I have had the wonderful fortune, through the grace of God (yes, we mention God in this space), to see some pretty incredible things at Browns training camp through the years.

When training camp rolls around in about five months, I’ll put together a list of those memorable events. Now, though, the focus will be on just one of those events.

It occurred in late July 2008 on what was otherwise just another non-description day of practice in the last year of head coach Romeo Crennel’s tenure.

The media entrance into the gated practice complex for camp — and the entrance for most people who are guests — is on the northwest corner of the complex, closest to the state of Michigan, which, I would discover momentarily, made sense.

At the gate checking everyone in was, as usual, though I didn’t realize it then, Eloise Tressel. As I walked into the complex after she cleared me, there, standing just a few feet away, was Lloyd Carr, who laughing as he held court with a bunch of people. He had resigned as the head football coach at Michigan after the 2007 season and as such was enjoying his first season without football in decades. He seemed to be having a great time. That’s what getting your life back after all those years of watching large young men pushing a blocking sled in the steamy dog days of summer, will do for you.

The Browns did not announce beforehand that Carr, a really nice man, would be at practice. Nor did they give anyone a heads-up that Mrs. Tressel’s son, Jim, who you may have heard of, would also be taking in practice that day. Perhaps they rode together to Browns headquarters. Tressel, who was getting ready to head to summer practice to begin his eighth year as the head football coach at Ohio State, was, at the same time, also holding court — a much bigger court, as you might imagine — in the southernmost portion of the complex, which likewise made sense since that is the area closest to Columbus. He’s a nice man, too, by the way.

Both of them — Tressel and Carr —skirted the question of whether their presence at camp at the same time was done intentionally. But while some of us covering the Browns back then were born in the night, it wasn’t the previous night, so we knew the truth.

Regardless, it made for incredible dynamics at camp that day. These two men were on opposite sides of The Game, arguably the greatest rivalry in sports, and here they were 175 yards apart acting if the other man didn’t exist. It was interesting to see their body language, for Tressel’s immediate and pronounced success in the series forced Carr out of his job prematurely.

Now, here’s the big question: If Jim Tressel ends up running for governor, would Lloyd Carr, if he lived in the state, vote for him?

We’ll never know the answer to that one.

Steve King