*Two years after he co-founded the Packers with Curly Lambeau, George Calhoun began writing a piece called The Dope Sheet, which served as the official press release and game program from 1921-24.
Honoring Calhoun, the first publicity director, the Packers are running this weekly feature as their release, which is being made available to fans exclusively on Packers.com.
A complete edition of the Dope Sheet will be available each week during the season in PDF format, located in the Packers.com Game Centers.
Here are some highlights from the Packers' 2007 Training Camp Dope Sheet:*
RITE OF SUMMER RETURNS
The most anticipated family event of the summer - Green Bay Packers training camp - begins its 62nd year Saturday on Clarke Hinkle Field. A tradition that first began under Curly Lambeau in 1946, it remains one of the most intimate preseason settings in the NFL.
-Newer traditions - such as night practices under the lights and the team's intra-squad scrimmage in Lambeau Field - blend with the old as players continue to ride kids' bicycles to practice, a tradition started under Vince Lombardi, and live in the dorms at nearby St. Norbert College, the NFL's longest training camp relationship between a team and school.
-According to the Packer Country Visitor and Convention Bureau, training camp attracts an estimated 115,000 visitors from across the nation and as many as 20 foreign countries. With an economic impact estimated at more than $60 million, training camp brings a financial boost to many area businesses. The Packer Country VCB partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay's Professional Programs in Business Administration for a survey in 2005 to provide an updated economic study of training camp.
-None of these figures factor in the team's intra-squad scrimmage, 'Family Night, Presented by FOX 11', which this spring sold every available seat in Lambeau Field in four days.
CIRCLE THE CALENDAR
Important dates on the preseason calendar include:
-Saturday, July 28 - First practice, 2 p.m., Hinkle Field (full pads)
-Sunday, July 29 - First night practice, 6:30 p.m., Hinkle Field (full pads)
-Tuesday, July 31 - Practice at City Stadium, 6:30 p.m.
-Saturday, Aug. 4 - Family Night intra-squad scrimmage, 6:30 p.m., Lambeau Field
-Tuesday, Aug. 28 - Last practice open to public, 10 a.m., Hinkle Field; NFL-mandated roster reduction, to 75 players, by 3 p.m. CDT
-Saturday, Sept. 1 - NFL-mandated roster reduction, to 53 players, by
3 p.m. CDT
-Sunday, Sept. 2 - Practice squad established, after 11 a.m. CDT
FAN-FRIENDLY SCHEDULE
Eight night practices under the lights are highlighted by a return to the team's previous home at City Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 31. A total of 24 practices will be open to the public.
-Head Coach Mike McCarthy stated before his first training camp in 2006 that the night-time practices would draw bigger crowds and produce a game-like atmosphere, increasing the intensity and competition in practice. Used by a number of teams around the NFL, he first experienced night practices as offensive coordinator in New Orleans.
-McCarthy once again will institute a "2-1-2-1" training camp schedule, beginning with a full-squad, full-pads workout at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 28, on Clarke Hinkle Field.
-The first night practice takes place Sunday, July 29. Of the eight night practices, seven are preceded by a morning workout at 8:45 a.m.
-In between "two-a-days", the team will break down film of the morning practice. On days with one practice, they will break down film twice - night practices will be broken down the following morning while the afternoon session is studied after dinner.
-Having not been in full pads since a 26-7 victory over Chicago in the 2006 season finale, the team will hold six practices over the first four days of training camp. Five of those will be in full pads.
-In accordance with league guidelines, the team spent the entirety of mini-camp and OTAs in shorts and helmets. Fans and coaches alike will get their first chance to see many players, including the 2007 rookie class, in full pads.
REST AND RECOUP
One major adjustment to this year's camp made by McCarthy was three off days built into the schedule.
-Three successive Wednesdays (Aug. 1, 8, 15), the team will gather in the morning for meetings and film review, with players given the afternoon and evening off to recover for two practices the next day.
-Said McCarthy, "The number of things we were able to get done this spring gave us the ability to have those three Wednesdays where we only meet and have walk-throughs in the gym at the end. It's clearly (based) on the rest and recovery. I feel it will really help our football team particularly at the end of the year."
-"When you see the importance of rest and recovery happen on an individual basis like I've watched it throughout the spring, it's obviously very important for our football team," McCarthy stated. "To do it on Wednesday, right in the middle of the workload, I think is smart, and we're still able to get everything done."
ALL ABOUT MOMENTUM
The momentum of four straight wins to close the 2006 season - coupled with missing the NFC's final playoff berth by mere percentage points - produced record attendance in the offseason program.
-Every player on the roster participated in the offseason program, many working under the supervision of the strength and conditioning staff beginning in mid-March.
-There will be no adjustment to new coaches, new schedules or new schemes this summer, as installations on both sides of the ball took place during mini-camp and OTAs.
-"We're clearly a lot further ahead than we were at this time last year," McCarthy said upon the conclusion of the offseason program June 18. "Over and over again we've talked about the individual improvement, and that's something that's very obvious as you look out there on the football field, the improvement that a number of our players have made since last year."
-"Just the way we practice - our practices are better, and I think that's part of where we are as a football team and how much of the offense, defense and special teams we have in," McCarthy explained. "As of today we have everything in; everything that we're going to use next year is in. The continuity to me breeds confidence. We need to carry this into training camp."
RETURN TO CITY STADIUM
Earlier this summer, the Packers announced plans to hold an open practice at historic City Stadium Tuesday evening, July 31. It marks the first practice in nearly 50 years at the team's former home field (1925-56).
-The Packers last practiced at the site Aug. 5, 1961, when Vince Lombardi led the team through an intra-squad scrimmage.
-Today's Packers will have the opportunity to play at the same venue that hosted many of the NFL's early legends, including Green Bay players Don Hutson, Curly Lambeau, Arnie Herber, Tony Canadeo and Clarke Hinkle.
-City Stadium, barely completed in time for the 1925 season opener, opened with an initial seating capacity of 6,000.
-Fittingly, the Packers defeated the Chicago Bears for the first time in club history, 14-10, in the stadium's second contest. It was just the fourth meeting between the NFL's longest standing rivals.
-More successes were soon to follow, including the club's first NFL championship in 1929. Five more titles were won (1930-31, 1936, 1939, 1944) while the team called City Stadium its home.
-Several expansions led to a seating capacity just over 25,000 during the final season at City Stadium in 1956.
-The practice will be free to the public, but in the "pass-the-hat" spirit of games in the 1920s and '30s at City Stadium, in which the team collected money to stay afloat, donations will be accepted to support the new Green Bay Children's Museum.
ST. NORBERT AND THE PACKERS - ANOTHER NFL RECORD
No NFL team enjoys a longer training camp relationship than the one between the Green Bay Packers and St. Norbert College. Formed in 1958 between Packers coach Scooter McLean and the private school in nearby De Pere, Wis., the relationship enters its 50th year this summer.
-Founded in 1898 by Abbot Bernard Pennings, the school presently enrolls nearly 2,000 students.
-All on-field activities and many football meetings take place at the team's home facility, with the college serving as the base for living arrangements.
-Victor McCormick Hall, a 60-room dormitory, will continue the long tradition of housing players and staff.
-Players will return to St. Norbert College each evening for dinner.
-The team will remain in the dorms until Aug. 17.
