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Sun sets on a practice during last year's camp | Nicholas Holstein/The Daily Journal

In the seven previous training camps they have held at Olivet Nazarene University, the Chicago Bears have never had a problem attracting crowds, with attendance totaling nearly 100,000 over the course of some of the busier camps.

There are signs [...]]]>

Sun sets on a practice during last year's camp | Nicholas Holstein/The Daily Journal

In the seven previous training camps they have held at Olivet Nazarene University, the Chicago Bears have never had a problem attracting crowds, with attendance totaling nearly 100,000 over the course of some of the busier camps.

There are signs that suggest this year’s turnout could be the biggest yet.

Bears players, coaches and staff are expected to be on campus Thursday. The first official practice is set for Friday at 3 p.m.

“Everything really points in the direction of crowd increase,” said Gary Griffin, director of alumni relations at ONU. “Everything is speculative, of course, but two really good predictors of training camp crowds are, first, how well the team did year before and, next, how well they are predicted to be.

“I’ve seen (the Bears) ranked as high as having the fourth-best chance to win the Super Bowl. If you go based on those criteria, you can expect to have larger crowds.”

The biggest reason for the high expectations is the offseason acquisition of talented young quarterback Jay Cutler, whose legend has seemed to grow by the minute even though he has yet to throw a single pass for the Bears.

Cutler is the newest in a growing list of must-see players the Bears bring to Bourbonnais, following the likes of Brian Urlacher, who’s always been a big draw, and Devin Hester, who thrust himself onto the stage after a scintillating rookie season in 2006. That’s not mentioning running back Matt Forte, who became a star after a breakout rookie season last year.

From April to December 2008, according to published reports, the replica jerseys of Urlacher, Hester, Cutler and Forte were all in the top 20 in terms of numbers sold at NFLshop.com.

With four of the biggest draws in the NFL coming to Bourbonnais in less than a week, autograph seekers will likely be out in full force.

“The more successful these players are within a team, the more they develop personalities,” Griffin said. “They gain popularity based on their playing ability and that translates into fans.”

Defensive lineman Tommie Harris, offensive lineman Orlando Pace and linebacker Lance Briggs are three more widely popular players also set to arrive next week, making this season’s training camp perhaps the most star-packed lineup the team has ever brought to Olivet.

Reputation grows

But that’s not the only reason some are expecting big crowds. ONU’s reputation as a training camp site spread quickly when the team moved there in 2002 and has only grown since. Recently, the Web site mysportsrumors.com listed the Bears Training Camp as the third-best in the entire NFL, citing the kids’ zone, autograph sessions, giveaways and themed practices among the reasons for the high ranking.

“We feel like we’ve been (one of the best camp sites) from Day One,” Griffin said. “The Bears have openly spoke up as having one of the top three camps around. The Bears take great pride in it and we take great pride in it because so much hard work goes into making this a good camp for the players, coaches and fans.”

Now more than ever, the fans may appreciate that hard work. With the economy still slogging through a recession, so-called “staycations” are still in vogue and many travel experts expect fans to stay near home and be frugal with spending during the summer months. With Bourbonnais a short drive from Chicago and practices free to attend, the training camp is a welcoming destination for a family trip.

“The economy is such, people are trying to take shorter trips, day trips, looking to do things with the family that are free,” Griffin said. “What better thing to do than to see the Bears practice with the family for free?”

The Bears return to Bourbonnais Friday, for the opening of the much-anticipated training camp. But [...]]]> By Kristen Zambo | A larger crowd than ever is expected this year for the Chicago Bears training camp at Olivet Nazarene University, and local leaders have been preparing for more traffic, crowded parking lots and an array of safety issues.

The Bears return to Bourbonnais Friday, for the opening of the much-anticipated training camp. But this year, construction on Armour Road — and potential traffic snarls — could prove just as troublesome as trying to avoid being tackled by Lance Briggs.

“Eighty percent of the traffic coming in is southbound (from) out of the city,” Bourbonnais Police Chief Joe Beard said. “Most are on (Interstate) 57 southbound.”

Beard said to lessen traffic delays, fans are asked to exit I-57 at mile marker 322, the Manteno exit, then travel west for about a mile before turning south on U.S. Route 45 and heading into Bourbonnais. Otherwise, the potential traffic backups, associated with fans trying to cram in to watch practices and the ongoing road-widening work, could be a nightmare.

Craig Bishop, director of public safety at the university, said he’s also encouraging locals to stay on Route 45 to University Avenue or Illinois Route 102 to Route 45.

