Training camp tour: Gettin' comfy with Chiefs, cheese
Aug. 9, 2002
By Jay Glazer
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
TellJay your opinion!
Editor's note: Jay Glazer is on a four-week training camp tour, during which he'll report back several times a week on the 20-or-so teams he visits as they prepare for the season.
RIVER FALLS, Wis. -- If I ever have to join the witness protection program, I'm moving here.
Players loathe the rigors of training camp, often complaining of the rough accommodations, monotonous yet grueling practice schedule and lonely nights.
The Chiefs are counting on WR Eddie Kennison to step up this year.(AP)
Me? At least this day I love it! This is the real world baby!
There is no better place in America than River Falls, Wis., for a city guy like me to see the real world. Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil said on Thursday that if all things were equal, he'd love to hold training camp closer to Kansas City but can't because of the heat. Memo to Mother Nature: Please, please, please keep hitting the City of Fountains with a heat wave to keep the Chiefs from leaving this place.
After fighting through problems on past training-camp stops, I have reached my favorite stop on the tour with my favorite place to stay, favorite bar and favorite bar food.
How about this for a change from Thibodaux, La.? There is no Marriott or Hyatt or Westin or any other mainstream hotel in River Falls. Instead, it houses my favorite place in the country -- a tiny little bed and breakfast called the Knollwood House run by my new friends, Jim and Judy Tolstrud.
I wasn't sold on this place during my first stay three years ago. In fact, I was actually pretty frightened. It's a classic Glaze story:
During my first visit here in the summer of 2000, I needed a place to stay. The Best Western in town was a dump, the type of place that Norman Bates wouldn't even stay. So, Chiefs PR guru Pete Moris set out to find me another place to sleep. He found this little B&B a mile from training camp. Being the ignorant Jewish New Yorker that I am, I complained to Pete, "There's no way I'm staying out at some dude's barn house. I'll wake up in the middle of the night, look out my window and there will be a Klan rally going on when the townsfolk hear there's a Jewish guy staying out back. No way!"
Moris confirmed that indeed, I was an ignorant New Yawka and tried to assure me that these fine folks were not members of the Klan or some Midwest Nazi militia group. After much arguing, I gave in and gave it a shot.
Less than an hour into my stay, I looked up on the bookshelf to grab some reading material and, sure enough, there it was, my worst fears come true. Lining the bookshelf were 15 books titled History of the Third Reich. You have to be kidding me!
It turns out, Jim is a huge history fan, doesn't have many Jewish folks come out this way so never really thought about how this litany of literature could scare the hell out of me. I know this because I asked him straight out if he was a Nazi.
Three years later, I've still never seen a Klan rally on the front lawn.
Thankfully, I stayed at the Knollwood House and now highlight it every year of my camp tour. This is not just a training-camp stop, it's as close as I'll get to a scene out of Thoreau. I sleep in a massive sleigh bed next to windows that overlook nothing but green pastures and a barn that in previous years housed a few lamas and several horses. Judy treats me like her own son and makes me fresh blueberry and raspberry muffin tops (with berries picked from bushes right outside the house), Norwegian waffles, smoked salmon eggs benedict and fresh squeezed juice.
How's this for a tough life.
In between practices, I returned to the Knollwood and laid on a hammock under a pair of mammoth 130-year-old oak trees pasted in front of perfect blue skies a slight breeze and listened as four long-time Wisconsinites sat and drank coffee.
The Knollwood House is an incredible oasis from the rigors of camp and a place I will try to come to every year for the rest of my life.
Bright idea
Vermeil has gone old-school to beat one of the league's newest concerns. Much attention has been heaped upon keeping players fresh, hydrated and safe from the rigors of training camp heat waves. Vermeil set a camp schedule similar to one he used while he was with the Eagles a couple of decades ago.
While most teams have their morning practice sessions from 9 to 11 (or even longer in some instances), Vermeil's morning practices begin at 8 or 8:30 and end by 10, allowing his players to flee to cooler climate before the afternoon sun begins to blaze. He doesn't begin his p.m. practices until 4:30 -- 90 minutes later than the norm for afternoon practices around the league. By not beginning at 3 p.m., the Chiefs avoid one of the points in the afternoon when the sun is strongest.
The benefits of the five-plus-hour break has been staggering. The Chiefs have had just one player go down with a muscle pull or a similar injury. Normally, teams have at least five hamstring and/or quad pulls by this point. By allowing the players a decent rest period, they not only avoid injury but they are fresh and ready to hit earlier in the afternoon practice than normal.
Unlikely candidate takes over WR slot?
The Chiefs have a former first-rounder on their roster in Sylvester Morris and a sophomore who started last year in Marvin "Snoop" Minnis, but neither will crack the starting lineup for the start of the season. Instead, a perennial castoff appears to be set as the No. 2, opposite Johnnie Morton. Vermeil said that Eddie Kennison, who quit the Broncos the night before a game last year, is entrenched as the second starter and points to him as one of the most important players he needs to step up for a big season this year.
