Tuesday, August 11, 2009

My Kinda Camp!

This past weekend I had quite possibly one of THE most memorable times I've had in a long, long time. Jordan and I had the opportunity to head to Cowboys Training Camp in good 'ole San Antone.

It.Was.Greatness.
Jordan's work does a good bit of advertising with one of the TV networks here in DFW, and we were invited to go with them as guests.

We all flew down on Sunday early morning. All of the guys headed straight to the links for the sweatfest that is golfing in San Antonio, Tx at 12noon in the middle of August (ummm, no thanks). I, being the far more intelligent one (I kid, I kid), opted to stay at the hotel and enjoy me a little R&R...in-room massage style! It was such a treat!!!

That evening the group (13 or so of us) headed to dinner and were joined by the lead Sportscaster for the network. We all noshed on some yummy Mexican fare while we heard the latest and greatest from training camp, the players, the whole dish...getting us pumped for our visit with Jerry and the players the following day. I was so giddy it was pathetic!

The next day we slept in and took it easy in the morning. Around lunchtime the group loaded onto our bus to head to a private lunch with the Jones clan at Mi Tierra. When we got there they had a back, private room for us with Cowboys paraphernalia adorning the table and walls.
Okay, as I keep going on an on and into way too much detail, its occuring to me that to anyone reading this post who's not a big Dallas Cowboys fan (is there such a thing?), this is probably getting pretty obnoxious. So, please, by all means, feel free to click elsewhere onto someone else's blog. I don't mind.

And back on track. Speeding things up a bit....

We enjoyed a great lunch and chatted up the Jones crew about who the big surprises were in Camp, the welcomed exit of the circus that was T.O., Romo's camp performance thus far, now that he's sans Jessica, Martellus Bennett and his new alter-ego Marty B., etc....But, for the most part, we talked some serious football and what their hoping/expecting/planning for the season in the new stadium.

After lunch it was back on the bus straight to....drumroll please....The Alamodome!

I cannot tell you how flippin' pumped I was at this point. Jordan was laughing at me, I was so excited (yes, I am fully aware that I am a nerd).

Jordan and I posing with Jerry

We got off the bus, get our VIP credentials and headed straight to the field as they were finishing up their Special Teams practice. Pretty soon, before my very eyes and within arm's reach, all of the guys were on the field running plays.

Martellus Bennett and Marion Barber chattin' up on the sideline

If you want a mental image of what I looked like, picture one of those Asians you see at Disneyworld with their camera and big grin on their face, snapping a million pictures a minute. Yep, that was me. I mean, I am Kim Young.


Ms. Price...she's like the team mom. Hilarious!!!!

At the end of practice we were given goody bags with shirts, caps, footballs and a sharpee pen for autographs. You shoulda seen me. I was like the paparazzi as I was going after the players asking them to sign my football.


I managed to snag, in no particular order: Marion Barber, Martellus Bennett, Patrick Creighton, Sam Hurd, Miles Austin, Wade Phillips, Mark Columbo, Jason Whitten., ummm, and maybe some others, but I can't recall.

I did track down Romo. He shed his jersey super quick (So as to not get noticed as easily I guess. Umm, hellooooo, you're Tony Romo. People would recognize you with a paper sack on, you nerd).

He was hanging around off to the far, far side of the crowd. I bee-lined it to him and walked straight up to him, football in hand and said "Hey Tony, could I get your autograph really quick?" He looked me straight in the eye, leaned in, like he was reaching for my football, then did this quick dart move, said "Gotta go!" and ran deep asking for a pass from some random teenage ball boy. Uggggh. In the words of Stephanie Tanner from Full House, "How rude!"


Romo warming up

Whitten, of course, was as nice as can be, which came as no surpise to me. He was polite, patient, conversational, etc...just an all-around friendly guy to a bunch of friendly eager fans.

#82...my fav...Jason Whitten

All in all, it was a great, great day! I think I drove Jordan nuts on the flight home thanking him about twenty million times for making me his +1 for the trip. I loved every minute of it! What a cool, cool opportunity it was!


More pics below....


Romo calling a play during the 2 minute drills

Felix Jones taking a knee. Let's hope he stays healthy this year!

Good 'ole boy Coach Wade Phillips

Miles Austin and Martellus "Marty B." Bennett

My fav, Whitten, walking back to the huddle


How 'bout them Cowboys!

Here's to a great season ahead!!!

3 comments:

The Montague's said...

How fun!! I died laughing about you acting like Kim Young, haha!!! Romo = rude!! What a treat!

Jill Atkinson said...

You are a guys dream come true!! Glad you had so much fun Kim! Ha!

Ashley Franks said...

Oh my gosh, I am so jealous!!! Matt and I would have died to do that!!! I love Whitten too!! He's my favorite!