Three Cities, Three Weeks, Three Part Blog

The walk through practices can say just as much about a team as one in full pads. You can see the swagger, or lack of in walk through practices.  

This session displayed younger players that were humble, and some veteran players that looked like they could care less. 

Veteran linemen looked disgruntled, while the younger linemen looked concerned, not anxiety ridden, but definitely concerned. The backers were the typical  smiling faces that most are. So there's no confusion they're not friendly smiling faces, but rather menacing smiling faces that translate to say, "Welcome to Hades, my names Satan, and I'll be roasting your buns all day today... order 25 up!" The corners and db's were relaxed and having fun, laughing among themselves stretching and walking through drills. They did so until practice began to wind down. 

A few rookie linebackers signed (mandatory) autographs after practice, while a few other up coming players stayed after to enjoy the fans. Jalen Collins the former LSU standout was one such player, and gracious enough to stay after for a bit. It has been rumored that Jalen had a few woes in his collegiate days, and that his camp was not his strongest showing. However, I feel based on his character, that Jalen is confident, and happy, and will be a round for a while. 

Closing on the coaches corner. Coach Quinn wore his "all business face," only being chummy with one person that he knew from his prior coaching experience. They looked poised to have a great year in camp and started the season off that way. What's happened, or is happening since? Time has told and will continue to tell. 

50 Shades of Brown

One of the most serene places on earth is in the timbers find. I walk the grassy trail until the walk is my climb. Then when the climb is finished I've found my spot. Yes, that one where it's warm and gets hot. Where the rock is cool, and often damp, where only the sun has dared to tramp. The sun has never shone in such a way as today. My thoughts are left here, my mind is clear. As the sun caresses my brown skin, the wind whispers in my ear, other than the chickadee, she is all I hear. This is my spot, it was made just for me. Where my skin goes from caramelized cane, to a deeper hue of butter pecan underneath the Spruce Pine tree. This is my spot my 50 is brown, if you seek my Father, you might catch me around. 

Three Cities, Three Weeks, Three NFL Camps II

Part two brings the Lexus TravIS300 to a halt in Flowery Branch, Georgia. Home to Atlanta's Dirty Bird Training Camp. As I had mentioned in the first of my NFL Training Camp blogs, we're in the South visiting camps. The southern region of the finest nation in the world, and home to footballs, Falcons Nation. 

This blog, like the first, will also cover culture, cuisine, and gridiron craziness. I'll give you a look at an NFL following from a birds eye view. A Falcons view to be exact. 

Culture: 

Southern Hospitality; where the rainbow meets the sun, where manners are a way of life, and it's all instilled in a Southerner before they learn to walk.

 

 

The Falcons culture was much like the culture found in Redskins territory. A nicely collaborative gathering of ethnic diversity where the only language spoken was "Dirty Bird!" One thing different was that there didn't appear to be as many women at the Falcons training camp, but there seemed to be more couples. Regardless of the single female populous, people were friendly enough, and no rival fans bothered showing up at Flowery Branch. 

The day that I chose to attend was a gorgeous, mid eighties type of day. The sun had shone brightly all morning, but was not overbearing. The event was well planned, and organizers prepared to make this a memorable occasion for its fans. Trolleys transported people from the lot to the gate, which also helped with keeping the day as cool as possible. However, just in case it was a bit too hot still, and people needed a proper distraction from the heat, the facility greeted all of their supporters with sprinklers, and the teams motto at the front gate, "Rise Up!"

First things first... Food, and drink! No rain to put a damper on this camp, so folks looked for drinks over food, and organizers had it covered. $1.00 water, or Gatorade! GoTravvy was already liking this training camp. Cue the commercial voice, "but wait, there's more!" Not only was the Falcon faithful blessed with a 20 oz. dranky drank for a buck, but flame kissed burgers, with all the trimmings were only a dollar to match! It's worth the trip just to get the yard burger and drink. 

 The food was very reasonable, the souvenirs on the other hand, well let's just say that the NFL is proud of its gear. $40 and up for a t-shirt is not the way to go if you're an everyday average Joe. But the staff was friendly. So you're paying a great deal for service with a smile. 

Go Travvy has camera, will travel. 

More pics, and players to come. 

