So last night the kiddo and I made our way downtown to be a part of the spectacle that is the 2019 NFL Draft in Nashville. I thought this morning I would compose some of the pictures from the events so you can get a look at the experience.
The NFL Draft Experience is a totally separate "festival" on the other side of the Cumberland River from the Draft itself, here we have a bunch of opportunities to participate in some of the agility drills that the NFL prospects take part in during the combine. We're talking 40 yard dash, Verticle Jump, Passing drills, Field Goal kicking. There was even a flag football field for the kids to enjoy.
Then you talk about things like the collection of Super Bowl Rings, the Lombardi Trophy, a Sports Broadcasting Desk where you could record your own segment for the "Draft News", and of course the store and the food possibilities.
They also had the oversized helmets that have been traveling around with the draft, and the life size uniform models that kids could step into and get their picture taken in their favorite team's uniform.
So without further ado... here are some images from the Draft Experience. Then we'll head across the bridge to the draft itself.
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Yeah, we're Titans fans here in Nashville, and the kid will never be an NFL player. So much for my retirement as an NFL dad plans...
Then we made our way across the Pedestrian Bridge which had 32 screens across it, each themed to one of the Pro teams with their twitter hashtag pulling various people's draft photos to show up on the screen. As we crossed the bridge I turned to take a photo of the General Jackson Showboat. This boat typically is running lunch and dinner cruises on the river, but the Tennessee Titans rented out the boat to dock next to the Nissan Stadium and entertain Titans Season Ticket Holders during the draft process. Pretty cool perk.
Then we made our way down to the street, where we joined 200,000 other football fans in catching the draft live from lower Broadway. The people were pretty nuts!
We happened to be on the street when the Cardinals traded Josh Rosen to the Dolphins. There were an exciting few moments there when the details of the trade were not announced correctly. It was pretty cool to be out there. But I am not a big fan of crowds, so we spent about 30 minutes down in the draft before heading back across the bridge to the relative quiet of the Draft Experience.
We spent 4 hours of our Friday evening enjoying the festivities that the NFL and the City of Nashville had put together. And even after all that walking and participating, the kid still had this kind of energy when we were walking to the car and happened upon a giant selfie screen...
