Notes from the NFL Combine, Day 3

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 3. Click to read day 1 and day 2!

Combine day 3, aaauuuughgghhghggghhhhhhhOKAY FINE BUT I’M TIRED. There is a certain pressure to enjoy every moment of an amazing opportunity you’re given, as if nobody ever cries at Disneyland. I’m here to testify that it is impossible to be having an amazing time, all the time, during an objectively amazing experience. Each of these early (for me) mornings prior to media session have been increasingly difficult to stomach, and I’m now on my fourth as I write this. Yes, I understand that plenty of people get up at 530am and go do strenuous things like…jog? and that I am a big fussy baby for crying over getting up to sit and type on a plasticky little keyboard. But I am what I am, and what I am this morning is TIRED.

But enough of that. Yesterday morning was exclusively for the offensive linemen, and as previously stated the media giants had all cleared out.

This created an odd flip-flop where now our side of the media hall with all the podiums was startlingly barren while the radio and podcast side was still packed. For those unaware, offensive linemen are often characterized by being super down to earth, easy-going, and fun to talk to. I was one of the unaware, and was initially shocked by how many great stories the hall staff shared about linemen they’d interacted with. Perhaps the best was a story about Jason Kelce bursting into a men’s restroom at a party so that he could adjust the Christmas lights he’d woven into his beard, the same year he would eventually give his famous mummer speech from the Eagles victory parade.

The biggest trap of a huge room being used for interviews becoming very empty is that you now need to be very, very quiet so that your voice doesn’t get picked up on the cheap, cheap microphones that you’re using to interview. This proved to be a challenge for the loudest and most motor-mouthy of our group (me) and I would like to apologize if you hear me rambling in what probably sounds like an urgent whisper while trying to find out how many pancakes Pat Coogan thinks he can eat in 24 hours.

As the final media session came to a close, I watched the vibrant room of three days ago return to its dormant state as just another cavernous expanse within the Indiana Convention Center.

It is a humbling thing to watch a large room become ever larger as objects are removed from it. I experienced it many times growing up, as we moved a lot – watching a place empty out, going from ‘place with memories’ to a vacant ‘space of little identity’ has a strong finality to it. I’m old enough now to appreciate that kind of closure. I stepped out of the quiet hall to make the long walk one last time to Lucas Oil Stadium, which was, in sharp contrast, hosting the loudest and most exciting environment of the weekend: combine drills for WRs, QBs, and RBs.

The stadium was significantly more populated than on previous days.

Of course it was Saturday so many people were off of work, but also the content on offer was quite a bit more exciting for the average viewer. I once again took up residence in what I’ve been calling my office each day and enjoyed watching the WRs and RBs run their 40s.

Time seemed to skip forward as I worked to troubleshoot video file transfers and parse through photos and videos from the field. Before long the QBs were throwing, and not long after we were walking out of the stadium. No firm sense of finality this time, only the familiar ritual of a crowd ejecting itself out of doors and hallways back into the chill evening air.

The guys and I burned up the rest of the evening swapping stories and talking ball in the airbnb until one of us finally had to head to bed. One of my favorite aspects of opportunities like these is to relive the summer camp-esque fast friendships that come from being in an experiential bubble entirely removed from everyday life. I have no doubt that I’ll be keeping in touch with these guys, and we all sincerely hope to return for another NFL event in the future. For now, though, I’ll try to not feel too guilty that I’m somewhat relieved to return to a little normalcy, especially in the ‘let’s have regular meals again’ department. Concessions can only get you so far, after all. Now I’m moving on to running a board game booth at GAMA Expo. If I write up a column about those days, I’ll see you there!