NFL Draft: The Ultimate Reality Show
The greatest hiring event in sports begins tonight. Millions will tune in to watch hours and hours over the next 3 days of the NFL Draft. The 32 NFL teams will be choosing from among the most highly talented college athletes. Like your company, a team’s roster is pretty fluid, which is why the Draft is so important. Every season a number of players retire or get cut, and every season a number of new players come into the game. The Draft determines which teams get which new players.
Scouts and coaches and owners have spent endless hours collecting and analyzing data, watching game footage of college students, interviewing players, agents, coaches, even parents. Every form of evaluation is helpful. The question is always the measurables (skills) vs. if he can play the position and how he will fit with the team. While your profession might not command that kind of money, you want to be every bit as selective as a coach in hiring your work team, so you can find the right person for the right job.
Tonight we know who will be chosen 1st and 2nd: Andrew Luck will go 1st to the Colts, replacing a legend, Peyton Manning. Robert Griffin, III will go 2nd to Washington. After that we get surprises, and the ultimate Waiting Game. Cameras will be up close and personal on faces full of joy or anguish. It’s sports reality television at its most voyeuristic. Young men will find out, in real time, what team will choose them, where they will live and how much money they will make. Parents will embrace, tears will be shed, and some huge guy will hug Roger Goodell way too hard. And here’s where the drama gets tense. In 2005, Aaron Rodgers was expected to go 1st; his wait was 4 hours and 43 anguished minutes. It was painful to watch his face. Now he has won a Super Bowl and the game’s MVP award.
We college fans will be watching for our players. Go Riley Reiff from Iowa, my alma mater! I will be watching his progress next year. I will also be watching every moment of the Draft. C’mon ladies: it’s better than Housewives of Wherever — really.