Practice Gently, Men

Fall camp begins this afternoon, always an exciting occasion because it makes the football season seem about five times closer than it did this time last week.  There's a lot to look forward to, y'know, actual football things, but as usual there's that sense of injury-related doom permeating everything.  Amazing how history keeps repeating itself.  For example, fuckin' July struck again, leaving us to wonder if anyone can play cornerback.

But it's August and none of this crap makes much of an impression while I'm thinking about how Russell Wilson is going to sing us to sleep with sweet success, visions of victory touchdowns dancing in our heads.

Wilson played his last game with the Dust Devils on Friday and met with the press once he got back to Raleigh, so it's no surprise that he dominates the news heading into camp:

-- Despite the rust he may have to shake off, Ken Tysiac writes that Wilson is still in command in State's quarterback competition.

-- Wilson spoke with Mike Maniscalco about his summer.

-- He's getting married, too.  His Dust Devil teammates nicknamed him "Willie," which I thought might be in reference to Willie Wilson, but that Wilson never played second base.  According to this article, he also spent part of the summer working on his spanish and announced his intentions to be come the first pro football player slash pro baseball player slash U.S. ambassador to Guatemala.

-- Caulton Tudor writes that "Wilson deserves respect." Indeed, sir. Indeed. Football. Touchdown lullabies.

-- Luke DeCock on Nate Irving and Mark Herzlich.

-- This year's captains: Wilson, Irving, Jarvis Williams.

-- The women's basketball team will play the other Wolf Pack this season.  Loser renounces all rights to the strutting wolf logo. 

-- You can buy a copy of State's NCAA tournament win over UConn in the new GoPack.com store.  A Gator Bowl season retrospective and the '83 title game are available as well.