http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/05/hard-knocks-in-oxnard.html Hard Knocks in Oxnard 11:40 PM Mon, May 05, 2008 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz Albert Breer E-mail News tips With Calvin's story out on HBO chronicling what should be an interesting training camp, I thought it would be interesting to go ahead and take a look at what teams in these situations have done in the past. The 2008 Cowboys will be the fourth "Hard Knocks" team, joining the '01 Ravens, the '07 Chiefs, and - as all of you know - the 2002 Cowboys of Campo. The 2004 Jaguars were in a similar situation, only on a show with a different name. That summer, Jacksonville allowed the NFL Network in on its camp, in Hard Knocks-like production tagged "Jaguars Summer." Here's what transpired in the past ... 2001 Ravens: The show was highlighted by a prank war between Tony Siragusa and Shannon Sharpe. And lowlighted by a torn ACL suffered by Jamal Lewis. In the end, the defending Super Bowl champs went 10-6 and lost in the second round of the playoffs, a year after going 12-4 and winning it all. 2002 Cowboys: The trip to Sea World was probably the biggest happening of a pretty uneventful show. The Cowboys finished 5-11 for the third straight season, so it'd be hard to blame the failures of that season on a bunch of camera crews. 2004 Jaguars: I remember the shots of a trainer slapping John Henderson in the face before a preseason game, which is a weekly ritual for the big tackle. The Jags went 5-11 in 2003, Jack Del Rio's first year. They went 9-7 in the season to follow "Summer". 2007 Chiefs: This installment was marked by Larry Johnson's holdout, which the tailback staged while traveling and allowed HBO to come along for. Then, there was Dwayne Bowe, who I know you guys are all familiar with. And the rest of a Chiefs team that went 4-12 after making the playoffs the previous fall. *** The upside of all this is that for the millions of fans back in Texas, there will be a connection to training camp without having to travel some 1,500 miles to get to Southern California. The downside? Well, perhaps that a team that already has a lot of controversial storylines getting them all illuminated for the country to see.
