When I was a kid, one of the games our teachers would have us play was musical chairs. I don’t know if kids still play it or not, but if you’re a good bit younger than I, it involved children marching around a group of chairs that was one fewer than the number of children participating. When the music stopped, the one left without a chair had to depart from the group. Chairs would be successively taken away as the game proceeded until there was just one child seated.

In a way, we’re in a ‘musical chairs’ situation if you’re an NFLPA-certified contract advisor in mid-January. At this point. the number of legitimate unsigned NFL prospects is dwindling. Hey, the number of unsigned players of almost any skill level is dwindling.

There are a lot of reasons why you might have reached Jan. 15 without a client. Maybe you chose to take the year ‘off’ because the NFLPA gives new agents their exam results so late in the year. Maybe you trusted schools’ compliance departments when they told you players couldn’t speak to agents until their seasons had concluded (then you were thoroughly confused when all the top players signed immediately following their bowl games). Maybe you gave recruiting a real shot, but whiffed on all your clients, or found out that they all had exorbitant training demands. Maybe the kid you coached in Pop Warner was the only reason you got certified, and he decided to go with a veteran agent despite your relationship with him.

As you may know if you follow this blog — and most certainly know if you are an ITL client — I see the agent business as one of the strongest learn-by-doing experiences anywhere. No matter who you sign or how good their chances of making an NFL camp are, I think you’re making a big mistake if you don’t at least sign one player in your ‘rookie’ year as a contract advisor.

If you have a senior agent you’re buddies with, or some other person you trust who knows the ropes, reach out to him and find out where to go to find players with possibilities. Believe it or not, there are a few still out there. And if you need ideas on strategies for finding these players, I’d love if if you’d consider us. We’d love to help.

Here are a few thoughts gathered while standing outside the Ritz-Carlton, handing out ITL literature to aspiring contract advisors during their lunch break.

• According to what NFLPA officials announced at the start of today’s session, there are close to 300 people taking the exam this year. That’s a second straight bumper crop. Last year’s total was in the 300 neighborhood as well, but that was chalked up to the fact that it was the first class post-‘runner rule.’ Many here this year are with big firms, but many are independent. It just goes to show the passion so many have for pursuing a career in sports representation. It remains a very attractive industry.
• Based on the sample size that passed by me on the way to find lunch, applicants are about 50-50 white and black, about 80 percent male, and probably 75 percent 40 or younger. Probably 30-40 percent looked to be 30 or younger.
• I think I spoke to 6-8 people re-taking the test after failing last year.
• It’s a young man’s game, on and off the field. There is at least one 22-year-old and one 23-year-old taking the test this year. So far, it looks like the oldest person taking the exam this year is in his early 50s, and there may be 3-4 more in that age range, but no more.
• I’m told there’s at least one couple taking the exam.
• It’s interesting to watch how the various aspiring agents carry themselves and how they dress. There are a handful in shorts and T-shirts as if they’re attending a cookout, but far more in coat and tie or a similar look. The lion’s share are in slacks and business shirts.
• It’s not all about football here at the Ritz this week. The alt-rock band Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds made its way through the hotel bar last night after a local performance. Give them a listen (I did). They kinda suck.
• Activities wrap up around 4:30-5 this afternoon, then the applicants return tomorrow for a morning session before the test is administered Friday afternoon.

We’ll have more from the scene tonight at the Ritz and its surroundings in Friday’s post.