Hey all. I forgot to put the training camp schedule up after it was released a few days ago. Camp starts on July 31 and wraps on Aug. 26. The Hall of Fame exhibition against the Buffalo Bills is Aug. 9. Here is the detailed schedule for the first week of practice, via Tennessean.com.

Friday, July 31. 3:30 p.m. Practice

Saturday, Aug. 1. 3:30 p.m. Practice

Sunday, Aug. 2. 3:30 p.m. Practice

Monday, Aug. 3. 8:15 a.m. Special Teams Practice — open to media/no fans; 3:30 p.m. Practice

Tuesday, Aug. 4. 8:30 a.m. Practice 7:30 p.m. Practice (at LP Field) — open to media/no fans

Wednesday, Aug. 5. No availability

Thursday, Aug. 6. 8:15 a.m. Special Teams Practice — open to media/no fans; 3:30 p.m. Practice

Friday, Aug. 7. 4 p.m. Practice

Saturday, Aug. 8. No Practice

Sunday, Aug. 9: Hall of Fame Game vs. Bills

Titans, Cook reach agreement

Another Titans rookie agrees to a deal with the team in TE Jared Cook. Cook, a third round pick out of the University of South Carolina, has probably been the most impressive rookie thus far in OTA’s. He is a physical specimen that has the ability to create havoc in the passing game given the mismatches he should create. It is a four-year deal with a $700,00 signing bonus.

That leaves only Marks and Britt left to get under contract before camp.

LB David Thornton talks Titans on ESPN’s First Take

Not sure if any of you have seen this, but there is a new Miller Lite commercial that features Mike Keith’s classic radio call of the Music City Miracle. I couldn’t find a video of the advertisement on the interweb anywhere, but you can watch it on Miller Lite’s website by clicking here. Once you get there you should see one entitled, Music City Miracle. There’s not a whole lot to it, but watching a beer being poured to Keith yelling “There are NO FLAGS ON THE FIELD!” is pretty hot, I must admit.

I don’t want to leave out the fact that the Nashville Predators have re-signed forwards Steve Sulivan and Joel Ward. Both recieved very friendly contracts and will be expected to help fill out the first two lines of offense. The Preds still have plenty of holes (who in the hell else is gonna score goals?), but the signings of these two fan favorites should go a long way in keeping the top lines much more consitent this year.

Also, wanted to mention the fact that my Bravos just finished a sweep of the Phillies at Turner Field on Thursday. After a few rough (and long) stretches during May and June, the offense seems to have woken up and is now actually giving a pretty solid pitching staff (currently ranked 4th in MLB) some run support. And thank the Lord for Tommy Hanson. They are now only two games back in the division. Eat that Utley…

And since we’re discussing local/regional sports franchises… there is this. Holy crap, can you imagine how many more butts that would put in seats? He’s always been one of my favorite players (regardless of what he has become in recent years) and even though I know that it’s probably not a good move for a team in the midst of a serious youth movement, selfishly, I would still love to see it. I know I’d sure make the trip to see “The Answer”.

That’s it. That’s all I got for ya’ today. I hope everyone has a lovely Fourth of July weekend (the second greatest holiday on the calendar) filled with family, friends, good food, fireworks and umm… I know I’m forgetting something.

Pretty good showing in the ranks by the Titans I’d say. Here is the link to the their page, as well as the rest of the rankings. Thanks to Morty Ain at ESPN for reaching out to us about this. What a thrill it is to see your name in (cyber) print. We’ll also be in ink print when the newest issue of The Mag hits newsstands July 13.

UPDATE: So, I got the new issue of the magazine and of course, we aren’t in it. It’s the “Ultimate Standings” issue, but the breakdowns for each team are not in the article like they are on the website. A bit of a bummer, but the more I got to thinking about it, the more I realized that it would be a bit silly to have write-ups for all 122 professional sports franchises in one issue. It would have to be an issue in itself. Still pretty cool to see your name and website on the WWLofS.

This whole Chris Johnson/LenDale White situation has become far too public. I say they both shut the heck up and let cooler heads prevail. It’s one thing to joke back and forth and sometimes take the occasional dig, but it sounds like there may be some deeper stuff here. Maybe some resentment, some jealousy. I’m probably making a mountain out of this (I definitely am, but solely for the sake of journalism), but I just don’t understand either guys’ need to make such remarks. Even Coach Fish, the perpetual straight man, has sounded off on the whole ordeal. In doing so, he took a few nice shots at the two, including CJ in particular:

“Every Coach’s Dream?’’ Fisher said with a smile Wednesday. “Maybe with a few exceptions — playing the bongos … and getting hurt in the playoff game.’’

and this guy here…

“I’m sure they’ll come up with something else,” Fisher said. “Dumb and Dumber or something.’’

ZING!!!!

