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 Tuesday, August 8
Revenge is sweet
 
 By Doug Brien
Special to ESPN.com

Editor's note: What is life in an NFL training camp like? Kicker Doug Brien takes you inside the camp of the New Orleans Saints with his weekday diary for ESPN.com.

Tuesday, Aug. 8
THIBODAUX, La. -- I apologize for failing to post my diary yesterday. Over the weekend, my computer crashed and my FrontPage 2000 for updating my site failed to work properly. I spent all of my free time yesterday figuring out the problem. Eventually, I uninstalled and then reinstalled the entire application. This meant I had to download my entire website from the Internet over a 56 K modem - pure torture. It's not always easy being a techie-kicker (really a wanna-be techie).

Doug Brien
Brien

It's not easy being sick at training camp, either. There is no chicken soup, caring wife or mother, or long afternoon naps. The grind of training camp waits for no one. I came down with a sore throat and a cough last Friday and it has done nothing but get worse. Our team physician, Dr. Brown, prescribed antibiotics, but they have not worked. Today, the sore throat was even worse, so I think they are going to switch me to a different antibiotic.

I take solace in the fact that I am not alone. About twenty other guys on the team have been sick during the last week. Keith Poole felt ill enough to actually miss a few practices; in training camp, that means you are really sick. It must be the heat and humidity down here in Thibodaux that has made us susceptible because I can't remember this many people sick at camp in the past. Hopefully, Dr. Brown can find an antibiotic that works because training camp is challenging enough when you're healthy.

It's not easy being sick at training camp, either. There is no chicken soup, caring wife or mother, or long afternoon naps.

A follow-up note on the travel saga: Revenge is sweet -- especially when it is on an airline. As I have mentioned in previous entries, Delta Airlines really messed up our first two trips: our plane was delayed going to New York and gour hours late to pick us up in Jacksonville. So, as we broke practice last Friday to head for the airport, Coach Jim Haslett brought everyone together for a brief announcement. He said something like Delta had #@&%! us on our last two trips, so this time we are going to #@&%! them. We were supposed to be at the airport at 12:30 for a 1 p.m. departure. But instead, Haslett wanted us to arrive at 1 p.m. and depart at 1:30 without informing Delta of our plans. We just let them sit on the hot runway and wait for us. I loved it!

Pro Football Weekly Material from kicking.com.
Visit Doug Brien's web site at http://www.kicking.com

 



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