Three Cities, Three Weeks, and The Thrill of the NFL

Traveling, training, and taking it all in, it’s an experience that yours truly, The Imperfect Football Fan, will not soon forget. What is involved when traveling to three cities, in three weeks, visiting three NFL training camps? Culture, food, and fun. Lets look at the football culture first. All of the areas visited were in Southern cities, so you’d expect Southern hospitality, right? Let’s start in Richmond.

Richmond, Virginia, Bon Secours Training facility, and its a closed practice session between the Washington Redskins, who hosted the Houston Texans, it is also a session that one had to win tickets for. Guess who won tickets? Yes, the imperfect one. First prayer answered. Then the bonus; everyone that received an invitation from the imperfect football fan was available to meet for the practice, second prayer answered. It was overcast, and the rains come shortly after sunrise, third prayer not answered, but every prayer unanswered is unanswered for a reason.

The rains came, and people sought shelter everywhere, and just as many weathered the storm, as those that fled. The weather did create a bit of disappointment besides getting wet, however. This so called closed session was not as meaningful as it was set up to be. The rain caused a rush in staff as well as fan. Fans crowded a very broad, and open gate, where attendants loosely checked tickets, and threw their portion of the tickets into plastic, 50 gallon barrels. The imperfect one had four tickets, and was accompanied by three people. Two of the party of four walked right past the gatekeepers, and were not checked at all. The imperfect one had all four tickets, and was not asked by one attendant to whom each ticket belonged. So much for feeling lucky, special, privileged, or whatever adjective you prefer here. It was somewhat of a let down to know that a good portion of the crowd could have slipped through without having any credentials at all.

The rain turned a few away, so it wasn’t as packed as it could have been, but Redskin faithful, for the most part showed their allegiance to their team. #HTTR (Hail to the Redskins), had meaning, because the sidelines were shoulder to shoulder with Skins faithful. GEICO did their part in playing hero for the day for a few hundred as they handed out ponchos for the rain soaked crowd, that signed up to be added to their mailing list. Unfortunately, they went from hero to zero in approximately 20 minutes, as they ran out of ponchos. People tore up their information entries as they discovered they were not going to receive a poncho.

Once inside we discovered that the fans surrounding us were pretty amazing, and amazingly enough the fans were all, pardon the expression here, somewhat a tribe of one. There were more folks of African ancestry than not, but for the most part, all ethnicity was dismissed because this culture represented one nation, “Redskin Nation.” The people experience was a very good one.

On the field the marshals were in control, watching the fence lines carefully, and were very professional about it. The coaching staff did not make themselves very available for their fans, but they were well focused on their team, and with good reason, but first, let’s look at cuisine before we get to the teams action on the playing field.

A few restaurants from the greater Richmond area catered the event. We chose barbeque. The food wasn’t bad, and the serving wasn’t so skimpy that you felt as if you had only an appetizer, but it was far from a grand serving. It also wasn’t as warm as it could have been. However, on the flip side of that, I would give them 3.5 stars out of 5 considering it was a soggy day.

Ok back to the facility, and field. The facility is not yet complete, and most training facilities are not blessed with accommodations and luxuries that make one feel as though they’re in the box seats at their favorite teams stadium, but the proximity and closeness to the field make you feel very much a part of the team.

The players were fired up, and ready to practice, and the skill players all looked sharp. The most closely watched figure Robert Griffin III, or more affectionately know as RG3, by his fan base, was on point. His touch passes were picture perfect, and his deep ball was excellent as well. Then… came the first fight! 

ESPN had announced that Mr. Golston had removed or had his helmet removed, and that sheer and utter chaos had broken loose at Bon Secours. 

Unfortunately, because of the rain, yours truly had his camera tucked away in a dry, and secure spot. There were two more fights that took place, and finally the two squads separated for good. A few Texans signed autographs on the the far side of the field, but most of the bigger names to refuge in the fieldhouse immediately after practice. 

 

The sun came out at the end of practice, which was somewhat of a blessing. Had the sun shone as brightly all day as it did at the end of the day it most likely would have made us all miserable. The good thing about was that I was able to get a couple of shots in at the end of the day. Training camp would manifest what appeared to be a good team, a team ready for a young quarterback to lead them into a promising season. Mediocre is not what they expected, but I'm predicting another split between the Tribe, and the other Texans. .500 is possible, but I'm going out on a limb saying we'll see RG3 back at the helm before seasons end, and they'll finish at 7-8. 

Next stop: Flowery Branch