Camp Countdown: NFL’s Most Nervous Time

Transcript

00:00If you're familiar with the way the NFL offseason works,

00:04you know that we are now in a pre-training camp period during which

00:08the people that run those NFL teams are biting their nails and

00:13pulling their hair out, Mike Fisher reporting on the NFL.

00:16Where the Kansas City Chiefs are a unfortunate leader in this department,

00:19the best team in football, but also right now,

00:21the team in the most trouble in what happens during this period,

00:25especially when mandatory minicamps are over, and then we wait and wait and wait.

00:29It's about a six week period overall before we get to July 20th, July 25th,

00:34right around there, and teams report to training camp, players are on their own.

00:38And yes, they're adults, and they're big boys, and they're grownups, but

00:42frankly, psychologically speaking, they have lived structured lives for so

00:46long, from the age of eight in some cases, these gifted players,

00:51that when they're allowed to do whatever they want,

00:54sometimes they go do whatever they want, and legal problems ensue.

00:59This is certainly an issue right now in Kansas City,

01:02this is famously unfairly or fairly, often an issue discussed with the Dallas Cowboys.

01:10This is something that is league wide, it's not specific to being a good team,

01:14it's not about being a bad team,

01:16it doesn't mean one team has more bad behavior guys than another.

01:20It's just part of the unfortunate nature of the beast.

01:24So, as you go through the final hours, as you get ready for training camp,

01:30when structure is back in the lives of everybody, and the focus is back on

01:34football, yes, as a fan of the Chiefs, of the Cowboys, of the Bills,

01:40of the Eagles, who are not unfamiliar with these same sort of issues.

01:46You can join the owners, and the general managers, and the coaches,

01:50in hoping that your guys just go home and hang out with your mother.

01:55If you have children, embrace them.

01:58Disneyland is lovely this time of year.

02:02And play it safe while you're going to training camp.

02:05That, in fact, is the closing message that almost every NFL head coach gives

02:10every year for the 40 years I've been covering the NFL.

02:12Hey guys, be careful out there.

02:14Kind of a Hill Street Blues message for you old timers.

02:17Fish out.