Unfortunately, we lost last weekend by two in Iowa. That gives us two losses by a combined three points. Hopefully, our team can play better tomorrow at home against San Antonio. San Antonio has the QB who beat us in the ArenaBowl on the last play of the game last year. I am hoping our players are thinking revenge.
This week has been very busy for me. Tomorrow will mark the seventh day in a row I've worked, and some are days like today where I work for ten hours. However, work isn't the only thing I;ve been doing, as I've had a little fun as well. Last night, I was able to go to a baseball game. Now, going to an MLB game is fun enough in itself; however, the Diamondbacks were playing for the Braves. And, it just so happens that my friend, Brandon Beachy, was pitching for Atlanta. It was really cool to see him pitch, and he played great (even did well batting). We didn't have tickets to the game when we arrived, so we started talking to a scalper. We turned down his offer of the worst seats in the park for $10 when he offered us club seats for $20. I am pretty sure once he mentioned "all you can eat," all four of us reached for our wallets. Unfortunately, we had just eaten dinner, but that didn't stop four lower-twenties' guys of making sure we got out money's worth.
Today, we had a 4 1/2 hour meeting. I knew it was going to be long when my boss told me that we were going to take 3 weeks worth of meetings and put it into one meeting. Since we had started work on February 1st, we have been putting together a database for all of the college seniors. Each scout is assigned a region, for instance I have the northeast region. For today's meeting, we were supposed to have all of our prospects ranked according to position. At the meeting, we presented them to the group and placed them according to rank. At the end, we created a draft board by arguing over which player should be rated higher. This was definitely an eye-opening experience as we were able to not only see, but participate how these scouting meetings are ran at the NFL level.
My boss has also sent my resume to the director of personnels of the Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, and Washington Redskins- so hopefully one of those will pay off.
Like I said before, we have a game tomorrow against the San Antonio Talons, and we are having a kicker workout before the game, meaning I have to be there even earlier than normal. Hopefully, next time I write, I'll be able to say we have one more win on our record. Have a great week.
Adam Conrad
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Still Alive
I apologize for not posting in awhile. Having no internet and being very busy has definitely been a hindrance with keeping this thing updated.
I did make it back from Colorado alright, and we've had two games since (one on the road, and one at home). Both teams have a combined one win, and we had that many before we played either of them only after two games. So, you are probably thinking that we beat both pretty handily.
We did beat Kansas City by a score of 56-28. However, we lost our starting linebacker (who happens to be from Cincinnati) with a dislocated elbow. Our other starting linebacker was hurt in our second game, and is still out. Kevin did show me his elbow, and I kind of wish he didn't, as it was completely swollen and didn't look pretty.
Last Friday, we played at home against Spokane. We were losing most of the game, but scored with four seconds left to get the win. I seriously believe that the team is trying to give me a heart attack at a young age; and unfortunately, I think they are succeeding. We also suffered another injury. Our starting safety leading kick returner in the league hurt his ankle. So, out of our original 8 defensive starters- we are without both starting linebackers, our starting safety, and a starting cornerback who tore his ACL in the second game of the year, forcing him to sit out the rest of the season. Not to mention that one our starting receivers is out, and it is nearly a miracle that we have the second best record in the league. Hopefully, our guys can get healthy, and can make an impact when they come back. Above and to the right is a picture of our guys after the win on Friday.
Just in case you thought all I did was watch practice and play around on the internet, let me give you an idea of what I have to do.
Five days before a game, our department has to give our coaches what is called an Advance Scouting Book. It is just like what it sounds like- it is a very detailed account of our next opponent. This weeks scout book was 50 pages long, so you know it is full of information. What got me hired to this job was my background in statistics. Because of that, I have been in charge of all the stats in the scouting department. Due to being in charge, I have a lot to do for this scout book. I have to put together nearly every stat of every player for our opponents. Not only stats, but I also have to research and compile every penalty they committed. Another statistic I put together is showing how they start and finish every possession our opponents have had all season. You may be thinking this is a lot of work to be doing, which it is. However, I keep up with it and update it every week, so I am not doing the whole season's worth of stats in a few days. Also, every member of our scouting department is assigned a certain position that changes weekly for each game. For example, the game against San Antonio (next week) that I am working on, I was assigned the wide receivers. For each player at that position, we need to watch the previous three games and scout them. After scouting them, we write up our reports and put it inside the scouting reports.
