Behind the Scenes of an NFL Game
Originally posted on "Is It Sports" by Steve
My dad has been a scout for the Oakland Raiders since the 1997 season. In those 8 seasons, he's almost seen it all, starting with a 4-12 season under the immortal Joe Bugel in his first season with the team up to the Silver and Black's appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII. As the Chicago area scout, he focuses on the Bears and their opponents and works at the scouting combine in Indianapolis each February. The stories from the combine (where no media is allowed) are absolutely classic and I'm sure I'll be getting to those on this site one day. I recently met him down in Indy for the Colts-Raiders game, where we worked with the video crew. Since not many people get the chance to see what goes on behind the scenes in an NFL game, I thought it would be interesting to break my weekend down here.
Saturday Check-In: As we walked through the doors, the lobby was LOADED with Raiders groupies looking for autographs. As usual, my dad gets mistaken for a coach, and I get mistaken for a punter. Some players absolutely ate up their fame, hanging out in the lobby, small talking, signing autographs, while others just tried to sneak up to their rooms. We ran into Napoleon Harris in the check-in line, who my dad had been watching since his days at Thornton High School on the south side. As they talked, I noticed a sleepy, disheveled looking Robert Gallery checking in wearing what may have been pajamas? workout clothes? something. Then came the best part of all for the players when they realized that they got to hang out in exciting Indy for the day!
Saturday Night: After dinner at Champs and watching the beginning of the end of a beat up Kyle Orton's Heisman hopes by narrowly defeating lowly Penn State, we went back to the hotel and met up with Ted Hendricks in the lobby. If you don't know who he was, watch the next NFL Films special on ESPN2 at 2 AM and you have about an 80% of seeing him (Hall of Fame LB, 4 rings with the Colts and Raiders, all time blocked kick leader, REALLY good friends with Al Davis). I first met him when I was 13 and he has to be the most intimidating 57-year old I've ever met, but he's a really nice guy. One time he ran over a stop sign with his car and gave it to John Madden as a birthday gift. When we went back to our room, we shared an elevator with a sleepy, disheveled looking Robert Gallery wearing the same pajamas as before.
Sunday Pre-Game: The Raiders were in a cheery mood after their pre-game breakfast before inexplicably getting on a team bus and getting a ride about 50 feet across the street to the RCA Dome. Warren Sapp tried to switch the charges of all the rooms from the Raiders to Ted Washington during check out, which led to Washington cussing him out and chasing him to the bus. We were supposed to have field passes for the game, but the Colts dropped the ball and didn't provide enough to the team for us to get in. So I just grabbed one of the camera crew's tripods, and walked right into the dome (this is a few hours before it opened), letting everyone know that I was part of the camera crew. Soon I was led back to the locker room area. So just remember kids, if you want to get in a game and don't have a ticket, just bring a tripod and say you're part of some crew. So much for homeland security. Another entertaining part for me was when the players walked past us into the locker room. First, we saw C. Montgomery Burns....errr I mean Al Davis walk by, followed by the players. The way the players show up at the stadium really says a lot about them. Most of the older veterans like Jerry Rice were dressed in expensive suits, showing that they must have style and class. Phillip Buchanon showed up looking like he just came from a Lil' John video shoot, complete with his 8-inch wide, golden, diamond encrusted "Showtime" necklace for the nickname I never heard anyone call him. Oh well he went to Miami. Robert Gallery showed up in the same pajamas, looking sleepy and disheveled, and Rich Gannon walked by in a suit and a WWF-style neck brace on. I was just waiting for Rice (who was asking for a trade because he wasn't getting thrown to) to turn on him and crack him with a chair, with Bonnie Bernstein screaming, NO! He's already injured! that's just despicable!
Warm-ups: I can proudly say that I know for a fact that I purchased the first hot dog sold at the RCA Dome on October 10, 2004. I walked by the concession stands right as the first one opened for business about 30 minutes before the fans were let in. Since Jerry Rice is my all time favorite player, I loved watching him run routes and catch passes during warm-ups (he got no catches again during the game). The other thing that surprised me was that the national anthem was sung before the fans were let in, and that led to a series of questions in my mind. Why is she practicing? Is this being recorded? Wait, is that Ashlee Simpson? Are all songs sung in stadiums prerecorded and lip-synched? Since it is the national anthem, should I stand up even though I'm 1 of 5 people in the dome? and finally, why am I thinking so much?
