Sunday evening I went to a baby shower for Bill and Vita Bachman, some of our friends from church and young couples group. One of the Titan's wives donated three huge bags of little girl clothes, zero to two year old, for the Bachman's to have. What a blessing! We were so excited we went through every little outfit in the hall.
Below is Vita holding my personal favorite, the little baby girl sweater dress. Also below is a group shot of all the friends that came to the shower. All these shower photos I took off of people's facebook albums.
Wednesday was the last day of training camp. Finally Tuff gets to come home every night, instead of the hotel. Below Tuff is wearing the read cap over his helmet, one long white sock, and of course #26. They are practicing special teams plays.
Titans rookie wide receiver Kenny Britt was doused by veterans with Gatorade, powder, flour and other items during the annual rookie dizzy bat race to end training camp Wednesday. The race is relay style where the rookies must sprint with a football about 50 yards, set the ball down, sprint to where their teammates are anxiously awaiting to douse, while spinning around a bat 20 times, then race back to pick up the ball and cross the finish line.
As Kenny Brit crossed the finish line he did a crowd pleasing cartwheel round-up back flip, etc.
Tuff got in the action. I'm not sure what he was dousing them with. He's wearing the skull cap and long white sock on his right leg.
Tuff is in the far right background of the picture below helping torture the rookies. He never went through the dizzy bat tradition since his rookie year was with the Dolphins. They had other methods of torturing the rookies which Tuff does not want to talk about. Just kidding.
Now for a completely different tangent. Things I did not know about the NFL that I found out now that Tuff is an employee:
Contracts are guaranteed right? No. Tuff signed a three year contract with the Miami Dolphins his rookie season. Less than a year later, he was released, voiding the contract. He signed a two year contract with the Saints. Less than three months later, he was released, voiding the contract. Now he has a two year contract with the Titans. What does it matter if he is released before the contract is up? It matters for Miami, for New Orleans, for Tennessee. In the contract, the player agrees to play for the team at a pre-determined salary for the term of the contract or until the team decides otherwise. The team is not obligated to pay for remainder of the contract if they cut the player, unlike they are in the NBA or MLB.
Players get paid throughout the year for all their time at work. No. Players only get paid a salary during the regular season. There are currently 17 regular season games and nine paychecks inside those 17 weeks. From the end of January until the beginning of September, just over seven months, is time to budget what is made from the previous season.
When on the road the players can check out the city and visit people coming to watch the game. No. The players travel chartered flights to all their games. They typically leave the day prior to the game, play the game and travel back the same day/night. The Titans were back from Friday's Dallas game by 2:00AM. When they are on the road for a game, their schedules are full, hour to hour with meetings, team meals and curfew. They really have no time to visit people or do anything else other than play a football game. Same goes for the home games. They spend the night before the game in a hotel and have meetings, team meals, etc.
Players can get free tickets to the games. No and yes. Every team is different. The Titans give two tickets to each player for home games. I was under the impression up until now that we got no free tickets, but we do get two and just pay the taxes on them out of Tuff's paycheck. Tickets to the games are not free beyond the two. Luckily the Titans have respectable prices. It costs $78 a ticket. If we played for the Colts it would be around $150 per ticket.
Away game tickets are not free and usually in the farthest seat from the field with the worst angles to watch the game. Not many wives travel to away games unless its something like the Super Bowl.
Any NFL related gear is free. Not necessarily. If Tuff wants to keep his jersey after the season he has to buy it. However, he can get size triple X shirts from the equipment room for free (for some reason the equipment people assume every player would like to wear their t-shirts like pajamas, swallowing their entire bodies). He has an unlimited supply of size 12 Reebok cleats and football gloves, as long as he plays for the team. Also if he gets hurt at work, all his medical bills and treatments are paid for.
In conclusion, I thought the NFL was a lot more glamorous than it really is. There is only a small percentage of players who are making millions that give it that reputation, but for most of the players, they are living on the edge constantly. They don't know when their next paycheck will be or if they have a job the next day. They bounce around from team to team and may never see a regular season game. They have contracts that say how much they could make but it means nothing unless they get on that roster and stay on it.
I love that Tuff gets to do this, even with its incredible instability. I feel blessed everyday to be where we are and for Tuff to be doing what he loves. God is good.
Erin Faith and I will keep you two in our prayers for Tuff and the season. Let's go Tuff!!
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