Camp Fodder

Hope that you had the time to read Sam's latest post this morning. If not just keep reading it's below this one, you probably don't know this, but Sam's currently sitting impatiently on the Broncos Denver Broncos P.U.P. list. I can't wait to get to Training Camp and see what he can really do...

Speaking of Sam, he brought up an interesting point during a recent e-mail exchange. Sam brought up the dis respectfulness of a term thrown around by journalists, fans and message board enthusiasts alike. That term being "(training) camp fodder", seriously think about it, but that group of words into context. Then think about your favorite Broncos, then take a look in the mirror, you're filthy. I can think of a couple players who were camp fodder at one point: Rod Smith, he's one of them, Karl Mecklenburg, he's another, Terrell Davis,.. Can you name the teams Ed McCaffrey or Bill Romanowski played for before Denver? Remember a guy named Craig Morton? He led us to our first Superbowl, you know who he used to backup? A guy his team choked to in the Superbowl, Roger Staubach, sorry that was a bad point, KARL MECKLENBURG! There, I cleansed your pallets.

Camp fodder, high school students have died during two-a-days attempting to be camp fodder, boys and young men train their entire lives to be camp fodder. The reason they all push so hard is because they know, in that locker room the only difference between them and anyone who sits above them on the depth chart is one perfectly timed play; a block, a tackle, a step, a hand, instinct, training or natural ability and they are in and once they're in, they'll show everyone, they should have always been there.

It's the reason John Lynch isn't, "getting old," why Champ Bailey's a first ballot Hall of Famer, why Rod Smith's still out there, unrecoverable hip injury, helping out where he can, Tom Nalen could have retired, no one would have blamed him, the same could be said for Mike Shanahan, really what does he have to prove? He's got his place amongst Bill Walsh, Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Tom Landry and Chuck Knox... Literally a living breathing legend and has fans scream for his head. See these men, they are great men, gladiators, people who put their lives on the line, literally for what amounts at the end of the day as entertainment to us. And we as fans put just as much back into it, wives, sons, husbands, mothers, fathers and daughters take hours, days, weeks, months and years out of their lives to dedicate to something that may or may not be greater than them. Football.

Is it Sunday yet?