A hectic weekend for NFL fans

By Jeff Orvis

For parts of three days late last week, pro football fans were glued to the TV set, watching what amounted to a sophisticated slave auction. Thankfully, actual slave auctions ended in this country about 150 years ago. What I can remember from school studies and various movies is that these brutal events determined whether men and women would live or die and how they would be treated the rest of their lives, depending on their owners.

It might seem a stretch to compare slaves to potential pro football players. Slaves hoped and prayed that they would have a warm place to sleep and food to eat, while rookie football players who make their team's final roster will earn at least $390,000 their first year.

But as we watched the “experts” critique each draft pick on Thursday and Friday nights and Saturday afternoon, it wasn't difficult to notice some similarities in slave vs. pro athlete. As each draftee's name popped up on the screen, we heard a rundown of his physical attributes, his size, speed in the 40 yard dash, amount of weight he could lift in the weight room and what he did during his collegiate career that drew the interest of the pro teams.

While it can be argued that a drafted player can decide not to join the team that drafts him, if he wants to play in the NFL, he can only play for that team until the team decides to trade or release him.

It must have been a humbling experience for hundreds of young men. One minute, they are the big men on campus, hearing the cheers of tens of thousands of fans on a Saturday afternoon. The next minute, their futures were being decided by a room full of men who may or may not decide to place a call telling the player that he would have a chance to continue an activity which had consumed him for 10 or 15 years.

The whole process begins earlier in the spring, when the top players are invited to a tryout, called the NFL Combine. They are run through a series of drills, measured, interviewed, and unfortunately, tested. Note to prospective NFL players: be prepared to be in the best physical shape in your life, be humble, yet confident when you speak to the coaches. And for heaven's sake, don't fail the drug test! Yes, there were at least a couple of idiots who failed the league's drug test during the combine. Smoke a little weed and be prepared to forfeit a chance at millions of dollars. Hope it was worth it.

The draft was “must see TV” for many football fans. But after awhile, I got exhausted listening to Mel Kiper and others on ESPN or the NFL Network dissecting each potential draft pick. It still was nice hearing what they had to say about the Iowa and Iowa State players chosen. I was watching to see who from those two teams might be drafted, as well as who were picked for the Chicago Bears.

After the smoke cleared, Iowa had six players drafted and another five who quickly signed free agent contracts, meaning they were invited to try out for a specific team. Later this summer, as we get closer to the Iowa-Iowa State game, here's a stat for Hawk fans to use in their discussions with their Cyclone neighbors as to whether or not this is a Hawkeye State. Since the 2008 season, 24 Hawks have been drafted. That's six players each season.

The excitement of draft weekend is over. Several more free agents will be signed by each team. Then we have a couple of months before training camp opens, when each team can a maximum of 80 players in camp. That's 2,560 veterans and rookies vying to be among the 1,696 who will begin earning a pro football paycheck. When the first game of the regular season rolls around in early September, that means 864 men who at one time had visions of hearing the cheers on Sunday afternoon suddenly will be faced with finding something else to do with their lives.

 For pro football fans, the countdown begins!

It's a bird! It's a plane!

By Jeff Orvis

I just got back from a short trip to my spot to clear my head and gain inspiration – our screened-in porch. I was only out there for about two minutes before a gold finch flew in and perched on our feeder. He sat there eating for a couple of minutes, then as if he realized he should sing for his supper, he began a two or three minute concert.

I could never figure out how to describe a bird call in print. But it was beautiful and I'm sure it was much more meaningful to his brothers and sisters flying around in the area. He was probably calling, “Hey dummies! Lunch is over here!”

Mom's condo is less than a mile away from Davenport's busy 53^rd Street and about the same distance from Interstate 80. But it's also a driveway and a building away from the Crow Valley Golf Club, so we get a variety of winged wildlife coming in for a free meal at all times of the year.

Before Homeland Security got into the necessary act of making air travel and even going to the airport less fun than it once was, I liked going out to the local airport just to watch the planes take off and land. Most of the planes out there were private, single engine or twin-engine aircraft. Once in awhile you might see a corporate jet. The airlines serving our area generally bring twin-engine jets into Moline, although in recent years, improvements to the runways have allowed for the occasional visit by the President's Air Force One 747.

Our neighborhood is the feathered equivalent to our local airport. We have our share of gold finches, sparrows, chickadees, etc., similar to the single engine private planes. We also have some corporate jets – robins and cardinals come to mind. The smaller airlines – mourning doves, blue jays and starlings are also well represented. Then sometimes a 747 or B-52 comes flying over in the winged form of our red-tailed hawk. He doesn't ever get close enough to feed, but then we don't offer baby rabbits or ground squirrels at our feeder. Hawks couldn't make it on finch food!

The only time I've seen the wide bodies locally was a few minutes ago when I checked out Alcoa's Eagle Cam. Dad was busy feeding the three youngsters last time I checked. They're starting to get their feathers and aren't quite as ugly as they once were.

Most of our time is consumed by worrying about the world situation, our political fights here at home, the economy or worrying about whether the Black Hawks can force a game seven in the NHL playoffs or if the Cubs can get their act together this year. Sometimes it's nice to take a deep breath and watch some of God's creatures whose only cares include where they will get their next meal, how they can avoid predators and which tree will they fly to next.

The simpler life is sometimes appealing...