During home games, we are assigned specific positions to scout and take notes on. After the game, we are to do write-ups on those players on what we saw during that game. We eventually out all of that into a review book, which we hand out to all the coaches.
Not only am I working on this stuff throughout the week, but I also do random projects that my boss or the coaches ask of me such as updating rosters, helping new players with paperwork, and researching college senior or recently released NFL players.
Yes, this is quite a large amount of work; however, I definitely feel it is worth it. Due to my boss's experience within the NFL, we are running this Arena franchise as an NFL team, which will only help me when I, hopefully, get a job in the NFL.
Anyways, I'm sorry that I didn't give much information on what I've done lately, but now you know what I do when I am working. The team travels to Des Moines, Iowa this week, so I will have a few much needed days off as we only get one day off during home games.
Have a great rest of the week.
Adam Conrad
And below is a picture of our guys after our come-from-behind win on Friday.
I did make it back from Colorado alright, and we've had two games since (one on the road, and one at home). Both teams have a combined one win, and we had that many before we played either of them only after two games. So, you are probably thinking that we beat both pretty handily.
We did beat Kansas City by a score of 56-28. However, we lost our starting linebacker (who happens to be from Cincinnati) with a dislocated elbow. Our other starting linebacker was hurt in our second game, and is still out. Kevin did show me his elbow, and I kind of wish he didn't, as it was completely swollen and didn't look pretty.
Last Friday, we played at home against Spokane. We were losing most of the game, but scored with four seconds left to get the win. I seriously believe that the team is trying to give me a heart attack at a young age; and unfortunately, I think they are succeeding. We also suffered another injury. Our starting safety leading kick returner in the league hurt his ankle. So, out of our original 8 defensive starters- we are without both starting linebackers, our starting safety, and a starting cornerback who tore his ACL in the second game of the year, forcing him to sit out the rest of the season. Not to mention that one our starting receivers is out, and it is nearly a miracle that we have the second best record in the league. Hopefully, our guys can get healthy, and can make an impact when they come back. Above and to the right is a picture of our guys after the win on Friday.
Just in case you thought all I did was watch practice and play around on the internet, let me give you an idea of what I have to do.
Five days before a game, our department has to give our coaches what is called an Advance Scouting Book. It is just like what it sounds like- it is a very detailed account of our next opponent. This weeks scout book was 50 pages long, so you know it is full of information. What got me hired to this job was my background in statistics. Because of that, I have been in charge of all the stats in the scouting department. Due to being in charge, I have a lot to do for this scout book. I have to put together nearly every stat of every player for our opponents. Not only stats, but I also have to research and compile every penalty they committed. Another statistic I put together is showing how they start and finish every possession our opponents have had all season. You may be thinking this is a lot of work to be doing, which it is. However, I keep up with it and update it every week, so I am not doing the whole season's worth of stats in a few days. Also, every member of our scouting department is assigned a certain position that changes weekly for each game. For example, the game against San Antonio (next week) that I am working on, I was assigned the wide receivers. For each player at that position, we need to watch the previous three games and scout them. After scouting them, we write up our reports and put it inside the scouting reports.
During home games, we are assigned specific positions to scout and take notes on. After the game, we are to do write-ups on those players on what we saw during that game. We eventually out all of that into a review book, which we hand out to all the coaches.
Not only am I working on this stuff throughout the week, but I also do random projects that my boss or the coaches ask of me such as updating rosters, helping new players with paperwork, and researching college senior or recently released NFL players.
Yes, this is quite a large amount of work; however, I definitely feel it is worth it. Due to my boss's experience within the NFL, we are running this Arena franchise as an NFL team, which will only help me when I, hopefully, get a job in the NFL.
Anyways, I'm sorry that I didn't give much information on what I've done lately, but now you know what I do when I am working. The team travels to Des Moines, Iowa this week, so I will have a few much needed days off as we only get one day off during home games.
Have a great rest of the week.
Adam Conrad
And below is a picture of our guys after our come-from-behind win on Friday.
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