New head coach Josh McDaniels,white cap in center, addresses his troops the first day of training camp at Dove Valley in Englewood Colorado

Denver Bronco training camp officially started today which means my summer is over once again.

Each summer for the past 26 consecutive years I have covered the team’s summer camp. Until recent years camp was held about 65 miles north of Denver in Ft. Collins Colorado on the Colorado State University campus followed by numerous years on the fields at the University of Northern Colorado just down the road in Greeley. At has become vogue for  teams  to switch to their hometowns for the two to three week drills. Denver followed suit and has set up camp right at its Dove Valley facility in Englewood Colorado.

Not to slight the folks up north, this arrangement is more efficient, cost effective and a whole lot easier on the players. There’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed, even if it is a Sealy Postropedic at the hotel down the road. Before guys bunked two to four players in school dorm rooms on the less than inviting beds.

I don’t miss the heat and humidity that seemed to prevail on the campuses due to overly soaked fields. But I love the excitement, anticipation and the unknowns that unfold every year at training camp. There is a new head coach, eleven new assistant head coaches ( three remain from the former staff) and forty seven new faces in uniform. To me, that’s a recipe for a wild and crazy ride through the NFL season.

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