Fly, Eagles, Fly!

July 26th was my 30th birthday (oh, the horror!), and part of my birthday celebration was a trip to the Philadephia Eagles training camp at Lehigh University. Lucky for us, the field is about 10 minutes from our house.

I liked football through middle and high school, but lost interest once I was in college. It wasn't until two years ago, after working around a bunch of football fanatics, that I finally got back into the game. Being an eastern Pennsylvanian boy, I naturally started rooting for the Eagles.

Anyway, Jenn, the kids, and I got to the training camp a little after 9AM, which was soon after the morning training started. Lehigh had three football fields, and two of them were used most of the morning for offensive and defensive practice. The third field was used for a short time for field goal partice.

Unfortunately, it was hot Wednesday morning, and the kids became ansy quickly. Part of the problem had to do with them not being able to see the players (Kai only knows McNabb's, Westbrook's, and Dawkins' numbers). So, they looked rather bored as we watched the offense practice different plays. It was great seeing the A team work with both the veterans and rookies. I also got a chance to see Garcia, Detmar, and Chang do some work as QB. Jeremiah Trotter broke up a fight between two rookie offensive linemen. That was entertaining to see.

After a while, the defense and offense practiced in a full scrimage on the middle field, so we got up to move. Jenn noticed an area with minigolf, moon bounces, and other activities for the kids. And they were all free! The kids had a ball practicing throwing at receivers, crawling through a moon bounce, and taking a picture with a cutout McNabb. Meanwhile, I watched the defense and offense duke it out, including Garcia throwing a touchdown pass, Akers making a 47 yard field goal, Shawn Barber getting injured (fortunately it was only a cramp!), McNabb scrambling towards the endzone, and I even got a chance to see Buckhalter out on the field. He was a promising running back whose been out for two seasons with knee injuries (plus there was a drug problem one year).

Wednesday was a great birthday, but it wasn't perfect. You see, on Monday evening, I was trying to be a helpful Scotty and pull ivy off the back of our shed. My forehead and hands started getting itchy on Tuesday. By Wednesday, I knew I had poison ivy. :(

Eventually my face swelled up to the point where I had to go to the doctor and get a shot of adrenaline and steroids (hey, maybe now I could make the team!). I spent Thursday and Friday at home, which didn't please my boss. I'm feeling pretty OK, now, though. I still have medication to take, but I will back at work on Monday. At least it wasn't as bad as when I was a kid. Once, as a child, my eyes swelled completely closed and I had to be taken to the ER. That was no fun. I guess the moral of the story is that I shouldn't do yard work. ;)

Scott