Notes from the NFL Combine, Day 1

Reddit gave me and three other moderators the opportunity to travel to Indianapolis to cover the NFL Combine! Over the course of three 12-hour days, we conducted 90ish player and media member interviews and spent 10 hours on the field during drills. The following are my notes from day 1, with days 2 and 3 to follow.

DAY 1

I’m sitting in the freezing kitchenette of an airbnb in downtown Indianapolis at 6am because I am a very wise decision-maker. I decided that, after the super long first day covering the combine, I’d rather go to bed ‘early’ (after midnight) so I could get up ‘early’ (530am, certifiably early) to write up what the experience was like and share some of the footage I’d captured. As little as I wanted to get up, I really do want to share before things get hectic again. Now that I’m done crying and the coffee is ready, here’s what I have to report!

The Indiana Convention Center complex is huge. I’ve been here a few times for Gen Con, so I was already aware of its sprawling footprint, but it’s a lot more packed with stuff during that event. Currently the front two thirds of the building are sitting empty, which makes its wide hallways feel wider and its mazelike nature even mazier.

I’m grateful to have a mental map of how the place is laid out or I’d definitely get lost trying to get between the workroom and the media hall, which is still a 10 minute walk even with the better half of the place unused.

The media hall itself is a stark contrast to the barren and quiet hallways – it’s a swirl of activity, with rivers of athletes and coordinators intermittently punctuated by podiums, desks, cameras and stages. It has two sides: one for smaller players like local news and regional sports outlets, and one for media powerhouses like NBC Sports, The Rich Eisen Show, and Sirius XM.

We’d been told that there would be a table for us and spent several frantic moments unable to find it until we decided to check out the larger side of the hall. And there it was, nestled comedically between the twin monolithic stages of Rich Eisen and NBC. Our space had a dainty miniature staircase – roped off with tape and a sign – that led up to the long island of broadcast cameras which all pointed to the line of podiums where various people were being interviewed.

I’d expected we might get to speak to four or five athletes each day from an out-of-the-way media table. Instead, we saw 23 in only 4 hours. Today, I’m sure, will be even more hectic. I’m grateful to have been partnered up with some seriously talented folks from r/NFL_Draft, as it took all of us to adapt to and withstand the firehose of attention and activity we ended up facing.

Over the course of the four hour schedule I had a half-dozen or so opportunities to scout around the maelstrom on the floor, seeking friendly faces who might like to give an internet janitor a tiny bit of their time. I had the good fortune to catch Mike Florio between guests, and enjoyed asking him questions about his life and career. I hope to see him here someday for an AMA – he was familiar with reddit, and said he sometimes used it to find old stories he’d written!

In the afternoon we headed over to watch drills at Lucas Oil Stadium while waiting for an appointment to join NFL Films and their social team on the field to film. I was extremely excited to get down there, to the point that I didn’t notice when Jim Harbaugh sat down behind us with his crew. This aspect of the event, where people I can’t imagine seeing in person just randomly pop up nearby, is hard to describe. At one point I was standing around and Reggie Wayne seemed to teleport next to me as if it was totally normal for him to be also standing around.

Eventually the time came for me to throw on the media vest and get down onto the field.

It can be nerve-wracking to feel pressure to live up to a moment while balancing the pressure not to stand in the wrong place while everyone is trying to do important things. Somehow I managed to not make a fool of myself out there, and got some once-in-a-lifetime photos and videos which I’ll share here once I have a moment to breathe. The other folks who were (presumably) more used to doing things like this were very kind and taught me where some of the best places were to stand – or sit, or lay on the ground. I’ll head out there again tomorrow or Saturday, a little more secure in my own skin and ready to get more stuff to share.