Just wanna let you guys know now that this is gonna be a long one...
I'm deciding to write this now because I thought we could all use a little break from this never ending drag of an offseason. Today's news was no surprise really but it just seems like we're in the middle of a nightmare desperately trying to wake up. I'm getting really sick of it all personally and I just want to cheer for my Saints next year.
Anyways, I spent some time with an Aunt in Uncle earlier in the summer in Arizona. We went on a white water rafting trip through the Grand Canyon down the Colorado, which I have to add was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. If anyone needs an idea for a vacation please look into what the Colorado river has to offer. We used Arizona River Runners and couldn't have been more pleased with the service, the trip, and the breathtaking experience.
Grand Canyon Rafting, Colorado River Rafting, Arizona Rafting
I flew in and out of Phoenix airport which is about five hours from the start of the Canyon. After my ten days or so there my Uncle dropped me off at the airport after our goodbyes and I headed towards my gate. I found my plane and then headed to a nearby concession/gift store to get something to eat.
As I was walking up to the line a pretty large figure got in line in front of me. Not really thinking, I patted the guy on the back and asked with a smile where he played football. I like to think I know what a football player looks like when I see one and I expected to hear the usual "Oh those days are behind me or I played in college etc." However, as he turned with a big grin I started to take a second look at this guy. I noticed the New Orleans hat he was carrying and something about him looked familiar. After a few moments he said something like "oh you know I just play around, here or there." -all with a smile.
He stood there I think expecting me to say something because I was wearing my Saints shirt but words couldn't really come to my mouth. I said, while blushing, "You don't play for these guys do you?" pointing to my shirt. After a pause he smiled even more, stuck out his hand, and said, "Cameron Jordan, nice to meet you." By this point its getting hard for me to breath and I'm sweating all of a sudden. I shook his hand and exchanged a few words about being from New Orleans and now living in Orlando. He was super nice and as he checked out saying it was nice to meet me, I said hey I'm saving you a spot on the plane. "Sounds good!" he says.
Standing in line to board I noticed he was one of the first to get on and I wasn't far behind him. He took the seat behind the emergency exit with the most leg room and I walked up to him and said, "Do you mind if I be that guy?" He laughed and said no problem as I sat down in the row, ready to move to the middle seat when someone came to sit down.
We didn't talk much as the flight took off, he said he'd been with family most of the weekend and didn't sleep much. I said no problem as he slept for the first half hour or so. I tried too as well. After this time however, we started chatting about this and that. He told me he was from outside phoenix and was partying with family all weekend. He was a really nice guy and very laid back as well.
I knew he wanted his rest so I did my absolute best not to bother him. Sitting next to the former first round pick was more than enough of a story to tell me friends. But once he made it clear he wasn't sleeping any more I told him that he couldn't imagine the amount of questions I had for him. Smiling once again, he said "like what?"
We seemed to cover just about everything. He had great respect for Williams and said he was just starting to pick up Spag's system. (This was about a month and a half ago btw.) He said he hadn't seen Drew Brees in months and didn't know anything about the contract stuff obviously. He seemed to really like "Big Bunk" as he called him and liked Lofton as well. I got the feel his two best friends were Ingram and "Tez". I told him Ingram lives in my old neighborhood.
He told me some pretty funny stuff about how Lance Moore stays after practice to work on his dance moves and how Junior Galette really is as crazy (in a good way) as we all think. He said he's heard Junior screaming his name in the shower which I thought was one of the funniest things I've heard. We talked about Spag's system compared to Williams' and how Spags has fewer packages with more schemes whereas Williams' was the opposite.
He said Drew and Chase really are the last ones in the building after practice as well. I got an interesting feel that I guess I wasn't really aware of before. There seems to be a pretty major split between the offense and the defense. I mean I guess it makes sense but they don't seem to do much together except scrimmage. For some reason I got the impression that there are two teams within our team. It could be good or bad depending on you look at it I suppose.
He seemed very positive and not concerned at all about the upcoming season. He said Vilma was without a doubt the unquestioned leader and it will be interesting to see who fills the gap. He said Will Smith was in charge of the linemen, as expected, and figuring out who would fill in for him would be a process.
All in all it was a great time and I couldn't have been happier to sit next to him. He was very genuine and laid back and ready to start OTA's. He wasn't concerned about the media or anything like that. He's also a fan of Prototype for xbox
I repeated quite a number of times what the Saints mean to their fans and the life changing effect they had on us over the past few years. I said how much they've changed my life and how inspirational the team has been recently.
Oh I almost forgot, he said Adrian Peterson is the scariest guy to play against. I asked him about Foster and Ray Rice and a couple others and he was pretty set on the fact the Peterson runs angrier than any of them and was the toughest to bring down period. Thought that was cool to hear.
Oh and another one of those^^^. I asked him who had the toughest O line last season or what was the toughest game for him and you're not going to believe it...... He said the Rams were one of the toughest O lines. I was pretty surprised.
Sorry it took so long to post. If I remember anything else from our conversation I'll add it or if you guys have any questions in particular I'm sure I can remember.
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