Merrill Reese, Radio play-by-play man:

"Second, it's the first opportunity any of us have to see the rookies and free agents in contact drills. I don't care if you go to mini-camp every single day, you really can't get a feel for what those young players can do until you see them under live conditions.

"Having all of the Eagles fans crowding around the fields, chanting and cheering, it creates so much excitement. Hearing the fans roar after a player makes a big play is tremendously invigorating to me. The roar almost echoes off the mountains at Lehigh. You suddenly have that feeling that it's Monday night and everything counts. It feels like the real season.

"On the field, there are so many things to watch with this team. It should be an outstanding team, one that has the capability of winning the Super Bowl. There are going to be surprises. There are surprises at every training camp. Unfortunately, there are also some negative surprises where players get hurt. That is unavoidable. It is something a team has to overcome, so depth is of the utmost importance on this roster.

"I love the heat and the noise and the frantic nature of training camp. I love the intensity. If you've never made it to training camp, go. Enjoy it. It's the best time to be close to the team -- and I mean close. You are right on top of the action and it's fantastic."

Bill Manning, Vice President Of Sales And Service

He's made trades and made other player personnel decisions. He's also managed a salary cap.

You might think this is a lead-in to a profile of Eagles president Joe Banner. But it's not. It's actually a lead-in for a profile of one of the team's executives in the sales and marketing department.

Bill Manning, the team's Vice President of Sales and Service, was a former president and general manager in the major and minor league soccer ranks.

A soccer star himself, Manning, at one time, worked in the front office and played for the New York Fever of the United Soccer Leagues.

A year ago, Manning arrived in Philadelphia after a stint as Director of Corporate Development for the NBA's Houston Rockets. Prior to his time in Houston, Manning served as President and General Manager of the Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer, part of a 10-year career in the sport.

"When I made the decision to leave soccer, I knew the NFL is where I wanted to be," said Manning, who at one time turned down posts with the Vikings and Buccaneers. "It's been a real good move both personally and professionally. This organization has certainly established itself as not only one of the premier NFL franchises, but one of the premier sports teams in the country.

"The opportunity to come in and have a pretty visible role in that has been great."

Manning's role is actually divided up into four parts -- the corporate sales side of the buisiness (selling and renewing corporate partnerships for the team); servicing of the corporate sales (essentially, executing the terms of all the corporate partner deals and building client relationships); premium sales (generating premium revenue from suite sales, touchdown club, redzone and tailgate packages); and premium services ( managing client relationships and addressing any issues.)

Manning oversees a staff of 16, including a number of directors within those departments. He oversees the sales process, provides support and helps facilitate new deals.

"I believe in giving autonomy to the staff," Manning said. "When you really have good people, let them go, just try to provide some guidance and support for them to do their jobs.

"This is a good, dynamic group here that we have working in the sales and service departments. I try to set the course and let them run with it."

Manning has had success throughout his career. As president and GM of the Minnesota Thunder, Manning won high praise for the team's ability to attract investors from a broad range of corporations.

"One of the things that we really did well out there was we got a lot of the big Minnesota companies to sponsor this little minor league soccer team," Manning explained.

His efforts lauded him recognition within the community (he was named one of the Top 40 Executives under 40 in the Twin Cities), and, on a larger scale, the soccer world.

MLS then contacted Manning about a similar role with the Mutiny, a league-owned franchise which played at Raymond James Stadium.

"I was a big fish in a small pond in the soccer world," said Manning, who essentially had what he termed was his "dream job."

"I was in charge of player personnel, a very stringent salary cap, but I was also in charge of all of the business operations."

A fiscal crunch eventually forced the franchise to fold. It also put Manning at a career crossroads.

"Once they closed the team down, it hurt me both personally and professionally," Manning said. "I made a decision that I was going to try to expand my career beyond soccer. I needed to get to the major leagues, but you can't just become a president of a major league team without major league experience.

"Now the old big fish in the small pond was going to try to become a big fish in a big pond."

Manning made the successful transition -- first with the Rockets and now with the Eagles.

"The thing that I've learned in my career -- moving to the different positions -- is you have to be adaptable because every culture is different, every front office is different," Manning said. "I've really had to adapt myself to the different environments.

"In minor league sports, you do everything. They're so focused on ticket sales. Literally, to keep the club alive, you need to generate the revenue. Here, our focus is on generating revenue, but for different reasons.

"The great thing about this team is we've created this demand and we charge a premium to be associated with this team and the power of this brand."

Manning's first year was quite a thrill as the team made it to the Super Bowl. He expects the on-field and off-the-field success to continue.

And he still gets his kicks in, playing soccer on Wednesday evenings.