Alright, so, I’m sure this will pass soon enough. These two have been going at it since #28 arrived in town, and it’s always been a playful thing. It’s actually kinda cute how they both feel the need to outdo and impress one another. Couple of sweethearts.

And to be perfectly honest, I’m not all that crazy about your new nickname Chris. What does it even mean? Wouldn’t every coaches dream go about his or her job in a quite, efficient and, most importantly, humble manner? I know Fish’s would. So instead,  I’ll continue to refer to you just as I always have: “Twitch”.  I think it makes you sound like a lunatic badass. You’re welcome.

Follow Chris Johnson on Twitter here. Follow us here. And don’t worry, I’m already following him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have caught these gems:

I guess that’s pimpin’, pimpin’…

Paul Kuharsky of ESPN’s SportsNation AFC South blog wrote a really nice piece on Titans rookie TE Jared Cook this morning. He also discussed fellow rookie WR Kenny Britt in it, but it is Cook that has peaked my interest the most since being drafted in the 3rd round. He is an absolute beast of a man (6′5″, 240) and can flat out fly (4.50 40 time), but the biggest knock on him is his ability to catch the ball and block defenders. Well, he better learn fast, because I have a feeling the Titans are going to be looking for him to contribute a good deal this season.With Alge Crumpler being, umm, old (not to mention his bulky knee) and Bo Scaife’s future with the team up in the air after this season, the Titans drafted Cook to be one of the main threats on an offense that relies heavily on the TE position.

If Cook can develop his pass-catching ability and learn how to block, he could be one of the biggest steals of the 2009 draft. The mismatches he could create would be an absolute nightmare for opposing defensive coordinators. Like Antonio Gates in 2004 scary. Let’s just hope that he heeds the advice from veteran guys like Kerry Collins and Crumpler, listens to the coaches when they tell him what to do (and what he is doing wrong) and takes all of the information that is flying at him right now and applies it to understanding the game of football and his role on this team. That may have been the most overly-repetitve, run-on sentence in the history of this blog, but I think I made my point clear, so I got that going for me.

Before we get started, I want to apologize for being out of pocket for the last few weeks. It’s been a long, slow off-season, so bear with me until we get to training camp. I know you’ve been breathlessly awaiting a new post, so we’ll get to it.

In case you haven’t seen the Vince Young ESPN E:60 interview with Michael Smith, here it is above. In it, Smith asks VY about the series of “incident(s)” last fall that spiraled his season out of control, his comments that he made on a Baltimore television station last week about wanting to be traded and his prospects for starting for the Titans again. Really nothing new to see here, but I thought VY actually carried himself quite well. He said all the right things for the most part (”I want to remain a Tennessee Titan” “I want to work hard to get my starting job back”, “I don’t want nothin’ handed to me”, yadda yadda yadda…), but I do have to question his timing a bit on this one.

I mean, why not have this conversation in January after the season? Hell, why not come out and address all of the allegations thrown your way (refusing to re-enter a game, quitting football, suicide, etc.) pretty soon after the bottom fell out in September?

And now, a week later, VY is answering questions again. Talking to reporters after minicamp practice on Wednesday, Vince explained why he did the E:60 interview:

“I really needed to get (things) off my chest and get it out of the way, because everybody has their opinions of the situation,’’ Young said. “Every time I say something it is always going to get … blown out of proportion so I just have to live with it. That is the life of Vince and I just have to live with it.’’ - The Tennessean

First off, referring to yourself in first person is stupid. And I’m not just singling out VY; I’m talking to all of you professional athletes, musicians and Ricky Hendersons. Stop it. Seriously. Secondly, and more directly, just stop talking about it Vince. The more you keep bringing it up again and again, the less you can get back to learning the playbook (fingers crossed!) and trying to win that job back that you keep talking about.

This is the year that will decide the fate of Vince Young with the Tennessee Titans. If he shows no progress on the field and is and complete mess off of it (let’s not forget his shirtless, Patron-gulping club appearance and how he “made it rain” at that Nelly show), then the Titans aren’t paying that big contract kicker next year. If (big if) Vince gets another opportunity to play again (not a big if with an immobile, 36-year old starting quarterback) and he shows some progress an ability to lead this team once again, things may get very interesting next off-season. Personally, I don’t think that would be a bad problem to have.

What do you all think the fate of VY will be in Tennessee? Will we see him start at QB for the Titans next year or is he already as good as gone?

That’s right, I finally saw him. Late last night. Him and one of his boys. He pulled up in that white Range with spinners, and I knew it was him (from my previous stalking expeditions).

And so I go, “We gonna do it this year LenDale?” and he says to me “Yeah man.”

“Yeah man.” Really? What confidence.

At least I can verify for any that are wondering that, yes, LenDale has lost some weight. I meant to snap a cell phone pic, but I got all googly-eyed and froze up. It’s like seeing a unicorn. With cornrows. My b.

Ladies and gentleman, you’re third-string quarterback.

