NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - The Offseason

[-Jrabbit]

The superb owl in London?

I'm sure the NFL consulted their advertisers...

But not, apparently, their proofreaders. Or was that word separation deliverately offset to create a bonus entendre with the "play at midnight" observation?

[SlowwHand]

60 mph winds collapsed the Cowboys practice facility.

IRVING — At least five Dallas Cowboys staff members were injured Saturday when the roof of the team's indoor practice facility collapsed.

Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple said all players and coaches were accounted for, and he didn't know the extent of the injuries to the four staff members, who were hospitalized. He told News 8 that "five or six" people were injured and taken to a hospital.

As many as 60 people were inside the tent-like structure when it collapsed, including coaches, journalists, and players.

"They were right in the middle of practice and they were in the middle of the field, which was not good," said WFAA-TV photojournalist Arnold Payne who was on the sidelines of the indoor practice field. "The wind just started shaking the sides of this big huge plastic practice tent."

"The lights started swinging from the cieling, and just like that — the thing just started collapsing," Payne said. "They could hear people under there screaming; I could see two or three people injured," Payne said.

Rescue personnel were still going through the debris to make sure everyone was accounted for, Dalrymple said.

WFAA-TV

Todd Archer, a Cowboys beat writer for The Dallas Morning News was pinned under a door as he was trying to exit the collapsing structure. Two Cowboys rookies lifted the debris to free Archer.

A bloodied assistant coach Dave Campo told reporters he had a special concern. "I was trying to get my son; he was underneath," Campo said. Both Campo and his son were all right.

"Unbelievable the way that thing hit — whoa!"

Jason Audette lives in the neighborhood and was one of the first on the scene. "It was pretty quick; it did happen all of a sudden," he said. "I was shocked. I was frightened for the people who were inside.

Audette said he saw at least two people carried away on stretchers.

Irving fire-rescue officials ordered all reporters and team personnel away from the immediate area.

The roof is a large air-supported canopy with aluminum frames covering a regulation 100-yard football field.

Power was out at the Valley Ranch facility.

Former Cowboys assistant coach Joe Avezzano said told News 8 he was at the training facility earlier this morning and watched coverage of the collapse on television. "I have never felt unsafe in that structure," he said. "That had to be frightening."

Coach among injured after storm rips through Cowboys' practice field

Associated Press

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys special teams coach Joe DeCamillis was among at least five people injured Saturday when the roof of the team's practice facility collapsed during a storm.

Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple said four team support staff members were injured and all players and coaches were accounted for. He didn't know the extent of the injuries of the four, who he said were hospitalized.Dallas Cowboys
DeCamillis was seen putting on a neck brace and being taken out of the team's main office building on a stretcher.

The roof came down during a severe thunderstorm while the team was going through the second day of a three-day rookie minicamp. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, in a TV interview from the Kentucky Derby, said 27 rookies were going through the workout.

Witnesses said lights started flickering and shaking minutes before the collapse, prompting players, coaches, staff members and reporters to vacate the building. Several people were trying to exit the facility as the roof came down.

The storm was producing winds measured at 64 mph just before it struck the Cowboys facility, said National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Harris in Fort Worth.

Dalrymple said rescue personnel were still going through the debris to make sure everyone was accounted for.

The roof is a large air-supported canopy with aluminum frames covering a regulation 100-yard football field.

Power was out at the Valley Ranch facility.

Some of the video operators were caught on scaffolding 50 feet up and rode the collapse to the ground, where a few were then trapped.
This was a rookie camp. I want to find out who number 62 is. There was film of him running from spot to spot, lifting debris, helping people out, pushing people back as more crap fell.

[SlowwHand]

May is our worst weather.

IRVING, Texas -- Whenever a storm hit while the Dallas Cowboys were inside their practice facility, the sound of rain pelting the tent-like structure could drown out conversation. No matter the noise, safety rarely was an issue -- until Saturday.

Winds that were just shy of tornado strength -- and perhaps stronger -- ripped through the roof during a rookie minicamp practice, essentially popping the so-called bubble. Between the falling debris and the furor to escape, Cowboys special teams coach Joe DeCamillis broke his back, and 11 other people suffered injuries and required hospitalization.

About 60 others felt lucky to escape with only cuts and bruises.

"I saw it coming down and didn't have time to react," Cowboys secondary coach Dave Campo said. "I hit the ground and was able to get back up."

DeCamillis, hired by the Cowboys a few months ago, likely will need surgery to fix "a couple of broken vertebrae" in his lower back but is expected to recover, said his father-in-law, Dan Reeves, a longtime NFL coach.

DeCamillis was among 10 people taken away by emergency vehicles. Two others went to hospitals on their own.

"Right now, I think we don't have anybody who is in a life-threatening situation," said Dr. Paul Pepe, head of emergency medical services for Dallas County.

Names of the people and details of their injuries weren't released because of privacy issues. Players were told not to discuss the episode with reporters.