The Game: As expected, Peyton Manning lit up the Raiders with 3 of his record breaking 49 TD passes, and the Colts cruised to a 35-14 win. Surprisingly, if you don't count week 17 when he was benched, Manning's 198 yards ended up being his lowest yardage output for the entire season. This had a lot to do with the Raiders not being able to stop Edgerrin James. The "This is why they got Eli" version of Kerry Collins decided to show up by throwing 3 picks, as opposed to the "NFC Champion, definitely not a recovering alcoholic looking for another chance" version of Collins. I don't know if I've ever seen a QB more inconsistent. Some days he looks like he should have played in the AFL in the early 60's, throwing up massive numbers, and others he looks like Jake Plummer in 1999 (9 TD's, 24 INT's). My favorite moment of the game was when Purdue's Stu Schweigert laid a devastating hit on Brandon Stokely as he was about to catch another Manning TD pass. Since we were in Indiana, it seemed like 1/3 of the crowd (Purdue fans) were cheering and chanting STUUUU, 1/3 of the crowd was moaning that the nearly unconscious Stokely couldn't hold on, and I think the other 1/3 of the crowd was trying to remember if they slopped the hogs before jumping in their pickup and driving to the big city.
Post-Game: When I went to another Raiders-Colts game back in 2000, I saw Peyton's boys squander a 28-7 lead, losing 38-31 to the Silver and Black. The fans were very good losers, complimenting the Raider fans on a game well played in an "aww shucks" Indiana kind of way. This time, they were some of the sorest winners I've ever seen, taunting the fans in black and telling us to never come back. I just shot back that I doubt we would be, since the next time they play we'll probably be facing the Los Angeles Colts (that worked surprisingly well). The Colts won't be moving though, since they just got a new stadium approved. I've never been a fan of replacing 20 year-old domes before, the the Colts definitely need this. The RCA Dome is a bleak dungeon-like place where the hallways must have been modeled using blueprints from a morgue, and it doesn't even have an out of town scoreboard. This retractable dome couldn't come sooner, especially since Peyton and Purdue are turning more Hoosiers into football fans while Indiana U. and Purdue are turning more away from basketball. The Raiders themselves changed and quickly left the stadium. Obviously very dejected, especially compared to their attitude before the game, they ignored most autograph requests from the loyal Raiders fans that stuck around. One thing did remain constant though. Robert Gallery got on the bus wearing the same pajamas. - Steve
My dad has been a scout for the Oakland Raiders since the 1997 season. In those 8 seasons, he's almost seen it all, starting with a 4-12 season under the immortal Joe Bugel in his first season with the team up to the Silver and Black's appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII. As the Chicago area scout, he focuses on the Bears and their opponents and works at the scouting combine in Indianapolis each February. The stories from the combine (where no media is allowed) are absolutely classic and I'm sure I'll be getting to those on this site one day. I recently met him down in Indy for the Colts-Raiders game, where we worked with the video crew. Since not many people get the chance to see what goes on behind the scenes in an NFL game, I thought it would be interesting to break my weekend down here.Saturday Check-In: As we walked through the doors, the lobby was LOADED with Raiders groupies looking for autographs. As usual, my dad gets mistaken for a coach, and I get mistaken for a punter. Some players absolutely ate up their fame, hanging out in the lobby, small talking, signing autographs, while others just tried to sneak up to their rooms. We ran into Napoleon Harris in the check-in line, who my dad had been watching since his days at Thornton High School on the south side. As they talked, I noticed a sleepy, disheveled looking Robert Gallery checking in wearing what may have been pajamas? workout clothes? something. Then came the best part of all for the players when they realized that they got to hang out in exciting Indy for the day!
Saturday Night: After dinner at Champs and watching the beginning of the end of a beat up Kyle Orton's Heisman hopes by narrowly defeating lowly Penn State, we went back to the hotel and met up with Ted Hendricks in the lobby. If you don't know who he was, watch the next NFL Films special on ESPN2 at 2 AM and you have about an 80% of seeing him (Hall of Fame LB, 4 rings with the Colts and Raiders, all time blocked kick leader, REALLY good friends with Al Davis). I first met him when I was 13 and he has to be the most intimidating 57-year old I've ever met, but he's a really nice guy. One time he ran over a stop sign with his car and gave it to John Madden as a birthday gift. When we went back to our room, we shared an elevator with a sleepy, disheveled looking Robert Gallery wearing the same pajamas as before.
