NFL Report:  The Commissioner's View  --  Summer 2000
 A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Visiting NFL training camps is a special treat. I wish I had the opportunity to do it more often. It’s great to be out in the sunshine watching players and coaches work, and seeing fans enjoying practice and interacting afterwards with the team. It connects you to the game in a unique way and fills you with anticipation for the upcoming season.

 NFL camps have changed dramatically over the years, both from a team and fan standpoint. In the old days, players reported to a lonely outpost to get back into shape for the season. Today, players condition year-round and attend one or more minicamps in the spring. Summer training camp serves as a time to sharpen execution, refine the playbook, and improve teamwork.

Equally important today is the way teams use their training camps to reach fans. NFL camps have become increasing fan-friendly and interactive. They bring fans inside the organization and up close to players and other team personnel.

There are traditions like the one in De Pere, Wisconsin. Youngsters loan their bicycles to Green Bay Packers players to ride from the locker room to the practice field and carry the players’ helmets for them. A unique bond is thus forged.

At the Cowboys’ camp in Wichita Falls, Texas, hundreds of fans show up every day to watch practice and then line the fence for autographs. In Davie, Florida, the Miami Dolphins run free youth football camps for hundreds of kids in conjunction with their annual training camp. The Jets, Redskins, and others bring a scaled-down version of The NFL Experience theme park to training camps for fans.

 Connecting with fans is the soul of the NFL. When the connection is made, pro football becomes much more than a game and our players can inspire the best in even the youngest of fans.

 I was reminded of it recently when I received a letter from Walt Bodkin of Chicago. He wrote of his 12-year old son, Walter, who had been assigned to write a poem for his English class. When Walter said he wasn’t very good at writing poems, his father advised him to write from the heart about something that really mattered to him. Young Walter penned, Dreams, about Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner:

 A man who was little known
Had dreams of throwing passes in the end zone
Someone who worked in a grocery store
Had dreams of much much more
He played football for free
He had dreams like you and me
In the NFL he played third string
That wouldn’t stop his dream of a Super Bowl ring
Breaking records left and right
The Rams were putting up a great fight
Only losing three games in the season
His leadership and teamwork were the reasons
Going to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years
The crowd was full of laughter and cheers
Going to the Super Bowl his dream was coming true
All of his life this is what he wanted to do
He won the Super Bowl, he accomplished his dream
He made the Rams a winning Super Bowl team
He gives more hope for me and you
It proves that dreams do come true

 In NFL training camps this summer, the dream that inspired Kurt Warner and young Walter Bodkin is driving every NFL player. With apologies to William Shakespeare, call it the NFL’s version of “A midsummer night’s dream.”