Long shadows were stretching across the field after a recent Washington Redskins training camp practice on the picturesque campus of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. While coach Steve Spurrier droned on, I spun around and took in the panorama. Cut stone buildings, slant walks shaded by giant oak trees, an old-fashioned frozen custard stand, lawn sprinklers catching the sunlight and covering the field in rainbows ... and a rookie quarterback mummified with athletic tape against a goal post so tightly his $5.7 million hands were turning blue.

Upon seeing this, most of the D.C. media bolted toward the end zone as if they had opened the lunch buffet line early, but I stuck around to get Spurrier's take on one of the oldest -- and sometimes the ugliest -- of NFL training camp traditions: rookie hazing.

	30 Second Column
	This preseason, Michael Strahan is quickly learning that Warren Sapp doesn't roll over quite as easily as Brett Favre. My advice to Strahan regarding his feud with Sapp: shut up. And end this as soon as possible because Sapp has the ultimate trump card:  He's 100% correct. I know, I know, I hate it when that happens. But, as Sapp points out, the sad sack came during garbage time and only after the Packers ran a naked bootleg with no real downfield threat and Favre, of all people, flopped like a dead fish. The whole thing still stinks. Yes, Strahan's first 21.5 sacks were "unbelievable," says Sapp, "but he has to admit that last one doesn't count." Not unless you put a sacksterisk next to it. And no amount of semi-witty repartee will cover that up.
	The Flemister File
	This off-season, I finally figured out what the FlemFile needs: a mascot. Meet the Redskins' next Pro Bowl tight end: Zeron Flemister. Every week in this space we 'll check in with ZFlem to see how he's doing. We'll talk to his family, teammates, high school coach, grandmother. We'll work on his nickname (you like ZFlem?), his style (he wears his socks up to his knees), his post-game interviews ("I'd like to thank all my loyal FlemFile readers …"), his Pro Bowl chances, and, most importantly, his TD celebration. When ZFlem scored his first NFL TD last season the 6'4", 250-pound former Iowa Hawkeye was so excited he forgot to collect the ball for a keepsake. So he ran all the way back onto the field, tracked down the ball, then sprinted back to hide it under the bench. Problem was, he forgot for a second that he was on the kickoff coverage team. He bolted back to the field but was so winded he didn't make it very far. "Let me put it this way," he says with a hardy laugh, "the kicker made it farther downfield than I did." The next time he scored, Flemister (pronounced FLEM-ister) whiffed on the spike. "I need a chance to redeem myself," says ZFlem, who turns 26 on Sept. 8. "With the right breaks and the right tutelage, I'm gonna become the kind of player your readers will be proud to call their favorite player." Ya see? He's perfect.
	The Flem Five
	Five worst non-expansion teams in NFL history: 5. 1980 New Orleans Saints  (1-15) ... started bag-over-the-head trend 4. 1973 Houston Oilers  (1-13) ... Luv ya (black and) blue 3. 1996 New York Jets (1-15) ... Two words: Rich Kotite 2. 1943 Chicago Cardinals (0-10) ... Arizona Cards still paying homage to this club. 1. TIE 2001-2002 Carolina Panthers (1-15 and counting) ... Carolina upgraded the only NFL team to lose 15 straight in a single season by adding RB Lamar Smith to their 31st ranked offense and CB Terry Cousin to their 31st-ranked defense.
	WHYLO of the Week
	Plenty of odd mail in the hopper, from folks defending the really weak Emmitt and Alf commercial (Weezer gets the Muppets and this is the best Smith can do?) to railing against my choice of Vs. as Pearl Jam's finest work. (I certainly can understand your selection of Ten ... if you're a PJ poser. )  Regarding my vocabulary in a recent FlemFile about the Cowboys, Con Wiedeke writes:  "Stupid words and phrases get started and cemented by the media and everyday conversation. The corners you cut in using words like 'doable' just lowers the bar for your replacement when you move on. In a handfull [sic] of years even the most basic stories will sound like a street-corner conversation. I wonder, sometimes, if writers in general take any pride at all in sounding articulate and educated. Go Eagles!"  Here's a suggestion:  when going off on some pedantic rant about how stupid I am, make sure to spell all of your big words -- like handful -- correctly. Yo, Con, for hittin' me with dat whack email you are the WHYLO of the WEEK. Con Wiedeke, Who Helped You Log On?
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	Best training camp injury? Bucs linebacker Nate Webster was forced to sit out a day of practice after suffering an insect bite. … This year's Priest Holmes? Could be Bucs RB Michael Pittman, who has 19 1/2 inch biceps. … Overheard on a plane on way to Philly for XGames: "Mom, I just don't feel safe without my skateboard." … A.M. radio topic heard on Pennsylvania Turnpike: Did God create aliens? … Separated at birth: Jets rookie LB Jamie Burrow and Kurt Cobain. … The Steelers have been in a never-ending search for wideouts but now, with the rapid development of rookie Antwaan Randle El and the acquisition of solid vet Terance Mathis, do they have too many? … The only thing that looked worse than Bill Cowher's goatee was his special teams. Although in a goatee-growing contest he still finishes ahead of me and Jim Rome. ... Gandhi quote at Dickinson College, home of Redskins camp: "I must first become the change I want to see in the world." … At first, Bucs rookie free agent LB Ryan Nece, the son of Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, went by L.L. (aka: Little Lott) but the way he cracked heads in the first week of camp changed that. "Now it's Nece," says Sapp. "You get your own name when you play like that. That kid is special, wow." … A not-so-special Ryan? In Dallas a Cowboy player tells me he knew Ryan Leaf wasn't long for this league when he chafed about having to compete for a roster spot. "Compete?" Leaf scoffed. "I'm so past that." Yeah, I'll say. … Method Man as a deoderant pitchman? That's just sad. … Best pregame walk in the NFL? Heading to Heinz Field along the newly developed shores of the Ohio, passing the docked boats, war memorials and water fountains with the smell of IC and Brats in the air. Last fan I see is a 400-pound guy wearing nothing but swim trunks and a fur coat -- wait, that's just the hair on his back. He's also sporting more crack than the Liberty Bell. Then he belches along with the Steelers fight song . Ah, I think, football is back.

