Joe Staley is not technically a rookie anymore, but he will continue his year of diaries until training camp kicks off on July 24. Enjoy this entry, which sums up mini camp, his team bonding fishing trip, and his new digs.
Mini camp last year we had only one practice on Friday, but this year we had a double day right out of the gates and it sucked. Double days aren't fun and they hurt your body, especially when you haven't played football in like five months. So I was very sore that day.
However, it was fun getting out there and playing football again and everybody's competitive juices were going. Vernon Davis and Parys Haralson got in a fight in the first practice, which got me going and thinking that I needed to get in one too, so me and Walter Curry squared off in the afternoon session. It gets your adrenaline up and you tend to have a better practice after you have a little scuffle like that in practice.
We decided to hold off on our costume ideas for the rookies until training camp. We thought it might lose its luster and not be as funny. Training camp is when you really need good humor so we are waiting until then. Besides, we wanted them to feel welcomed, because they are.
Following mini camp, I went on a fishing trip to Missouri with Shaun Hill, Alex Smith, Adam Snyder, Eric Heitmann and Joe Nedney. We stayed at Shaun's house at the Lake of the Ozarks. It rained the whole time and the weather sucked, but we still had a good time and we caught tons of fish. I think Shaun caught the most fish, which hey, he lives on a lake so that should go without saying.
All in all, Snyder caught the biggest fish – about a 15 pound catfish -- which he caught on a crappie reel. So since it was made for such a smaller fish, the pole was bending in half and the hook was completely bent but he still landed it.
Some of the funnier moments from the trip included Heitmann. Shaun's dock was rotting out in one of the spots and since he's been out here for the last few months, he hadn't had time to repair it. On the first day, Heitmann was walking on the dock and just fell right through the bad spot and into the water.
The other moment was during this bass fishing tournament we competed in. I wasn't on his boat but I guess he went to cast and the hook got caught somehow on the reel and he proceeded to cast the whole reel out of his hand and into the water. It wasn't his pole and he felt bad so he jumped in after it to get it. I guess the guy with him was cracking up and told him he could have just as easy fished out the pole, which he proceeded to do while Heit tried to get back in the boat.
We all fished with a professional – my guy's nickname was Smoke. Unfortunately, Smoke and I spent too much talking and we got last place in the tournament. It wasn't even because of me though. I did catch most of the fish.
Shaun has a great house. We played Ms. Pac Man for hours, and he's also got a pool table, air hockey table, and ski ball. It was kind of impressive.
We got back on Saturday and I immediately took a nap and then packed up all of my stuff to move it over to my new house. It took a lot longer than I thought and I ended up with about 20 duffel bags of clothes. My buddy helped out on Sunday and we managed to finish up everything else, and he scored out on a bunch of stuff I just wanted to get rid of and not move.
All the furniture arrived on Monday, and thankfully unlike when I moved into my apartment, it was the correct furniture.
Between the trip and the move, I am amazingly tired this week, but it's cool to be in my new house. I've been meeting with an interior decorator and it should be completely done by the middle of June.
My future roommate, the older sister of one of my Central Michigan teammates, is also out this week. She's been hired as a professor at San Jose State and she's had meetings out here all week long. I think she's happy with my new house and after trying it out this week, she's in for sure and will be back permanently in August.
Workouts continued this week and at this point we've only got about two more weeks before the OTAs begin. The offense typically slows down at that point for you because you really get three straight weeks to focus on the playbook and then also practice it every day. I'm looking forward to seeing how much progress we can make then.
I stopped watching American Idol because I realized that every person left on there is actually terrible. Cook loves himself, and Archuleta uses his hands to much like he is presenting something. So, I'm over it.
And that's it for this diary…
