I am not a paid NFL or Indianapolis promoter.

Since moving to Indy nearly five years ago, I've basically become an unpaid unofficial promoter for the city. In my opinion, it's one of the most underrated cities in America, so I'm constantly persuading people to visit so I can show them how cool it is. The food scene is killer, the downtown area is clean and navigable, but best of all, Indy plays host to several awesome events each year. Last weekend, Wheat and I were able to attend one of the coolest: the NFL Combine.

The Combine has been held in Lucas Oil Stadium every year that I've lived here and I was actually able to work the event with USA Football in 2013. This year, the NFL introduced the Combine Experience, an interactive, NFL-sponsored convention where fans could try all the drills that the athletes do in the Combine, get autographs from visiting players and coaches, and see football-related memorabilia (including the Lombardi Trophy).

We decided to check out the Combine Experience on Thursday night and I'm so glad we did. There was virtually no one there, so the lines to do the drills were super short. Wheat, being the seven-year-old boy trapped in a grown man's body that he is, had an absolute blast doing the 40-yard dash, the vertical jump, the broad jump, and "the gauntlet," where he ran to various positions to catch footballs that were shot out of Jugs. We got our picture taken with the Lombardi Trophy, perused the gift shop, tried on Packers-Lions virtual reality headsets, and marveled over every Super Bowl ring. We also waited in a very short line to meet former Colts tight end Dallas Clark, who told us to "be good."

On Sunday morning, we woke up early to watch the defensive linemen and linebackers partake in the Combine. We got our tickets for free through 1iota and that included parking at the stadium. While trying to find the right lot, we stopped at a red light right next to Marvin Lewis and a couple other Bengals scouts as they were walking into the stadium. In typical fashion, I shrieked, rolled down the window, and gave them a hearty "WHO-DEY?!" Marvin waved, but looked less than thrilled.

Once inside, we were corralled into a room with the other audience members and given small NFL radio headphones. We used these to listen to the broadcast while watching the athletes. After an hour-long wait in a room filled with TVs, we were finally escorted into the stadium to watch the drills. For the next couple hours, we watched the defensive linemen do the vertical jump, broad jump, 40-yard dash, and several other drills. Wheat was thrilled to see Tennessee's Derek Barnett and we were both impressed by Texas A&M's Myles Garrett, who might go first overall in the draft. During commercial breaks, Hall of Famer and former running back Marshall Faulk talked to us about what it's like to partake in the Combine and what each drill assesses.

Unfortunately, we had to miss the linebackers (and TJ Watt) because Wheat had a game, but we did make a quick pit stop at the Combine Experience so that I could get Bengals running back Giovani Bernard's autograph. Ultimate fan girl.

Surprisingly, the non-football parts of our weekend were just as fun as the Combine because two of my best friends came to visit. We stuffed our faces with the delicious Indy food I mentioned earlier, saw Get Out (run, don't walk, to go see it), and had some long overdue girl talk. There's nothing better for the soul than girl talk and tacos, right?

So seriously, come visit.