College Sports

Today will be a big day in the lives of some college football players.  Today they will become millionaires.

Today is the Day 1 of the NFL draft.  Once upon a time, you would pick up the Sunday sports section to find out if your favorite university had any players drafted.  Now it is a big deal, a very big deal.  ESPN will televise the draft, the endcap to months of pre-draft shows, interviews, and speculation.  Miami has been “on the clock” since last December, and experts have been debating who will be drafted #1, who will be drafted mid-second round, who will go undrafted, and who will be left sitting, uncomfortably, in the holding room, the entire nation watching (see Brady Quinn and Matt Leinart).

Yes, the NFL draft has ingrained itself into our sports DNA, a weekend event that will include tickets that are scalped, war rooms, and the promise that maybe this is the year that the Lions break through.

I am pretty sure that the reason my husband married me is because one April morning in 1998, he called and asked if I wanted to go to breakfast, and I told him that I couldn’t because the NFL draft was coming on.  Marriages have survived on less, and now even our four year old daughter knows that Draft Day means… although she is curious why there is no draft for cheerleaders and mascots.

To jazz things up, here is a little game you can play.  After the draft, count how many days it takes the new jersey of the top pick (Jake Long of Michigan) to show up in your local sporting goods store… my bet?  Less than a week, especially if you live in Miami (or Ann Arbor).

LT

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