

Carpenter, Rivera and Glenn all have the same agent as Parcells -- Jimmy Sexton. It must have been some other agent, or some agent's assistant or something. There isn't a registered agent with a name like "Deenet."

Perhaps that is the reason Parcells had him escorted out.

-Reality

[Aikmaniac]

Very interesting stories. Thanks for the post and pictures.

Were all the players generally courteous to you?

[dmq]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Awesome pictures, and awesome hotel room. $229 to sit and chat with players, and run into your teams coach in a bathroom. Split 3 ways...sounds like a damn good deal to me.

Hey, I agree with a skins fan! I guess anything is possible!


BTW, I love Rowdy's ride!