Sunday Pre-Game: The Raiders were in a cheery mood after their pre-game breakfast before inexplicably getting on a team bus and getting a ride about 50 feet across the street to the RCA Dome. Warren Sapp tried to switch the charges of all the rooms from the Raiders to Ted Washington during check out, which led to Washington cussing him out and chasing him to the bus. We were supposed to have field passes for the game, but the Colts dropped the ball and didn't provide enough to the team for us to get in. So I just grabbed one of the camera crew's tripods, and walked right into the dome (this is a few hours before it opened), letting everyone know that I was part of the camera crew. Soon I was led back to the locker room area. So just remember kids, if you want to get in a game and don't have a ticket, just bring a tripod and say you're part of some crew. So much for homeland security. Another entertaining part for me was when the players walked past us into the locker room. First, we saw C. Montgomery Burns....errr I mean Al Davis walk by, followed by the players. The way the players show up at the stadium really says a lot about them. Most of the older veterans like Jerry Rice were dressed in expensive suits, showing that they must have style and class. Phillip Buchanon showed up looking like he just came from a Lil' John video shoot, complete with his 8-inch wide, golden, diamond encrusted "Showtime" necklace for the nickname I never heard anyone call him. Oh well he went to Miami. Robert Gallery showed up in the same pajamas, looking sleepy and disheveled, and Rich Gannon walked by in a suit and a WWF-style neck brace on. I was just waiting for Rice (who was asking for a trade because he wasn't getting thrown to) to turn on him and crack him with a chair, with Bonnie Bernstein screaming, NO! He's already injured! that's just despicable!
Warm-ups: I can proudly say that I know for a fact that I purchased the first hot dog sold at the RCA Dome on October 10, 2004. I walked by the concession stands right as the first one opened for business about 30 minutes before the fans were let in. Since Jerry Rice is my all time favorite player, I loved watching him run routes and catch passes during warm-ups (he got no catches again during the game). The other thing that surprised me was that the national anthem was sung before the fans were let in, and that led to a series of questions in my mind. Why is she practicing? Is this being recorded? Wait, is that Ashlee Simpson? Are all songs sung in stadiums prerecorded and lip-synched? Since it is the national anthem, should I stand up even though I'm 1 of 5 people in the dome? and finally, why am I thinking so much?
The Game: As expected, Peyton Manning lit up the Raiders with 3 of his record breaking 49 TD passes, and the Colts cruised to a 35-14 win. Surprisingly, if you don't count week 17 when he was benched, Manning's 198 yards ended up being his lowest yardage output for the entire season. This had a lot to do with the Raiders not being able to stop Edgerrin James. The "This is why they got Eli" version of Kerry Collins decided to show up by throwing 3 picks, as opposed to the "NFC Champion, definitely not a recovering alcoholic looking for another chance" version of Collins. I don't know if I've ever seen a QB more inconsistent. Some days he looks like he should have played in the AFL in the early 60's, throwing up massive numbers, and others he looks like Jake Plummer in 1999 (9 TD's, 24 INT's). My favorite moment of the game was when Purdue's Stu Schweigert laid a devastating hit on Brandon Stokely as he was about to catch another Manning TD pass. Since we were in Indiana, it seemed like 1/3 of the crowd (Purdue fans) were cheering and chanting STUUUU, 1/3 of the crowd was moaning that the nearly unconscious Stokely couldn't hold on, and I think the other 1/3 of the crowd was trying to remember if they slopped the hogs before jumping in their pickup and driving to the big city.
Post-Game: When I went to another Raiders-Colts game back in 2000, I saw Peyton's boys squander a 28-7 lead, losing 38-31 to the Silver and Black. The fans were very good losers, complimenting the Raider fans on a game well played in an "aww shucks" Indiana kind of way. This time, they were some of the sorest winners I've ever seen, taunting the fans in black and telling us to never come back. I just shot back that I doubt we would be, since the next time they play we'll probably be facing the Los Angeles Colts (that worked surprisingly well). The Colts won't be moving though, since they just got a new stadium approved. I've never been a fan of replacing 20 year-old domes before, the the Colts definitely need this. The RCA Dome is a bleak dungeon-like place where the hallways must have been modeled using blueprints from a morgue, and it doesn't even have an out of town scoreboard. This retractable dome couldn't come sooner, especially since Peyton and Purdue are turning more Hoosiers into football fans while Indiana U. and Purdue are turning more away from basketball. The Raiders themselves changed and quickly left the stadium. Obviously very dejected, especially compared to their attitude before the game, they ignored most autograph requests from the loyal Raiders fans that stuck around. One thing did remain constant though. Robert Gallery got on the bus wearing the same pajamas. - Steve
Labels: Colts, Is it Sports, Oakland Raiders
posted by Steve | 12:54 PM
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