There’s the shrine to Fordham’s Seven Blocks of Granite, which is not to be confused of the Seven Blocks of Ice that is the media from the Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, West Virginia Illustrated and WTAE.

Very cold, windy day for the outside practice, but, hey, it was outside. And Fordham had a nice place with plenty of room.

I’ll upload some interesting videos from practice later, including something I’m certain we were meant to see because there’s no other explanation for why we saw it. I’d have it done, but the WiFi on the media shuttle, which has been super useful, blocks access to YouTube. We’re two hours minutes into a 30-minute ride from Fordham in the Bronx back to Brooklyn.

Anyways …

– Jeff Braun is definitely your starting center and Pat Eger is the starting right guard. Braun is trying to make this as simple as possible and that includes disarming any suggestion this is awkward or complicated.

“I view it as a challenge,” he said. “I’m excited for it, to be honest with you. It’s an opportunity for me to show off another skill set and to be out there and be able to perform well.”

– Shawne Alston does not like suggestions he’s a cold weather running back. He’d done it before and again Thursday he scoffed at the suggestion he’s primed for a good day because it’s supposed to be cold and snowy. Alston thinks he’s rather capable in any climate, but in short sleeves said, “Weather isn’t an excuse when it comes to the game of football. It’s Miami out here right now.”

– Practice started late because the team arrived late. There are no police escorts to make for fluid travel, but understand police escorts wouldn’t help with this gridlock. It was nevertheless enjoyable to be waiting in the cold for the team to arrive and see the media perk up when they heard sirens, which is normally the cue that the police escort is about to deliver the team to the practice site.

I had to remind people where we were.

– Lots and lots of special teams work. The kickers and punters were on the field long before the media arrived, which was about 40 minutes before the team arrives. Then the part we got to see was pretty much all special teams, with an emphasis on the Nascar field goal drill (run a play, hurry the offense off the field and the field goal team onto the field) and punting and some other stuff that, again, I’ll get to later.