Detroit Lions Training Camp

Its that part of the dreary summer sports calendar that all non-baseball fans around the country crave for: NFL training camp time!!!

Even in Detroit with our 0-16 Lions this past weekend hosting an open Autograph session and practice at Ford Field attracting a staggering 15 thousand fans. I was among the 15 thousand many of whom waited in line up to 2 hours ahead of time in the rain no less to get that first taste of football. This happened to be my first time ever watching and/or participating in any football practice and I must say the TV does not do justice to the enormous statures of the players. Seeing the players stand next to various media types and even there own coaches really gave you a sense for how big these athletes are relative to the average person. Which made the display of speed, cuts, and footwork in the positional practice groups all the more impressive. All though it is impossible to walk away from the practice with any real sense of was it a good/bad practice how did this player or that player look it was still a very cool experience.

The brightest spots of training camp so far is no major injuries knock on wood and what the coaches have said in various interviews. Hearing Jim Schwartz say the defense is going to be week to week and not married to a particular system (Hello out-dated Tampa-2) is a breath of fresh air. I mean my god a coach capable of making adjustments week to week and not having an ego that its the players and not the system is earth shattering. Then the offensive coordinator saying the old fade jump ball to corner of end zone is going to be put back in nearly causes me to faint. Its not like we don't have a certain 6 foot something can jump out of his shoes athlete in Calvin Johnson or anything. A coach and coordinator actually taking advantage of his players skills what a concept. That by itself is good enough to get me excited about this new regime and the hopes that we have finally hired the right people.

Jason

P.S. The Tigers are still in 1st place with 3 game lead on White Sox and the Offense might be waking up thanks to Cabrera, Granderson and Polanco getting hot SHHHHHH!!!