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Akers Entertains NASCAR Driver at Eagles Training Camp

Eagles fan favorite, kicker, David Akers welcomed NASCAR driver Martin Truex, Jr. at training camp this past week.   The Press of Altantic City, has a nice write up of Truex, Jr.'s visit to camp, complete with Trotter and Spikes trying to recruit Truex Jr. to the Eagles as a safety.

It seems that Akers has a passion NASCAR and even competes in an online league of racing, competing not only with Truex, Jr. but also Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Denny Hamlin and other NASCAR series drivers.  Akers leaves his better skills to the football field claiming he's not so great at racing even though he loves the sport.

Truex, Jr. on the other hand is 11th in the Nextel Cup standings.  He drives for the Dale Earnhardt Racing team aboard the #1 Bass Pro Shops car.  One might think that its a stretch for a NASCAR driver to be an die-hard Eagles fan, but Martin Truex, Jr. is a Deleware Valley guy.  Born and raised in Mayetta, NJ when Truex, Jr. wasn't winning junior racing championships at New Egypt Speedway - at New Egypt, NJ, he was watching Eagles football games.

Truex Jr., use to have his Sundays pretty free to watch the Eagles, however since winning back to back Bush Series championships when he raced on Saturdays, he's now come over to NASCAR full time and races on Sundays.  I guess he's got the TIVO fired up till November when the NASCAR season ends.

As for Akers though, the Iggles blog is reporting on the discouraging progress reports (info also via Philly.com) from him on his hamstring injury.  Even though Akers hit his first "pressure" field goal from 43 yards to give his teammates the night off on Friday,  he's still struggling to adjust to the changes in holders between Dirk Johnson and Sav Rocca. 

We all know Akers only felt really comfortable with Koy Detmer holding that ball.  Unfortunately for Akers, Koy's gone.  Unfortunately for us, visions of Tony Romo flubbing the game loosing hold for the Cowboys last year keep coming back to mind.  If a holder can't even hold the ball right, it can cost a team a lot more than just 3 points - just as Romo.

Eagles Training Camp Rocked!

Last Thursday (August 2nd), I spent the morning up at Eagles Training Camp at Lehigh University.  Wow, what an experience that was.  It was the first time I've ever been able to actually take the time off during Training Camp to head on up to the Allentown area to see the Birds practice, and it was well worth the drive up there.

I managed to get a great spot near the fence between the two fields that allotted me a great view and  the opportunity to get some great pictures.  I also met up with some great guys - true "Green" Eagles fans such as this EaglesChick is.  Between yelling to the players (they guys figured out this chick likes Jeremy Bloom!) and joking with the giant security guy who had to yell "Boy, get off my fence" every half hour, we had a blast. 

So, what did this gal see?  Well for one, all the harping we've done here at EaglesChick.com about that long beard that Donovan McNabb was sporting must've worked!  That long beard has been neatly trimmed, and just for evidence sake, I took a shot of D-Mac's new beard (we'll also give a shout out for Brian Dawkins for filling McNabb in on how really bad that beard looked).

Beyond the aesthetics, this chick saw Donovan looking pretty darn limber.  For a guy who claimed to be only 75%, he sure was rolling out and passing with no problems.  I didn't seem him scrambling all that much, but he looked damn good in practice.  Yes, yes... just practice, but still I expected him to be "not so good", and I was surprised.

The group of us there, Kerry "Umbrella-Man" Henderson", Robert Mobley, Alton Mann and I all commented about the different players.  Then there was always the occasional "who the heck is Number XX", when we'd someone we didn't recognize.  Then we got to wondering about all those people that could walk in between the fields that weren't players or coaches.  How the heck do you get "those tickets".

Apparently, you get tickets from sponsors to get into those "special sections".  But there's one thing that just about everyone around me noted, something very glaring and maybe it's something sponsors or even the Eagles could take up.  99% of those people walking in the "sponsored" sections were Caucasian.  Now, how does that fair for equality?  It's just something of a side note, but something a lot of folks around the fields were talking about of all races.

Now beyond those things that were noted, we also got treated to a fight among the players.  I couldn't see who the both the players were but one was #93 Jevon Kearse (go Freak!).  I managed to capture some of the action on my camera (picture here to the right), but not all of it.  It really took the crowd by surprise as you could hear very loud "oh!"'s and "holy shit!"'s coming from the stands and around the fence.  Apparently that even made the news, I heard at work the next day when coworkers asked if I saw it happen.

So what about the rest?  Well Bloom looks awesome (not just his butt either HA!), he can really move.  He'll need that speed though, at only 5' 11", he's looks so small when standing next to Hank Baskett, or John Runyan.  Tony Hunt looked great too, as did JJ Outlaw (go #18!), Buckhalter ran a bunch of kickbacks too.

I was a bit disappointed I didn't manage to see Brian Dawkins, or Lito Sheppard.  The guys around me joked though I got enough of a view of Bloom to make up for it though. :)

Overall - the trip up to Training Camp ROCKED!  Check out my flickr set for all the Eagles Training Camp Pictures I took, warning there's over 300.  I also took some and zoomed in on them, for better views.

*side note to my training camp pals - apologies for how long it took to get the pictures up, had family emergencies crop up!

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McNabb Takes Part in Eagles Training Camp Practice

A sight for all Eagles Fans' eyes was the Number 5, quarterback Donovan McNabb, participating in training camp practice.  No matter the questions that surround his return, having McNabb back is definitely a great morale booster for the Philadelphia Eagles.

McNabb dawned his "red" #5 training jersey while snapping on a knee brace to protect his knee that's still healing from his season ending ACL injury that occurred last season. He spoke to the media saying that he felt his knee was at about 75%.  No one is taking bets yet on him playing in the pre-season game against Baltimore though.  This chick has doubts we'll see him playing much if at all during that game.

It doesn't look like the Philadelphia Eagles' head coach, Andy Reid is going to push the issue either.       "I'm not in any hurry to push him into the first pre-season game," coach Reid said.

When McNabb was questioned about wearing a knee brace during training camp in Bethlehem but not wearing it in Arizona, McNabb explained, "you have to continue to stay protective, and if I can continue to wear it and it doesn't bother me, I'll continue to wear it through the whole season."    

"Mentally you have to know that the knee is fine. That's kind of the whole process you go through -- not just strengthening it through the weight room and continuing to stay flexible. You have to continue to prepare yourself mentally for what you'll be faced with." McNabb said.

Ready For Eagles Training Camp?

As the Eagles start their 75th season, just this week the official training camp schedule came out.  The Eagles will be returning to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA for a 12th year.  Because the training camp is so easily accessible, it's become one of the most popular training camps in the entire NFL.  This Eagles' Chick though thinks its because the members of the team are just all around great guys who are extremely approachable.

Eagles fans will have the chance to get autographs from the players.  The Eagles management has set up a system where upon entering the facility you'll get a ticket, numbers will be randomly drawn and winners will be able to get autographs from the selected group of players for that day.

Selected veterans and all rookies are expected to report to Eagles Training Camp on July 27. The remaining members of the team (ya know, the vets) will be at Eagles Training Camp starting on July 30. The last chance for Eagles fans (and chicks) to see all the action and preview the Eagles in action will be Aug. 11. The Eagles will close up training camp officially on Aug. 12.

Once Eagles training camp ends, the team holds a mock game and walk-through prior to its first preseason game Aug. 13 in Baltimore against the Ravens.  This chick certainly hopes McNabb is sans that nasty looking beard by then!