The start of NFL training camps always give me mixed signals. One, it means that summer is about over and that means my life is officially over. The summer's are somewhat of a time for me to put things in cruise control if you will....relax a bit. Once football starts, it's bedlum for the next six months until state basketball is over.

Two, it means it's football season, my favorite sport to cover. No hi-light is the same, and no sport in this state draws so much buzz for one game a week. It's great.

Back to my origin of the post. This past weekend, my trusty intern Jim and myself traveled to Mankato for the start of Vikes training camp (getting up at 4-30 is no walk in the park, especially for a guy who is not a morning person--but who is at 4-30). For us, training camp is an intense two days as we are trying to build up stories for the next three weeks and that's tough to do when you only get 15 minutes to shoot video of practice (apparently Brad Childress thinks some of us in the media are going to sell his practice footage to the highest bidder) and one camera. But we succeeded and got more than enough sound and video for the next few weeks.

It's an eye opener working the other side of the fence. It's truly a game trying to nab players following practice. They don't have to stop. But being this was my 5th NFL training camp, fourth with the Vikes, I know who will talk and who will be tough to get sound from. We had a list of players we had to get, a list of players we'd like to get and a list of guys that if we got, great, if we didn't, we weren't going to lose any sleep. So basically, it's like a cattle call and a free for all. It's quite amusing I guess to some, but to be honest, when Thor tells me you are going to camp, it's not an event I look forward to. It's a pain in the butt and it's two long, stressful days.

We got back Saturday and I went straight home for a nap, then met my wife for dinner and what not. I was out for about an hour and went straight home for a well deserved night of sleep. Man it was great to be home as camp simply wore me out.

A couple of notes from camp....Jared Allen is skinny and quite the character. He has twigs for legs and when he stands next to the Williams boy, he looks like Pee Wee Herman. But the guy will certainly be a boost for an already stout defense. He also keeps everyone loose with his happy go lucky attitude....Does Pat Williams ever not smile?

Adrian Peterson is the leader of the offense. Sidney Rice will be the new Randy Moss and the teams success hinges on Tarvaris Jackson (way to go out on limb there Tim). But if he can throw the ball, the Vikings will be tough to beat. Darren Sharper is hilarious. I'd rather watch paint dry than listen to a Brad Childress presser. Chad Greenway is the one player I always enjoy talking to. He's a goof-ball and loves having a good time with the local media.....Matt Birk is freakin smart.....Seriously, who does every coach wear long sleeves....Fellas, a memo, it's summer and it's hot....No need to show us how tough you are....I wish I was an NFL team owner so I could catch some punts during special teams drills.....

that's all for now...talk to you soon.