It’s official folks, training camp is underway at Lehigh University for your Philadelphia Eagles. Sunday July 22, 2012 marked the arrival of Eagles rookies, coaches, and selected veterans such as QB Mike Vick. This is now the 17th camp in a row to take place on the grounds of Lehigh. The fields are cut, the air is crisp, and you can now hear the sound of helmets popping throughout the region. It’s a beautiful time of the year to be a football fan.
Training camp has always been significant to me for many reasons. It signals the end of summer is near so enjoy those final beach days. Crisper, cooler weather is right around the corner. And soon enough my Sundays (and Thursdays/Mondays nights) will be jam packed every week starting the second Sunday of September through the first week of February. This might be the most anticipated training camp I can remember in quite some time for the Eagles. Thanks to the pathetic display of baseball we’ve had to endure this summer with the Phillies the Philadelphia sports fan has been eager to get camp going for a while.
Americans all over the country will flock to training camps over the next few weeks to see their favorite gridiron stars workout. That’s right, here in America it’s not enough to just watch these athletes perform on a weekly basis during the season our culture wants to watch them prepare and progress towards the opening of the season. Training camp is great for the fans because it gives everyone the opportunity to view NFL athletes in a non game environment. Eagles training camp continues to draw thousands of people on a daily basis and sports such features as autograph sessions and meet and greets for fans to interact with the players.
Over the next month the phenomenon known as Training Camp will get network coverage from the likes of ESPN and NFL network on a daily basis. You’ll see coaches yell, players fight, and athletes endure the heat. The road to Superbowl glory has to start somewhere and in the NFL training camp signifies the opening of that journey towards Superbowl glory which has never been felt here in Philadelphia.
We all have hopes of a Superbowl as training camp opens but we all know the most frightening part of training camp is seeing guys go down with significant season ending injuries before the regular season even begins. Hopefully that won’t be the case this season for anyone on the Eagles roster during this year’s camp. Getting everyone through camp healthy is very rarely the case but as long as your big name players come out unscathed everyone has hope going into week 1.
The time is right now for the Eagles to come together and work out the kinks. I look forward to watching training camp and seeing this Eagles team evolve into a sold unit by the time it’s over. The beauty of training camp is that every team has a chance. Teams will go through peaks and valleys as they prepare for a grueling season of football. With so much on the line for the Eagles this season even more pressure will be on them to come out of training camp more prepared than ever before.
The eyes of Eagle nation will be on Lehigh University for the next few weeks as we all sit back and watch this team come together. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long road that will end in early February with a parade down Broad Street. Sit back and relax, the time has come to enjoy the sights and sounds of training camp.