Saturday open thread: Share your favorite training camp story

As we count down the days until Detroit Lions training camp, which is now officially less than a week away, you can feel the excitement buzzing through the air. With not a lot going on in Detroit sports, the Lions upcoming season is by far the most interesting local news.

And nothing seems to drum up more excitement than training camp. When it’s training camp time, everything is still awesome. Players are arriving in the best shape of their lives. Everyone looks primed to have their breakout year. The offense looks well ahead of where they were last year, and the defense is getting their hands on every ball.

For fans, it’s also a pretty great experience. For free, they get a chance to be a part of this hype machine. Not only do they get to see their team for the first time, but they also are given the opportunity to meet with some players after practice. It’s the kind of personal experience that makes football fandom more than just about the game itself. It humanizes the entire experience, which is something we occasionally lose sight of.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

What is your favorite personal training camp story?

My answer: Believe it or not, I have only been to one training camp practice in my entire life, and it was last year as a media member. I don’t really have any personal stories about the practice, since I had to put my fandom aside for a minute, but I can say the experience was a lot different than I expected.

When you read training camp observations from the media, it makes it sound like a pretty simple, basic practice. When in reality, there is so much going on at one time that 30 people could be watching 30 different things happening at the same time. It’s a bit overwhelming, and I suppose it takes some practice to learn where to fix your attention, but it’s quite a trip, and I can’t wait to do it again.

Your turn.