“As a local I’m avoiding it (Armour Road) altogether,” he said. “Any day of camp there’s a risk of finding backed up traffic. They’re not really gaining much by using Armour Road, they’re losing.”

Notable changes

As fan prepare for training camp themselves, Bishop said there are some changes they should note.

A temporary stop sign will be posted Monday at Stadium Drive and Armour Road to coordinate traffic flows, Beard said.

With the start of construction in June on the university’s Centennial Chapel along University Avenue, part of a parking lot typically utilized by fans will be out of commission. Instead, Bishop said they’ve planned to use a parking lot across from the main gate, which was a grassy lot last year but has since been paved and has 200 spaces.

Matt Whitis, Olivet’s physical plant director, said it cost about $1 million to pave this lot, install drainage improvements and lines and create detention ponds.

Fans also will be directed to the Weber Center parking lot, Ludwig parking lot, college church parking lot and a grass lot just north of the practice fields, Bishop said.

“We anticipate using that (lot north of the practice fields) a lot this year,” he said.

As the days dwindle before training camp opens, he said they are hiring about 110 temporary workers for security. Beard said he may increase their routine patrol shifts by one or two officers.

New quarterback Jay Cutler already is being credited as a big-time fan attraction. Bishop said they are planning for more than the average of about 100,000 fans, in part because of the hot new quarterback.

“We always anticipate a new key player like that will draw more of a crowd,” Bishop said.

Gary Griffin, director of alumni and university relations, said they have had between 80,000 and 125,000 fans. He said they estimate the crowds based on parking by applying a multiplier to vehicles parked.

“So many people per carload,” he said. “It’s less than scientific.”

Busy intersection

The intersection of Main Street NW and Illinois Route 102, just outside of Olivet Nazarene University, already has a little more than 35,000 cars every day passing through that location, Beard said. If even 5,000 additional cars are added each day, he said, the extra police officers and university security staff are necessary to control traffic, crowds and direct fans to parking areas.

“Those who attend are not what you tend to think of as rowdy fans,” Beard said, adding that officers have arrested a few fans, usually for alcohol violations, in the past few years. “Our experience with the Bears and those who attend the training camp has always been a pleasant one.”

The first practice kicks off at 3 p.m. Friday. Between July 31 and Aug. 20, practices will be at either noon, 3 p.m. or 7 p.m., according to the Bears training camp schedule. Attending training camp is free.

Scott Hagel, spokesman for the Bears, said team staff will have their first meeting at Olivet on Thursday. Players and staff will begin arriving by the middle of next week, he added.

“There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the team this year. We expect to have good crowds,” Hagel said. “Get there a little earlier to get some of the premier parking.”

But those often-burly Bears players won’t be cramming themselves into those extra-long twin beds like some college freshman. Whitis said his staff have been delivering queen-sized mattresses to players’ rooms, and have converted about 96 dorms into player living quarters. He said about 250 Bears personnel will live on campus, and they have converted about 140 rooms for staff use — not counting office space that will be converted into meeting rooms.

As perhaps the area’s biggest sporting event approaches, we are getting all hands — and reporters’ notebooks — on deck.

The National Football League’s Chicago Bears will hold their first training camp practice of the summer on Friday, July 31, at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, and [...]]]> Stepping up our training camp coverage

Caleb Benoit, Sports Editor

As perhaps the area’s biggest sporting event approaches, we are getting all hands — and reporters’ notebooks — on deck.

The National Football League’s Chicago Bears will hold their first training camp practice of the summer on Friday, July 31, at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, and The Daily Journal will be there for all three weeks of their stay.

I think we say this every year, but I believe it to be true —this year’s training camp coverage will be the best it has ever been. Here’s what you can expect:

• In our newspaper, there will be 15 editions of Bears Extra, the coverage we provide during the Bears’ stay in Bourbonnais. Bears Extra will included stories, photos, updated rosters, stats, news from around the league and a full-page-sized Bears photo keepsake — each day there is a practice in Bourbonnais.

• News@Noon, The Daily Journal’s daily news videocast, will be shot on location at training camp as many time as logistically possible. Host Mike Frey and his co-anchor — often yours truly — may show up at the concession stand, the 50-yard line, or next to you in a lawn chair.

• A revamped BearsCamp.org has been launched. The site has been completely redesigned and features the training camp schedule, directions to camp and all the stories that can be seen in Bears Extra — even a page where you can share your own photos. You can also comment on the site by logging in with your Facebook account, allowing you to share your comments, stories and photos with your Facebook friends. Just click “Connect with Facebook” on the left side of the page.

