Training Camp

On Thursday, the 76ers will open their practice facility doors for the first time since the NBA lockout began on July 1. At the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine on Wednesday, the Sixers made coach Doug Collins and president Rod Thorn available to talk with reporters for the first time in five months. Collins and Thorn still aren't allowed to talk to their players - the agreed-upon settlement has yet to be ratified into the league's next collective bargaining agreement - but they can talk about them.

WITH A championship run looming, the Soul is losing one of its most important weapons in a development that defines the word bittersweet. Wide receiver Tiger Jones will be signed by the Eagles and invited to attend training camp, the Daily News has learned. He will not play for the Soul for the rest of the season, because even a minor injury would derail any chance Jones has for the NFL. "There's no question that taking a person of his [caliber] is going to create a vacuum," said Soul coach Doug Plank, who played eight seasons for the Chicago Bears.

Wow. That's the impression Petur Gudmundsson must make on the 76ers' coaches when training camp opens Oct. 4 at Franklin & Marshall College. Derek Strong must make the same impression, because the Sixers already have 13 players with contracts that include financial guarantees. Yesterday, the Sixers filled out their camp roster by inviting the 7-2 Gudmundsson and the 6-7 Strong, along with former University of Pittsburgh players Bobby Martin and Mike Goodson. Sixers general manager Gene Shue said the team also might invite 37-year- old Rickey Green, an unrestricted free agent who started 75 games for them at lead guard last season after Johnny Dawkins injured his knee.

Disgruntled defensive tackle Steve McMichael walked out of the Chicago Bears' training camp yesterday after the team refused to renegotiate his contract, and said he was going home to Texas to contemplate retirement. McMichael, who signed a new three-year contract last season for $500,000 a year, is unhappy that the Bears will not renegotiate after the team offered more to Houston Oilers defensive end Ray Childress during the free-agency signing period. The Oilers matched Chicago's five-year, $4.75 million offer and Childress remained in Houston, but McMichael saw the proposal as a personal slap in the face.

It's hot. It's muggy. And if it's rained the night before you can't sit on the ground without your rear end getting wet. But where else can you see 90 grown men beat each other bloody? And for free? Only in West Chester, where the Philadelphia Eagles have opened training camp. The team is holding twice-daily practices at West Chester University's Farrell Stadium. It's a good time for adults, children and everyone in between to get out and see the team prepare for its 1988 season.

One of the most ballyhooed players in Phillies history arrived for his first spring training camp yesterday. Wearing No. 76 - a sure indication that he won't be going north with the team - Pat Burrell, the Phils' No. 1 draft pick last June, took batting practice and fielded ground balls at first base, the position he could fill in the major leagues as soon as next season. "It's going to be fun to see how he looks in a major-league atmosphere," Phils manager Terry Francona said.

Center Andrew Lang plopped down wearily on the locker-room bench, looked over at 76ers teammate Hersey Hawkins and declared, "You little guys are lucky. You know this is harder on big men. " Hawkins, still dripping sweat from a two-hour morning workout that opened training camp under new coach Doug Moe yesterday, didn't want to hear it. "You got to be kidding me. You think it's easy to get out and pressure the ball every play?" Hawkins said. Hawkins' tone indicated he didn't think it was easy at all. "Well," Lang said, "it's not like we're just standing around back there.

The Flyers, last seen on the ice in Edmonton in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals, got back to hockey yesterday with the opening of their 1987-88 training camp. There was left winger Harold Duvall. And center Bill McDougall. And right winger Ed Lowney. And . . . OK, they weren't really the Flyers. They were 28 hopefuls who had been invited to the Flyers' three-week camp at the Coliseum in Voorhees, N.J. The real Flyers were scheduled to arrive today. But one day soon, you may recognize some of the little-known names and fresh faces who reported yesterday, for this is how it starts.

The Eagles training-camp site is at Lehigh University's Goodman Campus in Bethlehem. Rookies, free agents and selected veterans report Monday. Everyone else is scheduled to to report next Thursday. Players will practice for the first time in full pads at 8:15 a.m. Saturday, July 26. All practices are open to the public except for July 25 and Aug. 13. There will be no practice from Aug. 7-9. There is no charge for admission or parking. The NFL Experience, a collection of interactive games where kids can test their football skills, is free and open to the public during the morning and afternoon sessions.

Washington needed the audacity to change the culture of its football team and did so with sweeping alterations. There's a new coach, new quarterback, new coordinators and a new general manager that will try to bring the pride back to the burgundy-and-gold. The parts are surely there to improve on last year's dismal 4-12 season. Bringing them together, and healing any damage inflicted by disgruntled defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth in the offseason, will be the primary tasks of Mike Shanahan's first training camp as Redskins coach.