"If Eddie Kennison can continue to demonstrate what he has done as receiver on the practice field, that would be a tremendous boost, just a tremendous boost for us," said the coach. "I don't see somebody beating him out, not the way he has been performing."
Morris does not appear to be on the team's radar screen despite rave "previews" his rookie year. He spent last season on IR with a torn ACL and has yet to show the same zip that made him a No. 1 selection a few years ago. He is currently running with the third and fourth teams. Minnis has not participated in camp after breaking his foot in an offseason workout. The Chiefs are hoping he can start getting some reps late next week but they are unsure if this will become a reality.
The two receivers on the roster making the most noise are 6-foot-3, 223-pound Marc Boerigter, who Chiefs personnel liken to Ed McCaffrey, and former RB Dante Hall. Vermeil likens Hall to Az-Zahir Hakim and says the team plans to utilize him much in the way the coach used Hakim in St. Louis.
"I think Donte Hall will really surprise some people because nobody has ever seen him in the NFL as a wide receiver," said Vermeil. "I picture him making the type of contribution that Az Hakim made for me, short passes that can utilize his speed and the types of skill he shows in the return game. Hall wasn't a wide receiver until last year. He has really picked things up well."
Roaf back in action
Former Pro Bowl LT Willie Roaf has been working once per day during camp as he attempts to work his way back to form after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL late last season. Roaf was slated to start at left tackle during the team's opening preseason game Saturday night. More important, Kansas City expects him to be able to be in the starting lineup for Week 1 of the coming season.
Roaf is not yet the Willie Roaf of old. He doesn't seem to have problems blocking people around the outside, but he has some difficulty picking up a stunt inside toward his injured knee. Whether or not this will strengthen enough over time remains to be seen, but that he is already back in the lineup is quite impressive.
If Roaf plays in 50 percent of the offensive snaps for the Chiefs, the fourth-round pick they traded in March to New Orleans in order to acquire the former All-Pro will escalate into a third-rounder. If he starts 16 games for the Chiefs and performs on a decent level, that draft pick will be well worth the trade.
Despite getting his nose broken during a fight last week with second-rounder Eddie Freeman, starting right tackle Jon Tait would have been able to play this weekend had this been a game that "counts." The team is holding him out for a couple of weeks in order to properly heal. The fewer risks taken in camp, the better off they are.
Finally putting an end to the committee
For the first time in recent memory, the Chiefs enter training camp with a bona fide starting running back rather than a backfield by committee. RB Priest Holmes led the league in rushing last year and is 100 percent healthy.
Every year the Chiefs enter camp optimistic they have found a guy who will emerge from the rubble and take the reins of the position. There was Rashaan Sheehee, Jesse Haynes, Frank Moreau, Mike Cloud and finally, last season, Derrick Blaylock. The company line had been, "Wait until you see this kid. He's going to surprise some people." Yeah, they've surprised some people alright -- those people who told me how great these kids would be.
There is zero mystery involving the solid Holmes. After years of trying to emerge in Baltimore, Holmes has proven he is a legitimate star and a man defensive coordinators must contend with.
Having a fullback such as Tony Richardson in the backfield certainly doesn't hurt Holmes either. Richardson is one of the league's most complete fullbacks, showing he can be dangerous as a runner, receiver or blocker.
During Wednesday's p.m. practice, the underrated back let loose on a few blocks that were extremely impressive. Despite his blocking prowess, he is also the backup to Holmes. Should something happen to the Pro Bowl running back, the Chiefs would likely shift to a one-back set and use Richardson as their featured back (with some Mike Cloud mixed in).
What I didn't know about Wisconsin
What the heck cheese curds are, or how incredible delicious they are. What exactly are cheese curds? They're like baby cheese balls. Un-aged chunks of Wisconsin cheddar straight from the dairy and they squeak in your mouth when eaten at room temperature. They are also served golden deep-fried.
For those with lactose problems it's a killer, but these little suckers are unbelievable. Absolutely worth the torture they'll cause later in the night. If I could figure out how to sell these things in the Big Apple, I'd make a fortune and get really, really fat in the process. They have a whopping nine grams of fat per tiny little curd. I must have eaten 100 of them Thursday night. That's 900 grams of fat in one night. That's why when people out here claim they are in shape, that shape is a triangle.
Best watering hole in River Falls
Bo's N Mine Bar and Grill on Main Street. Every year before my arrival, one of the Chiefs former pro personnel people will call and ask me, "Where is the only place you've been to where you can buy 80 ounces of beer for $2.00? Bo's N Mine, of course (to purchase 80 ounces of beer in New York, you need to refinance your mortgage). This was the beer special a few years ago and despite no longer offering this oh-so-awesome special price, the place is still the best.
Bo's is pretty much every bar I've ever seen in a movie of a watering hole somewhere in Middle America. I love it.
I sat for two straight nights with Chiefs people and players and put back the fine elixir of yeast and hops, baskets of cheese curds and threw some darts.
I wish I never had to leave this place |