• BearsCamp.org will also be the place where you can check out The Daily Journal’s video reports and analyses and Twitter updates by Bears players.

In addition to these features, if you have any suggestions or story ideas, we’d be glad to hear them. And, as always, if you have any questions about training camp (or our coverage in general), you can contact me at cbenoit@daily-journal.com or 815-937-3391.

And tell us when you see signs of camp coming. Send us your photos and stories.

ALBANY, N.Y. — Tom Coughlin isn’t quite sure when the memorable sayings — the ones from Confucius to Lincoln to Lombardi — became a part of his coaching lexicon. The seeds probably were planted when he was growing up playing football and turned into a star wingback at Syracuse University. Once [...]]]> By Bob Glauber/The Washington Post

ALBANY, N.Y. — Tom Coughlin isn’t quite sure when the memorable sayings — the ones from Confucius to Lincoln to Lombardi — became a part of his coaching lexicon. The seeds probably were planted when he was growing up playing football and turned into a star wingback at Syracuse University. Once he got into coaching, he realized words could sometimes have as profound an impact on players as blocking and tackling.

Tom Coughlin, Giants head coach

“When I became a coach, I paid more attention to these sayings,” the Giants’ coach said. “We’re all in the business of psychologically making sure certain things are always referred to, and that’s why it’s a big point of emphasis. Getting the right messages across to the players is very important to me.”

The Giants open defense of their unlikely Super Bowl championship run last season Friday in Albany, where Coughlin will preside over the usual assortment of punishing two-a-day practices in brutal heat and humidity. But for all the physical preparation required, the team’s mental approach might be even more critical as the Giants attempt to repeat as Super Bowl champions, which has been done only nine times in NFL history.

That’s where the words come in.

You can find them all over the team’s locker room. Hear them in the meeting rooms. And read them in the Giants’ in-house monthly newsletter, “Under The Helmet.” On the cover of the May newsletter was a quote from Confucius:

“The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.” Inside was a quote from Abraham Lincoln that read: “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”

Neither Confucius nor Lincoln came up with last year’s catchphrase, but the line served the Giants’ situation perfectly: “Talk is cheap. Play the game.”

With all the bickering of previous seasons, especially the critiques leveled by former running back Tiki Barber, Coughlin threw that one out there early in the offseason. It was an appropriate mantra for a team that cut back on the controversy and indeed wound up doing its talking on the field — all the way to victory over the previously unbeaten Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Today, the “Talk is cheap. Play the game” line is posted on a wall outside the team’s video room.

This year’s motto is a bit simpler, yet equally meaningful: “It’s a whole new season.”

It is Coughlin’s way of getting the Giants focused on what lies ahead, not dwelling on last season’s miracle run.

Coughlin likely will embellish the line with a more richly worded saying from former UCLA coach John Wooden, another of Coughlin’s coaching role models:

“Learn from the past, don’t live in the past. The infection of success can lead you to live in the past, to believe that what happened before is automatically going to happen again.”

Oh, and in case you’re wondering whether the players relate to the sayings that Coughlin trots out, and if they have any measurable effect on their performance, rest assured. They adore them, and they apply them to football.

“I like that one right over there,” running back Brandon Jacobs said, pointing to a saying on a wall next to the team’s training room.

It reads:

“Control your emotions, direct yourself under pressure and make the right choices.”

“That one is perfect, because you’ve got to control your emotions and direct yourself under pressure. So when you’re — – off and mad because something didn’t go your way, you want to be able to bounce back on the next play to make it better.”

Safety James Butler lists this one as his favorite:

“Prepare like you just lost your last game.’

“It keeps you hungry,” Butler said. “I think it applies to the individual and to the team.”

Defensive end Justin Tuck likes the one from Bill Russell, the former Celtics star center who won 11 NBA titles, posted near the door to the locker room:

“My ego was centered around my teams’ success, not my accomplishments. How could I help my teammates to get better?”

“I respect a guy that’s got 11 championships,” Tuck said. “How can you not? It’s something that sticks with you, like a lot of the sayings that brings out. There are different sayings that are appropriate for different scenarios.”

The Giants now begin the Herculean task of attempting to repeat as Super Bowl champions, and their emotional preparation will be critical to their success. Toward that end, look for Coughlin to trot out plenty more inspirational and meaningful quotes.

“I’ve got a bunch of favorite sayings, but the most important ones are about the sense of team,” Coughlin said. “That’s always first and foremost with me.”

Coughlin will provide the occasional Vince Lombardi quote, but more judiciously than you might imagine, considering the former Packers coach has been one of Coughlin’s most important role models.

