I have been talking about it all off-season. Here on the site, and on Wednesday Night as part of MHR Radio. Wounds, still fresh and painful, would be reponed as the team convened for the start of Training Camp. For every memeber of the team who know Darrent Williams or Damian Nash are dealing with the pain of knowing neither will suit up this season. For Javon Walker, who was there and witnessed Darrent Williams fatal gun-shot wound, the pain had to be that much worse.
I've talked about when javon would address the media. He had to at some point, one of the super stars of the Broncos, it was just a matter of when. That time finally came this morning. Andrew Mason has all the details in his blog, and I will borrow some of those quotes here. I do credit the media for its handling of the questions. There were tough questions that needed to be asked, but when Javon asked to keep the line of questioning to on the field the media in attendance did a solid job of backing off, knowing the unique type of private situation that Walker is trying to deal with in a very public forum.
I obviously give a huge amount of credit to Walker. Sure, he had to talk at somepoint, but it still took alot of stones and he deserves alot of credit. For Walker, it was just another step in the healing process. For the team, another step towards the normalcy of the regular season. For the media, just one small example that the vultures can be a slight bit human when the time and circumstance dictates. All three were very nice to see.
Walker Is Ready To Go
Here are Javon Walker's quotes from this morning --
Football-wise, I feel pretty good. Last year, going into camp, I was rehabbing slowly and trying to learn on the run, so going into this season, I feel healthy and strong and ready to give it a full go when the season starts.
TOUGHEST OFFSEASON YOU'VE EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH? --
I'm just talking about football right now, guys. So any football-related questions ...
BUT HOW ARE YOU DOING PERSONALLY, JUST OFF THE FIELD: --
Oh, I'm doing good. I'm feeling healthy, so that's the best part about it, running out routes every day and not doing anything that's limiting. I'm getting ready to go out each and every practice and I'm not worried about having to be limited from anything.
FIRST TEAM OFFENSE -- WHERE DO YOU GUYS THINK YOU'RE AT? --
We feel pretty good. Obviously when you're going against a defense like ours every day, they tend to pick up things that we've been doing every day, and that's why it's a good challenge for us when we get ready to go down to Dallas and practice against another team and also when we go get ready to play San Francisco. You're working on new things every day, but you're going against the same guys. A lot of times, you win some and you lose some, but we feel good about where we're headed.
HAVE YOU BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO TRAINING CAMP? --
Yeah, I've been looking forward to training camp just because I knew I was healthy and feeling strong and had an offseason where there wasn't any rehabilitation.
WERE YOU DREADING COMING UP HERE AND TALKING? --
Well, because there's certain situations where I just didn't want myself in front of the camera right now. So this is due to people I know and people who are working with me right now. The time was going to come, and what better day than a day like today?
IS IT STILL TOUGH TO TALK ABOUT TO TALK ABOUT THAT KIND OF STUFF -- OFF-FIELD, WHAT HAPPENED TO DARRENT-
Football, please.
YOU HAD A COUPLE OF BIG CATCHES TODAY -- HOW DID YOU GET THAT OPEN? --
You know what, that's just a certain part of the package that we install every day. We know that's going to be a big part of our game this year, and to get it going in practice here will just transfer over to the games. I know that's a big part of my game, so it felt real good to try to get that timing down.
DO YOU FEEL YOUR KNEE AT ALL? --
No. That's what made this training camp exciting -- going into practice and being ready to play and not rehabbing anything.