Broncos Training Camp

I met up with a friend this morning, and the three of us (Ezra) went to the morning practice session of the Denver Broncos training camp. Their facility is located just about 20 minutes from where we live, and it’s something of a wonder why a nearly-life-long Broncos fan has never made it to training camp before this morning. Wonder no more.

We arrived at the facility at 845am, which is when the practice started — it’s free and open to the public. We were thinking: Monday morning, morning practice, second week of camp, etc….no problems. Wrong. The main parking lot was full so we had to park across the street and down another. We walked into the camp and were immediately accosted about my camera being a ‘professional camera,’ to which I argued to no avail.  The stroller and camera had to be left at the entrance (thus the camera phone shots). We proceeded to walk down to the field and the grass where the fans are allowed to sit….I am guessing about 3000+ of them.

Since the practice had already begun, we had the chance to see the players up close and personal as we walked to our ‘seats’….like about 10 feet from them. The cool part of the experience ends here. We quickly realized that it was just a practice. No seriously, just a practice. A little light running, light drills – no contact, some lunges, some meetings, etc, etc. Nothing exciting or worth while. Which allowed our conversation to turn very quickly to wondering about all of the people being there. Take out the folks like us who where there as first timers and could now ‘check that off of the list.’ Take out the families with kids who were there for the autograph session after the practice. You’re left with a whole slew of people cheering during the shuttle drills, applauding during the passing drills, and ooo-ing and aaah-ing during the 7-on-7 drills. Who the heck are these people? Why aren’t they at work? I have one word to describe them: over-obsessive-loser-fans.

Okay, enough of that. Here are the exciting pictures (yea, that was our view…in an attempt to stay in the shade, and because we got there so late).