We reported to the parking lot assigned for the New Oreleans Arena Football Team, VooDoo. We reported at 7:45 a.m. this morning for our 8:00 a.m. drug test. And of course, the first thing that I did this morning was use the restroom right when I woke up. After showering I downed two bottles of water, and then another one on the ten-minute route to the practice facility and then another upon arrival. I definitely didn't want to get stage fright and I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.
At about 9:15 this morning we began our tour through the training facility. They have an indoor facility like that of Ole Miss, but about a tenth as nice. It is literally just the barn part of the facility. They do however have the same turf that we just had put in at Ole Miss. This new turf has a sand and rubber mixture rather than just the rubber base in which allows for the players injuries to be cut down by a drastic percentage. One of the Operation Assistants pointed me out and said "I heard that Ole Miss was getting this too, right? We just put this in a few weeks ago." Dang right. We're ballers.
We toured the rest of the facility and learned how to use the key pads (for those that don't know how to work a key pad) and then we headed outside to tour the rest of the grounds.
After finishing the tour we began moving baracades from the VooDoo parking lot to the outdoor practice field to prevent from the crowd (which apparently is pretty intense) from entering the field. We also set up chairs, tables, and fans for the Corporate Sponsors and Family tent. After we got all of that finished we were of course drenched with Louisiana sweat and we got to finish out the morning with lunch in the on-site cafeteria.
Lunch was incredible. It really reminded me a lot of how the soldiers were fed when I was in the Middle East, but only half as good. Saying that, for those of you know don't know, the soldiers are treated like kings at breakfast, lunch, and dinner over there, so that's always a good thing to have in the back of your minds. I'm so glad that at the very least, and after being in that heat and doing their incredible work all day that they get phenomenal meals three times a day.
Anyway, I digress. I had a burger, a piece of pizza and a salad. Everything was incredible. We all ate as a big group. I finally got to talk to the oldest staff member who just finished graduate school at Tulane. He just got back from a huge tour through Africa hunting nearly fifteen types of animals. They use these safari's as a way of population control and they send the hunters their mounts within 8 months of the hunt. He said the hide that he would receive from a hippo would sell for enough money in the U.S. for him to pay off his entire trip. That's a pretty good deal. Sad for the hippo though.
After we finished up for the day I headed back to the hotel where I passed out for about an hour and a half. I got up, went to the mall, and then left that mall to go to the movie theatre to see the new Angelina Jolie movie, Salt. It was great for those of you who may be interested in seeing it. Definitely a good movie that keeps you guessing until the end. The movies here are only $5 to go see, so I will be definitely catching up on those that I have yet to see, aka Despicable Me mainly.
Tomorrow we report to the Superdome at 9:00 a.m. in downtown New Orleans. I'll need to leave the hotel around 8:15 a.m. We're going to be hanging signage around the 200 and 500 levels of the Superdome.
Hope all is well,
Until next time,
Blake
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