“It’s not because I didn’t think they were appropriate, because what has said is for all time,” Coughlin said. “But there are some things that I’m more interested in the players hearing either coming from me or a different way of saying it.”

Ultimately, Lombardi’s message does get to the players, even if it might not be in his exact words. One of Coughlin”s favorite Lombardi-isms might thus apply:

“Physical toughness will make the opponent weaken and mental toughness will make him crack.”

Words to live by.

Especially for a defending Super Bowl champion.

Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service

A full synopsis of move-in day will run in Wednesday’s paper and will be posted later.

For now, here are some notes from Arrival Day 2008.

1. Chris Williams remains unsigned, threatening to make him the first hold-out of Bears camp since Cedric Benson’s negotiations lasted nearly the entire preseason in 2005.

2. ABC’s [...]]]> By Rob Laird/The Daily Journal

A full synopsis of move-in day will run in Wednesday’s paper and will be posted later.

For now, here are some notes from Arrival Day 2008.

1. Chris Williams remains unsigned, threatening to make him the first hold-out of Bears camp since Cedric Benson’s negotiations lasted nearly the entire preseason in 2005.

2. ABC’s Mark Giangreco asked the first Brett Favre question of camp, lofting the idea of the legendary quarterback suiting up for the Bears. Smith smacked the question down with authority, saying “I assume he’ll play for the Packers this year. If not there, I assume somebody out there, I don’t know who that is.”

In order for Favre to become a Bear, Green Bay would have to just release him (won’t happen) or trade him to the division-rival Bears (won’t happen). In all likelihood, Favre will either A.) be a Packer, B.) be traded to an AFC team like Carolina or C.) re-retire.

3. For nearly an hour during move-in day beginning at roughly 2:45 p.m., nobody of note showed up. Then Mark Bradley and Nathan Vasher arrived at the same time, leaving it up to the reporters to decide which one they would talk to. I chose Vasher simply because Bradley was involved in a one-on-one and I didn’t wish to intrude on what may have been an exclusive interview. Realizing that where Vasher’s interview was veering had little to do with football, and seeing that two other reporters had gathered near Bradley, I decided to leave the cornerback and approach the new contender for the No. 1 receiving spot. As I arrived, the other two reporters broke up, leaving me with a one-on-one with Bradley, where I asked him what were probably many of the same questions the others had just asked him. (“How’s your knee?” “Will the team hold you back in practice?” and so on.) I wrapped it up after about five questions. Right then, the Vasher interview broke up and a swarm of media approached Bradley. Slightly exasperated but still a good sport, he sighed “Why don’t you guys just do this all at once?” He then spoke the mass of reporters for another 5-10 minutes.

4. John Clayton usually arrives toward the middle of camp during his tour of various NFL training camp sites. This year, he was there for arrival day and also spent 45 minutes with WMVP AM-1000 during a remote show from Oliver’s restaurant. More on that will be posted later as well.

Caleb Benoit/Sports Editor

Chicago Bears Training Camp doesn’t officially start until Wednesday, but The Daily Journal’s coverage of the Monsters of [...]]]>

Tyler Harvey, a fifth-year senior at Olivet Nazarene University and managing concessions for the Chicago Bears training camp, fills soda machines in Snowbarger Park at the college last Thursday. — The Daily Journal/Nicholas Hostein

Caleb Benoit/Sports Editor

Chicago Bears Training Camp doesn’t officially start until Wednesday, but The Daily Journal’s coverage of the Monsters of the Midway’s three-week stay in Bourbonnais is already under way.

In addition to everything you can find here at bearscamp.org, you can also read up-to-date Bears news in The Daily Journal’s Bears Extra, which will run in The Daily Journal every day there is a Bears practice taking place.

Team officials, players and coaches continue arriving today in preparation for their stay on the Olivet campus. The Bears’ first training camp practice is Wednesday at 3 p.m. The camp runs through Thursday, Aug. 14.

You can subscribe to the podcast feed here.

You can download the first episode directly here. Clicking the link will load the the mp3 in your browsers. To download the file to play in iTunes, etc. right click and select “Save link [...]]]> Featuring The Daily Journal sports writers Steve Soucie, Rob Laird and metro editor Mike Frey.

You can subscribe to the podcast feed here.

You can download the first episode directly here. Clicking the link will load the the mp3 in your browsers. To download the file to play in iTunes, etc. right click and select “Save link as.”

Not sure what a podcast is? Learn more about it from Apple here, and download iTunes for free here.