I wanted to thank all you CS Chroniclers for keeping me up to date on the Saints the last couple of years.  Since you were gracious enough to send your team to my neck of the woods to practice, I thought I would relate a few observations from the practice I saw Tuesday.

Oxnard is an Ag community inland from Ventura (to the west) and Port Hueneme (to the south).  It is reputed to be one of the worst speed traps north of LA, and has some pretty pathetic Mexican bars and restaurants for an area with a lot of Hispanic citizens.  That beach you see in the Training Camp day posts is miles away--I suspect the announcers are just "mailing" it in.

There are two football fields side-by-side, running East-West.  The hotel is to the west, bleachers to the south and southeast, media area to the northeast, and a golf course to the north.  The parking lot is rough clay with some water sprayed over it, not conducive to anything less than a truck or off-road motorcycle.  Plus you get to pay $10 for the privilege of parking (but watching the practice is free!?!)  The fields are not all that flat--gentle swales--which hopefully won't injure any of the players.  Although there are no signs to the contrary, adult beverages are not allowed (which I didn't find out about until the second tall-boy).  Heaven forbid, next thing you know they'll be allowing beer at the games!!!

As is often my lot in life, most of the good stuff was run on the far field (next to the golf course), including the field goal practice (FPK was doing pretty good), red-zone practice, and 2-minute drill.  Sorry about no photos, they weren't very good shooting into the sun (and I haven't quite figured out how to insert them).  Also, sorry to be late with this, but had to wait for the 24-hour SB-Nation rectal exam to post this.  Some observations:

• It would have been better to watch from the golf course: free parking, and the ability to enjoy an adult beverage.
• It was surprising to see how hard Brees pounded the ball into small openings (TWSS).
• Pierre Thomas isn't much bigger than Sproles.
• I was surprised/worried to not see Mark Ingram out there.
• Cameron Jordan got a lot of reps with the #1's and #2's.  Don't know if they plan to start him, but clearly they're trying to get him a lot of practice.  Swanson Miller got a lot of reps as well since 3 of the tackles weren't practicing (Franklin/Johnson/King).  Sproles made all of them look silly at times.
• Tracey Porter and Malcolm Jenkins were getting a lot of reps.
• Cool/strong ocean breeze, temps in the high 60's, no skeeters!!
• And good news for Kat: SP has the largest "bill" out there (at least until another assistant showed up with the same visor).