Tennessee Titans Morning Links: Tragedy, Fashion And A Bright Future Edition

John Glennon has more info on the fiery practice that lead-up to LaGarrette's punch last night, including the fact that Vince was also on the receiving end of some unusually violent hits from the defense. I'm guessing this is part of Chuck Cecil's 'Be Violent' initiative, and we shouldn't read too much more into it. One thing that I'm not hearing pointed out, though, is that this was Blount's first practice of the week after he was excused from Monday and Tuesday practices for undisclosed personal reasons. Well, it turns out that Blount's grandmother passed away over the weekend. I have no doubt in my mind that this had a huge effect on Blount's outburst last night, and it's probably why we didn't see much of him Saturday night. The rookie apologized immediately to Coach Fisher, but it doesn't sound like there was any such remorse shown to Bakhtiari, who refused to comment on the fracas in the locker room following the session.

The entire MCM family would like to extend our sincere condolences and sympathies to Blount and his family for their loss. No matter what your opinion was of the scuffle, that's a tough loss for anyone to deal with and should remind us all that these men are just like you and me in more ways than we like to acknowledge sometimes.

Chris Johnson will test a new, high-tech padding from Nike in Monday Night's game:

Reigning NFL rushing leader Chris Johnson hopes to make a preseason fashion statement Monday night against the Arizona Cardinals as the Tennessee Titans third-year back debuts his high-tech bubble wrap padding protecting his franchise legs.

In compliance with a league mandate to make lower-body padding required for the 2011 season, Johnson is experimenting with a Nike-developed girdle that includes hip, thigh, knee and tailbone pads.

Of course we're partial because he's been doing great work posting for us here at MCM, but it's very nice to hear that Alrerraun Verner continues to impress coaches and teammates in his first training camp. Keep up the good work Alterraun!

Follow us through the jump for an abnormally strong day of links!

Tom Gower breaksdown the Titans' cornerback options over at Total Titans.

David Climer is so impressed by Rusty Smith's confidence that he decides to jam a quote from one of my idols, George Bernard Shaw, even if it is a facepalm-inducing stretch:

George Bernard Shaw told us that youth is wasted on the young. Well, how many football games did he win?

Damian Williams is excited about the chance to get on the field for Monday Night's game against the Cardinals, and I think we all exc.... HEY! WATCH THE BALL ALL THE WAY INTO YOUR HANDS WHEN YOU'RE FIELDING KICKS DAMNIT! YOU WANT TO START BEING KNOWN AS DAMIAN MOUTON AROUND HERE? Sorry Damian, I'm just a little sensitive on this subject. I think a lot of us around here could be diagnosed with Battered Return Game Syndrome.

If there's one pre-season breakdown of the AFC South you absolutely can not miss, it's KSK's, which contains this gem:

- Sen’Derrick Marks’ first name was likely the result of a misheard request for his brother to fetch something from the store.

The local and national media just keeps pumping out these Kevin Matthews stories despite the fact that it's only got one angle, and that angle has been worn down to a dull curve. I'm putting the over/under on how many more of these we'll get before the roster is cut to 53 at 3.5... any takers?

If the Titans are looking to add one more camp body to the wide-receiving corps, might they give the recently released Brandon Jones a look? Jones had an up and down tenure with the Titans before leaving for a five-year, $16 million contract. His stats with the 49ers? In the 8 games he appeared in Jones totaled 1 catch for 18 yards, and 9 punt returns for 26 yards total. Ouch.

Have love, send links to mcmaugustwest@gmail.com!