Caught in the Draft

Well, a birthday wish Buck likely wished every time he blew out his candles over the past 40 plus years came true . . . he got to attend the NFL Draft in person! And with his sons, how cool!!

They drove to Kansas City on the Thursday it began . . . originally intending to leave later, drop their luggage at the hotel, and then drive back up to the event. However, their handy-dandy app kept giving them new info on card signings, guest appearances, and other fun events--so they left early, went straight to the venue, and started soaking in the football atmosphere :) Our pastor and his son, and another of our elders and his son also attended opening night. They met up and watched some of the first-round picks from the great lawn in front of the WWI Museum (which was a super cool place we visited several years ago with the kids).

Brennen and Caedmon doing one of the training camp trials :)

Buck said it was a friendly environment, all the fans in line talking football, a little respectful smack, and all happy to be there--which is impressive for more than 300,000 people! On the second day, Brennen was interviewed by the local news! In my efforts to try to find the story, I learned a lot about the Draft vendors . . . like they ran out of their three-day allotment of beer before the end of the first night (wowza!) Eventually, I did find the story the guy who interviewed Brennen was working on--he set himself a challenge to find a fan from every team in 10 minutes. A few minutes in, a little kid fully decked out in Cowboys gear caught the reporter's attention . . . and with him, a loud little Broncos fan. I'm guessing that little Broncos fan took Brennen's segment, but at least Buck got cool photos to remember the experience :) (and I'm sure the other kid's parents thought it was cool that he was on TV blah, blah, blah . . . hee hee ;)

Buck had some sort of pass that allowed them to skip to the front of lines, like the fastpass at Disneyland, for experiences and signatures. While they didn't take advantage of this when little kids were waiting, they had no problem passing up less-prepared adults, ha! Actually, before our guys left for KC, the NFL slowly started releasing names of players who would sign cards--which prompted our guys to dig through their collections for those players. They also took a quick trip to a local card shop to nab a few more options. Above is Dante Hall who, later that day, was announced as an upcoming Hall of Fame inductee for the Chiefs--that was cool!

Graysen made this guy, George Karlaftis (also a Chiefs player), laugh when he told him not to let his hand cramp during the hour he was scheduled to sign cards. When the boys looked at the card later, they noticed his fingerprint was in the wet ink of his signature, which everyone thought was pretty cool! I don't think you can get much better proof that it's real, than that!

There were blingy helmets to see, a Superbowl ring display, ceiling screens (as pictured above), a mock-up locker room, a stage they could pretend to be drafted on etc., etc. Plenty to keep busy during the day! At night, Buck said when it was the next team's turn to pick, the lighting on the walls of the museum would change to team colors and the image would become the team mascot! I think the guy in the picture below is trying to give the Bronco horse a high-five or maybe pet his angry nose? :)

There was initially some debate on how late they would stay on day three . . . technically the boys had a choir festival waiting for them back home, lol, you can guess which place they preferred to be :) There were a couple more signatures that they hoped to get and the day's big event was the KC Smoke Show. A bunch of the top BBQ restaurants competed for the best-tasting food--and gave out some samples! I think Roger Goodell (the Commissioner of the NFL) stopped by to kick things off, and Buck got a picture of him :)

Two more card signings . . . the first guy (I think) is Amon-Ra St. Brown. NOPE! Okay, they did get signatures from Mr. St. Brown, but in the picture is Christian Okoye (former Chiefs running back). He was joking about kicking Brennen--in his Broncos jersey--straight out of the signing tent :) The second guy is NOT Priest Holmes, clearly it is Dwayne Bowe who, you guessed it, was part of the Kansas City Chiefs team. I know those other guys were two they were hoping to see, but I have a better chance of recognizing players in uniform than in casual clothing. But speaking of clothing, apparently Graysen's "fit was clean" and he got compliments from several cool guys about how cool he looked. We would say, "Stylin'" they would say something about his "drip" being "bussin'" . . . maybe? IDK. I'm old. Lol!

They arrived home tired, sunburnt, and excited about all the things they'd seen and done! What a great guys' trip for the boys and their dad!