The NFL's collective eye is focused on Indianapolis this week as the next crop of NFL stars, journeymen and busts go through their evaluations for all 32 teams. What was once a secretive, closed-door retreat intended for scouts and GMs to get an objective read on prospects has evolved into a full-blown offseason affair over the past few years.
Some might say the attention has watered the Combine down, and complain that it's not important on the level it was ten years ago.
Well if there was any sanctity to the Combine, you can kiss it goodbye...
I'll be covering the combine from inside the stadium (as much as the NFL allows) thanks to the fine people at Bridgestone Tires. So yeah, we can go ahead and knock this event down a few prestige levels.
As part of their Road 2 the Combine Sweepstakes, the Titans, Bears, Bengals and Packers selected from a small group of their season ticket holders for a very special experience. I can't speak to how other teams are doing it just yet, but right now there are 40-plus of us on a bus awash with free food, SWAG, live combine coverage and the Freak himself, Jevon Kearse. We're all being put up in a hotel near Lucas Oil Field, and tomorrow morning we'll be inside the stadium taking tours and watching the QB and WR groups run through their workouts.
Seven years of faithfully blogging and podcasting the Titans hasn't made me rich or handsome (in fact, I had a hell of a lot more hair up top before MCM came along!), but every now and then there are some pretty sweet perks.
I'll be updating the experience over the next 36 hours in this story stream, and I should be able to have some awesome audio clips for this Wednesday's MCM Radio.
So keep checking back in, and you can follow me on Twitter at @AugustWest_MCM for live updates. I'm not going to spend the whole experience with my nose buried in my phone or laptop, but I do promise to try and give everyone an entertaining account of the Combine, from a fan perspective.
For instance: the trip started with ‘A Football Life: Steve McNair" on the TVs, and during the section on the Super Bowl Jevon Kearse started hollering for someone to edit the tape. You could see in his face that it still gets to him.
Man, I love being a Titans fan!