HOUSTON – (It is combine week)
The NFL prospects invited to the annual Combine begin arriving in Indianapolis today and the workouts start later this week. The combine has always been in Indy and there is a reason for that. Of all the NFL towns, Indianapolis has the most combines. By that I mean the farm equipment used in the harvest of grain crops. You know, wheat, barley, oats, etc. The etc. is especially good this time of the year.
Chicago might have been the home for this event, but the combines in Illinois are all down state. Down state is what any place south of Archer Ave. is called in Chicago.
The farm combine machine was invented to modernize the harvest. The NFL Combine does the same thing. The machine does one thing the NFL demands -- it separates the wheat from the chaff. It isn't cheap to do that in either case. One used John Deere is on the market in Indiana for $389,000. A top player chosen out of the combine will be a lot more expensive. Plus, that John Deere S680 has 972 engine hours on it. Players practice engines aren't quite there yet.
Now to the overwhelming reason I point out the combine and the combine have the same reason to exist. To quote the latest wiki, a farm combine "reduces the population engaged in agriculture." The NFL might have that in their bylaws just using the words "pro football" instead of agriculture. So when your pals at work tell you the NFL Combine combines all the talent into one place so all the scouts can see, you tell them, "I think it separates the wheat from the chaff," and remember "Nothing runs like a Deere or an SEC cornerback."