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Riding the Amtrak express
10:29 PM Fri, Aug 08, 2008 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Todd Archer
As you know by now the Cowboys took a train from Oxnard, Calif., to La Jolla instead of flying, and I was fortunate enough to be a part of the five-hour, five-minute excursion.
It was a pretty cool experience and you got the feeling of what it may have been like back in the day when teams traveled by train to games.
Unfortunately, the Cowboys did not get off the train and play a pickup game, like in The Natural when Roy Hobbs struck out The Whammer.
Sitting in the Scottish Thistle car, owner and GM Jerry Jones told stories of a family trip on the Orient Express and even belted out a little bit of a Johnny Cash song. At one point he joked he stood outside of the train and promised, "a chicken in every pot," like he was on the political stump.
The players mostly slept or watched a movie, listened to their iPod or talked on the phone. Mostly, however, they slept, although Zach Thomas was re-writing the defenses in a new notebook and defensive line coach Todd Grantham was breaking down film.
We'll have more in Saturday's paper, but we'll leave you with this Brad Johnson quote. He used to take the train to games when he played for the London Monarchs in NFL Europe and the Commanders used to travel by rail a few times to play the Eagles and Giants.
"It breaks up camp," Johnson said. "It's something different. It's something you'll remember when it's all said and done. It's a long trip, but there'll be a lot of stories you'll tell at some point. For the first preseason game, I guess it's pretty cool."
10:29 PM Fri, Aug 08, 2008 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Todd Archer
As you know by now the Cowboys took a train from Oxnard, Calif., to La Jolla instead of flying, and I was fortunate enough to be a part of the five-hour, five-minute excursion.
It was a pretty cool experience and you got the feeling of what it may have been like back in the day when teams traveled by train to games.
Unfortunately, the Cowboys did not get off the train and play a pickup game, like in The Natural when Roy Hobbs struck out The Whammer.
Sitting in the Scottish Thistle car, owner and GM Jerry Jones told stories of a family trip on the Orient Express and even belted out a little bit of a Johnny Cash song. At one point he joked he stood outside of the train and promised, "a chicken in every pot," like he was on the political stump.
The players mostly slept or watched a movie, listened to their iPod or talked on the phone. Mostly, however, they slept, although Zach Thomas was re-writing the defenses in a new notebook and defensive line coach Todd Grantham was breaking down film.
We'll have more in Saturday's paper, but we'll leave you with this Brad Johnson quote. He used to take the train to games when he played for the London Monarchs in NFL Europe and the Commanders used to travel by rail a few times to play the Eagles and Giants.
"It breaks up camp," Johnson said. "It's something different. It's something you'll remember when it's all said and done. It's a long trip, but there'll be a lot of stories you'll tell at some point. For the first preseason game, I guess it's pretty cool."