(This is the second of a 2 part tongue-in cheek series about the NFL off-season. Wait, can it really be called a series if it only has 2 parts? In any case, click here for the first one)

The warm bright days of summer have returned. Today when I woke up, I lept out of bed, took a deep breath of the clean and fresh air, and said “hello world,” to the grand and glorious morning. Outside, all of the birds were singing and singing, as if to say “Yes, yes, it is a fine day to be alive!” Even the clanks and beeps of garbage truck gladdened my soul.

As I ventured forth into the glistening morning, colors were brightened, sounds "dolby-fied". Everything just seemed right. It’s as if I was in Kansas when I went to bed and woke up in the Emerald City. I shivered in anticipation and got into the car. I did a final check – camera, pens, paper, notes, maps, something to drink, cap, comfortable clothes. Yep, got all I’ll need for today. I think.

Turning on the radio for the drive, I found the sports guy is back from vacation and seemed to be in a good mood. Well, in a good mood for a radio guy, they always seem to find something to bitch about. Nevertheless, his chipper attitude bothers me not because I’m in a good mood too. I started up the car and headed for the turnpike. [And now let's all pretend I turned around, wrote this article, got back into the car and headed back towards the turnpike.]

The joy, the joy of it all. The cold dark days of July are behind me, and cold and dark they were. Not only was the NFL on vacation but it seems my computer was on vacation. It would work for a few hours and then freeze. And then it wouldn’t reboot. It would freeze trying to get into safe made. It would freeze in the first few seconds. I ran out of restore points. If I got it to work for a while and write something, it would crash if I tried to push anything to the web. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to come home from work and spend 4 hours a night trying to get the computer to boot. Or stay booted. Well it’s working now as long as I don’t ask too much from it, although soon my computer problems will be as far behind me as the month of July. [Hey computer – you’ve screwed with me enough. Your replacement is being shipped now. Goodbye Vista, hello old friend XP Pro]

But enough about the computer. Today is a big day. It is August 2nd, the first day of training camp, the day the Dolphins go back to work. After “goofing off” for months doing things like spending 5 days a week in weight rooms and studying films, going to OTAs and getting maybe a couple of weeks to actually spend with their families, they are finally punching back in on the time clock.

Actually, they’re not working yet, even though they will be working hard. They’re in training. Now, if any of us get to go to a training class, we usually consider ourselves fortunate because we can pretend to pay attention while we take a mental vacation day. If we’re lucky enough to be sent out of town, we can sometimes even pretend to go to training class.

Not these guys. It they just pretend to pay attention or goof off or blow off practices, they may be out of a job real quick. In fact, 23 of the guys that show up for training camp today will not be here come opening day.

Imagine if your job was like that. You and 79 other people get sent to a training class. But before you leave you’re told only 53 of you will have jobs when you come back. Those who do the best in class will be the chosen ones. The rest, adios. You probably wouldn’t be going to too many happy hours after class and you sure would pay attention during the day. Maybe even ask a few questions if you didn't understand something. In other words, you’d probably take the training class a little more seriously. Especially if you’re a new guy or have marginal skills.

It’s the same with the players. Today starts a Darwinian process where it’s truly survival of the fittest. The new guys and the marginal guys better train up real fast or they’ll get eaten by the bigger fish. The old guys better not look like dinosaurs or the new young mammals will take their place. And the guys in the middle will try to evolve to the next level. [OK, I’m done mixing bad metaphors]. So today begins the training portion of the season that will cast out team members at regular intervals and lead up to the first day of real work – Sept 13th in Atlanta.

And we DolFans are invited to watch this first training session, this beginning of the new season. Sure the players will be rusty and there will be no hard hitting, unfortunately. The coaches won’t show any new wrinkles in the WildCat formation or anything else that would help other teams. And a lot of the time they’ll be too far away to really tell what’s going on.

But that’s OK. Because today signifies the start of a new NFL year in South Florida. It is a milestone in the 2009 season with the deliverable being a training camp session open to the public. I’ll be there in my Dolphin-orange hawaiian shirt with the palm trees on it, watching the practice, scribbling notes, taking pictures and hopefully talking to few fans, getting their take on things. A few thousand of you will be there too.

It will be hot and it will be miserable. But we will be happy because, weather permitting, the Dolphins will be there too. And together we will start this new season, a season of hope, a season where all things are possible, including playing at home next February.

So today marks the end of the cold, dark days of summer and begins the warm, bright days of hope. I’ll be there and I’ll be happy. And I’ll be hoping. See you there.

comments: OPhinions@yahoo.com

Using chipper, nevetheless and bothers me not in the same sentence: -230 points