FROM A DISTANCE

	Peter King and his peers in the media watch Dolphins practice from afar.

DAVIE, FLA. -- 6:18 p.m.

I feel like Bob Uecker. You remember the commercial where he's sitting in the last row of some stadium and bemoans that he should have been "in the front rowwwwwww?'' Well, training camp is usually a time to wander sidelines and listen to coaches coaching. We media vermin are stuck in a cordoned-off section of the bleachers near the corner of the end zone. Some kids on an outing from summer camp are closer to the 50 -- and closer to the field.

My consolation is I don't have to cover this team every day from a distance. I get to move on. But I'd hate to be a reader of the Miami Herald and expect much color out of my beat guys, who last year could watch practice in a more up close and personal way.

One other note: Nick Saban is coaching the tar out of the defensive backs. He's in there with them, rotating his hips and showing them the tiny technical points on how he wants them to cover.

"I love coaching players,'' he tells the media after practice. It shows.

NICK SABAN IS A PRETTY SMART MAN

DAVIE, FLA. -- 4:12 p.m.

Last year when the Dolphins were pursuing Saban, I said he was one of the five best football coaches on the planet.

After seeing him here this afternoon, I'll say it again: Saban is one of the five best football coaches on the planet.

Nothing's changed -- except now I'm more sure than ever.

Shortly before being ushered into see Saban at the Dolphins' training facility here with three other national NFL writers, I waited outside his office and saw the head coach, with his back to us in his office, slightly hunched over on a very private phone call. He was 15 feet away, but we couldn't hear a syllable. There was nothing from the Jimmy Johnson era in his office. Jimmy used to have a gigantic tropical fish tank and a PC on his desk -- to check many things, including the latest stock prices. Once when I was in there with Johnson, he triumphantly told me he'd just made $130,000 on a stock trade. Uh-oh.

All I saw in here were two boxes of Red Man Golden Blend, a Dolphins helmet, a couple of framed reminders of the LSU days, a Joe DiMaggio photo album and a bunch of empty space.

And a thinking football coach.

Saban decided to run his summer practice schedule this way. On one day, he will practice at 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. The next day, he'll practice at 3 p.m. He said experts on intense physical activity told him the way to keep his players freshest the longest was having two meals between every practice and two significant drinking periods between every practice.

I mean, that's pretty intelligent.