Meat Zone: Summer Vacation

I just finished up my second annual football camp in my childhood home of Haynesville, Louisiana. We had a great turnout and all the campers seemed like they were enjoying themselves. We also held a silent auction for my foundation and raised a lot of money too. Ever since I left the Bay Area after our offseason workouts, I’ve been kind of busy working on my foundation.

My old school, Haynesville High had about 55 kids come out to the camp. They got to learn from me and four other NFL players who were at the camp as our coaches. I gave the campers 49ers t-shirts and after that, I’m pretty sure we just picked up 55 new fans. I’m thankful that Subway sponsored our lunch meals, giving the campers healthy food after we ran around in the hot sun.

It’s very hot in Louisiana right now. It’s about 105 degrees with the humidity! Coming from Cali where the temperature seemed to always be about 75 degrees – I’m missing the Bay Area! But Louisiana is where I’m from, so I’m used to the heat and so it wasn’t too bad. We just made sure to spread the camp activities early in the afternoon so the kids weren’t running around during the hottest part of the day. And we made sure the kids hydrated properly because it was so hot. But overall, the camp was a great success.

After my camp concluded, I took my mom and my wife to the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans for the Fourth of July weekend. We went to a couple of concerts and had a couple of nice dinners together too. Mostly, we talked about how the camp and the silent auction went, while enjoying the entertainment.

The day before the Fourth, we went to see John Legend and Beyonce in concert. Both of them were amazing artists live.

On the Fourth, we ate at Emerald Laggase’s famous restaurant called “Commander’s Guard.”
Afterwards, I took them to see Anita Baker and Maxwell, who are two of the most talented soul singers alive. Baker, of course being a favorite of my mom’s and Maxwell is a singer from my generation.

I think I got whiplash from nodding the whole time during Anita Baker’s performance! Just kidding… But, she was a great performer.

I’m not doing any other traveling after my trip to New Orleans. I’m back home in Virginia relaxing and laying low at the moment. All of the physical contact and running that we’ll do in training camp takes a lot out of you, so it’s important to rest up until it’s time for me to report.

In the meantime, I’m going to help my little brother Justin look at colleges. He’s one of the top-rated defensive linemen in the state of Louisiana at my old high school, Haynesville High. I know I’ve mentioned him in my blog before, but he’s getting a bunch of scholarship offers in the mail right now. It’s an exciting time for him and I like being able to give advice. So far, he’s been offered by Nebraska, Mississippi State, Northwestern, Louisiana Tech, University of Louisiana Monroe and a few others.

All this talk of college football has me thinking about how that season is coming up pretty soon too. As an alum of the University of Georgia, I’m all about my Dawgs. But to be honest, I’m disappointed in them. We were ranked No. 1 last year nationally and struggled towards the end of the season and so who knows how we’ll finish this year.

Before I forget to mention it, I was trying to order my new 49ers jersey online in time for Father’s Day as a gift for my pops. I tried to order my jersey and they were sold out until the last week of July!

At first I was kind of bummed out, but I think that means fans are supporting me and I really appreciate that.

I’d like to finish up this blog entry by sending out my deepest sympathies to the family of Steve McNair.

The year he came out to the NFL, he was the top African-American selected at the quarterback position, No. 3 overall. It’s a tragedy what happened, but he’s leaving with a legacy.

I hate to see him leave his family and kids behind because he’s needed there. Sons and daughters need their fathers. I guarantee you there will be sadness throughout the league for awhile.

I played against him once, when I was with the Cowboys, in ’02. I haven’t played against him since. But my most memorable moment about Steve was in the Super Bowl when they played the Rams. On that last drive when he was scrambling and almost got sacked – man, that was a great play on his part. He came out of the Rams pressure to complete the pass and keep the drive going.

Of course, you always hear about how he played with injuries to his ribs, his shoulder, his elbow or his ankle and still go out there and light it up. It just goes to show without saying it, he was tough. Steve McNair will be severely missed.

Thanks for reading my latest blog, catch everyone out at training camp soon.