We had an interesting experience last night. For the third time this season, Sue and I went to a Jacksonville Jaguars’ home game (NFL football, for those not able to make the immediate connection). For the only time among those three games, the Jaguars lost, but it was a very entertaining, fun contest against the still undefeated Indianapolis Colts. There aren’t very many 35-31 finals in the NFL any more, and certainly not many games where each and every score results in a lead change. But that was the case last night.

What made is especially fun and interesting were a few things not directly on the field. We had front row seats. Yes, that’s correct – Row A, with no fans sitting in front of us. Now, we weren’t on, or anywhere near, the 50-yard-line (55-yard-line for you Canadians). In fact, we were located just inside the end zone. But it was a fascinating place to be for the event. And I use the word “event” intentionally there, because when you’re that close to the field, you can’t help but notice all the peripheral things that go on during a game, things you just don’t pick up on when you’re at home on the couch …

For example, there are dozens of photographers running around, all in red NFL vests, with massive lenses on the ends of their cameras, each hoping to get the shot that ends up on the front page of your local paper’s sports section, or perhaps in Sports Illustrated or on espn.com. When play came down near our end of the field, at least 10-15 red-vests came sprinting along the sideline to try to get into position.

The photographers are among hundreds of people who work during the game. Some are quite visible, like the cheerleaders, who keep their smiles pasted on during their dance routines and get instructions from the cheerleading coaches, one for each of the four sub-groups of these ladies, as they divide up to the four corners of the stadium. Most of them seemed to be enjoying the dancing and cheering and smiling for the fans, but a couple seemed to be just going through the motions.

There are also the videographers, some capturing action for highlight shows or NFL films, others looking for crowd shots to be shown on the jumbotron screens on either end of the stadium. The TV cameramen are spread throughout the stadium, of course, including one on each sideline riding a motorized platform that scoots down to position itself right on the line of scrimmage for each play. And there’s also that technological marvel, the camera suspended over the field on wires, that is controlled by someone somewhere to always be above the huddle, then behind the quarterback for each play.

The various promotions that occur during the game, and the halftime show, are all coordinated and staged in their assigned time, with awareness of the broadcast TV schedule, of course. So, if a fan is going to have a chance to throw a football through a target to win some prize, that target gets wheeled out a few minutes ahead of time, and everyone stands in the corner, ready to go.

There are some guys who I’ll call game assistants, the ones who run out onto the field with big “Jaguars” flags when the home team scores, then pass off the flags to someone else to roll back up a few seconds later, and who fire the t-shirt bazookas to fans who will fight each other to get their hands on one, just as they will for the ever-present bead necklaces.

One of those game assistants had an interesting job. Right after the Jags scored a touchdown, he held up a big sign in front of our section – the sign read, “CAUTION – LOUD NOISE”. Sue and I both thought it was a tongue-in-cheek message about the crowd’s boisterousness. Wrong. After a touchdown, they fire some kind of big gun. And it’s very loud for those who are sitting close to it. Like us. The next time, we knew to cover our ears.

Add to all of those folks a number of security people, various hangers-on, and a bunch of others, and it becomes obvious that the football players are actually a small minority of those who occupy the sidelines. But the other impact is that, for people sitting in Row A, there is so much going on that, as Sue pointed out, it’s easy to become distracted from the game itself. That’s probably true in Row B as well, but when you get a few rows higher, I think the game again becomes the focus. Either that, or the beer vendor.

It’s also worth mentioning that when you sit close to field level, it’s very difficult to see what’s happening on the field itself. Not because of all of the previously mentioned distractions, but because of the viewing angle. And so, except when the play was right down close to us, we found ourselves watching the big screens to follow the play, which makes one wonder why one purchased tickets anyway.

Well, the answer to that is because it was an event last night, a sold out stadium for the first time this season, an exciting contest that went down to the last minute, a chance to watch a quarterbacking master at work (#18 in white and blue), and an opportunity to gain a tiny bit of insight into all that it takes to produce an NFL game.

There won’t be any more home games this season, but I’ll look forward to the opportunity to cheer on the Jags again next year … just not from Row A.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 6:55 pm and is filed under Al. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.