Tonight's dinner/event with Jeff Fisher and the other Titans coaches more than lived up to the hype. It was an incredible event that I'll probably remember for the rest of my life.

First, I arrived at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel with my coworker whom I invited (for free, in return for him doing a good bit of graphic design work for the iTest, and then sold the other two passes I had from winning the eBay auction) around 5:30, when the opening reception wasn't scheduled to begin until 6. We were almost the first people into the event, which had already been set up with autographed memorabilia tables and photo area, and the wait staff was busy getting ready to host the dinner in the main ballroom.

Around 6, the reception began, and something interesting started happening - the executive director of the Charles Davis Foundation, the beneficiary of all money raised tonight at this event, started bringing various guests of honor over to introduce to me, as if I was some big shot. This was very strange, but I definitely enjoyed it! This happened because of the overall amount of money spent on getting the four tickets ... never mind the fact that I made more than my share back in selling two of them off. Very nice!

Got pictures taken with the entire Titans coaching staff, which will be physically mailed to me sometime in the next 30 days. Again, very nice.

In the main ballroom, once it was time for the actual dinner, I found myself sitting right next to Jeff Fisher at a large enough table where several side conversations were going on the whole time, freeing me to pretty much talk to the coach for the majority of the next 45 minutes. Items I asked him about included:

- his thoughts on fantasy football (likes it for the attention it brings to the NFL, but doesn't participate)
- his thoughts on Pac Man Jones (unfortunate set of circumstances but unlikely to play for Titans again, although he's likely to play in the NFL again at some point)
- his thoughts on switching Michael Griffin back to safety (not a good idea because Griffin's footwork and speed are ideal for the cornerback position, and Calvin Lowry is poised for a breakout year in the safety position within the defense)
- his thoughts on areas of improvement for the next year (third down completion percentage has to improve, overall points production needs to significantly increase, Keith Bulluck needs to contribute more within the defense)
- his thoughts regarding the Titans' rumored trade for Chicago Bears DE Alex Brown (much closer to occurring than I realized)
- which coach he likes beating the most (Tom Coughlin, Brian Billick, and Jack Del Rio are all prime candidates, and Coach Fisher rued not being able to close out the victory at Baltimore last year but agreed that Brian Billick knew he was outplayed)
- his contractual status (very close to a LARGE extension that will enable him to keep his core coaching staff together for the next few years while the Titans rack up wins and compete deep into the playoffs)

Prior to this event, I had taken it upon myself to do a little bit of basic statistical modeling to play around with how many wins I thought the Titans would get this season, based on my expectations of the team and the other teams within their division and on their schedule. (I came out to 10-6 on the year, making the playoffs, though this deviates significantly from most mainstream opinions that the Titans will be 8-8 or worse.) But my predictions were pretty detailed and covered a lot of ground, though fitting on a single piece of paper. I had a bunch of copies of my predictions with me, and I gave one to Coach Fisher during this period of time, saying "I had something to give him" ... he stopped completely talking to anyone, and spent the next 4-5 minutes reading this sheet of paper in silence, and actually appeared to really take an interest in them. We discussed the core prediction that the team would go 10-6, and then the most interesting thing of all happened: he asked me to get a pen and write down my name, phone number, and other info on the sheet of paper so he could "reference it later." I still have no idea what he meant, but I obviously had no problem giving him my info! :) At the end of the night, as I was preparing to leave, I thanked him again for being part of the fundraiser and he thanked me again by name, saying once again he would "reference my notes" later...

Don't know what the outcome of all that will be, but the bottom line is that this event was just unbelievable. After the dinner, all the Titans coaches had a roundtable discussion where they talked about old stories and the upcoming season, using a lot of particular examples that they asked not be repeated anywhere (for some obvious reasons, like discussing one particular former player's penchant for having lots of women in his hotel rooms, and one team's ownership group that's running their NFL franchise into the ground, among other stories). Very fun just to sit there and soak it all in.

All in all, very much worth the time and money spent on getting the passes to the event and to sit at Jeff Fisher's table. The man is just as personable and friendly as I expected, based on seeing him in the media and in press conferences, which in hindsight is probably rare. Great coach and great asset to Nashville ... I hope we lock him up for a lot of money for a long, long time.

Now time for bed ... and dreaming about another Titans Super Bowl ... later.