Background Potpourii

Our week here in Mobile, Alabama is rapidly coming to a close, culminating of course with the Senior Bowl game this afternoon.  The game is scheduled to start at 3:00 P.M. Central Standard Time.  Given that, I thought it might be fun to provide a little background and summary of week.

Let’s start with the City of Mobile itself.  It is a very old city, dating back to 1702.  It was established as the first capital of colonial French Louisiana.  It is located on the west side of Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico.  Not surprisingly, the shipping industry is the backbone of Mobile’s economy, to the extent that it is the 9th largest port in the United States.  The population within the city limits is just under 200,000.  The downtown area is reflective of a small city, with most of the buildings not exceeding four stories.  There are really only three skyscraper-type buildings that make up the Mobile “skyline”, one of which is the Renaissance Riverview Plaza hotel, the hub of the Senior Bowl Week activities.

But we didn’t stay there.  Being that we had to be quite budget-conscious, we opted to stay across Mobile Bay, east of the city, in an area known as Daphne/Fort Spanish.  We are staying at a Best Western Plus just off of I-10, about 11 miles from downtown Mobile.   We have a “suite” (actually it’s more of an enlarged hotel room with a slightly separated area containing a desk and a sofa with a coffee table).  Steve gets the desk, I get to work from the sagging sofa bent over the coffee table.  But I guess that’s appropriate since in the context of our Fanspeak work, he’s playing a skill position and I’m more like a third-string center!  Actually, it’s been working out well for us here, and I’m pretty sure that we will be paying less for our 8-night stay here than we would for two nights at the Renaissance Riverview Plaza!

This location has been great for us since our 11 mile drive (7 of which is over a bridge that crosses over Mobile Bay) into the downtown area has never exceeded 15 minutes!  Living in the Washington, D.C. area and being familiar with the horrendous commutes from the suburbs into that city, we have been thrilled with our commute here.  It has been so easy, we have been travelling back and forth between the morning and afternoon practices all week, allowing us to get work done on our laptops.  The press box was not available to the media during the week, so there was no internet access at the stadium.

As for getting to the game, I’m not really sure what to expect.  Ladd-Peebles Stadium is located a couple of miles south of the downtown area.  It is situated in the middle of a somewhat depressed residential area, along a single two-lane street.  While there was plenty of on–site parking to accommodate the public and credentialed folks for the practices throughout the week, a lot of it has been set aside for those who will be visiting the Corporate Tent Village where game sponsors will be hosting pre-game parties.  I’m thinking that I won’t be getting an on-site parking spot.  But what I found out was that a lot of the nearby residents open up their yards for parking.  That is probably going to be my best bet.  Yikes!

And just a little bit about the Stadium.  Ladd-Peebles Stadium was opened in 1948 and has been renovated several times over the years.  It has been the home of the Senior Bowl since 1951.  While it is an old stadium, it has FieldTurf as it’s playing surface.  FieldTurf is the latest and greatest in terms of artificial field surfaces, and is a vast improvement over the old AstroTurf fields.  Ladd-Peebles Stadium has a seating capacity of just under 41,000.   But it is all bleacher-type bench seating.  No seat backs, unless you bring your own to attach to the bench.  Just long rows of aluminium benches with faded painted lines marking off each designated “seat”.  Since I have an aisle seat, I”m hoping that everyone in Row 15 of Section O fits into  their designated seat area.  If not, it could get ugly!

So now, game day is here.  It’s been a fun week.  We’ve had the opportunity to get up close and personal with many of the coaches, team personnel, and other folks associated with the NFL.  We’ve enjoyed watching many of the future stars of the NFL work to make their dream happen.  And most importantly, I’ve been able to just pretty much focus on football for a whole week and call it my job.  From the fan perspective, how does it get any better?

-Willypops