GRANT PARK — Once again, professional athletes have proved more ... athletic than random football fans attending this weekend's Draft Town festival.
The free NFL festival inhabiting Grant Park this weekend is replete with fun and games, including the chance for beer-swilling, dad jean-wearing football fans to test their skills against pro football players.
Those contests include a 40-yard video board on Columbus Drive featuring the likes of Antoine Bethea, a Pro Bowl safety for the San Francisco 49ers who can run the 40-yard dash in 4.55 seconds.
His Draft Town competitors Thursday were noticeably much slower.
The NFL is a grown man's league #DraftTown #DraftDay #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/dTUWAoRZEL
— David Lee Matthews (@DavidLMatthews) April 28, 2016
Cheaters pic.twitter.com/x3XohrWWzq
— David Lee Matthews (@DavidLMatthews) April 28, 2016
"I think I pulled a [hamstring]," Troy Benton, 40, of Seattle said after racing the video board.
John Clark of the Grand Rapids, Mich. area tried the vertical jump, another mainstay the NFL Combine pro teams use to evaluate college prospects. Most prospective NFL players can jump 30 or more inches off the ground. Clark jumped 19.
Epic 19" vertical #NFLDraft2016 #DraftTown #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/uVp5cdW84n
— David Lee Matthews (@DavidLMatthews) April 28, 2016
"They're good," Clark said of the pros.
Then there's kicking field goals, a skill regarded among the least athletic in pro sports. Kickers are known for thanklessly hitting game winners and losing their jobs when they don't, but a survey of Draft Town participants show most random men can't hit a field goal of any distance.
Matt DeGraff of suburban Plainfield was one of those random men.
20-yard attempt. Put some respek on kickers #NFLDraft2016 #DraftTown #DraftDay pic.twitter.com/W5hUhtJvpZ
— David Lee Matthews (@DavidLMatthews) April 28, 2016
DeGraff, who played soccer in high school, said he's been "retired for the last 20 years." He said he also had surgery on his "plant," or non-kicking leg, last year.
But even grown men know they can't make excuses.
"Oh definitely," DeGraff said.
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