With just over a week to go before the first preseason game, apparently there were fisticuffs thrown at Giants training camp on Sunday. According to Giants.com, Bryan Kehl and Madison Hedgecock got into it during an 11-on-11 drill and had to be restrained. Supposedly there were other instances of emotions getting the best of players too.
Where I’m going with all this is: does Training Camp Ruckus bring teams closer or tear them apart?
I remember reading Strahan’s book and it talks about a fight he had with former center Scott Gragg in training camp in the mid-90’s. During said fight, he ripped off Gragg’s helmet and bashed his head in. Ruthless. Mike admits to trying to kill him, and proceeds to try to justify his actions; he talks about how crazy it gets in camp and how it’s so easy for players to lose it. The G-Men pretty much sucked in those days, so who knows if that particular brawl had a negative effect?
More recently though, last season the fake Steve Smith (the one on the Panthers) cracked teammate Ken Lucas during training camp and broke his nose. That seemed to work out for the team, as they made a bid for the No. 1 seed in the NFC (btw, G-Men/Panthers Week 16 was one of the best games of last year). But you have to wonder, if Fake Smith doesn’t break Lucas’ nose in training camp would they have been any better? Or did that broken schnoz bring the team closer?
These fights occur all the time. It’s a part of training camp. So to answer my question: I don’t know. I have no idea if the Kehl/Hedgecock feud will have a negative effect or if Hedgcock will pave the way for another pair of 1,000-yard rushers. All I know is that the G-Men better kickoff soon so I have something interesting to write about. SEVEN DAYS!!!!!!!!