We here at TitanSized are fortunate enough to be a part of something bigger in the sports blogging world: a network. And it really is all about networking in this day and age isn’t it people? The FanSided.com Sports Network is an ever-expanding group of blogs covering all 32 NFL teams, and many in the NBA, MLB and NHL as well. There is also an NFL News & Rumors site, a mock draft site and a site for fantasy sports. Hell, we’ve even got blogs for NASCAR and MMA. I know, I said the exact same thing when I first heard. There are a lot of great writers in the network, so I highly suggest checking out what some of those that are slaves to the (web)page have to say. Plus, it’s fun to talk a little smack on their boards during game week. Chumps.

Check out the new main site, and watch your sports world open up, click after click. Amazing…

Titans’ OTA’s start up again this afternoon. It will be the first time that the rookies and veterans are on the field at the same time. This should be a fun week. Stay tuned.

Since the TitanSized staff seems to have fallen off the face of the earth the last few weeks (where are you Kellen? I miss you) I figured I’d check in and let you know that everything is all good on our end. We’ve been busy and it’s just been completely dead. I keep driving past LenDale White’s house to see if I can catch a glimpse of his sexy new physique (maybe he’s carrying in the groceries?) but have been unsuccessful thus far. I haven’t been completely inactive (minus the stalking) over the last week though; I just finished up a nice interview with one of our favorite Texans bloggers, Chris (as if we had one!) over at HoustonDiehards.com. We discuss the draft, how some of the positional battles may shake out and, of course, questions about VY. To read the full interview click here.

Truth be told, part of the reason for the absence from the site has also been due to the MLB Extra Innings package that E and I purchased. Oh brother is it awesome. They got us hooked with the free preview and we ultimately decided that we “needed it”, then promptly gave our dealer (Comcast) the $200 it cost to keep our fix. We’ve watched maybe, 70-80% of the games thus far. I schedule my lunch breaks around it and find it a very easy excuse to stay on the couch instead of take that jog. I’ll do it tomorrow! Those 20-30% of games we haven’t watched? Atlanta Braves games. Because they’re friggin’ “blacked out”. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. Nashville is over 200 miles from ATL. We’re paying good money for this thing and I can’t watch my all time favorite sports team on a nightly basis. And to top that off, we don’t get Cincinnati Reds games either. Good thing we get a lot of both on Fox SportsSouth and PeachtreeTV. Still pretty dumb if you ask me, but you didn’t did you Bud Selig?

Anyway, the Braves just finished up a nice little road trip. After losing four of five at home to open the month they have won 6 of eight on the road, all against NL East opponents, to get back to .500 (17-17) and move into 2nd place in the division. The 12-inning affair against the Mets on Wednesday night was a gritty win for this team. Hopefully they’ll keep the momentum going when they open up a three game home set against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

I’ll be following the Braves a bit on here during the off-season, but if you want your daily dose, check out FanSided Blogs Network’s very own Tomahawk Take. Scratch that, apparently the site is looking for a new lead blogger. In that case, if you are interested contact Zach at fansided@gmail.com. I’ll be glad to help with it, but I think I’ve got my hands full at this point. If anyone is interested, reach out to Zach or let me know.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time… TITAN UP!

I don’t usually view a lot of content from the Titans official website, TitansOnline.com. It’s always seemed so stale and sterile. That sort of gatekeeper thing that never delves into the unfavorable or contradictory. And if you know me at all, you know I need my negativity. Well, the Titans launched their new website a month or so ago and made some significant upgrades. It looks a lot sleeker and there is waaaay more content. In the last couple of days I’ve really gotten into watching the player interviews from the recent rookie camp and the OTA’s that are going on over at Baptist Sports Park right now. I don’t believe they are the full interviews, just the choice moments.

• Jeff “the only thing I’m ever satisfied with is this moostache” Fisher

• LenDale “messin’ with the press” White

• Kerry “I keep to myself” Collins

• “TWITCH”!!!!! (I hate that this one was so short. We need more interviews with this sweet soul. Everything he says or does brings a smile to my face.)

• Kyle Vanden Bosch (will kill you)

• Nate “Cool Breeze” Washington

• Lavelle “I just lost a ton of possible playing time” Hawkins

• “The Litigious” Bo Scaife

There are plenty more videos, as well as the full audio from each, but this was all the time I had this morning to get something up. Somebody pay me so that I can do this full-time. Geez…

Also, check out Jim Wyatt’s piece in the Tennessean about LenDale and Terry McCormick’s “Titans Notebook” from the City Paper. It sounds like W has grown up and re-discovered his love for the game, but the fact that he is in a contract year and surely looking to get paid will cast a shadow over this season no matter what he says. I really want to believe him, as I’m a “Smash” fan, but the best way he can prove his value to the team is by building on last year (773 yards, 15 TD’s) and becoming more of a leader in the locker room. If he can do that, I think we’ll really know what he’s worth.