July 4th is a major holiday for all Americans, but it's going come with a sad twinge of remembrance for Titans fans for a long time. For us, the 4th is the anniversary of the day Steve McNair was found murdered in his local apartment. At a media session yesterday Vince told reporters he was heading down to celebrate the holiday, and Steve's life, with McNair's mother in Mississippi. VY's attention and selflessness regarding that entire family continues to blow me away. In honor of last night's return of one of my favorite shows of all-time, Futurama, this week's jam is Pierre Henry's Psyché Rock. This catchy-yet-demented 1967 track by Henry, an innovator of both electronic music and musique concréte, was the inspiration for the Futurama theme song, which smartly combines the melody with the ultra-funky Amen Break underneath.
Article of the day goes to Paul Kuharsky for this long-form piece on the important relationship between Kenny Britt and his high-school coach. Britt credits coach Rodriguez with instilling the work ethic and dedication to conditioning that has served the young wide-out so well so far. Best tidbit: Britt had a scholarship offer on the table before he even began starting for his high school's varsity squad.
Follow us through the jump for a surprisingly bountiful collection of Titans links...
Wyatt has a profile on Jared Cook, who certainly sounds like he realizes the heat is on for him to produce now that Alge is out the door. Cook was the star of the preseason last year, but a high-ankle sprain and being buried in the depth chart ruined his regular season. Cook has put on 10 more lbs. of muscle in the offseason, and is looking to be the TE who can terrorize secondaries we all thought we were getting when the Titans drafted him. If he doesn't, he better be ready for a truckload of Ben Troupe comparisons.
Go vote for Chris Johnson, who has been nominated for two ESPY awards: Best Breakthrough Athlete and Best NFL Player. CK2K shoulld be a lock for at least the later, but he's not a white quarterback so who the hell knows. Plus the ESPYs are about as culturally important as the MTV Twilight Circle Jerk Movie Awards.
Alterraun Verner practiced with the first team defense yesterday as the coaches continue to look for the 2nd starter at the CB position.
Single-game tickets for the 10 preseason and regular season home games will go on sale on July 31st, which will also mark the first day of CJ2K not showing up to training camp.
FO looked at how teams ranked stopping the draw, and the Titans now have yet another phase of the game to improve upon. Of course, a lot of that can be attributed to the fact that we started a rookie LB much of the year, and KVB was on the ground 2 seconds after every snap that looked like a passing play,
Recently cut ex-Titan and ex-Bengal Chris Davis was claimed by the NY Giants off of waivers.
Former Titan reserve RB Raphael Little made the 2010 roster for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts after spending time with the Winnipeg Bombers last year.
Note to NFL observers: Champ Bailey hasn't been close to a top-5 CB in the NFL for at least 2 or 3 years. He's a valuable player, no doubt, but he's nowhere near the lockdown CB he was in his prime with the redskins. Just because it's repeated over and over doesn't make it so.
Have a great weekend!