A Trip to Bears Training Camp
On Tuesday morning, I trekked down I-57 to Bourbonnais, Illinois to watch the Bears practice up close and in person. It really wasn't as far as I thought, and we made it there in a little over an hour. This was my first trip ever to Bears training camp, and I'm extremely glad I went. First off, it's free. Free parking, free entry to watch practice. Of course, they make you walk through the Bears Pro Shop on your way to and from the field, and there's a plethora of ways to spend money, but you don't have to spend a dime to have a good time. That's huge. Second, it's the Bears! The ironic thing about professional football is that ninety percent of football fans never get an opportunity to actually see their favorite team play in person. That's crazy, if you think about it. I personally have only been to five games in my life and I consider myself a die-hard. So just seeing them is pretty cool. Beyond that, the Bears have a real nice operation going on down there. Activities for kids, autographs, fun for the whole family.
As for the practice itself, I learned one thing. Kyle Orton is firmly entrenched as the third string quarterback. The bearded one is simply not an accurate thrower. Comparing him to Grossman is like night and day. (Griese had the morning off so I didn't get to see him throw.) Grossman would hit his receivers in the paws, perfectly in stride. Orton, if his receivers were even in reach, consistently had to speed up or slow down to make a reception. Orton threw one pick to Hillenmeyer that simply defied logic. A receiver wasn't within 10 yards of Hunter. So yeah, Orton's going to do an awful lot of sitting this season (hopefully). Remember when I wrote up a camp preview wanting to give Orton a legitimate shot at the starting job, along with the other two guys? Well, forget that. Had I not witnessed Orton's performance in person, I might have hemmed and hawed about his lack of opportunity. Trust me, his place on the bench is well earned.
After practice the players walked by a throng of autograph seekers on their way to the locker room. I didn't get anything signed, I just stood back a few feet and let the kids gobble up all the signatures. It was pretty cool, as nearly every starter stopped to sign for a while. Some of those guys are real monsters, too. Fred Miller, for example, is a beast. 6 foot 7, 320 pounds of solid muscle. I was trying to imagine Olin Kreutz breaking his jaw, and the two of them rolling around on the floor of a gun club. It was probably like King Kong versus Godzilla. It was also cool to see some of these guys personalities come out in front of the kids, too. Tank Johnson and Tommie Harris were pretty funny, and John Tait seemed like a (giant) gentleman. Ron Turner was surprisingly chatty as well.
One thing funny after the autograph session, as we were spending money in the Pro Shop (lot's of cool stuff available, by the way), my cousin spotted Robbie Gould walking through and perusing the merchandise. He, of course, was not a monster lineman but a regular-sized kicker. Short his helmet and uniform he was completely unrecognizable, and nobody said a word. Pretty funny.
And that sums up my thoughts of attending Bears Training Camp. Fun for the whole family. I'll be back tomorrow with thoughts on the first preseason game, this Friday against San Fran. Till then...