OXNARD, Calif. – Now that we have gotten settled in for Cowboys Training Camp in Oxnard, California, I thought it would be a good time to start my camp blog to try and give you a little taste of what goes on when we are not on camera.
In his welcoming remarks on Wednesday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealed this is his 30th anniversary of Cowboys training camp for himself and his family after taking over the storied franchise in 1989 and soon thereafter won three Super Bowls in the early 90s.
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For the franchise itself, this is the 39th time overall the Cowboys have trained in California and will be the 13th season here in Oxnard.
For KSAT 12 and myself, this will be our 37th overall going all the way back to 1981 when the Cowboys trained in Thousand Oaks and Tex Schramm and Tom Landry called the shots with Danny White at quarterback.
By the way, Thousand Oaks is considerably hotter than Oxnard on any given day.
We always say the first and last day of Cowboys camp are always the toughest, generally speaking, because those are both travel days.
In our business we do anything but travel light, especially when you are going to be on the road for nearly two weeks.
After a late night Monday, the wake-up call comes at 3:30 a.m. and even earlier for the crew of photographer Billy Caldera and producer Mike Klein who must retrieve the equipment from the station before heading to the airport.
I got about an hour of sleep, but I can generally sleep on the plane and was somewhat successful.
Before I go much further I am reminded what my father used to tell me when I sounded like I was complaining about travel: ”You get paid to go to games." Enough said.
Our arrival at LAX is actually the best we have ever had for Cowboys camp.
In and out of luggage quickly, same with the rent car and then off down the Pacific Coast Highway for our first live shot.
Side note...it is funny to watch us form a human chain to transfer luggage and equipment on and off the rental car bus.
The Cowboys arrival diverted this year to LAX after what they call a scheduling conflict with the Point Mugu Naval Air Base where they normally land which is just minutes from Oxnard.
So like us they had to take the PCH to Oxnard but unlike us they had a police escort. Nice.
After completing our first live shot from just off the PCH with the Pacific Ocean in back we are off to Cowboys camp to try and catch the team's arrival.
But as we are packing up we notice the line of team buses blowing past us with the California Highway Patrol leading the way. So the race is on.
Luckily we have Mike already in place at camp but due to traffic we are pushing it for Billy and myself to get to camp in time for our 6 o'clock live shot.
We make it right at 6, and thanks to the hard work of Mike and our producers back at KSAT, Caroline Wright and Daniel Villanueva, it all gets on the air.
I will continue the blog in a moment but I must evacuate Billy has set off the fire alarm cooking breakfast.
Not the first time
That's a Cowboys camp first for me. Never set off the fire alarm system.
In Billy's defense, he's not the first.
In fact, during the Cowboys state of the team address, the fire alarm went off on the other side of the complex.
And in Billy's second defense, the vent system above the stove just shoves it back out on top of the microwave. Not exactly ventilation more like circulation. The nice maintenance man is here to reset the smoke alarm and we are underway again.
As Tuesday would roll on, it was time to check into our rooms, search for equipment that has been shipped ahead and set up the room for work.
We always choose Mike's room to throw everything we got in there for writing, voicing and editing and somehow it all comes together.
Billy has the equipment room and mine, well, if only the air condition worked, since Oxnard is in the middle of a heat wave -- 81 degrees today.
Oh wait, there's the nice maintenance man again.
As we rush to post stuff on the web and our other digital media outlets, we are also writing for The Nightbeat, which is closing in rapidly.
Didn't get done with everything until 10:05 p.m. San Antonio time, but in our world that's not cutting it close. 10:23 p.m. would be cutting it close.
While we are waiting to go on the air, one of the Dallas TV stations is struggling with their live gear and everyone rushes to help.
That's what I love about this business. We may be competitors, but when someone is in trouble, everyone lends a hand.
Unfortunately, they didn't get on the air at 10 p.m. Nobody likes that.
I don't know how you feel, but for me, the second day after travel always seems to affect me more.
It's a little tougher to get up and going, but thanks to the nice maintenance man, my air conditioning is working so well I have to get going to keep from freezing!
I swear I set the thermometer at 72, which actually worked out for the best because this is the first day of workouts and always like to get to the field early to catch the guys hitting the grass for the first time.
And as it turns out the first guy out of the gate is former UTSA quarterback Dalton Sturm, who is enjoying his first professional training camp.
Practice, or, in this case, a walk-through got underway a little late -- shoving everything else back, including Jason Garrett's first press conference.
Our interview opportunities come at the end of workouts and anyone who will stop and talk becomes your story.
Early Thursday it was Cole Beasley, first-round draft pick Leighton Vander Esch and defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, who said Leighton starts camp with a 10 on his forehead.
I Needed clarification on that. What was that? A 10, quipped Marinelli. Why 10?
"Everyone starts out with a 10," Marinelli said. "You don't want to be a four."
That quip produced the first hardy laughter of camp.