Joe Bugel's Training Camp

* From today's Philly Inquirer: "I think right now the team realizes we're nobodies," assistant head coach Joe Bugel said. "Nobody respects us. Who in the heck are we? And that's a big tradition we're backing up. There's no panic; there's angriness. Because we didn't like what happened to us last year. People rubbed our nose in it, and they're laughing at us right now."

(John McDonnell - TWP).

Angriness? I approve. Absent such words, this month would hold nothing but boringness. Anyhow, at what age does the "nobody respects us" mantra lose its juice? Can one really be stung by disrespect into one's 70s? 80s? Is that how Julio Franco keeps it going?

* From Redskins.com's scrimmage live blog: "Joe Bugel took a brisk walk in the field in the summer heat, then did push-ups in a corner of the end zone. Yes, you read that right. Bugel did push-ups. The man is tough as nails, even at age 67."

I keep meaning to start a push-ups routine; maybe before I hit 60 I'll get there. And then we read in Mike Wise's column today that Joe Gibbs's "thick forearms still look as if they could do damage to a split end crossing the middle on a look-in pattern." Ashburn, home of the Baddest Senior Citizens in the Mid-Atlantic.

* From the West coast: "The Raiders severed ties with the last vestige of the Joe Bugel era by releasing long-snapper Adam Treu on Tuesday."

This, mind you, was a long snapper who spent one year, his rookie season, with Bugel. But I guess he was vestigial nonetheless. And now the Bugel legacy is gone.

* From Bram's Blog: On the possibility of the gang scattering if this year doesn't go right: "I don't want to have to change Nascar tires," Bugel said. "Although with this hulking tough-as-nails physique of mine, I could easily do so," he should have added.

* I've always liked this story about when Bugel roomed with Jerry Glanville as a grad assistant, and they subsisted on pizza and doughnuts, and Glanville slept on a bed of newspapers.

"Joe would tell me to make my bed," Glanville said, "and that meant picking up the newspapers."

See, I knew newspapers were good for something.