I got home late last night after a dinner meeting and immediately went to the Seattle Times site to read Bob Condotta's practice report. The first impression is there was a lot of good things happening at practice. The second (and stronger) impression was it was nice to be able to read/watch Bob Condotta doing what he does best. The open practice policy has let the genie out of the bottle for local reporters and Bob is among the very best in the country at what he does.
The media previously witnessed the first twenty minutes of practice, which primarily was stretching, then were asked to leave and wait for Willingham to give his after-practice report...containing little to write about. I could be in Chicago and have as much access watching the Internet feed of the press conference at Go Huskies.com as the beat writers did. I still have such access, but having reporters roaming the sidelines with a couple hundred fans during practice is awfully enlightening.
I am not sure what Sarkisian is going to do once the schedule starts. At USC, they keep practices open all year and I imagine that Sarkisian will attempt to follow suit. In my opinion, the more access the media has, the better. The media is the eyes and ears of the fan base; the fan base has as much attitude rebuilding to do as the current roster.
One side note, I found interesting is the team is still drinking chocolate milk after practice. There is actually something a lot better out there to drink after practice that almost nobody has ever heard about. What I am talking about is something called Coconut Water. Coconut water is 100% natural, full of electrolytes, and one individual carton of this stuff has as much potassium as two banana's. Better yet each serving only has 17 calories because there is no sugar added.
How did I hear about it?
A couple of friends of mine turned me on to it after a trip to the Trinidad. The locals down there mix it with Rum to make a refreshing cocktail that keeps you from getting dehydrated in warm weather. In the tropics during World War II they used this stuff as a plasma replacement right out of the shell. That's right...they put it in IV's when they didn't have plasma.
I am not advocating that the coaches serve Rum drinks after practice, or hook the players up to IV's full of coconut water, but I think drinking Vita Coco is big step up from chocolate milk when it comes to rehydrating an athlete.
In other news CB Dominique Gaisie's situation hasn't been resolved and could possibly keep him on the sidelines this fall if he has to retake a class to qualify. As with anything that has to do with the NCAA Clearinghouse it will take awhile to find out where this thing is heading.
Bob Condotta's feature article yesterday was on freshman WR James Johnson who is making a huge impression during the opening days of camp. He caught three TD passes yesterday.
Johnson caught three TD passes during team drills, one a highlight reel-worthy, one-handed grab in traffic of a pass from Jake Locker. "When the bullets were flying today, he stepped his game up," said receivers coach Jimmie Dougherty. "He's not afraid. He's not afraid of the challenge or the spotlight."
Scott Johnson of the Everett Herald focuses on the return of Chris Izbicki from Tyrone's dog house. Just another huge reason I dididn't like Willingham. It is one thing to discipline a kid...it is another thing to execute the kid. The molder of men was all about molding his image rather than actually molding men.
The Huskies’ sophomore tight end is leaner, meaner and cleaner than he was as a second-year freshman last fall. Izbicki has quit drinking, has a new coaching staff and feels like he’s got a new lease on life.
Todd Milles of the News Tribune writes about the Huskies colliding with something called Big Bertha.
This was certainly where the loudest-cracking drill of any position group took place. “Big Bertha” is a 300-pound bag that hangs from a chain – much the same way a heavy bag does for a boxer.