Dallas Cowboys’ Camp Reacts To Los Angeles Earthquake

Oxnard. It’s the sleazy little, “Madlib” supported town that you may have noticed on your way to Santa Barbara. They have outlets there and an airport. You may also recognize it from that one scene in “Sideways” where Paul Giamatti and Paul Hayden Church stop to visit Paul’s mom and he proceeds to jack her of a few hundred bucks. Word? Word. Yet, it’s also the place “America’s Team” trains during the offseason. The Dallas Cowboys have been there for years, but for some of their players, yesterday’s 5.4 Los Angeles (Chino Hills, actually) earthquake was a first. And for some, they wanted it to be their last.

Leonard Davis rolled over to see if somebody was shaking his bed, but none of his Dallas Cowboys teammates were in the room. That’s when the 353-pound offensive lineman realized he had just experienced an earthquake.
“I was just laying there, about to go to sleep,” said Davis, who like many of his teammates had never felt such a tremor.
“If that was a small one, I’m all right. I can say I’ve been in an earthquake, a tornado, a hurricane,” guard Andre Gurode said. “I waited for a good 30 seconds until everything stopped, then I ran outside.”

Ok. We need to get Dallas’ management team to instruct this man to get under his desk or doorway. Though, he might struggle a bit at 353 pounds. Panzon! Defensive lineman Marcus Spears showed a little more courage.

“It wasn’t nothing major, just like the ground was moving,” defensive lineman Marcus Spears said. “I was in my room upstairs, so we had to get downstairs. That was my first time. You don’t get those in Louisiana.”

Of course not. Louisiana gets…um…nevermind, Kanye. We’re backing away from the joke…right…now. On the other hand, coach Wade Phillips had the right idea about how to survive the quake: denial.

“I was on the elliptical (exercise machine) and I was going. I thought, ‘Man, I’m really going now, shaking this place down.’ So I didn’t even notice it,” Phillips said. “I thought I was really working out.”

And that’s exactly how you gotta roll with a quake or else you’ll panic and end up crawling down the hallway to your mom’s room in the dark. At least Dallas has some training under their belts before the real turbulence hits.
Earthquake rattles Dallas Cowboys at training camp [AP]
Image [AP]