A Day At Eagles Training Camp – My Son Winds Up On Sportscenter

Yesterday I took a day off and drove down to Lehigh University in Bethlehem Pennsylvania.  I had an amazing opportunity to see my favorite football team,  the Philadelphia Eagles, at training camp. The best part is I did it as a V.I.P., which really is the only way you should do anything in life.

My Wife got us the V.I.P. treatment because she has occasion to work with Reliant Energy, and they are doing amazing things with professional football teams and renewable energy. That may have to be an article for another day. A Big thank you to them though for making this Eagle fan pretty happy.

The V.I.P. status basically gave you 3 great perks. The first was when we got to the camp we were sent to a big tent where we enjoyed great food, sodas and ice cream all day. The second was we got to meet and get autographs from a couple of players after practice. And the third and turns out the coolest of all was getting on field passes for the practice.  That is how my son Andy got to be on ESPN's Sportscenter.

I should say first that it seems as of today that nobody was too seriously injured but at one point in the practice, during 7 on 7 drills, we witnessed the most intense collision I have ever seen in real life, and it happened literally right in front of us. At one point in the drills, the Qb, Mike Vick put up a long sideline pass to Desean Jackson. The pass was a little high and two different defenders, Safety Nate Allen and Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha went to make a play on the ball at the same time. The two were coming from different directions and collided at an incredible speed in mid air. Both men went to the ground and while he was slow to get up, Nate Allen did get up coughing and trying to get air back into his chest, Nnamdi did not.

For about 5 minutes the team , the trainers, and the crowd collectively held our breath as Nnamdi laid on the field motionless. I believe he had to have gotten knocked out. He did eventually get up to the roar of the fans and was carted back to the locker room with a pretty cut up lip and neck pain. All reports today say he should be fine.

So knowing he was going to be fine, it made watching Sportcenter this morning that much cooler when I see video of the trainers working on the injured Eagle and who is standing right there front and center? My son Andy. I tried to find the footage on line today but to no avail. But there he was though watching from the sideline on national TV!

I'm sure that between that emotional moment,  the amazing athleticism of the players on the field and the few autographs he got at the end of the day, it was a day Andy will never forget and that, I think made me even happier than anything else.