ESPN-The World According To Cooley

[HigSkin]

Very funny blog except the part about team injuries.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfceast/0-2-31/The-World-According-to-Cooley.html

ASHBURN, Va. -- From the time I heard about Redskins tight end Chris Cooley introducing himself before a game as "Captain Chaos," I knew he was the type player who needed to be featured on the NFC East blog. He's shown up to practice in X-small red shorts in the past and he's launched a genius Web site, which often features pictures of his wife in a variety of tasteful poses.

On Tuesday, he talked about something he called "blog pressure," which causes him to sit down at his computer at least two hours per evening.

"I want to have something up on the blog every day," he said. "You have to have at least one or two things up there. I have great ideas, and if I don't blog them, they just go away."

Cooley has a team of consultants that help him formulate ideas for blog items. He said his wife and parents grew up as Redskins fans, so they're always coming up with interesting topics.

"I don't want to write something easy like, 'practice was hard today,'" he said. "I try to picture myself as a fan and see what they'd be interested in reading. When I was a kid, I'd read anything about John Elway and the Broncos."

He said one of his most popular entries had nothing to do with sports. Cooley always complained about having to take the trash to a local dump, so he decided to film himself going through the process. On the day he posted the trash entry, local news stations picked up the story. He said he had more than 50 people offer to come dispose of his trash, which is sad on so many levels.

In Tuesday's morning practice, members of the offensive line warned him not to post anything about them. He said his linemates are the most paranoid bunch on the team.

"The O-line is petrified that I'm gonna blog terrible things about them," he said. "I keep telling them that I'm their friend, and I'm not going to sell them out for a blog. But every time something leaks to the media, they immediately think I'm the one who outted them."

Right now, Cooley is focused on filming a weekly deer-hunting skit with running back Clinton Portis, a man who enjoys reporting to work in costume. In the next day or so, Cooley will post a discussion that he and Portis had regarding crossword puzzles while riding the bus to the Hall of Fame game. Portis and Cooley always cut out the Sunday puzzle in the Washington Post and spend the week trying to complete it.

Cooley and his brother came up with the idea to design an interactive Web site because "the other player sites were terrible." On Monday night, he worked on his site from 10:30 p.m. until 12:40 a.m.

But lest you think he's a complete flake, Cooley also happens to be one of the hardest workers on the team. His favorite thing about new head coach Jim Zorn, other than the fact that he wants to throw the ball more, is that Zorn is very upfront with the players. Cooley is very respectful of Joe Gibbs, but he said the former coach tried to keep players on their toes by withholding information at times.

"The thing I like about Coach Zorn is that he's upfront with our schedule and all the practices," Cooley said. "So many times in the past, we were left guessing. He would omit some details on purpose."

The one thing that was gnawing at Cooley on Tuesday was the fact that so many players are missing practices. He claimed to have a torn meniscus and a cyst on an old meniscus. He also said he had cartilage floating around underneath his knee."

"I could have surgery right now," he said. "But I can't stand to miss a day. I'm blown away with some of the injuries that are keeping players off the field."

He spared receiver Devin Thomas (hamstring), but he's worried about what's going on with several other players.

He cut off the interview at that point. I guess he needed to save a little material for the blog.

[China]

Sounds like if he can endure the pain he will and get it taken care of at the end of the season. I hope it's manageable and he doesn't do himself any further damage.

[zCommander]

Merging in 3...2...1....I think..

http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=254521&highlight=cooley+blog