Just then tackle Jon Jansen dumped a bucket of ice water over the head of the aforementioned captive, Patrick Ramsey, who, by way of his 16-day holdout, managed to miss 26 hours in an airplane and the entire American Bowl experience in Japan.

"That's the Japan trip, right there," spewed Jansen.

I stood there, soaking in this odd situation.

A few days earlier the 'Skins had tried to dump Ramsey on the Bears. Then he had to report to camp, smile and say how happy he was to be a Redskin. The ultimate irony? By missing critical camp time and landing in Spurrier's doghouse Ramsey pretty much assured himself of missing out on the very escalator clauses that he held out for.

Spurrier saw what was happening to the former Tulane QB and a wry smile spread across his face. Since the Ballcoach loves picking on inferior opponents so much, I figured he'd be into a little rookie razzing. "Well okay," he said, chuckling, "lets just see what they did to him ... hmmm ... how long will they leave him there?"

"He's staying there as long as he held out," yelled cornerback Fred Smoot, who had been taped to the very same goalpost a year earlier. Smoot said there was magic in that goalpost, that ageless corner Darrell Green had probably been taped there 20 years ago. Of course, Smoot also told me he's the best looking player in the NFL.

"Ah, man, they'll be no furniture in [Ramsey's] dorm room, his bed will be wet, his playbook will be missing," said Smoot who, BTW, has a lovely new TD dance where he mimes taking his pants off. "This is gonna be an ugly few weeks for him."

It is for most rookies across the NFL.

"They did that to Patrick Ramsey? Man, I don't even want to talk about this," said Pittsburgh's superb rookie wideout Antwaan Randle El, after shining against the Jets a few nights later. "It gets crazy -- most of the stuff I can't even say on tape. You just try and stay cool, earn the respect of the older players and try not to step on any toes. You gotta watch what you say and what you do but most of it is done in good fun."

Indeed, most hazing is harmless and humorous -- singing fight songs at lunch, carrying shoulder pads, eyebrow shaving, picking up dinner tabs -- and is proof of nothing more than these guys' suspended state of adolescence.

When he was a rookie in 2000, Jets end Shaun Ellis would buy the vets dinner and then accept the gaseous byproduct of their meal as his only thanks. Someone once shot off fireworks in the dorm room of former K.C. corner Albert Lewis. His bed caught on fire and had to be doused with water. "Hey, sometimes being a rookie just sucks," Bears uberbacker Brian Urlacher told me, "and there's just nothing you can do about it."

When you think about it, there's hazing in all walks of life. The DMV? In-laws? Big brothers? Airline service? My column about nothing? Hey, no one's been hazed as badly this preseason as Michael Strahan has been by Warren Sapp. And technically, shouldn't Cowboy wide receiver Richmond Flowers' HBO crooning -- which sounds like my dog Scoop out in the yard a day after eating steel wool -- be considered viewer hazing?

 "Sometimes it does get out of hand," says Randle El. "You can't push a man too far and not expect a scuffle. Some guys are cool with it, some guys are like, 'Leave me alone'. The problem is sometimes those are the guys who get it the most."

In fact, a fight in Giants camp between rookie Jeremy Shockey and Brandon Short reportedly erupted over Shockey's song dedication. In contrast, Redskins victim Ramsey was probably right to laugh it off and call it "an honor." Spurrier eventually checked in on him, LaVar Arrington loosened the tape on his hands and he was cut away in less than 30 minutes. After all, the worst kind of hazing is being ignored by the vets, who usually don't bother with guys not likely to make the team.

Sometimes, however, hazing doesn't build character, it reveals it. Too often it's borne out of resentment for the kind of coin and status most rookies are awarded before taking a single snap in the NFL.

On the final night of Saints camp in 1998, a hazing gauntlet left tight end Cam Cleeland with blurred vision, center Andy McCullough with a bloody nose and defensive tackle Jeff Danish with a gash on his left arm that required more than a dozen stitches. Saints rookies had pillow cases put over their heads (shouldn't it have been paper bags, like the fans wore?) and were forced to run through 20-25 players who then hit them with, among other things, a freakin' sack of coins.

For the record, it was the only time the 6-10 Saints really hit someone that year under Mike Ditka. Still, the only vet with the character to admit he had taken part, Andre Royal, was shipped to Indy. And after an NFL investigation the team settled out of court with Danish, who had sued for $650,000.

This is exactly why so many of the league's best coaches, including Bill Cowher, Jeff Fisher, Mike Holmgren, Mike Sherman and Steve Mariucci frown on rookie hazing. Correctly, Mooch says he doesn't want guys feeling like second-class citizens on his team.

"I don't want to hear guys singing their school fight song," Mariucci adds. "Most of them are bad singers anyway."

David Fleming is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at FlemFile@carolina.rr.com.