Just before the facility was flattened, winds were clocked at 64 mph, only one mph shy of the threshold for a weak tornado. However, National Weather Service meteorologist Gary Woodall said a "microburst" might have pushed the wind beyond 70 mph at the top of the structure. A microburst also was to blame for a 1985 Delta Airlines crash that killed 137 people at nearby Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

"The fact that there weren't more injuries is rather miraculous," Woodall said.

Also incredible: An Irving police spokesman said there was hardly any damage beyond the Cowboys' facility.

Before Bill Parcells was hired as coach in 2003, the Cowboys rarely practiced indoors, unless weather was bad enough for them to ride buses to a high school team's bubble. But Parcells suggested that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones build an indoor facility, and it was finished in time for the coach's first season at a cost of more than $4 million.

The no-frills building was pretty much a 100-yard football field with a few more yards of clearance all the way around it. The roof was 80 feet high, the equivalent of an eight-story building.

On Saturday, 27 players -- almost all drafted last weekend or signed as undrafted rookies -- were working out when the storm hit. Also in the building were coaches, support staff and media members.

Nick Eatman of DallasCowboys.com escaped, but he was knocked down by something hitting his back. He then heard someone screaming for help and realized it was coming from under a door frame. Eatman recognized that it was Todd Archer, a The Dallas Morning News reporter, because of a tattoo on his ankle.

Eatman and colleague Josh Ellis tried to free Archer, but the structure wouldn't budge. "It was like a car," Eatman said. Then Cowboys safety DeAngelo Smith and linebacker Brandon Williams managed to lift it just enough for Archer to squirm out to safety.

"I was trapped. I couldn't move," said Archer, who figures he was down for 20 to 25 seconds. "Then those guys lifted it up -- not very far, but I was able to move from my side to my back. ... Once I got out of there, I looked back, and the whole thing was down."

Eatman said one of the swaying lights wound up more than two football fields away from the facility. The giant blue star normally atop the building lay crumpled on the ground. The storm knocked out power for about an hour at team headquarters and splintered trees across the property.

"We're lucky no one got electrocuted with all the water in the building," Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said.

Larry Rodriguez, a television cameraman who in 2005 was attacked by Kenny Rogers while filming the former Texas Rangers pitcher, received six stitches to close a cut on a hand.

The Cowboys canceled Sunday's practice, the final one for the rookies. Instead, players will have a meeting at the complex, but media will not have access, according to a statement released by the team.

[ColdWizard]

Microbursts

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Those inflatable buildings are kinda scary...we have one on campus that has collapsed multiple times. They're lucky a couple of fractured vertebrae are the worst that happened.

Boy, now it's really going to suck come cut-day. "Hey, thanks for helping out when the building was falling down around us and all, and I really appreciate you pulling me out from under that giant beam, but I'm afraid you're a little stiff in the hips during your turns. We wish you luck in your future career at Buy 'n Bag."

[Koyaanisqatsi]

They're lucky a couple of fractured vertebrae are the worst that happened.

Well, they would have been lucky, at least. One of the scouting assistants was permanently paralyzed as well.

[SlowwHand]

Yes, that's true. It was a very bad deal.

[flash9286]

The superb owl in London?

I'm sure the NFL consulted their advertisers before coming up with that bright idea, or were they planning on playing the game at midnight?

I have never understood why the NFL is trying so hard to expand in Europe. The distance between the continents would mean that they would have to be separate leagues, and that has already failed once. Why doesn't the NFL try to place teams in Canada or Mexico?

[Ming]

Yep... NFL Europe was a disaster, but they just keep wanting to get a foothold there.

Canada has it's own league... but Mexico might be a good place to try. But one wonders if soccer might be WAY TOO big there for the NFL to make any progress.

[flash9286]

There was talk about moving the Bills to Toronto because a lot of their fans were from Toronto. I think if the NFL tried it could put the CFL out of business.

Yea, soccer just might be too big but I think you would have the same problem in Europe. I don't know how the players would like living in Mexico for a couple months though.

[Lord Avalon]

Especially nowadays, when you need an armored SUV with popup MG turret.

[Ming]

There was talk about moving the Bills to Toronto because a lot of their fans were from Toronto. I think if the NFL tried it could put the CFL out of business.

I'm not sure it's worth it. There are only so many Canadian markets that could support an NFL team. Aren't there only like 8 teams left in the CFL?

[ColdWizard]

Haven't baseball, basketball, and hockey teams already relocated from Canada to the U.S.? I don't see why the NFL would move in.

[flash9286]

The MLB and NBA both have teams in Canada. To be clear I didn't mean to suggest that the NFL should actually put teams in Canada, I just think that would be a better idea than trying, again, to expand to Europe.

[ColdWizard]

The MLB and NBA both have teams in Canada. To be clear I didn't mean to suggest that the NFL should actually put teams in Canada, I just think that would be a better idea than trying, again, to expand to Europe.

But both the Expos and the Grizzlies moved. Which would seem to me that Canada is a limited and possibly declining potential market. If Goodell wants to take the NFL international, there's not really many viable options. Europe seems like the "best" one, but like you said, they tried that and failed already.